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Koala populations in Gunnedah and Pilliga have seen fastest decline in NSW: ecologist
The NSW Koala Conference is subtitled ‘the vanishing’. Conference organiser, the former Liberal MP who crossed the floor for koala protection, Catherine Cusack gives an opening address with this warning:
The great silent vanishing of koalas is something the world will never forgive us for.
There’s so much official denial.
Cusack mentions how human interventions like the motorway put through Ballina’s last koala population, have devastated the state’s numbers.
Dr Steve Phillips, a koala ecologist, follows Cusack, saying there is a “tyranny of small decisions” with even modifications to their habitat contributing to population decline.
Phillips says in NSW, the koala populations of Gunnedah and Pilliga in the north-east of the state have seen some of the most rapid declines.
He says left to their own devices, koala populations can be stable. However, several factors are initiating decline, habitat chief amongst them with 60-85% of koala habitat lost since European settlement.
Population decline is not arrested by a change in conservation status.
This video by my colleague Lisa Cox (made after the koala was officially listed as endangered) was played at the beginning of the conference.
Independents welcome Australia’s changed positions on nuclear weapons treaty
We brought you the news on the blog earlier that Australia has dropped its opposition to a treaty banning nuclear weapons in a vote at the UN in New York today.
The news has been welcomed by some of the independent members of federal parliament who issued a joint statement in September calling for Australia to support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
Zoe Daniels, the member for Goldstein, was amongst the 10 independents who issued that statement has welcomed the news this morning and pointed to the joint statement.
Victorian flood risk persists with downpours ahead
Persistent rain may cause more flash flooding across Victoria over the long weekend as the state braces for possibly its coldest Melbourne Cup Day in nearly three decades, AAP reports.
More than 500 calls for assistance were made to Victoria’s State Emergency Service on Friday and authorities have urged residents to remain alert with heavy rain and storms set to soak parts of the state.
Western Victoria will be pummelled by heavy rain on Sunday afternoon, with damaging northerly winds expected across southern and elevated areas.
Authorities warn there could be increasing water levels in various parts of the state including northern, southern and far east regions.
An evacuation order remains in place at Echuca, after floodwaters from the Campaspe and Goulburn Rivers combined with flows down the Murray River to cause major flooding.
Residents in the Barmah and Lower Moira area have been advised it’s too late to leave and to seek shelter in the highest location possible.
An evacuation warning also remains active in the northern town of Kerang after moderate flooding of the Loddon River.
The Murray River at Torrumbarry Weir is expected to peak around 7.85 metres over the weekend, potentially causing major flooding.
Watch-and-act alerts have been issued for Bogong Village and Falls Creek, Bunbartha, Kaarimba and Mundoona.
‘Improving the lives of First Nations is a key priority of the Albanese government’: Burney
The Albanese government delivered its first budget on Tuesday. The minister for Indigenous affairs, Linda Burney, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, have this morning released this video explaining what the budget delivers for First Nations Australians.
As part of the $99m First Nations justice package, Dreyfus said $81.5m will be committed for justice reinvestment, including funding for 30 community led initiatives across Australia.
Burney said that $13.5m will be committed for First Nationals legal services.
First Nations incarceration rates and deaths in custody are a national shame.
So our Budget delivers a $99 million First Nations justice package so that we can turn the tide.@MarkDreyfusKCMP and I explain just how our Budget delivers for First Nations Australians. pic.twitter.com/c4XhrFupKT
— Linda Burney MP (@LindaBurneyMP) October 28, 2022
‘Now is the time to insist koalas are a priority’: NSW Koala Conference begins
The NSW Koala Conference has kicked off with the aim to elevate the issue of koala conservation in the lead up to the next NSW state election in March 2023.
Scientists, conservationists, wildlife carers, lawyers and First Nations people have gathered at Coffs Harbour to highlight the extinction risk facing koalas in NSW and policy solutions to protect koalas and their habitat.
