Australia news live: SpaceX debris disrupts Qantas flights from Sydney to South Africa
Musk’s SpaceX causes Qantas delays
Elias Visontay
Qantas has been forced to delay several of its flights to South Africa at the last minute due to warnings of falling debris from Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets reentering earth.
Ben Holland, head of Qantas’ operations centre, said there was often little advanced notice of where the rockets would fall over the southern Indian Ocean – the reentry zone chosen by the space company due to its remoteness – causing the airline to delay flights on its Sydney-Johannesburg route.
Over the past few weeks we’ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean.
While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure. Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted.
Customers generally understand this is outside of airlines’ control and that we can’t fly in the area when the rocket re-entry is taking place. We’re in contact with SpaceX to see if they can refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimise future disruption to our passengers on the route.
Key events
SpaceX debris landed in Australia in 2022
Just circling back to our earlier post, with news Qantas has been forced to delay several of its flights to South Africa amid warnings of falling debris from Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
You may remember in 2022 that space debris found in the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales was found to belong to a craft built by Musk’s SpaceX company.
As Natasha May reported at the time, Brad Tucker, an ANU astrophysicist, first realised the timing and location of the debris falling coincided with a SpaceX spacecraft which re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere at 7am on 9 July, 20 months after its launch in November 2020.
You can read the full story below:
Nine Sydney beaches close after ball-shaped debris washes ashore
Nine Sydney beaches have been closed after grey ball-shaped debris was found washed ashore. Northern Beaches Council advised beachgoers to avoid the following beaches until further notice:
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Manly
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Dee Why
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Long Reef
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Queenscliff
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Freshwater
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North Curl Curl
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South Curl Curl
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North Steyne
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North Narrabeen
The council was alerted to the debris via the EPA and is working closely to collect samples for testing, it said.
So far, most samples identified are marble-sized with a few larger in size. The Council is organising the safe removal of the matter and is inspecting other beaches.
Last October, thousands of mystery balls washed up on Sydney beaches and were later revealed to be consistent with human-generated waste. It forced the closure of multiple beaches.
Musk’s SpaceX causes Qantas delays
Elias Visontay
Qantas has been forced to delay several of its flights to South Africa at the last minute due to warnings of falling debris from Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets reentering earth.
Ben Holland, head of Qantas’ operations centre, said there was often little advanced notice of where the rockets would fall over the southern Indian Ocean – the reentry zone chosen by the space company due to its remoteness – causing the airline to delay flights on its Sydney-Johannesburg route.
Over the past few weeks we’ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean.
While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure. Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted.
Customers generally understand this is outside of airlines’ control and that we can’t fly in the area when the rocket re-entry is taking place. We’re in contact with SpaceX to see if they can refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimise future disruption to our passengers on the route.
Tropical low forming north of Pilbara in WA
The Bureau of Meteorology says tropical low, labelled 10U, is gradually forming to the north of the Pilbara in Western Australia.
A second tropical low, labelled 11U, may form off the Kimberley coast later this week, it said.
Rishworth wraps up speech, launching national autism strategy
Amanda Rishworth wrapped up her speech, saying that the national strategy provides “a solid pathway forward to a more inclusive Australia, where autistic people are supported and empowered to flourish in all aspects of their lives.”
I am really excited to see what we can achieve together over the next months and years ahead. Thank you for everyone who dedicated their time, their effort, their stories, their lived experience to help create a strategy that’s truly made for and by autistic people. I look forward to continuing to work with you into the future.
Government to develop resources to improve autism diagnosis process
Amanda Rishworth said another common theme throughout consultation was a lack of resources to support people before and after their autism diagnosis.
Through this action plan, we will develop resources to support autistic people to access affordable, quality diagnoses and ensure these resources are in formats that are accessible for autistic people, such as through video, visual information, easy to read and in languages other than English.
Rishworth also launching first action plan to implement strategy
Along with the national autism strategy, Amanda Rishworth is also launching the first action plan – “which outlines the immediate practical steps the government will take to achieve the strategies, vision and outcomes”.
