What we learned, Friday 10 July
We’re bringing our live news blog to a close now.
Here are today’s top headlines:
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The first case of deadly H5 bird flu in local wildlife has been recorded in a bird found on the South Australian coast, with experts saying the discovery is an escalation of the disease’s arrival in the country.
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Derryn Hinch, the former journalist and senator, has died aged 82.
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South Australia police have completed an investigation into a death reported by Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle and ruled out a link to Wednesday’s triple zero outage.
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The body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing on the weekend has been found in bushland in regional Victoria after an extensive search, with police saying they are treating the death as “suspicious”.
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A classical pianist who sued the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has lost his case after alleging he was unlawfully discriminated against because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestinian journalists.
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The Northern Territory children’s commissioner has resigned over controversial changes to child protection laws, saying the Finocchiaro government had “sidelined” her in going ahead with amendments that are strongly opposed by First Nations organisations, human rights groups and legal advocates.
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The New South Wales government and police have spent almost half a million dollars in legal fees on cases they lost against pro-Palestine groups, including when unsuccessfully defending constitutional challenges against protest laws expected to be struck down.
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The entity that benefited from vast land and property transfers from the Christian Brothers will fight a move by abuse survivors to make it liable for compensation claims, triggering a potentially costly battle that has “high court written all over it”.
Thanks for joining us, we’ll be back with a live blog on Sunday.
Anne Aly calls on Telstra to provide more clarity over compensation for small business owners
The minister for small business, Anne Aly, has called on Telstra to provide clarity on compensation for small business owners.
On ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today, Aly said she met with small business ministers from around the country on Wednesday to discuss the affect of the telco’s outage this week.
… the message that we should be sending to small businesses is that they should keep records of how these outages have affected them so that they can put in a claim to Telstra.
I did hear the Telstra CEO this morning apologise and rightly so to the Australian people.
However, I would call on Telstra to have more clarity and more certainty for small businesses around the compensation scheme …
… We know that small businesses are already doing it tough.
Cashflow is a big issue, and this has directly impacted their cashflow, and they deserve to be compensated, and they deserve compensation scheme that works for them as well …
I will certainly be seeking to speak to Telstra and ensure that they take their responsibility in this respect to small businesses seriously.
Aly said she hadn’t yet received data confirming exactly how many businesses were affected by the outage.
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Listen: Meet Darcy Byrne, the Labor mayor taking on pokies reform – Australian Politics podcast
Darcy Byrne is the Labor mayor of Sydney’s Inner West council and he’s helping lead a grassroots movement on curbing gambling harm in the community – including pushing for a reduction in the number of poker machines in licensed clubs in New South Wales. This momentum comes while the federal Labor party continues to face criticism about the scale of its commitment to online gambling reform.
The rising Labor star speaks to Guardian Australia political editor, Tom McIlroy, about why he compares the poker machine lobby to the US National Rifle Association, and his successful motion at this month’s NSW Labor conference on gambling policy at the next state election.
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Aussie shares snap losing streak but end week lower
Australia’s share market has broken a four-session losing streak but ended the week lower as a global rally in artificial intelligence and chip stocks largely skipped the local bourse, AAP reports.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 43.5 points on Friday, up 0.5% to 8,806, as the broader All Ordinaries advanced 42.4 points, or 0.47%, to 9,003.7.
The muted advance was outshone by major rallies in other indices in Asia, the US and Europe, as investor excitement about chip and AI firms outweighed worries about renewed conflict in the Persian Gulf.
Local mining stocks rebounded after tumbling more than 4% during the week, the bounce led by BHP, Rio Tinto and gold stocks on the back of stronger commodity prices.
The Australian dollar is buying 69.49 US cents, up from 69.39 US cents on Thursday as the greenback softened on improving risk sentiment.
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This huge, hairy-legged Australian arachnid may be the fastest spider on the planet
If arachnophobes were not frightened enough by the horrific ability of Australia’s huntsman spiders to drag dead mice up the sides of fridges, they now have another reason.
They might be the fastest spiders on the planet.
One member of the huntsman family, the brown huntsman Heteropoda jugulans, was clocked as the quickest of more than 250 spider species analysed by a team of scientists in the UK and Germany.
