Natasha May
The peak medical and pharmaceutical bodies in the country have told the health minister urgent action is needed to stop the prescription of medicinal cannabis from being “exploited”.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have written a joint letter to the health minister, Mark Butler, calling for urgent action to tackle the largely unregulated increase in medicinal cannabis prescribing and dispensing across the country.
In submissions to the medicine regulator’s review into the safety and regulatory oversight of unapproved medicinal cannabis products, both groups have recommended all medicinal cannabis products used beyond exceptional access be registered, with special access scheme pathways reserved for genuine exceptions.
Prof Trent Twomey, the president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia said:
We are seeing a system that is being exploited – with prescriptions issued without proper clinical oversight and patients bypassing their regular GP and pharmacist. What began as a special pathway for medication has now become the norm with thousands of products prescribed without safety, quality or efficacy controls.
Key events
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Environment minister Murray Watt has been speaking to ABC TV News Breakfast this morning from Adelaide, where he and SA premier Peter Malinauskas will launch the full summer plan to tackle the algal bloom.
The plan is jointly funded between the federal and state governments to a total of $102.5 million in addition to the more than $30 million support that has been provided by both governments to date.
Watt said:
I actually attended a community forum in Aldinga, which is 45 minutes to an hour south of Adelaide last night, to hear directly from community members. People are obviously worried about what is going to be happening through the summer. They’re looking to governments to support them and that’s what we’re doing and also people are looking for really clear information and facts.
Unfortunately, there is some information being put out there about what the causes of this are, what the likely impacts are, so it’s an important opportunity to provide those facts but … I mean the scientists are telling us that we can’t predict how long this event will go on. It’s pleasing to see that particularly outside of Adelaide, places like Kangaroo Island and elsewhere the bloom has effectively disappeared. It certainly has had an impact on the marine environment, but it’s not impacting on people’s daily lives, which is terrific.
There is still an impact on the metropolitan beaches here in Adelaide and whether it be here or in Australia or when we’ve seen these things overseas, no-one can predict with certainty how long they’ll be around, which is exactly why governments need to continue providing the support in the way that we are.
Body found after house fire in northern NSW
A body has been found after a house fire on the NSW north coast this morning.
Police said emergency services were called to a two-level home on fire in Bellingen shortly after 5.10am on Tuesday.
A woman was able to escape the house, but a second resident was unaccounted for.
Firefighters put out the blaze after half an hour and a body – believed to be that of the missing person – was found when the building was searched.
Police have established a crime scene and inquiries are under way to formally identify the body and determine how the fire started.
Updated at 17.50 EDT
Marles says watered down super tax changes represent ‘better way’ of achieving goals
Back to Richard Marles on Channel Nine:
The acting PM asked about the watered-down superannuation tax changes announced yesterday, and rejected characterisation of the announcement as a backdown in response to criticism of the original plan.
Superannuation was always intended to be a source of retirement income. It wasn’t meant to be its own specific investment …
But we’ve listened to feedback over the course of the election, during of course, since the roundtable. And what we’ve got here is a better way of achieving the outcome that we were trying to from the very beginning.
Updated at 17.32 EDT
Coalition says changes a ‘victory’ for everyday Australians
Ted O’Brien, the shadow treasurer, described the major changes to the super tax plan as a “a victory” for “those everyday Australians who were otherwise going to be taxed unfairly by the government”.
He told RN Breakfast this morning: “It is first and foremost a victory for them”.
O’Brien said that under the government’s initial indexation plan, “millions of Australians” would be “caught in Labor’s tax trap”:
It just meant that over time, as people earn more money … what sounds like a really big balance in super today, well, fast forward 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, well, those balances actually become the norm.”
O’Brien said the Coalition’s economic policies were still under review, but would not be drawn on whether its policy would include changes to indexation.
