Call to refer homeless deaths to coroner
Adeshola Ore
The head of the Salvation Army’s Victorian division has called for all homeless deaths in the state to be referred to the coroner.
A Guardian Australia investigation this year revealed that Australians experiencing homelessness were dying at an average age of 44 – a shocking life expectancy gap driven by violence, treatable illness and systemic failures across the housing, health and justice sectors.
In a letter to the state’s attorney general this month, Colonel Kelvin Merrett – the divisional commander in Victoria – said the government should mandate that all homeless deaths are reported to the coroner.
The hope would be that the measure would assist the Victorian government and community organisations in identifying measures that could be implemented to prevent unnecessary deaths of people who are homeless.
Guardian Australia’s investigation sparked a nationwide push for mandatory reporting of homelessness deaths to the coroner to prevent them being invisible. The Victorian government previously said it would consider the reform following calls from advocates.
Key events
Government fast tracks funding to develop ‘guarantee of origin’ scheme
The government says it is fast tracking the development of the “Guarantee of Origin scheme” – to track and verify the carbon emissions of hydrogen made in Australia, and support renewable energy certification.
In a statement from the assistant minister for climate change and energy, senator Jenny McAllister, the scheme is described as the “emissions accounting backbone” of the Future Made in Australia program.
The scheme will issue digital certificates that allow producers, exporters and users to prove where a product was made, and the emissions associated with its production and transport, the statement said.
The scheme would initially commence with hydrogen but later expand to include “low carbon liquid fuels like sustainable aviation fuel, green metals like steel and aluminium, and biomethane and biogas.”
The government says it almost doubled funding for the development of the scheme in the 2024/25 budget, bringing the total committed funding to over $70.4m.
McAllister said that “as the world decarbonises, it will be increasingly important for businesses to be able to account for the carbon emissions associated with their products.”
Weather update for Victoria and New South Wales: rain, floods, gusts and snow
Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology, spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier to provide an update on the rainfall across Victoria.
He said the rain has been focused around the central and eastern parts of the state, with up to 100mm around Mount Baw Baw and 80mm to 90mm in some far-eastern parts of Melbourne.
That has given us minor to moderate flood warnings including in parts of the Yarra River this morning, as all of the rain from last night and yesterday evening drains out through the river network and out towards the ocean.
He said it’s been “very gusty” as well, particularly for NSW – with many places gusting over 80-90km/h and a severe weather warning in place for the South Coast, Illawarra and Southern Tablelands.
Alpine areas of NSW also saw a dumping of fresh snow overnight, with some of the higher peak picking up at least 30cm, Hines said.
Flood warning for communities along Latrobe River
A watch and act alert has also been issued for areas along the Latrobe River amid flooding.
Moderate flooding of 5m is possible at Thoms Bridge from late this morning, the State Emergency Service said, as rainfall totals up to 46mm were recorded across the Latrobe catchment in the 24 hours to 10pm last night. Further rainfall is forecast for the remainder of today.
Moderate flooding may also occur along the Latrobe River from Yallourn to Traralgon Creek. The SES is warning communities to prepare for flooding now.
Take actions to protect your life and property against potential hazards caused by flooding.
WATCH & ACT – RIVERINE FLOOD – Prepare Now – Latrobe River Yallourn to Traralgon Creek.
Prepare for flooding now. Take actions to protect your life and property against potential hazards caused by flooding.
More details at https://t.co/gAhr6tx3rr pic.twitter.com/cojTYKLVsr
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) July 15, 2024
‘Move to higher ground’ along Watts River, SES says
Communities at Healesville along the Watts River in Victoria are being urged to move to higher ground amid flood warnings.
The State Emergency Service has issued a watch and act alert, with moderate flooding likely to occur at Healesville early this morning.
The Yarra River catchment recorded rainfall averaging 48mm in the upper part of the catchment, and about 25mm in the lower part of the catchment since 9am yesterday. Rainfall totals of 20-30mm are forecast for the catchment today.
The Watts River catchment recorded rainfall averaging about 60mm since 9am yesterday, with totals of 20-30mm forecast today. At Healesville, the river is at 3.11m and rising and is expected to peak at the moderate flood level early this morning.
Nearby residents are urged to move to higher ground to “protect your life and property.”
CFMEU secretary: independent administrator over alleged criminal links ‘unnecessary’
Q: Why shouldn’t the federal government deregister you?
Zach Smith responded:
Because deregistration would be a disaster for workers.
What deregistration means is that workers lose their representation overnight on issues like safety and wages and conditions. This is a dangerous, precarious industry, and the last thing you want is workers to be left vulnerable and without representation, without protection in an industry like ours.
Smith was also asked whether an independent administrator should be appointed, rather than himself. He argued:
Because it’s unnecessary … You’re predetermining [that] somehow an internal investigation is not going to be adequate … The union and union movement is more than capable of dealing with allegations in their own right and responding appropriately.
