Month: May 2025

Source: FairTrading New South Wales

What is the issue?

Death cap mushrooms

Death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) are extremely poisonous. Consuming just one mushroom can kill an adult. Symptoms usually commence 6 to 24 hours after ingestion with stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. These symptoms can then settle, giving a false sense of recovery, however the toxin will have entered the body’s circulation and started causing serious harm, particularly to the liver. Typically, 2 – 4 days after ingestion those severely poisoned will develop irreversible liver failure, often associated with kidney failure, that may ultimately result in death.

These mushrooms usually grow under oak trees and the caps are 40-160mm in diameter. The cap ranges in colour from pale yellow to green and olive brown and the ridges on the underside of the cap (gills) are white. The base of the stem has a membrane ‘cup’.

Yellow-staining mushrooms

The yellow-staining mushroom (Agaricus xanthodermus) is the cause of most poisonings due to ingestion of wild fungi in Victoria. Symptoms of yellow-staining mushroom poisoning include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. The severity of symptoms varies with the amount eaten.

This mushroom looks very similar to regular purchased mushrooms or ‘cultivated mushrooms’ (Agaricus bisporus) and to edible wild mushrooms such as the field mushroom (Agaricus campestris). In urban areas the yellow-staining mushroom is unfortunately much more common than edible mushrooms. It can grow in large troops in lawns and gardens, and when damaged, the cap and stem stain yellow, later fading to a brownish colour. The mushroom can also emit a chemical-like smell.

Who is at risk?

Anyone who collects and consumes wild mushrooms of unknown species is putting themselves at risk of potential poisoning and serious illness. Consuming a death cap mushroom may result in death.

Children should not touch wild mushrooms with their bare hands and animals should be kept away from them.

Pets can develop a range of illness from eating wild mushrooms including gastroenteritis-type syndrome to severe life-threatening disease and death. Dogs are more likely than cats to ingest mushrooms.

Recommendations

Unless you are an expert, do not pick and eat wild mushrooms in Victoria.

If you suspect you or anyone in your care may have eaten a poisonous mushroom, do not wait for symptoms to occur before seeking medical attention.

Contact the Victorian Poisons Information Centre immediately on 13 11 26 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Australia wide) for appropriate advice. This may include seeking treatment at a hospital emergency department. Keep a sample and a photograph of the mushroom that was consumed to share with the Victorian Poisons Information Centre for expert identification of the mushroom.

If you or anyone in your care has trouble breathing, collapsed, is having a fit or is suffering an anaphylactic reaction, immediately call 000 for an ambulance. Do not call the Victorian Poisons Information Centre in an emergency.

Pet owners should take particular care in areas where mushrooms may grow and where possible, remove any mushrooms from your garden before pets have a chance to eat them.

Remove any mushrooms growing in the home garden by wearing gloves, carefully placing them in a bag, and disposing of them in a closed general waste (landfill) rubbish bin.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

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Source: Australia’s climate in 2024: 2nd warmest and 8th wettest year on record

Bridget Brennan, Host: We’re joined now by the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, who’s in Adelaide. Good morning to you, Penny Wong, and congratulations.

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Good morning, good to be with you and thank you. And I want to start by thanking your viewers for the opportunity and responsibility that’s been entrusted to us and we’re really conscious of what a privilege that is and we will work every day to repay the trust that Australians have shown in us.

Brennan: Seeing you up on the stage on Saturday night, there seemed to be an even more jubilant mood than 2022. Did the election result take you by surprise and what was the mood on Saturday night?

Foreign Minister: Well, it was pretty electric in the room and my family was there, which was lovely, and my daughters did say how loud it was. So, I don’t know whether you got a sense of that on the camera, but it was pretty loud when I got up on stage. It’s been a long time since, you know, a Prime Minister was re-elected. And it’s certainly been a long time, you know, since we’ve seen that kind of, that kind of emphatic decision. And it really showed, I think, that the Liberal Party doesn’t represent middle Australia. That’s really the clear message of the election result.

Brennan: Were you expecting seats into the 80s in the lower house?

Foreign Minister: Can I just say it’s at the upper end of my expectations, but I think if you look at the metropolitan electorates around the country, overwhelmingly, Australians who live in cities and suburbs looked at the Liberal Party and said, ‘you don’t represent my aspirations, you don’t reflect the things I’m worried about, you don’t reflect where I want to go.’ And you know that is the clear message from the election. As I said, we’re really humbled by and grateful for the opportunity and we understand what it means.

