A personal view of Australian and International Politics

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

Falcon-like flapping drone drives birds away from strawberry crops in Qld trial.

Extract from ABC News

1 hours ago

A man and woman in high-vis vests hold up a large bird shaped drone in front of strawberry fields. — Harry Lagastes and Jill Viccars with a RoBird drone. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

In short:

Birds cause more than $300 million in Australian crop losses annually.

A drone mimicking a peregrine falcon is being trialled to protect strawberries.

What's next?

The trial, funded by Hort Innovation, will run for three years.

A drone mimicking a peregrine falcon is giving hope to farmers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of strawberries to ravenous rainbow lorikeets.

The robotic raptor has the same size, silhouette and flight patterns of the world's fastest bird.

It flaps flexible polyfoam wings during 15-minute windows on rechargeable batteries.

The bird drone just after being thrown into the air by a man wearing a high-vis vest and carrying a controller. — The RoBird needs to be thrown in the air to launch. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Launched with an overarm throw, the RoBird weighs less than a kilogram and was designed to protect food crops without harming native wildlife.

"We're only hazing or going after the birds that the farmers know eat the crops, in this case rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos," drone pilot Harry Lagastes said.

"All other birds … we're not actively trying to remove them from the crop, for biodiversity."

Lots of people standing around looking towards a strawberry field and a tiny drone in the air. — The trial is being funded by Hort Innovation. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Queensland strawberry growers gathered at TSL Family Farms, an hour's drive north-west of Brisbane, to learn more about a three-year joint trial with Canadian-based AERIUM Analytics, funded by Hort Innovation's Frontiers project.

AERIUM Analytics chief growth officer Jill Viccars said flying and fixed-wing versions of the RoBird had been successfully used overseas to deter birds at airports and mining sites.

Its horticultural trials began last year in Victoria and South Australia, focusing on stone fruit, apples and almonds.

Crop damage reduced by 89pc

Falcon-like drones take to the skies to protect crops. (Supplied: AERIUM Analytics)

"The almond trial ran for four and a half to five months, and we did a treated versus untreated site," Ms Viccars said.

"We saw an 89 per cent reduction in fruit damage, so we were obviously very excited about that.

"Our second year of operations in almonds is going to be looking at how we scale [expand]."

$200K in crop loss

TSL Family Farms co-owner Laura Wells was eager to host RoBird's first Queensland trial.

A woman stands between raised strawberry rows with a ripe fruit in her hand. — Laura Wells hopes the RoBird can help cut fruit losses to rainbow lorikeets. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Her family moved from growing strawberries in the ground to tabletop production to reduce backbreaking labour, soil-borne disease, weed growth and the need for agricultural chemicals.

But they hadn't predicted that raising the crop's height would create a strawberry snack bar for rainbow lorikeets, costing, in the farm's worst year, "$200,000 in just a couple of weeks in early crop loss".

Damaged strawberries on the plant. — Lorikeets damage the fruit. (Supplied: Taste’n’See Strawberries)

"They're not a bird that just comes and has a snack, they actually annihilate entire rows of fruit," Ms Wells explained.

"There's not actually a berry left on a row where they've actually decided to go and eat."

Damaged strawberries sitting in a hand. — Damage varies according to the season and location. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Ms Wells said the influx intensified when rain washed out natural nectar sources.

Bird scarers, gas guns, and driving through the crops have done little to deter the lorikeets.

"They actually come and settle in the night before, and then they're here while that overcast weather is here so they know that they're going to have a good food source."

two lorikeets with their heads together, and looking back at the camera — Bird scarers and gas guns have not kept lorikeets away from the fruit. (Instagram: @shutterscot/File photo)

Over the next three years, the fake falcon drone will take to the skies over the south-east Queensland strawberry farms multiple times a day during the growing season.

"They've had a lot of success in other areas, and we're hoping to see that here," Ms Wells said.

Beak performance

For now, the ornithopters need human operators.

AERIUM Analytics said the three-year trial would determine whether it would hire out drone pilots and RoBirds or sell the units.

A bird like drone sitting on grass. — The RoBird has a carbon fibre body and flexible polyfoam wings. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Asked if the cost would stack up, the company said the farmers they worked with were crying out for the technology.

