LNP MP says Pauline Hanson’s association with UK far-right activist ‘extraordinary’
Liberal National MP Garth Hamilton says it’s “extraordinary” Pauline Hanson has chosen to associate with UK far-right activist and convicted criminal, Tommy Robinson, as part of her “fact finding mission” there.
The shadow assistant minister for energy security told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing the decision will “play out poorly” for the One Nation leader.
I find it extraordinary that she’s chosen to associate with a convicted criminal, cop basher, amongst other things, someone that even [Reform UK leader] Nigel Farage - who knows him, you know, obviously has a closer connection geographically to him - even Nigel Farage would not associate with this gentleman. Look, I think this will play out poorly. Quite frankly, I’m not sure why Ms Hanson thinks this is relevant to Australian politics.
I lived briefly in a place called Bedford, just up the road from Luton, which is the town she went through. It’s a deeply troubled city. It really is. There’s a lot of problems there, but to try and draw a direct connection between there and what we’re experiencing in Australia, I think is tenuous at best.
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Member for Paterson monitoring One Nation’s campaign in her seat
Labor MP Meryl Swanson said she is considering One Nation’s approach to her seat, but cautioned against sentiment in her community that Pauline Hanson “tells it as it is”.
The member for Paterson – a seat that captures Maitland near its western boundary and the coastal towns of Port Stephens – said on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program:
Pauline cuts through because she says things and people are like: ‘yeah, I resonate with that. I get that’.
She does speak plainly. She’s actually an excellent communicator …
I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t… thinking about One Nation and how they’re approaching my seat.
But Swanson pushed back against those who say they support One Nation because of Hanson’s communication style.
These things are really interesting when you’re talking to people, and you sort of unpick it a bit …
I’m like, well, it’s actually not ‘as it is’…
You can sprout anything, but when you’ve got to back it up with real policies and real budget constraints. That’s the difference ….
I think that people think … you know, ‘we’ll blow the show up and vote One Nation’.
Be careful what you wish for.
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In pictures: We have survived! Forty years of Aboriginal protest posters
Wiradjuri elder Ray Jackson was a prominent activist in Australia. He was the founding secretary of the New South Wales Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in 1987 and a regular face at the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy up until his death in 2015.
His Waterloo home was filled with posters and memorabilia collected from rallies, protests, union meetings and film screenings over 50 years. A selection is now on display at Sydney’s Numbers gallery – in Ray Jackson Doing Time with Penrith Miers Archive, on until 2 August.
The Penrith Miers Archive is run by Jackson’s granddaughter Madika Penrith, a Wiradjuri/Yuin/Gumbaynggirr archivist, and her partner Sam Miers.
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Israeli-Australian tutor says he was ‘rushed’ by members of a pro-Palestine encampment at Deakin University
Israeli-Australian and former paratrooper for the IDF, Yotam Barazani, has told the antisemitism royal commission he was “rushed” by pro-Palestine protestors.
Barazani has worked as a part-time tutor at Deakin University since 2021. When encampments were established in 2024, he showed up with a sign reading: “I want peace for all. Let’s talk.”
I had many conversations with people that might have different political ideologies or understandings to me … Even when we disagreed … some ended in hugs, some ended in them comforting me because I lost my cousin [in the Middle East war] only a few days prior.
On 7 May, Barazani said he was sitting with his sign near the encampment when he “got rushed” by a student who “shoved me and tore the sign out of my hand”.
There was a sign of theirs next to me and I sort of picked it up with the hope to say, hey, give me back my sign and you can get yours … The moment I touched the sign, I just got rushed by what seemed to be 20 to 30 protesters.”
An individual who wasn’t a student or staff member began “assaulting” and “repeatedly shoving” him, he said, causing “injuries to my hip and leg and my arm”.
Deakin security intervened and he issued a student misconduct notice, but the complaint was later dismissed.
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Who is ‘stealing’ Bali’s water? How tourism siphoned off a prized resource
According to the Bali national land agency, the island has lost more than 6,500 hectares (16,061 acres) of rice fields in the past five years, a decline of more than 9%, writes Christian Karim Chrobog.
A 2018 Transnational Institute report estimated Bali had already shed nearly a quarter of its agricultural land as tourism grew by 330% in the previous 25 years.
A popular holiday destination for Australians, Bali recorded more than 16 million tourists in 2024, four times its permanent population.
