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Coming up in the next fifteen minutes:
- Abbott moves to repeal carbon tax
- Geoff Shaw accused of punching an elderly protester
- Toyota to cut up to 100 jobs
- And Heath Shaw heads to Greater Western Sydney
BRIANNA: Good afternoon, I’m BRIANNA PIAZZA.
WILL: And I’m WILL HIGGINBOTHAM. Welcome to SYN News at 4.
Tony Abbott is preparing draft laws to repeal the ALPs Carbon Tax.
The PM is vowing that the bill will be the first put forward to the new parliament.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten has meanwhile vowed to stand by the pricing of carbon.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt had this to say about the Labor party’s plan to vote against the repeal.
“If the ALP vote against repealing the carbon tax they are voting for higher electricity prices, higher cost of living issues and greater impacts on australian businesses and jobs.”
Prime Minister Abbott says that if his bill was passed, Australian families will be 550 dollars better off annually. He also defended his Carbon emissions scheme.
“Direct action measures, you’re all familiar with, we are confident will bring about a 5% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.”
The pricing of carbon has been a contentious issue in Australian politics since the introduced of the scheme under the former labour party in 2012.
BRIANNA: Controversial Frankston MP Geoff Shaw has reportedly hit an eighty year old protester on the steps of State Parliament.
Protesters who were rallying against taxi licence reforms have told The Age that Mr Shaw threw punches at a number of demonstrators.
Mr Shaw left the Liberal Party earlier in the year and is currently facing 24 criminal charges, relating to the misuse of his taxpayer-funded car.
WILL: A female protester has suffered a head injury, after demonstrators clashed with police during blockade against the East-West Link. EDDIE WILLIAMS reports…
Around fifty protesters gathered in Abbotsford this morning, rallying outside a construction company involved in the East West project.
“No tunnel, no way, we’re gonna fight it all the way.”
Forty officers arrived on the the scene, and a female protester hit her head on a parked car as police tried to disperse the group, which had been blocking three entrances to the building.
*woman yelling*
That audio courtesy of Fairfax.
Police say they acted appropriately, but protesters are claiming the police action was ‘over the top.’
EDDIE WILLIAMS, SYN News.
Brianna: Toyota is set to cut up to one hundred jobs at its manufacturing plant in Altona, following a drop in demand.
Toyota says the job cuts will come through voluntary redundancies.
This comes in the wake of the newly elected Coalition government applying pressure to both Holden and Toyota to up their export outputs in order to maintain government support.
This also follows 350 Toyota job cuts last April, and Ford’s decision to end car production in Australia in by 20-16.
Will: The number of deaths from the use of methamphetamines, commonly known as ice, has doubled in the last two years, according to a Victorian coroners report.
The report, from the Victorian Drug and Alcohol Association, showed that 1 in every 25 drug related deaths in 2010 were ice-related. The figure in 2012 increased to 1 in every 10 deaths.
CEO Sam Biondo says that ice is “particularly concerning because the drug’s strength has actually multiplied in a very short period of time”.
Mr Biondo is also urging the government to increase funding to the rehabilitation sector, which he says is ‘overwhelmed’ by ice addicts.
The report comes just months after the Age published a feature on the increase in ice related crimes across Victoria.
BRIANNA: Most of the 300 chickens stolen from Nuriootpa High School in the Barossa Valley on Sunday have been found dead.
South Australian police found the chickens abandoned under a tree near the school last night.
Nearly four dozen were found alive, but more than 260 had died, in what teachers believe was due to suffocation from being kept in small containers.
The two-week old chickens were part of the school’s agricultural study program.
The high school’s principal, Ian Tooley, told ABC News students were disappointed, and it had been a sad start to term four.
“The initial response from those closest is a mixture I guess, it’s amazement, disappointment, frustration – it’s not the sort of thing you’d expect.”