"They've all said that they've tried everything," Mr Lagastes said.

"So, the cost-benefit analysis certainly lies with the sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of crop that they're losing."

A flock of ducks standing near nets and crops. — Ducks can also be a problem for farmers. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

Bird damage

The federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry valued Australian horticultural crop losses to birds at more than $300 million annually.

The damage was unpredictable, varying from year to year and farm to farm.

More than 60 bird species presented a threat, including lorikeets, cockatoos, ducks, corellas and feral Indian mynas.

Ms Wells said the trial had given her hope.

"Super excited to be honest, feeling really optimistic," she said.

"We're really, really hopeful that this is going to be the game changer."

How batteries muscled out gas and pushed power prices down.

Extract from ABC News

Analysis

By chief business correspondent Ian Verrender

Topic:Batteries

3 hours ago

Solar panels on rooftop — More than one-third of Australian households generate power via rooftop solar, (ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)

Change may be one of life's only constants, but it is far from the only contradiction.

Few of us embrace change and, for the most part, we actively attempt to resist it.

Those tendencies spill over into politics in what is often an epic battle between those attempting to maintain the status quo and their opponents pushing to overthrow previously accepted norms.

Occasionally, the conflict becomes so entrenched, and the protagonists so wedded to their positions, that logic is thrown out the window, particularly when the clash involves money.

In the past 30 years there's been no better example than the war over climate change.

Once the domain of academics and scientists measuring minute atmospheric shifts, it has moved mainstream, and in recent years has narrowed into an ideological fight over, of all things, how to best generate electricity.

Giant metal pipes form part of the Karratha gas plant, with two workers dwarfed by its size. — Gas was always seen as the intermediate fuel in Australia's transition from coal generation to renewables. (Supplied: Woodside)

For years, every major global investment bank found that renewables were the cheapest way to generate electricity. So too did the CSIRO. But that didn't stop the debate.

But in the past six months there has been a seismic shift in opinion.

Fossil fuels, which have powered the global economy for centuries, are under threat.

And it just so happens that Australia has become ground zero in this global battle.

Against all odds, households have transformed from mere energy consumers to being a serious force in its production.

A home battery mounted onto a fence — Households have become a serious force in energy production as more install home batteries. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)

In the past year they've taken on a new role in energy storage and distribution.

More than one-third of Australian households generate power via rooftop solar, while a revolution in home battery installations has dramatically changed the dynamics and economics of electricity generation.

It is a shift that could help solve a decades-long energy crisis that has sent inflation soaring in recent years and contributed to higher interest rates.

Power without politics

For all the infighting in Canberra, Australians have embraced renewable energy with gusto.

The nation is the undisputed world leader in rooftop solar with more than 4 million households generating and feeding power into the grid.

As recently as a year ago, however, fewer than 8 per cent of solar-connected homes incorporated batteries.

That created problems.

Every day, close to midday, an enormous surge in electricity supply back into the grid would crash wholesale power prices as coal-fired generators, unable to adjust their output, operated at a loss.

Brisbane city skyline from suburban view with stobie pole and electricity power lines in foreground. — The rise of home batteries has had a dramatic impact on the wholesale cost of electricity. (ABC News: Liz Pickering)

Last July, however, the federal government introduced a 30 per cent rebate on home batteries, a program so wildly successful that it has been recalibrated and upgraded to ensure it doesn't run out of cash.

More than 400,000 households have since taken up the scheme, reducing the amount of solar power flooding the system all at once.

Many now sell excess power into the system at night from their batteries when prices are higher, evening out the energy flow.

And that's had a dramatic impact on our grid and on the wholesale cost of electricity.

Last month, the Australian Energy Market Operator reported a fundamental shift in our power supply.

For the first time, batteries — both grid-scale and home systems — determined the price of electricity. Gas was suddenly knocked off its perch.

A giant flame roars from gas flare stack, silhouetted against the dusk sky — Gas prices had been soaring for more than a decade. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

Gas was always seen as the intermediate fuel as the nation switched from coal generation to renewables.

Fired up within seconds, gas generators can fill the breach, keeping the lights on during periods of high electricity demand.

