In ABC News

• In short: The proposal includes prescribing standards to ceiling insulation, draught proofing, hot water systems, cooling and heating. 
• An academic says the rental standards would improve quality of life for renters and improve environmental sustainability.
• What's next? Victoria is consulting on the new minimum standards until July 1. 

In "you can't fight geometry" news:

• In short: A NSW parliamentary inquiry into the Rozelle Interchange heard from a number of experts on Friday.
• One expert warned the creation of two new motorways will compound traffic issues across Sydney. 
  What's next? The parliamentary committee is due to report its findings in June.
• A former senior transport official has warned Sydney's Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway projects will be a "bloody disaster" for traffic.

Civil engineer Les Wielinga, a former CEO at the now-defunct Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), made the fiery comments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bungled Rozelle Interchange.

The Western Harbour Tunnel, which is under construction, will allow drivers travelling between the inner west and the North Shore to bypass the CBD.

Entries and exits to the tunnel will lie at the Ernest Street interchange in Cammeray and near the Falcon Street interchange at North Sydney.

"It's going to be a bloody disaster," Mr Wielinga told the upper house committee on Friday.

• In short: A former ADF chief says the federal government either doesn't understand or is hiding from the public the risk of climate change to national security.
• Admiral Chris Barrie says mass migration, food insecurity and other climate risks must be addressed by government and defence.
• What's next? The group of former defence and intelligence officials have called for a secret climate security report to be made known for public debate.

The UN agency's annual State of the Global Climate report confirmed it wasn't just the hottest year on record, ocean heat reached its highest level since records began, global mean sea level also reached a record high and Antarctic sea ice reached a record low.

The impacts of extreme weather and climate events up-ended life for millions of people across the world and inflicted billions of dollars in economic losses, according to the WMO.

"Extreme climate conditions exacerbated humanitarian crises, with millions experiencing acute food insecurity and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes," WMO Secretary General Professor Celeste Saulo said.

"Heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and intense tropical cyclones wreaked havoc on every continent and caused huge socio-economic losses." 

Every year Australians waste about 7.68 million tonnes of food — that's about 312 kilograms per person.

And Australia's supermarket duopoly could be making waste worse, according to peak vegetable grower groups.

"Our biggest customer is the rubbish bin," one vegetable grower recently told the ABC.

They said they didn't want to be identified for fear of retribution from Coles and Woolworths. 

• In short: Data detailing the air quality at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station has been released for the first time.
• It shows nitrogen dioxide levels in parts of the station have regularly been more than 90 times the guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
• The Victorian government and the station's operator say they've been meeting Australian workplace standards.

In short: Housing advocates fear the social housing sector is buckling under strain as more and more people are priced out of the private rental market.
The body representing tenants in housing disputes says its workload has almost doubled year-on-year.
What's next: The state government says it's tackling need with record investment in the sector.

The federal government last year announced it would triple the incentives paid to doctors who bulk-bill children under the age of 16, pensioners and Commonwealth concession card holders.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the national bulk-billing rate rose by 2.1 percentage points in the first two months of the initiative.

He said the incentives applied to three in every five consultations with a general practitioner.

WA GP Damian Zilm said industry professionals welcomed the subsidies, but said the scheme excluded a large cohort of people struggling with cost-of-living pressures.

Dr Zilm said more patients were delaying care as a result.

"We're seeing a lot of conditions presenting later than they should be," he said.

"These have long-term health consequences which end up costing the Australian government and Australian health care system more money in the long run."

This is just staggering.

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale says homelessness has changed dramatically across the country, and families living rough like this in Bendigo are not uncommon.

“What we used to see before was mainly single people,” she says.

“But the trend that is emerging is that we’re seeing families setting up tents in the bush because there is simply nowhere left for them to go.”

As the weather warms up, there’s another pressing concern for these families.

Fire.

“It’s really alarming that some Victorians find themselves sleeping rough in bushland during what’s tipped to be a hot, dry summer,” Sarah Toohey, from the Community Housing Industry Association Victoria, says.

A parliamentary inquiry has laid the foundations for government to reinvent unemployment services, finding the system has become obsessed with "kicking people off welfare", instead of helping them.

The government-dominated committee, established in the weeks after the government's 2022 federal election win, has called for a shift away from intense compliance measures and the return of some privatised job services to government.

Its chair, Julian Hill, said the ground-up review was the first of its kind since employment services were privatised 25 years ago.

Mr Hill wrote that in that time, the sector had degraded into a system that was not helping people find work and was neglecting employers.

"It's harsh but true to say Australia no longer has an effective coherent national employment services system," Mr Hill wrote.