No injuries to staff or emergency services in Melbourne factory blaze: Fire Rescue Victoria
Fire Rescue Victoria Deputy Commissioner North & West Michelle Cowling said crews would probably remain on site over coming days to fully extinguish the Derrimut fire.
Major arterial roads are starting to reopen.
Cowling said:
Our crews have been working around the clock since 11.20am this morning and have brought this significant fire under control.
There have been no reports of any injuries to staff or to any of the emergency services on site.
The cause of this fire will be fully investigated by WorkSafe, FRV, Victoria police and other agencies.
The factory contained a range of chemicals, including kerosene, fuel, methylated spirits and ethanol.
We cannot leave any smouldering embers.
It has been a huge fire and Fire Rescue Victoria firefighters have done an amazing job, relying on their training and professionalism to bring this fire under control in such a short amount of time.
Australia’s environment ministers are dangerously unprepared for the arrival of a virus that’s wiping out wildlife around the world, critics say.
A deadly strain of bird flu has been sweeping the globe killing legions of poultry and wild birds but also mammals including seals and sea lions. Domestic animals including dogs, cats and farm animals are also at risk.
Experts fear it could reach Australia within months as migratory birds arrive for spring. But the issue wasn’t on the agenda when Tanya Plibersek met with state and territory environment ministers three weeks ago.
Invasive Species Council campaigner Jack Gough says response plans are needed for places such as Kangaroo Island, which has the third largest breeding colony of Australian sea lions.
This is probably the biggest immediate threat to wildlife we have. This will be on the scale of the black summer bushfires in terms of impact if it turns up. And yet no real preparedness has occurred.
Environment departments have washed their hands of the issue because they see it as an agriculture department issue – that is the fundamental problem.
The local bourse has lost ground, with overnight testimony by Fed chairman Jerome Powell proving insufficient to break the market out of its trading range.
After being down as many as 47.7 points, or 0.6%, in the first hour of trading on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index clawed its way to finish 12.9 points lower at 7,816.8, a loss of 0.16%.
The broader All Ordinaries dropped 16.9 points, or 0.21%, at 8,058.3.
The Australian dollar was buying 67.43 US cents, from 67.46 US cents at Tuesday’s ASX close.
Tens of thousands more truckers needed to keep up with freight demands
About 26,000 more drivers are needed to fill gaps in the trucking industry as the sector faces shortfalls across all business sizes and types, according to the National Road Transport Association.
With NSW road freight requirements projected to increase 57% by 2040, the association’s chief executive Warren Clark has urged national cabinet to act now:
This is not just a crisis for the trucking industry, it’s a crisis for the national economy.
The supply chain is the backbone of our economy, and without enough drivers, the entire system is at risk.
The large factory fire at Swann Drive in Derrimut is under control, Fire Rescue Victoria has said.
The blaze is still expected to rage for days as tens of thousands of residents are told to stay inside.
A watch and act alert was issued for residents and workers in Derrimut, Laverton North, Sunshine West and Truganina, with residents near the smoke told to stay inside.
More than 180 firefighters have been responding to the fire.
FRV’s specialist hazmat and scientific advisers are on site, as well as the Environment Protection Authority.
Academics criticise appointment of antisemitism envoy
Caitlin Cassidy
Academics have expressed their anger at the appointment of Jillian Segal to special envoy to combat antisemitism, pointing to her lobbying for vice-chancellors to bring disciplinary action against pro-Palestine student protesters.
In May, a media release from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry that followed a meeting with Group of Eight vice-chancellors, convened by the department of education, quoted Segal who “stressed the importance of universities upholding their respective codes of conduct and bringing disciplinary action against those found to be in breach”.
ECAJ welcomed the commonwealth’s decision to appoint its past president, Segal, to the position, saying in a statement she would bring “deep knowledge of the issues and immense energy to the role”.
But Dr Ben Eltham, president of the NTEU Monash branch, said the appointment of a former lobbyist raised “some troubling questions for university staff and students”.
“We know that Ms Segal personally lobbied vice-chancellors to take disciplinary action against peacefully protesting students. That was a bad faith intervention, which mischaracterised what students were actually protesting about … we don’t need an envoy: we need university leaders to listen to their students and staff calling for ceasefire and divestment from military research.”
Dr Jordana Silverstein, a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Law School, labelled the appointment “unacceptable”, adding “everyone involved … needs to be condemned”.
Murder trial begins for Toowoomba Saints religious sect
The trial of 14 members of the Toowoomba Saints religious sect for the alleged murder of 8-year-old Elizabeth Struhs has begun.
It’s been more than two years since the young girl died as a result of her type one diabetes.
Parents Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs and Jason Richard Struhs and others allegedly denied her insulin for several days and instead prayed for her health. Elizabeth died on January 7, 2022.
Religious leader Brendan Stevens and Jason Struhs face charges of murder, on the basis they denied her insulin in the knowledge that doing so would probably cause her death.
Kerrie Struhs faces a charge of manslaughter on the same basis.
Dozens of journalists and others turned up to watch today’s hearing. As a result, the main courtroom is completely full and the overflow room is also near full. Today’s hearing is expected to run until about 4.15pm this afternoon.
Zachary Struhs is charged with manslaughter on the basis that by his words and actions, he counselled, aided or procured Elizabeth’s parents to unlawfully kill her. Loretta Stevens, Therese Stevens, Andrea Stevens, Acacia Stevens, Camellia Stevens, Alexander Stevens, Sebastian Stevens, Keita Martin, Lachlan Schoenfisch and Samantha Schoenfisch face the same charge, as heard during indictment.
All 14 defendants refused to plead guilty or not guilty. The trial begun by having indictments by a court officer who then asked the group to enter a plea.
