Australian Headlines, Auspol Headlines Wednesday 11 October 2017

Getting paid to switch off during heatwaves.

Households and businesses who turn down appliances such as air conditioners during heatwaves and switch off other appliances like pool pumps are to be be rewarded under a scheme announced today.
Electricity users in three States (Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales) will soon be able to volunteer to cut their power use when demand is high in exchange for benefits like rebates on their bills. There is already such a scheme in Queensland.
Josh Frydenberg, the Energy and Environment Minister said a household could be paid $25 each time it switched off at a peak demand time, on top of the saving on its power bills. Other measures included giving away movie vouchers or a day of free electricity.
The LNP Federal Government is spending almost $30 million to support the trial and the NSW Government is contributing $7 million.
Audrey Zibelman, the head of the energy market operator, said that the trial was aimed at managing demand, not "making people sweat in their homes".

Consumer confidence rises to one year high.

Consumer sentiment rose 3.6 per cent this month to 101.4 points to a one year high in October.
This monthly survey by Westpac also marks the first time that optimists have outnumbered pessimists since November last year.
The ABC reports that the strongest gains were seen in the 'economic conditions, next 12 months' sub-index, which rose 7.1 per cent to a four-year high.
These gains were probably due to consistent reports of the global economy, particularly the United States, continuing to improve, said Westpac's chief economist Bill Evans.
Another reason for the lift in consumer confidence was the continuing improvement in the labour market.

Tony Abbott's “loopy” climate change speech was privately funded.

Former PM Tony Abbott's speech to the Global Warming Policy foundation, which the opposition has labelled "loopy", was privately funded and will be declared in the usual way, his office has said.
The SMH reports that on Monday in London, Mr Abbott addressed the Global Warming Policy foundation, which was set up by the Thatcher-era Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, a climate sceptic, in the lead up to the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009.
Mr Abbott told the gathering that even if climate change is real, it could be a good thing because more people die in cold snaps. Mr Abbott also said that after looking at photographs of Manly beach, which is in his electorate of Warringah on Sydney's northern beaches, he could see no evidence of climate change. However, Mr Abbott has had no formal training as a climate scientist. Furthermore, NASA says that: "Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities."
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said that the speech by the former PM was "just nuts."

Police investigate allegations that a Richmond player shared pictures of a topless woman without consent.

The police are investigating allegations that a Richmond player allegedly shared, without consent, a photo of a topless woman wearing an AFL premiership medal.
The topless photo emerged on social media last week, just days after Richmond won its first grand final in 37-years.
Apparently, the woman told the Herald Sun she had consented to the photo being taken but not to it being shared.
Police are investigating.

And in other news, today is day two of the High Court Hearing for the citizenship seven.

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