May 24, 2024
Key posts
1.42pmA landslide has killed 100 people in PNG: reports1.00pmPowerball winner went to work after winning $150m prize11.20amRex launches flights from Melbourne to Perth10.21amWA premier rules out state-based Indigenous Voice to parliament10.05amMacron won’t rush through voting reforms that triggered New Caledonia riots9.03amElon Musk loses anti-Muslim fight in Queensland hearing7.48am‘Common sense’ to extend life of Australia’s largest coal-fired generator: Clare7.10amSingle entry scoops $150 million Powerball jackpot
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2.41pm
Carbon capture storage project rejected
A carbon capture storage project that would have injected wastewater into Australia’s Great Artesian Basin has been rejected by the Queensland government.
The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation said the CTSCo Surat Basin project by mining giant Glencore was not suitable to proceed due to potential impacts on groundwater resources.
Glencore had planned to inject and store 330,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from a coal power station into a deep aquifer of the basin.
The assessment also found that CO2 injected into the aquifer could migrate.Credit: FDC
The department said it carefully considered the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS) that involved a “rigorous” three-year assessment against strict regulations in Queensland’s environmental protection act.
“The assessment found that the Precipice Sandstone aquifer in the Great Artesian Basin, where the project had proposed to inject captured CO2 for storage, is not a confined aquifer, which is a strict requirement of the regulation,” the department said in a statement.
“The assessment also found that CO2 injected into the aquifer could migrate, likely causing irreversible or long-term change to groundwater quality and environmental values if the project were to proceed.
“The department’s final decision on the EIS acknowledges the importance of the Great Artesian Basin to multiple stakeholders and makes it clear that other carbon capture and storage projects will not be viable in the Great Artesian Basin.”
The basin intersects four Australian states and territories and holds one of the largest underground freshwater reservoirs in the world, with an estimated 65 million gigalitres of water.
About 70 per cent of its area is beneath Queensland.
Agriculture, local government and farming stakeholders welcomed the decision. AAP
1.58pm
Ex-teacher who admitted to child abuse has conviction quashed
A former NSW teacher has had a historical child sex abuse conviction quashed, becoming the second person to successfully argue women could not be legally responsible for the crime under laws in place at the time.
Gaye Grant, who is now in her late 70s, was jailed in December 2022 for abusing a boy in the 1970s after pleading guilty to maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
Former teacher Gaye Grant leaving the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney in April.Credit: Steven Siewert
After almost 15 months behind bars, the ex-teacher was released on bail and given leave to appeal in March following the release of another former teacher, Helga Lam, who had historical sex abuse charges quashed in February.
The allegations against Lam were thrown out in a landmark judgment that identified women could not be legally responsible for abusing boys under previous laws that only covered male offenders.
On Friday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal upheld Grant’s appeal and quashed her conviction.
She was previously released on bail after a court found the ex-teacher was at good odds of overturning her conviction because of the Lam judgment.
Grant’s legal team had argued there was legal precedent for a conviction appeal to be entertained despite a guilty plea if the appellant could not be legally convicted of the offence.
The appeal win voids her District Court conviction, which led to a six-year jail sentence being imposed. AAP
That sentence had been due to expire in September 2029.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
1.42pm
A landslide has killed 100 people in PNG: reports
A landslide in a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea killed about 100 people, the ABC is reporting.
Residents scaled huge rocks, scattered among tree trunks and debris left by the landslide as they assessed the damage, in pictures on social media.
Bodies are being recovered after the landslide hit the village of Kaokalam in the province of Enga about 3am on Thursday, the broadcaster said.
The death toll could not be independently verified. No further details were immediately available.
PNG government officials and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Media in the Pacific island nation said the landslide has impacted operations at the Porgera gold mine, operated by Barrick Gold through Barrick Niugini Ltd, its joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining.
Barrick Gold did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Reuters
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1.35pm
What we’ve covered so far
By Caroline Schelle
Thank you for joining our live coverage so far today, I’m handing over the reins to Christopher Harris, who will keep the blog running through to the end of the day.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:
Australia’s biggest individual lottery winner says he is “pinching himself” after claiming the $150 million Powerball jackpot, but still turned up for work.Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed that two more flights will bring home Australians from riot-hit New Caledonia today.Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton tells stolen generation survivors and families that “I am truly sorry” for the harm caused through police actions.The owner of a luxury Sydney property where Bruce Lehrmann lived rent-free appeared for the first time in a NSW tribunal as she pursues the former Liberal staffer over alleged property damage.West Australian Premier Roger Cook has ruled out pursuing a state-based Indigenous Voice to parliament, while suggesting the days of big reconciliation gestures like that are probably over.Elon Musk has suffered a legal defeat in Australia after his social media company X argued it should not be subject to local anti-discrimination laws.