Rice fields are not only income – they are water infrastructure. A paddy slows runoff, stores water and recharges the aquifer below. When it is sealed under concrete, that function is permanently gone.
Read more from Christian Karim Chrobog here:
Listen: Can Labor save us from the risks of AI? – Full Story podcast
The Australian government is grappling with how to deal with the multi-layered disruption but so far reform has been slow as it weighs up regulation against the claims of investment opportunities an AI boom presents.
Could that change on Wednesday when the prime minister gives a landmark speech addressing the government’s approach to the technology?
The chief political correspondent, Dan Jervis-Bardy, speaks to Reged Ahmad about the tightrope the PM needs to walk between embracing new technology and protecting workers.
Listen here:
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Translator tells royal commission ‘opposition of Israel’ was antisemitic
An interpreter working at Victorian universities who facilitates communication between students and teachers says she witnessed antisemitic comments as part of her translation services prior to 7 October but there was a “greater normality” after 2023.
The interpreter, appearing at the royal commission under the pseudonym ACK, is not Jewish but has close connections to the community. She pointed to one comment where a student said words to the effect of: “Hitler didn’t have anything against Jewish people. He just didn’t want them to suffer.”
No individual in the room other than myself found that comment inappropriate, offensive or distressing.
She reported the comment, and no longer received work at the institution. Another comment ACK believed was antisemitic involved a woman who spoke up during a class involving drug and alcohol counselling in support of Palestine.
Completely unrelated to the Middle East. And the issues there. But she said along the lines of that she demanded support for her family and for the Palestinian cause. And she did not at all acknowledge Israel … It was as if October 7 did not occur. And it was entirely accepted as an appropriate statement … It was more framed that she was in opposition of Israel.
First koala chlamydia vaccine implant administered
Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have developed a chlamydia vaccine implant that has been trialled on a wild koala for the first time, marking a “massive breakthrough” by giving two doses in a single procedure.
The first recipient, an 18-month-old koala named Bamse, was treated at Currumbin wildlife hospital and released back to her bushland the same day.
Bamse has been hailed “a trailblazer in the battle against a disease devastating to her species.”
Senior vet at Currumbin wildlife hospital Dr Michael Pyne said:
It’s absolutely critical the vaccine is rolled out en masse to at-risk populations to protect them. We’ve got more work to do. We want to improve the vaccine. But the progress we’ve made is truly exciting, it gives us hope and allows us to think there is a way to save koalas.
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Former Monash student says she was asked if she liked ‘killing Palestinians’ after revealing her Judaism and connection to Israel
Legal associate and former Monash university student Paris Enten has told the royal commission that she was subject to antisemitism on her first in-person day on campus.
Enten started at Monash in 2021 and graduated in 2024. She described coming across a group of socialist students who were handing out flyers about a refugee rally. They asked if she knew about socialism and she replied excitedly: “Yes, I do, I’ve been on a kibbutz in Israel, it’s a socialist commune”.
He quite quickly changed his tone and said, well, we’re an anti-Zionist organisation. And I said, ‘that’s fine. It’s kind of not what we’re talking about’. He asked if I was Jewish and I of course said yes, because I didn’t think that anybody would have an issue with it. And it escalated quite quickly where another girl nearby started chanting, ‘we won’t stop until people like you are kicked off campus’.
People began joining in, and asked if she liked “killing Palestinians”. Enten’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors and she said she grew up in a “very traditional home”, without much contact with the non-Jewish world until going to university.
This idea that someone would hate this beautiful community around me was really, really foreign … It was unbelievable … I was quite upset and devastated. I don’t think at that stage I’d lost all hope in the institution yet … but I was very anxious going back.
That’s all from me. Ima Caldwell is here to take the reins. Enjoy your Tuesday!
Truck that displayed ‘ditch the witch’ ads issued default notice by Victoria police
A truck that displayed advertisements featuring the phrase “Ditch the Witch” alongside an image of the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has been issued a defect notice by police.
Victoria police confirmed the vehicle was issued the notice after a complaint on 16 April. The driver will be required to present the truck to Vic Roads for inspection.
A spokesperson for the police said:
The defect notice follows an investigation into the addition of billboards to the vehicle that falls outside the standards of regulation.
The Age was the first to report the news.
The billboards were seen travelling around Melbourne for weeks and included AI-generated images of Allan wearing a black pointed hat and with warts on her chin, in between advertisements for a brothel. The images prompted fierce condemnation from senior politicians, as well as former prime minister Julia Gillard.