Fuelcast: Gas plans on (and off) the table

The only problem is that it was horrendously expensive. And given it was the swing factor, the marginal supplier, it was the price of gas that determined the ultimate cost of electricity.

Gas prices had been soaring for a decade, ever since the three east coast exporters constricted supplies.

It now appears those very same gas exporters who profited handsomely from exorbitant prices have inadvertently encouraged households to take control of their own power.

That, in turn, has contributed to last week's announcement of a 10 per cent drop in some benchmark electricity prices.

A global battery boom is underway and Australia is charging ahead. (ABC News)

Battery price plunge

The numbers are extraordinary.

Outside of China, Australia dominates the global demand for household batteries, accounting for almost 60 per cent of the market.

Despite the enthusiasm for solar power in the past 15 years, most Australian households couldn't make the numbers stack up when it came to batteries.

Until now.

Just as with solar panels a decade ago, the price of batteries has plummeted.

Drone photos of the Kwinana big battery Stage One — Both grid-scale and home battery systems are determining the price of electricity. (ABC News: Glyn Jones)

As most auto manufacturers switch to electric models, the huge upscale of battery production has seen greater efficiency in inputs and lower production costs.

Between 1991 and 2024 the price of lithium-ion batteries dropped 99 per cent.

In the past two years, price falls have accelerated even as batteries have extended their range and durability.

That was partly a function of a slowdown in EV sales, a trend that is now reversing in spectacular style as global demand explodes following the latest oil crisis.

But continued improvements in technology and production efficiency are expected to see further reductions in prices.

China now dominates battery production, accounting for up to 85 per cent of global supply with the remainder sourced from other Asian countries, North America and Europe.

Just as in Australia, the ongoing climate wars in the US and in various parts of Europe discouraged manufacturers from investing in battery production, effectively ceding control of the market to Beijing.

What does this mean for interest rates?

Soaring power prices have had a huge impact on Australian inflation in the past four years, which has fed directly into higher interest rates.

Despite being a global energy supply giant, Australian fossil fuel exports are subject to market whims.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine kick-started the trend as supplies to Europe were cut and global energy prices soared.

With almost 20 per cent of oil and gas supply now trapped in the Persian Gulf, energy prices are destined to remain elevated for at least the remainder of this year.

Even in the latest inflation data, annual electricity prices rose 22.5 per cent as government energy rebates were wound back.

But the rapid shift in electricity production and storage may alter that dynamic.

According to the AEMO report, renewables in the March quarter, which have no fuel costs, provided a record 46 per cent of the nation's electricity.

Unsurprisingly, given the continued shutdowns of Australian coal-fired generators, coal, which once provided more than 80 per cent of our electricity, has seen its contribution drop to a new record low.

But the biggest shock was the gas contribution.

"Gas-fired generation recorded its lowest average for any quarter since the fourth quarter of 1999,"

the report said.

Even more startling, it dropped 24 per cent from the same period last year, suggesting its role as the stepping stone between coal and renewables was rapidly unwinding.

But its role may be revived by the business investment boom in data centres.

The power-hungry AI infrastructure centres are being built at a frenetic pace across the country at a rate that could rival the mining boom of the early part of this century.

Unless grid-scale batteries are added at the same pace, we may end up back at square one.

Monday, 1 June 2026

Family gifts historical collection of images captured by pioneering WA photographer Bert Saw.

Extract from ABC News

By Andrew Chounding and Mark Bennett

22 hours ago

Bert photo of railway construction — Building the Denmark to Nornalup railway line. Bert Saw had a painter's eye for composition. (Supplied: Bert Saw)

The early days of settlement, young soldiers heading off to war and one of WA's first train lines being built are just some of the highly prized photos captured by one of Australia's earliest photographers.

At the turn of the 20th century, Albany-born Bert Saw documented, in incredibly rare and beautiful detail, the life and experience of those living on the state's rugged south coast.

Despite having no formal training, the keen-eyed photographer took hundreds of photos on a 12-kilogram glass plate camera believed to have been made in Cheapside, England in the 1890s.

Bert photo of settlers on boat — Bert Saw documented the early white settlers, sometimes working, and sometimes out on the rivers in boats, in Denmark and Nornalup circa 1920s. (Supplied: Bert Saw)

Denmark Historical Society Treasurer Grant Peake said the camera, considered "portable and cutting-edge" at the time, required great skill to use, particularly in the rough and rugged southern landscape.