Updated at 17.44 EDT
Marles echoes praise of Trump in Gaza peace deal
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, has echoed Penny Wong in crediting Donald Trump with securing the release of all remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Speaking to Channel Nine’s Today show earlier, Marles said:
I think you have to acknowledge and give credit to President Trump and administration. This is an achievement that is incredible and will be remembered by history. And I think now is the moment to take this move forward and ensure that what we are seeing here is an enduring [peace] in the Middle East.
Asked if Australia would follow the US in sending troops to Gaza, Marles said “we’re not in that world yet”:
We’ve not had any requests of that kind and I wouldn’t speculate on that other than to say, you know, obviously we would seek to be as constructive as we can … [as] we’ve tried to be over the last two years. But really, it is now for all of the parties to commit to every point of this plan and make sure that this lasts.
Updated at 17.17 EDT
Chalmers said the changes annouced yesterday are about making more equity in the superannuation scheme. He told RN:
What we did yesterday was we wound back some of the generosity of the tax concessions for the biggest balances at the same time as we increase the low-income super tax offset so that young people on low incomes can retire with more money. And this is precisely what we’re talking about when we’re talking about intergenerational equity.
I think people know that that’s a big priority for me, and that’s what these changes are exactly all about.
Chalmers says superannuation tax reforms a ‘better deal’ for many
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking about the changes he announced yesterday to the government’s superannuation tax policy.
He told RN Breakfast the new policies meant a “better deal for low-income earners and also better targeted superannuation tax concessions for people with millions of dollars in super”.
The objective here is a superannuation system which is stronger and fairer and more sustainable and which delivers a better outcome for those low-income workers, partly paid for by better targeting those superannuation tax concessions. And so we found another way.
Chalmers added the reform was a “very significant” move.
Updated at 16.47 EDT
Natasha May
Cannabis being prescribed for conditions where it may be harmful, AMA says
Dr Danielle McMullen, the president of the AMA, said they are seeing a boom in prescribing medicinal cannabis for conditions for which there is no evidence it can help, and in conditions where the guidance is that it should not be used because it may be harmful.
We are seeing the use of medicinal cannabis for conditions where it is contraindicated or where it’s use should be under strict and/or ongoing supervision, and our members are increasingly reporting serious adverse outcomes for patients.
We recognise medicinal cannabis can be useful for some patients with specific conditions supported by evidence, such as epilepsy, chemotherapy induced nausea, or muscle spasticity in multiple sclerosis.
However, there is little, or no evidence base for many of the conditions for which it is being prescribed, such as anxiety, insomnia or depression.
We welcome the action taken to date by regulators including updated prescribing guidance, but urgent action is needed to ensure medicinal cannabis is prescribed, dispensed and regulated in the same manner as other registered drugs of dependence.
ShareUrgent action needed on medicinal cannabis, peak bodies say
Natasha May
The peak medical and pharmaceutical bodies in the country have told the health minister urgent action is needed to stop the prescription of medicinal cannabis from being “exploited”.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have written a joint letter to the health minister, Mark Butler, calling for urgent action to tackle the largely unregulated increase in medicinal cannabis prescribing and dispensing across the country.
In submissions to the medicine regulator’s review into the safety and regulatory oversight of unapproved medicinal cannabis products, both groups have recommended all medicinal cannabis products used beyond exceptional access be registered, with special access scheme pathways reserved for genuine exceptions.
Prof Trent Twomey, the president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia said:
We are seeing a system that is being exploited – with prescriptions issued without proper clinical oversight and patients bypassing their regular GP and pharmacist. What began as a special pathway for medication has now become the norm with thousands of products prescribed without safety, quality or efficacy controls.
SharePenny Wong says Donald Trump deserves ‘enormous congratulations’ as Israeli hostages are released
Krishani Dhanji
Foreign minister Penny Wong has called the Gaza ceasefire a “singular achievement” by Donald Trump as the first hostages were returned to Israel on Monday.
