Malarndirri McCarthy makes history in UN address
Sarah Collard
Labor senator and assistant minister for Indigenous Australians and Indigenous health, Malarndirri McCarthy, has created history today by being the first Indigenous Australian woman to deliver Australia’s national statement to the United Nations commission on the status of women in New York, according to a media statement.
McCarthy delivered Australia’s national statement and said that tackling gender inequality was crucial.
The theme of the United Nations forum was “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.
The statement included the importance of technology and innovation and closing the digital gap, particularly for First Nations women and those living in regional and remote areas.
McCarthy told the UN that the Albanese government will deliver on an election promise to introduce a national strategy to achieve gender equality.
We know that good outcomes for women are good for the nation and that’s why we are energised and ready to take on the hard work needed to achieve the change necessary for women and girls.
As a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman from Gulf Country in the Northern Territory, I’m incredibly proud and humbled to represent all Australian women and girls with this distinguished delegation on the world stage.
Australia is serious about achieving gender equality, and we are committed to working with partners across our region and the globe to achieve long-lasting change for women and girls.
Key events
Abdo says the NRL will also be using the incident as an opportunity for greater education:
This is also an opportunity for us to educate people as well. While we might take strong action, we use this as an opportunity to educate people who require it around what is acceptable, not only at rugby league games but in our society more generally.
Abdo:
Again, I want to commend him and all the players who speak up and take action. I want to encourage anyone in our game to do exactly the same thing. It is the only way we’re going to eradicate these types of unfortunate incidents our game.
I also want to support the players that do a great job for us. It is not just the players, it’s all participants – all officials in the game, all volunteers and all fans.
Everybody deserves to be respected. Everybody deserves to be made to feel comfortable in our game. One of the things we love about rugby league is the genuine inclusivity that exists.
When issues like this happen, just know we will deal with them and deal with them thoroughly … We are cooperating with the police, we will get to the bottom of the facts and make sure the appropriate action and appropriate process follows once we have all the details.
NRL CEO hails players’ response to alleged incident of racial abuse
The NRL CEO, Andrew Abdo, has stepped up in Sydney to respond to a fan allegedly making a racial slur against Rabbitohs player Latrell Mitchell at last night’s game.
It is abhorrent when we have player subjected to any form of vilification or abuse. Whether that be racial abuse or any form of vilification, it is completely unacceptable.
What I am pleased about is the way the game always rallies behind anyone in the game affected by this. I want to commend in this particular example Latrell Mitchell for his leadership, for calling out this action.
Not just him, all players last night from both teams who worked together to assist the stadium, the NRL officials, the police and everyone in getting all the facts and making sure these types of situations don’t happen in the future. It takes a lot of courage to do that.
Plibersek under pressure to force companies to cut back on plastic waste
The environment minister is under mounting pressure to force industry to deal with the waste it produces and stop relying on voluntary targets, AAP reports.
The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson’s frustrations boiled over while grilling senior officials about voluntary targets under an industry scheme.
What gives you any confidence they are going to solve this problem when they literally haven’t given a shit about it for decades?
He was referring to targets entrusted to the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, whose members include thousands of businesses from packaging manufacturers and major retailers to international brands.
Environment department senior executive Kate Lynch agreed some of the “ambitious” targets would not be met.
But having the targets in place is still a useful exercise.
The Greens senator asked when the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, would decide it was time to “step in and regulate”. He also questioned how Australia could back a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution, while doing nothing like that at home.
Don’t you see an irony in that?
Assistant climate change minister, Jenny McAllister, said the government did not think the progress to date had been adequate. But she said two things were going on.
Our intention to be a good international citizen, and play our part in driving international action. But it’s also our intention to work hard on our national environment, to get our house in order.
Malarndirri McCarthy makes history in UN address
Sarah Collard
Labor senator and assistant minister for Indigenous Australians and Indigenous health, Malarndirri McCarthy, has created history today by being the first Indigenous Australian woman to deliver Australia’s national statement to the United Nations commission on the status of women in New York, according to a media statement.
McCarthy delivered Australia’s national statement and said that tackling gender inequality was crucial.
The theme of the United Nations forum was “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.
The statement included the importance of technology and innovation and closing the digital gap, particularly for First Nations women and those living in regional and remote areas.
McCarthy told the UN that the Albanese government will deliver on an election promise to introduce a national strategy to achieve gender equality.
We know that good outcomes for women are good for the nation and that’s why we are energised and ready to take on the hard work needed to achieve the change necessary for women and girls.
As a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman from Gulf Country in the Northern Territory, I’m incredibly proud and humbled to represent all Australian women and girls with this distinguished delegation on the world stage.
Australia is serious about achieving gender equality, and we are committed to working with partners across our region and the globe to achieve long-lasting change for women and girls.
