Asbestos found in garden centre soil fill; PNG landslide toll rises; ‘echidnapus’ discovered

Good morning. Independent testing of recycled soil fill products from NSW landscape and garden supplies stores – carried out for Guardian Australia – has revealed that two of four samples would not meet legislated thresholds and one contained asbestos. The test results have prompted the NSW environment regulator to express concern about the “poor product and levels of non-compliance we are seeing in the industry”.

In Papua New Guinea emergency workers have given up hope of finding more survivors as UN officials say the likely death toll of a massive landslide has exceeded 670.

And a fossil discovery suggests that ancient Australia once experienced an “age of monotremes” – and that long before it became the land of pouched marsupials, it was dominated by furry egg-layers. One of them has been dubbed the “echidnapus”.

It’s not been smooth sailing for Labor’s proposed ban on importation and penalties for commercial possession of vapes. The proposals are dividing MPs: everyone agrees kids shouldn’t be vaping but some are saying it doesn’t justify legislating something that is almost the toughest possible approach. Paul Karp argues that it is incumbent on the government to show how a ban would work – and, if its intent is not to criminalise individual vapers, the bill should be fixed to guarantee that it won’t.

Australia’s leaders have shown an almost touching naivety about the perils of being online. They’re worried about young people’s vulnerability to “harmful content”, and their proposed solution is to simply remove “online” from young people, and thus protect them. But as Anna Spargo-Ryan says, even with a social media ban gen alpha will find a way to connect – and it’s up to the platforms (and grownups) to ensure they have a safer internet.

Nearly four years after it was discovered, a Wheeny Creek waste dump site in the Hawkesbury region now appears to be contaminating a protected wetland that borders the Blue Mountains world heritage area, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. An exodus is under way in the UK’s embattled NHS health system as workers seek better pay and conditions – and one in five staff who head overseas are moving to Australia, ABC News says.

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