Delta confirms four flight attendants injured by turbulence on approach to Sydney
Four flight attendants on a flight descending into Sydney were injured by turbulence, Delta Airlines has confirmed.
Continuing from our last post, the airline shared more details about the event.
The Delta flight 41 from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered brief turbulence upon its descent into Sydney, with four crew members reporting injured and three taken to hospital for further evaluation.
The Airbus A350 had been carrying 245 passengers, none of whom reported injuries, and 15 crew members.
A spokesperson for Delta said:
Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and our customers, and our priority is taking care of the impacted crew members.
Key events
Electoral commission asked to look at One Nation’s use of Gina Rinehart plane
Tory Shepherd
On the eve of the South Australian election, Labor has asked the electoral commission to take a look at One Nation’s use of a plane registered to mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s company, S Kidman & Co.
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and Cory Bernardi used the plane for multiple flights around SA.
Bernardi said he would pick up the tab for the private transport, in the wake of questions about whether it breached SA’s ban on political donations.
A Labor spokesperson said:
Pauline Hanson flew in from her home in Queensland to SA using a billionaire’s private plane.
We have asked the electoral commission to look at One Nation’s use of a private plane provided by a billionaire to fly into and around SA, and whether it is allowable under SA’s political donation laws.
Israeli government says ‘no one surprised’ Australia not sending navy to strait of Hormuz
Following from our previous post, the Israeli government earlier this morning said it was no surprise Australia had not sent naval support to the Middle East.
David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesperson, was asked about Australia’s decision on the ABC. He said:
That’s a decision for Australia. I don’t think anyone had a lot of high expectations for your current government, judging on how they’ve acted in the past … So no one here in Israel was surprised at that.
Mencer pointed to the Israeli government’s warnings to Australia to address antisemitism, saying those warnings had gone unheeded. Asked why Israel was continuing its war on Iran, he said:
Because the regime is still intact and we will not allow this regime to build up again to oppress their own people and attack us again. …
When they say ‘death to Israel, death to America’, you in Australia may think you’re immune to these threats, but we here, and that’s 2,000 years of Jewish experience teach us very, very clearly, when someone says they wish to wipe you off the face of the Earth, we believe them.
Government wants war in Middle East to end, says Bowen
The Albanese government wants the conflict in the Middle East to end, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, has said.
Leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada have issued a joint letter, condemning Iran’s attacks attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
They were ready to contribute to ensuring safe passage through the Strait, they said. Countries have previously avoided sending their navies to the warzone.
Australia has not signed the letter or offered to send ships. Bowen was asked about the letter just earlier. He said:
We certainly agree with the sentiment that we want Iran to stop its actions … Certainly the sentiment, that we want to see this situation in the Middle East sorted and Iran has a responsibility, is one that we support.
Delta confirms four flight attendants injured by turbulence on approach to Sydney
Four flight attendants on a flight descending into Sydney were injured by turbulence, Delta Airlines has confirmed.
Continuing from our last post, the airline shared more details about the event.
The Delta flight 41 from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered brief turbulence upon its descent into Sydney, with four crew members reporting injured and three taken to hospital for further evaluation.
The Airbus A350 had been carrying 245 passengers, none of whom reported injuries, and 15 crew members.
A spokesperson for Delta said:
Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and our customers, and our priority is taking care of the impacted crew members.
Three people taken to hospital after turbulence on flight from LA to Sydney
Three people were taken to hospital from Sydney airport this morning with injuries from reported turbulence.
Flightradar 24 shows a Delta flight 41 from Los Angeles to Sydney touched down at Sydney airport just after 6:40am local time, coming to a stop at 6:47am. The flight had been due south-west but turned north-west about 50km from the NSW coast, to fly into the airport from Sydney’s north.
Ambulances were called to Sydney airport at about 6:45am, a spokesperson for Ambulance NSW said. Paramedics assessed five patients at the scene for injuries believed to be related to turbulence on the flight, with three taken to Royal Prince Alfred hospital with “varied minor injuries” including to their back, the spokesperson said.
Patients at the hospital declined to share their condition with the media.
More fuel could be released from national stockpile if needed, Bowen says
The energy minister has said Australia could release more fuel from its strategic reserves should petrol or diesel start to run short.
Chris Bowen emphasised that Australia has enough fuel supply while acknowledging the government had powers to ration fuel if needed.
Bowen said the strategic reserve of fuel was part of the government’s contingency plans if fuel supply dried up in late April, by which time all the fuel shipments booked before war broke out will be complete. He said:
Our plan involves continuing to work with industry to ensure refineries are working full-pelt. We will release more of the strategic reserve if we have to, but only if we have to. It’s there for a rainy day … If I’m satisfied that releasing that strategic reserve is necessary to ensure supply to Australians, I won’t hesitate, but only in that eventuality.
Bowen was also asked whether petrol rationing was being considered. A week ago, he was clear the option was not being contemplated, but today he said this:
Governments have powers, should supply be very severely disrupted, but the important message for Australians is that supply is not being disrupted at this point.
Asked about reports the government has considered raising taxes on gas exports, Bowen repeatedly said he wouldn’t comment on cabinet processes.
You expect the treasurer and treasury with his senior ministerial colleagues to be working through potential options.
Australia’s only two oil refineries will keep their government subsidies
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, has announced the federal government will keep subsidising Australia’s only two remaining oil refineries.
Viva’s Geelong refinery and Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane will continue receiving fuel security payments to continue making petrol in Australia, after six months of negotiations over an existing deal, Bowen said.
Bowen added that renewable energy sources were securing Australia’s electricity needs:
No international crisis can impact the sun or the wind and the fact we now have more renewables in our grid into our system is more secure as well as being cheaper to run .
Tory Shepherd
Newspoll: More than one in five set to vote for One Nation in SA election
A Newspoll published in The Australian this morning shows (as all the other polls do) Labor cruising to a crushing win in tomorrow’s South Australian election.
And it shows One Nation’s support is 22% (as did a YouGov poll in The Advertiser yesterday) but that the Liberals are sitting on just 16% (YouGov had them at 19%).
What will it mean? You tell me. My only prediction is that there will be some who, seeing the Liberals get smashed, conclude that means the party should move further to the right.
The One Nation vote is lumpy, so it could mean a rural or regional seat is sitting on 40% but a metropolitan seat on 10%. They could pick up a few seats or none – preference flows along with that lumpiness make it hard to predict.
Former federal firebrand senator Cory Bernardi – who stands by some pretty appalling comments he made back in 2012 – is set for an eight-year term in the upper house, and will likely be joined by one or two others.
Stay tuned tomorrow, we’ll be here watching the tally room.
Coastal north Queensland faces flooding before tides ease today, BoM says
Tropical Cyclone Narelle should leave the Cape York peninsula by tonight, BoM senior meteorologist Angus Hines says.
After making landfall an estimated two hours ago, the cyclone is “carving a path” between the Lockhart River and Coen, Hines told the ABC.
Rivers could burst “anywhere across the Cape York Peninsula” with those north of the Daintree river at most risk, he said.
Low-lying coastal areas also face inundation and flooding as tides rise, with Cairns already facing high water levels, though tides are expected to ease over the course of the day, Hines said.
The cyclone is expected to cross the Cape York peninsula over the next 12 hours and reach the Gulf of Carpentaria coastline by 10pm this evening, before resurging as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone impacting the Northern Territory on Saturday night.
Gas export profits demand new tax, Australian Conservation Foundation says
The Australian Conservation Foundation has called for an immediate new 25% super profits levy on all Australian gas exports.
Surging energy prices amid war in the Middle East are expected to hand windfall profits to Australian gas exporters.
The government has asked Treasury to work up options to impose a new levy on gas companies, the ABC has reported. The energy minister, Chris Bowen, did not reject calls for a new tax this morning, saying it was a matter for the treasurer.
The ACF’s chief executive, Adam Bandt, said the revenue from a new tax could be directed towards households under strain from rising petrol prices. He said:
It’s disgraceful that oil and gas corporations are profiteering from human and environmental destruction by hiking their prices. In the coming budget, the federal government can and should tax big gas corporations to fund cost of living relief.
The federal government can provide relief for Australians being stung by high prices at the petrol station and the supermarket checkout by reining in the greed of the gas giants.
The Greens have also called for a 25% tax on gas exported from Australia, which they say would have generated $17bn in annual revenue based on pre-war numbers.
