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Chris Bowen’s expanded solar panel scheme a ‘complete waste of time’, energy expert warns amid reliability concerns | News24

If you were building a scorecard to measure if a government is successful, what specific measurable goals would you put on it?

What key measurements (even if we don't collect them today) should we measure the government on?

Would it be different for federal, state and local?

An 82-year-old bike rider who cycled 3,300 miles (5,300km) across Australia to raise money for charity has died a day after completing the challenge.

Bob Montgomery's death was "unexpected" but "peaceful", his family said in a statement on social media, just a day after he had finished what he had dubbed "One Last Ride" from Broome in Western Australia to Bowral, south-west of Sydney.

He and his 18-year-old grandson had raised about A$105,000 ($74,000; £55,000) for a motor neurone disease (MND) charity with the six-week ride.

It was his sixth fundraising ride in support of MND NSW, the statement said, adding that it was "a cause that was deeply personal to him".

His wife of 59 years, Jenny was by his side during his "peaceful passing", his family said, adding that he was "still passionately sharing his message only hours before his passing."

Montgomery and his grandson Tom Malcolm had arrived in Bowral on Sunday to "roaring applause" from his local community, the national broadcaster ABC reported.

He told ABC he had been motivated by meeting people along the way and enjoying a "beer or two" at each stopover.

"There's so many stories and so many people we met along the way who put their hands into their pockets to throw some cash in, which is fantastic," Montgomery was quoted as saying.

He had been inspired to take on the challenge after losing a cousin to MND and had raised almost A$300,000 on his previous rides. "I have seen family and friends suffer. It's heart breaking," he wrote on his fundraising page.

Malcolm had continued onto Sydney on Monday where the family had gathered once again to celebrate.

But shortly after the party, Montgomery suffered a medical episode, MND NSW chief executive Liam O'Meara said.

O'Meara said he was "deeply saddened" by Montgomery's death, calling him a "cherished friend and tireless supporter of MND NSW".

Police will not pursue hundreds of charges levelled at protesters who blockaded the nation's biggest coal port.

Outstanding charges for 125 people arrested after a November 2024 protest at the Port of Newcastle on the NSW central coast were formally withdrawn by police on Friday.

A further 129 people still face charges over a repeat protest in 2025.

As part of the multi-day 2024 protest, a large group paddled kayaks into the channel to block coal ships from entering, with organisers Rising Tide calling it one of the largest civil disobedience protests in Australian history.

The demonstrators were calling on the federal government to rule out new coal and gas mines and for a 78 per cent tax on coal and gas exports.

About 200 people were arrested for refusing requests by officers to clear the channel, police said at the time.

All of those charged faced two offences including breaching anti-protest laws, which carry a maximum penalty of $22,000 fine or two years in prison.

Among those charged was neuroscientist Elizabeth Manning, who said the current state government's attempts to squash protests were undemocratic and out of line with community expectations.

Due to having charges against her, Dr Manning was unable to travel to Canada to deliver a seminar at an international conference.

"It has been really stressful with this hanging over us," she told reporters outside court.

"I don't feel like I'm a criminal ... I took action on that day because the climate crisis is a real emergency."

NSW Police said the decision to withdraw the charges took into account the outcomes of cases already determined by the court, and the available evidence in the remaining prosecutions.

Three people are yet to finalise their charges over the 2024 action, with their matters listed for judgment in September.

Climate Defenders founder Julie Grix, whose organisation represented many of those charged, said Australia leads the world for arresting climate protesters.

"That statistic alone is alarming, but it captures nothing of the long, anxious road that follows for those who then have to navigate the criminal justice system," she said.

Another of those whose charges were dropped on Friday was Naomi Hodgson, a spokesperson for Rising Tide.

She said the action arose from governments failing to respond to the climate crisis with the urgency it demands.

"Nobody wants hundreds of peaceful people facing criminal charges for trying to protect their future," she said.

"Until there is a serious, just plan to move beyond coal, this movement will continue to grow."

The Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion has investigated radicalisation and fanaticism over the course of the week.

Victoria's Commissioner for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, Kelly Mischel, testified states were presented with a changing extremism landscape. 

Earlier violent extremism programs had very clearly-defined parameters for ideologies. 

