Brisbane bus drivers push back strike action – as it happened​on February 24, 2025 at 6:44 am

Thanks for reading our blog today. Have a great evening, wherever you are.

Here were today’s major developments:

• NSW police have said the “very experienced” fisher who went overboard on Sunday is believed to have become entangled in fishing gear while retrieving a shark, before he fell off the boat and failed to resurface.

• Brisbane’s bus drivers have delayed industrial action to the end of the week due to what their union described as “more productive negotiations” with Brisbane city council.

• The Climate Change Authority has analysed the opposition leader, Peter Dutton’s, nuclear energy policy and said it would add huge amounts of extra climate pollution to the atmosphere and make it “virtually impossible” for Australia to reach net zero by 2050.

• Senate estimates heard that Australia will meet a request by the UN’s top climate official to have countries submit by September this year their climate targets for 2035.

• Dutton and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, both held press conferences today. Dutton claimed to be the election “underdog” despite a boost in the polls.

• Albanese was out talking up a Labor election promise of investing $8.5bn to fund an extra 18m bulk-billed GP visits a year. Albanese said the government was “very confident” about reaching a 90% bulk-billing rate under the new Medicare plan

• And the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has said her government will strip planning powers from local governments that don’t get serious about approving more homes. Allan said she intended to “shake things up” to address the housing crisis as she released the final local government housing targets drafted last year.

Buses carrying schoolchildren crash in Queensland, no injuries reported

Two buses believed to be carrying schoolchildren have crashed in Caboolture, north of Brisbane.

The Queensland ambulance service said paramedics responded to the collision at the corner of Morayfield Road and Stringfellow Road just before 3pm.

The ambulance service said no one was injured.

Continuing from our last post …

Paterson has also asked officials whether it is appropriate that a Labor campaign poster was at a citizenship ceremony that Tony Burke attended.

During the hearing, Paterson handed out a printed screenshot from a video showing the poster.

He asked the department secretary, Stephanie Foster, whether the poster was consistent with the code home affairs has for ceremonies.

Foster said she was “unaware” of the posters and it “wasn’t apparent” Burke knew the poster was even there.

Later on, Watt informed the committee that “in full Inspector Clouseau mode” it had been found photo was actually taken of Burke’s campaign launch that was held the same day as the citizenship ceremony.

There has been some drama around citizenship ceremonies in the federal Senate estimates this afternoon.

Senator James Paterson is asking home affairs officials about how guests are invited to citizenship ceremonies, and why multiple Labor MPs and candidates have been attending recent ceremonies.

There has been plenty of back and forth between Paterson, secretary Stephanie Foster, and Murray Watt who is representing the home affairs minister.

Foster said that according to the department code, the official invite goes to the “member of the locality in which the ceremony is being held, mayors who have conferees in the ceremony, and a senator of the opposition”.

She said the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, would have invited any other Labor MPs, and clarifies if a candidate attends, they do so “in a private capacity”.

There are also questions on why the independent MP Dai Le was not invited to one of the ceremonies.

Watt says Burke has said publicly he personally invited Le to the ceremony, though she has rejected that claim.

Le told Sky News this afternoon:

I was so furious that he [Burke] made that claim and a blatant lie to say that the invitation was sent to me.

You can read more context on the citizenship ceremony debate from Josh Butler here:

McNulty has said the missing fisher was not wearing a lifejacket when he fell overboard.

He said:

It’s just a message to everyone fishing, either locally in our waterways, offshore, it was a long way offshore – 55km offshore without a lifejacket.

Tragically, that might have assisted in his recovery – if he had a lifejacket on.

It’s a safety message for all mariners out there, the complacency sets in, it doesn’t matter how experienced you are or how long you’ve been fishing, wear a lifejacket.

NSW police say the “very experienced” fisher who went overboard on Sunday is believed to have become entangled in fishing gear before he fell off the boat.

Supt Joe McNulty, from the New South Wales police marine area command, gave an update on the situation a short time ago.

Experienced game fisher Paul Barning fell overboard while competing in a fishing competition about 1pm on Sunday, 55km off the coast of Newcastle.

He was reported to have been taken by a shark after falling off the boat, but another fisher denied a shark was involved and said the man was dragged overboard in a freak accident while fishing.

McNulty said the missing man was believed to have been forced overboard after he became entangled in his fishing gear while retrieving a shark, but there was no evidence the shark had attacked him.

He said:

What we can confirm is the vessel had hooked up a shark in its fishing gear and they were trying to retrieve the shark, usually for a tag and release program.

We believe the shark was quite large, the vessel was only 6.8 metres in length itself so during that process of bringing the shark alongside, he has become entangled in the fishing line and the shark has taken off.

That fishing line has pulled taut and maybe contributed to him going over the side of the vessel.

There is no evidence to say the shark has attacked a person in the water.

Woman charged with attempted murder after alleged stabbing in Coffs Harbour

New South Wales police say they have charged a 42-year-old woman with attempted domestic violence related murder after she allegedly stabbed a man near Coffs Harbour last night.

Police said they were called to Strouds Road in Bonville about 7.30pm, when they said they were told a man had allegedly been stabbed in the neck by a woman believed to be known to him.

Paramedics treated the man, also 42, at the scene before he was taken to a local hospital in a serious but stable condition, police said.

Police said the woman was arrested and taken to Coffs Harbour police station where she was charged with causing wounding/grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder (DV), and reckless wounding (DV).

She was refused bail to appear before Coffs Harbour local court earlier today, police said, where she was formally refused bail to appear before the same court on 15 April.

Hello, thanks for joining me on the blog. I’m here to take you through the rest of the day’s news.

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Catie McLeod will take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care.

Brisbane’s bus drivers have delayed industrial action to the end of the week due to “more productive negotiations”.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) said it had suspended strike action planned for Wednesday due to negotiations with Brisbane city council being “more progressive after its last stoppage”.

Drivers stopped work on Thursday last week from 4am to 6am over a pay dispute with the council. The union had planned to strike during peak hour on Wednesday, from 4pm to 6pm. There will be more negotiations on Wednesday.

The RTBU secretary Tom Brown said the union “will always bargain in good faith”.

We are not going to pass up the opportunity to reach an agreement, we will postpone our action.

The industrial action only affects drivers in the Brisbane city council, not other routes in south-east Queensland.

IVF provider Genea has said a cyber-attacker has gained access to a system containing sensitive patient information including medical history, diagnoses, treatments, doctors’ notes and medication information.

Guardian Australia reported last week that patients of IVF services provider Genea had been informed that the company had detected suspicious activity on its network and was working to figure out what had been compromised.

In an email to patients today, the Genea CEO, Tim Yeoh, revealed patient management systems had been accessed by an unauthorised third party, but it was unknown what personal information within those systems had been compromised.

Yeoh said the information in that system includes: full names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, Medicare card numbers, private health insurance details, Defence DA number, medical record numbers, patient numbers, date of birth, medical history, diagnoses and treatments, medications and prescriptions, patient health questionnaire, pathology and diagnostic test results, notes from doctors and specialists, appointment details, emergency contacts and next of kin.

Yeoh said at this stage there was no evidence that financial information such as credit card details or bank account numbers had been compromised, but the investigation is ongoing.

NZ defence minister weighs in on Chinese warships in Tasman sea

New Zealand’s defence minister, Judith Collins, has given an interview about the Chinese warships in in the Tasman Sea.

The ships undertook an apparent live-fire drill in international waters between Australia and New Zealand last week, diverting commercial flights in the skies above.

Speaking to Radio New Zealand today, Collins said China’s claim it gave sufficient warning to New Zealand and Australia was “wrong”.

There was a warning to civil aviation flights that was basically a very short amount of notice – a couple of hours – as opposed to what we would consider best practice, which is 12 to 24 hours’ notice so that aircraft are not having to be quickly diverted when they’re on the wing. So actually it is unusual and … we are seeking assurance from the Chinese embassy around that.

