Ley, Waters and Pocock condemn government’s emissions call – as it happened

Here are the main stories on Thursday, 18 September:

• The Albanese government insists its new 2035 emissions reduction target of 62% to 70% represents the “maximum level of ambition”, as climate campaigners warn it falls short of what Australia should be doing to combat global heating;

• The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says the Albanese government’s emissions reduction target “fails on both counts” when it comes to cost and credibility, adding she is deeply concerned about how much the plan will cost Australians and the details as to how it will take place;

• The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says climate risk report scenarios “will come to pass” as a result of Labor’s “weak” emissions target;

• Independent senator David Pocock said the emissions reduction targets did not go far enough to address the major threat of climate change;

• The South Australian government’s two most senior ministers have quit, forcing a reshuffle just six months out from the state election;

• Australia’s jobs market is forecast to remain in good health, despite an expected rise in the unemployment rate;

• A man has been charged by Queensland police for allegedly threatening to kill Justice for Palestine spokeswoman Remah Naji; and

• An Abu Dhabi-based consortium has withdrawn its planned $30bn takeover bid for offer for the Australian oil and gas producer Santos.
  
  We will see you here again for more news tomorrow.

A man has been charged by Queensland police for allegedly threatening to kill a Justice for Palestine spokeswoman.

Remah Naji alleged she received two threatening phone calls in August.

She said while she took the threats seriously, she would not be silenced.

I’m not going to be intimidated by anyone, I’m going to continue the work that I’m doing.

The attention should be focused on people suffering real oppression, like Palestinians.

In a statement, police said detectives from the counter-terrorism investigation group (CTIG) charged a 43-year-old West End man on Thursday following investigations into alleged verbal threats via a carriage service on 14 and 18 August.

The man has been charged with one count each of use a carriage service to make a threat to kill, using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

He is due to appear in Brisbane magistrates court on 26 November.

Everyone in Queensland has a right to feel safe and the Queensland Police Service remains committed to community safety and engaging with people from across our culturally diverse society to help foster relationships and build upon platforms for community engagement.

Instances of serious vilification and hate crime are a criminal matter in Queensland, and where these are reported to police, investigations will be undertaken to prosecute those responsible.

Manhunt ends with capture of allegedly dangerous Queensland fugitive

An allegedly “dangerous” fugitive accused of shooting a man and evading police at the scene of a car crash is in custody following a manhunt, AAP reports.

John Durham Willey, 42, was found in bushland a day after his dramatic alleged escape following the two-vehicle crash in central Queensland.

He was charged with a string of offences after he was located following a public appeal for assistance, ending a manhunt spanning more than 1,000km.

Willey had been on the run since he and a 47-year-old woman allegedly shot a 45-year-old man in the leg in a Cairns hotel in the state’s far north on September 9, police said.

A week later, police were called about midday on Tuesday to the two-vehicle crash involving a Holden ute and a caravan on the Bruce Highway near Rockhampton.

Willey and the woman allegedly fled the Holden on foot, sparking an emergency exclusion zone by police.

The woman was arrested in nearby bushland, with footage released by police showing the dramatic scene.

“Show me your hands. Get on the ground. Hands behind your back,” a police officer can be heard yelling before placing handcuffs on the woman.

Willey evaded police, with officers later finding two firearms and ammunition in the ute. Other firearms were found in a golf bag nearby, police said.

Police issued a public plea for information on Wednesday, warning Willey was armed and should not be approached.

Self-driving car forecasts speed up after Tesla launch

Autonomous cars with no human behind the wheel could be roaming Australian roads in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, a transport summit has been told, although questions remain about their safety and cost, AAP reports.

Strict regulations will also need to be in place to govern their use around the event, according to speakers at the National Future Transport Summit in Brisbane, although Australia was “on track” to deliver them.

The predictions came as US carmaker Tesla announced the launch of its self-driving software in Australia following weeks of testing and widespread speculation.

The two-day transport summit heard Uber considered Australia to be a prime location for self-driving vehicles as it had embraced ride-share options and regulators were taking steps to create national laws.

Other countries that raced to adopt self-driving cars have had to change regulations on the fly, Uber autonomous policy global head Richard Willder told the audience.

We certainly feel that Australia’s regulatory approach and the way that it’s going about it in such a thoughtful, holistic and really nuanced way is a very strong way to develop a regulatory framework.

Australian shares slip as Santos drags on energy stocks

Australian shares have ended the day lower after Santos led a plunge in energy stocks as yet another suitor abandoned plans to buy the oil and gas giant, AAP reports.

We brought you news of that failed bid earlier.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell 63.7 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 8,754.8, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 55.2 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 9,039.7.

Nine of 11 local sectors closed in the red, as energy stocks tumbled more than five per cent after Abu Dhabi National Oil Company bailed out on its $28bn takeover offer for Santos.

The heavyweight financials and materials sectors also tracked lower, as CBA sold off and easing iron ore prices dragged on large-cap miners.

