TRANSCRIPT
- Victorian authorities warn of a bushfire risk as temperature soars
- Qantas announces a drop in underlying profit
- A new education program is designed to boost the technology workforce.
Victoria's emergency services are preparing for more perilous weather conditions, a week after bushfires and storms razed properties and left half a million homes and businesses without power.
Temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees in parts of the state, with storms later today bringing 80 kilometre-per-hour winds and dry lightning.
Total fire bans have been declared for six Victorian regions, with the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central, South West and Central districts all facing an extreme fire danger rating.
Extreme fire warnings have been also issued in South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, where emergency services have been fighting blazes since early summer
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The Federal Government is concerned about lack of competition in the Australian economy.
Cost of living relief has been at the top of the political agenda this year, with a recent report commissioned by the Australian Council of Trade Unions finding lack of competition was driving up inflation.
The government has commissioned a review into the food and grocery code, and have commissioned consumer group Choice to provide quarterly price comparison reports on groceries at different retailers.
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment Andrew Leigh tells the ABC Australia's grocery sector is more concentrated than other markets.
"We've got a highly concentrated supermarket sector much more concentrated than, say Britain or the United States. And one of the standard rules of economics is when you've got too few players, you tend to have prices that are too high. One of the challenges in the past has been this heavy squeezing of suppliers and most of the focus and supermarket policy has been on the prices that suppliers receive through the Food and Grocery code of conduct. Increasingly now there we're also looking at the impact on consumers."
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A martial arts instructor accused of violently killing a family in western Sydney has not applied for bail at his first court mention on three murder charges.
49-year-old Kwang Kyung Yoo was charged with the murders on Wednesday night as he remained under police guard at Westmead Hospital.
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Australia's peak psychiatry body has shown its support for climate change duty of care being imposed on government.
The Climate Change Amendment bill, introduced by Independent Senator David Pocock last year, would force politicians to consider the long-term impacts of their decisions on the climate and future generations.
In the final public hearing before the committee reports back next week, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has called for mental health to be properly protected by the legislation.
Appointed Trainee Board Director for Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Dr Ava Carter, says climate change is impacting young people's health.
"There's a large amount of research about climate anxiety and also the immediate impact of it now, and things we can do now, to help our young people. 10% more young people turn up to the emergency department when it's hot, and the impact on the psychiatric or psychological services as well as the rest of the health department is huge.”
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Qantas has announced its underlying profit dropped 13 per cent in the first half as fares fell.
The airline is reporting it made a $1.25 billion underlying profit after tax for the six months to December, down $183 million, or 12.8 per cent, from a year ago.
It was up from the $1.16 billion that analysts had forecast.
Revenue was up 12.3 per cent to $11.1 billion.
Lower fares reduced revenue, cutting Qantas' profit by around $600 million, although this was mostly offset by increased flying, which boosted profit by $485 million.
The report is Qantas' first under new chief executive Vanessa Hudson, who says the airline's customer satisfaction levels had bounced back strongly since December.
"This result is not only a good profit outcome, but we're also starting to see great customer satisfaction across all of our businesses. And it is not without the 25,000 people that we have across Qantas that delivers that result. So, a massive thank you."
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A new education program is designed to boost the technology workforce.
The Virtual Work Experience program will allow people aged between 14 and 25 to grow their digital skills through online modules.
The Federal Government has partnered with the Tech Council of Australia, the Commonwealth Bank, and National Broadband Network to deliver the program, which aims to improve accessibility to the industry.
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth says it will allow more people to get a taste of the tech industry.
"This will break down a small barrier for someone that doesn't have a contact in the tech industry, doesn't know how to get work experience, has perhaps never experienced someone working in the tech industry. These modules will give them some exposure to what it's like. They will give them some skills to what it could be like for them and potentially open up an interest but in a really inclusive accessible way.”
