Coroner directs police to investigate two-year-old’s death at Sydney hospital – as it happened
Key events
What we learned: Friday, 28 February
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks for joining us, and Happy Mardi Gras! I’m off to put a rainbow tutu on my lab.
Here are today’s big developments:
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The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is urging travellers to leave K’gari, Inskip and Cooloola coastal camping areas amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The cyclone is expected to stay offshore for the next few days but severe weather is still forecast due to its proximity to the coast.
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The US president, Donald Trump, needed to be reminded what the Aukus deal was when asked a question about it during a meeting with the British prime minister in the Oval Office.
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The New South Wales coroner has directed police to investigate the death of a two-year-old boy from Sydney’s Northern Beaches in September last year.
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AAP is reporting that Taiwan’s representative to Australia has urged closer intelligence sharing and cooperation, after concerns about China’s intention in sending warships near Australia. China’s ambassador to Australia says the country has nothing to apologise for, after warships conducted unannounced live-fire drills in the Tasman sea, which led to dozens of flight diversions.
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The Victorian health department has warned of a measles outbreak in the state, after two people were infected in Melbourne.
Jacqui Lambie says most Australians don’t trust Chinese Communist party
Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie says “most Australians do not trust the Chinese Communist party” after its execution of live fire drills off Australia’s coast.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Lambie said China had been doing these exercises for “many, many years”.
They come down here, they cry wolf, they want the attention, they get the attention and then they say they are mates with us. Most Australians do not trust the Chinese Communist party; they never have; nothing will change in that area.
This is what they do. They come down here, beat their chest and say, here we are, we’re still here and we say, yes, whatever. For people down here in Australia, this is normal but it is disgraceful behaviour by China. This is what they do.
Hastie: Naval ships a ‘signal’ from China of its military strength and ‘gunboat diplomacy’
Hastie was also asked about China’s naval ships operating in waters close to Australia over the past fortnight.
He said it was not “fairly obvious” they would circumnavigate the Australian continent.
They are apparently 500km off Adelaide, just outside our exclusive economic zone, and I think it is a reasonable assumption to assume they will continue and then track north up our west Coast … At what distance, we do not know, but certainly this is China’s signal to the rest of the world, but particularly to Australia, they have a blue water navy … and they are doing it with three ships that pack a lot of punch. That is why this has been such an important development in our national security.
Asked if China was “threatening us”, Hastie said the superpower was demonstrating its military strength.
They are undergoing the biggest peacetime military buildup since 1945. They have a blue water navy now and they want us to know they have sea power. They can project deep into our waters and that is effectively why I call this gunboat diplomacy.
It is not normal to conduct a live-fire exercise without notice in the waters of your trading partners, and disrupting the commercial flight path … This was designed to send a strong signal to Australia of military strength.
On defence spending under a Coalition government, Hastie said “we’re going to have to invest further and that is the commitment from the Coalition”. But he didn’t confirm a figure, adding “we will announce our policy and costings in due course”.
Opposition’s Hastie says Albanese should have visited US to meet with Trump
The shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, says Donald Trump has “a lot on his mind” in response to the US president seemingly questioning what Aukus is.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Hastie was asked if Australians should be worried about the fact “we have invested billions in a deal with the Americans that the president cannot actually remember”.
He said Trump had “a lot on his mind” and was the “busiest person in the world”.
But I think there is an absence of leadership from the Labor government. The Albanese government has not been advocating well into this new Trump Administration and Aukus should be front and centre of the president’s mind and so we have seen a failure of leadership from Anthony Albanese and his defence minister, Richard Marles.
Asked how, exactly, Labor wasn’t advocating for Aukus, when a phone conversation between Albanese and Trump appeared to have been positive, he said the PM should have visited the US.
We are a believer in the house call and right now President Trump is resetting relationships in Europe. We have seen that with Nato partners and I think at the heart of Aukus is a deepening of our relationship with the United States.
Adeshola Ore
Victoria police accept $450m pay deal after ‘protracted’ and industrial dispute
Victorian police have voted to accept a new $450m pay deal, after a bitter industrial dispute that dragged on for more than 18 months.
The pay dispute culminated with the sacking of the state’s former chief police commissioner, Shane Patton, earlier this month.
The Police Association says 76% of members backed the new enterprise bargaining agreement.
In a statement, the association says it is pleased members will receive the pay increases after a “protracted and challenging industrial dispute”.