She said the immediate actions would be funded to create tangible improvements in priority areas – employment, social connection, better support through the diagnostic journey and community understanding.
Rishworth said one of the key funding areas in the first instance would be peer support, because “not feeling accepted or understood was something we heard repeatedly through our consultations on the strategy”.
Having someone walk alongside you as a peer, share your journey and exchange advice can make all the difference, ensuring an autistic person doesn’t feel alone.
Rishworth says government was committed to working with Australians with autism to develop strategy
Amanda Rishworth said it was important for the government to work with autistic Australians while developing the strategy, to “promote greater inclusion and acceptance and ensure that spaces and places respond to the needs of autistic people”.
Our government really was committed to work with and for autistic people on this journey. We heard you when you told us that many barriers autistic people face happen every day in their lives, and this includes but is not limited to barriers to receiving good education, barriers to employment, barriers to navigating systems that are only suited to neurotypical people. This strategy lays the foundations to break down the barriers and create a more inclusive society.
Rishworth launching Australia’s national autism strategy
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, is launching Australia’s national autism strategy.
Speaking from Perth, Rishworth said this was the first Australian government strategy specifically dedicated to “improving inclusion, support and life outcomes for autistic people across Australia.”
Along with building community understanding and knowledge of the actions we all can take to ensure that our world is inclusive of the autistic community.
We have been working on this strategy for two years. It probably feels longer, to some of the oversight committee, but through its development, we repeatedly heard autistic people often are exhausted because they are masking who they are while living in an neurotypical world.
Albanese warns tech giants that ‘Australian elections are a matter for Australians’
The prime minister Anthony Albanese has warned social media giants that Australia has foreign interference laws and “Australian elections are a matter for Australians.”
The PM gave the warning in an interview with the Age, saying:
We have foreign interference laws in this country and Australian elections are a matter for Australians. I have no intention of being a … commentator on what people overseas want to engage in. People will make their own judgments and have their own views about that.
Elon Musk, who owns social media giant X, had his super political action committee spend about $200m to help elect Donald Trump to a second presidency.
Musk has previously used X to describe the platform as the home of “freedom” and brand Australia as the home of “censorship” after the Australian federal court ordered him to hide posts containing videos of a stabbing at a Sydney church from users globally, after the eSafety commissioner sought an injunction.
Australia security aims tangled in Vanuatu election
Australia’s regional security ambitions are on the ballot this week in Vanuatu, where voters will elect a fresh government.
As AAP reports, the Pacific nation is off to the polls on Thursday for a snap election. Plenty is at stake for both Vanuatu and the region – and Australia also has skin in the game.
In 2022, Anthony Albanese’s government announced a bilateral security agreement with Vanuatu, with the foreign minister, Penny Wong, leading a bipartisan delegation to Port Vila to sign the deal.
In 2024, Australia also helped create two new regional entities: a Pacific response group to coordinate military co-deployments, including to disasters, and the $400m Pacific policing initiative.
However, the Australia-Vanuatu deal never entered into force: instead, it was cause for deep introspection in Vanuatu, with many MPs upset with the prime minister Ishmael Kalsakau’s handling of the agreement.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s senior analyst, Blake Johnson, said the agreement was not widely enough consulted amongst Vanuatu politicians and “that was a reason for a vote against [Kalsakau] as prime minister.”
Kalsakau lasted another nine months before shifting allegiances in parliament allowed Sato Kilman a sixth stint as prime minister. Kilman was replaced by Charlot Salwai in October 2023.
While Kilman and Salwai did not ratify the security agreement, Kalsakau has vowed to do so if his opposition bloc is returned to power.
Benita Kolovos
Carroll says stability of McCrae coastline had not been raised with government prior to landslide
Ben Carroll was also asked about the house in McCrae, which collapsed down a cliff in a landslide earlier this morning.
He said no concerns have been raised with the government about the stability of the coastline hills in that area:
First and foremost, my thoughts are with the family in this house. It must be devastating for them, and obviously their neighbours as well. So this will be something that obviously the planning minister, the minister for building, all authorities will look at what’s happened to you, consult with the local council, but it hasn’t been an issue that’s been raised previously.
