Uniquely Nelson

NRL star Sonny Bill Williams has made a call for Australia's prime minister to accept Jacinda Ardern's offer to take asylum seekers stuck on the remote Pacific islands, Manus Island and Nauru. Sonny Bill Williams. Photo: NRL Photos 2020/Photosport On Wednesday morning, he spoke to MPs and journalists in front of Parliament House in Canberra about 290 asylum seekers stuck on remote Pacific islands Manus Island and Nauru. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made an offer to have the men, who are in Australia's immigration detention system, resettled in New Zealand. Australia's Government has not yet accepted the invitation. "Brother Scotty [Prime Minister Scott Morrison] just needs to sign that paper and, whoever it is, we just need to get it done," Williams said. "These people are humans just like us." 'We just need to give them a fair go' The United States offered to take up to 1250 asylum seekers in a deal struck by Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama in 2016, and close to 1000 have been homed so far. But hundreds more remain in limbo, either due to the US rejecting their application or through a reluctance to move there. "I feel like we just need to have a human outlook and think that, just like any goodwilled Aussie, we just need to give them a fair go," Williams said. The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, last week said the New Zealand offer was being "actively considered". A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the New Zealand offer was appreciated, but the government was focused on the US arrangement. "We are aware that people smugglers in our region market New Zealand as a destination," they said. "In fact, as part of OSB (Operation Sovereign Borders), we have already stopped four people-smuggling boats which were headed to New Zealand." Williams has supported efforts to assist refugees in the past, and he visited a Middle Eastern refugee camp in 2015. However, the Sydney Roosters player was less comfortable when addressing issues beyond refugees. When asked about a potential boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, or the Wallabies' decision not to kneel, Williams said he did not want to "get off topic". Alongside Williams at the Amnesty International-arranged event was former Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster. He was happy to entertain a range of issues. Not only did Foster lobby for the release of asylum seekers on Nauru, he was critical of Qatar's human rights record following news of invasive searches of Australian women at a Qatari airport earlier this month, and said it was inappropriate for China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics due to its human rights record. "You have a huge human-rights atrocity going on with the Uyghur people in north-western China," he said. "Sport globally is asking whether it is appropriate for them to host the Olympics and I don't think it is." Athletes lack the confidence to speak out, Williams says Australian athletes have often been criticised for speaking out on political issues or social causes, but Williams wants more of them to find their voice for causes such as refugee resettlement. "It's not that there isn't support, it's just formally doing it, organising it," he said. "Most people I've come across, especially in the sporting field, care about these sorts of issues." He said there needed to be more groups around causes to help sportspeople become more confident speaking out. "It's just the organisation of it, bro," the New Zealand international said. While Williams had one eye on the bigger issues, he still had more immediate questions to answer. His contract with the Sydney Roosters has expired and speculation about his NRL future is mounting. Williams said it would "come to fruition" in the next couple of months. - ABC

The Wallabies, the Melbourne Storm, injuries, or even retirement - not so much. The thing NRL star Sonny Bill Williams finds daunting is politics. Sonny Bill Williams. Photo: NRL Photos 2020/Photosport "Sportspeople just grow up knowing sports," he told the ABC in front of Parliament House in Canberra. "No-one really knows politics, so it's daunting." On Wednesday morning, despite his apprehension, he spoke to MPs and journalists about 290 asylum seekers stuck on remote Pacific islands Manus Island and Nauru. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made an offer to have the men, who are in Australia's immigration detention system, resettled in New Zealand. Australia's Government has not yet accepted the invitation. "Brother Scotty [Prime Minister Scott Morrison] just needs to sign that paper and, whoever it is, we just need to get it done," Williams said. "These people are humans just like us." 'We just need to give them a fair go' The United States offered to take up to 1250 asylum seekers in a deal struck by Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama in 2016, and close to 1000 have been homed so far. But hundreds more remain in limbo, either due to the US rejecting their application or through a reluctance to move there. "I feel like we just need to have a human outlook and think that, just like any goodwilled Aussie, we just need to give them a fair go," Williams said. The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, last week said the New Zealand offer was being "actively considered". A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the New Zealand offer was appreciated, but the government was focused on the US arrangement. "We are aware that people smugglers in our region market New Zealand as a