CFMEU secretary on response from Victorian government
National CFMEU secretary Zach Smith is speaking with ABC RN, after the union’s Victorian branch was placed into administration yesterday. The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is seeking the suspension of the union’s construction division from the state Labor party over allegations of criminal links.
Smith said an investigative process to look at any allegations is being finalised today:
And obviously, if there’s any wrongdoing found people will be removed from our ranks. That being said, obviously, we need to afford people with a presumption of innocence and procedural fairness.
Yesterday, Allan also urged the federal government “to review – and if necessary, terminate” – CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreements on Victorian construction sites to prevent criminal activity. Smith argued that would need to be “approached very carefully”.
We don’t want to see a situation where workers who are relying on enterprise agreements [have] those agreements removed without any notice and … lose the protection around wages and conditions in their workplace.
More from AAP on fish fears from the NZ ‘super trawler’
Continuing from our last post: Adrian Meder said catch volumes that weren’t realised last year when the super trawler didn’t fish in that area have also been carried over, potentially doubling what it can take this year.
In September, a research and scientific committee that feeds advice up the chain to the management authority met. Minutes from that meeting suggest fishery managers were comforted – not concerned –by the fact recent catches at Cascade Plateau were as low as 2% to 4% of what was approved.
Despite the low catch in recent years, industry members noted the need to maintain the TAC at a level that will incentivise fishing in the region and support ongoing data collection.
There was specific mention that further cuts “might make the stock commercially unviable”. Meder says the commercial considerations are worrying, saying:
They said you’ve got to incentivise fishing, well I don’t think you do. You want to be really, really careful that the fishing you are doing isn’t causing further problems of the sort that we well understand.
The management authority says the trawler will only fish the eastern zone this time, intending to catch 60% of the current 1,320 tonne total allowable catch using a quota owned by Australian companies.
It says catch limits are based on a 2021 CSIRO assessment that will allow stocks in the east to rebuild, and the latest assessment from Cascade Plateau, now 15 years old, suggests it’s sustainable.
Fears for threatened fish as NZ ‘super trawler’ cleared to return
A New Zealand super trawler has returned to Australia to target a threatened fish amid fears previous trips may be linked to a population crash, AAP reports.
Conservationists are disturbed by Australia’s decision to authorise the return of the Amaltal Explorer, a factory ship that will net orange roughy – a species that can live for more than 140 years and don’t start breeding until they’re about 30, which leaves them vulnerable to overfishing.
That’s what happened in the 1980s and 90s when stocks fell off a cliff and Australia was forced to institute a fishing ban in 2006. The one exception at the time was the Cascade Plateau fishing zone south-east of Hobart.
But the Australian Marine Conservation Society fears that site could now be in big trouble. Adrian Meder, a sustainable seafood campaigner, says after the trawler fished Cascade Plateau in 2021 and 2022, the Australia industry began complaining consistent catches at the site had vanished.
He cites two trips by one of Australia’s largest deepwater trawlers last year that only managed seven tonnes from a total allowable catch of 437 tonnes.
Meder is deeply troubled by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority’s failure to follow a scientific recommendation from the CSIRO to halve catch limits in the eastern zone. More on this in a moment.
Call to refer homeless deaths to coroner
Adeshola Ore
The head of the Salvation Army’s Victorian division has called for all homeless deaths in the state to be referred to the coroner.
A Guardian Australia investigation this year revealed that Australians experiencing homelessness were dying at an average age of 44 – a shocking life expectancy gap driven by violence, treatable illness and systemic failures across the housing, health and justice sectors.
In a letter to the state’s attorney general this month, Colonel Kelvin Merrett – the divisional commander in Victoria – said the government should mandate that all homeless deaths are reported to the coroner.
The hope would be that the measure would assist the Victorian government and community organisations in identifying measures that could be implemented to prevent unnecessary deaths of people who are homeless.
Guardian Australia’s investigation sparked a nationwide push for mandatory reporting of homelessness deaths to the coroner to prevent them being invisible. The Victorian government previously said it would consider the reform following calls from advocates.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and happy Tuesday – welcome back to a new day on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll take you through our rolling coverage today. Here’s what was making news overnight:
The head of the Salvation Army’s Victorian division has called for all homeless deaths in the state to be referred to the coroner. A Guardian Australia investigation sparked a nationwide push for mandatory reporting of homelessness deaths to the coroner to prevent them being invisible. We’ll have more on this from Adeshola Ore shortly.
Meanwhile, AAP is reporting that a New Zealand super trawler has returned to Australia to target a threatened fish, amid fears previous trips may be linked to a population crash. Conservationists are disturbed by Australia’s decision to authorise the return of the Amaltal Explorer, a factory ship that will net orange roughy.
The extraordinary fish can live for more than 140 years and the species is listed as conservation dependent under national laws for imperilled wildlife. They don’t start to breed until they’re about 30, leaving them highly vulnerable to overfishing. That’s exactly what happened in the 1980s and 90s when stocks fell off a cliff and in 2006 Australia was forced to institute a fishing ban. We’ll have more on this shortly.
As always, if you see something that needs attention on the blog you can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: [email protected].
Let’s get started.