What we learned, Monday 8 September
We’ll leave our live news coverage there for today. Thanks for staying with us. Here were the top stories for today:
The Albanese government announced it would explore a new scheme to protect airline customers, potentially creating new rights to be compensated for cancelled or delayed flights.
Erin Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years after murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth with a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms.
“Anti-corruption” protest organisers reached agreement with police not to march on Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The University of Technology Sydney confirmed it would not pay senior staff any bonuses as a result of the ongoing restructure at the institution, and had spent $44m on consultants.
Coles and Woolworths revealed they were preparing to pay more than $1bn in the fallout from a major wages case that found the supermarket giants had underpaid thousands of workers.
The former Greens leader Adam Bandt was named as the head of one of the country’s biggest and oldest environmental organisations, the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Liberal MP Alex Hawke said speculation about his call to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s office “sounds like total gossip,” adding he has heard broad support for his calls for Price to apologise for comments about Indian migrants.
A British Airways flight from Sydney made an emergency return to the airport just over an hour after taking off.
A Chinese government-run newspaper has claimed Australia and Japan are “stirring up” tensions in the Asia-Pacific region with statements it described as provocative and hackneyed.
We’ll be back with you tomorrow morning to keep you across the nation’s breaking news. See you then.
Updated
Alleged bomb threats targeting Muslim community condemned
Bomb threats towards a Muslim school and mosque in Queensland have drawn condemnation from community advocates.
The Islamophobia Register Australia said an alleged bomb threat to the Gold Coast Mosque on Sunday night had “heightened fear and anxiety among Muslims and other minority communities, leaving the community feeling vulnerable and on edge”.
The threat followed a separate alleged bomb threat made by email to the Islamic College of Brisbane on Friday. Dr Nora Amath, co-executive director of the Register, condemned the incidents:
“Such acts not only traumatise worshippers, students, families, and the broader Muslim community, but they also constitute an attack on the fundamental principles of safety, inclusivity, and respect that underpin Australia’s multicultural society.
Aftab Malik, the Australian government’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, also condemned the “vulgar, hate-filled email” in a statement on Saturday. Malik said:
“This hate-filled, violent Islamophobic message comes amid a nationwide surge of Islamophobia and threats specifically targeting mosques and Islamic schools.
It also follows a national climate of protests against migrants, and emboldened neo-Nazis marching across our streets.
Malik urged Queensland’s premier, minister for multiculturalism and acting police commissioner to visit the college and show solidarity.
Updated
