Australia news live: Steve Bracks refutes reports he doesn’t back Jacinta Allan; man drowns at beach in Victoria

Former Victorian premier backs Jacinta Allan and refutes reports to the contrary

Benita Kolovos

The former Victorian premier Steve Bracks has issued a rare public statement in a show of support for Jacinta Allan.

Bracks was named in a Herald Sun report this morning as privately supporting a change of leadership to Allan’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll. However he disputed this in the statement:

I firmly support the leadership of Jacinta Allan and believe she is best able to win an historic fourth term for Labor. Media reporting to the contrary is false.

Earlier this morning, Allan insisted she had the support of her Labor colleagues and said she wouldn’t reconsider her job even if the party lost several seats at the federal election. She said:

My colleagues know – and that’s why they did support me in this role in 2023 – they know that I’m a fighter and I’m focused on those things that Labor governments focus on.

Key events

Smart Energy Council slams O’Brien’s refusal to commit to staying in Paris agreement

Thom Woodroofe, a senior international fellow at the Smart Energy Council, says Ted O’Brien’s refusal to commit to staying in the Paris agreement was an “extraordinary confirmation that not even this would be safe under a Coalition government.”

In a statement, he argued the Coalition was “hell bent on wasting money on nuclear plants we don’t need and making us an international pariah again.”

It confirms what we all feared to be the case: Peter Dutton may say one thing on Paris now, but his party room will force him to have a different position after the election. And that’s before we even get to our plans to reduce emissions.

If Australia were to leave the Paris agreement, we would be the only country in the world to follow Trump out the door, subject ourselves to even more trade tariffs in the form of carbon border adjustments, and irreparably damage our relationships in the Pacific.

Dutton labels independent candidate running in his electorate as ‘Green at heart’

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, spoke with Brisbane’s 4BC radio this afternoon, taking aim at the independent candidate for Dickson – who is seeking to unseat him – as a “Green at heart”.

Ellie Smith is running in Dutton’s electorate and is backed by the Climate 200 movement, but doesn’t want to be labelled as a teal, but rather, a community independent, Queensland-style.

Speaking on the program, Dutton took aim at Smith as being “funded by multimillionaires out of Sydney who are heavily involved in the renewable energy industry”.

She really is Green at heart and will only ever support an Albanese government. So a vote for the teal candidate in Dixon is just a vote, ultimately, for Anthony Albanese.

The fact is that it’s just a front for the Greens. At least the Greens have the decency to wear who they are on, you know, on their sleeve … Whereas a teal pretending to be independent, who is actually a Green and would only ever support the Labor minority government, it’d be really bad for our local area.

Man’s body pulled from water at Victorian beach

Moving away from politics for a moment:

A man has drowned at a beach on Victoria’s Bellarine peninsula.

Police confirmed he was pulled from the water at Thirteenth Beach Road, Barwon Heads, just before noon.

He is yet to be formally identified, and the death is not being treated as suspicious. A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Natasha May

Doctors’ union argues ‘no evidence’ chemotherapy appointments being cancelled amid strike

This morning a spokesperson for the doctor’s union, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (Asmof), questioned the minister’s figures, stating it “has spoken with doctors at major cancer centres across NSW and found no evidence that chemotherapy appointments are being cancelled due to strike action”.

The government must stop using cancer patients as political pawns. Our members are doing everything they can to protect essential care during this strike.

If the NSW government is claiming cancer treatments are being cancelled, they need to front up with details and be honest with the public.

The conflicting statements appear to centre on the difference between oncology appointments with specialists and chemotherapy treatment itself. Minister Ryan Park’s office said the figures were for oncology appointments, which can include chemotherapy.

Guardian Australia understands as today, a total of 667 oncology patients have had their care affected across the state’s local health districts – 260 from the South West Sydney district, 161 from the Illawarra Shoalhaven, 78 from the Mid North Coast, 45 from North Sydney, 33 from Western Sydney, 28 from Hunter New England, 26 from South East Sydney district, 23 from Western NSW, nine from Sydney district and four from the Sydney Children’s hospital network.

Park said it is “distressing that anyone would call into question the many patients who have had care impacted including over 400 oncology appointments.”

It was for this reason the Industrial Relations Commission ordered Asmof not to proceed with their strike action.

Natasha May

Cancer patients’ appointments with specialists cancelled amid NSW doctors strike, minister says

The NSW government has confirmed cancer patients’ appointments with specialists have been cancelled as a result of the doctors’ strike, as the doctors’ union questioned the health minister’s statements about chemotherapy treatments being cancelled.

The three days of industrial action by the state’s public sector doctors will end at 10pm tonight, which the union has maintained would see essential care remain safely staffed while only non-time-critical services reduced to public holiday levels.

On Tuesday the health minister, Ryan Park, apologised to patients who had “chemotherapy cancelled,” with his office citing a figure of 486 patients having chemotherapy sessions cancelled.

Ryan Park. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

In yesterday’s press conference Park said about 4,000 outpatient services and appointments had been cancelled, including more than 400 for oncology (cancer) patients.

For cancer patients, doctors have to be around to make sure that they can monitor the impact of the treatment on the patient, that they can review blood tests around what the dosage and what is happening in terms of their overall bloods as a result of the treatment. They’re also in place to make sure that they can obviously prescribe the treatment initially.

Emily Wind

Good afternoon! Emily Wind here, I’ll be taking you through the rest of the action on the campaign trail.

Krishani Dhanji

Thank you all for joining me on this blog journey today, it’s been quite a day! (And honestly, after that energy debate, I need a lie down.)

I’ll leave you now with the fabulous Emily Wind, to take you through the afternoon, and I’ll see you bright and early in the morning.

Sarah Basford Canales

Peter Dutton was just visiting a Lifeline centre in Abbotsford, in the electorate of Melbourne.

It’s unexpected territory for the opposition leader, given the seat is held by the Greens, and the Liberals stand no chance of flipping progressive voters here.

Joining Dutton was the Chisholm candidate, Katie Allen, who was previously the Liberal MP for Higgins. The Coalition are hopeful they could get Allen over the line in the eastern Melbourne electorate, which is currently held by Labor’s Carina Garland on a 3.3% margin.

The Coalition’s pit stop in Melbourne’s inner city was to announce a $15m funding package for suicide prevention services. Dutton took no questions from reporters.

Dutton announces $15m for suicide prevention

Peter Dutton has announced $15m towards suicide prevention in Australia, standing up again in Melbourne, with his shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, and candidate Katie Allen.

The funding will go to further research on suicide prevention:

So that we can provide those on the front line, those on the phones, clinicians elsewhere who are providing support to families and people in their darkest hour with the best cutting-edge response and technology.

Dutton says there are many families across the country who have been touched by suicide.

I’ve been to suicide scenes and they are confronting. And anything that we can do as a country, we should be doing that and more to provide support to frontline services and to clinicians and today, to the researchers.

He leaves after a short address, and doesn’t take any questions.

Bandt says Labor’s Great Barrier Reef pledge will ‘promote the reef, not save it’

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has laid into Albanese’s $10m announcement today for the Great Barrier Reef.

At the smart energy summit earlier today in Sydney, Bandt said the funding was going towards promoting the reef, but “not to save it”.

Labor’s paying money to promote the reef, but not to save it. Labor is promoting the very same reef that it is destroying by approving over 30 new coal and gas projects.

The Greens have been calling on the government to end approvals for new coal and gas, and have promised to pressure Labor further in the event of a minority government.

Adam Bandt. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP