Australia will launch a lottery to bring 3000 foreign workers into the country every year under a new law to be proposed that adapts the “green card” system used in the United States
A final decision on whether Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe continues in his job will be made by the middle of the year
Sally Rugg and teal MP Monique Ryan will return to court tomorrow after they failed to reach an out-of-court settlement
The bodies of two missing miners have been found after a zinc mine collapsed in Queensland
And, if you don’t believe China’s latest growth figures – you’re not alone.

We’ll be back at 6am tomorrow. Thanks for joining us.

6.36pm on Feb 16, 2023

Inquiry into handling of COVID-19 to begin ‘in not too distant future’

A probe into Australia’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely begin once the country emerges from recent waves of the virus.

Secretary Brendan Murphy told a Senate estimates hearing a decision on how the inquiry would run and when it would operate would be made by the government “in the not too distant future”.

Secretary of the Department of Health Professor Brendan Murphy during a Senate hearing on COVID-19 today.Alex Ellinghausen

He said the inquiry would likely be finalised once the country moved on from current waves of COVID.

“The view was that (the government) would like to see how we settled a little bit in this new ... phase where COVID is not having quite the impact that it used to have,” he said.

“Many of the states and territories have looked at their own response, so we were obviously evaluating all of our programs such as the vaccine rollout, the anti-viral administration and usage.”

Chief medical officer Paul Kelly warned there would still be large numbers of COVID cases in the community going forward.

“The most recent (wave) is now settling, but there will be more waves into the future. I predict there will be at least another couple this year,” Prof Kelly said.

“We have to learn lessons from this extraordinary time so that we can be more prepared for the future.”

AAP

6.13pm on Feb 16, 2023

Bodies of missing Queensland miners found following collapse

By Cloe Read

Two missing miners have been found dead after a collapse at a zinc mine in northern Queensland.

Investigators had been searching for Dylan Langridge and Trevor Davis, who went missing after a light vehicle and a drill rig fell into a void at the Dugald River mine near Cloncurry on Wednesday.

Another worker on the drill rig survived.

The bodies of missing mine workers Dylan Langridge and Trevor Davis have been found.

Work had been suspended at the mine, while rescue teams used drone technology to search for the vehicle.

“This is a devastating outcome and I want to extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to the families, friends, colleagues and loved ones of Trevor and Dylan, both of whom should have come home safely from work yesterday,” said Mark Norwell, the chief executive of Perenti, the parent company of mine operator MMG.

The company said the incident occurred about 125 metres below the surface.

“The drill rig operator was rescued and received medical treatment for minor injuries,” Perenti said in a statement.

“Tragically, through the rescue effort it has been confirmed that the two other [workers], Trevor Davis and Dylan Langridge, were fatally injured.”

Langridge, 33, had joined contractors Barminco in March 2020 as a truck operator and moved to Dugald River that year.

Davis, 36, joined the company in August 2020, before transferring to Dugald River in November 2021.

“The rescue operation has now sadly completed. Our primary focus is that of support for the families and colleagues of Trevor and Dylan and in parallel completing a comprehensive investigation.”

Inspectors from Resources Safety Queensland were continuing to investigate the site of the collapse.

5.59pm on Feb 16, 2023

‘I carefully held his precious life in my grasp’

By Chris Barrett

The British cave diver who led the rescue of the Thai boys’ soccer team and personally saved the captain, Duangpetch Promthep, has opened up about the heartbreaking death of the 17-year-old.

Cave diver Rick Stanton said he was shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic and untimely death of Promthep, who was better known as “Dom”, on Wednesday while attending a soccer academy in Leicester, England.

It was Stanton and his colleague John Volanthen who successfully navigated the 2.2 kilometres of treacherous, flooded Tham Luang cave tunnels and discovered the 12 young boys and their coach, nine days after they became trapped in 2018.

Duangpetch Promthep is greeted by relatives at his home in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand after the rescue in 2018. The soccer team captain died on Wednesday in England.AP

It is Stanton’s voice that can be heard asking “how many of you?” in the extraordinary footage captured at the moment when the boys were found.

5.35pm on Feb 16, 2023

More than 80 firefighters battling Port Lincoln blaze; school evacuated

An update on that uncontrolled bushfire burning in Port Lincoln, South Australia.

A local school has been evacuated and more than 80 firefighters battle a raging scrub fire threatening lives and homes at Port Lincoln on the state’s Eyre Peninsula.

Lincoln Gardens Primary School was closed on Thursday afternoon with students and staff relocating “safe and well” to Kirton Point Primary School.

The Country Fire Service said 84 firefighters and 26 trucks were working on the fire supported by eight aircraft, including water bombers.

AAP

5.11pm on Feb 16, 2023

Scientology leader considered legally served in Australian human trafficking case

By Ben Schneiders

Scientology’s reclusive leader, David Miscavige, has 21 days to respond to allegations from a human-trafficking case brought by three Australian residents, after nearly a year of avoiding legal service.

Gawain Baxter, Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris have claimed in a civil case lodged in Florida that they had endured horrendous emotional, physical and psychological abuse while in Scientology.

