Federal judge dismisses COVID cruise ship class action appeal but negligence ruling upheld
Published 29 July 2025, 6:46 am
Federal judge dismisses COVID cruise ship class action appeal but negligence ruling upheld ABSTRACT: The Federal Court has dismissed two appeals related to the class action against Princess Cruise Lines over the Ruby Princess COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. One appeal sought to increase compensation for a passenger, while the other was filed by Carnival Cruises, challenging an earlier court finding of negligence.
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Truffle growers concerned manufactured flavouring misleading as demand for raw product grows
The wet, wintry days are in full swing in southern Australia and truffle hunting season is well underway. Australia is now the fourth-largest truffle producer in the world, exporting more than 11 tonnes valued at $9 million in 2023. The demand for the expensive but flavoursome fungus continues to rise but growers and wholesalers are concerned consumers do not know what truffles really taste like. In the Strathbogie ranges in north-east Victoria, basenji dogs Audrey and Winnie are busy sniffing the ground in search of truffle in exchange for a treat. David and Kate McConnell started growing truffles in 2007 after planting an orchard of oak trees. The couple said the rise of synthetic truffle flavour is worrying, considering how much work goes into producing the fungus. "It's something that's a concern from a marketing perspective, definitely," Mr McConnell said. "The idea is to promote more enjoyment in actually experiencing a real truffle, which is what we try to do." Simon Friend grades and sells truffles out of Melbourne and said alarm bells go off in his mind when people describe the flavour as "strong". "As soon as I hear that my initial thought is that they haven't had any real truffle experience," Mr Friend said. He is worried people who have tasted synthetic truffle flavour do not know that it is different to a fresh truffle. "It's a misnomer," Mr Friend said. "There's no real truffle in truffle oil. People don't know that they are actually experiencing a synthetic flavour. Truffle oils are typically made by infusing a flavour often referred to on the bottle as an "aroma" or "essence". There are no laws in Australia around the use of synthetic flavours in products, but Mr Friend is worried that consumers are being misled. "It's the same with vanilla in a huge way. Caviar, and maple syrup too," he said. "Consumers need to understand there's a tremendous amount of work going to getting a beautiful truffle on a table, or in their butter." David McConnell admits truffle growing can feel like a bit of a gamble each year. "The interesting thing about truffles is the dog indicates where they are and until we uncover it we don't know if it's ripe or not," Mr McConnell said. "You buy the trees inoculated with truffle spores and then you cross your fingers and hope that in four to six years that you'll be successful. Because truffles are grown underground, growers must train dogs to sniff out the ripe ones before they can dig them up. Mr McConnell said the fungi did not ripen with time once they were picked so the dogs needed to get the smell correct straight away. The Strathbogie ranges are ideal for growing truffles with high rain, hot summers and very cold winters. However, seasonal conditions this year have been very dry and the truffles have been a bit smaller than usual. "There is nothing like rain from the sky. It's been a challenge to keep the soil moist this year," Mr McConnell said. "But the demand is growing. We've had our truffles sent all over the world."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Glen Innes Hereford Bull Show and Sale celebrates 80 years
Roger Kneipp spent his first bull sale at the Glen Innes Saleyards in northern New South Wales in a pram, and now, aged 80, he hasn't missed a single one. The Glen Innes Hereford Bull Show and Sale is Australia's longest-running multi-vendor sale, which celebrated its 80th year at the event last week. Mr Kneipp was just three months old when his parents took him to his first sale and as he grew up, it became a tradition. "I was homeschooled. Mum and Dad would go to the sale, so I got to go to every sale," Mr Kneipp reflected. That young boy quickly grew to love Hereford cattle. "I've stuck with them and they've been good to us, and they are a good breed of cattle," he said. Mr Kneipp has a well-established stud, Dundee Echo Park Herefords, located just outside Glen Innes. Hereford breeders say their product has been overshadowed by the likes of Wagyu and Angus, which are favoured for the marbling that makes the meat extra tender. This has seen the number of Hereford cattle decline in recent decades. Looking through some old newspapers, Mr Kneipp remembered the days when his favourite breed was everywhere. "There's a lot less Hereford cattle [now] than going back to the years I remember," he said. The largest yarding catalogued was 797 bulls in 1985, a site Mr Kneipp can still remember vividly. "It was a four-day event ... two days for the horned Herefords and two days for the polled Herefords," he said. Mr