Australia news live: Plibersek speaks at press club after release of ‘shocking’ report; Moderna provisionally approved for under-fives

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ACT launches nation’s first drug-testing site

Tory Shepherd

Australia’s first fixed pill-testing site has officially been launched in Canberra.

CanTEST Health and Drug Checking Service offers chemical analysis of drugs, as well as drop-in nurse consultations.

The organisers hope it could be the start of a national program.

ACT health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the service will start this Thursday and will be open during the day on Thursdays and Friday evenings. She said:

In addition to drug checking, the service will provide harm reduction information, counselling and advice to encourage choices that reduce drug use and associated harms.

We know the safest option is not to take drugs and this will always be our advice to the community. However, we recognise that some people will choose to use drugs and there is a need for initiatives that reduce the harms associated with drug use.

Updated at 21.21 EDT

Queensland records 18 Covid deaths and 983 people in hospital

There were 9,992 new cases in the last reporting period, and 24 people are in intensive care.

Investment NSW lawyer says it was ‘not correct’ that Jenny West had been previously offered the job

A senior lawyer from Investment NSW has disputed evidence given by Jenny West over the appointment of a New York trade job.

In evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the former deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a plum $500,000 New York trade job, Chris Carr, the Investment NSW general counsel, said it was “not correct” that West had been previously offered the job.

It has previously been revealed that the then premier, Gladys Berejiklian, as well as other senior ministers, signed briefs noting West was the “successful” candidate for the job.

But Carr disputed that she had been formally offered the job, saying there were US tax issues that had not been resolved.

He said:

My understanding is that Ms West was well advanced in the process, but not at the end of it.

On Tuesday Carr was pressed on who asked him to provide advice about whether the trade jobs could be made as ministerial appointments. The Investment NSW chief executive, Amy Brown, has previously said she believed the deputy premier’s office had asked Carr to provide the advice. However he told the inquiry the request came either from Brown or her chief of staff.

He told the hearing he was asked for advice on the appointment of the senior trade jobs on “multiple occasions” after the positions were changed from cabinet to public service appointees.

I did find myself repeating myself. Jenny West speaks during the inquiry into the appointment of John Barilaro as senior trade and investment commissioner to the Americas at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on 11 July. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated at 21.13 EDT

NSW rail strike planned for next week

NSW commuters will be hit with more disruptions next week as the rail union resumes industrial action in its long-running dispute with the government, AAP reports.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) has called a four-hour stoppage starting in the first minute of 28 July but it will potentially have an impact in the hours before and after.

The union and government remain at loggerheads over a new enterprise agreement as well as safety modifications to the mothballed Korean-built New Intercity Fleet (NIF).

RTBU NSW Secretary Alex Classens says the government refuses to sign a deed confirming it will make safety modifications and guaranteeing the cost won’t come at the expense of wages and conditions.

Rail staff are asking for a 3.5% pay increase and the stalemate “has left workers with no choice but to take further action”, he said.

The government says the new round of action is a tactic to pressure it into agreeing “to exorbitant increases in wages and conditions equivalent to 16.5% in the first year”.

Earlier this month the government had its case against the union dismissed by the Fair Work Commission, after seeking to terminate industrial action, arguing it was endangering life and impacting the NSW economy.

Sydney commuters at Central Station. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated at 21.03 EDT

Calls to end native forest logging in response to state of the environment report

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has responded to the state of the environment report, calling on the government to review “the disastrous anomaly” of the Regional Forest Agreements, which are allowing bushland to be cleared.

The Nature Conservation Council deputy chief executive, Jacqui Mumford, said:

In the six years since the last state of the environment report, koalas, greater gliders, gang-gang cockatoos and yellow-bellied gliders have either been added to the list or had their threat status upgraded.

The two most important things that all governments must do – state and federal – is end the logging of our native forests and end the bulldozing of woodlands on farms.

Habitat destruction and climate change are the major drivers of this alarming trend.

We have lost more than 7 million hectares of bushland since the year 2000. That has to stop.

The state of the environment report confirms what the Samuel review has already found – nature in Australia is being flogged and federal and state laws aren’t up to the job.

We call on the government to review the disastrous anomaly of the Regional Forest Agreements which are a huge loophole that loggers are driving log trucks through every day of the week.

We welcome Labor’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the Samuel review of the Commonwealth Environment Conservation and Biodiversity Act that has been gathering dust since it was tabled two years ago.

A gang-gang cockatoo. Photograph: William Robinson/Alamy

Updated at 20.59 EDT

Northern Territory records no Covid deaths and 63 people in hospital

There were 671 new cases in the last reporting period, and one person is in intensive care.

New job vacancies data shows sectors feeling the squeeze

Job vacancies in the Australian labour market have not just recovered from the Covid pandemic, they’ve doubled.

According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics release, there are 480,100 job vacancies in Australia, a 111.1% increase since February 2020.

In June unemployment tumbled to 3.5% as Australia approaches what is considered full employment, meaning almost everyone willing and able to work is in a job.

But which sectors are experiencing the biggest workforce shortages, and what is the cause?

The sectors with the biggest absolute number of job vacancies are healthcare and social assistance (68,900), accommodation and food services (51,900), and professional scientific and technical services (42,900).

Sick leave needs to be used up before accessing Covid payments

Workers isolating with Covid-19 will need to use their sick leave before claiming the pandemic payment, the government services minister Bill Shorten says.

Shorten told the Seven Network’s Sunrise this morning that employees did not have to use their holiday leave, only sick pay, before becoming eligible.

The $750 relief payment will be available Wednesday, after a change of heart from the government following an emergency national cabinet meeting over the weekend.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government is “flexible” on a possible extension for the payments, which are due to end in September.

– with AAP

Bill Shorten outlined the eligibility criteria for the Covid payments this morning. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated at 20.36 EDT

Snow in Tasmania will take days to melt away, BoM says

Updated at 20.41 EDT

Scott Morrison gives sermon saying ‘don’t trust in governments’ or UN

In case you missed it, Scott Morrison yesterday told Margaret Court’s Perth church “we don’t trust in governments” and “don’t trust in the United Nations”.

During a sermon at the church, the former prime minister also said God had a “plan” for him after his election defeat.

You can watch video footage of that speech and read my colleague Josh Butler’s story here:

Updated at 20.13 EDT