destination," they said. "In fact, as part of OSB (Operation Sovereign Borders), we have already stopped four people-smuggling boats which were headed to New Zealand." Williams has supported efforts to assist refugees in the past, and he visited a Middle Eastern refugee camp in 2015. However, the Sydney Roosters player was less comfortable when addressing issues beyond refugees. When asked about a potential boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, or the Wallabies' decision not to kneel, Williams said he did not want to "get off topic". Alongside Williams at the Amnesty International-arranged event was former Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster. He was happy to entertain a range of issues. Not only did Foster lobby for the release of asylum seekers on Nauru, he was critical of Qatar's human rights record following news of invasive searches of Australian women at a Qatari airport earlier this month, and said it was inappropriate for China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics due to its human rights record. "You have a huge human-rights atrocity going on with the Uyghur people in north-western China," he said. "Sport globally is asking whether it is appropriate for them to host the Olympics and I don't think it is." Athletes lack the confidence to speak out, Williams says Australian athletes have often been criticised for speaking out on political issues or social causes, but Williams wants more of them to find their voice for causes such as refugee resettlement. "It's not that there isn't support, it's just formally doing it, organising it," he said. "Most people I've come across, especially in the sporting field, care about these sorts of issues." He said there needed to be more groups around causes to help sportspeople become more confident speaking out. "It's just the organisation of it, bro," the New Zealand international said. While Williams had one eye on the bigger issues, he still had more immediate questions to answer. His contract with the Sydney Roosters has expired and speculation about his NRL future is mounting. Williams said it would "come to fruition" in the next couple of months. - ABC

The first positive cases of Covid-19 were confirmed among two US Army Garrison workers who arrived this week on Kwajalein Atoll (USAG-KA) as part of an ongoing repatriation program at the missile testing range in the Marshall Islands. The new president of the Marshall Islands, David Kabua (file photo). Photo: SPREP Army and Marshall Islands authorities confirmed that a female aged 35 and a male aged 46 both tested positive for coronavirus soon after arrival. They had tested negative in Honolulu prior to boarding Tuesday's military flight to Kwajalein Atoll. Marshall Islands authorities said there had been no contact with people in the Kwajalein base community as the two, along with the others in the weekly repatriation group, are in managed quarantine at the army base. Underlining the significance of this development in a country that has been one of a dozen globally to remain unaffected by Covid-19, President David Kabua delivered a statement Wednesday night that was broadcast live on the government's AM radio station. It is not yet clear what impact this development will have on the scheduled arrival from Honolulu this Saturday of a group of 27 Marshallese to begin a 21-day quarantine at USAG-KA, the first Marshallese to come into the country from a country with Covid-19. They are among a group of about 300 Marshall Islanders who have been stranded in Hawaii, Guam and elsewhere since the Marshall Islands closed its borders in early March to prevent Covid-19 spread to this western Pacific nation. "What we were worried about has come true," repatriation critic Ebon Atoll Mayor Marie Davis Milne said Wednesday night on social media following the government's announcement of the two positive cases in quarantine. "Now lives are going to be put on hold because a handful of people made the decisions they did for whatever reasons. Life as we all knew it will be in limbo until further notice because of the choices of a few." In anticipation of arrival this Saturday of the first group of Marshallese to be repatriated from a Covid-19 infected nation, the Marshall Islands government launched Covid-19 awareness sessions last week Friday for the public. Photo: Eve Burns Neither of the two US base workers was showing any signs of Covid-19, the government said in a statement issued late Wednesday. "The National Disaster Committee, in close coordination with the president and the cabinet and USAG-KA, are rapidly responding to these cases and we can assure the public that these are strictly border cases and were discovered while these people were in quarantine, where they remain until this time," chief secretary Kino Kabua said in a statement. A 35-year old female tested positive on the evening of 27 October, a few hours after arriving at the Kwajalein Army base Tuesday. "This person was known to have had Covid-19 in late July," Kabua said. The base worker tested negative for the virus this past weekend in Hawaii before boarding the military flight to Kwajalein. She received an antibody test, the results of which are still pending. This will determine if this Covid-19 case is indeed a historical infection, meaning the person previously had Covid-19 and is not infectious or contagious, Kabua said. The other positive case involves a 46-year-old US male, who tested positive 28 October, after also arriving the previous day on the same flight the other positive individual "We are still waiting for the results of the antibody