u/l3ntil

Preparations for Cop31 will kick up a gear this week with a small group of national leaders, including the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, expected to join representatives of more than 50 countries for a preparatory meeting in Fiji and Tuvalu.

The meeting is being held just days after a New South Wales regulator approved the largest coalmine expansion in the Australian state’s history. Joint owners Yancoal and Glencore estimate the 19-year life extension for the Hunter Valley Operations thermal coalmine could lead to 809m tonnes of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions if it wins federal approval.

Vanuatu’s climate change minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said it would be “deeply disappointing” for Pacific countries if Australia extended the life of a major coalmine as it led the Cop31 negotiations. “This decision sends the wrong signal at a critical time,” he said,

Bill Hare, the chief executive of the Climate Analytics, a science and policy institute, said it would be “interesting to see” if Turkey and Australia could set aside their “addiction to fossil fuels”. He said the Australia Labor government had approved 37 fossil fuel developments for export since its election in 2022, while Turkey under president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seemed “fixated on prioritising digging up and burning coal … and establishing itself as a regional fossil gas hub”.

"The Federal Government has spent $1.5 billion on just the first of three phases of decommissioning the Northern Endeavour, whose owner failed four years after obtaining the poorly maintained oil producer from Woodside.

The cost to date, paid through a levy on offshore oil and gas production, has covered preparing the 274m-long vessel to be moved, disconnecting it from the seabed, and towing it to Denmark for recycling.

The mounting bill, revealed through published contract information (table below), is leading some in the offshore oil and gas sector to question the Government's project management skills, with concerns the final bill could exceed $2.5 billion."

The phone outside Narooma Plaza on the Princes Highway has been heritage-listed for its cultural and social role in the Black Summer fires, with almost 1,000 calls made over two months during and after the disaster.

I was unaware of this partnership between Aldi + Tony Chocolonely, and only recently tried out the dark chocolate salty fudge almond, and its damn delicious.
Given it's half the price of Tony, a little chocolate socialism, if you will.
It's around $4, and good value considering.
The story of Tony's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony%27s_Chocolonely
Tony's + Aldi both score well on the chocolate scorecard:
https://www.chocolatescorecard.com

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"An inner Melbourne council has voted to ban smart glasses from its pools, gyms, playgrounds and childcare centres due to concerns about vulnerable members of the community being covertly filmed.

The City of Yarra last night voted to ban glasses with in-built cameras from its facilities as well as lobby the federal government to update the Privacy Act to respond to the risks posed by new wearable technologies.

There will be exceptions for users who are hearing impaired, have low vision or other disabilities who are aided by smart glasses."

>"The welfare of fish within those pens is directly adversely affected by stocking density, biomass and the environmental conditions within each cage,"

the complaint said.

"Atlantic salmon are typically slaughtered by percussive stunning followed by gill cutting and exsanguination (bleeding). 

"Where stunning is ineffective or incomplete, fish may remain conscious or regain consciousness before or during bleeding, exposing them to unnecessary pain, suffering and distress."

Biosecurity Tasmania is the statutory authority responsible for protecting the state's agricultural industries and enforcing the Animal Welfare Act. It forms part of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The ABC asked if it'll be investigating the claims raised by Animals Australia — the department said it has received the complaint and the matter is "currently being considered".

"One Nation has called in lawyers to defend the party’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, against contested historical allegations by his former lover and partner of 18 years that he led a secret life of illicit drug taking and “sexual deviance” while they were together.

Jo Scott’s explosive claims are supported by handwritten letters and texts from Mr Pickering apologising for his behaviour when “on the shit”, “on the gear” and “using substances”.

During a low point in their ­relationship in 2011-12, he wrote that “the drugs” were responsible for his self-described “sexual deviance”.

“After I’v (sic) come down Im (sic) disgusted in myself & vow never again,” he wrote.

Ms Scott said she and Mr Pickering used marijuana and amphetamines including highly addictive ice in the homes they shared with their daughter and her three sons from a previous marriage. She is now estranged from them.

Ms Scott, 54, became addicted to ice, also known as crystal meth, and was charged with possession of the drug, compounding her struggles with depression and suicidal self-harm, she said.

A member of the couple’s ­social circle at the time told The ­Australian that they witnessed Mr Pickering smoking ice at a “party house” in the west ­Gippsland town of Garfield on ­numerous occasions between 2006 and 2010.

Rejecting Ms Scott’s claims in their entirety, Mr Pickering said she had sought to use “false and salacious” allegations in family law disputes since 2010, which had been routinely dismissed.

“These allegations are false,” the 43-year-old said in a written statement. “They are extremely hurtful and I just hope the public can see through them.”

However, he repeatedly declined to answer written questions from this masthead about his ­alleged ice use and his apparent admissions to Ms Scott that he consumed illicit drugs during their long and tumultuous ­relationship."

“Passports taken, no breaks, threats

Associate Professor Bassina Farbenblum, who founded the Migrant Justice Institute, said the underpayment of temporary visa holders, such as in Mai's case, was often a clue that those businesses were committing other forms of exploitation.

She has co-authored a major study into migrant worker exploitation commissioned by the Commonwealth attorney-general's department, finding:

"International students alone may be short-changed by around $3.18 billion per year," the report said.

"Not by accident, and not by a few rogue employers."”

"Saturday’s heat was likely a preview of things to come if previous trends hold true. Strong El Niño events tend to bring warmer-than-normal conditions to southeastern Australia during their summer months, which stretch from December to February.

Temperatures in and around Sydney soared into the 30s on Saturday afternoon, with a high temperature of 32°C recorded at both of the city’s major airports alongside wind gusts of 80-90 km/h.

Hot, dry, and windy conditions are very favourable for wildfires, leading local forecasters to issue fire weather warnings for the region on Saturday. Conditions will improve into Sunday as high temperatures fall back into the 20s and winds subside."

AAP FactCheck - One Nation MP David Farley has falsely claimed his electorate of Farrer produces 40 per cent of all Australia's food. 

An expert who has studied agriculture and the Murray-Darling Basin says Mr Farley's claim is "grossly overestimated". 

The real figure is around six per cent when calculated by gross value, the expert said.

Mr Farley, who was elected to the House of Representatives in the Farrer by-election in May 2026, made the claim during an interview^(1) on ABC TV's Insiders program on August 23.

"I've got the full support of the party to pursue what I'm doing, especially for Farrer," Mr Farley said in the interview (timestamp 27 minutes 45 seconds). 

"Forty per cent of the nation's food comes out of Farrer, so it's pretty important."