What we learned today, Tuesday 27 June
With that, we’ll wrap up our live coverage of the day’s news. Thanks for joining us today.
Here’s a summary of the main news developments:
A key figure in Australia’s cocaine trade was shot dead in his car in Sydney’s eastern suburbs today, with police treating the killing as an organised crime hit. Police believe two shooters were involved in the murder. The investigation remains ongoing.
A 14-year-old boy killed in suburban Melbourne was hit by a car and knifed by two attackers wearing masks, in what Victorian police called “a targeted assault”.
South Australian police have launched a murder investigation into the “suspicious death” of a 17-month-old baby named Ronan.
Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather said that talk of a double dissolution in the Senate over a housing bill was “just politics”.
Modelling along the planned flight paths for Western Sydney airport suggest suburbs will face vacuum-level noise 100 times a day by 2040.
The Victorian government has declared Taylor Swift’s tour a major event, meaning ticket scalpers won’t be able to inflate the resale price of tickets.
Senator Katy Gallagher’s office was vandalised, and a man was arrested at the scene. She said her “office remained open”, and the Guardian understands no one was injured in the incident.
Parts of Australia’s outback are receiving months’ worth of rain over a couple of days as an unusual and extensive rain event douses what is typically the dry season.
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PM launches Labor's Fadden byelection campaign
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking at the Labor campaign launch for the Fadden byelection.
Given outgoing MP Stuart Robert’s healthy 10.6% margin, the speech is big on the underdog rhetoric, with Albanese recognising “the odds we are up against” and “how hard this mountain will be to climb”.
While boosting Labor’s candidate Letitia Del Fabbro, Albanese also had a sizeable swing at Robert’s record on Robodebt.
He said:
Letitia Del Fabbro understands that running in a safe LNP seat is hard work at the best of times. In a federal byelection under the national spotlight, it’s even tougher. But Letitia has never been afraid of hard work. She doesn’t back down from tough challenges. She wants her community to have a genuine choice at this by-election – and she wants her community to be represented by someone with integrity.
After all, let’s remember why we are having this byelection. Stuart Robert is resigning from parliament having presided over one of the most shocking and cruel failures in the history of Australian politics: robodebt. Ripping the humanity out of human services. Stripping the social justice from social security. Targeting vulnerable people – and bragging about it. That’s the sort of person Peter Dutton thought was good enough for his shadow ministry. And that’s the sort of candidate the LNP thought was good enough for your community ...
Stuart Robert spent his time in parliament serving himself. Letitia Del Fabbro is running to serve her community. Stuart Robert personified all the worst qualities of Scott Morrison’s government. Letitia Del Fabbro exemplifies the very best of the Australian character.
At the robodebt royal commission, Robert admitted defending the program despite his personal misgivings, while the government sought legal advice. Robert denied any wrongdoing in the administration of the program.
Robert has also come under scrutiny in parliament over allegations he had helped lobbying firm Synergy 360 win contracts for its clients. Robert has previously denied any wrongdoing, rejecting any “implied imputation” that he had influenced procurement, declaring he had “zero involvement” and that departmental procurement was conducted with the “highest levels of probity”.
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