What we learned today, Thursday 16 July
That’s all for today – we’ll leave our live coverage there.
Before we go, let’s recap today’s top headlines:
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The Telstra chief executive, Vicki Brady, and the chief financial officer, Michael Ackland, are among a number of executives scheduled to appear before the Senate inquiry into triple zero in relation to last week’s outage.
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One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce defended Pauline Hanson’s decision to meet with far-right activist Tommy Robinson in the United Kingdom.
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Victoria’s chief police commissioner, Mike Bush, personally arrested a man in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday morning.
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More than 40 civil society groups across Australia are calling on universities to protect the right to peaceful protest and academic freedom on campuses as vice-chancellors appear at the royal commission into antisemitism.
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The Australian federal police released images of distinctive clothing items as part of an ongoing investigation into child abuse and is seeking any information the community might have about them.
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Fuel prices are racing upwards after a week of resumed US strikes on Iran.
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There have now been 15 detections of deadly H5 bird flu in wild birds in Australia since the first was confirmed in late June.
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The NSW arts minister, John Graham, spoke out after a queer-inclusive pop-up based in a deconsecrated church was forced to close after protests from religious groups.
Thanks for joining us – see you again first thing tomorrow.
Assistant multicultural affairs minister ‘appalled’ by Tony Abbott’s anti-immigration video
The assistant minister for multicultural affairs has condemned a new anti-immigration video released by current federal president of the Liberal party and former prime minister Tony Abbott, in which he declares “multiculturalism in Australia has failed”.
In the video, shared on X by former deputy prime minister John Anderson, Abbott targets Muslim communities and argues that “diversity is not our strength”.
Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, the assistant minister, Julian Hill, described a snippet of the video played during the program as “disgusting” and “demeaning to nearly 1 million Australians”.
We have religious freedom in this country, people are free to worship in the way that they want or worship no God.
The fact is, the Liberal party today can’t distance themselves from this bloke, from these Neanderthal, offensive views. They made him their president. That was a choice they made and it happened only a few months ago.
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WA premier urges compromise as historic BHP strike looms
The WA premier has pleaded for compromise as the clock runs down until the world’s largest bulk iron ore export operation is hit by industrial action for the first time in decades.
More than half of the 450 workers at BHP’s bulk export terminal in Western Australia’s Port Hedland are expected to walk off the job for eight hours on Thursday afternoon.
Premier Roger Cook conceded the action was concerning and called for the mining giant and unions to return to the bargaining table. he said:
I don’t believe it will be a common occurrence.
I’m encouraging all parties to continue to negotiate and come to a good outcome.
– AAP
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Ed Husic calls for ‘sense of urgency’ and warns AI laws can’t wait until 2027
The Labor MP Ed Husic has called for the federal government to demonstrate “a sense of urgency” when it comes to its recently announced creation of a new Office of AI.
Husic, who has long advocated for a more interventionist approach to AI policy, said he has “been frustrated for a while”.
Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Husic expressed concern that waiting until early 2027 for legislation may be too long.
I think that is a big issue, the speed at which technology develops and the glacial pace at which governments respond.
It’s almost like we deal with dangerous strawberries quicker than we do with the dangers of AI. We move so quickly on some things and not on stuff like this. So I do think we have to have a sense of urgency about dealing with it.
Read more here:
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Closure of church-turned-arts venue a ‘step backwards’, NSW arts minister says
The NSW arts minister, John Graham, has spoken out after a queer-inclusive pop-up based in a deconsecrated church was forced to close following protests from religious groups.
The Divine Playhouse closing its doors is a step backwards for Sydney.
NSW is a tolerant and inclusive state, but that requires us to maintain mutual respect of each other’s views, even when we disagree.
I support peaceful prayer and the right to protest, but I also expect that protesters will respect the rights of the LGBTQI community to express themselves and enjoy safe spaces.
The landlords of Divine Playhouse ordered the venue’s organisers to stop engaging in “offensive trade” after protesters gathered outside the space on its opening night and demanded the government withdraw a $100,000 grant Divine Playhouse received from the state’s arts agency, Create NSW.
On Monday, NSW premier, Chris Minns, struck a different tone, saying it was “hard to believe that this is the best location for that kind of event” and claiming the content of Divine Playhouse’s grant application differed from the final result.
But the Labor backbencher Stephen Lawrence backed the venue’s funding.
Arts funding should not be contingent on not offending people.