Brennan: Why do you think it appears Chinese-Australian voters swung towards the Labor Party again at this election? And what impact do you think your messaging had on WeChat, for example, in seats like Menzies?

Foreign Minister: I’ll leave others to the commentary about me, but I was out expressing the same thing I’ve been saying for a long time, which is that the Liberal Party’s approach to a whole range of issues are of concern to the Australian-Chinese community. I thought Jane Hume saying, asserting that Labor volunteers, Chinese volunteers were spies was an extraordinary thing to say. And it continued a pattern of comments and behaviour by the Liberal Party that Chinese Australians were rightly concerned by. And we did see in many seats in Bennelong, in Chisholm, in Menzies, in Reid and beyond, Chinese Australians being really clear about their views about the Liberal Party.

Brennan: You made the step of acknowledging country as you stepped onto the stage on Saturday night, which I’ve heard meant a lot to Aboriginal Australians after what had happened in the previous week. This is not a gotcha question about your comments on the Voice at all. I just would ask you to reflect on the media’s response to those comments where you had looked at a social issue that may take many decades to progress on reconciliation and acknowledgement of Aboriginal people and yet it was sort of used as a sort of gotcha moment in those final days of the campaign. Did that disappoint you?

Foreign Minister: Of course, look, it was an inaccurate beat up. But I think more importantly, what it did show Australians is that the reflex for the Liberal Party was to have a culture war and get very aggro, let’s be frank. Whereas most Australians weren’t there, most Australians wanted to talk about Medicare and schools and cost of living and tax cuts and fee-free TAFE and childcare and 20 per cent off their HECS debt. That’s where most Australians were. But the Coalition, yet again, their reflex is to have a culture war, which is often very hurtful to First Nations Australians, but more generally to people who care about reconciliation. So, I think it was a demonstration of why the Liberal Party has done so badly in Australia’s cities and suburbs.

Brennan: Overnight we’ve heard of tariffs on incoming films made outside of the United States into America. This could have a damaging effect on our industry here in Australia. What will be your message to the Trump administration on this decision?

Foreign Minister: Well, our message is we make great films together. We collaborate together. We’ve got Australian actors who work on American films. We have films, American films, which are filmed here in Australia. We have collaboration between our artists in the creative industries. The collaboration is a good thing. So, let’s not get in the way of that.

Brennan: And will you serve another term as Foreign Minister, Penny Wong?

Foreign Minister: I absolutely will. And I’m really looking forward to not only doing good things this term, but working in a government that has the capacity to be a really long-term Labor Government and change this country for the better.

Brennan: Alright, thanks for your time this morning.

Foreign Minister: Great to speak with you.

Source: Australia’s climate in 2024: 2nd warmest and 8th wettest year on record

Natalie Barr, Host: For more, we’re joined by Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Adelaide. Good morning to you.

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Good morning, Nat. Great to be with you.

Barr: Let’s talk about these tariffs on the film industry. 100 per cent on films produced outside the US, that would be huge for films made in Australia. What can you do about it?

Foreign Minister: Look, I heard President Trump made some comments overnight about talking to the industry about the effect of it. We all know how many films we see made in Australia, made between Australian and American filmmakers. We know how many Australian actors are beloved by American audiences. So, we obviously will be pressing our view about this to the US Administration. But I do welcome the fact that the President has indicated he’s going to engage with the studios about it. You know, we want to be able to see films where you get both Aussie actors and American studios working together.

Barr: Yeah, because this is a $5 billion industry in Australia. We’ve seen pictures just yesterday of Owen Wilson, the Hollywood star, in Brisbane shooting a movie. It injects millions into this country and the flow on effect is huge. Thousands of jobs are tied to it. But he seemed pretty set on 100 per cent. That would wipe out films being made here.

Foreign Minister: And I think the issue is audiences in the US as well as in Australia like to see Australian actors. We know American films are also filmed here in Australia. You know, the Fall Guy, the Elvis film. So, the reality is that the industry is set up where we do cooperate together. So, we certainly will be engaging not just for the economic opportunity, which you point out it’s a big, it’s a big earner for Australia, but also because it’s a good thing for us to be working together on films, and on entertainment.

Barr: Okay, well, look, keep us posted and let us know how you go with Donald Trump.

Foreign Minister: I’ll do that, I’ll do that.

Barr: Thank you, Penny.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source:

If a picture paints a thousand words, Buninyong – Mount Helen Fire Brigade’s new mural paints the whole story.

