Midday News Bulletin 4 December 2024

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TRANSCRIPT
Report finds it’s become even more difficult for Australians to find entry-level work
Australians warned to avoid demonstrations in South Korea after temporary declaration of martial law overnight
Novak Djokovic will start his 2025 season at the Brisbane International
It’s become even more difficult for unemployed Australians to gain entry-level work according to new research from Anglicare Australia.
The report released today analysed the Jobseeker caseload, jobs vacancies and the classifcation of those vacancies, and found there are 33 people looking for work for each entry-level role available.
The situation is worst in the Northern Territory, where there are 65 people for every job, followed by Tasmania where there are 50.
Out of the more than 800,000 people on JobSeeker payments, 62% had been on the payment for more than a year.
Anglicare Australia’s chief executive Kasey Chambers says alongside employment services should be overhauled to properly assist job seekers to be ready for work.
“Now those entry level jobs have been dropping over the nine years we’ve been doing that. This survey, the number of entry level jobs have halved and I think about it like a ladder, and I think if that bottom rung is missing, it’s very hard to get onto the ladder of employment. We don’t think people are going to stay in entry level jobs forever, but we all need those entry level jobs to get.”
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New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says the goal of a drug summit being held is to reduce the number of people whose lives have been destroyed.
The state’s drug summit is in its third day in Sydney and is the second in the state after one was held in 1999 by then Premier Bob Carr.
Mr Minns says that summit helped the state recognise drug abuse as a health issue and redirect people away from the justice system towards rehabilitation.
Experts have come together from various fields which intersect with the issue, including medical experts, police and drug user organisations.
Mr Minns says it’s important to hear the personal stories of those affected by drug use.
“It doesn’t matter where you live or who you vote for. Drugs have scarred every Australian community in some way. A lot of these issues are amplified in the bush and the regions where services are harder to access and come by. The point of a summit like this is to bring people together. Nothing worthwhile ever comes out of an echo chamber. We want different perspectives. We want to hear people openly and honestly tell us their perspective, their lived experiences.”
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A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says the Australian government is closely monitoring the evolving situation in South Korea following the imposition of martial law overnight.
The statement said Australians in Korea should monitor the media, follow the instructions of Korean authorities and avoid public protests.
On Tuesday night [[3 Dec]], South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law on South Korea and deployed the armed forces to Seoul.
This move was overruled by the South Korean parliament who have passed a motion to lift martial law, which the President then stated he will follow.
The Smartraveller advice for Republic of Korea was updated on 4 December to advise travellers to avoid protests and demonstrations and that transport and other essential services may be disrupted.
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An inquiry has been told sites required for the coalition’s plan to build nuclear reactions will take decades of rehabilitation before they can be used.
The federal opposition says, if elected, it will build reactors at seven former coal power plant sites across Australia – including Latrobe Valley – to support “cheap, clean and consistent energy”.
Victoria’s Mine Land Rehabilitation Authority chief executive Jen Bereton told a federal nuclear inquiry hearing in Melbourne that it will take two or three decades before they could be used.
Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear policy analyst Dave Sweeney was attending a protest outside the inquiry in Melbourne and says he’s deeply concerned about the lack of detail outlined in the Coalition’s plan.
“I was in Gippsland, in Latrobe Valley yesterday speaking a community rally and also attending and supporting community members who were presenting to the inquiry and a high level of concern there. A lot of people concerned, a lot of people, agricultural producers in the Latrobe Valley in Gippsland, concerned about the reputation for agriculture, for tourism, for fisheries. A lot of talk there where Gippsland is a hub for renewable energy, offshore wind, all sorts of things. They’re saying, we don’t want to risk our future.”
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Novak Djokovic will start his 2025 season at the Brisbane International.
The 24-time major champion will play the tournament as his primary preparation for the Australian Open, which starts on the 12th of January.
The Brisbane tournament, which starts on the 29th of December, features a host of prominent men’s players, including defending champion Grigor Dimitrov, and Australians Nick Kyrgios and Alexi Popyrin.
Djokovic is currently ranked number seven in the world, having not won a major tournament in 2024.
It’s the first year since 2017 he hasn’t taken at least one major title.