Likely source of legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Victoria identifiedAdeshola OreA cooling tower in Melbourne’s west is the likely source of the state’s legionnaires’ disease outbreak, Victoria’s chief health officer has announced.Two people have died from the outbreak and 77 cases have been confirmed.Speaking to reporters, Dr Clare Looker says a cooling tower in Laverton North is the likely source.She says it is a “preliminary result” but is believed to be linked to the majority of the cases.ShareUpdated at 07.23 CESTKey eventsNatasha MayBack to Prof Martha Hickey’s evidence before the senate inquiry into menopause, where she is being asked about the effect of menopause on work.As well as the health impacts on women, the inquiry has also been set up to investigate the economic consequences of menopause on Australian women, including on workforce participation and productivity.In a statement this morning Senator Larissa Waters, who set up the inquiry, said:
What we have heard overwhelmingly so far in these public hearings is that people experiencing menopause need workplace flexibility rights – and many say also leave entitlements – to ensure women aren’t forced out of the workplace by their symptoms, or by stigma and stereotypes about menopause.
Eliminating stigma is essential to making workplaces menopause-friendly. You can’t solve discrimination – gender, pregnancy, menopause, or any other kind – by continuing to ignore it.
However, experts have already told the inquiry there is no evidence that exists around what policies would be effective. Sarah White, the CEO of Jean Hailes for Women also raised the concern that a lack of evidence-based policies could also risk stigmatising older women in the workplace.Asked whether menopause leave could be a help or a hindrance, Hickey said:
After 30 years of working in menopause, if I don’t know the answer to a question, I stop trying to make it up. Because we actually need to go to the people who are affected and ask them what the right answer is. And I think the intersectionality issue comes in here. If you’re in unstable employment and you’ve got to wear a uniform made out of nylon material and you’re working people around as a carer, a couple days a year are not going to help you in those circumstances. I think we need to look at a diversity rather than a disability model.
I agree with Sarah [White]. I’m worried about menopause leave being a box-ticking exercise that doesn’t help necessarily.
You can read more about the inquiry from our earlier reporting, here:ShareSarah Basford CanalesLinda Reynolds chose ‘deliberately’ not to sit through defence’s opening, her lawyer saysWe’re breaking for lunch in Perth as the defamation case by the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds against her former staffer Brittany Higgins continues in a Western Australian supreme court.Just before the break, Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young, said the idea that Higgins and her now husband, David Sharaz, concocted a conspiracy solely to cause Reynolds harm or injury was a “bold allegation”.Young continued to outline the four reasons she believed Reynolds’ legal team will have trouble proving that claim. Young said it was a high bar to prove, she would have to establish serious injury and harm beyond her pre-existing conditions, she was out of time in bringing the case within its statute limitations and the damages she seeks were of a small sum – around $4,200.In addition to the issues, Young said, Reynolds’ reputation had already been “baked in” by the time Higgins made the offending social media posts in July 2023.Linda Reynolds arrives at the supreme court in Perth. Photograph: MEGA/GC ImagesReynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, told the court the senator chose “deliberately” not to sit through the defence’s opening legal arguments on Monday morning.Reynolds is expected to give evidence after the lunch break on Monday afternoon, which will likely continue until the end of the week.ShareUpdated at 07.44 CESTAdeshola OreDr Clare Looker speaks during a press conference in Melbourne. Photograph: James Ross/AAPVictoria’s chief health officer, Dr Clare Looker, says the department is confident the legionnaires’ disease outbreak has reached its peak, as there has been a continued reduction in notified cases compared to last week.No further deaths have been reported, Looker says.ShareUpdated at 07.26 CESTLikely source of legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Victoria identifiedAdeshola OreA cooling tower in Melbourne’s west is the likely source of the state’s legionnaires’ disease outbreak, Victoria’s chief health officer has announced.Two people have died from the outbreak and 77 cases have been confirmed.Speaking to reporters, Dr Clare Looker says a cooling tower in Laverton North is the likely source.She says it is a “preliminary result” but is believed to be linked to the majority of the cases.ShareUpdated at 07.23 CESTPeter HannamThe cases for and against an RBA rate riseThe Reserve Bank of Australia will probably only weigh up two cases – to hike or to hold its cash rate – before revealing its verdict at 2.30pm on Tuesday (AEST).The central bank appears unlikely to lift interest rates after weaker than expected inflation figures came out last week, but it will consider the price rises as well as labour figures and GDP in its decision.Despite the cash rate remaining at a 12-year high of 4.35% since November, the inflation dragon hasn’t entirely been smote. Here are the cases for and against hiking rates tomorrow:ShareUpdated at 07.14 CESTEmily WindMany thanks for joining me on the blog today, I’ll hand over to Stephanie Convery who will take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care.ShareGreens accuse PM of politicising increase in terror threat levelDaniel HurstThe Greens have accused Anthony Albanese of politicising the increase in the terrorism threat level, saying such a decision needed to be “handled with care”.A statement issued by the Greens’ spokesperson for multiculturalism and justice, David Shoebridge, argued that the prime minister had “used this announcement to dismiss well-founded community concerns and conflate them with a rise in the terror threat level, while minimising the real threats created by far-right agitators”.During the press conference in Canberra earlier today, Albanese responded to a question from a reporter about the Greens’ accusation that the Labor government was complicit in genocide in Gaza:
My message to political leaders is that words matter. And it is important that people engage in a way that is respectful, that people don’t make claims that they know are not right in order to try to secure some short-term political advantage, which is what we have seen. Australia, for example, is not directly involved in what is occurring in the Middle East and yet, if you look at the comments that have been made by some senators and members, you would think that that isn’t the case.