To kick off the brigade’s community open day late last year, there was an official handover of the Merryweather room, including a mural depicting the story of the brigade’s original historic late 19th century English-built Merryweather fire engine.

The Merryweather stands proudly in its own dedicated space facing one of the main thoroughfares in town in the brigade’s new purpose-built station in Buninyong. Thanks to financial support from Community Bank Buninyong and inspiration from the Buninyong Historical Society, the mural is displayed behind the Merryweather and ensures that the story of this majestic piece of firefighting equipment lives on.

The idea for the mural came from a montage of a Buninyong streetscape in the local Community House. After much thought, the brigade decided that this would be a beautiful way to ensure that the story of the Merryweather was brought to life for future generations to enjoy.

The Merryweather was operated by 26 people. With only 12 brigade members at the time, firefighters often relied on the help of bystanders to assist pumping. The fold-out arms moved in a see-saw motion, manually pumped by a group of people – four on each side in three rotations – to get water running through the hose.

The Merryweather, which was used from 1882 to the mid-1930s, attended fires pulled by a horse or by firefighters if the horse was unavailable or uncooperative.

With no hydrants or town water, water supply in Buninyong at the time was not plentiful so keeping the water supply up was a challenge. The brigade relied on wells and dams scattered around the township.

Sovereign Hill staff contributed to the restoration of this beautiful old fire engine in the 1990s by hand crafting wheel parts.

Submitted by	Irene Keating

Source:

Source: Australian Ministers for Regional Development

Australian fast-food franchise Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd has paid penalties totalling $150,240 after the ACCC issued it with eight infringement notices for alleged breaches of the Australian Consumer Law by failing to comply with the mandatory button battery information standard.

The infringement notices relate to a Garfield toy powered by button batteries that was supplied nationwide without the important warnings and information required by the mandatory information standard.

Between 20 May 2024 and 30 May 2024, Hungry Jack’s supplied 27,850 of the Garfield toys with its children’s meals.

While the Garfield toy complied with the button battery safety standard, it did not advise consumers that it contained button batteries, nor provide relevant warnings about the potentially fatal hazards these pose or advice about what to do if a child ingested one.

“Button batteries are extremely dangerous for young children and tragically, children have been seriously injured or died from swallowing or ingesting them,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.

“The ACCC continues to see non-compliant products on the market which pose unacceptable safety risks to vulnerable young children. We take non-compliance with these important standards seriously and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate.”

The ACCC has also accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Hungry Jack’s in which it admitted the Garfield toy is likely to have failed to comply with the button battery information standard.

Hungry Jack’s has undertaken to establish and implement a compliance program designed to minimise Hungry Jacks’ risk of future breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.

Millions of consumer goods worldwide contain button batteries. If swallowed, a button battery can become stuck in a child’s throat and result in catastrophic injuries, and even death, in as little as two hours. In Australia, three children have died and more than one child a month is injured from incidents involving button batteries. 

Businesses involved in the supply of button batteries and products containing them must ensure compliance with both the mandatory safety and information standards. The safety standards require products containing button batteries to be sold in child resistant packaging and to have secure battery compartments to prevent children from gaining access to the batteries.  The information standards require warnings and emergency advice on packaging and instructions.

Images of the Garfield toy including packaging

Recalled product

Hungry Jack’s has recalled the Garfield toy. Consumers can return the toy to their nearest Hungry Jack’s restaurant for a free replacement for a non-battery toy.

ACCC guidance for businesses and consumers

Button batteries are small, round and shiny and can be appealing for young children to swallow or insert, which poses a significant risk of serious injury or death. Compliance with the mandatory standards helps to prevent this.

If you suspect your child has swallowed or inserted a button battery:

• call Triple Zero (000) immediately if your child is bleeding or having any difficulty breathing
• call 13 11 26 immediately for 24/7 fast and expert advice from the Poisons Information Centre.

Prompt action is critical, do not wait for symptoms to develop. Serious injury can occur in as little as two hours and can be fatal.

The ACCC strongly encourages consumers to check for button battery products in their homes and take steps to secure them to keep them safe for young children. Consumers can check the list of recalled products on the ACCC Product Safety website.

Anyone who has experienced product safety incidents (including near misses) is strongly encouraged to report these to the supplier and to report safety concerns about particular products to the ACCC via the Product Safety website.