I will always defend religious rights and freedoms ... but what we have seen in respect of Divine Playhouse is a censorious mentality that should not be pandered to.”
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One Nation senator accuses media of ‘selective cherry picking’ when reporting on his support for conspiracy theories
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has hit back at recent reporting on resurfaced comments supportive of conspiracy theories, describing the reports as “selective cherry picking and dishonest distortions”.
Roberts, One Nation’s longest-serving senator outside of leader Pauline Hanson, has praised US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as a “beacon of hope around the world” and lauded Russian president Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine among other contentious topics in recent years.
The Queensland senator has also long challenged global warming science and rallied against Covid-19 vaccinations.
On social media on Thursday afternoon, Roberts wrote:
First they came for Pauline.
Then they came for Barnaby.
Now it’s my turn.
Selective cherry picking and dishonest distortions by mainstream media to mislead Australians on behalf of their uniparty mates.
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Hunter Valley coalmine extension projected to generate 800m tonnes of emissions
The projected emissions from extending coalmining at Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) are about 800m tonnes over its life – 98% of those from when the coal is sold and burnt overseas.
Glencore’s Sandy Tickell told the NSW Independent Planning Commission on Thursday “we recognise that greenhouse gas emissions are a key issue for this project”. She said the joint venture had “carefully considered feedback from regulators and independent experts, and made comprehensive changes to the project to reduce emissions”.
This included changing the mine design and planning a trial to pre-drain methane from the southern area of the extension before mining to reduce on-site emissions, Tickell said.
HVO presented a graph showing its efforts to reduce emissions at the mine site could rely heavily on carbon offsets.
Climate groups argued the project was inconsistent with NSW’s net zero legislation and overreliant on offsets. Late last year, the state’s Net Zero Commission warned the state could no longer approve coalmine expansions because they were incompatible with the state’s legislated emissions targets.
The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility told the panel “the project’s emissions estimates are likely significantly understated and cannot be sufficiently mitigated” and that the emissions the project would generate were “consistent with more than two degrees of warming”.
The centre also challenged HVO’s economic modelling. Analyst Pranav Dayal argued the proposed mine extension’s net economic benefits were “reduced by approximately 40%” when the costs of emissions were applied to the project, using guidance developed by the New South Wales Treasury.
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Grieving father backs testing tool for invisible killer
A father who lost his daughter to methanol poisoning says he wants groundbreaking technology that traces tiny amounts of toxic chemicals through unopened bottles “in as many hands as possible”.
Researchers from Adelaide University and St Andrews University in Scotland spent more than a decade developing a trio of laser techniques that can successfully trace concentrations of methanol about 10 times lower than internationally recognised safety limits.
Methanol is a tasteless, odourless chemical commonly used in household cleaning products that becomes highly poisonous when digested by the human body.
Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles died in a mass poisoning event after drinking tainted alcohol at a Laos hostel in November 2024.
Bianca’s father, Mark Jones, encouraged the government and private enterprises to back the technological breakthrough. He told AAP:
When Bianca went away on the trip of a lifetime, we knew nothing about methanol.
I would just like to have these devices in as many people’s hands as possible so what has happened to my beautiful girl and Holly happens to no one else moving forward.
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Telstra chief to front Senate inquiry tomorrow
The Telstra chief executive, Vicki Brady, and the chief financial officer, Michael Ackland, are among a number of executives scheduled to appear before the Senate inquiry into triple zero in relation to last week’s outage.
The company had confirmed on Saturday it would be appearing before the committee, but the committee only published the program of the hearing – and who exactly would appear – this afternoon.
Also appearing will be the executive responsible for triple-zero services, Jane Elkington; the company’s executive responsible for end-to-end service performance, Gerard Tracey; legal executive Bill Gallagher; and head of government relations, Lanai Scarr.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority and the communications department will also give evidence, with the hearing due to commence at 12pm AEST tomorrow.
The chair of the committee, Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young, said earlier this week the committee will investigate whether the outage was caused by Telstra’s failure to replace a piece of equipment that should have been replaced years ago, and will be about “getting to the truth” of last Wednesday’s national outage.
Read more here:
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Hunter Valley coalmine extension continued
Many of the arguments for and against the proposed Hunter Valley Operations continuation project are split between community members eager to see continued employment and local economic benefits and those concerned about increasing climate harm, air pollution and other damage driven by fossil fuels.
