Good afternoon. Walter Sofronoff, the head of the ACT inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann prosecution, has pulled out of a Queensland Media Club event at which he was to discuss the “presumption of innocence”.
Sofronoff, who was criticised by the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, for handing his report to a columnist from the Australian before the government, was to have appeared at an event on 25 August hosted by Hedley Thomas, the newspaper’s national chief correspondent.
As the fallout from the Sofronoff inquiry report continues today, there are findings that have been lost in the noise surrounding its release. This included that police misunderstood the threshold for when to bring charges against individuals accused of sexual assault.
The police union has also released a statement today saying the Lehrmann case was “like no other” and shouldn’t deter complainants from coming forward or having faith in the justice system.
Lehrmann has denied the allegation that he raped Brittany Higgins, pleading not guilty at trial. The first trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct and a planned retrial was abandoned due to fears about Higgins’s mental health.
In other news, the Western Australian government has backflipped on Indigenous heritage laws and millions tuned in to watch the Matildas.
Top news
Mysterious Melbourne ‘meteor’ likely remains of Russian rocket | Australia’s space agency has said a mysterious beam of light that cut across the Victorian sky on Monday night was likely the remnants of a Russian rocket launch re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
WA backflips on Indigenous heritage laws | The Western Australian government has axed its controversial month-old cultural heritage laws following widespread anger among the farming community. It comes after Indigenous groups over the weekend condemned early reports that Labor could backflip on the laws ‘within days’.
Children rescued from alleged paedophile ring | Australian authorities have charged 19 men alleged to be part of a “sophisticated” dark web child abuse network, which unravelled after the killings of two American FBI agents in Florida in 2021. The Australian federal police said Operation Bakis, conducted jointly with state and territory police, had removed 13 Australian children from harm – some who were directly abused and others as a safety precaution – and laid charges against men living in five states and the ACT.
Extreme Antarctic events ‘virtually certain’ to get worse | Future extreme events in Antarctica will likely be worse than the extraordinary changes already observed, according to a new scientific warning that stresses the case for immediate and drastic action to limit global heating.
Black worker defended against white assailants | A dramatic brawl on the Montgomery, Alabama, riverfront pitted people standing up for a Black riverboat worker against a group of white people who began beating him for telling them to move their illegally parked pontoon. The Saturday night fight, which was captured in multiple videos posted to social media, appeared to unfold largely along racial lines.
Russia releases history book praising Ukraine invasion | Moscow has unveiled new history textbooks that include sections on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine apparently written in a few months, ahead of children returning to school. The Kremlin has tightened its control over the historical narrative in schools under Vladimir Putin – a trend that has hugely accelerated since the president launched the full-scale war on Ukraine in 2022.
Prosecutors seek to prevent Trump from sharing evidence | Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge to reject Donald Trump’s request for fewer restrictions over how he can publicly share evidence in the case involving his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, arguing the former president was seeking to abuse the discovery process.
Full Story
The voice AMA: Yolngu youth and MPs, Liberal and Labor, on the voice
This special episode takes us to Garma festival on Gumatj country in north-east Arnhem land, Australia’s largest Indigenous gathering and celebration of Yolngu djambatj (excellence).
Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to Labor and Liberal politicians campaigning yes to answer your questions about the Indigenous voice to parliament. Also, a Yolngu 10-year-old on her question for Anthony Albanese and what she wants a voice to do for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
What they said …
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“Even after the full release of the report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, the member for Cook has deliberately made assertions that are clearly false.”
Greens MP Stephen Bates asking the house today to consider a referral of Scott Morrison to the privileges committee in relation to comments the former PM made about the the robodebt scheme.
In numbers
World Cup television audiences for the the Matildas, have begun to wrest longstanding ratings records from the most popular men’s sporting events.
The round of 16 victory over Denmark on Monday night in Sydney set a program record for the largest television audience for 2023 for free-to-air broadcaster Channel Seven.
Before bed read
For all the talk in recent weeks of the Matildas missing their star striker Sam Kerr, another of the world’s best attackers has been playing all along – Caitlin Foord. As Kieran Pender writes, “Foord is at her blistering best on the counter-attack, when she launches herself like a rocket down the left flank.”
And last night’s Matildas victory against Denmark perfectly exemplified the brilliance of the Matildas forward.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: MEN. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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