TRANSCRIPT
- Australia and the UK partner up on a new climate deal
- Qantas announces cash payments for workers as strikes continue
- Cricket Australia scraps David Warner's lifetime leadership ban
King Charles has urged Commonwealth leaders to act on the existential threat of climate change in a speech calling for a cut to greenhouse gas emissions.
The King used his most important address to the Commonwealth meeting in Samoa to warn of the threat to lives and economies from the impact of climate change.
It follows similar remarks he made during his royal tour of Australia in Canberra on Monday.
Political leaders from more than 50 nations gathered for the address where they also heard leaders from Samoa and Rwanda.
King Charles says climate change has been raised as a primary concern from many Commonwealth nations for years.
"We are well past believing it is a problem for the future, since it is already, already undermining the development gains we have long fought for. This year alone we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada. Lives, livelihoods and human rights are at risk across the Commonwealth."
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Australia and the UK have agreed to deepen their cooperation in the fight against climate change as the nations' leaders met for the first time.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Anthony Albanese discussed defence, climate investment and trade links on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.
The pair have agreed to negotiate a new climate and energy partnership - which will focus on developing and speeding up the rollout of renewable energy technologies, such as green hydrogen and offshore wind power.
Mr Albanese says it was a productive discussion.
"We are both on the path to net zero through the transition and we see that as an opportunity for new industry and jobs and a new industrialisation of our respective countries… There is a real opportunity for us to develop technologies together to make a difference as well as look at cooperation in areas such as climate finance."
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Qantas has promised to give 1000 dollars to non-executive employees in a bid to repair relations with staff.
The announcement was made at the Qantas annual general meeting, as the company faces a hefty compensation bill expected to exceed 100 million dollars for illegally sacking almost 1700 baggage handlers in 2020.
The airline's chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, says the payment is to thank staff.
It comes as 600 Qantas line maintenance engineers carry out strikes today across all major airports.
Union members are calling for a 15 per cent pay rise and say they will keep striking until their demands are met.
"This is a strong message to Qantas and the people that fly with Qantas. You keep them safe. You keep them safe. Not management who get all the big bonuses, not anyone else. You keep the Australian public safe."
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A clinical trial testing lab-grown skin to treat severe burns is taking place at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.
The engineered skin is made using the patient's own cells, and is being tested on people with severe burns covering at least 20 per cent of their body.
The hospital is one of a handful of laboratories around Australia working on growing skin.
Plastic surgeon, Heather Cleland, has worked in the Alfred Hospital's burns unit for more than 20 years, and she says the results so far are promising.
"The skin bioengineering laboratory at the Alfred has been working on this particular project for aroundabout a decade now, and that involves a lot of pre-clinical work in the laboratory and then progressing onto trial various products and various constructs in small animal models and generally being pretty confident before we bring it into the clinic that this will be successful in humans."
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Cricket Australia has scrapped the lifetime leadership ban on David Warner that was controversially handed down following a ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
An independent three-member review panel unanimously determined Warner met the criteria to have his ban overturned after the former Test opener lodged an appeal with Cricket Australia.
The panel found Warner was genuinely remorseful in taking responsibility for the Sandpapergate saga.
It also considered Warner's track record mentoring the next generation of cricketers, and his role in fostering interest in the game amongst Australia's South Asian communities.
The decision scraps the last remaining sanction left over from the chain of events in South Africa and paves the way for Warner to hold a formal leadership role with the Big Bash league's Sydney Thunder this summer.