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Sam Neill remembered by his co-stars
The actors Lindsay Duncan and Charles Dance, alongside director Peter Webber, pay tribute to a practical joker, unpretentious craftsman and “very cool guy”.
Dance says:
In an industry that’s full of quite dubious people, Sam was one of the good guys. He was a wonderful, unfussy actor with immense charm who was also incredibly handsome. I always got the impression he was really balanced.
Read more here:
Teenage boy suffers life-threatening injuries after alleged altercation with another teen at Queensland school
A 17-year-old boy has been taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries after an alleged altercation with another teen at an education facility in a suburb of Brisbane.
Queensland police said they were called to the school in Karawatha around 11.45am amid reports of the fight between two boys who were known to each other. On arrival they found the 17-year-old with life-threatening injuries. Another boy, 16, is assisting police with their inquiries.
Officers are conducting patrols of the area and appealing for any dashcam footage that may be relevant.
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Aerial surfer Hughie Vaughan on wave pools and holding himself accountable to the ocean – video
It was the surfing trick that broke the internet. A year ago, Australian teenage surf prodigy Hughie Vaughan landed a never-before-attempted air at a wave pool in Texas. The praise came quickly. “Insane,” said former world champion Ítalo Ferreira da Costa. “Is this AI?” asked American DJ Diplo.
Within hours, the performance was being hailed as the best air ever landed in a pool.
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Australian shares slump as Trump threatens Hormuz toll
The Australian stock market has continued to decline after oil prices ripped higher on escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf, reigniting fears around energy supply and inflation, AAP reports.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 0.4% as the broader All Ordinaries dipped 0.41%.
Fighting has intensified in the gulf, prompting the US president, Donald Trump, to reinstate a US blockade of Iranian ships and threaten to impose a toll for safe passage through the Hormuz strait.
The charge would work out to roughly $US32m ($A42.5m) for a fully loaded large carrier at current prices, according to Bloomberg, dwarfing a $US2m fee proposed by Iran that US officials had previously derided as unacceptable.
Brent crude prices have surged more than 12% since Friday, sending local energy stocks more than 3% higher in the first two sessions this week.
The Australian dollar was buying 69.21 US cents, down from 69.29 US cents after safe-haven buying buoyed the greenback overnight.
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University of Sydney alumni tells royal commission he was ‘worried for his safety’ amid pro-Palestine encampments
Independent candidate for the NSW legislative council and CEO of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), Josh Kirsh, says pro-Palestine encampments at the University of Sydney caused a “febrile atmosphere”.
Kirsh attended University of NSW for his undergraduate degree and was at the University of Sydney for a master’s degree from 2024 to 2025. He told the royal commission:
I felt very worried about my safety going on to campus. There was a moment that I recall … I was in a class and I just heard this very loud chanting outside … The tone of it sounded very aggressive to me. I just remember feeling like, should I stay in class … should I make alternative arrangements for my safety?
Kirsh didn’t describe what was being chanted. He said the universities took an approach to the encampments that was about “a hierarchy or risk mitigation”. The camp at the University of Sydney ran for about two months until it was disbanded.
In another instance, Kirsh described a university lecture where the lecturer critically raised research showing participants were less likely to respond affirmatively that “Jews have too much power” when they thought the interviewer was Jewish. A student responded “Jews have all the power” and it’s the “golden age” for Jews. The lecturer shut them down. Kirsh told the royal commission: “What if this person finds out I’m Jewish?”
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Universities ‘don’t want to take a risk’ to act on antisemitism, royal commission hears
Jeremy Suss says the way the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) operates is not akin to other student groups, pointing to “alarming” levels of security risk assessments and incident cataloguing used at an “alarming rate”.
He tells the royal commission into antisemitism:
It is a new constant task to be walking students through the difficult processes of following up from their awful experiences on campus … We very often found that universities have not dealt with incidents in a productive or meaningful way. We have many students that have waited months to hear back from incidents. Sometimes they are outwardly dismissed after that. Sometimes they never hear back.
Suss took up the role at the end of 2025, coinciding with the Bondi terror attack. He said it added a “very alarming” and “urgent” layer:
Suddenly I was stepping into an organisation whose members … whose loved ones were there, who were shaken and who were in deep distress as we all were … I think this role has shown me that above all, these universities are institutions that don’t want to take a risk.
