What we learned, Sunday 21 June
We’re going to bring today’s live blog to a close. Here’s a reminder of how we got here.
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Experts say the significance of the arrival of H5N1 bird flu in Australia – which was confirmed by authorities on Saturday – could not be overstated and represents a “genuine wildlife emergency”.
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The Albanese government announced it would taper its temporary fuel relief, with the 32 cents a litre fuel excise cut in place for the past three months reduced to a 16 cents discount next month.
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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has thrown his support behind his friend and UK counterpart Keir Starmer, as British Labour MPs brace themselves for a leadership challenge.
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Albanese has defended his government’s tax changes, saying they will help younger Australians into the housing market. But the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says carve-outs from changes to capital gains tax, announced in the last week, are “layering failure upon failure” and that the government should scrap its reforms altogether.
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Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a man in the Melbourne suburb of Ascot Vale overnight.
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In Cairns, police are investigating the rollover of an allegedly stolen car that resulted in the death of a 12-year-old boy in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Key events
First dedicated adoption centre for rehoming research mice and rats opens in NSW
Petra Stock
Australia’s first adoption centre for rehoming small animals used in scientific research has opened on the central coast of New South Wales.
The centre, run by the not-for-profit Liberty Foundation, is one of only two dedicated services for rehoming research animals, and the first to specialise in smaller species like mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. The centre can house up to 120 animals while they wait for adoption.
The foundation’s director, Paula Wallace, said giving the rodents a chance to live out their natural lives outside the lab was important, not just for the animals, but for the people that work in research.
It’s important because it’s an acknowledgment that animals living in research facilities deserve a fair go, really, at having a life after their time in research.
It’s really an opportunity for us to show people how amazing animals from research are, and find more permanent homes for more animals.
The animals available for adoption are healthy, sociable and adapt well to home life, she said.
There are no national statistics for research animals in Australia, but Wallace estimated as many as 10 million animals were used in science and teaching around the country, each year.
Bird flu could spark biggest domestic crisis since Covid: Greens
Tom McIlroy
As authorities race to deal with the first confirmed case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain on the Australian mainland, the Greens say more should have been done to prepare.
The agriculture minister, Julie Collins, confirmed on Friday a brown skua found unwell a week ago at Cape Le Grand national park near Esperance in southern WA had died from H5N1.
Until this week Australia had been the only continent to have escaped the devastating strain, which experts believe could devastate native bird species and potentially threaten marine mammals and other species.
“Australia is staring down one of the biggest domestic crises since Covid, and the government has had almost two years to prepare for it,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says.
She is supporting calls from leading conservation organisations, including BirdLife Australia and the Invasive Species Council, for the Albanese government to establish a $200m emergency response fund.
Hanson-Young said:
The government must urgently boost funding to help save our Australian native wildlife from this deadly virus.
The experience around the world shows that this strain of bird flu will be devastating to Australian wildlife and could push iconic species like Tassie devils, black swans and sea lions to the brink of extinction.
Queensland state budget to maintain 50c public transport amid other cost-of-living measures
The Queensland government has promised “no new or increased taxes” in its upcoming state budget, due to be handed down this week.
The state says it will maintain – as promised – many of the cost-of-living relief measures implemented under the previous Labor government, including 50c public transport fares and voucher programs for parents of school-age children.
The treasurer, David Janetzki, said on Sunday the budget would also include a reduction in power prices, and a freeze to bulk water charges.
The premier, David Crisafulli, said:
We said we would ensure there was structural, long-term cost of living relief Queenslanders could rely on, and that is exactly what we are delivering.
We are playing our part with structured cost of living relief Queenslanders can rely on when they’re doing it tough in the middle of a national affordability crisis.
The LNP was elected in Queensland on a narrow platform that included promises not to make cuts to public sector jobs. Labor has accused the government of making stealth cuts to some departments as it seeks to keep the budget in check, especially given the ongoing demand for cost-of-living relief.
The budget will be handed down on Tuesday.
Boy, 12, dead and three in hospital after Cairns crash in suspected stolen vehicle
Police in Cairns say a 12-year-old boy has died in a single-vehicle crash, allegedly involving a stolen car, early this morning.
In a brief statement, Queensland police confirmed the boy was declared dead at the crash site at Stratford, in the Cairns northern suburbs, where a grey Toyota Fortuner wagon left the road and rolled about 4.15am.
Police said the same vehicle had been reported stolen from an address in Mooroobool, Cairns, about 3am.
Police also said three other people – two men aged 20 and 22, and a 19-year-old woman – were taken to the Cairns hospital for treatment.
Police investigating after man shot dead in Melbourne
Police are trying to piece together who is responsible for the fatal shooting of man in Melbourne overnight.
