Key posts
- Victorian floods: What you need to know
- Israel castigates Australian ambassador over ‘wretched’ Jerusalem decision
- Cosmetic surgery industry exploiting Medicare for services it is not entitled to claim
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Victorian floods: What you need to know
Floodwaters have started receding in some parts of Victoria.
However, communities in and around Echuca are on high alert given the Murray River is expected to start peaking later today.
Residents of Echuca, which lies on the Victorian side of the Victoria-NSW border, have spent the last few days building makeshift flood levees from sandbags in a bid to protect thousands of homes. On the NSW side, in Moama, some residents have also been told to evacuate.
Emergency warnings telling people to move to higher ground remain active for Kerang, northwest of Echuca, and in Rochester, about half an hour’s drive south of the border community.
Meanwhile, a senior SES volunteer says residents near Melbourne’s Maribyrnong River were not given accurate information about the scale of last week’s major flood event.
My colleague Lachlan Abbott is running today’s dedicated floods blog. You can read his coverage here.
Israel castigates Australian ambassador over ‘wretched’ Jerusalem decision
Israel’s foreign ministry has chastised a senior Australian diplomat over Canberra’s decision to drop its recognition of West Jerusalem as the nation’s capital, labelling the move a “wretched decision” which risks encouraging extremists to further agitate in the region.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry’s political director, Aliza Bin-Noun, met with Australia’s ambassador, Paul Griffiths, for more than 30 minutes on Tuesday after he was summoned for a reprimand following the Albanese government’s decision.
The decision to no longer recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel returns Australia’s policy to the international mainstream, but the timing has infuriated Israel.Credit:AP
In a statement from the ministry, Bin-Noun conveyed that Israel would now consider its next steps in response.
The statement said she had expressed Jerusalem’s disappointment at the Albanese government’s change in policy, calling it “a wretched decision that ignores the deep and eternal connection between Israel and its historic capital and that goes against the good relations between Israel and Australia”.
More on this issue here.
Cosmetic surgery industry exploiting Medicare for services it is not entitled to claim
The $1.4 billion cosmetic surgery industry is illegally claiming Medicare rebates for medically unnecessary procedures such as facelifts, Botox, breast implants and tummy tucks.
Experts including doctors, surgeons and whistleblowers told a joint investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the ABC’s 7.30 program that the sector is recovering rebates for services it is not entitled to claim.
Janine Kepert is speaking out to warn others.Credit:Justin McManus
Medicare was set up as a universal health system that provides free or subsidised health services that are medically necessary. It means rebates for cosmetic procedures are not claimable.
The joint investigation can reveal that, despite this, some practitioners have made claims through the system, including bulk billing pre-operative pathology and consultations for purely cosmetic surgery, as well as billing Medicare for cosmetic surgeries including tummy tucks and labiaplasty.
Read the full story here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning and thanks for your company.
It’s Wednesday, October 19. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started.
- Some in the cosmetic surgery industry are illegally claiming Medicare rebates for medically unnecessary procedures such as facelifts and Botox, according to an investigation by Adele Ferguson and Chris Gillett.
- Labor’s new industrial relations bill has alarmed some industry groups. Meanwhile, next week’s federal budget will contain a section on wellbeing.
- In state news, floodwaters are starting to recede in parts of Victoria such as Shepparton and Rochester. But other parts of the state’s north remain on high alert with the Murray River expected to break its banks in the coming days.
- The NSW government has threatened to pursue damages from the state’s major rail union if it pushes ahead with plans to shut down Opal card readers at Sydney train stations during rush hour.
- In international news, Rob Harris writes that Israel’s foreign ministry has chastised a senior Australian diplomat over Australia’s decision to drop its recognition of West Jerusalem as the nation’s capital.
- And United States President Joe Biden has pledged to enshrine abortion rights in federal law if the Democrats retain control of Congress at next month’s midterm elections. Farrah Tomazin has the full story.
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