The government is asking travellers, arriving in NSW from Europe or Asia, to check their luggage for brown marmorated stink bugs.
What now? Isn’t it bad enough that we have to keep an eye out for bed bugs?
Anyway, the smelly pest was recently detected in a NSW home after a traveller who had arrived from Asia put the stink bug in a jar and froze it, before calling the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI). Good plan.
Confirmed as a brown marmorated stink bug by DPI scientists, further investigations detected another stink bug hidden in the pocket of a pair of pants from the luggage.
Brown marmorated stink bugs are known to stow away in cargo from the Northern Hemisphere between September and April.
And it’s not just the smell that’s a problem. The greedy bugs can feed on more than 300 plant species and are not easy to control with pesticides.
Just in case you thought, how much damage can they do? The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries describes them as a danger to “our way of life”.
They hibernate in winter, so will be more active now.
Check your luggage everyone.
More turbulence for Qantas
Fasten your seat belts and put your tray tables up – Qantas has appointed a new chairman.
Enter John Mullen, a former chair of Telstra, who will join the board from 1 July as chairman-elect.
Mr Mullen will replace Richard Goyder as the boardroom shakeup continues for Qantas. Mr Goyder was appointed to the position in 2018, and as such has overseen the company during some of its most controversial years.
We could explain it all, but that might take two days. Instead, we’ll just say some analysts have blamed at least part of Qantas’ problems on a tame board that just went along with all former chief executive Alan Joyce’s more outrageous business decisions so they could keep their generous remuneration.
And we know what Mr Goyder was paid, because Qantas is a publicly listed company. Mr Goyder was paid $750,000 a year. To be fair, I’d probably agree with a lot of iffy stuff for that sort of payday as well.
Mr Joyce stepped down from his position in September last year. It’s estimated he earned about $125 million during his time at the helm.
Mr Joyce was replaced by Vanessa Hudson. Ms Hudson receives $1.6 million per annum as a base salary and through the Qantas’ generous bonus system could be eligible for up to $5.8 million a year. Guess who approves the bonuses? Yes, that’s right, the board.
Do you ever check your luggage after an overseas trip? Why or why not? Why not share your experience in the comments section below?
Also read: Airfares have dropped, but at what cost?