Jeanette Hunter, a Newcastle resident, said the expansion would affect “everyone, no matter where they live” as the climate harms caused by fossil fuels “are already being increasingly felt in real time”. Hunter spoke about caring for her mother until her death last year. She said:
The frequent poor air quality in Newcastle, which is at least partly attributable to the coal industry and the port that services it, also triggered her asthma and made it harder to keep her comfortable when she was seriously unwell.
Fiona Lee, a former Newcastle resident who now lives on the mid north coast spoke about losing her home in the 2019 black summer fires and urged the IPC to reject the project. Since black summer her community had been hit by floods, with the council having to apply for disaster funding “sixteen times in just the six years since black summer”:
These disasters are happening to my community more often because of climate change, driven by the mining and burning of fossil fuels, including coal that’s being dug up and shipped out of the Hunter.
Glencore and Yancoal continue to post huge profits while they’re fueling extreme weather events like bushfires and floods, which are costing ordinary people like me and my family everything, but they are paying none of the price.
Community member Geoff Stevenson said the threat of closure of the HVO mine “creates a lot of uncertainty and anxiety amongst the local community” and asked the panel to “consider the local residents like myself, who rely on this approval of this continuation application, working families who are trying to raise their kids and just trying to keep a roof over our heads”.
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Thanks for staying with today’s live blog. I’m handing over the reins to Guardian Australia’s Achol Arok, who will keep you up-to-date throughout the afternoon.
Public hearings commence on Hunter Valley Operations coalmine extension
Public hearings examining the largest coal project proposed in New South Wales have commenced in the Hunter, with critics of the massive Hunter Valley Operations extension warning the project will worsen climate impacts for communities already hit by climate-driven fires and floods.
Yancoal and Glencore are seeking approval for the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) Continuation project near Singleton in the Hunter Valley. The project would extend open-cut mining at the site by 19 years to 2045 and mine an additional 430m tonnes of coal.
The coalmine would be the largest ever proposed in NSW based on the amount of coal produced.
HVO project manager David Foster told the NSW Independent Planning Commission on Thursday morning he was speaking “on behalf of our 1,500 strong workforce and our local community as a fourth-generation Hunter Valley coalminer and a Singleton resident for more than 40 years”:
I’ve seen first-hand the prosperity mining has afforded our region, and the benefits and the rural impacts it can bring to people who live near operations.
Public hearings are part of the process the Independent Planning Commission uses to help it decide whether or not a development can proceed. Three days of hearings are scheduled, indicating there is a lot of interest in this project.
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Angus Taylor meets Dave Hughes
Opposition leader Angus Taylor has posted a photo of himself in a Melbourne cafe with Dave Hughes, on social media.
Just trying to enjoy one of Melbourne’s famous coffees and this guy won’t stop talking to me about Labor’s toxic taxes.
Hughes has recently been drawing attention online for his social media posts critical of Labor federal and Victorian governments.
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Privacy commissioner ends inquiries over Qantas data breach
The federal privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, has concluded, from preliminary inquiries into the 2025 Qantas data breach of 5m Australians’ personal information, that there were no omissions or failings by Qantas to protect this data in compliance with the Privacy Act.
Customer names, email addresses and frequent flyer numbers were among the data leaked on the dark web, after a hacker collective called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters targeted the airline last year.
After almost a year of inquiries, Kind said there were no revelations based on the information provided from Qantas that the airline had made any omissions or failings to protect the personal information it held, or ensure the third-party contact centre provider it uses complied with privacy law.
Kind said:
While I recognise the serious implications of data breaches such as this one on the lives of the Australian community, in this instance I do not consider that the evidence supports the likelihood that a breach of privacy law occurred. As a result, it would not be appropriate for the [Office of the Australian Information Commissioner] – a proportionate and risk-based regulator – to commence a full investigation or take further action at this stage.
The report details that the hackers contacted an agent at the contact centre over the phone posing as “Qantas IT help”. The agent was directed to a customer relationship platform used by Qantas and ultimately was directed through actions that resulted in the customer relationship management (CRM) platform being connected to a data extraction tool, which was used to extract customer profiles on the platform.
Kind found Qantas undertook audits with the contact centre before the hack, including onsite assessments, and had mandatory training programs on cyber awareness.
The vulnerability arose from a default configuration in the CRM software that allowed the agent to authorise the connection of a third-party application, but this has since been changed by the CRM software provider for all its customers.
