Search continues for dozens of people still missing in a Philippines ferry fire; The Coalition condemns the government's proposed Digital Duty of Care legislation; and in sport, Final preparations underway for tomorrow's NFL game at the MCG
TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin,
- Search continues for dozens of people still missing in a Philippines ferry fire
- The Coalition condemns the government's proposed Digital Duty of Care legislation
- And in sport, Final preparations underway for tomorrow's NFL game at the MCG
The Philippine Coast Guard continues its search for survivors at sea, after a fire on a ferry off the coast of Palawan islands.
Authorities say five people have been confirmed dead, and more than 80 remain missing.
Forty three people have been rescued, including 38 passengers and four crew members, since the fire broke out about two kilometres offshore.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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The Coalition has condemned the government's proposed Digital Duty of Care legislation, saying it will not support the bill in its current form.
The legislation would give Australian social media users the ability to opt-out of algorithms, and revert to a linear sequence that only shows posts from accounts that they follow.
The bill also proposes restrictions on certain kinds of content, notably material with the potential to cause children serious harm.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor says his party is concerned the law will ramp up political censorship.
"This bill is unacceptable in its current form, because the reality is it's providing a blank cheque for political censorship to the minister to the government, and that is not acceptable to the Coalition in its current form."
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Labor has defended its decision to introduce a national gas reservation policy that will require suppliers to offer up to one fifth of their exports to the domestic market.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the change from the original policy's mandatory 20 per cent is so producers do not need to pump unneeded gas into an already well-supplied market.
Labor's original guidelines had faced staunch criticism from smaller producers who say they feared flooding Australia with cheaper gas would shove them out of the domestic market.
The Minister says the change does not amount to backing down to industry pressure - and that this new framework will still put downward pressure on energy bills.
"The cost of extraction. Bass Strait is running out of gas rapidly; that's very cheap gas to extract. Other places have more expensive gas to extract. International circumstances. There's lots of factors that go into setting the gas price. But our analysis and the analysis of the industry shows us that this policy is what gives us the best chance of having gas at competitive prices."
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Europe's leading climate agency says the world has recorded its joint-hottest month since records began.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service's latest report shows August has pushed the planet's average global temperature to 1.65 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Scientists say the record has been driven by a combination of human-induced climate change and the growing influence of the El Niño weather pattern, which is pushing heat into the atmosphere across the Pacific.
Samantha Burgess from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts says she expects more records to be broken in the months to come.
"With the El Nino event continuing to grow in the Pacific Ocean, we are likely to see these monthly anomalies continue to increase, and they may get very close to 2 degrees above pre-industrial for the month. And this is likely to lead to 2026 being either the second or warmest year on record, with more records anticipated in early 2027."
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More than 267,000 Australian properties could be damaged or lost to rising sea levels and coastal flooding, according to a report from the Climate Council.
Western Australia faces the greatest economic losses by the year 2100 at more than $230 billion, while Queensland has the most properties at risk, with more than 93,000 on the line.
The total cost to the nation could reach $855 billion, made up of $274.3 billion in property losses because of inundation of low-lying areas, coastal flooding and land erosion and damage to land of $580.7 billion including more than 619,000 hectares of farmland.
Report co-author, Adjunct Professor Andrew Watkins, tells SBS all levels of government have a role to play in reducing greenhouse gasses being emitted.
"But also adapting to the changes that are already locked in some of the most vulnerable are those local governments, those councils which rely on ratepayers to support their adaptation measures but also to support their recovery when they have these big coastal events. The Australian local government association has actually called for $400 million to be put towards adaptation planning and resilience planning for local councils."
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The Southbank Riverwalk in Melbourne will be transformed into a traditional U-S-tailgate experience in the city tomorrow morning as the Los Angeles Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers.
The Rams will also host community flag football programs with select Victorian schools.
The Rams arrived in Australia this morning as part of a plan to keep players on US time and avoid jetlag.
The LA-based club recently signed punter Jack Bouwmeester to their practice squad, which comprises 17 players who train with the team.
Bendigo native Bouwmeester is unlikely to play in Melbourne but star cornerback Trent McDuffie says he'll be picking his brains about what to expect.
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