test," Kabua said, adding: "As far as we know, this person previously did not have Covid-19. "The two cases are not epidemiologically linked and protocols in place on USAG-KA have ensured they have not had contact with the community. "Both, along with their tranche, remain under strict quarantine." Kabua said these cases remained "border quarantine cases of Covid-19, with no threat of community transmission." A total of 223 US Army missile range workers and nine others have been released after successfully completing 21-day quarantine periods at the US Army base at Kwajalein since the repatriation of mostly base workers began on 9 June. The latest report issued Monday by the Ministry of Health shows that a total of 280 people were repatriated through the USAG-KA quarantine system since 9 June. Of the 280, two were returned to the US: one for discipline issues, the other because of a non-Covid emergency medical situation. Of the remaining 278, 223 USAG-KA workers successfully completed quarantine and multiple Covid-19 tests prior to being released to return to work at Kwajalein. Nine others - a range of Marshallese and various nationalities, including US Embassy and Australian Navy personnel - also completed quarantine at USAG-KA. Another 46 were still in quarantine as of earlier this week. Separate from the US Army-sponsored quarantine, the first group of Marshallese to return from Hawaii is scheduled to arrive at Kwajalein this weekend to begin 21-days of quarantine. The government's cabinet was meeting to decide if the Marshallese repatriation plan would proceed this weekend in light of the new development at the Army base. Marie Davis Milne, at a public briefing about repatriation held last Friday by the Chief Secretary's office, called for the government to put off repatriation of Marshallese. She warned of the threat Covid-19 spread presented to the population of the Marshall Islands, which is at high risk for the virus because of numerous underlying health conditions.

France will move into a second national lockdown for at least the whole of November, President Emmanuel Macron has announced. French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AFP Macron said under the new measures, starting on Friday, people would only be allowed to leave home for essential work or medical reasons. Non-essential businesses, such as restaurants and bars, will close, but schools and factories will remain open. Covid daily deaths in France are at the highest level since April. On Tuesday, 33,000 new cases were confirmed. Macron said the country risked being "overwhelmed by a second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first". The president said that people would need to fill in a form to justify leaving their homes, as was required in the initial lockdown in March. Germany limits gatherings Germany will also have a November lockdown but schools and shops will stay open, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, calling for a "major national effort" to fight coronavirus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: Reuters POOL via AFP Social contacts will be limited to two households, and bars, catering and leisure facilities will shut. Covid daily deaths have risen above 500 there and officials say everything must be done so it "does not overwhelm us". EU special adviser Prof Peter Piot has warned that some 1000 Europeans are now dying every day from the virus. Night curfews are in force in several countries, including for 46 million people in France. However, one minister has complained that they have failed to halt social interactions. "[The curfew] has simply shifted them - instead of getting together at 21:00, people meet up at six," the unnamed minister was quoted as saying. The German government is keen to enable families and friends to meet at Christmas, but daily infections have soared to a new high of 14,964, with 85 more deaths reported in the latest 24-hour period. Ireland imposed tight measures last week with the aim of reopening before Christmas and Italy shut cinemas and gyms this week in an attempt to "save Christmas". Now the UK government is under pressure to act too. What do we know? A broad but limited German lockdown will now start on Monday 2 November, under terms agreed during a video conference involving Merkel and the 16 state premiers: Schools and kindergartens will remain open Social contacts will be limited to two households with a maximum of 10 people and tourism will be halted Bars will close and restaurants will be limited to takeaways Tattoo and massage parlours will shut Smaller companies badly hit by the lockdown will be reimbursed with up to 75 percent of their November 2019 takings Merkel and the state premiers are expected to reconvene on 11 November to reassess the situation "We have to act now," the chancellor explained, to avoid a national emergency. How are infections spreading? While Western Europe has seen numbers returning to levels last seen during the initial wave, there are also big rises in Central and Eastern Europe. Prof Piot, who's head of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said on Wednesday "the situation is very serious and risks getting worse". "Deaths are rising also: last week about one-third more deaths than the week before which means that about 1000 Europeans die per day from Covid." In his role of special adviser to the president of the European Commission, he said currently an average of 60 percent of people in the EU wore masks and if that rose to 95 percent then hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved. In Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova has warned of a critical situation in hospital bed capacity in 16 regions. Five regions are at 95 percent capacity, she says. Masks are now required in crowded public places across Russia. In the Siberian city of Omsk, two ambulances were unable to find beds for Covid patients, so they turned on their sirens outside the health authority headquarters in protest. After more than 12 hours, beds were found in a hospital said by a member of staff to be "bursting at the seams". Poland on Wednesday announced a further 18,820 cases and 236 deaths. Belgium has reached its highest number of hospitalisations in a single day (689) since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The number of deaths has now surpassed 11,000. Spain has recorded 267 more deaths - the highest number since 1 May. Night curfews start at 9pm today in the Czech Republic - except for working, walking the dog or urgent medical needs. Shops shut at 8pm. The country has again recorded more than 15,000 new cases. - BBC

A woman ordered off a Qatar Airways flight along with a dozen other Australian women - some of whom were invasively examined in ambulances parked on the tarmac - first thought she had been caught in a hostage situation. Photo: AFP Ffranses Ingram, 73, said she would have struck officials with her walking cane if she had fully comprehended the ordeal her younger female passengers were about to endure on a stopover at Doha on 2 October. The women were subjected to an invasive internal examination as airport authorities searched for the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned in a bin at the airport. The incident has sparked outrage in Australia and infuriated officials and politicians in Canberra. "I find I'm getting more outraged every day now, and more frightened and more concerned for the girls on the plane than I had been at the time because I didn't realise how far the examination had gone on some of them," Ingram told the ABC. "It really is absolutely appalling and dreadful and disgusting." Ingram, who is legally blind, was headed back to Australia from Germany where she had been receiving eye treatment. "We must have been on the tarmac for about four hours and they kept telling us different stories," she said. "And then we waited perhaps about another hour and then the plane said, 'We're taking off now'. And all it did was taxi to another part of the airport. And then it said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we've got government security issues.' "And I thought, 'Oh no, Sydney's not taking us back in. They've decided to close the airport.' "We waited again and then we were told that all female passengers had to leave with our passport. "Then I got frightened because I thought, 'Oh, this is a hijack where the women are being allowed off and the men are going to be kept hostage.'" She and the 17 other women, including 12 other Australians, were escorted off the plane and into the terminal. "I said to the air hostess, 'What's happening?' and she said, 'No, you will just come with me.' And there was a sense of urgency around her," Ingram said. "I was taken in a lift and when I emerged down on the tarmac, I was surrounded by police. And, again, I said to her, 'I'm very frightened.' My heart was going 19 to the dozen and she still wouldn't tell me. "And then I saw the other women and went over to them, and one of them has said they'd been examined and that a baby had been found in the airport and they were trying to find the mother." The 73-year-old said she realised there was an ambulance on the tarmac but when it was her turn to go she was told "no". "They didn't want me, of course. Obviously if that's why they were examining - for childbirth - it obviously wasn't me," the mother of three said. Fury directed at Qatar Airways Ingram said she was furious with Qatar Airways and the experience made her question whether she would fly into the region again. "I thought that as a Qatar passenger, I would have been protected by the airline and as an international traveller I was protected," she said. "But we weren't. We were dragged off the plane like the blinking Petrovs here in Sydney years ago." She said if she had realised what was happening inside the ambulances she would have loudly protested. "I had my cane so I could have … I don't know how far I would have got with hitting them, but I, certainly as an older woman, would have refused," Ingram said. "If I'd known that was happening to the girls and if I'd been there at the beginning I certainly would have been far more outspoken over what was happening." But Ingram said she had found herself wondering about the woman who abandoned her newborn girl in a bathroom. "Oh my God, the poor mother of the baby - what is going to happen to her?" she said. "I just hope they never found her. What situation must she be in to leave her baby in the toilet. "I mean, it's just that unimaginable. At least in this country there'd be help. But over there … you just dread to think." - ABC