Suppliers of button battery products must submit a report to the ACCC within 2 days if they become aware that a consumer good they have supplied caused or may have caused a death, serious injury or serious illness. Further information about this reporting can be found in the ACCC’s Mandatory Reporting Guideline.

The ACCC has published a fact sheet and guide for businesses on the button battery mandatory standards to assist businesses with meeting their obligations.

Notes to editors

The ACCC can issue an infringement notice when it has reasonable grounds to believe a person or business has contravened certain consumer protection provisions in the Australian Consumer Law.

The payment of a penalty specified in an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law. The Australian Consumer Law sets the penalty amount.

Background

Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd is an Australian fast-food franchise of the Burger King corporation.

Four mandatory button battery standards operate in Australia which aim to make button battery products safer and provide consumers with important safety information.

The ACCC consulted and engaged extensively with industry during the 18-month transition period before the standards became mandatory, including working with businesses to explain the changes that would be required to comply with the new standards.

Product safety, and consumers experiencing a vulnerability or disadvantage, are enduring ACCC priorities, and consumer product safety issues for young children (with a focus on compliance with the button battery standards) is a 2025-26 ACCC compliance and enforcement priority.

Other button battery enforcement outcomes include:

• In April 2025 the ACCC commenced proceedings against Fewstone Pty Ltd (trading as City Beach) regarding allegations that City Beach offered for sale 70 product lines containing button batteries which did not comply with Australia’s mandatory button battery standards.
• In May 2023, the Reject Shop and Dusk paid a total of nearly $240,000 in penalties after the ACCC issued infringement notices for alleged failure to comply with mandatory product safety and information standards in Halloween novelty products containing button batteries.
• In June 2023, the ACCC, in collaboration with state and territory consumer protection regulators, announced the outcome of market surveillance of over 400 businesses and 8 online platforms which identified a concerning level of non-compliance with the information standards, and to a lesser extent with the safety standards.
• In October 2023, Tesla Motors Australia Pty Ltd paid penalties totalling $155,460 after the ACCC issued 10 infringement notices for alleged contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law in relation to the supply of 3 types of car key fobs and 2 types of illuminating door sills that allegedly did not comply with the safety and information standards.
• In December 2023 Repco, Supercheap Auto and Innovative Mechatronics Group paid penalties totalling $119,280 after the ACCC issued them with infringement notices for supplying aftermarket car key remotes that allegedly did not comply with the information standards.
• In June 2024, MDI International Pty Ltd and TEEG Australia Pty Ltd  each paid penalties of $49,500 after the ACCC issued them with infringement notices for alleged breaches of the Australian Consumer Law, by failing to comply with the testing requirements of the button battery safety standard.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry

Jim Chalmers:

The election was a big win for Australian workers. These workers here will be the beneficiaries of Labor’s economic plan which is all about getting inflation down, keeping unemployment low, getting wages up, getting the debt down, seeing growth rebound solidly in our economy, and we’re starting to see interest rates come down as well. On Saturday, Australians voted for decent pay and lower taxes and help with the cost of living. Now, in our first term, we governed every day for the working people of middle Australia and that approach won’t change. In uncertain times, we will continue to manage the economy in a responsible and a methodical and a considered way and the working people of our great country will continue to be front and centre. I’ll hand you over to Murray and then Anika.

Murray Watt:

Thanks very much, Jim. Well, today will be a great celebration for the working people of Queensland. Over the last term, the Albanese government has deliberately changed our workplace laws to make sure that working people get a fairer deal. We’ve seen real wages increasing now under the Albanese government as a result of our laws and today will be a celebration of the fact that Australians said yes to higher wages and more secure work, and they said no to Peter Dutton’s plan to cut wages, cut working from home, and make life harder for working people. So I know we’re all looking forward to getting out there and celebrating with people who put their shoulder to the wheel in this election. It’s going to be a great day, and it’s a great day for Queensland.

Anika Wells:

The ABS tells us that the average Australian is a 38‑year‑old working woman, and that’s what the union movement looks like here, and that’s what the labour movement looks like, and that’s why the Albanese Labor government understands that and has delivered for women in the first term. And we are so thrilled that Queenslanders in particular, have placed their trust in us to continue to do that important work for another term. We set records in the 47th parliament. We were the first ever majority woman government. We were the first ever gender equal Cabinet, and now in the 48th parliament, I’m confident we will continue to do the work and set records, because Queenslanders have elected 7 new Queensland women to send Canberra to fight for their communities and we can’t wait to get going.

Chalmers:

Happy to take your questions.