WILL: The Queensland Government says a planned prison for criminal bikies north of Brisbane will be tough on inmates, but will not breach human rights conventions.
The bikie-only prison is part of what Premier Campbell Newman says will be the world’s toughest laws targeting criminal motorcycle gangs, to be introduced to parliament today.
The jail, which would be located at the Woodford Correctional Centre, is designed to stop gang members from continuing illegal activities and recruiting more members in prison.
Inmates would spend up to 23 hours a day confined in their cells, while their mail and telephone calls would be monitored.
Family visits would be restricted along with a ban on television and gym equipment in their cells.
BRIANNA: Uni students in Canberra will receive free condoms, as part of a campaign to raise awareness about AIDS.
The campaign is a response to a 100 per cent increase in HIV cases in the ACT over the past decade.
Students can pick up their free condoms from barbecues at four campuses of the Canberra Institute of Technology this month.
The AIDS Action Council is driving the campaign, and is calling on young people to think about safe sex.
You’re listening to SYN News. Heading overseas now and…
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck central Philippines earlier today. The quake has destroyed buildings, walls and roads, and has killed up to twenty people.
The major quake struck 5 kilometers off the coast of Bahlilihan, about 500 kilometers south east of the capital, Manila.
Officials have confirmed four people died when part of a fish port collapsed in one of the country’s key tourist destinations, Cebu City, while another was killed at a nearby market.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has not issued a warning of a Pacific-wide tsunami threat.
WILL: The annual Mo Ibrahim Prize for good governance in Africa has been awarded to nobody for the fourth year in a row.
The prize was meant to be awarded to a democratically elected leader who governed well and also raised living standards and left office voluntarily.
But despite saying most Africans are living in countries that are better governed compared with the start of last century, the judging committee says it was unable to identify a candidate that was worthy of the $5.4 million prize
Founded seven years ago by Sudan-born telecoms entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim, the prize is designed to encourage Africa’s political leaders to leave power peacefully.
BRIANNA: Detectives from Scotland Yard have suggested that Madeleine McCann’s mother might have missed the abduction of her daughter in 2007, by only minutes.
The latest revision from detectives investigating the case, suggests that Madeleine was abducted by a ‘group’ of men.
The Officer heading the case, Inspector Redwood, told BBC’s Crimewatch there was evidence that one or more men were ‘stalking’ the McCann family in the hours preceding the abduction.
This comes after police yesterday released two images of men who they want to speak to about McCann’s abduction.
WILL: A leading youth not-for-profit organisation is holding a conference tonight about how businesses can empower young women through policy.
The HEELS conference, organised by Left Right Think Tank, will feature three key speakers who will talk about their personal experiences and offer ideas about how young women can succeed in male-dominated industries, such as business and law.
Speakers including Mary Crooks from the Victorian Women’s Trust and Sally McIndoe from global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
Left Right Think Tank communications and events officer Jessica Matthew says there’s still a huge gap that needs to be bridged to ensure female and male graduates are given the same opportunities to achieve the same outcomes.
“If you want to deal with those issues it’s not just about just starting to pay women more, it’s about dealing with the structural issues that affect the way women are treated in the workforce and we’ll definitely be talking about those issues tonight.”
The event will start at 5pm at Victoria University’s City Flinders Campus and tickets are available at the door.
BRIANNA: A 46 million year old female mosquito fossil has been found in a Montana riverbed in the USA. The mosquito is one of the most significant fossil findings as it contains a stomach full of blood.
Whilst not the oldest Mosquito fossil in the world – that goes to the 95 million year old mozzie fossil in Myanmar- Dale Greenwalt from the National Academy of Sciences, says it’s ‘an extremely rare fossil, the only one of its type’.
Cutting edge technology allowed scientists to discover that the female mosquito had a stomach full of blood. But what creature that came from remains a mystery, as DNA extraction is currently impossible with a fossil that old.