Now a US magistrate has ruled that Miscavige had been concealing his whereabouts for nearly a year and declared him officially served in the case.

The court heard allegations from plaintiff lawyers that Miscavige had evaded service 27 times, including by ordering security at Scientology properties to prevent the summons from being delivered. Miscavige’s lawyers had also refused to accept service for him last month.

Read the full story here.

4.56pm on Feb 16, 2023

Sally Rugg and Monique Ryan back in court tomorrow

By Angus Thompson

Activist Sally Rugg’s court case against her boss, independent MP Monique Ryan, is back before a judge tomorrow after mediation that has so far left the workplace dispute unresolved.

Rugg, the former head of Change.org and a marriage equality campaigner who became the teal independent’s chief-of-staff in July, launched Federal Court action against Ryan and the Commonwealth late last month in a case over allegedly unreasonable hours.

At a Federal Court hearing on February 3, the parties announced they would enter into mediation until returning to the court on February 17, with Rugg continuing to be paid for her role in the meantime.

Kooyong MP Monique Ryan and her estranged chief of staff Sally Rugg in happier times.

Friday’s matter is listed as an interlocutory hearing before Justice Debra Mortimer in Melbourne.

Rugg and her legal team have linked the case to parliamentary workplace culture, particularly the lengthy hours politicians’ staff undergo as part of their jobs.

Rugg’s lawyer, Josh Bornstein, previously declined to discuss the details of the case but canvassed the possibility of a broader reckoning about the hours people have long accepted across a multitude of professions.

“This has become so widespread that it has been crying out for some sort of test case,” he said.

“Whether this is the case that goes to trial to determine the issue, I don’t know.”

Rugg’s law firm Maurice Blackburn has declined to comment on the progress of the matter. Comment has been sought from Ryan’s and the Commonwealth’s lawyers.

4.40pm on Feb 16, 2023

Wieambilla shooter’s diary among evidence discovered in investigation

We’ve got some more details for you on the significant update that Queensland police gave today regarding the shooting of two police officers and a neighbour in Wieambilla last year.

We told you earlier today that police believed Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train were motivated by an extreme form of Christian ideology, premillennialism.

Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said they also found Stacey’s diary, which had entries dating back a few years, and there were several catalysts before the attack, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, global conflicts and social disparity.

Read Cloe Read’s full report here.

4.21pm on Feb 16, 2023

Dry zones return to Northern Territory

After legislation passed earlier this week, Northern Territory towns and communities are spending their first day in dry zones.

New laws, which came into effect today, prohibit liquor in these areas while residents vote on community alcohol plans.

File photo: Dry zones have been established in areas across the Northern Territory.Kate Geraghty

At the same time, both the NT and federal governments will invest more in health and social services to address root causes of alcohol misuse, said Chief Minister Natasha Fyles.

“People in the Territory want safer communities now. They also want us to address the issue at its source so that our communities continue to be safer in the future,” Ms Fyles told reporters on Thursday.

Two weeks ago, the main representative body for town camps in Alice Springs told the NT News that communities had already submitted alcohol plans to federal and territory governments last year, but neither had responded.

AAP

4.05pm on Feb 16, 2023

Senate hearing on gas supply flares over national interest

By Mike Foley

Nationals Senator Susan McDonald has been accused of talking down Australia’s relationship with key trading partners in a senate inquiry today, following her claim that Japanese business representatives are concerned that recent gas market intervention could disrupt export contracts of the key energy fuel.

McDonald said she recently attended an event at the Japanese Embassy where various business people told her they were hurt and concerned by the potential for ongoing federal government reforms to increase government powers to redirect gas exports bound for Japan into the direct market.

“Large number of those investors, not just in gas and resources but agriculture and other sectors… were shocked, hurt and puzzled. They didn’t know what they had done for us to treat them in this way,” McDonald said.

The Albanese government is consulting with gas producers over their proposed reforms to the so-called gas trigger laws, or the Australian Domestic Gas Mechanism (ADGSM). Currently, the ADGSM is reviewed once a year and if a shortfall in the domestic market is identified the federal government could force gas producers to redirect gas from export contracts, unless producers can find additional supplies to fill the gap. The government wants to increase the frequency of reviews to once every three months.

Senator Stuart Ayres, representing Resources Minister Madeleine King in the hearing, said McDonald had deliberately inflated the risks posed to Australia’s trade partners.

“I hope, in the discussions you refer to, that you had with representatives of partners of Australia, that you haven’t misrepresented the policy,” Ayres said. “That is not in the national interest.”

Australia news as it happened: Bodies of missing Queensland miners found following collapse; Queensland police shooting ‘a terrorist act’; Sally Rugg and Monique Ryan back in court tomorrow

Key Posts

Goodnight

Inquiry into handling of COVID-19 to begin ‘in not too distant future’

Bodies of missing Queensland miners found following collapse

‘I carefully held his precious life in my grasp’

More than 80 firefighters battling Port Lincoln blaze; school evacuated

Scientology leader considered legally served in Australian human trafficking case

Sally Rugg and Monique Ryan back in court tomorrow

Wieambilla shooter’s diary among evidence discovered in investigation

Dry zones return to Northern Territory

Senate hearing on gas supply flares over national interest

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