Hunt announces $4.5m in funding for endometriosis

ENDOMETRIOSIS FUNDS

Health Minister Greg Hunt will today launch the National Action Plan for Endometriosis, a $4.5 million program designed to reduce delays in diagnosis, boost public awareness, and educate teachers, doctors and employers about the often misunderstood disease.

The Age reports that about $2.5 million will be spent establishing the National Endometriosis Clinical and Scientific Trials Network, a program that will, for the first time, allow patients to actively participate in diagnostic and treatment research. The often debilitating disease affects roughly 700,000 Australian women, many of whom Hunt says “have suffered in silence for far too long, enduring diagnostic delays of between seven and 12 years on average and experiencing poor clinical care, due to a low level of understanding”.

LAKE ADDITION

In terrific news for alien fans, Italian scientists have reported signs of a 20-kilometre-wide “lake” of liquid water underneath ice near Mars’ south pole.

The ABC reports that planetary scientists at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics have today published a Science Magazine paper on Mars’ subsurface lake detected 1.5 kilometres under the ice cap by ground-penetrating radar on an orbiting spacecraft. The team have argued that life in microbial form could theoretically survive if the lake is connected to a wider system of liquid water.

KOALAS V QLD

International conservation group Australians for Animals has announced plans to take the Queensland government to court for allegedly failing to protect koalas and for what it calls “politically sanctioned extinction”.

According to The Brisbane Times, the group has argued that neither the Queensland nor New South Wales governments have set up koala protection zones or put aside land for koala habitat “as promised”, and has criticised efforts to translocate koalas from “home” bushland to unfamiliar, often deadly bushland.

Up to 80% of koalas in Brisbane’s Redlands area and 54% in the Pine Rivers regions reportedly died between 1996 and 2014, and while the Queensland government cannot provide population figures after this period they will reportedly form a new Koala Advisory Council within “six to 12 months”.

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THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

We had a flag that we’ve had for a long time, copied by Australia, and they should actually change their flag and honour the fact that we got there first with this design.

Winston Peters

New Zealand’s Acting Prime Minister takes a swing at Australia’s flag, which, despite the fact we kind of had it first, most Australians would gladly hand over if it meant getting rid of the Union Jack.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

How WikiLeaks became a political Rorschach testScott Ludlam

“The WikiLeaks organisation has operated as a kind of political Rorschach test since at least 2010, when it exploded into mass consciousness with a video, ‘Collateral Murder’, of journalists and bystanders being executed by a US helicopter gunship over Baghdad. Prior to that, the organisation’s publication history reads like a quasi-random global tour of scandals and hidden violence: operating manuals from Guantanamo Bay (2007), Chinese repression in Tibet (2008), Australia’s notorious and short-lived internet filter blacklist (2009), and dozens of others.”

Hunt’s credibility shattered on My Health Record warrant debacleBernard Keane

“The Parliamentary Library has humiliated Health Minister Greg Hunt, with a new paper from the independent body within parliament demolishing his claim that health records created under the My Health Record system can’t be obtained by police and other agencies without a ‘court order’.”

We’re no threat to commercial media operators: SBSEmily Watkins

“SBS has emphasised its role as a multicultural broadcaster in its submission to the ACCC competitive neutrality inquiry, arguing it’s no competition to commercial media. Australia’s second public broadcaster is the biggest target of the inquiry, having been heavily criticised by the commercial networks for competing for broadcast rights for programs including The Handmaid’s Tale. The inquiry was established as part of the government’s deal with One Nation to push through its media reform bill earlier this year.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Putin’s soccer ball for Trump had chip that can transmit data to nearby phones

Wearing red shirts was ‘fundamental sin’, Labor minister says

Greenough Prison escape: Petrol, angle grinders used in escape as one inmate remains on the run

Second teen charged over Laa Chol death at Melbourne CBD apartment complex

State to roll out free meningococcal vaccinations for under-21s ($)

NSW government putting Murray-Darling basin plan at risk, inquiry told

Blueprint unveiled for $500 million redevelopment of Kakadu’s capital, Jabiru ($)

David Dungay inquest shown harrowing footage and told of ‘prolonged’ CPR failures

Government risks clash with states under plan to cement emission targets in law

Snowy 2.0 ‘a risk to threatened fauna’ ($)

Revealed: How Australian spooks ‘spied’ on Rio during 2008 debt crisis ($)

Pakistan blast kills at least 31 on election day, hospital says

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney

• Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt will announce Australia’s first National Action Plan for endometriosis.

