“We’re asking all domestic passengers to arrive at the airport two hours before their flight, and for international travellers, three hours before their flight.
“We recognise it’s not ideal, but if we all plan ahead and with a bit of patience and understanding around staff and fellow travellers, we can get everyone on board safely and off on their holiday.”
Close contact rules for the airline industry in South Australia were eased on Tuesday in a bid to reduce the number of workers furloughed.
Cox said this morning there have been queues of around 10 minutes at security and half an hour at check-in gates at their peak.
“It’s been a really good morning, I mean, we knew we were going to be tested,” he told ABC Radio.
“There’s a few sort of check-in queues with a couple of the airlines but they were dealt with relatively quickly.
“This is just the first test, it’s going to be really busy not just this long weekend but all the way through this Easter holiday period.”
Melbourne Airport CEO Lyell Strambi urged eager travellers to be patient as the aviation industry adjusts to flights picking up again following a nationwide relaxation of social restrictions and border closures.
“COVID-19 decimated airlines and airports and resulted in thousands of highly skilled workers being stood down or made redundant,” he said.
“Airlines and their suppliers are now scaling up their workforce but given the safety-critical nature of the jobs they do, recruixjmtzywtment and re-training can take time”.
The Transport Workers Union says the delays at airports across the country have been “predictable and avoidable”, blaming the issues on a “highly outsourced sector” and workforce casualisation.
“Many of these international companies that are outsourced to, such as Dnata and SNP Security, didn’t get JobKeeper,” TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said.
“Unsupported workers left the sector entirely and now don’t want to come back to casual, low-paid jobs with bad conditions.”
Morrison, Albanese hit campaign trail before Easter break
Candidates are pushing hard on Thursday ahead of a campaign armistice over Good Friday and Easter, with the government turning its attention to the forestry industry as Labor sharpens its focus on health.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will start the day in Tasmania to announce a $220 million package for the forestry industry.
Morrison says his government would never shut down native forestry and would work with state governments to establish permanent timber production areas.
“The pressures on the building industry and the uncertain international trade situation has made it clear that local wood products and local skills are critical,” he said.
But with the unemployment rate expected to drop mid-morning, and with economists predicting a jobless rate starting with a three, it’s likely the government’s talking points includes touting their economic credentials.
Labor will likely use the release of the economic data to attack pay rates under the coalition government, with inflation outstripping wage growth.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese will be targeting marginal seats across NSW on Thursday, after touching down in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon.
Labor will again be proposing health reforms in what has been a health blitz for the first week of the election campaign.
Man charged after fatal Salisbury crash
A man has been charged for causing death by dangerous driving after a fatal crash with a pedestrian in Salisbury on Tuesday.
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The crash happened on Valencia Street – a small backstreet off Mawson Road in Salisbury – around 3pm on Tuesday, when a 64-year-old male pedestrian was struck by an orange 2007 Ford Focus.
The man, from Salisbury, died at the scene. The driver of the Ford, a 31-year-old man from Golden Grove, was uninjured and taken to hospital as a precaution, police say.
The driver was arrested last night and charged with cause death by dangerous driving. He has been bailed to appear before the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on May 20.
South Australia’s road toll for the year now stands at 22, compared to 36 at the same point in 2021.
Police are still appealing for witnesses of the crash to come forward.
Greens to push for $200m Whyalla steel investment
The Whyalla steelworks. Photo: Adam Jenkins/Flickr
The Greens will push for a $200 million investment in a green steel industry in Whyalla if the party holds the balance of power after the upcoming federal election.
Green steel is made with hydrogen instead of coal, meaning its by-product is water and delivers the lowest carbon footprint possible.
The Greens announced this morning they will push for a national $500 million green steel fund if they hold the balance of power along with “billions more in loans, equity and co-investment” to repurpose existing infrastructure.
Under the Greens’ plan, South Australia’s steel city of Whyalla would be the main beneficiary of the $500 million fund, with the remaining monies to go towards the New South Wales Illawarra region and Pilbara in Western Australia.
Greens lead South Australian senate candidate Barbara Pocock said industrial towns like Whyalla “have the most to gain from the green energy revolution”.
“The resilient people of Whyalla have had to fight off repetitive threats of job losses,” she said in a statement.
I know as a labour economist that we can secure their future with a plan that invests in the green technologies that will power their future, and create good jobs for the kids of the region while helping protect our planet.”
Russia claims victory in Mariupol
A civilian walks in Levoberezhny District of Mariupol on Wednesday, April 13. Photo: Sergei Bobylev/TASS/Sipa USA
Russia says it has taken control of the port in Mariupol and more than 1000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the city, whose capture would free up forces for a wider offensive and mark the first major Ukrainian city to fall in the war.
The capture of the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, would give the Russians full control of Mariupol, Ukraine’s main Sea of Azov port, and reinforce a southern land corridor allowing it to expand its occupation of the country’s east.
Surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks and the focus of some of the heaviest fighting in the war, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Russia’s defence ministry said 162 officers were among 1026 soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade who had surrendered to Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces near the Illich Iron and Steel Works in Azovstal.
The defence ministry later said Mariupol’s trade seaport was under full control and remnants of Ukrainian forces were blocked and unable to escape.
Ukraine’s general staff said Russian forces were attacking Azovstal and the port, but a defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender.
Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol and Russia has been massing thousands of troops in the area for a new assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“We have destroyed more Russian weapons and military equipment than some armies in Europe currently possess. But this is not enough,” he said in an online video.
The United States, France and Germany all pledged to send more weapons, with US President Joe Biden listing artillery systems, armoured personnel carriers and helicopters.
NYC subway shooting suspect arrested
Images of Frank James released to the media by New York Police. Photo: NYPD via Sipa
A man who posted numerous social media videos decrying the US as a racist place awash in violence and recounting his struggle with mental illness has been arrested, a day after an attack on a subway train in Brooklyn left 10 people wounded by gunfire.
Frank R James, 62, was taken into custody in Manhattan’s East Village neighbourhood, law enforcement officials who weren’t authorised to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Police had initially said on Tuesday that James was being sought for questioning because he had rented a van possibly connected to the attack, but weren’t sure whether he was responsible for the shooting.
Mayor Eric Adams said in a series of media interviews Wednesday morning that investigators had upgraded James to a suspect, but did not offer details beyond citing “new information that became available to the team.”
The gunman sent off smoke grenades in a crowded subway car and then fired at least 33 shots with a 9mm handgun, police said.
Five gunshot victims were in critical condition but all 10 wounded in the shooting are expected to survive. At least a dozen others who escaped gunshot wounds were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries.