At every point where there’s any political or reputational cost that may happen in taking action on antisemitism, they’ve waited for legal advice, they’ve waited for external review, or at times when that when public pressure reaches a point that that they can’t delay any longer, that’s only when we’ll see change.
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President of Australasian Union of Jewish Students says undergraduates arrive on campus with a ‘strong sense of apprehension’
The president of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), Jeremy Suss, says a large part of his role in Jewish student groups has been “trying to console” first-year students who arrive on campuses with a “strong sense of apprehension”.
He told the royal commission that many students had “heard stories” from family and friends as well as seeing “confronting” incidents reported in the media about antisemitism in universities.
Suss attends Monash University and said he had a “productive relationship” with the chancellery, which he said was “rare” on other campuses. But he wasn’t immune to hostility on campus. He pointed to a Jewish event for Sukkot holidays at Monash, which included a small vigil commemorating 7 October 2023.
He said afterwards, four individuals approached him and began questioning him “quite aggressively”, including talking about “killing or exiling all of Israel’s population” and saying “we see all of you at your lunches every week”.
I found it incredibly confronting … I ensured members at our AUJS events were no longer packing up on their own.
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Ed Husic warns AI companies can’t be trusted to regulate themselves
Ed Husic says the government should ‘set consistent national rules’ for AI companies.
On Sky News earlier this morning, the federal Labor MP said giving tech groups social licence is “sadly doomed to failure”.
“We tried self-regulation for … a couple of decades, found out that it didn’t work,” he said.
None of these firms will go one out from the other to bring in guardrails to limit the risks, because their investors will ask questions about, well, why are you doing this when others are working without guardrails?
So it really is incumbent on governments to set consistent national rules that protect Australians who already distrust AI from the toughest, hardest risks of generative AI.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is scheduled to deliver a highly anticipated speech in Sydney tomorrow to address growing concerns around social licence and the necessary policy guardrails for AI, datacentres and the ability of big tech to profit from Australian intellectual property.
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Dennis Altman says he’s ‘more afraid of neo-Nazis’ than pro-Palestine protestors
Prof Dennis Altman has critiqued universities for moving to “shut down discussion” of Israel-Palestine and said he was more afraid of “neo-Nazis” than pro-Palestine protestors. He told the royal commission:
I think that the biggest problem of the universities is they have actually not found ways of encouraging … respectful debate … The tendency has been the opposite. It’s been to shut down discussion. And that I think in turn promotes all sorts of conspiratorial stories.
He also lamented the push to ban the phrase “from the river to the sea”, which he didn’t believe meant “Jewish Israelis should be expelled or should not have full rights as citizens in that country”. Asked whether he didn’t doubt it caused “deep hurt and even fear”, he replied:
I’m not sure that in a liberal democracy we ought to be banning things because somebody might be hurt or offended. My greatest fear as a Jew about safety is the rise of neo-Nazis … that to me is much more offensive and scary.
On Steven Prawler’s case, which we heard about earlier, Altman said he was “surprised” it hadn’t been dealt with adequately, noting the direct attack of an individual was “clearly going beyond what I would see as acceptable”.
He said the best path forward was to build bridges between Jewish and Palestinian communities, adding: “I do regret that the antisemitism envoy seems not very interested in pursuing that.”
Social cohesion demands that all groups come out of their narrow focus and reach across.
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Dennis Altman tells royal commission that not all Jewish people are ‘blanket supporters of Israel’
Author, activist and academic at La Trobe University, Prof Dennis Altman, has rejected the idea that “all Jews are blanket supporters of Israel” in a pushback against some commentary that has been heard at the royal commission.
Altman, appearing as a witness, said people make assumptions about his stance on the conflict in the Middle East because he is Jewish, but to him, “Israel is a foreign country and I don’t feel any sense of allegiance to it”.
We hear from a number of mainstream Jewish organisations a constant sense that as Jews we are somehow the citizens of Israel. And of course there is some truth to that … But I think the way in which this fosters antisemitism is that it creates the impression that all Jews are blanket supporters of Israel and are unsympathetic and sometimes even unaware of the situation of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
He referred to the prime minister’s description of President Herzog as the “head of state” of the Jewish community pressing: “He is not my head of state.” He says he has been “discomforted” by the difficulty to acknowledge Israeli trauma at pro-Palestine protests and, equally, how mainstream Jewish organisations have failed to recognise the trauma of Palestinians.
