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The alleged stabbing of a bishop and priest at a western Sydney church has been declared a terrorist attack.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief, Mike Burgess, said for an incident to be declared a terrorist attack there needed to be “indications of information or evidence that suggest actually the motivation was religiously motivated or ideologically motivated”. Burgess said he was aware of video of the alleged offender speaking in Arabic.
“If he [the bishop] didn’t get himself involved in my religion, if he hadn’t spoken about my prophet, I wouldn’t have come here … if he just spoke about his own religion, I wouldn’t have come,” the alleged attacker can be heard saying in the video.
By declaring the event a terrorist attack, police will have greater investigative powers under New South Wales’ terrorism laws.
Burgess added that the current terror level threat for Australia – at “possible” – would not be raised.
Top news
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In pictures
From No Doubt to Will Smith: big stars and surprise guests at Coachella – in pictures
This year’s Palm Springs-based festival brought together some of the industry’s biggest names, from headliners such as No Doubt, Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat, as well as guests including Olivia Rodrigo and Shakira. Check out our gallery from the festival here.
What they said …
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“I also feel compelled to advise you that that opens up a range of sanctions, personal sanctions that can be applied against you if that’s what the Senate decides to do” – the Greens senator Nick McKim during a combative exchange with the Woolworths CEO, Brad Banducci
McKim, who chairs the parliamentary inquiry into supermarket practices, threatened to hold Banducci in contempt after he refused to disclose the company’s return on equity.
In numbers
According to a new half-yearly report from the Clean Energy Council, Australia’s rooftop solar power capacity is now enough to supply 11.2% of Australia’s electricity needs.
Before bed read
Bluey’s blockbuster episode hit a nerve for my family by casting moving house as difficult and scary
Children go through all sorts of changes, along with moving. The show was a missed opportunity to help children navigate such events in their life, writes Chloe Booker.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: DID . You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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