WILL: A motorist has been slapped with an a 94,000 Euro speeding fine for driving less than 30 kilometres over the speed limit in Finland.
Multi-millionaire Anders Wilklof was caught doing 77 kilometres an hour in a 50-k zone, and received the large fine, because speeding drivers in Finland are fined according to their wealth.
Had the 67-year-old Swedish businessman been speeding in this home country, he would have copped a fine of less than 50 euros.
BRIANNA: And now here’s NICK DUXSON with sport
NICK: Thanks BRIANNA.
In AFL News, Collingwood defender Heath Shaw will be a Greater Western Sydney Giant in 2014.
The 27-year old premiership player has agreed to a five-year deal believed to be worth close to 3.5 million dollars.
The Giants have already signed Sydney ruckman Shane Mumford, and have expressed an interest in Adelaide’s Bernie Vince.
Shaw will join his brother Rhyce in Sydney, while Collingwood will now look to negotiate a trade.
There is a high probability that could involve out-of-contract Giants midfielder Taylor Adams, who is seeking a trade to the Magpies.
Shaw’s manager Ben Niall told SEN 1116 this will set the running defender up for life.
In soccer, Socceroos’ captain Lucas Neill has quashed calls for his retirement, insisting he aims to lead Australia into the 2014 World Cup.
On the back of consecutive 6-nil defeats to Brazil and France, coach Holger Osieck has been axed, and Socceroos legend Mark Bosnich has called on the 35-year-old to step down.
But Neill said in a press conference on Fox Sports he is still confident he is the right person to lead the Socceroos.
Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou is firming as an early favourite for the managerial role, despite the man who led Australia to the 2006 World Cup, Guus Hiddink, currently being available.
Big names such as retired Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson and former Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo have also been thrown up as potential candidates.
To cricket, and the Victoria Bushrangers have amassed a total of 8 for 331 at North Sydney Oval against Western Australia.
Ex-Victorian captain Cameron White scored a brilliant 76 off just 49 deliveries for the Bushrangers, while current skipper Matthew Wade was dismissed leg before wicket with 74.
Still on cricket, and Australian vice-captain Brad Haddin will be available for tomorrow’s second one-day match against India.
The vice-captain and wicket-keeper suffered an unusual injury, with an errant high five from James Faulkner collected him in the eye.
Haddin returned to the field after a 22-over break in Australia’s 72-run one day win, and Australian one-day captain George Bailey joked after the game a handshake might be more appropriate.
Finally, in rugby union, incumbent five-eighth Quade Cooper looks set to start in Australia’s line up ahead of Saturday’s dead rubber against New Zealand.
Cooper last started against the All Blacks more than a year ago, but an ankle injury to inside centre Christian LEA-LI-FANO increases the likelihood of him retaining his place.
Wallabies coach Ewan McKenzie remains coy about selection, but remains confident the Queenslander will be able to handle the pressure in Dunedin.
That’s all for sport. Now here’s WILL with the forecast.
WILL: Thanks NICK. We’re heading for an overnight low of 13, before a windy day tomorrow with a top of 25. Thursday will include some showers and a top of 17. And Friday will be sunny with light winds; a top of 21. Right now in the city, it’s 17 degrees.
BRIANNA: And for those on public transport, the disruption to tram services heading towards Melbourne University along Swanston Street has cleared and services have returned to normal.
WILL: To recap our top stories this afternoon, Tony Abbott is preparing to draft laws to repeal the carbon tax
BRIANNA: The number of deaths from using the drug ice has doubled in two years
WILL: A 7.1 Earthquake in the Philippines has claimed the lives of at least 20 people and leaving many more injured.
BRIANNA: and new evidence could shine light on the abduction of Madeline McCann
That’s all for our bulletin this afternoon. When we’re off air, you can keep up with the news by following us on Twitter at News S-Y-N.
WILL: Panorama’s coming up at 4.30 and we’ll be back with an update at 5pm.
Brianna Piazza 