☕️ U.S. Presidential debate to begin

At 11am AEST today, U.S. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump will go head to head in the first presidential debate for 2024.

The debate will be hosted by the American news platform CNN, and, unlike their previous debates in 2020, there won’t be an audience in attendance.

Trump is also expected to announce his pick for vice president ahead of the debate.

“Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next Prime Minister of our great country?”
A question from an audience member at UK PM Rishi Sunak and Opposition Leader Keir Starmer’s final debate before an election next week.

45 years
The sentence former President of the Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez has been handed in a U.S. court for drug and gun offences. He was found guilty of helping ship tons of cocaine to the U.S. while leader.

1919
The Treaty of Versailles was signed, signifying the end of the first World War.

Victorian nurses and midwives are set to receive a 28.4% pay increase over the next four years in a new deal with the Government.

The “once-in-a-generation pay increase” deal comes after weeks of industry-wide protests and months of negotiations between the union and the State Government.

The agreement also includes changes to penalty rates, allowances, workplace conditions, and additional increases for graduate nurses.

Negotiations between the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) and the Victorian Government began in October last year, ahead of the expiration of their previous deal.

The deal is the government’s second offer after the union rejected a proposed 12.6% pay rise last month, saying it didn’t go far enough.

The union says it argued the 89% female industry “has been undervalued based on gender”.

Public sector nurses and midwives will receive pay rises each year until 2027, with amounts depending on their seniority.

Healthcare workers will also receive better allowances for on-call shifts and improved night shift penalties. The new contract includes a ‘right to disconnect’ protecting nurses and midwives from being contacted by employers about shifts they don’t want to work.

The deal must be finalised and approved by the Fair Work Commission before it comes into effect.

The Victorian Government says the deal builds on efforts to provide more certainty for nurses and midwives and pay them “what they deserve.”

Premier Jacinta Allan says the increase will help strengthen the existing workforce while also laying the foundations for a future one.

“It’s a win for all Victorians because better paid nurses and midwives means a better health system.”

The Senate has rejected a proposed law to create a legal duty for the Federal Government to consider young people’s health and wellbeing when making environmental decisions.

Independent Senator David Pocock introduced the bill almost a year ago. A Senate committee review has now recommended the bill not be passed.

Climate activist Anjali Sharma, who helped draft the bill, said the Senate’s decision is a “soul-crushing blow“ but vowed to continue pushing for a climate-based duty of care.

In 2020, Anjali Sharma and seven other young people brought legal action against then-Environment Minister Sussan Ley. They tried to stop Ley from approving the extension of a coal mine due to the consequences of the extra emissions on future generations.

The Federal Court initially ruled in favour of the young people, however, a few months later, Ley successfully appealed that decision.

This was partly because the court said the Minister did not have control over climate-related harms given the global contributions to climate change.

Last year, Independent Senator David Pocock introduced the duty of care bill, calling it a legislative tool that “plugs the gap exposed by the Sharma case”. It required the Government to:

If that bill passed, approvals for coal projects would need to consider the health impact on younger people.

This would add another consideration for project approvals, which already include impacts on biodiversity and local habitats.

Existing environment approval laws have been in place since July 2000. Since then, more than 740 fossil fuel projects have been approved.

In August, the Senate asked a committee to review Pocock’s draft legislation. It received about 400 public submissions.

The committee heard from health experts – including the Australian Medical Association – who provided evidence on the negative impacts of climate change on people’s health.

These included respiratory illness, nutrition-based sickness from food and water scarcity, mental ill-health, injuries and death caused by heatwaves, floods, and bushfires.

The committee’s final report recommended Pocock’s duty of care legislation not pass Parliament.

The Labor-led committee said it recognises the significant health harms caused by climate change. However, it said some of the bill was too broad.

For example, an approval on a project would need to consider the impact on “emotional, spiritual and cultural” health. The committee said it would be too difficult “to quantify these abstract elements”.

Labor Senator Karen Grogan, who led the inquiry, said the Government has already undertaken significant environmental reforms to promote “intergenerational equity”. She said this included a legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.

In Parliament today, Labor MP Peter Khalil said the Government takes its “duty of care” to protect younger people from environmental harm seriously, which he argues has been achieved through other laws and policy decisions.

TDA has reached out to the Coalition for comment.

Sharma has told TDA the Senate report is “disappointing”, saying it has rejected the bill on “weak grounds”.

“What [the Government] has chosen to do is just blatantly reject the bill and I think that’s in very bad faith,” she said.

She said it’s “not the end of the road” for the duty of care bill and said she’s open to negotiating with the Government on making changes to the wording of the legislation.

Senator Pocock criticised the committee’s report, saying “the government has turned its back on young people”.

“If we don’t start thinking about how our actions harm the people and places we love, children will suffer more with health issues, mental health problems, and even trouble finding safe homes and clean water.”

Act Now, Stay Secure

Why you shouldn’t wait

Have you noticed an increase in calls from unknown numbers lately? Or suspicious emails or texts? Well, you’re not alone. Although you might know not to answer, or not to click dodgy links, cyber attacks are getting more sophisticated and more frequent.

But you don’t need to throw in the towel. There are still things you can do to protect yourself online, from setting up multi-factor authentication to installing software updates and creating strong and unique passphrases. Rather than waiting for something to happen - take these three simple steps now to be secure online.

Act Now, Stay Secure. Learn simple steps to protect yourself online at actnowstaysecure.gov.au

In a world-first trial, 12-year-old Oran received the implant in an operation last year. Before receiving the device, Oran experienced seizures numerous times a day. Eight months later, the now 13-year-old has seen his seizures “dramatically reduced in frequency and severity.”

The UK-based study is measuring the effectiveness of this treatment for children with epilepsy. Oran’s mum said “the quality of life improvement has been invaluable” for her son.

Five couples might have to move their wedding anniversary, after it turns out their celebrant was a fraud. 

A 31-year-old Melbourne man has been sentenced to community service after  posing as a celebrant in Victoria from March 2022 to April 2023. All marriage ceremonies he performed are invalid. 

AFP Detective Superintendent Donna Tankard said the man’s actions “could have had serious financial, religious, and legal consequences for the couples who were victims of this deception.”

Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art has an interesting new spot for some of its artworks - the women’s toilets.

In today’s deep dive, we explain how a sex discrimination case shut down an exhibition at MONA and what might happen next.