The finalisation of this industrial dispute is just the first step in a raft of improvements that desperately need to occur quickly to support our frontline, so that it can continue to protect and support the community.
Adam Morton
If you want to know more about Australia’s climate pollution – and why it isn’t coming down at the pace sometimes suggested – here is an explanation from last year:
Adam Morton
Australian climate pollution barely falling because of higher transport and electricity emissions, new data shows
Australia’s climate pollution is flatlining, having dropped only 0.5% over the 12 months to September, according to new government data.
The latest quarterly greenhouse gas inventory says emissions were down 2.2m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent compared with the previous year. Total emissions were 434.9m tonnes.
There was less pollution from stationary energy (onsite burning of fossil fuels in manufacturing, mining, and commercial and residential buildings). There was also less pollution from industrial processes because of changes in technology in the chemicals and metals sectors, and from agriculture due to lower crop production.
But emissions from transport rose because people were flying more. Domestic aviation emissions were the highest on record, while large cars and trucks burned more diesel.
And, extraordinarily, pollution from electricity generation also rose. This sector had been falling fast as solar and wind energy displaced coal and gas. But that trend has stopped as investment in renewable energy has slowed.
Officials blamed the increase in electricity emissions in the latest data on a decrease in hydroelectricity generation.
Electricity emissions are expected to start falling again because of a recent wave of renewable energy investment commitments underpinned by a federal Labor underwriting program – assuming they go ahead.
But that may take a while to take effect.
Preliminary data suggests pollution may have increased by 0.3% in the year to December.
Expect to hear more about that, and what it means, in the period ahead.
Eelemarni Close-Brown
Niaa funding of $18.4m allocated to Central Australian Aboriginal Congress for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Also in Indigenous Affairs estimates, Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle raised questions about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (Fasd) and the allocation of $18.4m to the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress for Fasd diagnostic assessments.
The funding was allocated to the congress by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (Niaa) over four years and funded under the A Better, Safer Future for Central Australia plan.
Senator Liddle said that according to a 2023-24 congress report on the child and youth assessment and therapeutic service, only 95 children in Alice Springs and surrounding communities had undergone a multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment for Fasd during that time.
Who is managing Congress’s performance because that equates to less than two children a week being assessed for Fasd by Congress in a whole year.
How was it determined that Congress should get $18m for, I think, eight communities … when the largest cohort of children with Fasd, one of the highest in the world, is actually in the Kimberley?
Department of Health and Aged Care assistant secretary Ben Mudaliar said he didn’t have the figures in front of him to confirm how many children had been treated as a result of the increase of investment in the program.
Update: A spokesperson for the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, later told Guardian Australia that from 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2024, there were 114 assessments.
Eelemarni Close-Brown
Greens senator queries grocery price caps and rolling blackouts in remote First Nations communities
During this morning’s Indigenous Affairs estimates, Greens senator Dorinda Cox asked about the 76 stores in remote communities that would be receiving a price cap on 30 essential food items and the time frame for the scheme.
National Indigenous Australians Agency (Niaa) group manager Bridgette Bellenger said she did not have the selected stores information available and that the subsidy scheme was due to start on 1 July this year.
Senator Cox also raised concerns that communities across Northern Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory, were dealing with rolling blackouts and energy failures, with some communities experiencing blackouts, on average, twice a week, or being disconnected from power.
Are we happy that people are being disconnected twice a week? There’s no point in capping groceries if you’ve got no fridge to put them in.
Where else in the country is this allowed to happen? If it happened in inner-city Melbourne people would be screaming down the phone and in every media outlet in this country.
Niaa chief executive Julie-Ann Guivarra said the questions should be put to the Department of Infrastructure and also the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred expected to create large swells, dangerous surf, this weekend
Coastal communities from central Queensland south to the New South Wales border are being urged to brace for “dangerous coastal conditions” and “possible flooding” as Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred moves closer to the mainland as a Category 3.
Queensland Police said there was increasing confidence the cyclone would stay offshore for the next few days but severe weather was still expected due to its proximity to the coast.
It flagged coastal erosion, large and powerful swells and hazardous surf with high tides over the weekend and early next week.
The tropical cyclone is expected to turn south-west towards the Queensland coast on Saturday, before tracking south east on Sunday.
The watch area extends from Seventeen Seventy to the New South Wales-Queensland border.