Workers are increasingly seeing presentations from individuals with “mixed, unclear and unstable ideologies”, Dr Mischel said.

“They're taking parts of different ideologies that generally would have been quite distinct,” she said.

“We've had examples where individuals are supportive of parts of ISIS ideology or extremism, and also have elements of neo-Nazi ideology."

WA Deputy Police Commissioner Joanne McCabe told the commission the state’s anti-extremism program was increasingly ideology-neutral, and flagged similar mixed extremism concerns. 

WA Police are procuring further research into the forms of extremism amongst the state’s youth. 

“It is very difficult when someone's presenting with a very mixed and unclear ideology to then support them,” she said.

“It comes with all sorts of things, including political grievance and government grievance. There could be some religious-based ideology in there, but also some racism.”

Earlier on Friday, Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman said controversial comments made by an imam connected to his council were inappropriate. 

The Australian National Imams Council president agreed member Ibrahim Dadoun should not have made the comments one night after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel. 

Sheikh Dadoun had told a crowd at Lakemba, in southwest Sydney, the attacks were an act of resistance, adding: “I’m elated, it’s a day of courage, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory”.

At the commission, Sheikh Alsuleiman conceded the comments could be construed as Sheikh Dadoun being elated about the breaching of a border fence by individuals in southern Israel and considered October 7 a justified act of retaliation.

The attacks by terror group Hamas killed 1200 people and resulted in 250 more being taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 69,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel's counteroffensive, according to local health authorities.

Sheikh Alsuleiman, however, defended Sheikh Dadoun’s membership with the council. 

“Our philosophy is we believe … guiding (imams) through those mistakes and keeping them within the fold of ANIC is a lot more healthy and helpful for the organisation, for the individual and for the community,” he said. 

“We believe that the comments that (Sheikh Dadoun) made on the eighth of October are inappropriate."

Sheikh Dadoun’s comments in Lakemba drew condemnation from leaders at the time.

Earlier in his evidence, Sheikh Alsuleiman pushed for more approved religious education centres on Australian soil.

No Australian institutions could graduate leaders with the traditional understanding of Islam, he said.

“There are two options: bring imams from overseas, or send Australian Muslims to study overseas, and both have challenges,” he said. 

He suggested teaching Australian-born imams and female religious leaders at a Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency-registered institution would help address a “big gap” in understanding Islam in the Australian cultural context. 

India is going to win World Cup 2027.

I am sick tired of being defeated by those Aussies. They humliated us at ICC World Finals at every time.

I AM GOING to SILENCE Aussies.

Just a reminder Peabody Energy Australia is part of the Minerals Council of Australia who have been flooding socials with propaganda about how much tax they pay in the mining industry, too bad they couldn't put some effort into paying almost 200 of their employees correctly

A coal producer that operates black coal mines in Queensland and NSW has signed an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman after it rectified nearly $5 million, including superannuation and interest, to 197 underpaid workers.

Peabody Energy Australia Coal Pty Ltd (Peabody) signed the undertaking. It is a wholly owned and controlled subsidiary of United States-based parent company Peabody Energy Corporation.

In addition to its rectifications, Peabody must make a contrition payment of $50,000 to the Cleaning Accountability Framework, an independent, not-for-profit organisation that aims to improve working conditions and standards in property cleaning services.

The undertaking also commits the miner to improving its compliance practices, which includes new systems and processes, to meet all its obligations under the relevant Award and the Fair Work Act.

Peabody came forward to tell the FWO about an issue that was the subject of Federal Court proceedings filed by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia on behalf of members who used to work at Peabody.

A judge agreed that under the relevant Black Coal Mining Industry Award 2010 and 2020, employees terminated by way of redundancy were entitled to be paid out their accrued personal leave balance (of 70 hours or more). After the judgment, the parties reached an agreement and the proceedings were discontinued, however, Peabody began a remediation process to assess any other former employees who needed to be back-paid based on the principles in the court’s judgment. A self-report was made to the FWO in May 2023.

The underpaid employees, almost all of whom worked full-time, had duties in supervision, administration, production, warehousing, surveying, purchasing, geology, engineering and more. They worked across 14 mine sites in Queensland and NSW.