Reaching a peak speed of 3.59 metres per second (13km/h or 8mph), the humble and hairy-legged huntsman appears to be faster than the current world record-holder, the Moroccan flic-flac spider and its comparatively pedestrian 1.7m/s (they don’t so much run as tumble downhill to reach that speed).
Can you outrun the world’s fastest spider?
Just in case you were wonderng, my colleagues Graham Readfearn, Nick Evershed and Andy Ball have created an interactive chart to provide some clarity …
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Australia backs NZ getting aboard Pacific peace train
The foreign minister has welcomed plans by New Zealand to join a defence alliance between Australia and Fiji, AAP reports.
The Ocean of Peace Alliance was signed on Monday by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka, with each country committing to come to the other’s aid if they were attacked.
The text of the agreement also opened up the possibility of other Pacific nations joining.
On Thursday, New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon said the country was considering signing up to the alliance, aimed at curbing Chinese influence in the Pacific.
Foreign minister Penny Wong said the inclusion of the trans-Tasman ally to the partnership would be a good step forward.
“We welcome the New Zealand government’s interest in joining the Ocean of Peace Alliance with Australia and Fiji once it enters into force,” she said in a statement.
As Australia’s longstanding ally, and a key defence partner in the Pacific, New Zealand would make a valuable contribution to the Ocean of Peace Alliance in support of regional peace and security.
We look forward to engaging with Fiji and New Zealand in the discussions.
New Zealand’s only formal alliance is with Australia, while Australia has four: New Zealand, the US, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
The Ocean of Peace Alliance will be backed up by $1bn to be spent over the next 10 years.
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Used electric cars drive records as fuel prices bite
Electric vehicles are making inroads into Australia’s secondhand market, a report has found, as more drivers take action to avoid rising fuel costs, AAP reports.
Pickles revealed details of the trend on Friday in a report that showed electric car auction sales lifted in June and were expected to rise further in the coming year.
The findings come after the Australian Automotive Dealer Association reported EV sales jumped by more than 50% in the first six months of 2026, bucking a downward trend affecting most other vehicle types.
The results also follow record-breaking new electric car sales in June, with the vehicles making up more than one in every five sold during the month.
The Pickles Quarterly Automotive Report, with figures from Datium Insights, showed motorists bought more than 50,000 electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles during June.
Electric car sales rose by 11% during the month, while their average price peaked in May.
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Ramingining fashion: a celebration of Yolgnu culture and design – in pictures
A remote arts centre in Ramingining, East Arnhem Land has staged its inaugural fashion week, providing an opportunity to celebrate local Aboriginal artists, models and community.
View the full picture gallery here:
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Derryn Hinch, a fearless interrogator, remained candid and controversial as a journalist and senator – obituary
With a timeline that featured imprisonment, politics, a rags-to-riches twist, multiple marriages and several serious health challenges, all played out in the public sphere, the Australian journalist, broadcaster and former senator Derryn Hinch embodied his nickname: the human headline.
Hinch, who has died in 2026 aged 82, gained the epithet, of which he was not a fan, for his strident opinions delivered in a bombastic manner over radio and television airwaves and later, aged 72, in the halls of parliament, where he claimed to be “the oldest person ever elected to the Senate”.
In his 1980s heyday, Hinch was one of the most powerful broadcasters in Australia, ruling the Melbourne radio airwaves and drawing record ratings for 3AW with his gregarious personality and candid and controversial commentary on every subject.
Read the full obituary:
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That’s all from me. Ima Caldwell will guide you into the weekend. Take care.
Derryn Hinch died in his bed as was ‘his wish’, assistant writes in social media post
Derryn Hinch’s personal assistant, Annette, posted on Hinch’s Facebook page that he died in his sleep.
It is with great sadness that I let you know our dearest Derryn passed away in his sleep this morning. He got his wish and passed away in his own bed. To every one of his online friends and followers he loved the interaction and looked forward to every post. As he would say, “That’s Life”.
Hinch had 41,000 followers on his Facebook page where he often posted about his simple home cooked meals and included photographs. Earlier in the week he said:
Another soup experiment. A can of pea and ham, a can of corn. Some bread crumbs, black pepper and chicken stock to thin it down. It worked.
