Western Australian author Craig Silvey's books are being shown the door from the state's public school curriculum, and this time it's not a temporary timeout - it's permanent. Education Minister Sabine Winton confirmed the ban will stick after Silvey pleaded guilty to child exploitation offences, declaring with the kind of certainty we rarely see in education policy that "there is absolutely no place in our school system for works authored by someone who has admitted to such serious crimes." Students who already studied the texts this year and planned to use them in literature exams won't be penalised, because apparently the system can be flexible when it wants to be. Schools will also receive support to adjust lesson plans and switch texts, which is nice.
Meanwhile, human rights groups are less than thrilled about the federal government's $2.5 billion deal with Nauru to banish hundreds of NZYQ-affected people to the tiny Pacific nation. The High Court upheld the deal's lawfulness, dismissing an Iranian man's appeal who argued he wasn't afforded procedural fairness - largely because the government didn't inform him about the deal or that a visa had been applied for on his behalf. His lawyers also claimed Nauru's medical facilities were "inadequate" to treat his severe asthma and that there was a "real risk he will die" there. But the court found the deal constitutional, thanks to laws the Albanese government passed last September that conveniently removed natural justice for noncitizens on a removal pathway. So far, eight people have been sent to Nauru since Australia struck the deal.
In koala news that's as depressing as it sounds, a NSW government-led review of a controversial koala relocation in which more than half the animals died has found the project was a failure - but hey, officials followed the process. The report is inconclusive about what caused the deaths of eight of the 13 koalas moved from the upper Nepean state conservation area to the South East Forest national park near Bega in March 2025. Possible factors include a severe infection linked to a rain event and poor-quality foliage that was high in toxins and low in digestible nitrogen - a detail that might have been useful to know before the move. The department was cleared of an animal cruelty allegation, because apparently following inadequate procedures isn't technically cruelty.
Two marine rescue volunteers who died trying to save a yachtsman have been officially identified as Bill Ewen, 78, and Frank Petsch, 62. The Ballina locals were part of a six-person Marine Rescue NSW team deployed to the South Ballina breakwall after a good Samaritan spotted a yacht in trouble. But in the face of 2.5-metre swell and strong winds, their vessel quickly capsized, ejecting some crew members and trapping others underneath. Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib called it the "ultimate sacrifice," which is one way to describe dying while trying to help.
At the antisemitism inquiry, witness Dean Cherny told a story that would make anyone's stomach drop: he trained in martial arts to protect his family, calculates whether to introduce himself as Jewish every time he meets someone, and knows people who moved to Israel because they feel safer in an active war zone than in Australia. A friend even offered to let them hide on his farm if things got bad. Meanwhile, the inquiry also heard about a school excursion where "physically intimidating" older students circled a younger one saying "free Palestine" and later "free Hezbollah," and another incident where someone said "heil Hitler" to students in a museum bathroom. The education department's response? Apparently not much.
On a cheerier note, rooftop solar has received a major boost thanks to battery rebates, with record installations across Australia in April. An additional 437MW of small-scale solar capacity was added - the highest month ever, by a large margin. Green Energy Markets director Tristan Edis described the data as "quite staggering," noting a "dramatic recovery" for solar installations after a dip in late 2024 and early 2025. About a quarter of new installations were replacements, as families swapped smaller systems for larger ones. Combined with big batteries and electric cars, households are apparently getting more value out of their solar systems. Who knew that making things cheaper and more useful would make people want them?