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Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed to be pneumonia
Sam Neill’s cause of death was pneumonia, his longtime representative has revealed.
The 78-year-old actor’s “sudden and unexpected” death was announced on Monday, just three months after Neill revealed he was finally cancer-free since being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.
After years of chemotherapy, Neill took part in a successful clinical trial for CAR T-cell therapy, a form of cancer immunotherapy that is particularly successful in treating certain types of blood cancers.
On Thursday, Neill’s representative, Philip Grenz, said he was revealing Neill’s cause of death after speaking with the actor’s family, due to “inaccuracies and outright falsehoods” in media reporting.
Read more:
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Victoria’s police commissioner arrests man in Melbourne CBD
Victoria’s chief police commissioner, Mike Bush, has personally arrested a man in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday morning.
Officers on patrol had arrived on the scene at Queen Street, following reports of a man armed with a knife, a statement from Victoria police said.
A Taser was deployed with no effect, and the man ran from police, the statement said.
At this time [Chief Commissioner] Mike Bush and his security officer were travelling to work in a vehicle and spotted the man running from police.
CCP Mike Bush got out of the car and restrained the man before being assisted by his security officer and other police.
A chisel thrown by the man was later seized by police.
The 32-year-old Brunswick man was taken to hospital for assessment and the investigation into the incident is ongoing. No one was injured during the arrest.
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Former secretary of billionaire philanthropist receives more fraud charges
The former private secretary of billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson has been charged with 16 additional counts of fraud.
Police allege Annalouise Spence, 51, used credit cards owned by her former employer to make unauthorised purchases totalling more than $1.7m, including flights and accommodation, concert tickets, luxury clothing, artwork and jewellery.
Spence was released under strict bail conditions last month, including a $1m surety, after bail was refused in the local court following her arrest in April. Spence, who did not appear at the hearing at Downing Centre local court today, had been charged with 128 counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, but the police prosecutor revealed fresh charges have raised the number to 144.
Spence’s defence lawyer, Bryan Wrench, told the court it was the “first time we’re hearing of fresh charges being laid now” and his client had yet to be served any of the brief of evidence, including any statement from Neilson. He said his client remained at the mental health facility to which she had been released under bail conditions. “She’s going to likely be there for the foreseeable future,” he said.
At her supreme court bail hearing last month, defence submissions released by the court state that her husband had repaid $840,708 in relation to the alleged fraud at the time of her arrest. She has yet to enter a plea.
The matter has been adjourned until 27 August for the brief of evidence to be served. Spence has been excused from appearing.
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New H5 bird flu case in Australia, as deadly disease arrives in New Zealand
There have now been 15 detections of deadly H5 bird flu in wild birds in Australia since the first was confirmed in late June.
Australia’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Beth Cookson, confirmed on Thursday a further positive detection in a petrel, found at Hawks Nest, New South Wales. She said:
All of these have been individual wild seabirds found in coastal locations. All but one have been wild migratory seabirds.
There remains no evidence of any mass mortality events and there are no detections in poultry or in our agricultural production system. The risk to human health remains low.
It followed news that H5N1 bird flu has also arrived in New Zealand, with the first confirmed case on Wednesday sparking alarm that some of the country’s most beloved and vulnerable native birds could be wiped out if it spreads.
A single ocean-going seabird, a brown skua, returned a confirmed positive test after it was found on a beach in Wellington on 10 July, said Andrew Hoggard, the NZ biosecurity minister.
Read more in Eva Corlett’s report here:
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Diesel over $2 a litre as Iran war lifts oil prices
Fuel prices are racing upwards after a week of resumed US strikes on Iran.
Oil trade is disrupted with the Strait of Hormuz closed once again and Brent crude oil prices have hovered around US$85 a barrel for nearly three days, up from just US$76 last week.
Australia’s wholesale fuel prices have leapt as a result. The Australian Institute of Petroleum reports diesel is up from 183.9 cents a litre on Friday to 196.7 cents today, in Sydney and Brisbane.
Service stations have ratcheted up their prices in response. Diesel is up more than 10 cents a litre in a week, to over $2 a litre in Melbourne and Brisbane, and just under $2 in Sydney and Darwin.
Unleaded prices are also rising for wholesalers and retailers but at a slower pace. Prices are set to jump another 16 cents on 2 August when the federal government’s excise relief expires.
