Afternoon Update: Queensland admits bail reform ‘incompatible with human rights’; BHP profits slide; and Venice’s drying canals

Queensland’s hardline on youth crime reached new heights today as the Palaszczuk government announced it will override its own Human Rights Act to charge children for breaching bail.

“The government accepts that these provisions are incompatible with human rights,” the police minister, Mark Ryan, wrote.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, justified the tough measures as “putting community safety first”, but experts fear a human rights emergency and are calling on the Labor government to adopt a smarter approach.

Queensland already has more children behind bars than anywhere else in the country – and nearly 63% of the children detained in the state are First Nations.

Top news

• UN torture body cancels Australia visit | Australia joins Rwanda as the only countries to have had visits cancelled by the UN subcommittee on the prevention of torture, after New South Wales and Queensland denied inspectors full access to detention facilities in October. Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, called it a “wake-up call”, while expert Prof Rosalind Croucher said it was “detrimental to Australia’s international standing”.

• Indigenous voice referendum likely to be held in October | Anthony Albanese confirmed the referendum will be held between October and December. Given the busy parliamentary schedule around that time, it’s looking more feasible the date will land somewhere in early October.

• El Niño threat to Antarctica | Research from Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, shows that future increases in the strength of El Niño may accelerate the irreversible melting of ice shelves and ice sheets in Antarctica.

• BHP to sell more coalmines as profit slides | The world’s largest miner will sell two Queensland coalmines after it reported a 32% fall in its underlying profit to US$6.6bn in the six months to December. The weak results come amid rising costs and volatile commodity prices caused in part by pandemic lockdowns in China.

• Tourism rebounding | It’s been one year since Australia reopened its borders, and the figures are encouraging. International arrivals in December 2022 were at 60% of December 2019 arrivals – up from only 20% in March 2022. Visitor arrivals are projected to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2025.

• Alec Baldwin charges downgraded | The actor is now facing a maximum of 18 months in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors opted to pursue a reduced charge against him over the film-set death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Prosecutors previously sought a five-year sentence.

• Italy drought alert | Venice’s canals are running dry – in winter. The Alps have received less than half of their normal snowfall, leading to concerns that a new drought is looming for the Mediterranean country.

• Four-day work week trial in UK hailed as a success | The push for a 32-hour work week just received fresh impetus after a successful trial in the UK. The vast majority of participating companies have opted to continue with the new working pattern. Several Australian companies, including Telstra, recently launched their own trials.

Full Story

The people suing the government over the NDIS

An impending class action will allege that the national disability insurance scheme is discriminatory – unlawfully excluding people who are over 65. Political reporter Paul Karp breaks down the legal arguments behind this class action, and how it could transform the NDIS, in this 20-minute episode.

What they said …

A quick peek at the level of discourse on the other side of the Pacific – extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was accused of calling for a new American civil war with this tweet.

In numbers

Banks and fossil fuels aren’t the only sectors seeing rising profits in this period of inflation. Coles’s reported profit is an 11.4% increase on the previous year.

Before bed read

Rage and resistance fuelled Brazil’s famed carnival during the era of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, but this year the atmosphere is lighter. Dancing and debauchery are peppered with more sombre moments, including defiant tributes to murdered British journalist Dom Phillips (who reported from Brazil for the Guardian) and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.

“Lula’s return gives us hope, we sing this, ‘gardens are in bloom’,” said Djalma Junior, a samba composer.

Sign up

If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here. And start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know. Sign up for our Morning Mail newsletter here.

Contact us

If you have a story tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email.

If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email customer.help@guardian.co.uk