"He commenced, we believe, photographic work in about 1908 in the Nornalup area and did a lot of work around Denmark, Albany and further regions in the Great Southern," he said.

"It's not lightweight by any means, and if he was going through the bush, which he would have been, it would have been cumbersome."

a man with a camera — Grant Peake with Bert Saw's glass plate camera. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)

Black and white photo of a man near timber and canvas hut. — Bert Saw at a road-building camp near Nornalup, loaded with his camera, tomahawk and rifle. Date unknown but most likely in the 1920s. (Supplied: Denmark Historical Society/Bert Saw)

Despite the limitations of the technology at the time, Mr Peake said the photos were of a high standard.

"Compared to modern cameras, the portable camera we talk of now is completely unique… but the work he produced from this camera is highly prized," he said.

"He was very skilled; he just knew exactly what he was going to take."

Lucky break sparked photography

Chair of the Denmark Historical Society Bev McGuiness said that if not for a stroke of providence, Saw's work may never have even existed.

a woman with a book — Bev McGuinness with the album of Bert Saw's photographs. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)

"The story we've heard is he was watching the soldiers go onto the boat in Albany for the Boer War and was fascinated by the people taking photographs," she said.

"We suspect that maybe one of the photographers said, 'Here, you have a go at this,' and that got him hooked."

an old photo of a ship . — One of Bert Saw's earliest images circa 1900 as troops prepare to leave Albany for the Boer War. (Supplied: Denmark Historical Society/Bert Saw)

Over five decades, Saw captured more than 600 images on his glass plate camera, many of which are just now coming to light.

Before he died, his collection of images was left to his nephew, Geoff Saw, who has gifted the collection to the Denmark Historical Society, to be shared with the community.

Mr Saw, who celebrated his 97th birthday last week, still remembers visiting with his uncle in the small shingle hut he built in Bow River, which doubled as his photography lab.

Geoff with slab hut — Geoff Saw in the slab hut he shared with his uncle as a child in the 1930s. The hut remains partly intact on the banks of the Bow River. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)

Saw created his own emulsion fluid to coat the glass plates with silver nitrate in the hut, where he printed many of the 600 images that have emerged.

"It brings back a lot of memories,"

he said.

"Old Uncle Bert and his Uncle Will lived in [the hut], and then [again] when they were building the house in about 1918."

A man in a hut — Bert Saw reads the Western Mail at his hut near the Bow River. (Supplied: Geoff Saw)

Celebrated photographer

Despite his modest and rural beginnings, Saw's work has been increasingly celebrated since his death.

Denmark Historical Society's Ross McGuinness said as more of Saw's work came to light, the full extent of his impact on the state's history was becoming known.

"The quality of Bert's plates is such that Joanna Sassoon wrote a book about Ernest Lund Mitchell, who was, or acted as, a state photographer during Bert's period," he said.

a man with a picture — Ross McGuinness holds one of the 600 glass plate negatives taken by Bert Saw. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)

"She featured an image which we've discovered is actually a Bert image because we have the glass plate of that particular one.

"For Bert to be put up there with a professional photographer of the period and his work held up as being a very excellent example shows the standard of his work in general."

Flotilla activists take evidence of alleged abuse to International Criminal Court.

Extract from ABC News

20 hours ago

three australian activists dressed in grey clothes in instanbul airport — Australian activists Zack Schofield, Neve O'Connor and Isla Lamont. (Supplied: Palestinian-Australian Global Sumud Flotilla media)

In short:

Eleven Australians detained by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver aid to Gaza have submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court alleging abuse, torture and other violations during their detention.

The allegations have not yet been tested in court. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has rejected claims that flotilla participants were mistreated while in custody.

The Global Sumud Flotilla called for independent international investigations, arms embargoes and reparations for alleged victims.

Australians detained by Israeli forces while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza have taken evidence of alleged abuse and mistreatment to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The 11 Australians were among an international flotilla of more than 400 people who were intercepted and detained on May 18 while trying to break Israel's naval blockade on the war-torn Gaza Strip to deliver food, medicine and baby formula.