State disaster coordinator, deputy commissioner Shane Chelepy, said people should avoid swimming and surfing at beaches along watch zones, or walking near surf-exposed areas, to avoid being caught in dangerous conditions.
Now is not the time to be complacent, as we starting to feel these powerful impacts from the cyclone tracking closer to the mainland.
NSW police to conduct ‘high-visibility’ operation at Wollongong music festival
New South Wales police will be conducting a “high-visibility operation” tomorrow for the Yours and Owls music festival in Wollongong, with local officers to be assisted by drug detection dogs and other specialist commands on Flagstaff Hill and the South Beach foreshore.
It will be the first festival in NSW to participate in a state pill testing trial – while illicit drug use remains illegal.
Wollongong Police district detective acting superintendent Glen Broadhead said he was expecting more than 10,000 people to attend the event.
We are urging festival goers to look out for each other. Police will be targeting antisocial behaviour and alcohol fuelled violence and any behaviour that puts yourself or others at risk will not be tolerated.
Prohibited drugs are illegal and potentially life-threatening, especially when combined with alcohol. We urge anyone who feels unwell or needs medical assistance to attend one of the medical tents on-site.
Many thanks to my fellow Catie/Caity. I’ll be with you until stumps.
Catie McLeod
Thanks for joining me on the blog. I’ll now hand over to my colleague, Caitlin Cassidy, who will take you through the rest of the day’s news. Have a great weekend.
NSW coroner directs police to investigate two-year-old boy’s death after hospital presentation
The New South Wales coroner has directed police to investigate the death of a two-year-old boy from Sydney’s Northern Beaches in September last year.
Police said they had yesterday launched an investigation into the death of the child at Sydney’s Children’s hospital in Randwick.
Joe Massa was a month away from celebrating his second birthday when his mother, Elouise, took him to Northern Beaches hospital’s emergency department at 7am on 14 September 2024.
His mother, Elouise, has claimed the hospital appeared to ignore Joe’s increasing heart rate, limpness, rash and loss of consciousness, for more than three hours.
Joe was transported to Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick where he later died.
The Northern Beaches hospital’s emergency department is operated by the private hospital provider Healthscope in a public-private partnership (PPP).
Police said the death was not reported to them at the time.
After Joe’s parents publicly called for an investigation into their son’s death, police said they had reported the death retrospectively to the NSW coroner and launched their investigation.
Police will prepare a brief for the coroner.
Andrew Messenger
Brisbane bus strike cancelled after union and council strike deal
This afternoon’s planned bus strike has been cancelled, after the Brisbane city council and the drivers’ union struck a deal.
Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Tom Brown said the union had suspended the industrial action until after members had reviewed their latest offer.
The two-hour strike was scheduled for 4pm, during afternoon peak hour, and was widely expected to cause transport chaos.
Brown said:
Our members won’t be happy till they get their money.
It’s $5,000 on the base this year plus backpay; big bucks for bus drivers.
Brisbane city council offered a 7.35% two-year pay deal on Thursday night, with backpay backdated to 8 October.
The deputy mayor, Fiona Cunningham, said:
The wage agreement we have reached ensures Council staff will receive a pay rise well above inflation but well below the outlandish initial claims by unions.We strongly believe, if current legislation allowed us to directly ballot our staff, this agreement would have been finalised months ago and residents would not have been inconvenienced by union strike action.
Caitlin Cassidy
Well-known academic and Palestinian advocate responds to suspension of research grant
Randa Abdel-Fattah says the suspension of her research grant is a “test” about the extent to which public institutions are “willing to safeguard university independence”.
On Thursday, it was revealed that the prominent academic and Palestinian advocate had her $870,000 grant suspended by the Australian Research Council (ARC) following a review that raised concerns about the management of public funds.
It is now up to Macquarie University, where she is undertaking her research project, to provide evidence that the grant has been managed appropriately.
Abdel-Fattah said Macquarie University and the ARC were “answerable to the Australian public”.
She said:
The virulent anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia I am being subjected to does not just impact me as an individual.
My case is a test about the extent to which public institutions are willing to safeguard university independence and the very foundations of intellectual inquiry.
It’s about the integrity of our higher education system, and the right of academics to work free from censorship, political interference and repression.
Speaking to Senate estimates on Thursday evening, the chair of the ARC, Prof Peter Shergold, said Abdel-Fattah’s case was “not an issue about freedom of speech … it’s about the acquittal of public funds”.
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