TRANSCRIPT:
- Majority of school teachers say they will leave teaching before retirement
- The federal government looking to address a critical shortage in doctors across the country
- A Ukrainian wrestler uses his last Olympic Games to speak out against Russia's invasion of his country.
A majority of public school teachers are planning to quit, with seven in 10 revealing they don't think they'll stay in the job until retirement.
A Monash University report found mid-career professionals were most likely to be uncertain about staying or planning to quit, according to a survey of 8000 public school teachers, principals and other education support staff who are members of the Australian Education Union.
Excessive workloads are the top concerns on educators' minds, with teachers working an average of 12.4 hours of unpaid overtime per week.
More than 80 per cent are unhappy about their salary, which the research paper highlighted does not increase over time like in other comparable professions.
Many also noted a concern with student behaviour, including violence.
The federal government is being brought in to address a critical shortage in GPs across the country.
A report by the Department of Health and Aged Care said that while there has been a growth in the number of doctors, it remains insufficient to meet the healthcare needs of Australians.
The 'Supply and Demand' August report projected a national shortfall of over 600 full time GPs in 2024, increasing to over 1,900 in 2028 and more than 6 thousand by 2048.
Speaking on Sunrise, Education Minister Jason Clare blamed Opposition leader Peter Dutton's government for freezing the amount of money doctors receive for patient visits.
"We need more doctors. That's the truth of it. When we were kids of around about one in two medical students leaving university would become a gp, and now it's about one in seven. In the last couple of years, we've seen that go up again about 20%, and that's a good thing. But the truth is we're still dealing with the aftermath of Peter Dutton freezing the amount of money that gps get when you go to see them."
Opposition leader Peter Dutton says his government continues to support the AUKUS deal that they signed under the Morrison government, but is questioning why the Albanese government is against nuclear power.
Australia's acceptance of nuclear material from the US and UK has been officially approved as part of an updated AUKUS agreement, meaning Australia will be formally permitted to take in nuclear material for the procurement of nuclear submarines.
Mr Dutton says the Albanese government should be considering nuclear energy, adding that energy regulators say there will be scheduled blackouts under the Labor government's energy plans, disrupting the function of manufacturing and industry.
"But I'll just make this important point if it's safe for our sailors to be on an AUKUS nuclear powered submarine. Why is it not safe for nuclear reactors to be driving our civil need for and our domestic need for electricity? The government's got us on a pathway at the moment where the power bills of everyday Australians are going to continue to go up."Mr Dutton says his government's proposal is to use the same technology that the Albanese government has agreed to under AUKUS, which would provide cheap and reliable power."
The Albanese government has strongly opposed proposals for nuclear energy, in the past describing it as a "fantasy" and insisting renewable energy would be cheaper and more effective.
Conservation groups in the Northern Territory are challenging the approval of the territory's largest fracking proposal.
NT Environment and Energy Minister Kate Worden approved natural gas company Tamboran Resources' application for gas exploration permits in the Beetaloo Basin in May.
But the territory's peak conservation body, the Environment Centre NT, is attempting to halt the company's Shenandoah South E&A project.
The group has filed proceedings in the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal seeking to set aside the environment management plan approval, which includes drilling up to 15 new wells at four exploration locations.
Environment Centre NT Executive Director Kirsty Howey said the project could pave the way for a much larger expansion of fracking.
"We see this project as strategically very significant. The company Tambo wants to extract gas from the basin, expand rapidly. We could see up to 6,000 wells drills in the Beetaloo Basin. And so this is an absolutely huge project that's being proposed. And the particular approval that we are challenging is the pathway to full scale fracking in the Beetaloo."
And in sports,
Ukrainian wrestler Zhan Belenuik has used his last Olympic Games to speak out against Russia's invasion of his country.
The 33-year-old member of the Ukraine parliament retired from wresting after earning a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman category on Thursday at the Paris Games.
Beleniuk earned Olympic gold in 2021 and silver in 2016, and in 2019 he was elected to Ukraine's parliament as an MP for Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party.
In his final comments at the Paris Games, Belenuik said more than 500 Ukrainian athletes have been killed by Russia, and asked the world to support his country against a much larger nation with more resources.
Ukraine sits 15th on the medal tally with three gold.