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Telstra CEO Vicki Brady faces questions on nationwide outage
Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady has faced a barrage of questions for the first time since the company’s nationwide outage on Wednesday affected train services, payment systems and triple zero calls.
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SA police rule out link between death and Telstra outage
South Australia police have completed an investigation into a death reported by Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle and ruled out a link to Wednesday’s triple zero outage.
SA police commissioner, Grant Stevens, said it was “incorrect” to report the link between the death and the outage.
He said:
At about 10:00am on 8 July a woman was found unresponsive by her partner. Her partner then contacted a neighbour using his Telstra mobile phone and asked that neighbour to come to his house because that neighbour had [a] medical background.
The person who attended did so immediately, assessed the woman, and then used her Telstra mobile phone to contact triple zero to arrange for an ambulance. Both of those calls went through without any difficulty. The woman was then conveyed to a local hospital where she later passed away.
Stevens said there were no issues in getting through to triple zero and the incident “has put an unnecessary strain” on the family.
This is a tragedy where a family has lost a loved one, and in the ordinary course of events, they would not have had such significant involvement with the South Australia police and … this particular person’s passing would not have been the subject of such significant scrutiny.
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Media watchdog’s ‘bizarre limitation’
A “bizarre limitation” on the media watchdog means it can’t investigate complaints about streaming content, the antisemitism royal commission has heard.
Counsel assisting, Richard Lancaster SC, asked the Australian Communications and Media Authority chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, about the different treatment, saying it “seems a bizarre limitation”. O’Loughlin said:
It certainly presents some challenges to us, and I think it also presents some challenges to complainants. We’ve had a range of complaints come to us over the last few years which have been out of our jurisdiction. [It] must be very frustrating for a complainant when they’re proposing to complain about something which is on broadcast on the ABC, where they can come to us [but] it was actually a streamed version of a television program.
The rules applied to broadcasting services should be the same when they are delivered online, she said.
O’Loughlin also said Acma would “revisit” some of their investigations since 2023 and after the deadly Bondi attack to make sure they haven’t missed anything of an antisemitic nature, but also to check on the potential “cumulative nature” of coverage.
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NT children’s commissioner resigns over child protection changes that remove Indigenous placement principle
The Northern Territory children’s commissioner has resigned over controversial changes to child protection laws, saying the Finocchiaro government had “sidelined” her in going ahead with amendments that are strongly opposed by First Nations organisations, human rights groups and legal advocates.
Shahleena Musk was appointed to the role in December 2023. In a resignation statement posted online on Thursday night, the Larrakia woman said her position was now untenable.
“In particular, I have been unable to support the NT Government’s approach to substantial and wide-reaching changes to child protection laws,” she said.
Read more here:
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Telstra could face civil penalties up to $30m, Acma says
Adam Suckling, the deputy chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma), said Telstra could face civil penalties of up to $30m over the outage.
“We will be working very hard to hold them to account,” Suckling told reporters.
He went on:
One of the things we are looking at under our investigation is that it needs to ensure that people can get through to triple zero. That includes maintaining their network. So one of the questions we will inevitably look at and ask them about is how they configured their network.
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Telstra must ‘face the music’ over outage, minister says
The communications minister, Anika Wells, is speaking about the Telstra outage, saying the company has provided formal notice to the triple-zero custodian that the outage has been fully resolved.
She said all welfare checks that Telstra referred to the state emergency services have been completed, and there were “no adverse outcomes” linked to those efforts.
“That is a huge relief to all Australians. I want to thank those who provided support to those seven individual who did need assistance,” Wells said. “Their quick and diligent work on this occasion may well have saved lives.”
She then moved to terse words for Telstra, saying:
The last few days have been really difficult for many Australians and now that Telstra has resolved its outage, it is time for Telstra to face the music. Telstra has a lot of questions to answer …
Telstra has held special trust from Australians. It has been respected as the premium service. It is an iconic company. It has a rich history. But that trust really stands in peril today. It is going to take Telstra a lot of time and a lot of work to rebuild that trust with Australians.
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Derryn Hinch dies aged 82
Derryn Hinch, the former journalist and senator, has died aged 82.
Hinch had reportedly been in poor health since a recent fall.