Australians involved in the mission were Anny Mokotow, Bianca Webb-Pullman, Neve O'Connor, Violet Coco, Gemma O'Toole, Sam Woripa Watson, Zack Schofield, Helen O'Sullivan, Juliet Lamont, Isla Lamont and Surya McEwan.

Video shows Israeli forces intercepting Gaza flotilla with Australians on board. (Supplied: Global Sumud Flotilla)

In a statement issued on Friday, the Global Sumud Flotilla said activists had lodged a submission to the ICC, alleging war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and other violations of international law.

"The Global Sumud Flotilla aims to challenge the systemic impunity of the Israeli regime," the statement said.

"The submission presented to the ICC focuses heavily on the [alleged] severe, widespread abuses against civilians, including journalists, medics and human rights defenders as part of a coordinated campaign of violence."

The Global Sumud Flotilla called for independent investigations, arms embargoes and reparations for alleged victims.

The allegations have not yet been tested in court.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has rejected claims that flotilla participants were mistreated while in custody.

"IDF orders require respectful and appropriate treatment of flotilla participants on the intercepted vessels, and there are clear and established procedures in this regard," it said in a previous statement.

"No specific incidents of deviation from these binding procedures are known within the IDF. Any concrete complaints submitted to the IDF on the matter will be examined thoroughly."

The ABC has contacted the IDF for comment on the ICC submission.

Australians seeking 'accountability'

Since returning to Australia last week, several detainees have publicly alleged they were subjected to beatings, torture and sexual assault while in Israeli custody.

In an earlier statement, the flotilla group said at least 67 people suffered injuries during detention that required further medical evaluation at a state hospital, while another 12 participants were hospitalised.

people kneeling on the ground as armed soldiers watch over — The video posted by Itamar Ben-Gvir showed the detained activists on their hands and knees. (X: itamarbengvir)

Australian lawyer Bernadette Zaydan is part of the legal team helping activists present evidence to the international court in The Hague, Netherlands.

"For the survivors, it is the beginning of hopefully what will be accountability," Ms Zaydan said.

"This isn't just about the violent interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels, it's about the thousands of Palestinians who have lived and died under the same system of abuse, impunity and violence."

The Australian activists called for stronger action and sanctions against Israel, as well as an audience with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

"If Australian survivors can be heard in The Hague but not in Canberra, something has gone badly wrong," flotilla participant Ms Lamont said.

According to Gaza health authorities, more than 72,000 Palestinians have died since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, which was triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. About 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, according to Israeli officials.

The latest flotilla mission also drew attention to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who faced widespread criticism after posting a video appearing to show detainees kneeling on the ground with their hands restrained behind their backs while he taunted them.

The footage prompted the Australian government to summon Israel's ambassador and sanction Mr Ben-Gvir, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong describing his actions as "shocking and unacceptable".

Israel's ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, also condemned his actions but rejected allegations the flotilla crew had been harmed. He said any past or current allegations of violence and sexual assault were untrue.

UN blacklists Israel for conflict-related sexual violence

The flotilla's legal action came as the United Nations added Israel to a blacklist of 77 international parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict zones.

The decision prompted Israel's foreign ministry to announce it would sever all ties with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting. — António Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting on May 26. (AP Photo: Seth Wenig)

In his annual report to the UN Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, Mr Guterres said the UN had documented in 2025 "patterns of sexual violence" against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

He said there were "multiple incidents" of conflict-related sexual violence, "including as a form of torture, inflicted on 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank".

Mr Gutteres said 13 of those cases happened last year, while 18 others date from 2023 and 2024.

Hamas was already included on the blacklist.

In a social media post, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said placing Israel alongside the militant group marked a "new low".

"This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality!" Mr Danon wrote.

He said Israel had provided documents, data and detailed responses to the allegations that were raised in the report.

Israel's foreign ministry said it had "comprehensively, thoroughly, and unequivocally refuted these allegations".

"This decision is yet another example of the UN's long-standing, institutionalised hostility toward Israel," the foreign ministry wrote in a social media post.

The report also included accusations of sexual violence committed by Hamas against six hostages that had been held by the militant group.

But Mr Gutteres said the UN had been unable to independently verify those reports because the Israeli government continued to deny investigators access.