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Queensland Olympics minister returns to front bench after end to AFP investigation
Queensland Olympics minister, Tim Mander, has returned to the front bench, after standing aside while being investigated by the Australian federal police.
Mander was referred to the police by the Australian electoral commission in May over allegations that he had lied about his place of residence.
The former NRL referee and scripture union chief executive was enrolled to vote at the home of a staffer after divorcing his wife while in a relationship with a fellow minister, Amanda Camm.
In May, the electoral commission said there was an “absence of compelling evidence” that he lived at the house.
The federal police investigated Mander for two months, but a spokesperson said on Thursday that “no offence has been determined and the AFP has finalised the matter”.
In a press conference this morning, the minister refused to answer any questions about his “personal life”, such as where he had been living, and what evidence he provided to the AFP, saying “there’s no need to”.
All you need to be concerned about is the outcome, and the outcome is that I’ve been cleared.
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Angus Taylor says he has never supported gender quotas
Opposition leader Angus Taylor also spoke this morning on the question of gender quotas for the Liberal party. He said:
Well, I’ve never supported any quotas at all.
But what I do support is more great people joining the Liberal party, and more great people - women, and from all sorts of backgrounds.
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ANU acting provost denies university lost control of campus to pro-Palestine encampment
In the royal commission into antisemitism, ANU’s acting provost Joan Leach has said the university did not “lose control” of its campus to the pro-Palestine encampment.
It’s been revealed that an internal safety review found the encampment had a psychosocial risk rating of “high”.
Commission’s counsel assisting Zelie Heger SC asked:
Is it fair to say that by this point the ANU had essentially lost control of the central location on its campus?
Leach said:
I could not characterise it in that way. But I think there were concerns about the risks to students and to people in the university community at that point.
ANU tried to disband the encampment on multiple occasions.
The security services at the university tend to know many of the students and staff, and they were quite active in interacting with the encampment to ensure that they had kept a constant watch on what was going on.
And again, to encourage any students who wanted to leave or maybe were feeling peer pressure to stay on to do so.
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Gender quotas ‘kill the idea of merit’ in a party and that’s ‘poisonous to cohesion’, Andrew Hastie says
When Liberal MP and shadow minister for industry, Andrew Hastie, was asked about gender quotas for the Liberal party on 2GB Sydney radio this morning, he said:
My instinct is always to come back to merit.
I think we have some amazing women in our party, we’ve got some really talented men, and I think we should have a merit-based approach.
It’s as simple as that.
We should certainly make more effort to recruit and develop and give opportunities to women.
But, once you start imposing quotas like the Labor party, you kill the very idea of merit within the party and I think that’s poisonous to cohesion.
The comments followed a story by Guardian Australia’s Dan Jervis-Bardy that the Liberal party was canvassing views on gender quotas. Read more here:
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AFP releases image of clothing and appeals for information in child abuse case
The Australian federal police has released images of distinctive clothing items as part of an ongoing investigation into child abuse and is seeking any information the community might have about them.
A former Sydney childcare worker, 35, has been charged with 329 child abuse offences allegedly committed between 2009 and 2025.
The images, allegedly located on electronic devices seized as part of the investigation, have been shared in hopes the items could be recognised by parents, carers or the general public.
They include a dinosaur puffer jacket, shorts with a blue pattern, a T-shirt with an animal pattern and a two-tone T-shirt.
AFP detective acting inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias said:
We understand this week’s news about Operation Moonbi has been tough for members of our community. The abuse of trust we allege has occurred is confronting.
Any information, big or small, may assist the victim identification process. We encourage anyone who has information to please contact the [local contact point] on 02 9765 1000.
– with AAP
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ANU acting provost fronts the antisemitism royal commission
Professor Joan Leach, acting provost and senior vice-president of the Australian National University (ANU), has been speaking at the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.
She said the university conducted investigations into the notorious alleged Nazi salute at a union meeting.
The ANU Students’ Association meeting in question was attended by around 500 people in May last year. It received widespread media coverage after video footage was circulated allegedly showing a student performing what appeared to be a Nazi salute and another allegedly mimicking a Hitler moustache.
She said:
In the case of the alleged salute, the video was captured during the AGM. Unfortunately, it’s not fully on video. It’s very difficult to discern what was going on.
Through the investigation, other students were asked how they interpreted that gesture, and those students said it was not a Nazi salute. There was a lengthy interview and investigation. There was good reason to believe doing the salute would be pretty antithetical [to that person]. So there was a finding of no misconduct.