My sense that what we most need in this country at the moment on this issue is a mutual recognition that people are hurting … If we can’t have an honest discussion in which people can talk about the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian situation, we are fostering greater division and greater ignorance.
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‘Where’s the deterrence’ University of Melbourne academic questions after expulsion of students overturned
Prof Steven Prawer has told the royal commission into antisemitism that the expulsion of two students at the University of Melbourne for occupying his office was overturned.
On 5 May, he was told the protesters had been identified but he couldn’t be told who they were because of privacy and confidentiality requirements. Prawer hired a private investigator to attempt to identify some of the protesters as he feared “Hamas connections”.
He said the university’s disciplinary process was “very opaque” and he didn’t hear the students had been expelled until it reached the media in June. He was then informed by the university that the students were appealing their suspension. It was later overturned by the academic board, which Prawer was told “in strict confidence”. A one-year suspension was put in place instead.
Prawer said the students were “still masked even today by our systems”.
I still don’t know who they are. I think for my protection also, I should know who these people are … The community needs to hear loudly and clearly that the university tolerates dissent but it doesn’t tolerate misbehaviour … Where’s the deterrence?
Since a university sit-in and the occupation of Prawer’s office, indoor protests at the UoM have been banned.
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Triple zero inquiry to ‘get to truth’ on Telstra outage, chair says
As we reported on Saturday, Telstra executives are due to appear before the Senate inquiry into triple zero this Friday on last week’s national outage.
The chair of the committee, Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young said on her podcast released today that the committee will probe whether Telstra had failed to replace a piece of equipment that should have been replaced years ago, and this led to the outage.
She said:
If it is in fact true, then it really begs the question: how can a company that banked $2.3bn in profit last year not keep its equipment up to date, and has ended up costing the entire country billions, potentially billions of dollars more because of the massive failure?
Hanson Young said Friday’s hearing will be about “getting to the truth, holding Telstra to account and making sure that we don’t keep accepting a system that leaves Australians vulnerable”.
Hanson Young said consideration should be given to nationalising the triple zero system, which is currently run by Telstra.
It’s a political choice to force these companies to put their consumers first and public safety first, rather than just their profits.
University of Melbourne academic says he was subject to ‘highly personal’ attack
Prof Steven Prawer says he still doesn’t know the identities of the people who occupied his office. He was eventually escorted to safety by security and police were called. They accused the protesters of trespassing and they left his office. Stickers were left in his room, including text reading “your work will break your soul before it breaks the resistance” with an inverted red triangle. Prawner continues:
Hamas puts that triangle to indicate this is a target. It’s like X marks the spot … This clearly was a highly personal attack … Highly directed by persons that are unknown to me. It is an implication that my work as a physicist and as an academic was somehow selling my soul to the devil.
The following day, the vice-chancellor issued a statement condemning the intrusion as a line being crossed. Subsequently, around 150 university employees and affiliates signed a petition maintaining sit-ins were a legitimate form of protest and the students shouldn’t be disciplined. Prawer says when students protested the vice-chancellor, “he is paid for that” and “well protected”:
When there are 50 students on the lawn protesting and surrounded by security staff, they don’t pose an imminent threat to an individual. When there are 20 students in an office with an individual, the equation is completely different. You’re surrounded, you’re numbered.
One might say that it’s legitimate for people to protest at the seat of power. In my case, they were protesting against someone who I think was a soft target.
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Angus Taylor says he wouldn’t meet far-right activist Tommy Robinson after Pauline Hanson stunt
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says he wouldn’t meet with UK far-right activist and convicted criminal, Tommy Robinson, after Pauline Hanson joined the incendiary figure for a street-walk in London last week.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is an anti-Islamic, far-right political activist, known for his role in major UK anti-immigration marches, and is a vocal supporter of Russia, including its invasion of Ukraine.
The 43-year-old was given a five-year stalking protection order and has twice been convicted for contempt of court. He was jailed in 2024 for repeating false claims about a 15-year-old Syrian refugee in defiance of a court injunction.
Hanson joined Yaxley-Lennon for a podcast to be released soon as part of her “fact-finding” mission, which looks more like a scavenger hunt for the UK’s most controversial right-wing influencers so far.