1.16pm
Trailblazing Australian artist known for provocative, political work dies
By Linda Morris
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and image of a person who has died.
Trailblazing Indigenous photographer and multimedia artist Destiny Deacon has died in Melbourne.
Along with fellow pioneer Tracey Moffatt, Deacon was one of the few Australian artists to establish an international audience with her acerbic and witty take on Aboriginal kitsch and casual racism.
Destiny Deacon inside an NGV 2020 exhibition, with some of the “Koorie kitsch” she was renowned for collecting.Credit: NGV
Deacon’s installations, videos, and photographic prints are featured in the collections of all major Australian cultural institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of NSW.
Deacon, born in 1957, often described herself as “an old-fashioned political artist” and was renowned for taking apart the cruelty of everyday racism while also lampooning victimhood.
1.00pm
Powerball winner went to work after winning $150m prize
Australia’s biggest individual lottery winner says he is “pinching himself” after claiming the $150 million Powerball jackpot, but still turned up for work.
The Adelaide man contacted official lottery provider The Lott on Friday morning to confirm his win.
He told them he had checked his two tickets for the draw late last night, and when he scanned the second one, and it said, “$150 million”.
“I’ve never screamed so loud or jumped so high,” he said today.
The $150 million Powerball jackpot has been won by a lottery ticket bought in Adelaide.
“Woohoo! I’m still pinching myself. I still haven’t slept. I’ve just kept checking the ticket.”
He held the only division-one winning entry nationwide in Powerball draw 1462 last night.
“I can’t believe it … I’m Australia’s biggest lottery winner ever,” he said. He bought the ticket from the OTR Drive Thru at Salisbury in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
I know it may sound crazy, but I’m going to continue working. I’m at work today.
I’ll buy a house, want to travel the world and I’ve got a family and friends I want to help, but for now I can’t wrap my head around how big this prize is.
This is life changing. I can’t stop smiling and pinching myself. I can’t believe my luck.”
The $150 million was the third-largest lottery prize in Australian history, behind a $200 million Powerball win shared between two people in February and a $160 million jackpot in 2022 split between three ticket holders.
AAP
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12.45pm
Victorian underworld figure survives second execution attempt
By Nick McKenzie and Marta Pascual Juanola
Melbourne’s underworld tobacco wars have ratcheted up with the attempted assassination of underworld figure Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim outside his Thomastown home.
Neighbours described hearing a commotion in the early hours of this morning and police are now investigating whether he was lured out of his home to be executed.
Former Mongols bikie and professional boxer Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim.Credit: Instagram
Abdulrahim, a boxer who is also known by his fighting name The Punisher, escaped serious injury and the offenders are on the run.
Victoria Police confirmed multiple shots had been fired in the direction of the 32-year-old as he left his Larch Street home about 3.15am.
“Police are working to establish the exact circumstances of the incident and investigations are ongoing,” a spokeswoman said.
12.35pm
‘I am truly sorry’, Victoria Police chief tells stolen generation survivors
Victorian Police Commissioner Shane Patton is apologising to survivors and family members of the stolen generations in Melbourne today.
Speaking in Thornbury, in Melbourne’s inner north, he apologised for the actions of police who separated Indigenous children from their families.
He also apologised for record keeping practices that disproportionately affected them, and meant they were “often treated as if they had a criminal record”.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has apologised to members of the stolen generations and their families for the actions of police.Credit: Nine
“Such unjust practices cast a false shadow over their character, I’m sorry that this so often further deepened the trauma,” Patton said this afternoon.
He said inadequate record-keeping directly contributed to the compounding impacts on stolen generation survivors, and their descendants, their connection to family, community, language and identity.
“Sadly we may never know the exact number of Aboriginal children separated from their families through actions involving Victoria Police,” the commissioner said.
He said the lack of records frustrated the desire of Aboriginal people for a full and frank account of police actions in the removal of children from their families.
“To every stolen generation survivor, their families and the entire Aboriginal community for the harm caused through Victoria Police’s actions, I am truly sorry.”
12.21pm
Watch: Victoria Police apology to Stolen Generations
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton will today deliver an apology to survivors and family of the stolen generations.
Watch live:
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12.15pm
Two more flights to bring Aussies home from New Caledonia amid unrest
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed that two more flights will bring home Australians from riot-hit New Caledonia today.
It comes as the French President Emmanuel Macron said he won’t force through the contested voting reform that sparked deadly unrest in the territory.
Wong wrote on social media that passengers are being prioritised on need.
“Two more Australian assisted-departure flights will bring Australians home from New Caledonia today,” she said on X.
“We will ensure there are further flights, and we’re arranging travel for Australians outside of Noumea.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade remains in contact with Australians on the island.
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