Benita Kolovos
Acting Victorian premier says ‘no place at all for family violence’ amid investigations within state police
The acting Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, held a press conference in Werribee earlier this morning with the party’s candidate for the upcoming byelection in the seat, John Lister.
Carroll was asked about reports Victoria police have investigated 680 employees over last five years, including over allegations of family violence, predatory behaviour, sexual harassment or inappropriate comments and sexual assault or child sexual offences.
He said all Victorians need to call out family violence and “as a male, as a leader in the community, I need to call out that this is gendered”:
That it is men that are the perpetrators, no matter what occupation they’re in. We support police doing everything they can to eradicate it, and everything they can to support victim-survivors.
Asked how Victorians are supposed to feel safe when those who work to protect them are at centre of such allegations, Carroll responded there was “no place at all for family violence”:
It is the number one law and order issue in the state. The family home where women should be at their safest, the evidence shows that it is most often the most unsafe place for them. So beyond the police, we have lots of work to do in terms of men’s behaviour change …
I’ve got more work to do in the area of respectful relationships, educating young boys, and we need to call it out and make sure we can do everything we can to support victim-survivors … in housing, with their pets, with their kids, doing everything we can to know that they’re supported and continue to can to eradicate it.
Natasha May
Autism peak body says national strategy needs to be followed with immediate action
Autism Awareness Australia (AAA) has welcomed the government today launching the first National Autism Strategy, but says it must be followed with immediate action to address autistic children who are losing their National Disability Insurance Scheme packages.
AAA’s chief executive officer, Nicole Rogerson, said approximately 600 autistic children are having their NDIS packages removed every week:
There needs to be a streamlined approach to address the funding gaps between the commonwealth and state governments because the current changes to the NDIS are having a real impact on Australian children.
The unintended consequence of removing commonwealth support before the states are ready is a generation of autistic kids who don’t get the help they need.
While the strategy’s extensive list of commitments is a great start, until they are implemented these kids are missing out on the vital support they need. We need action now to fill the gaps.
AAA is calling for additional resources and training for primary and secondary school teachers so they are equipped to support children with autism in the classroom.
Mornington Peninusla house slide a case of ‘total destruction’
As for the house which has slid down the cliff, Daw said it was a case of “total destruction”:
The house used to be a 3-storey now, it’s no longer a three-storey house. It’s been pushed down by the land slip.
He said drone footage would help give “a better picture of what’s going on there”.
At least 11 houses being evacuated in Mornington Peninsula
Around 11 houses are being evacuated after a the landslide in the Mornington Peninsula.
Mark Daw from the SES is speaking to the media now about the incident which has seen one house slide down a cliff:
We have started to evacuate all the houses around them… in an exclusion zone.
Daw said experts are currently assessing potential for further collapse but are unsure at the moment.
Daw said he didn’t have a precise figure of how many houses had bee evacuated but estimated “roughly around 11, 12 houses to be evacuated.”
Missing man’s body found in swollen dam
A man’s body has been found days after he went missing in a rain-swollen dam, AAP reports.
The man in his 40s was reported missing on Sunday afternoon after he dived into Beardmore Dam near St George, in Queensland’s south-west, and failed to resurface.
An extensive search was launched with police, SES volunteers, swift water rescue crews and aerial teams scouring the dam. The man’s body was found in the water within the search area before 6am on Tuesday, police said.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
After months of heavy rain across Queensland, the dam is currently 104.5% full, according to SunWater.
Female cyclist killed after being struck by car near Sydney
A cyclist has died after being struck by a car in Sydney’s south.
The incident occurred about 8am today on the Princes Highway at Waterfall. Paramedics arrived to treat the woman but she died at the scene.
She is yet to be formally identified, but is believed to be in her 70s.
The female driver, 23, was taken to Sutherland hospital for mandatory testing.
Officers have established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the crash, with a report to be prepared for the coroner.
All southbound lanes of the Princes Highway are closed at Waterfall and motorists are advised to avoid the area.
No charges have been laid.