Taylor told 2GB earlier this morning he wouldn’t visit the UK, or meet with Yaxley-Lennon, but was hesitant to launch any personal attacks against the One Nation leader.
I’m not going to give other people advice or other political parties advice on what they should do. But I’m saying that’s not my focus. I’ve got no intention or plan to meet with Tommy Robinson …
The struggling Liberal leader did, however, attack One Nation’s policies, warning they would “create a debt crisis in this country”.
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Alan Jones has charges reduced after two complainants withdraw
Alan Jones is now facing 22 charges involving six complainants after two dropped out ahead of the 85-year-old’s criminal trial next month.
Judge Glenn Walsh told a pre-trial hearing today that the claims against the former broadcaster have been withdrawn and dismissed.
The case against the former 2GB and Sky News Australia host will be heard at a marathon trial expected to run from 4 August until the end of the year.
The court heard this morning that there are three prosecution witnesses who have refused to give police a statement. The prosecution is asking the court to compel the three witnesses to give evidence before the trial, in what is known as Basha hearing.
Jones has maintained his innocence on all charges since the allegations were made in 2024.
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Man arrested after allegedly ordering Melbourne kidnapping, arson and home invasion
A Victorian man has been arrested after he allegedly ordered others to commit an arson attack, a home invasion and a mistaken-identity kidnapping. Police will allege the man is high-ranking within an organised criminal syndicate linked to an offshore leader.
The 20-year-old Essendon man was taken into custody by Victorian police on Tuesday.
Police have accused him of using encrypted apps to task offenders with a variety of jobs.
On 14 April, a man was kidnapped in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Malvern after a number of men turned up at his door just after 9pm.
Police were told as he answered the door, the group entered the home, assaulted him and forced him into a waiting vehicle, before he was later dropped off at a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Police believe the men had turned up at the wrong address while attempting to carry out a targeted kidnapping.
The 20-year-old is also believed to have ordered an attempted aggravated home invasion in Doncaster on 28 April, and an attempted arson attack on a hospitality venue in Southbank on 27 April, when two boys were seen putting on balaclavas and latex gloves.
Their vehicle, parked nearby, contained jerry cans and a sledgehammer.
The police investigation remains ongoing.
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Origin Energy to refund thousands of dollars to overcharged customers
One of Australia’s largest energy retailers will refund customers more than $270,000 after allegedly misleading them about a saver electricity plan.
Origin will reimburse more than 4,500 customers after an ACCC investigation found the company had made statements in the terms and conditions of its “Ongoing Saver” plan suggesting it offered lower prices, but customers were charged more than they would have paid on a basic plan instead.
Affected customers will receive, on average, about $60 in refunds from Origin.
The investigation formed part of the regulator’s response to a complaint in May 2025 from consumer watchdog Choice, which accused energy retailers of potentially misleading practices.
ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said “electricity retailers that claim or suggest savings for consumers on their plans … must ensure that the savings are actually delivered to customers for the life of the plan.”
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University of Melbourne academic tells royal commission of his fear when office was occupied by pro-Palestine students
Prof of physics at the University of Melbourne Steven Prawer has told the royal commission into antisemitism that he thought he could be subject to a “terrorist attack” after pro-Palestine student activists occupied his office.
On 9 October 2024, 20 pro-Palestine students covered in keffiyehs, hoods and masks occupied Prawer’s office for about 90 minutes protesting his ties with the university’s partnerships with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prawer is the academic lead for a joint PhD program. Two protesters were recommended for expulsion and two for suspension after the incident.
He said:
When a Jewish person with some experience of what happens in Israel sees a masked person … This is a classic terrorist pose very familiar to most people … This was only one year after the atrocities in Israel and so I was very perturbed. I had no idea at that stage if it was a protest, if it was a terrorist attack.
Prawer described the protester’s allegations that the university was complicit in genocide due to its partnerships with Israel as “ridiculous”. He said after the march on his office, university security was boosted and swipecards were required to enter his office.
The fourth block of hearings, taking place in Melbourne this week, is examining the lived experiences of Jewish students and academics, including the response of universities to combat hate.
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Baghsarian’s family still ‘devastated’
Marks said Baghsarian’s family are still “devastated” at the loss of their father and grandfather. He added:
They are somewhat comforted by the results that we’ve achieved at this stage.
NSW police detail new charges after Chris Baghsarian’s death
NSW police are speaking about the further charges laid against four people this morning following the death of Chris Baghsarian, 85, in Sydney in February.
