Key events
A normally quiet Victorian town will today farewell two of their much-loved neighbours whose death became international news, AAP reports.
Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, died in hospital after their daughter-in-law Erin Patterson cooked them a beef wellington at her Leongatha home in Victoria’s southeast on July 29.
Police believe four people at the meal were poisoned by death cap mushrooms. The others were Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, who also died, and Mrs Wilkinson’s husband and local church pastor Ian Wilkinson, who remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.
On Thursday afternoon, the pair will be remembered at a public memorial service at their local Korumburra Recreation Centre.
South Gippsland mayor Nathan Hersey said a large turnout was expected at the service.
“For a lot of people, it’s going to mean an opportunity to again, reflect, but also to give thanks for the lives of people who have been instrumental in our community,” Cr Hersey said.
“It’s going to be closure to say goodbye and to have that opportunity to grieve that hasn’t been there because it’s been so public and been such an unusual circumstance.
“It’s been a very almost unprecedented experience for people in the area with the way it has played out so publicly but also because it is people who have contributed so much.”
The couple was recently laid to rest during a private burial after the town was thrust into the spotlight over speculation about what led to the deaths.
Albanese rules out legislating voice if referendum fails
Sarah Basford Canales
Anthony Albanese has ruled out legislating a voice if the the referendum on 14 October fails to produce a yes vote.
Appearing on Nine’s A Current Affair program last night, Albanese said he would be disappointed with the outcome but would not legislate a voice in contrast to voters’ decisions.
If Australians vote no, I think that will be a lost opportunity but I’ll respect that.
But Albanese said he remains confident the Indigenous voice will succeed, putting faith in Australians trying to do the right thing and adding the final three weeks will be crucial for winning over undecided voters.
He said:
People will focus, like they do in an election campaign, they focus in normally the three weeks leading up to it … We only had to give 33 days notice – it’s a conscious decision to give a longer time for people to examine what is before the people on 14 October.
Albanese was pressed on a range of issues on the upcoming referendum, including whether he agreed it had “no real power”, was a “wishy-washy” model and could be easily changed by future governments.
He dismissed the criticisms, saying it was a “voice to Canberra” rather than from it, and that despite just being an advisory body, it would give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a say in matters affecting them.
He said:
This is just recognition, and an advisory body with no downside, no one losing anything [and] everything to gain from this change.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the best of the overnight stories before I hand over to my colleague.
Our top story this morning is a call by Greens leader Adam Bandt for more people to join protests by groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Disrupt Burrup Hub in an effort to force the Albanese government to stop allowing new fossil fuel projects. Speaking in Melbourne last night, he compared frontline climate activism to the types of civil disobedience that helped end slavery and gain women’s suffrage.
Anthony Albanese has ruled out legislating an Indigenous voice to parliament if the referendum now set for 14 October fails to produce a yes vote. Speaking on Nine’s A Current Affair program last night, Albanese said he would be disappointed with the outcome but would not legislate a voice in contrast to voters’ decisions. “If Australians vote no, I think that will be a lost opportunity but I’ll respect that,” he said. More on that coming up. Meanwhile, the prime minister has been accused by leading no campaigner Warren Mundine of unleashing “horrible racial abuse” against no campaigners.
Australia Post will today reveal a full-year loss for the first time since 2015, renewing debate about increasing the cost of stamps, cutting the frequency of letter delivery and closing post offices in metropolitan areas. Australia Post has warned the government that its letters business lost $189.7m over the first half of the 2023 financial year. Its community service obligations, which include deliveries five days a week to 98% of delivery points, cost it $348.5m in the 2022 financial year.
#Australia #news #live #rules #legislating #voice #fails #Australia #Post #reveal #huge #loss #Australia #news
