TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Australia in the middle of a "baby recession", with the cost of living crisis blamed for falling birth rates;
- Scientists say Australia's environment can be repaired using just 0.3 percent of GDP each year;
- And in sport, AFL coach Brad Scott calls to abolish the sub rule during head injury assessments.
Australia is in the grips of a "baby recession", which some attribute to rising cost-of-living pressures and economic uncertainty.
A KPMG report shows the number of births across the country last year dropped to just over 289-thousand - the lowest recorded since 2006.
Fertility rates were lowest in C-B-D and inner city suburban areas.
In Sydney, births fells by 8.6 percent from 2019 and in Melbourne, by 7.3 percent.
Tasmania was the only state or territory to see an increase in births - 2.1 percent compared to four years ago.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says her government is trying to support those who choose to have children.
"We need to make sure that we're making life easier for people, which is why some of the investments we've been putting in in parental leave, in childcare to make childcare cheaper, but also dealing with some of those cost of living pressures. You know, it means that people are in a position to make those decisions whatever they may be. And we'll continue to be focused on that because that's the government's job. We can't control who has children and when, that's an individual decision. But we can make sure that we're trying to make life a bit easier for people."
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A group of Australian scientists believes the national environmental crisis can be solved in the next 30 years.
The Wentworth group, made up of independent scientists and other professionals, released a blueprint which they believe can secure the long-term health of Australia's land, water and biodiversity.
It calls for $7.3 billion to be invested each year - the equivalent of zero-point-three percent of Australia's GDP.
Scientists point out this is less than two-thirds of what the government reportedly gives in fossil fuel subsidies every year.
University of Queensland Professor Martine Maron says Australia can turn around its environmental record.
"Australia isn't just a biodiversity hot spot. We're also a world leader in extinction, and habitat destruction and environmental degradation. But we don't have to be. We can't bring back those species that we've already lost forever, but we can recover those that are at risk. We can repair our landscapes. We can return our rivers and coasts to health and safety of the productivity of our soils. In fact we must do these things and we can afford to do them."
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Over $100 million will be spent over the next four years to finalise and implement the recommendations of Australia's multicultural framework review.
The review, which took 12 months and heard from hundreds of people and community groups, made 29 recommendations.
Dr Hass Dellal, chair of the Multicultural Framework Review, says the report sets a new standard for governments.
"The report also sets a new benchmark for government on how to engage with community as a whole. It also reminds us that multiculturalism stems out of Australian democracy which confers rights and is based on the premise that all people of Australia should have an overriding and unifying commitment to Australia and a shared responsibility to its interest and its future."
The government is yet to finalise its position on all recommendations, but says it's committed to the three key principals of connection, identity and belonging, and inclusion.
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And in sport,
Essendon coach Brad Scott has called for the AFL to abolish the sub rule as a way to alleviate pressure on doctors making concussion assessments.
AFL club doctors are pushing for on-field head injury assessments to be banned and want league medical staff to instead rule on concussions during a game.
Scott and Sydney coach John Longmire want head injury assessments to be treated in the same fashion as the blood rule, with play stopping immediately.
But Scott, a former AFL football operations boss, is adamant the league ditch the sub rule and move to five players sitting on the bench instead to take the pressure off doctor's from rushing head injury assessments, and to ensure player welfare and safety.