Collins told the outlet China was staying quiet on what else its ships might do this week:

They’re not telling us what they’re planning, but I can tell you that the ships are currently around 280 nautical miles east of Tasmania. So the ships have slightly changed their formation …

We don’t know what their intention is, but we’re taking them at face value that they are undertaking normal transits when it comes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that they’re not breaking the law. But as we’ve said, it is always better to give a lot more notice when it comes to live firing.

Australian shares flat as WiseTech Global plunges

The local share market has been struggling to keep its head above water, AAP reports, with losses by the market’s biggest tech company and major miners balanced by a bounce-back by the big banks.

At lunchtime the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down 7.4 points, or 0.09%, to 8,288.8, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 29.1 points, or 0.034%, to 8,541.8.

The ASX200 had been down by as much as 79.9 points, or 0.9%, in early trading but by midday it was hovering in and out of positive territory. A finish in the red would extend its losing streak to six days – its longest streak since a seven-session stretch in June 2022.

In the technology sector, WiseTech Global plunged 22.7% to a six-month low of $94.14 after more turmoil at the cloud logistics platform:

Overall the tech sector had dropped 7.5%, also weighed down by Iress and Nuix. The former had sunk 16.2% after posting its full-year results, while the latter was down 9.2% on its half-year financials.

In the financial sector, all of the big four banks were in the green after last week’s sharp sell-off. In materials, all of the big miners were lower. BHP had dropped 1.4%, Rio Tinto had fallen 2.3% and Fortescue was down 0.2%.

The Australian dollar was buying 63.88 US cents, down from 63.95 US cents at 5pm on Friday.

There’s been a long back and forth in Senate estimates over when the prime minister was briefed on the Dural caravan plot.

The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, has been trying to dig out more details on when the PM was briefed on the plot, before it became public last month.

Department secretary Stephanie Foster said she wouldn’t answer as it was an “ongoing investigation”, and that questions should be directed to the agency in charge, which is the federal police (who will be in front of Senate estimates tomorrow).

The questioning from Paterson got quite heated, with the shadow minister saying the government was “embarrassed”, with Murray Watt – who’s representing the home affairs minister in the Senate – retorting that Paterson was more interested in “political point scoring” than finding those responsible.

Greens senator David Shoebridge also asked the department when it was made aware of the caravan filled with explosives. Foster said she’d take all those questions on notice.

Earlier, Paterson asked what the protocols were around informing the government and relevant minister on security incidents. The department said there were “guidelines”, but they could change on a case-by-case basis.

BoM updates on Tropical Cyclone Alfred

The Bureau of Meteorology has provided an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred (see earlier post), which is currently tracking through the Coral Sea – with a slight chance it could move towards the Queensland coast from next weekend.

Call for national approach to efficiency standards while protecting renters

Continuing from our last post: Joel Dignam, executive director of Better Renting, said “too many” renters were in “substandard housing that is too hot in summer, too cold in winter and too expensive to keep at a healthy and comfortable temperature”.

Renters across Australia should be sharing in the benefits of a transition to efficient electric homes that are healthier to live in and cheaper to run. While owner-occupiers can make choices to cut their energy bills and improve their home’s comfort, renters are entirely in the hands of their landlord.

A national approach is needed to help states and territories implement strong energy efficiency standards while ensuring protections for renters. We’re calling for federal leadership to do their part so that all Australians can have a healthy home and affordable energy bills.

Funding sought to make rental properties more energy efficient

Renting advocates have paired up with industry organisations to call for targeted funding for landlords to make their investment properties more energy efficient.

A total of 120 organisations – including Better Renting, NSW Tenants Union, Acoss and the Real Estate Institute of Australia – have called on the federal government to step in to ensure renters can access the benefits of home energy upgrades and meet climate emissions reduction targets.

The four big ticket items are support for:

• Landlords to access energy assessments or energy audits that are shared with renters.

• Establishing a “one-stop-shop” to assist landlords to access appropriate finance, subsidies, tradespeople and compliance information

• States and territories to implement mandatory energy performance disclosure at the point of lease, to support the implementation of mandatory energy performance rental standards, so that renters know the energy performance of the property before they sign.

• Real-estate industry and strata management training, education and support.