Some of that is designed deliberately to encourage a partisan response in a way that isn’t appropriate. It’s not appropriate for people to encourage some of the actions outside electorate offices and to dismiss them as being just part of the normal political process. It is not normal to have people in occupations for months outside electorate offices, where the work of those electorate offices is to assist people in social security and health and other areas. They’re not participants in the Middle East conflict.
Anthony Albanese speaking to reporters today. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShoebridge took issue with Albanese’s comments, and pointed to Australia’s ongoing role in the F-35 aircraft global supply chain. Shoebridge said:
It was deeply irresponsible for Prime Minister Albanese to use this moment as a platform to air his political grievances and conflate good people concerned with specific actions of his government with far-right conspiracy theorists.
So many communities right now feel like the government is not listening to them, not acknowledging the pain they are experiencing and failing to enact policy that addresses these issues.
ShareUpdated at 07.04 CESTNatasha MayGap in services for supporting women with cancer through menopause symptomsNSW, South Australia and Queensland lack public services to help women with cancer going through menopause, the inquiry has heard.Martha Hickey established the first menopause and cancer service now in practice worldwide, as women who have suffered from cancer often have rapid onset menopause and more severe symptoms. However, they often cannot take menopause hormone therapy and need other options.Hickey also runs a service supporting women with any cancer through menopause symptoms in Western Australia and Victoria. However, she says services for women with cancer going through menopause are uneven and NSW, South Australia and Queensland do not have any public services available.
I think that’s a huge gap.
ShareUpdated at 06.52 CESTNatasha MayMenopause symptoms not reviewed by National Institutes of Health since 2005Asked about the lived experience – the inquiry has heard of women struggling to get help from their general practitioners – Martha Hickey says there is a recurring pattern where women are not trusted when going to a doctor with all kinds of health issues. However, when it comes to menopause specifically, Hickey says we don’t have clarity on what symptoms menopause actually causes:
That hasn’t been reviewed since 2005 by the National Institutes of Health where they said hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness – that’s it. Since then, I could google it and come up with 200 symptoms of menopause including things like brain fog, which aren’t even defined or measurable.
Hickey says it would help everybody if a woman could go to her general practitioner and together distinguish between what is and isn’t a menopause symptom, which can be appropriately treated with hormone therapy, and what might be a condition separate to going through menopause.
At the moment it’s really muddied up.
ShareUpdated at 07.46 CESTNatasha May‘If we give message it’s going to be awful, some women will have worse experience,’ menopause inquiry hearsThe Greens senator Larissa Waters asks Martha Hickey: what is the harm in overdiagnosis and overtreatment versus the harm when women need help and they don’t get it?She responds:
If we give the message that this is a disease and it’s going to be awful, then the evidence shows some women who have that message will have a worse experience. It will be like saying to women who are planning a pregnancy all these terrible things could happen. Of course, they may happen but that’s not how best to go about preparing. So we need to take that balance that maybe is normal, but may be problematic. And if it’s problematic, this is where you go and this is how you can get help.
Hickey says there are also potential physical harms that come with overtreatment of women with hormone therapies which could expose a greater number of women to the small but important risks including breast cancer and stroke.ShareUpdated at 06.51 CESTNatasha MaySenate inquiry into menopause holding fifth public hearing todayThe Senate inquiry into menopause is today holding a fifth public hearing in Adelaide. (You can catch up about what hearings in Sydney and Melbourne heard here.)First up are representatives from the Royal Women’s hospital in Melbourne including Prof Martha Hickey, the director of its Gynaecology Research Centre, who has published more than 300 papers on the subject of menopause including leading the first Lancet clinical series on menopause. Hickey says it’s important menopause isn’t catastrophised as a disastrous event for all women:
Menopause isn’t a disease – it’s something that happens to everyone born with functioning ovaries. The important thing is those who need help get help.
The evidence shows us that a relatively small proportion of women – 14% of women – have severe hot flushes and sweats, and about 30% have either moderate or severe hot flushes and sweats. Those are the people who really need the focus of attention. And it’s not necessarily helpful to take the position that menopause is a disastrous event for all women, because it isn’t. Like pregnancy, for example, there are a diversity of experiences. The point is to focus on those who need the help.