Australian Associated Press reports that homicide squad detectives are investigating after a man in his 30s was found in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Ascot Vale with suspected gunshot wounds, at 12.15am on Sunday.
He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where he died.
Police are yet to establish where or how the man was shot and have called for any witnesses to come forward.
Handing the blog baton over to Guardian Australia’s Ben Smee for a bit, to keep you up-to-date this Sunday morning.
Australian Antarctic researchers celebrate winter solstice with icy dip
Expeditioners from the Australian Antarctic Program have welcomed the winter solstice by taking a polar plunge as part of the traditional Midwinter swim.
At Mawson station, in Antarctica, station leader Dave Buller said water temperatures in the ice hole were about -2C.
More than 100 Australians are currently stationed at Australian Antarctic Program stations in Antarctica and on Macquarie Island.
At Casey research station, station leader Justine Thompson said she was “questioning life choices”, for voluntarily taking a dip on a -20C day.
The event is an important part of the Antarctic calendar, giving expeditioners a chance to recognise their achievements and celebrate the return of longer days.
The governor general, Sam Mostyn, also announced three recipients of the Australian Antarctic Medal this year:
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Jennifer McGhee – for outstanding contribution to Australia’s Antarctic Program, through leadership in fostering safe, inclusive and resilient station communities
Mostyn said:
Your dedication while living and working in such challenging and remote conditions is remarkable.
Thank you for the extraordinary work you do on our behalf, and for the sake of the planet we share.
Angus Taylor dismisses Labor’s ‘half-arsed’ tweaks to CGT reform
Tom McIlroy
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has dismissed the government’s proposed carve outs from changes to capital gains tax, announced in the federal budget.
Under the proposed concessions, all of Australia’s 2.7m small businesses will receive exemptions from capital gains tax, with startups and testamentary trusts exempted from the tax reform proposals.
The announcement by Anthony Albanese and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, on Thursday followed weeks of sustained criticism from industry groups and the opposition, who have labelled the move from a flat 50% CGT discount model to an inflation-linked approach as a “tax on growth”.
Taylor told Sky the government should scrap the budget reforms and go back to square one.
This is abject failure, and they are layering failure upon failure.
Now we see a half-arsed carve-up from this government that is an admission of failure. Well, why not just get rid of the whole thing, scrap it, and start again?
Happy winter solstice!
The winter solstice is upon us, with Sunday marking the shortest day of the year – when the Earth’s south pole is furthest from the sun.
Weatherzone’s meteorologist, Ben Domensino, said:
This means Sunday will be the shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere, including Australia, based on the amount of time between sunrise and sunset.
The days surrounding the winter solstice have the fewest hours of daylight for the year, while the surrounding nights have the most hours of darkness.
After today, the days will start to get longer, and nights will get shorter across Australia.
Feeling the cold? Change by degrees this week offers a timely refresh on ways to stay warm, without turning on the gas.
Ilana Cherny, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology said:
We’ve seen a prolonged period of quite warm temperatures for this time of year.
We’re generally moving to more average conditions for June into today and tomorrow.
Today’s forecast for the capital cities:
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Sydney – sunny, maximum 20C
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Melbourne – partly cloudy, maximum 15C
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Brisbane – rain increasing, maximum 22C
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Perth – cloudy, maximum 20C
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Adelaide – partly cloudy, maximum 15C
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Canberra – partly cloudy, maximum 14C
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Darwin – sunny, maximum 31C
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Hobart – partly cloudy, maximum 13C
The BoM officially declared an El Niño this week, which is expected to persist until at least summer, with above average temperatures forecast for most of Australia over the coming months.
Read more here:
Tom McIlroy
Albanese plays down successor speculation
The prime minister says no one in the Labor party caucus is focused on who will succeed him as the leader of the country, insisting he is happy in the top job.
Four years into government, there is speculation the health minister, Mark Butler, could be better placed to succeed Albanese in The Lodge, potentially jumping ahead of the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the defence minister, Richard Marles.
I am very happy to do the job that I have, and one of the good things about our government is there isn’t any speculation.
Albanese says no one in Labor is focused on future leadership challenges.
No one in our caucus is worried about that.
Graham Readfearn
A spate of shark bites has Australian ocean lovers on edge. People want to know why they’re rising
Rob Harcourt is heading back from a “beautiful surf” at Bondi on a warm and sunny winter’s morning in Sydney.
But for him and many of his surfing mates, the compelling pull of the city’s world famous surf breaks has been neutered by tragedy, fear and uncertainty.
“A lot of my surfer friends are not going in,” says Harcourt, who, at 65, mixes his retirement and daily swims and surfs with ongoing research as an emeritus professor and the leader of Macquarie University’s marine predator research group. “A lot of people are very nervous – they’re traumatised.”