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Treasurer releases new statements of expectations for Apra and Asic
Jim Chalmers, the treasurer, has released new statements of expectations for the financial regulators Apra and Asic, which reflect the government’s “pro-growth” agenda amid a drive to ease the regulatory burden in an underperforming economy.
The new statements update the previous version published in 2021 for the corporate cop, Asic, and in 2023 for the banking, super and insurance prudential regulator, Apra.
Chalmers said in a statement:
In both statements there’s now a bigger emphasis on promoting growth. This is all about enabling our financial regulators to unlock more productivity and more growth in our economy.
A quick comparison between the two sets of documents does not reveal any obvious major overhauls, and it’s not clear whether the new statements will trigger any immediate changes.
But there is a heightened focus on – and frequent mention of – “efficiency” and, in Chalmers’ words, on “striking the right balance between supporting productivity and investment, reducing the regulatory burden on businesses, promoting stability, and safeguarding our financial system and markets”.
The announcement follows commitments in the May budget to slash red tape, while businesses and the Productivity Commission have highlighted that reducing the regulatory burden would help lift the country’s lagging productivity performance.
Our financial regulators play a crucial role in protecting businesses and consumers, but they can also play an important role when it comes to tackling Australia’s longstanding productivity challenge.
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Moira Deeming drops legal case against Victorian Liberal party and makes last-ditch bid to avoid disendorsement
Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has dropped legal action against her own party as she seeks to make a last-ditch appeal to avoid being disendorsed ahead of the state election.
Deeming launched an 11th-hour supreme court challenge against the Victorian Liberal party president, Brian Loughnane, on 3 July after she made an assault allegation against former leader Matthew Guy and subsequently rejected calls to apologise after Victoria police determined “there was no offence detected”.
In a statement posted to social media, Deeming announced that she had withdrawn the case:
The injunction has achieved exactly what it intended to achieve.
– with AAP
Read more here:
Updated
ABC apologises for temporary outage
A spokesperson for the ABC has apologised to audiences after an outage on its digital radio app and web streams this morning:
Earlier this morning a fault temporarily impacted some ABC Radio web streams on ABC listen and other platforms for approximately 30 minutes.
All services were restored and stable by 7.58am AEST and investigations into the cause of the fault are ongoing. We apologise to audiences for any inconvenience.
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Dozens of civil society groups sign statement expressing ‘grave concern’ at universities restricting protests and political speech
More than 40 civil society groups across Australia are calling on universities to protect the right to peaceful protest and academic freedom on campuses as vice-chancellors appear at the royal commission into antisemitism.
The statement, signed by organisations including the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), Amnesty International Australia and the Australian Democracy Network, expressed “grave concern at the increasing adoption by universities across Australia of measures that restrict protest and related student and staff political speech”.
A senior lawyer at the HRLC, Regina Featherstone, said various anti-protest policies have had a “chilling effect on protest and dissent on campus”.
The president of the National Tertiary Education Union, which signed the statement, Dr Alison Barnes, said universities “should be places where staff and students can speak freely and organise without fear of surveillance, discrimination or other adverse consequences”.
On Wednesday, the interim vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Prof Glyn Davis, said pro-Palestine sit-ins on campus led to the institution “quite sharply” changing its protest policies and that further restrictions could arise.
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Man arrested after body found in Sydney’s west, following house fire
NSW police have arrested a 36 year old man, after a body was found in a house fire in Sydney’s west.
Emergency services attended a fire at a home in Glenmore Park just before 1am, police said.
Police found the body of a man, believed to be in his 60s, in front of a partially alight property. He has not yet been identified.
Following inquiries, another man was arrested in a nearby suburb, and treated by paramedics for minor injuries before being taken to Nepean hospital under police guard.
A crime scene has been established at the property.
In an update, superintendent Trent Kin, from NSW Police, said the man arrested and the victim are believed to be related:
These people appear to be related. However, there’s no history of domestic violence between the two parties.
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Indigenous conservation deal in Simpson Desert boosts environmental goals
A huge swath of the Simpson Desert in the Northern Territory’s south-east - an area two thirds the size of Tasmania – is now protected, after a landmark agreement with traditional owners.
The Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) signing took place on Wednesday at the remote Uluperte homelands, an agreement that covers 4.7m hectares of land. The area will be managed by the Central Land Council in partnership with traditional owners.
