What we learned; Tuesday 25 February
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. These were the day’s major developments:
It was a big day in Senate estimates. In one hearing, the ABC’s acting managing director disclosed the broadcaster has tried to settle out of court the Antoinette Lattouf unlawful termination case multiple times and has spent $1.1m on external lawyers so far.
The Asio director general Mike Burgess told estimates that antisemitism has become the agency’s “number one priority” in terms of threats to life.
A fiery stoush erupted in another hearing over reports about Peter Dutton’s shareholdings from 2009, with the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, challenged by Liberal counterparts Jane Hume and James McGrath to repeat her claims outside the protection of parliamentary privilege.
The former defence minister Linda Reynolds used her final Senate estimates appearance to request an apology from Gallagher.
Elsewhere, Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson reached an agreement to cover her legal costs over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial. Ten will pay Wilkinson about $1.1m.
Nine Entertainment flagged further restructuring into next financial year after the broadcaster and publisher reported a 15% drop in its half-year group earnings to $268m, weighed down by the end of its arrangement with Facebook owner Meta.
New South Wales recorded its first death of a person with Japanese encephalitis since May 2022, a man aged in his 70s.
Also in NSW, the collection of food organics and garden organics (Fogo) waste will become mandatory after legislation passed the state parliament.
We’ll be back first thing tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Burgess has also told the senate estimates hearing that an attempt by News Corp staff to allegedly provoke staff at Sydney Middle Eastern restaurant was ‘mind-blowingly stupid’.
Asked about the incident by independent senator Gerard Rennick, Burgess said:
In that case, if those facts are correct then that is just mind-blowingly stupid is it not? And inappropriate that you would do something to generate a headline.
[It’s] entirely unhelpful and think about the poor person on the receiving end of that.
For more context, here’s the original story of the incident:
Burgess was asked if the media has responsibility to tone down the language it uses. He said there was a responsibility to “comment appropriately”.
He was also probed on the media’s response to the Dural caravan incident, but refused to comment.
Updated