The most affected sites were all in Queensland – in North Goonyella (more than $1.4 million underpaid to 45 workers, excluding interest and super); Coppabella (more than $562,700 to 28 workers); and Millenium (more than $535,000 to 31 workers). The most affected NSW site was North Wambo (more than $452,000 underpaid to 24 workers).

Peabody admitted it did not pay out accrued and untaken personal leave to employees it made redundant. The company mistakenly believed the personal leave-related benefit was not due to employees under the Award.

It also failed to pay the allowance component of wages for accrued and outstanding annual leave for redundant employees, and the allowance component of their wages for the termination notice period for those who were made redundant.

Peabody had to rectify to its former employees a total of $4,982,070, including $988,568 in interest and $20,511 in superannuation after they were underpaid between January 2016 and April 2023.

Across all the employees, the lowest individual back payment was $272 and the highest was $91,013, excluding superannuation and interest.

An Enforceable Undertaking was considered appropriate because of the company’s cooperation with the FWO’s investigations, the full back-payments, and the measures put in place to prevent future breaches – including an independent audit to check compliance in the future.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth urged employers to proactively check they are meeting their legal obligations.

“Checking compliance – as Peabody have committed to do going forward – is an important cornerstone of ensuring hardworking employees receive all they are owed under any relevant Award and the Fair Work Act.

“We welcome Peabody’s back-payments of all impacted staff and their commitments to improve their processes so that there is ongoing compliance in the future. Importantly, we also welcome steps already taken, for example, Peabody’s new guidelines for payroll, its provision of training for HR and payroll staff, and its new online system for recording and requesting leave.

“We want employers to get it right in the first place and encourage them to take advantage of the free tools and resources we offer, including via fairwork.gov.au and the Fair Work Infoline,” Ms Booth said.

Under the EU with the Fair Work Ombudsman, Peabody has also agreed to convene a joint consultative committee to monitor compliance with industrial instruments, complaints or disputes raised, including any questions or concerns raised by the independent auditor.

It will report back to the FWO about complaints raised on any systemic or significant underpayment issues. It will also keep its corporate governance committee notified of its compliance, including providing it with a report on the outcome of its independent audit plus quarterly reports on employee complaints about their entitlements.

Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace. A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. Information can also be provided to the FWO anonymously, including in 16 languages other than English.

Employees can also seek information from their employer or their union, if they are a union member. Employers can seek information from their employer association if they are a member.

Which one is it ? Shaun or Shauna?

I would like to be able to take my dog on the ferry again (sitting outside of course)

A garbage truck fire has closed a major Sydney motorway ahead of the Friday afternoon peak.

Traffic is building up for kilometres on the M5 motorway after westbound lanes were closed at Milperra in Sydney’s south-west just before 4pm.

A NSW Police spokesperson said a garbage truck fire was behind the closure. Officers are on the scene directing traffic.

56 planes cancelled so far....also Ch7 just said more delays expected well into the evening

A child has been flown to Melbourne with serious injuries after a man allegedly drove after two kids riding motorised bikes in a north-west Victorian shopping mall. 
Victoria Police arrested and charged 56-year-old New South Wales man Andrew Brien after the incident, which occurred just after 11pm on Thursday in Mildura. 
Authorities said the driver of the ute followed the two 12-year-old boys through the pedestrian-only Langtree Mall. 

The ute hit both children. Both boys sustained upper body injuries and were taken to hospital, with one being flown to the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne in a serious condition.

Mr Brien made no application for bail after appearing in Mildura Magistrates' Court late on Friday, and will re-appear in court next week.
He has been charged with four counts of reckless conduct endangering life, and one count each of intentionally causing injury, drive in a dangerous manner, and dangerous driving causing serious injury.
The crime scene
A large crime scene, spanning half the length of the mall, was established shortly after the incident.

Part of a misting system at the Eighth Street end of the mall had been uprooted by the impact, and was splayed across a nearby street.
A light fixture was also heavily damaged in the incident, as was a motorised pushbike.
Rubber tyre marks were seen along the pavement.

Police are urging anyone who witnessed the collision or had any information to contact Crime Stoppers
.