More police as well as the National Guard are being deployed in Philadelphia as authorities say they fear another night of unrest after the fatal police shooting of a black man. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway leading to the Philadelphia City Hall. Photo: 123RF Officials say 30 officers were hurt in overnight clashes with protesters. Police say officers opened fire on Walter Wallace, 27, when he ignored orders to drop a knife he was holding. Mayor Jim Kenney said the video of Monday's shooting "presents difficult questions that must be answered". The mayor did not elaborate, but said he was looking forward "to a speedy and transparent resolution for the sake of Mr Wallace, his family, the officers, and for Philadelphia". Meanwhile, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she had visited the scene and heard and felt the anger of the community". An investigation into the incident is under way. Large protests broke out in Philadelphia earlier this year following the police killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Footage showed white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, while he repeatedly said he was unable to breathe. Floyd's death sparked protests around the world against racism and police brutality. What happened overnight? Hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against the shooting of Wallace. The protests, which continued into the early hours of Tuesday, turned violent at times. Images from the scene showed a police vehicle set on fire. A number of businesses and shops were looted. Most of the injured police officers were struck by objects such as bricks and other projectiles, authorities said. One officer was in hospital with a broken leg and other injuries after being struck by a pickup truck. More than a dozen people were arrested. What do we know about the shooting? Police said the shooting happened about 4pm (local time) on Monday, when two officers responded to a report of a man with a weapon in the neighbourhood of Cobbs Creek in West Philadelphia. Police spokeswoman Tanya Little told AP news agency that a man, later identified as Wallace, was holding a knife when the officers approached, and instead of following orders to drop the weapon "advanced towards them". Both officers fired "several times", hitting Wallace in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Little said. Footage shared on social media shows two officers pointing their guns at Wallace as he walks towards them. The officers back away from him and shout at him to put the knife down. Shots are then fired and Wallace is seen lying on the street. Wallace's father told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son had mental health issues and was on medication. "Why didn't they use a taser?" he asked. Meanwhile, Wallace's family lawyer said that they had called for an ambulance - not police - to help deal with Walter Wallace's mental issues. Instead, two police officers arrived, lawyer Shaka Johnson was quoted as saying by the Inquirer. Wallace's pregnant wife told them her husband had bipolar disorder and was in crisis. Reacting to the shooting, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris said in a statement: "Our hearts are broken for the family of Walter Wallace Jr., and for all those suffering the emotional weight of learning about another Black life in America lost. We cannot accept that in this country a mental health crisis ends in death." - BBC

By Nik Dirga* Opinion - Ruth Bader Ginsburg died 39 days ago. Her replacement to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, was approved and sworn in yesterday. Amy Coney Barrett can now help rule on any issues that arise in next week's US election, including how ballots are counted. Photo: AFP / Getty Another Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, died in February 2016. It took 422 days for his replacement to be sworn in. Many Americans are righteously angry at the lightning-quick, deeply hypocritical confirmation of Barrett to the highest court in the land, eight days before a fiery presidential election. The Supreme Court has been a political football for ages. But the US Senate, led by Republican Mitch McConnell, has been breathtakingly blatant in shoving Barrett's nomination through. When Scalia died, McConnell categorically refused to hold hearings on Democrat President Obama's nominee Merrick Garland, nine months before the 2016 election. Yet McConnell couldn't backpedal fast enough to allow a vote this year, sending out a statement pledging to do it mere hours after Ginsburg's death, the contorted logic being that with a Republican president and senate, it's fine. It's only when the president isn't from your party that you deny them their right to name a justice. "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice," McConnell pontificated in 2016. A voice, except when it's eight days until an election. It's one rule for some, another rule for others, which makes a mockery of everything a Supreme Court should stand for. In the past, the Supreme Court has ruled against segregation, guaranteed voting rights, upheld freedom of speech and the press, and gave women the right to choose. The Supreme Court is expected to hear cases on the future of American health care, voting rights, abortion and religious liberty in coming weeks. No matter who wins 3 November, these decisions will shape lives. Most worrying, Barrett can now help rule on any issues that arise in next week's election, including how ballots are counted. Barrett, 48, has a lifetime seat on the court. If she lives the average American female life expectancy of 81, she could be there until 2053. In New Zealand, Supreme Court justices are required to retire at age 70. In the US, it's as long as they last (age 90 is the record). Barrett was hurtled through confirmation hearings at record speed. According to the Congressional Research Service, the average time to confirm a justice has been 71 days. Barrett's took one month. Court nominees have made an art form out of obfuscation when questioned by senators about their views, but Barrett was a particularly blank slate. She kept quiet on her views on abortion, climate change, voting