He was a newspaper reporter before moving into television and radio, perhaps most prominently as a presenter on Melbourne radio station 3AW.
The radio station reported on Friday that Hinch died overnight at home.
One of Hinch’s friends, 3AW host Darren James, told the network on Friday he was “yet to process” the death.
“He messages me every morning … I didn’t get the messages this morning.”
Hinch served as a senator for Victoria in his eponymous Justice party between 2016 and 2019.
He was also well-known for campaigning against paedophiles, and was repeatedly found in contempt for breaching court orders.
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Body of missing girl found in bushland near small town in Victoria
The body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing on the weekend has been found in bushland after an extensive search by police, who say the death is suspicious, AAP reports.
Police found the remains in Donald, a small town in rural western Victoria, late on Thursday afternoon. A large-scale search was conducted in bushland after the teen was reported missing on 5 July.
“While the remains are yet to be formally identified, they are believed to be that of the missing girl,” Victoria police said in a statement on Friday.
Detectives from the missing persons squad have launched an investigation into the girl’s death.
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Julie Collins says first detection of H5 bird flu in local wildlife ‘concerning’ but ‘not unexpected’
Agriculture minister Julie Collins says the first detection of deadly H5 bird flu in a local bird is a concerning but not unexpected development.
The dead greater crested tern was found at Robe on South Australia’s Limestone Coast.
Collins said:
While this, of course, is a concerning development, it is not unexpected and is another sign that our strong biosecurity system is working.
Collins said work had begun to establish the potential pathway via which the bird became infected.
She said the South Australian government was leading the response on the ground by boosting surveillance to determine whether there had been further spread in local wildlife.
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Surge in hate on LinkedIn after 7 October
Hateful or derogatory content that had to be removed from LinkedIn quadrupled after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliation, the antisemitism royal commission has heard.
In the second six months of 2023, 26,141 pieces of content in that category were removed. In the first six months of 2024, the number was 105,903.
LinkedIn’s vice-president for legal digital safety, James Patrick Corrigan, told the inquiry the assumption was it had something to do with 7 October.
There was also a big increase in the removal of harassment or abusive content from 250,236 in the second six months of 2024 to 477,339 in the first six months of 2025, but Corrigan said he did not recall the reason for that.
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Inquiry hears of X’s ‘shocking disrespect’ for Australians
X (formerly known as Twitter) “shows a shocking disrespect and disregard for the Australian community” by not engaging with the antisemitism royal commission, counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC says.
Lancaster reminded the inquiry of the evidence it has heard that antisemitic and hate speech spreads on X, including that X had been particularly difficult to work with since Elon Musk took it over.
He questioned whether the social platform still had a social licence to operate in Australia and said there should be regulations for it that can be enforced in Australia. He said:
In Australia, if social media platforms are capable of inflicting harm or are actually inflicting harm upon Australians, the laws of Australia must be capable of securing accountability for those harms.
Lancaster said X had not responded to the evidence provided about it or to the commission’s attempts to contact it. He said:
Although an apparent proponent of unconstrained speech, X has remained silent.
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SA confirms first case of bird flu detected in local wildlife
The first case of deadly H5 bird flu in local wildlife has been recorded in a bird found on the South Australian coast. We will have more soon from the agriculture minister, Julie Collins.
The bird is a greater crested tern – a common coastal species – and was found at Robe on the Limestone Coast.
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Beneficiary of Christian Brothers’ wealth refuses to stand in as defendant for abuse claims
The entity that benefited from vast land and property transfers from the Christian Brothers has refused to volunteer itself to replace the failing Catholic order as a defendant in abuse claims.
The Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia will also fight any attempt to force it to replace the Christian Brothers in abuse claims, triggering a legal battle that could reach the high court and will cause further uncertainty for hundreds of survivors.
Last month, the Christian Brothers declared it was going broke and could no longer meet the compensation claims of survivors in court. The religious order has a shocking record of clergy abuse and is facing hundreds of current and future abuse cases estimated to be worth $774m.
In the past decade, it has transferred vast and wealthy tracts of land, school buildings and homes to another entity, the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia, for nominal amounts of $1. Edmund Rice Education Australia now runs former Christian Brothers schools and is named after the founder of the Christian Brothers, Edmund Rice, but maintains it is independent and unrelated to the Christian Brothers.
