Afternoon Update: Coalition won’t reveal emissions target; closing arguments in Greg Lynn trial; and Queensland’s pre-election budget
Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has said the Coalition will not set a 2030 emissions reduction target unless it wins the next election.
Dutton said on Tuesday the focus was to “make sure that we don’t harm Australian families and businesses in the interim”, adding that “in terms of the targets otherwise, we’ll make those decisions when we are in government”.
While the Liberal leader said the opposition was committed to the Paris agreement, climate diplomacy experts have said his position could break Australia’s 2015 commitment to the deal. Departmental projections last year suggested Australia was on track for a 42% reduction in emissions by 2030, which the government said showed the 43% target was within reach.
Top news
Bonza administrators left ‘no choice’ but to sack all staff | Bonza appears almost certain to be wound up after the administrators Hall Chadwick told staff during a meeting on Tuesday they had been sacked. Employees subsequently voiced their frustrations at how the administration process had been conducted, sources say.
Queensland state budget 2024 revealed | The Queensland treasurer, Cameron Dick, says the government made a “deliberate choice” to put the budget into deficit in order to fund a series of temporary cost-of-living measures before the October election. Read our explainer outlining the winners and losers here.
Trump will not be charged for waving around classified papers | US district judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling is notable because it could indicate how she will rule on future motions by Donald Trump to suppress evidence as he attempts to limit the scope of the evidence prosecutors can introduce against him.
Closing arguments begin in trial for Greg Lynn | Prosecutors have told Victoria’s supreme court the only reasonable explanation for a former Jetstar pilot to cover up the deaths of two elderly campers in the Victorian high country was because “he knew he had murdered them”. Greg Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill and Carol Clay at a remote camping site in March 2020.
Drowned women were picnicking when freak wave swept them from rocks | Emergency services were called to Kurnell in Sydney’s Sutherland shire on Monday, after three women were knocked into the water by a large wave. While one woman survived, two were unable to be revived. It is the second drowning at Kurnell in less than a fortnight.
California socialite receives 15 years to life | Rebecca Grossman, who was found guilty of the murders of Mark Iskander, 11, and Jacob Iskander, eight, earlier this year after fatally striking the two children with her car, has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Credit card gambling ban comes into force | Gamblers are now banned from using their credit cards and digital currency to fund online betting. And the federal government is mulling a push to phase out gambling advertising over three years
Nine ‘rightly’ accused of having ‘blokey’ culture | Former Nine news boss Peter Meakin claimed that a number of women came to him while he had a position of authority, but “generally they didn’t want to make their complaints public or official, they just wanted the problem sorted”.
Singapore Airlines offers compensation to injured passengers | The company has announced that it had sent compensation offers of up to $US10,000 to passengers who were on board flight SQ321 from London to Singapore on 20 May, which dropped 54 metres in altitude in less than five seconds while flying over Myanmar.
In pictures
Two miles above ground: Donn Delson’s aerial photographs
Strapped into a doorless helicopter over two miles above ground, Donn Delson has spent more than 300 hours watching the world from a bird’s eye view.
What they said …
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“The Labor party can try and please people in Paris.” – Peter Dutton
The opposition leader’s comments were strikingly similar to Donald Trump’s remarks in 2017 when he announced plans to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement: “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
In numbers
The announcement comes as health authorities and experts are warning the nation is in the grip of a new wave of Covid-19 and other winter illnesses.
Before bed read
My Facebook profile was hacked but all the platform offered was a faceless void
With no number or email to contact, I was left fearing the loss of my account and wondering: how has social media come to this, ponders Nicola Markus.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: SELE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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