What we learned; Wednesday 16 July
It’s time to wrap up our live news coverage. Here’s what’s been keeping us busy today:
The education minister, Jason Clare, said the sheer scope of childcare centres in alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown’s work history showed the need for a database or register to track workers who moved between centres. He also said “cutting blokes out” of childcare centres was not “the solution” to improving safety.
Anthony Albanese and Chinese and Australian business leaders were treated to a full rendition of Australian rock classics in Beijing’s Great Hall, including songs by Paul Kelly, Midnight Oil and Powderfinger, as a gesture of respect.
Bradley John Murdoch, the man who killed British backpacker Peter Falconio in 2001, has died from throat cancer. Murdoch died yesterday at a hospital in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. He had been moved to the hospital from jail in June.
Ed Husic says Australia shouldn’t “necessarily get hung up on definitions” after a report from the federal antisemitism envoy called on the government to adopt a working definition of it. He said he’d much prefer an effort to “bring people together without necessarily having to use sticks and threats of funding”.
Finally, a humpback whale has been taking in the attractions of Sydney Harbour – and delaying ferries while doing so. The animal visited Watsons Bay in Sydney’s east, Circular Quay, Fort Denison, Garden Island, Balmoral Bay and Rose Bay. The whale expert Dr Vanessa Pirotta described the young whale as “cruisey” and highly inquisitive.
Thank you for joining us. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.
Updated
Stray humpback crosses Sydney Harbour to Rose Bay
We have a whale update!
The “inquisitive”, bus-sized humpback whale on tour of Sydney Harbour is now in Rose Bay in the city’s east.
According to Dr Vanessa Pirotta, who is on board a New South Wales Maritime boat shadowing the whale in an effort to protect it from the busy traffic of the harbour, the whale is “very cruisey”.
It is also on the move.
After our last update – when the mammal was in Balmoral Bay – it headed back towards the Harbour Bridge and then past Neutral Bay. It then headed past Taronga Zoo before crossing the harbour to Rose Bay.
Updated