Survivors, fearing they will be left without proper compensation when the Christian Brothers order fails, are seeking to transfer their claims to Edmund Rice Education Australia.
The first case to attempt to do this, brought by two abuse survivors in Victoria, appeared in the Victorian supreme court on Friday. Their case is being closely watched by other survivors in Victoria and interstate.
The court heard the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia did not consent to being made the proper defendant to the survivors’ claims. They are also likely to oppose a push to have the court appoint them as defendants. That will require a hearing in August, which will consider the relationship between the Christian Brothers and Edmund Rice Education Australia.
The court heard the case was highly complex and had “high court written all over it”, indicating a protracted and costly court battle.
The matter will return to court next week and a hearing is likely to take place in early August.
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Press Club bills GetUp over Hanson stunt
Canberra’s National Press Club has sent a bill for more than $2,400 to the activist group GetUp, covering damage caused during a speech by One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, last month.
The club wants GetUp’s David Sharaz to pay for the damage caused by the installation of a banner that was lowered mid-speech attacking Hanson for her opposition to a pay increase for low-paid workers.
A police investigation into the incident is still under way.
Capital Brief reported this morning that Sharaz has been told he is “not welcome in the club at any time in the future”. He has received a bill for $2,116.40 for damage to a light box and $500 for removal of the screen installed without permission. Fees for Sharaz’s cancelled membership have been refunded.
GetUp said the invoice from the club had been incorrectly made out to Sharaz rather than to the organisation.
GetUp has already taken responsibility for the action at the National Press Club.
We note that the invoice issued from the NPC is addressed directly to an individual, not to GetUp itself.
While there is an investigation underway, it would be inappropriate to comment further.
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Listen: ‘The risks and rewards of the PM’s podcast era’
Anthony Albanese offered an unequivocal apology this week after making an off-colour comment about Kylie Minogue while playing a ‘shag, marry, date’ game on a podcast.
In this week’s Full Story podcast (newsroom edition), Josephine Tovey speaks with Patrick Keneally, Gabrielle Jackson and Josh Butler about what the prime minister’s latest podcast appearance says about an increasingly fractured media landscape.
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How a throwback to 2006 took down Telstra’s national phone network
My colleague Josh Taylor has a deep dive on the issue that threw Telstra’s networks into chaos this week. You can read it here:
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Australia’s sandstone universities to appear before antisemitism royal commission next week
The University of Melbourne (UoM) and the University of Sydney have confirmed they will be among a group of higher education providers to appear before the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion next week.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the UoM said it had “fully engaged” with the royal commission and would appear at the Melbourne hearing alongside “several other” universities.
The University of Melbourne is part of the national process to reflect, mourn and seek a renewed sense of trust and belonging for all … As a diverse university community, we must come together and stand united in our continued efforts to eradicate hate and discrimination in all forms.
A spokesperson for the University of Sydney said: “We fully support and are cooperating with the Royal Commission.
Alongside the rest of Australia, we were horrified by the terror attack at Bondi which struck at the heart of Sydney’s Jewish community … Since the disbandment of the protest encampment on campus two years ago, we have taken definitive action including instigating a formal review and introducing significant reforms. We’ve seen the number of complaints related to antisemitism decline substantially from students, but we know there is still work to be done.
Guardian Australia understands the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) will also appear at the block of hearings, as will student groups. The peak body for the sector, Universities Australia, has not been requested to appear.
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Telstra CFO grilled over compensation and executive bonuses
Telstra’s CFO, Michael Ackland, was asked about compensation again, but says customers will need to rely on normal processes.
Brady was also asked if any Telstra executives would forgo their bonuses.
Our focus right now has been on getting the issue fixed, making sure all of our customers are back up and running, and then making sure we get the investigation done.
We, again, have very clear processes and governance when it comes to bonuses and remuneration. That process will happen and it will be overseen by our board.
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Telstra CFO says ‘no outages’ in area where death occurred in SA
Telstra’s CFO, Michael Ackland, acknowledged a report of a death in SA – as reported earlier in the blog – echoing the company’s statement this morning.