Kneipp sees the future of Herefords in crossbreeding with other lines of cattle. "A lot of the bulls do get sold for crossbreeding ... they are doing well in other breeds," he said. Jane Leake is the custodian of the oldest poll Hereford stud in the country, known as Bahreenah Poll Herefords. Like Mr Kneipp, she has a long history with the Glen Innes Hereford Bull Sale. "Doing the research for this year's 80th ... I discovered that we actually sold a bull up here in 1953, which was probably the first or second sale I think my father brought bulls too," Ms Leake said. Ms Leake said some characteristics of the breed had remained the same over the decades, however, the animals bred today were much larger in mass. "I was around when we had the belt-buckle bulls ... they were much shorter, and frame score-wise we could probably see chest and up over all the bulls," Ms Leake said. "Whereas now, I've got a bull at home that I can't even see over." Eighty years on and Mr Kneipp is still winning prizes for his heifers. He won the junior heifer show and the top female price of the sale at $6,000. The two-day event also delivered a pleasing result for Inverell breeder David Hann from Courallie Herefords. He won a range of classes, including junior, senior grand champion and grand champion, as well as the top two prices in the sale. It was the two-year-old 940-kilogram senior champion bull Courallie Ultron that fetched the top price of $14,000. "He's been a pick ever since he was born. He's out of a very good cow which we'll probably flush later on in the year," Mr Hann said. But his junior champion bull Courallie Ultimo was judged grand champion bull over Ultron. Mr Hann's four bulls averaged $9,500, compared to the sale average for bulls of $7,200.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Unions push for AI protections
Rachel Mealey: As the Commonwealth Bank becomes the first in its industry to publicly attribute job cuts to AI, unions are urgently renewing their push for worker protections. That's prompted a sharp rebuke from industry, saying more regulations will restrict productivity and the goal of AI is efficiency, not job cuts. Isabel Moussalli reports. Isabel Moussalli: The Commonwealth Bank isn't the first company to cut jobs in favour of AI, but the Finance Sector Union says it's the first in its industry to acknowledge it. Joseph Mitchell: Well, it's frankly unjust. Commonwealth Bank has made billions of dollars of profit every year for however many years. Isabel Moussalli: Joseph Mitchell is with the Australian Council of Trade Unions. He's angry that 45 roles will be replaced by a customer service chatbot. Joseph Mitchell: And making them redundant by bringing in AI to replace their jobs is just not fair. Isabel Moussalli: A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson says its investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, and its priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and to support affected employees. But Joseph Mitchell says unions will fight mass redundancies from AI. Joseph Mitchell: So we know the most productive way to implement AI in a workplace is through the skilled application of workers. Workers are trained in how to use it. They can make decisions with employers about how it gets used. Isabel Moussalli: The ACTU will call for AI regulations at the Federal Government's Economic Reform Roundtable next month. Joseph Mitchell: We want to see employers required to enter into AI implementation agreements with their staff. That means that employers need to come to their staff with a plan, negotiate with employees and come to a joint agreement about how they're going to implement AI and what are the consequences going to be, with things like guarantees around job security, training and skills development. Isabel Moussalli: But the Australian Industry Group has hit back. Innes Willox: Well, it's kind of ironic because we go into a productivity summit that we have some proposals here that will restrict further productivity growth. Isabel Moussalli: That's Chief Executive Innes Willocks. Innes Willox: There are going to be times where there has to be significant consultation with the workforce and there's going to be other times when they just can't be in business, just has to get on with it. But all the information that we're getting, everything we're seeing and hearing from business is that they're not setting out to use it as a means to cut jobs on the whole. It's really about how to make their business better. Isabel Moussalli: RMIT's Dr. Emmanuelle Walkowiak is an innovation and labour economist specialising in generative AI. She explains the impact on the workforce can't be precisely forecast, but says right now we're in the middle of a massive disruption to the labour market. Emmanuelle Walkowiak: The major impact is through the transformation of jobs themselves. So what we need is really to upskill people. Isabel Moussalli: In a statement, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth acknowledged AI offers significant opportunities to drive economic growth, but also presents challenges, and says the government's been consulting on introducing safeguards for AI. Rachel Mealey: Isabel Moussalli reporting.
