Australia news live: veteran suicide rates ‘a national tragedy’, minister says after royal commission report | Australia news

Josh Butler

Veterans minister Matt Keogh has acknowledged concerns had been raised by the royal commission about access to information from government departments, but stopped short of immediately endorsing the interim report’s recommendations to reform parliamentary privilege and public interest immunity claims.

Commissioner Nick Kaldas told Radio National this morning that he was “still awaiting some things to be resolved”, noting “a number of problem areas we’re trying to navigate… privacy, national security issues”.

Kaldas has previously said the royal commission had found some relevant information “difficult to obtain”. When asked if that information had been more forthcoming in recent months, Kaldas replied: “not as yet”.

The interim report said it had been “constrained – unreasonably so” by parliamentary privilege and public interest immunity claims in its investigations, as well as raising serious concerns about a lack of legal protections for sources to engage with the royal commission.

The report said previous related investigations had been conducted by the Australian

National Audit Office and various parliamentary committees, but that parliamentary privilege “presented a barrier to the Royal Commission making full use of, or fully reviewing, these reports”.

It recommended the government make changes to public interest immunity claims, introduce exemptions for parliamentary privilege for future royal commissions, as well as provide further legal protections for serving members of the ADF who wish to engage with the commission.

Keogh acknowledged concerns but said he had “not formed a view” on the recommendations about immunity and privilege.

The minister said it was “vitally important” the royal commission get the information it requested, but flagged administrative difficulties in sourcing and providing some information. Keogh noted more than 500,000 people in Australia today had served in the defence force, and that not all records were digitised for easy access.

NSW is failing on key commitment of Murray-Darling Basin Plan, report says

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority report shows that as of June 30, NSW has only formally submitted one of 20 water resource plans, with five more provided for review ahead of formal submission.

Plans for Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory are listed as “on track”, while NSW is listed as at “high risk”.

The report notes that just 2 gigalitres of 450GL needed for the environment have been delivered, with another 22.1GL contracted.

Water minister Tanya Plibersek has promised “nothing is off the table” when it comes to delivering the plan in full.

Peter Hannam

Senex expansion: output for 2022 and 2021 was 20PJ, so plan is to triple production

Senex has been asked about their current gas production, so we can get some yardstick against today’s announcement that they plan to invest $1bn-plus to raise annual output to 60 petajoules a year.

Graeme Bethune, head of EnergyQuest consultancy, said by their reckoning Senex produced 19.5PJ of gas last year, up from 13.1PJ in 2020.

On that score, the expansion would be triple last year’s output, which is in line with their roughly tripling of investment.

Senex has confirmed to Guardian Australia that this year’s and 2021’s output was in the order of 20PJ, so the plan would be to triple the production.

A spokesperson for the company said current output is about 50/50 for the domestic and export markets, and that the “vast majority” of the new production would be earmarked for use in Australia.

Christopher Knaus

Covid outbreaks in aged care down for first time since mid June

The latest data on Covid-related deaths in aged care makes for grim reading.

In the week to 5 August, there were 165 new deaths reported by aged care providers. The week prior, the number of deaths was 176, by far the worst since the January Omicron wave, according to a Guardian analysis.

But there are some encouraging signs.

The number of active outbreaks in aged care has dropped to 952 in the most recent data. That’s down from 1,064 and 1,013 in the two weeks prior. In fact, it’s the first time the number of active outbreaks have fallen since mid-June.

The number of resident and staff cases associated with active outbreaks has also dropped for the first time in more than a month. There were 14,554 resident cases and 7,170 staff cases associated with active outbreaks in the week to 5 August. That’s down from 15,072 residents and 8,190 staff in the week prior.

Sarah Martin

Veteran suicide inquiry report makes 13 recommendations including more DVA resources to clear 40,000-claim backlog

The interim report of the royal commission into defence and veteran suicide has made 13 recommendations to government, seeking to improve the process for veterans dealing with the Department of Veteran Affairs.

The commission, which was chaired by Nick Kaldas, calls for the government to clear the claims backlog by March 2024, with more than 40,000 claims still outstanding.

It also recommends simplifying and harmonising the legislation relating to compensation and rehabilitation, with new legislation to be drafted by the end of next year.

To help clear the backlog, the report says the Department of Veteran Affairs will need additional resources, and will need to have a controversial staffing cap removed to ensure it has the resources required to process claims.

“The allocation of these resources to DVA should not be offset by reductions in other resourcing of DVA,” the report says.

Ahead of the commission’s final report in mid 2024, the report also calls for increased protections for people engaging with the commission, saying there needs to be changes to the royal commission act to ensure that serving Australian defence force members can disclose sensitive personal information, and changes to Criminal Code so that information can be conveyed to the royal commission without being in breach of secrecy offences.

Other recommendations go to administrative issues within the department, including improving access to information for veterans and their families, changes to trauma practices for those seeking DVA information and education programs for families of veterans seeking information.

The NRL is in shock after league legend Paul Green has been reported dead at his Brisbane home on Thursday morning.

The Courier-Mail reported news of the 49-year-old’s passing, saying it has left the NRL in shock as Green had not complained about being ill and had been present last weekend for a Cronulla Sharks reunion.

An autopsy will be carried out to determine the cause of death.

Green is survived by wife Amanda and two children.

More details to come …

Seven people with Covid-19 have died in Western Australia overnight, with the state recording 2,739 new cases on Thursday morning, 323 people in hospital, and 11 in ICU.

Paul Karp

Mark McGowan offers to walk away from Clive Palmer court case if both claims are dismissed

The federal court is considering who should pay what costs in Clive Palmer’s defamation case against Mark McGowan.

Earlier in August, the court found the pair defamed each other in a war of words over Covid-19 and extraordinary legislation extinguishing the billionaire’s $30bn claim against Western Australia. Palmer received damages of just $5,000 while McGowan got a little more – $20,000 – because justice Michael Lee accepted his evidence about his hurt feelings.

The costs hearing on Thursday centred on an offer from McGowan to Palmer for the pair to walk away, accepting dismissal of both Palmer’s claim and McGowan’s cross-claim.

Palmer’s counsel told the court that Palmer’s case had achieved a “finding by the federal court” that he had been defamed, which was “very significant” and “far more favourable” than dismissal, notwithstanding the small damages bill. His counsel noted Palmer had a high reputation in sections of the community, and the court found the defamation was actionable (if not serious). Palmer’s counsel submitted a more reasonable offer would have been judgment for both sides, rather than dismissal.

McGowan’s counsel, Bret Walker, countered:

There is nothing inappropriate about a walkaway offer between two people in the middle of a slanging match that moved from media to the court.

Walker accepted the concept of vindication of reputation, but noted the case had resulted in a “modest” award of $20,000 for McGowan and “even more modest” award of $5,000 for Palmer. Lee quipped that it is “an interesting stage of [a barrister’s] career, when your daily fee exceeds the cost of damages”.

Walker noted the judge had said the “game was not worth the candle” and suggested he might be tempted to conclude vindication was “pretty much even” so no costs order should be made.

But Walker urged the judge to take the settlement offer into account, which he said should tip the balance in McGowan’s favour for a costs order. To save tallying up costs, Walker proposed a lump sum.

The judge accepted there was “an asymmetry in responsibility in starting the proceedings” – because Palmer had started them – and “also an asymmetry in continuing them” – because McGowan had offered to walk away.

Judgment will be given at 4.15pm.