Happy Monday!

What better way to start the week than with the news that COVID-19 is no longer a “global health emergency”.

“It is with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” the WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said over the weekend.

Long has the world awaited those very words!

Although Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for COVID, added: “The emergency phase is over, but COVID is not.”

I've got 10 seconds

The quote
"There is absolutely no place for this behaviour in our sport, and in society in general, and we want people to know that, if they behave in this way, they are not welcome at the footy again.” - Tanya Hosch, AFL General Manager of Inclusion and Social Policy, after it was announced AFL fans who racially vilify players will now be given lifetime bans.

The stat
$500 
The amount that millions of Australian households will receive in energy relief, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The Federal Budget will be handed down tomorrow.

Today in history
1980: The World Health Organisation declared that smallpox had been eradicated.

I've got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• King Charles III was officially anointed to the throne on Saturday local time. The service was attended by world leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. After the ceremony, a military parade featuring 4,000 members of the armed forces was held on the streets of London, with some anti-monarchist protesters arrested.

• At least eight people have been killed in a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Texas. The assailant was killed by police on the scene, and a motive is not yet known. Seven victims remain in either a serious or critical condition, with their ages ranging from 5 to 61.

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Thousands of former, current and prospective Medibank customers are part of a class action lawsuit against the private health insurer over its 2022 data breach.

A class action is a lawsuit brought by multiple people to sue a defendant for the same or similar reasons.

Medibank says it will defend itself against the allegations.

Background:

Medibank was subject to a data breach in October last year, believed to be the work of Russian hackers.

About 9.7 million Australians who had provided details to Medibank or their health insurance subsidiary ahm were affected.

The hackers posted data obtained during the breach online after Medibank rejected ransom requests.

Legal action:

The class action was lodged in the Federal Court by Australian law firm Slater & Gordon last week.

Any person affected by the breach can register to join, regardless of whether they are Australian citizens (international students, for example).

A separate class action against Medibank over the data breach was filed in the Victorian Supreme Court in March and another was submitted to the Federal Court in February.

What is the claim?

The Slater & Gordon class action alleges Medibank failed to take reasonable steps to protect personal information on its systems.

The lawyers say Medibank breached its own contract and its duty of care to customers, and also broke Australian consumer law and national privacy principles by failing to protect personal data.

I've got 2 minutes

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has put an end to two applications for new coal mines in Queensland.

Both applicants were asked by previous governments to provide more information to address environmental concerns.

Neither applicant has done so, which gives Plibersek the power to declare the applications have 'lapsed'. This is not the same as a formal rejection but the proposals are now unlikely to proceed.

Background:

The Environment Minister has the power to evaluate construction projects on the basis of their environmental impact.

This applies to a wide range of projects such as housing developments, roads and coal mines.

The Minister does not consider the likely climate impact of a proposal – instead, the powers relate to biodiversity concerns such as damage to a species or habitat.

Last year, Plibersek became the first Environment Minister to reject a coal mine under these powers – Clive Palmer's Central Queensland Coal Project.

The coal mines:

The first project was the Range coal mine in central Queensland, proposed by the company Stanmore in 2011. In 2013, Stanmore was asked to address concerns about the proposal's impact on threatened species and water resources. It has not done so despite indicating in writing in 2020 it still wished to progress with the mine.

The second project was the China Stone coal mine, also in central Queensland, proposed by Macmines Australia. It would have produced almost as much coal as the controversial Adani Carmichael coal mine. In 2018, it was also asked to address concerns about threatened species and water resources and has also not done so.

Plibersek decision:

The Environment Minister has the power to put an end to an application if an applicant doesn't provide the requested information within a reasonable period.

Plibersek announced last week she would end both applications on these grounds. She told TDA she had "zero tolerance for businesses who refuse to provide adequate information... If companies aren't willing to show how they will protect nature, then I'm willing to cancel their projects – and that's exactly what I've done."

The applicants could choose to apply again but would need to begin from scratch, a process that can take several years.

Opposition response:

Shadow Environment Minister Jonathon Duniam said the news was "disappointing... but unsurprising", noting that both projects had stalled since 2020.

Duniam accused Plibersek of "trying to pretend that she is making big announcements" on projects that would not have proceeded anyway and criticised her "ongoing glee" about cancelling projects which "remain crucial to our national economy".

He also suggested Australia's environmental approval process was "ridiculously long".

Give me some good news

New York will be the first U.S. state to ban natural gas in most new buildings, under a provision aimed at phasing out fossil fuel use.

It will mean new buildings will use climate-friendly sources for heating and cooking, such as induction stoves. Hospitals and restaurants will be among the buildings excluded from the provision, which will come into effect in 2025.

Today's podcast

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A TDA tidbit

Adult entertainment website Pornhub has blocked its content from users in the U.S. state of Utah out of protest of the state’s new age-verification law.

The law was intended to limit minors from exposure to explicit adult content. It requires adult websites to verify the age of their users (e.g. with a digital driver's licence) before allowing them to access their content.

Pornhub cut access to its site last week, two days before the law came into effect, and argued that it was too restrictive.

Utahns attempting to access Pornhub last week were met with a video message informing them of an indefinite blackout of the site.

Adult performer and secretary of the adult performers' union Cherie DeVille features in the video, informing users that Pornhub will be inaccessible in Utah "until a real solution [to the law] is offered". 

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