They all responded with slight variations of “I enter no plea your honour” or “I enter no plea”.
Queensland Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns ordered that a plea of not guilty be entered for all 14.
Anna Meares says Australia’s Olympians will be safe in Paris amid political turmoil
Head of Australia’s Olympic team Anna Meares says she is not worried about recent political turmoil in Paris, with the additional security anticipated in the French capital enough to allay any safety concerns.
Sixteen days out from the start of the Games, as Australia formally finalised its team on Wednesday, the team’s chef de mission pointed to last year’s Rugby World Cup as an example of how France has delivered a major event with minimal disruption.
Meares said:
We know that there’s been unrest and riots and protests in Paris. This is normal. This is how they express themselves.
We have great faith in the French authorities and in the security that they’re putting in place. We’ve got our own plans in place.
Labor ‘trying to reinvent the wheel’ by appointing special envoy on antisemitism, Greens say
The Greens have accused Labor of “trying to reinvent the wheel instead of backing the solution they already have”, after the appointment of a special envoy on antisemitism.
In a statement, the deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, called on the government to urgently implement a national anti-racism strategy and fully fund the race discrimination commissioner to “ensure all forms of racism are combated”.
We already have a race discrimination commissioner which is empowered to fight all forms of racism. Labor is trying to reinvent the wheel instead of backing the solution they already have.
Faruqi accused the government of failing to consult the Islamophobia Register ahead of yesterday’s announcement, and “hastily” adding the announcement of an anti-Islamophobia envoy “without even a candidate”.
Muslims facing Islamophobia in this country should not be an afterthought.
We need a united effort to defeat racism in this country, which is so pervasive and deep seated, especially against First Nations people. The best way to dismantle antisemitism, Islamophobia or any other type of racism is by working in solidarity with groups facing hate and racism.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Organisations fear young people in regional Australia risk being cut off from community support if ban is enacted
Continuing from our last post: Dolly’s Dream advisory board member, Genevieve Fraser, said kids in regional Australia – particularly LGBTQ kids – face being cut off and isolated from support networks on social media if a ban is put in place.
Alannah and Madeline foundation CEO Sarah Davies said age assurance was a red herring and would give a false sense of security to parents:
I think the challenge with ... the News Corp campaign ... running, is that it feels good to anxious parents and grandparents, and it’ll feel good for about five minutes, like a sugar hit, until we realise it’s not actually changing anything. It is highly likely to make things worse.
Social media and tech is hugely positive if it is safe to use and age appropriate to use because it gives children and young people access to people like them, tribes, community support.
She said the tech needed to be age-appropriate and built safely by design.
Organisations divided on effectiveness of age assurance tech for social media
Organisations focused on child safety, eating disorders, and women’s rights are divided on whether age assurance for social media will be effective, and whether access should be restricted to those 16 and over.
Collective Shout, Eating Disorders Families Australia and the Daniel Morcombe Foundation speaking to the federal parliament’s social media inquiry all supported the move to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, but the Butterfly Foundation, the Alannah and Madeline Foundation and Dolly’s Dream all expressed reservations about whether it would be effective and not cause more harm.
Collective Shout movement director, Melinda Tankard Reist, said it was risk reduction and that bringing it in would incentivise the technology sector to invest and make it work:
We believe that if we implement age assurance technologies and if we can delay access to these social media platforms, you’ll have less children being exposed to porn, to predators, to harmful online content, to bullying, [and] every year of delay means more cognitive development, more maturity and more ability to withstand the harmful elements of these products, which has been shown, are not safe for children in their current form.
Just circling back to the factory fire in Derrimut, in Melbourne’s west:
At a press conference, Fire Rescue Victoria firefighter Michelle Cowling said the fire had been upgraded to a seventh alarm (you can read more on this earlier in the blog here).
Fire Rescue Victoria said there are different types of alarms, with a seventh alarm signalling a “very significant fire”.
Fires are given an alarm rating based on how many resources are required to put the fire out. Because this fire was a chemical fire, additional resources were deployed, hence the seventh alarm rating.
Ten thousand vapes seized in first week of restrictions, says NSW health minister
At the press conference, the NSW health minister, Ryan Park, added that his government was “tracking this literally every day”.
He said in the first week of the new restrictions, NSW had seized 10,000 vapes from more than 60 locations:
Between illegal tobacco and vapes, we seized over a million dollars’ worth of product. NSW, working with TGA officials together, we’re starting to put a dent in this.
Now it’s going to take time, I’ve said that from the very beginning. The reality is, this type of product got ahead of everybody … what we’re focused on is making sure that we reduce the supply, reduce the availability, and reduce the impacts particularly for young people.
Vape stores closing down amid new regulations, health minister says
The health minister, Mark Butler, says vape stores are closing down and convenience stores are dumping their stock of the products after the government’s latest round of anti-vaping regulations came in last week.
Non-therapeutic vapes (that is, ones for recreational use) are now banned from sale and can only be legally bought through pharmacies, in a bid to cut out the products. Asked at a press conference today in Sydney about the regulations, Butler said the government was “working in close cooperation with state and territory governments to ramp up an enforcement program”.
We’re getting very significant reports across the country of vape stores starting to close down and of convenience stores, clearing their shelves, and their drawers, frankly, of vapes.
Butler added that authorities had seized “more than 3 million vapes just in the last six months, so we’re already starting to choke off supply”:
But, of course, we will ramp up these efforts over the coming weeks, the TGA and its equivalent authorities, including particularly here in New South Wales have been working hard to get the arrangements in place to ramp up those enforcement arrangements.
Minister for health Mark Butler. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