rights and more. She even declined to answer whether she thought a president should be able to pardon himself from crimes. Barrett was barely approved, 52 to 48. In contrast, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was approved 96 to three by the senate in 1993. No Supreme Court nominee since has received as many votes to confirm. Ginsburg had a storied judicial career - she had argued groundbreaking cases before the Supreme Court six times, and had been a judge on the US Court of Appeals for 13 years before confirmed to the top court. Barrett had been a judge for all of three years, appointed to the Court of Appeals by US President Donald Trump. She never argued a case before the Supreme Court. She spent much of her career as a law professor. Rushing a judge's confirmation to beat an election clock is an insult to Americans who will be subject to their rulings for decades. More Americans have actually voted for the Democratic nominee in six of the last seven Presidential elections. But the Supreme Court has ended up with a solid six to three conservative majority. Republicans have named 15 of the last 19 justices. It's all about the politics - witness the scathingly juvenile tweet sent out by the GOP House Judiciary official Twitter account - "Amy Coney Barrett, confirmed. Happy Birthday, Hillary Clinton!" The confirmation came on the same day as Clinton's 73rd birthday. Worse, it just adds to the loss of faith Americans of all persuasions have in their systems now. There's little justice to be found there. *Nik Dirga is an American journalist who moved to New Zealand in 2006.

Scientists on a research vessel probing Australia's oceans have found a new reef as tall as a skyscraper, the longest recorded sea-creature, and new species, but warn the fragile coral ecosystems are being decimated by climate change. [embedded content] Researchers working on board the research vessel the Falkor have found a new reef as tall as a skyscraper in the waters off Cape York in North Queensland. The 'detached' reef is the first to be discovered in more than 120 years. It is about 1.5km wide, and reaches down to more than 500 metres below the surface - making it larger than the Empire State Building. Researchers discovered the 'blade shaped' reef on 20 October during a 12-month mapping project of Australia's oceans. It's estimated to be 20 million years old at its deepest part. Queensland is home to the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system, made up of more than 2900 reefs. A "detached" reef refers to one that's bedded to the ocean floor, rather than part of the main body of a wider reef system. The newly-found coral formation sits among a cluster of seven other detached reefs that were mapped in the 1800s. However the marine ecosystem on the top of this latest find appeared to be more vibrant than the others, according to research leader Robin Beaman from James Cook University. "It's got a thriving coral community at the pinnacle," Dr Beaman said. "When we got to the crest of it - it's only about 300m by 50m wide - we found a lot of fish and a healthy shark population too." The reef rises from about 500m deep up to 40m. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute Detached reefs of this nature act as isolated seamounts, (a structure that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water's surface) according to Dr Beaman. Because there is a lot of deep water between it and the next coral community, they have the potential to evolve unique species. The team has been exploring the reef using an underwater robot called "SuBastian", which has a remotely controlled arm, to collect samples for identification. "As a collective over the entire [12-month] expedition, we've been finding a whole lot of new species," Dr Beaman said. "It's going to take time for us to work through the imagery and samples we've collected before we can say if there are new species [at this reef] or not." They made the discovery about 80km east of Cape Grenville, on Queensland's east coast. The researchers found new reef- building evident down to about 200m, and said during the last ice age some of the reef would have been in much shallower water, or even exposed. Siphonophores are predators that feed by dangling stinging tentacles in the water. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute 'World's longest recorded sea creature' among new finds The Falkor is being funded by the Schmidt Ocean Institute - a research body founded by American philanthropist and businesswoman Wendy Schmidt, and her husband, former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. Several new species have already been discovered during the project, Institute spokesperson Carlie Wiener said, as well as the "world's longest recorded sea creature" - a 45-metre long siphonophore found at Ningaloo canyon, off Western Australia. A siphonophore is a type of colonial organism; it's a string-like arrangement of many individual animals - zooids - that live connected together in a colony, and carry out different functions that allow the collective to digest food, float, reproduce and move about. Wiener said their latest reef discovery demonstrated how valuable the project is. "Australia has no dedicated underwater vehicle, so there are a lot of areas that haven't been looked at before. This is evidence for the importance of exploring our undersea environment, so that we can protect it." Dr Nerida Wilson in the Falkor control room discovering a rare deep see hydroid at 2497 metres. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute Scientists warn the reefs face devastating survival challenges Just weeks ago the Royal Society published research showing half the corals on the Great Barrier Reef have died since 1995, due to climate change- induced coral bleaching. The extent of deeper reefs, like the one just discovered, is only now becoming known as technology has improved, said reef scientist Terry Hughes from James Cook University, who co-authored that study published by the Royal Society. The highest point of the newly discovered detached reef is 40 metres below the surface, making it a mesophotic reef. "Mesophotic reefs - reefs deeper than 30 metres, it turns out there's probably at least as much coral habitat below 30 metres as there is above it, and people are still mapping it," Hughes said. The SuBastian awaiting deployment from the back of the Falkor, while exploring Flinders Reef. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute Because of their depth and distance from shore, mesophotic reefs are less susceptible to bleaching, cyclones, fishing pressure and land-based pollution, however they are still degrading, albeit at a slower rate than their shallow-water counterparts. Because most coral and marine species are restricted to specific zonal conditions, mesophotic reefs aren't going to help restock shallower reefs damaged by bleaching events or other impacts, he said. "There's been some speculation that's pretty well resolved now, that the deep reefs could be reserves for the shallow ones. That turns out not to be the case," he said. "Many corals are shallow water specialists and others are deep water specialists and only a few have a broader depth range. There are corals that you only find shallower than five metres [and] there are other corals you only find deeper than 30." One of the organisms photographed by the scientists on board the Falkor. Photo: Supplied/ Schmidt Ocean Institute While findings like this are interesting, Hughes said that we still need to urgently get emissions down to protect shallower corals. "We still have an opportunity to save the reef if we deal with climate change. "1.1 degrees of warming so far has triggered five bleaching events since 1998; [but] we still have half a reef." "What [warming] stabilises at will be critical. 1.5 to 2C is doable, but the mix of species will be different. It already is. If we go to 3 or 4C it will be a pretty sad state of affairs." - ABC

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has revealed women on 10 different aircraft at a Doha airport were subjected to invasive internal examinations by Qatari authorities this month. Australian officials have confirmed 18 of its citizens were subjected to invasive internal examinations by Qatari authorities this month. Photo: AFP / Karim Jaafar The examinations occurred after a newborn premature baby was found in a terminal bathroom at Hamad International Airport on 2 October. The episode has sparked outrage in Australia and infuriated officials and politicians in Canberra. A senior Australian official said Qatari officials are working with Australia and "two or three" other unidentified countries. Payne confirmed 18 Australian women were on the flights - an updated figure on the 13 female passengers revealed on Monday who had been affected on a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney - but officials said it was not clear how many in total were searched. She also told a parliamentary hearing that women from several different countries were searched. The foreign minister reiterated that the Australian government had formally registered its "serious concern" with Qatar, arguing the treatment of Australian women was "offensive" and "grossly inappropriate". Australia has also demanded Qatar submit a report to Australia about the incident. Payne said the report would be handed to Australia "very soon". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson said she was "incredulous" that the search could have occurred, and that the department had made "intensive" representations to Qatar. "There is a very strong determination [in Qatar's government] to report as soon as possible," she said. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne Photo: AFP / Charly Triballeau She also said the Qatari government's reaction "matches our own in terms of level of distress and abhorrence and a deep questioning of how this can have happened". Senator Penny Wong also grilled Payne about why she had not yet spoken to Qatar's Foreign Minister about the episode. "Don't you think Australians and the women concerned would expect that of our Foreign Minister?" she asked. Payne said she would do so as soon as she was equipped with the report. "[The women concerned] would expect us to get the best possible information possible from the Qatari system and to make it very clear to Qatar our concerns in relation to this matter," she told the hearing. "I have indicated that my priority is to get the report so I can deal with that directly so we can engage in acquiring that report as soon as it's available. "It's very clear this is not acceptable." Adamson also confirmed an Australian diplomat was on the flight but said she was not searched because she was "not of child-bearing age". Hamad International Airport released a statement this week that did not provide details of the examinations or women affected. The airport said it had acted on the advice of medical professionals to try to find the mother of the newborn before she departed. "Individuals who had access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was found were asked to assist in the query," the airport said in a statement. - ABC / BBC