The Australian dollar is fetching 66.24 US cents, down from 66.74 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm, after weaker-than-expected August jobs growth narrowed bets for further interest rate relief ahead.

NSW government says it has toughest working with children checks in Australia

The NSW government has passed laws it says will strengthen working with children checks (WWCC) to better protect kids from harm.

The government said in a statement that the legislation ensures only the Office of the Children’s Guardian – the state’s independent child safety regulator – will be responsible for reviewing WWCC decisions, removing external appeal pathways through the NSW civil and administrative tribunal (NCAT).

Minister for families and communities Kate Washington said:

NSW already has the strongest Working with Children Check system in the country and this week we’ve made it stronger.

The new laws come a week after Steve Kinmond, the New South Wales children’s guardian, was dismissed from his job after a scathing inquiry found he oversaw an “inept” complaints process and did not declare potential conflicts of interest.

Kinmond told Guardian Australia at the time that he rejected that he had a conflict of interest and characterised the relationship and communication as “purely professional” in nature.

You can read more on that story here:

The South Australian government’s two most senior ministers have quit, forcing a reshuffle just six months out from the state election, AAP reports.

Premier Peter Malinauskas on Thursday announced that deputy premier Susan Close and treasurer Stephen Mullighan had stood aside from cabinet and will retire from parliament at the March election.

He said he was “taken aback”, “somewhat disappointed” and “really saddened” when he was approached separately by the ministers several weeks ago, and he had tried to talk them into staying.

“I’m here today to make it very clear that my persuasive powers failed, and they have both announced their resignation to our cabinet earlier today from cabinet and their intention to not contest the next state election,” he said.

“I’ve known Susan and Stephen for a long time and they’re good friends of mine and they’ve been incredible support to me in different ways over the last few years and I’m really sad to see them go,” Malinauskas said.

Greens not surprised Santos takeover bid withdrawn

Larissa Waters, the Greens leader, also spoke about the decision of an Abu Dhabi-led consortium to withdraw its $30bn takeover bid for Australian oil giant Santos.

She told the ABC she wasn’t surprised the consortium backed out, given recent revelations methane gas had been leaking from Santos’s Darwin facility since it was built in 2006, adding:

I think it would have been a bad move for the climate to sell off this company to a foreign-owned company with deep pockets.

You can read more on the withdrawn bid here:

While we’re talking about Labor’s new emissions target, it may pay to take a look at this equally new snappy graphic.

Labor has “kissed the hand” of coal and gas companies with its “weak” ambitions on the climate crisis, the Greens say.

Leader Larissa Waters told the ABC:

It is not ambitious to have a target that does not restrict coal and gas, that doesn’t end native forest logging, and the direct result of such a weak and thoroughly disappointing target is that the climate risk report scenarios which said 1.5 million people’s homes risk being flooded by 2050, heatwave days leading to more deaths, more natural disasters, destruction of species, extinction rates, all of that will come to pass because the prime minister has chosen to kiss the hand of coal and gas companies rather than managing that polluting industry.

It is a betrayal of the public who voted for climate action.

‘Protective’ factors to prevent male violence should be encouraged, report says

Services must engage with men and boys to change the conditions that enable DFSV (domestic, family and sexual violence), a government report published today says.

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission has put together a snapshot of the existing knowledge base on DFSV and what “protective” factors can be encouraged to prevent men becoming violent.

Commissioner Micaela Cronin wrote in the snapshot that calls to work with men and boys “acknowledge that there must be accountability for men who use violence, but that these men also need support from those around them, including friends, families and support services, to stop their violence”. She said:

This is a challenging and confronting topic to consider, particularly at a time when rates of homicide and sexual violence against women and children are so high.

The snapshot says extremism and men’s violence can be viewed within a national security lens, to help tackle rising misogynistic views in young men and boys, some of whom are being radicalised online.

It says men and boys must be “meaningfully” engaged, warns that terms such as “toxic masculinity” can be alienating, and argues for better integration of men’s behaviour change programs within the justice, social services, health and child protection sectors.

Assistant minister for social services and the prevention of family violence, Ged Kearney, said the government had invested $4bn towards preventing violence but that there was much more to do. She said:

We know that when boys grow up with love and affection from their fathers, they are far less likely to use violence. That tells us something powerful – the answers don’t just lie in stopping harm, but in building a culture where care, respect and equality are the foundations of what it means to be a man.

International Jewish organisations release statement ahead of UN meeting

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs have released a joint statement ahead of a UN general assembly meeting in New York.

In the statement, the representative organisations of Jewish communities in Australia, Canada and the UK call on their governments to “keep central to their diplomatic efforts to end the devastating conflict in Gaza the following priorities”:

• the return of all remaining hostages taken on or before 7 October 2023, living and dead;

• the disarming of Hamas and its removal from power;

• the need for unrestricted aid to reach civilians in Gaza, whilst ensuring it is not diverted to serve Hamas’s interests;

• the obligation of all parties to adhere to international law.