The Simpson Desert IPA is home to unique ecosystems including sand dunes, stone plains and wetlands, which are habitat for the greater bilby, central rock-rat, night parrot and princess parrot.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said:
The Pmere Atherre Antenterreme/Simpson Desert IPA strengthens long‑standing efforts by Traditional Owners to protect the region’s biodiversity and keep Country healthy.
The dedication recognises the ecological and spiritual significance of this beautiful Country in Central Australia and will support environmental and economic outcomes for future generations.
The agreement achieves a major environment target for Australia ensuring a quarter of the country’s landmass is under some form of conservation agreement.
- with AAP
Updated
ABC investigates outage on digital radio app
The ABC is investigating the cause of an outage on its digital radio app ABC Listen at about 7.30am today.
Presenter Hamish Macdonald said on ABC Radio Sydney:
It was down earlier, it is now back up and running, we’re told. The ABC is investigating the cause of the outage.
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Albanese says AI standards will protect artists
Anthony Albanese said on ABC Radio Sydney that mandatory standards for artificial intelligence would codify copyright rules in relation to the technology, to avoid a “free for all”.
Part of that will be a recognition that artist creativity – whether it be writers or songwriters, or other people in the creative sector, including the media – that their work is their property, and that it can’t be used without, one, control, and, secondly, without payment.
This is about our sovereignty.
It is about our control and that people’s creativity is, of course, their property effectively, and if you have property used without consent and without payment then that is a form of theft.
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BHP workers to take historic strike action in the Pilbara
Hundreds of iron ore workers at BHP’s Port Hedland operations are expected to strike today, in the first protected industrial action since 2000.
Workers are expected to down tools for eight hours on Thursday, after rejecting the company’s latest offer. A last-minute meeting between BHP and the Fair Work Commission also failed to reach agreement.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union’s WA state secretary, Steve McCartney, said on Sky that workers had been trying to have discussions with BHP for months but the company had treated them with contempt.
If they had negotiated in good faith for the last seven months, we’d have an agreement now. But they’ve decided to be belligerent and now they pay a price.
Will Golsby, the chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, said:
The Pilbara is the epicentre of Australia’s prosperity and iron ore is our nation’s most significant export. It is deeply alarming that those exports will now face major disruptions from this strike.
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Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Tommy Robinson
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has defended Pauline Hanson’s decision to meet with far-right activist Tommy Robinson in the United Kingdom.
I think one of the big things there is to understand the social dynamic that brought about Tommy Robinson.
Now, I don’t support so much of what Tommy Robinson does, but I think it’s incredibly important that we understand the social dynamic and how that came about.
Tommy Robinson only exists because of the fractious nature of where England has arrived at.
Joyce also said the media should be prepared to interview Robinson.
I think we all know that there is a massive following that he has, and we’ve got to understand that. And what we’ve got to do in Australia is make sure we don’t replicate the social disharmony that has brought that about.
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Michelle Rowland says mandatory minimum standards for datacentres don’t apply to existing developments
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, told ABC News that mandatory minimum standards for datacentres would apply to new developments, not existing ones.
The scope and the timing of those is something that I think will be properly determined by national cabinet.
This is an issue that not only state governments but local councils have been dealing with as well.
We want a coordinated approach, we want to say Australia is open for business but on our terms.
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If you need a lift this morning, Australian researchers tracked greater glider flights in New South Wales.
The first study to measure the aerial ability of Australia’s largest gliding marsupial has found they soar across an average distance of 19 metres – far shorter than the 100 metres suggested in an 85-year-old study.
They may look like flying carpets – but it turns out greater gliders are not as great at gliding as previously thought.
As Dr Ana Gracanin, a conservation biologist at the Australian National University, says it’s still a breath-taking sight:
It goes from being this hunched-over ball of fluff at the top of a tree looking down at you, to suddenly spreading out its limbs and flying over your head like a magical flying carpet, or this weird stingray-UFO thing in the sky.
You can watch gliders taking off (and read about the research) here:
Paul Dempsey welcomes PM’s ‘quite definitive’ words on AI
Australian musician Paul Dempsey, lead singer for Something for Kate, told ABC Melbourne he welcomed Anthony Albanese’s comments on artificial intelligence on Thursday.
I thought the prime minister’s words were quite definitive and very encouraging and I commend the government for basically upholding existing law.