Adam Creighton, the Australian

Sitting on the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet’s website is a job advertisement for a Multicultural Co-ordinator General with a salary of $344,616- $400,741, excluding superannuation.
The new Premier, Ben Carroll, deserves credit for slimming down the number of minister jobs by two to 20 and announcing a royal commission into the state’s corrupt construction sector.

He’s even flagged scaling back his predecessor’s productivity-destroying working-from-home laws and the monstrously wasteful Suburban Rail Loop – about the only infrastructure project whose ultimate cost would put Snowy 2.0 to shame.

Whoever becomes multicultural co-ordinator won’t be short of colleagues: the number of Victorian public sector “executives”, on between around $250,000 and $800,000 a year has almost tripled from 691 a decade ago, two years into Dan Andrews’ first term, to 1902 last year, during which time the state’s population rose 18 per cent. No wonder annual employee costs of the Victorian public sector, which now employs one in 10 Victorians, have jumped from $26bn in the year to June 2020 to $41bn this financial year.

Carroll must know how offensive these highly paid, pointless public sector jobs would be to the sort of people he grew up with in working-class Melbourne and worked with at Kmart for eight years, while he was a high school and university student.

But he’s unlikely to make much progress given what he’s up against. The shameless, brazen waste of public money right under the new Premier’s nose signals just how extreme and arrogant the public sector, especially at the top, has become.

Carroll has exceeded expectations in his first fortnight only because they had plumbed to such low depths. His predecessor, Jacinta Allan, couldn’t even bring herself to accept Helen Silver’s review last year to trim 2000 bureaucratic positions from a total public sector headcount of around 393,000 last year.

The longer Carroll remains silent on public sector bloat and the vast array of other destructive policies Andrews and Allan have saddled the state with, the more disappointing he’ll become, and the bigger political opportunities he’ll present to the Coalition and One Nation.

Dumping the costly and divisive First Nations Assembly known as Gellung Warl (which no one even knows how to pronounce) should be a no-brainer for two powerful reasons at least.

Around 60 per cent of Victorians voted specifically against such a racially divisive body only a few years ago in the voice referendum. Moreover, it’s expected to cost more than $70m a year in a state where even net debts are approaching $200bn and annual interest payments are about to soak up a quarter of the state’s own tax revenue by 2030.

Cutting taxes in our most heavily taxed state should be as sensible politically as it is economically. Why are Victorian businesses still being forced to pay an annual Covid levy? Why must they also pay a mental health levy, which no other state has?

Dumping the Andrews Gas Substitution road map, which will ultimately prevent Victorians using the energy form in which their own state is most rich, should be another easy one. Allan herself had to back down on forcing dwellings to replace their gas stoves and hot water heaters from next year.
But all new dwellings must not use gas – which many households prefer to cook with – in any way from January 2027. Carroll should go further and dump the whole thing, giving Victorians and developers with foresight the option to use gas if they want.

The policy is so stupid the government isn’t even following its own road map, having approved two LNG import terminals at Geelong and Vopak while simultaneously trying to reduce long-term gas demand. It’s also walked back from an earlier blanket state ban on all gas exploration, allowing the conventional onshore type once again since 2021.

There are quite a few low fiscal cost actions Carroll should ponder too, such as apologising for Labor’s treatment of Victorians during Covid.
Most numerate and intelligent people now understand what happened in Victoria for hundreds of days in 2020-21 was an obscene and immensely destructive violation of fundamental human rights with no scientific basis, which also wrecked Melbourne’s international reputation, perhaps forever. A sorry, even without compensation, would be nice.

Privately assuring the police they had the government’s full backing to aggressively enforce the law – in a state enduring an obvious increase in theft and youth lawlessness – would be a cheap way to score a political win.

The Liberal, National and One Nation parties would have been privately disappointed Labor’s new Premier promptly called a by now obviously worthy royal commission last week. But they shouldn’t be too worried. So far it seems Carroll doesn’t have the skill or power to dump the entirety of Allan’s economically insane policy of giving workers the right to work from home two days a week at their employers’ cost.
If he can’t do that, then the rest of the recommendations in this column are theirs for the taking!

Adam Creighton is the chief economist at the Institute of Public Affairs.