• NSW Auditor-General Margaret Crawford will release a report on matching skills training with market needed, and will assess the effectiveness of the Department of Industry in identifying, prioritising, and aligning course subsidies to the skill needs of NSW.

• Entrepreneur Dick Smith will hold what he says will be “the most important news conference of my life.”

• UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Privacy will hold an international consultation on big data/open data.

• Macquarie Bank will hold its annual general meeting.

• International relations professor David Forsythe from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a discussion of the Trump administration’s impacts on human rights at a free UNSW presentation.

• Treasurer Scott Morrison will launch a media-tech incubator at Sydney Startup Hub.

• StartupAUS will launch the “Talent Gap” report, an examination of in-demand skills in startups, and hold a panel discussion.

Brisbane

• Day three of Queensland budget estimates is set to hear from Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath, Minister for Police and Minister for Corrective Services Mark Ryan, and Minister for Fire and Emergency Services Craig Crawford.

• Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute and former Foreign Affairs Minister and NSW Premier Bob Carr will deliver “Run for your Life: How today’s actions will shape tomorrow’s world” at the Crescent Institute.

• Photojournalist Nick Moir will speak at a “Storyology” event for the Walkley’s.

• Artist Haegue Yang will speak an Institute of Modern Art event.

Melbourne

• The Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission will release a report on corruption risks associated with public regulatory bodies.

• Microsoft Corporation Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel, Human Rights, Steve Crown will speak about the impact of, and opportunities involved in, artificial intelligence at a CEDA event.

• University of Massachusetts Associate Professor Melissa Wooten will be guest speaker at a free public lecture discussing “how much does philanthropy influence education?”.

Canberra

• Economists Adrian Makeham-Kirchner and Dr Khalid Ahmed will speak on “Prospects for the ACT’s economy and its finances” as part of the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis’ public lecture series.

• Deputy Head of ‘Mission Papua New Guinea’ for the International Committee of the Red Cross Ahmad Hallak will deliver a speech on “New respect for old rules: Turning traditional rules of warfare into modern law in PNG’s highlands”.

• An ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance conference will discuss “Codification and Creation of Community and Customary Laws in the South Pacific”.

Darwin

• Opening day for the three-day Royal Darwin Show.

Perth

• Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Commerce and Industrial Relations; Electoral Affairs; and Asian Engagement Bill Johnston will introduce Asialink Business’ event “State of the Nation: China. Leveraging Australia – China Sister City relationships for better business outcomes, with speakers to include”. Warrnambool City Council Economic Development and Investment Manager Shaun Miller will deliver a keynote speech, and a panel will feature Australia Star Holdings Group director Judy Zhu and Asialink Business director Nicholas Henderson amongst others.

• A public panel presented by the Limina 13th Annual Conference and the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies will discuss “Belonging and Displacement: experiences of people seeking asylum in Australia”.

Adelaide

• The University of Adelaide will publicly launch the Centre for Materials in Energy and Catalysis.

• UoA Senior Lecturer in Politics Dr Benito Cao will speak on “The Catalan push for independence from Spain: tragedy and/or farce?” at a Think Global public lecture.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Labor deploys ‘dirt delivery’ masters ($) — Peter van Onselen (The Australian): “Labor’s highly focused and agile campaigning skills are keeping their Super Saturday candidates in the race, with the latest tactic being a digital dirt file unleashed on Matthew Stephen, One Nation’s candidate in Longman, over allegations of unpaid bills to tradies, in the hope of lowering his vote and thus reduce his preference flows to the LNP.”

Nationals must accept and adapt to climate change — Robert Lee (Sydney Morning Herald): “I am grappling with the third 1-in-100-year drought that has struck my farm in central-west NSW in the past 16 years. In 2009, the river we rely on dried up for the first time in recorded history. It flooded the very next year to the highest level recorded by white fellas.”

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