We weren’t asking for any changes. It was in fact the giant tech companies that were asking for copyright law to be changed to benefit them.
So we’re just happy that the government have stood their ground and respected our ownership of our work. And, you know, not caved into basically these sort of ludicrous demands for charity from gigantic multibillion-dollar companies.
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Environmental and community groups have called for a pause on datacentre development until new regulations are in place after Anthony Albanese promised “greater clarity and speed” over their approval.
In his landmark speech on artificial intelligence at the University of Sydney on Wednesday, the prime minister said Australia would create a legal obligation for large-scale datacentres to underwrite new power supply, pay their full share of grid connection, and add as much energy to the grid as they take out of it.
The prime minister noted all three obligations “take in every level of government and their overlapping powers” but said the national standards would ensure governments were on the same page.
Read more here:
Government flags tougher anti- modern slavery penalties following US tariffs
The government has promised to strengthen modern slavery laws and penalise companies with revenue over $100m that fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains.
The announcement comes after the Trump administration announced it would impose tariffs on countries that have failed to stop goods using forced labour and modern slavery entering.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said the government will consult on the details, and that there would be a defence available for a company if it could demonstrate they took reasonable steps to prevent modern slavery.
Rowland said:
The proposed changes will introduce greater accountability, levelling the playing field for the majority of Australian businesses already doing the right thing.
The government will also look to introduce civil penalties to address non-compliance under the existing modern slavery act.
Last week the Australian embassy in the United States made a submission to the government on the tariffs, calling them “unwarranted and unsupported by the record”, and said there was “no credible evidentiary basis for any finding that Australia’s acts, policies or practices relating to forced labour are unreasonable, or that they burden or restrict U.S. commerce”.
The attorney general also appointed seven new members to the modern slavery expert advisory group yesterday.
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Good morning, Petra Stock here to take the blog for you through the morning, fresh from watching Argentina versus England.
Man found dead at Glenmore Park home after house fire
A man has been found dead after a house fire in a suburb in Sydney’s west overnight.
Police said emergency services attended a fire at a home Glenmore Park just before 1am.
Police found the body of a man in front of a partially alight property. He has not yet been identified.
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Amphetamine use rises among blue-collar workers
More Australian workers are taking meth on the job, Australian Associated Press reports.
The Drug Detection Agency, Australasia’s largest workplace drug-testing provider, on Thursday released its latest report for the final quarter of 2025/26.
The data shows the ingestion of amphetamine-type stimulants, including methamphetamine, soared over the year among the mostly blue-collar workers who underwent testing.
The presence of amphetamine-type stimulants accounted for 60% of all positive tests in the June quarter, a significant year-on-year rise of 17.9%.
Next in line was the use of opioids, including oxycodone, which made up 11.6% of positive tests, although usage was down over the year.
Cocaine was detected in 8% of positive tests in the quarter, an increase from the same period in the previous year.
Cannabis was also present in 39% of positive tests, but usage fell slightly annually.
Drugs were found in 3% of all screens conducted by the agency, which noted that rate was broadly unchanged from previous quarters.
By jurisdiction, Western Australia recorded the highest use of amphetamine-type stimulants at 88.6%, although the four other mainland states were all pushing 50% or above.
South Australia had the highest cocaine detections, Queensland the highest cannabis detections and Victoria the highest opioid detections.
NSW ranked second for cocaine and opioids, third for cannabis and four for meth.
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Josh Thomas weighs in on Divine Playhouse debate
The comedian Josh Thomas has weighed in on the row over the LGBT theatre based in a converted church in Sydney which is facing eviction after its landlord ordered it to cease “offensive trade”
The promoter and founder of Divine Playhouse says the venue faces significant operational, legal and financial challenges after the landlord, KCSYD Pty Ltd, said the theatre caused offence to “millions of Christian Australians”.
Thomas has described the situation as a “David v Goliath” battle.
The tenants invested so much time and money into this venue in good faith.
Surely they knew it was going to be a queer venue? They’re a giant company - they have the resources to check who’s moving in.
It’s going to be a David v Goliath legal battle.
Read more here:
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
Comedian Josh Thomas has weighed in on the Divine Playhouse saga, a queer-friendly theatre pop-up in Sydney that has been kicked out by its landlord.
A man has been found dead after a Sydney house fire, and a survey of workplace drug use has found a worrying increase in the use of methamphetamines, especially in Western Australia.