ShareUpdated at 06.46 CESTSarah Basford CanalesBrittany Higgins’ lawyer raises Linda Reynolds’ submission to Sofronoff inquiryCircling back to the defamation trial hearing against Brittany Higgins:Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young, has pointed to a submission to the ACT board of inquiry to allege Linda Reynolds was trying to “silence” sexual assault victims.Young said Reynolds’ submission to Walter Sofronoff, who headed the board of inquiry into how the criminal trial was run, had the effect of trying to “silence” sexual assault victims from speaking on their own terms.Reynolds’ submission, shown to the court, read:
Individuals should be deterred from using the media and or parliament forums [sic] to advance their own interests in relation to an alleged criminal offence that ought properly to be the subject of the criminal justice processes.
It recommended an offence be created in the ACT to prevent complainants from going to the media.Young alleged its effect would be in “silencing sexual assault victims from talking about their experience publicly if they wish to speak in that way”.ShareUpdated at 06.25 CESTMonique Ryan to hold community forum regarding Kew rezoning plansEarlier, Benita Kolovos reported that the Victorian government would be rezoning land at the old VicRoads head office in Kew for the construction of 500 homes.The independent MP for Kooyong, Monique Ryan, said the state government had “missed a golden opportunity” with Kew, which sits in her electorate. She wrote on X:
The Victorian government’s proposal will mean only 10% of the new homes on the VicRoads site are affordable – an insult to those struggling through the housing and rental crisis …
The government should have come and discussed this proposal with the people of Kooyong before it made a big decision about us.
I’ll be holding a community forum and will be asking the premier or her housing minister to attend to explain their proposal to the people who will live with its consequences for decades.
Independent MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShareUpdated at 06.15 CESTIn case you’re just joining us: here is the moment the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced Australia’s terror threat level would be raised from “possible” to “probable”.Australia’s terrorism threat raised from ‘possible’ to ‘probable’ – videoShareUpdated at 06.13 CESTNSW public servants told to stop working every shift from homeCatie McLeodNew South Wales public servants will have to return to the office after new advice from the premier’s department putting a stop to working from home in most circumstances.The department secretary, Simon Draper, wrote to government employees today to inform them of the new arrangement.In the email, seen by Guardian Australia, Draper notes that the NSW public sector is the “largest workforce in the country” and that its employees “all have a higher purpose in building and replenishing public institutions”.Draper said:
I am sure that there will be mixed views.
Some will need to make changes to workplace attendance and others will experience no change at all.
The “circular”, or government memo, stipulates that public sector employees should work “principally in an approved office, workplace or related work site”.However, it says it “does not strictly prescribe patterns of attendance and many workplaces allow for ad hoc variations according to the needs of employees and organisations”.Sydney’s CBD at sunset. Photograph: Loren Elliott/ReutersShareUpdated at 06.11 CESTWeather check: BoM says showers set for NSW and QueenslandThe Bureau of Meteorology says a cloud band crossing eastern Australia will bring showers and isolated storms to parts of NSW and southern Queensland today.It says the wet weather will start to ease tomorrow.For Tasmania, a cold front will increase showers from later tomorrow, the BoM said.ShareUpdated at 06.07 CESTAustralian Conservation Foundation has X account suspended for the second timeThe X account of the Australian Conservation Foundation has been suspended for a second time, with little explanation.A spokesperson confirmed with Guardian Australia that the account was suspended for “breaking” the X rules – but were not told which tweets in question did so.The account had recently posted about nuclear energy – with similar posts on Instagram here and here – and the spokesperson noted that some pro-nuclear accounts on X had seemingly been celebrating its suspension.On 22 July, ACF’s X account was also suspended for violating X rules following a user report – but again, the details were scant. The spokesperson said:
Neither time have we received any warning or notification that our account was going to be suspended.
Following the 22 July suspension, the ACF appealed and got in touch with an Australian-based contact with X, and it was switched back on that night – “but we never received any explanation as to what led to the suspension”.The ACF’s engagement director, Jane Gardner, has tweeted this following the suspension:
I believe we’re being report bombed by pro-nuclear groups. This is not isolated: factual nuclear info from [Renew Economy and Climate Council] has also been removed from Facebook and TikTok recently.
(“Report bombing” is the practice of submitting large volumes of user-based reports to a platform saying a particular user’s content should be removed. It is often weaponised to try to remove content.)ShareUpdated at 06.04 CESTDutton raises pro-Palestine protests after terror alert level changeCircling back to Peter Dutton’s press conference: commenting on the terror threat level change, Dutton argued there should have been a stronger response to a protest outside the Opera House in Sydney shortly after 7 October.
I think we should be very clear about the fact that in our country, we adhere to a strong set of values, we adhere to the rule of law, we have respectful debate.
Dutton also argued that pro-Palestine camps on university campuses were “allowed to go on for way too long” and labelled them “a hotbed of hatred towards people with Jewish faith”:
Whether it is lunatics on the far right as neo-Nazis or people who are talking about the chants from the river to the sea … it has no place in our country, no place whatsoever, and it should be condemned.
Asio’s chief, Mike Burgess, said the decision to raise Australia’s terror threat level was not made based on the conflict in the Middle East alone but also pointed to an increase in online radicalisation among minors, for example.Burgess said that the “threat is across the board”, and that “there’s plenty of antisemitism but there’s plenty of Islamophobia at the same time”.ShareUpdated at 05.46 CEST