He said Telstra had conducted a “detailed review” of its network records amid the reports. Ackland said Telstra had no “record of calls” to triple zero from phones linked to the deceased woman’s address. He went on:
We’ve also confirmed there were no active outages affecting the local area at the time. And our records show good mobile signal strength at that location. We can see that a related call was successfully made to 000 from another number, which was connected and transferred to the relevant emergency authority correctly.
Ackland said Telstra would continue to work closely with SA authorities, “and our thoughts remain with the person’s family and loved ones”.
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Telstra CEO apologises for letting ‘Australians down’
Telstra’s CEO, Vicki Brady, is speaking in Sydney after the company’s network issues, including difficulties accessing triple zero. Brady is fronting the media for the first time after returning from an overseas holiday with her family.
She started off with an apology:
We have let our customers and Australians down. And, for that, I am deeply sorry. I understand how much Australians rely on us to keep in touch, to work, and stay safe.
I also understand the broader impact on the community when services go down, from things like payments to transport. It’s extremely frustrating and disruptive when services aren’t available, and I am sorry for the impact that this has had on so many people.
Brady said Telstra understands the cause of the issue and will undertake any work needed to prevent it from happening again.
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Albanese to miss Garma festival for first time as PM
Anthony Albanese won’t attend this month’s Garma festival in East Arnhem Land, the first time he has missed the major Indigenous event since becoming prime minister.
A group of about half a dozen Labor ministers are set to attend, including the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the Indigenous Australians minister, Malarndirri McCarthy.
Attending the festival in 2025, Albanese committed to returning each year while he is the country’s leader.
“I commit here that every single year that I have the great honour to be Australia’s prime minister, I will be here and engaged with you,” he said at the time, as reported by the ABC.
At Garma in 2022, Albanese outlined his preferred approach to a referendum on an Indigenous voice to federal parliament. That plan was defeated in the 2023 national vote.
Hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation and the local Yolŋu people, Garma is an annual celebration of Indigenous culture and tradition, and brings together community leaders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocates, policymakers, business groups and artists.
The shadow Indigenous minister, Julian Leeser, will attend when the festival gets under way on 31 July.
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Pride and protest as thousands flock to see Narendra Modi in Melbourne
The throb of the drum beats intensified as the crowd of 25,000 Indian Australians prepared to welcome India’s prime minister back to Melbourne after more than a decade.
As Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese stepped on to the red carpet at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night, twinkling phone lights illuminated the feverish audience as they chanted, “Modi, Modi, Modi.”
The Indian prime minister’s three-day visit for talks in Melbourne is his first trip to Australia in three years. Ahead of the community event, Albanese and his Indian counterpart announced a major uranium deal and strengthened defence ties.
Speaking to the crowd, Modi hailed the India-Australia relationship.
Read more here:
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Telstra press conference at 10.30am
We’re expecting another press conference from Telstra executives at 10.30am in Sydney. CEO Vicki Brady is back from overseas, and will appear alongside CFO Michael Ackland.
We’ll bring you live updates from that event.
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Jayson Gillham loses legal bid against Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
A classical pianist who sued the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra lost his case after he alleged he was unlawfully discriminated against because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestinian journalists.
Justice Graeme Hill handed down his findings before the federal court on Friday, after Jayson Gillham launched legal action against the MSO almost two years ago.
Gillham sued the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform on 15 August 2024, which he claims was an attempt to silence him over his stance on Israel’s attacks in Gaza.
During a performance four days earlier, the pianist played a short piece called Witness, composed by multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which he dedicated to Palestinian journalists who were killed by Israeli forces.
Introducing the work, Gillham told the audience more than 100 Palestinian journalists had been killed and that the targeting of journalists in a conflict was a war crime under international law.
Announcing the decision to cancel the 15 August concert, an MSO email sent to patrons alleged Gillham had made personal remarks “without seeking the MSO’s approval or sanction”.
“The MSO does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views”, the email said, adding that Gillham’s remarks had caused “distress”.
Gillham’s barrister, Sheryn Omeri KC, had argued that there was nothing in the MSO contract that prevented Gillham from making the statement.