Severe thunderstorms predicted for Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology says thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are possible around large parts of the state, particularly the central interior, today.
One in five patients reject life-saving heart medicine in US, study shows
People with high cholesterol are refusing to take prescribed heart medicine, a new study has found, prompting calls for better cardiovascular health awareness, AAP reports.
The study, which reviewed the medical data of millions of US citizens, found one in five people at high risk of heart disease are not taking statin therapy. Statins work by lowering the amount of cholesterol in the blood, preventing the fat from accumulating and blocking a person’s coronary arteries.
The study also found women were more likely to refuse statins when prescribed them than men, resulting in poorer health outcomes.
The findings have serious implications for the 6.5 million Australians – including 3.6 million women – who live with high cholesterol, says Heart Foundation Healthcare programs manager Natalie Raffoul:
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death among Australian women second only to dementia.
Statin therapy is the gold-standard, first-line, cholesterol-lowering medication prescribed for high-risk individuals to help reduce their chances of having a heart attack or stroke.
If you are prescribed statins by your GP … it’s crucial that you consider taking these medicines, which are commonly regarded as having been critical to the reduction in cardiovascular death in Australia over the last 50 years.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Australia, responsible for more than one in four lives lost.
Recent research confirmed fears Covid-19 exacerbated poor heart health, because lockdowns deprived Australians of opportunities to exercise. The study by the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute found cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels were all significantly higher than before the pandemic.
Raffoul said more work was needed to understand why patients were reluctant to take statins and what can be done to improve its uptake.
Five fires burning out of control in NSW, RFS reports
There are five fires burning in NSW which the rural fire service have yet to bring under control.
In an update of the fire situation across the state as at 9am this morning, the RFS said the 30 fires burning are giving crews over 200kms of active fire edge to battle.
At 9am Friday 10 March, 30 fires are burning with 5 not yet contained. Over 500 firefighters and incident management team members are working to contain these fires, before weather conditions deteriorate late next week. #NSWRFS crews are working on over 200kms of active fire edge pic.twitter.com/D86gzTlIEX
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) March 9, 2023
Caitlin Cassidy
University of Melbourne announces science degree partnership with three Indian universities
The University of Melbourne has announced a dual science degree with three Indian universities, in the latest major education partnership between the two nations.
The new bachelor of science dual degree will enable Indian students to complete their course at home and abroad, spending the first two years in India followed by two years in Melbourne.
Once they complete their studies, Indian students will be awarded a bachelor of science from the University of Melbourne, and have the option for their local institution to award the degree.
The dual degree was announced on a prime ministerial trade delegation in Mumbai by vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell, who said the University of Madras, Savitribai Phule Pune University and GITAM were the first partners of the degree, with discussions under way to expand from 2024.
With demand for our existing programs continuing to grow, we’re pleased to be working together with prestigious local universities to be part of the internationalisation of education in India and at home in Australia.
Prof Dr Karbhari Vishwanath Kale, vice-chancellor of SPPU, said the dual degree would give greater flexibility to its domestic students.
They can pursue further graduate studies to earn a fast-tracked masters, as well as graduate employment in Australia under expanded visa schemes, or return to India or elsewhere with an advanced degree aligned to those offered by leading institutions in North America and Europe.
Doubled funding to fight poverty if Labor elected in NSW
The leading anti-poverty and social services organisations in NSW can expect double its permanent funding under Labor if it wins the upcoming state election, AAP reports.
Labor has pledged an additional $1.3m in funding to the NSW Council of Social Services if it wins government at the 25 March poll.
It would lift the peak body’s annual funding to $2.5m, topping up its core funding of $1.2m through NSW Health and the Department of Communities and Justice.
The Labor leader, Chris Minns, said today:
NSW is committed to supporting our community sector and the invaluable work that they do each and every day across our state.
The work that Ncoss does is vital to provide a voice to those in NSW experiencing disadvantage and poverty.
Ncoss CEO, Joanna Quilty, said the government funding was significantly less per capita than its state and territory counterparts, but she welcomed the pledge.
It’s going to make a huge difference. NSW isn’t out of the woods yet. There are more households out there who are really struggling. And we’ve got a social service sector that is really struggling itself under the weight of rising demand.
This additional funding will boost our efforts to ensure that these issues are front and centre for the next government.
Victoria records 33 Covid deaths and 94 people in hospital
There were 3,319 new cases in the weekly reporting period, and one person is in intensive care.
Those numbers are up from last week’s 3,016 cases and 23 deaths.
This week we reported 3,319 new cases with a daily average hospital occupancy of 94 and 1 patient in ICU.
33 deaths were reported in the past 7 days.
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives. pic.twitter.com/oC1fXS8EWp
— Victorian Department of Health (@VicGovDH) March 9, 2023
Discussion about this post