Journalist:

Does it feel like a big victory rally after what happened over the weekend?

Chalmers:

Oh, certainly I think there’s a lot of gratitude for the working people of this country, what they do every day, but the way that they showed up on election day to re‑elect a good Labor government and our responsibilities to the working people of Australia, the working people of Queensland, are really clear – decent pay and conditions, lower income taxes, helping people with the cost of living, making sure that in difficult times, people can get by, work hard and provide for their loved ones.

Journalist:

How big should the Cabinet reshuffle be?

Chalmers:

Well, that’s a matter for the party to determine, the new party room which is bigger now, and as Anika said, a much bigger contribution from Queensland which we are incredibly proud of. And so the party room will determine the make‑up of the front bench, and the Prime Minister will allocate the portfolios and that’s as it should be.

Journalist:

Should there be more Queenslanders in the ministry, now?

Chalmers:

We can never have too many Queenslanders. And standing here with 2 Cabinet colleagues from Queensland, I know the huge difference that these 2 make in the Cabinet. For too long now, Queensland has been long on influence but short on numbers in the federal parliamentary Labor party. Now we are long on influence and longer on numbers and that’s a very good thing, and we hope to see that represented in the decision making of the government going forward.

Journalist:

So maybe a couple more ministers from Queensland?

Chalmers:

I don’t want to pre‑empt the party’s processes or the deliberations that the Prime Minister will be engaged in right now. You can never have too many Queenslanders. I’ve seen the difference that these 2 have made as they’ve joined the Cabinet, Anika most recently. So the more Queenslanders, the better, that’s our position. We have made a huge contribution to this victory, massive contribution and I give a big shout out to all of the new members from Queensland and everybody who helped get them over the line.

Journalist:

Do you have a preference for Liberal leader?

Chalmers:

I think it would be extraordinary if Angus Taylor was rewarded for one of the worst performances that I have ever seen. It would be very strange if Angus Taylor escaped the blame for the Liberal Party debacle on Saturday. Peter Dutton has stood up and taken some responsibility for that outcome, it’s time for Angus Taylor to do the same. I think it would be extraordinary if Angus Taylor was rewarded with a promotion after the diabolical contribution that he made to this history making Coalition defeat.

Journalist:

There could be a new Shadow Treasurer as you elude to there. Is there anyone that you’re worried about going up against?

Chalmers:

Well, I’m not sure who they’ll put up for shadow treasury. My focus is on doing my job well, working with Anthony Albanese and the Cabinet to continue to provide that responsible economic management with working people front and centre. In due course, we’ll get a Shadow Treasurer. I can’t imagine they could be any worse than the current Shadow Treasurer, but we’ll see.

Journalist:

Just a couple of quick questions for Minister Wells. Are you happy with your current role or would you like it to change?

Wells:

It’s been an absolute privilege to be the Aged Care Minister and the Minister for Sport. You’ll probably remember by now that mum and I worked together in aged care 20 years ago and it was such an honour to come back and do important structural work to set the sector up for success in the future. There’s a lot more work to do in aged care, and I’d be privileged to do it. Now as for sport, obviously Brisbane 2032 is our North Star. It’s the zenith we’re all working towards. It’s a real privilege to work on policy that allows us to think beyond the 24/7 media cycle, or this week in the media, think about how we want to set up our own city and how we want it to look in the eyes of the world from now to 7 years’ time.

Journalist:

You don’t want a new portfolio?

Wells:

That is for the Prime Minister to decide and like Jim says, for our party colleagues to work through, particularly given we are still waiting on several races to settle, including here in Queensland with Longman and Forde still being counted.

Journalist:

Senator Watt, same question. Would you like a new portfolio?

Chalmers:

You got a bit of warning, Muzz.

Watt:

I did, yeah. Look, it’s a privilege to serve in the Cabinet, and any role there obviously matters for the Prime Minister. I’ve really enjoyed working in this role, and particularly on a day like this when we get together with working people to celebrate the wins of the entire labour movement to deliver better wages and conditions for workers in Australia.

Journalist:

You’ve been to a few of these marches? Is it pretty jubilant atmosphere here today?

Watt:

It really is. We couldn’t have timed this rally better, this march better for the day after the election, so thanks Prime Minister for organising the election date around that and already you can see the smiles on the faces here, lots of people cheering for a Labor win, because they know what it means to have a Labor government working for working people and making sure their wages rise and don’t go backwards.

Journalist:

Thank you.

Chalmers:

Thanks everyone.