Justin Bourke KC, who acted for the MSO, argued that Gillham was playing on the MSO’s stage, and was therefore not permitted to share his personal views on the “most hotly contested controversial issue around the world”.
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NSW spent more than $300,000 on court cases lost against pro-Palestine protest groups
The New South Wales government has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to unsuccessfully defend constitutional challenges against protest laws that were expected to be struck down.
The costs, outlined in documents obtained by Guardian Australia via freedom of information legislation, include $117,455.50 of taxpayers’ money on a single challenge to controversial public assembly restriction declaration (Pard) laws. Those laws were enacted after the Bondi beach terror attack and were in place during a now infamous rally against the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, in February.
The state’s court of appeal struck down the laws in April after finding they impermissibly burdened the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication. It awarded costs to the plaintiffs, three activist groups, with the total bill to the taxpayer to rise once they are finalised.
Read more here:
Taylor not entirely ruling out One Nation preferences
While Angus Taylor says One Nation’s policies are “incoherent” and believes the minor party is “not fit to govern”, he isn’t entirely ruling out working with Pauline Hanson’s party in the future.
On Sky News this morning, off the back of his ABC News appearance, the opposition leader said he would “work with anyone to get rid of this rotten Labor government” when asked if he would consider preferences in future elections.
“But what I am saying is that One Nation doesn’t have the answers,” Taylor said.
Overnight, Hanson responded to Taylor’s earlier shot across the bow while being accompanied by controversial far-right activist, Tommy Robinson, in the UK.
The One Nation leader accused Taylor of playing “right into the hands of Anthony Albanese” by “attacking One Nation instead of going after the real enemy, Labor”.
Taylor continued:
Our permanent position is that this is a dangerous and deluded Labor government that needs to go … the real question is, how do we get rid of a bad Labor government? And it’s not by voting for One Nation. It’s actually if the vote sprays, and we’ll see this in [the] Victoria [state election], if the vote sprays, Labor will stay. It’s that simple.
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Aussie swim star McKeown out of Commonwealth Games
Swimming star Kaylee McKeown is out of the Commonwealth Games in a major blow for the Australian team, AAP reports.
The five-time Olympic champion has glandular fever and will miss both the Glasgow event and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships that follow.
“I am gutted to medically withdraw,” said the backstroke ace. “What I thought a few months ago was flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever.”
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland from 23 July to 2 August, with the six-day swimming event starting on 24 July.
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NSW man charged with advocating terrorism online
A man charged with a series of online terrorism and firearms offences will remain in police custody after his bail was refused in a NSW court on Thursday.
The 20-year-old was charged following an investigation by the NSW joint counter terrorism team (JCTT).
Police allege the man is linked to “concerning online posts” promoting racially motivated violent extremist ideology and encouraging others to commit acts of terrorism.
Officers also allegedly found a number of unlawful weapons and ammunition during a search of his home in Ocean Shores in northern NSW.
NSW police assistant commissioner Leanne McCusker said “there is no place in our community for violent or extremist behaviour”.
“These people have the potential to cause significant harm to our communities and threaten social cohesion,” she said. “Anyone who has information about suspicious or concerning behaviour and activity is urged to contact police.”
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Telstra aware of investigation into death in South Australia during triple zero issues
Telstra said it is aware South Australia police are investigating the death of a person during the company’s network issues. SA police said yesterday they were investigating the death, which occurred at a regional hospital on Wednesday.
Telstra said in a statement:
Our thoughts are with the person’s family and loved ones at this difficult time.
We are working closely with South Australia Police to support their investigation and to establish whether there is any connection between this matter and yesterday’s network outage.
We will provide Police any information that may assist in establishing the facts.
Alliance with One Nation ‘not our plan’, Angus Taylor says
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, said the Coalition doesn’t believe Pauline Hanson’s One Nation can be the party of government, describing it as a “one-person show”.
Taylor spoke to ABC News Breakfast, saying the opposition was focused on getting rid of the Labor government, but wasn’t interested in “some kind of coalition or alliance” with One Nation. He said:
We are working to get rid of the Labor government, that’s our focus. Our focus isn’t on some kind of coalition or alliance. Our focus is on getting rid of a rotten Labor government. I want us to be in government in our own right.
That is not our plan. Our plan is to get rid of the government.