The conference has been spearheaded by the former Liberal MLC, Catherine Cusack, who twice crossed the floor of the NSW parliament to stand up for koala protection.
Cusack said:
As a former MP who served in opposition and government, I saw up close how our political process is failing koalas.
Yes, there has been significant media coverage of their decline, nice words and lots of sympathy – but we are yet to see a credible rescue plan from the major parties who will form government after the March 2023 election.
I crossed the floor twice in parliament – both incidents concerned koala protection. I came to realise that individual politicians speaking out is insufficient – collective action by citizens is their last line of defence.
Our iconic koala populations are vanishing from the Australian landscape. Now is the time to insist koalas are a priority. In the lead up to the NSW state election in March, it’s more important than ever for us to make our voices heard.
Charity calls to get more Australians out of Syria
Women and children rescued from Syrian camps can be safely integrated back into Australian society, Save the Children says, AAP reports.
Four Australian women and 13 children held in Syria since the fall of Islamic State have been taken from the al-Roj camp to Erbil in Iraq to begin their trip to Sydney.
Earlier this month, the Albanese government confirmed a rescue plan to bring home 16 women and 42 children who are families of IS members.
The first people removed were assessed as the most vulnerable of those held.
The federal government worked with Kurdish authorities on the extraction, which reportedly included DNA testing the individuals to prove they’re Australian citizens.
Most of the children were born in Syria, meaning they’ll be heading to Australia for the first time.
Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler said the children had been given hope. He said:
We look forward to welcoming them home. We highly commend the Australian government for following through on its promise to repatriate these innocent children and their mothers.
They have given these children hope for their futures and rightly backed the robustness of Australia’s national security, judicial and resettlement systems to support their safe integration into Australian society.
He said there were still more than 30 Australian children stuck in the camps in northeast Syria and urged the government to repatriate them as quickly as possible.
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil refused to comment, citing sensitivity issues.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton warned the extractions were not in the national interest, claiming the rescues could inflame the risk of terrorism in Australia.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said the safety of Australians was always paramount and the government would continue to act on national security advice.
Home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo declined to comment on the repatriation or confirm it was occurring.
But a Senate estimates committee was told the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet was looking at whether media reporting of the rescue breached national security.
Pezzullo said:
Given the seriousness of the potential harm to national security … we were involved in discussions about the referral.
Operational secrecy is to be preserved at all times.
Pezzullo confirmed there were still Australian women and children in Syrian camps and that Asio and other agencies kept “constantly under review” the ability to physically access the camps.
Flood clean up underway in Moree
Residents of Moree have been told they can return with caution, after the north-west NSW town saw major flooding last week.
The clean up now begins and volunteers from around the country, including 11 volunteers from the Queensland Rural Fire Service.
RFS Queensland has joined our SES and Fire and Rescue in the massive flood effort south of the border.
Eleven South East Region volunteers arrived in Moree on Thursday and began the clean-up on Friday.
Crews are staying at a base camp established by NSW RFS until Monday. pic.twitter.com/0Q3Z2585Nm— Qld Fire & Emergency (@QldFES) October 28, 2022
Australia drops opposition to treaty banning nuclear weapons at UN vote
Daniel Hurst
Australia has dropped its opposition to a landmark treaty banning nuclear weapons in a vote at the United Nations in New York on Saturday.
While Australia was yet to actually join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the shift in its voting position to “abstain” after five years of “no” is seen by campaigners as a sign of progress given the former Coalition government repeatedly sided with the United States against it.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said through a spokesperson that Australia had “a long and proud commitment to the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime” and that the government supported the new treaty’s “ambition of a world without nuclear weapons”.
Read more here:
McCarthy is also travelling to a part of Indonesia that has links to her mob.
On a very cultural level for me, it’s significant to be travelling to Makassar to listen to stories of the engagement between the Makassans and the Yanyuwa people and the Yungara people of north-east Arnhem Land prior to White occupation but also well into the 1900, early 1900s before the white Australia policy came in.