Speaking to ABC News last night, Wong called it an “extraordinarily moving” day and one of immense relief for people in Israel and Australia.
This is a singular achievement by President Trump. Only the president of the United States could bring this about. And as I said on Friday, he deserves enormous congratulations … it is an enormous achievement. We haven’t seen this sort of progress in the Middle East for some time. And he’s brought, you know, this conflict to a pause and hopefully to an end, and has a pathway to peace that he’s been so critical in articulating.
The foreign affairs minister added that the thousands of Palestinians being released from Israeli jails was “such an important part” of the peace plan.
Asked whether Australia would be participate in a future monitoring presence in the region, or an international stabilisation force, Wong said Australia had not been approached to join.
We haven’t been asked, so I’m not going to get ahead of myself. And what I have said all along is … we want to play our part in contributing momentum to peace. That’s how we’ve sought to approach these matters for a long time.
Updated at 16.28 EDT
Staying on the subject of those super changes, you can read the analysis by our economics editor, Patrick Commins, here:
Updated at 16.16 EDT
Cost of cybercrime soars
Australian businesses are losing money at a skyrocketing rate to cybersecurity threats, as the nation’s top cyber spy agency warns of mounting ransomware and identity fraud risks, Australian Associated Press reports.
Cybercrime reports have dropped but businesses face a bigger financial impact from them, the Australian Signals Directorate’s annual cyber threat report reveals.
The average cost of cybercrime to large businesses was $202,700 in the past financial year, up 219% on the previous year.
The ASD report calculates an average of $97,200 was lost per medium-sized business.
The average cost of cybercrime for small businesses was $56,571.
The directorate received 84,700 reports of cybercrime over the past financial year, down 3% on the previous 12 months.
The agency’s director-general, Abigail Bradshaw, said ransomware and identify fraud remained the most disruptive and common cybercrime threat.
“Australia is increasingly targeted by cybercriminals looking to steal credentials,” Bradshaw said.
“Once access is gained, they mimic legitimate user behaviour to steal sensitive personal or corporate information, install ransomware or malware and take over accounts.”
Networks are increasingly being breached through compromised or stolen details to gain unauthorised access, rather than being hacked.
In the past week, Qantas customers have had stolen information posted on the dark web by cybercriminals. Read more here:
Updated at 16.16 EDT
Chalmers reveals Keating influence on watered-down super tax plan
Adeshola Ore
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says he spoke to former Labor prime minister Paul Keating on multiple occasions as he finalised the federal government’s watered-down superannuation tax plan.
The Albanese government on Monday backed down on its contentious plan, dumping the proposal to target unrealised gains after sustained criticism.
In a statement, Keating – the architect of Australia’s superannuation system and a critic of Chalmers’ original proposal – described the revised plan as a “huge policy achievement”.
Speaking to the ABC’s 7.30 last night, Chalmers said he takes Keating’s feedback and views “very seriously”:
As I finalised this package to take to the expenditure review committee, I probably spoke to him half a dozen times in the second half of last week alone.
He said the government had listened to feedback and found another way to deliver a fairer superannuation system:
It’s really important we make these tax concessions more sustainable. It’s really important that we take the sorts of difficult and necessary steps to safeguard the system into the future.
These are just responsible, pragmatic changes.
Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating described the revised plan as a ‘huge policy achievement’. Photograph: ABCShareWelcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says he spoke to former Labor prime minister Paul Keating ‘half a dozen times’ last week as he finalised the federal government’s watered-down superannuation tax plan. More coming up.
As the last living Israeli hostages were released by Hamas overnight, Penny Wong has called the moment a “singular achievement” by Donald Trump. The foreign affairs minister called it an “extraordinarily moving” day and one of immense relief for people in Israel and Australia. More shortly.
And the cost of cybercrime to Australian businesses has soared over the past year, a new report estimates – more than doubling to an average of $200,000 for big companies. More on that soon too.
Updated at 17.19 EDT