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Wong says world really wants ceasefire to hold
Wong said she believes the ceasefire deal in the Middle East is “certainly fraying around the edges” amid strikes between the US and Iran.
The foreign affairs minister said:
The world really is looking to this ceasefire to hold, to firm up. The world wants to see an end to this conflict, not just for the peoples of the region but because of the effect on the global economy, on energy marketers, and on the hip pocket of so many people around the world, including Australians.
Wong went on to say the government had done a lot of work to ensure the fuel supply remains stable, as well as stocks of fertiliser:
We worked hard with the countries of the region to diversify supply and to assure supply, and the government will keep doing that.
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Wong says Telstra let Australians down
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Telstra had “let the Australian community down” after its outages this week, including trouble with the triple-zero network.
Wong spoke to ABC News Breakfast, maintaining a full investigation would be completed by the media and communications authority.
She said:
I think I speak for everyone: you know, we do expect, particularly our triple-zero network, to remain functional.
The fact that there were outages on that network is of deep concern to the community, as well as to the government, and Telstra should be accountable for that.
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Victorian premier demands Telstra reimburse rail passengers affected by outage
The Victorian government has announced it will reimburse passengers who incurred additional costs during disruptions to the state’s regional rail services caused by the Telstra outage.
In a statement last night, the premier, Jacinta Allan, said the government would pay back affected passengers and expected “Telstra to match it, dollar for dollar”.
The state government has also committed to funding two days of free travel on V/Line.
Allan said it was “completely unacceptable that so many Victorians were stuck without an essential service for so long”.
“Telstra should compensate Victorians and help make sure it never happens again … Australians have endured too many major outages – and it’s always country people who bear the brunt,” she said.
Trains across the state are now returning to service and triple zero is continuing to conduct welfare checks.
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Good morning, and happy Friday – Nick Visser here to take over and round out the week. Let’s get to it.
Hanson says Taylor should go ‘after the real enemy, Labor’
Overnight, Pauline Hanson also posted in Angus Taylor’s direction, suggesting to the Liberal leader that his attack on her yesterday was a mistake and that he should be going after “the real enemy, Labor”.
She said:
Angus Taylor has today come out attacking One Nation instead of going after the real enemy, Labor.
Angus has played right into the hands of Anthony Albanese. While the Liberal leader is telling voters how bad One Nation is, he’s quietly adopting One Nation policies.
Stop running scared and desperate, Angus. My priority remains focused on getting this country back on track.
Qantas tops airline punctuality table
Qantas is the world’s most punctual major airline, according to the latest data.
Each month OAG compiles global on-time performance for airlines, based on actual gate arrival times. Flights that arrive within 15 minutes of the schedule are considered on-time.
By this measure, Qantas topped the league table of “major” airlines in June, with 87.16% of flights arriving on time, just ahead of South America’s Avianca.
Among “large” airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines topped the table at 92.41%, with Virgin Australia at number 18 on 80.12%.
Pauline Hanson defends UK ‘fact-finding’ trip
Pauline Hanson has posted an update on social media about what she calls a “fact-finding” mission to the UK to find out what has gone “so wrong” with the country.
She sat down for an interview for the podcast of far-right British activist Tommy Robinson, whom she called a “brave man … who has always had the best interest of his nation at heart”.
After a long list of what she claims is wrong with the UK, including “cities where most women wear burkas”, Hanson says:
No thanks. That’s not what I want for Australia. Each day I’ll bring you a sneak peak of my visit before putting out a long format video once I’m home.
Robinson posted on his YouTube channel a clip from a car showing him and Hanson “about to take a walk through my town” of Luton, adding “let’s see what happens”.
Hanson also met Rupert Lowe, the leader of the far-right Restore Britain party, who split from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Lowe tweeted “we certainly share many of the same objectives”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
Pauline Hanson has posted an update on social media about what she calls a “fact-finding” mission to the UK to find out what has gone “so wrong” with the country, and defending her meeting with far-right activist Tommy Robinson. More coming up.
The Victorian government has announced it will reimburse passengers who incurred additional costs during disruptions to the state’s regional rail services caused by the Telstra outage.
And new data finds Qantas is the world’s most punctual major airline.