So this is a historic moment, meeting with you know, going to Makassar and meeting with many of the organisations there and talking about our shared history and trade prior to white occupation.
Australia shares 16 vials of antidote to cure Indonesian children at minister’s request
McCarthy is also the first First Nations minister to represent Australia at the G20 summit of health ministers, and brings her experience working with Aboriginal community controlled health sector.
McCarthy said Australia, like many other nations, still has some way to go meeting the needs of Indigenous health.
We know in Australia we still have a long way to go in terms of closings gap. We certainly had a very significant portion of the budget announced this week that goes towards our work on renal dialysis and the fact we are going to have 30 units of four dialysis chairs. We are employing into the future 500 Aboriginal health workers across Australia and we are also dealing with rheumatic heart disease. Now, one of the strong issues here was tuberculosis and the need to work on that around the world. We recognise we have to also deal with that in Australia. These are very common issues that we are sharing.
Just here in Indonesia this week we have been able to supply 16 vials of antidote to look after many children over 200 children have been impacted with their kidneys here with what we understand to be some poisonous medication. So Australia this week on Monday was able to deliver 16 vials at the request of the Indonesian minister, Sadikin to our Health Minister, Mark Butler. We know we can interact very quickly and give support where we can and have shared experiences.
Health ministers meet to discuss future pandemics at G20 summit
Health ministers from across the globe have gathered in Bali to discuss how to prepare for future health emergencies.
The assistant minister for Indigenous Health, Malarndirri McCarthy, is representing Australia at the G20 summit, where she will highlight the health and medical challenges facing indigenous peoples at an international level.
McCarthy told ABC News this morning what Australia will contribute to the summit:
Australia’s contributed a great deal, we have supported other countries throughout the world during Covid, but we have also been able to share the information about working with our First Nations people and vulnerable people throughout Australia in remote and regional Australia.
So logistics, the health support, we have got our Ausmat team based in Darwin which reached out across the country and around the world for different matters. So these are the sorts of skills we bring.
We saw recently with the remembrance of the Bali bombing the work of Royal Darwin Hospital with the burns treatment. So Australia, our proximity in particular to Indonesia and our reaching out to the global community says that we are here and we are very ready to assist in any capacity that we can.
Good morning!
Four Australian women and 13 children who have been held in Syria for three-and-a-half years since the fall of Islamic State are expected to arrive in Sydney today.
The families, made up of four mothers and 13 or more children, left the camp late on Thursday, Australian time, and were first taken to Iraq.
It is the first time Australians captured after the fall of the terrorist group have been returned since eight orphans from two separate families were repatriated in 2019.
The four families represent less than half of the Australian women and children held in the camp. About 40 women and children who remain there are expected to be returned in two seperate repatriations in coming weeks.
Persistent rain may cause more flash flooding across Victoria over the weekend as the state braces for possibly its coldest Melbourne Cup Day in nearly three decades.
More than 500 calls for assistance were made to Victoria’s State Emergency Service on Friday and authorities have urged residents to remain alert with heavy rain and storms set to soak parts of the state.
Authorities warn there could be increasing water levels in various parts of the state, including northern, southern and far east regions.
An evacuation order remains in place at Echuca, after floodwaters from the Campaspe and Goulburn Rivers combined with flows down the Murray River to cause major flooding. Residents in the Barmah and Lower Moira area have been advised it’s too late to leave and to seek shelter in the highest location possible.
An evacuation warning also remains active in the northern town of Kerang after moderate flooding of the Loddon River.
The Murray River at Torrumbarry Weir is expected to peak around 7.85m over the weekend, potentially causing major flooding.
Watch-and-act alerts have been issued for Bogong Village and Falls Creek, Bunbartha, Kaarimba and Mundoona.
The NSW SES received 227 calls for assistance on Friday, with eight of those being flood rescues. Flood waters are moving further north-west in the state, with the town of Mungindi near the Queensland border preparing for a possible three weeks of isolation.
Let’s get into it.