Detective Supt Andrew Marks said officers suspected that a man, 32, who was arrested on an unrelated charge in February, “may have been involved” in Baghsarian’s kidnapping. The 32-year-old was re-arrested on 8 July and charged with intention to ransom, occasioning actual bodily harm and murder. He has been refused bail and will appear before the courts on 17 July.
Marks said an offshore organised crime network was allegedly involved in a contract to kidnap a separate, elderly person who was not Baghsarian. He said:
I’m not going to go into specifics of where they’re located or who they are. Other than to say that we are investigating that link and we are continuing to investigate those that are responsible took out a contract to kidnap an elderly person.
We will continue to investigate that and bring those responsible that brought that contract to be, to be held to account for that.
Marks said NSW police are “confident” that they have arrested the main people involved in Baghsarian’s death.
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Angus Taylor says he criticised One Nation ‘with a heavy heart’
Opposition leader Angus Taylor answered questions earlier about his heavy criticism of One Nation, saying his primary focus remains “attacking a rotten Labor government”.
Taylor took to 2GB this morning, where he was asked about his speech last week in which he warned Australia was in for an “eternity of pain” if One Nation won government.
Taylor said he made those remarks with “a heavy heart”, going on:
90% of that speech, 95% of that speech, was against Labor and how they’re wrecking this country … I know many of the good people I want voting for us have been supporting [One Nation] …
They do not have a plan for the future of this country, they’re a one-person show …
We need a plan and a team that can get this country out of the economic crisis. I firmly believe that Matt Canavan and myself and our teams are the ones who can do that.
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Nolan fans are embarking on epic journeys to see The Odyssey the way he wants them to
Christopher Nolan’s fans are embarking on epic journeys of their own to see his adaptation of The Odyssey in one of the few surviving Imax 1570 cinemas around the world, the Oscar-winning film-maker’s preferred format.
Nolan has long been a champion of Imax 1570 film, the highest-resolution film format in existence. But 1570 is old technology; most cinemas shifted to digital around a decade ago, which means there are now only 41 cinemas in the whole world capable of projecting the format. These include the Imax in Melbourne, Australia.
Now, ahead of The Odyssey’s release this week, Nolan fans are heading down under from places as far flung as Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany and Los Angeles to watch the film at Imax Melbourne.
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600 trombonists attempt world record
We wrote about this fun story in the blog yesterday, but now we have some video. More than 600 trombone players attempted a world record for the largest ensemble of the instrument ever.
Take a look:
More on Peter Falconio … police hope new photos will jog memories in long investigation
Northern Territory police have reopened evidence boxes to uncover several previously unseen photographs from the investigation into the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and attempted abduction of his girlfriend Joanne Lees.
Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the outback disappearance, which still resonates as one of Australia’s most horrific and culturally defining crimes. It also carries unanswered questions for Falconio’s family.
Images released by police include the orange Kombi van the young couple were travelling in and cuts and grazes sustained by Lees during her ordeal.
In another photograph, evidence markers on the side of a desert highway appear to line a dark red stain on the rough bitumen.
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Super funds slow on customer support, mystery shopper test finds
A mystery shopper test of superannuation funds shows the sector has a long way to go to fix systemic customer service shortcomings, a consumer advocacy group says.
But AAP reports the methodology of the study has been slammed by the sector, which claims it is making good progress following a scathing review which found chronic delays in paying out death benefits to members.
The report, released by Super Consumers Australia on Tuesday, found the call centres of 20 major super funds provided inconsistent, unempathetic customer support that often fell short of basic expectations.
The consumer group commissioned Customer Service Benchmarking Australia, a customer experience consultancy, to call funds posing as a prospective customer, a member facing financial hardship, or a family-member of a non-English speaking customer.
The average customer experience score was 49.9%, based on a sample of 1,000 calls. No fund scored above 55%, far short of the 80% “green zone”, which indicates optimal performance for customer experience across sectors.
The Super Members Council criticised the study’s methodology. The mystery shoppers were not actual members of the funds and calls could not progress beyond member verification, which is important for funds to prevent scams and fraud, a spokesperson said.
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Dolphin deaths spike in South Australia after algal bloom decimates food sources
The number of dead dolphins washing up on South Australian beaches spiked in 2025, according to long-term data that reveals mortalities during the state’s devastating algal bloom were the highest in 12 years.
Last year, at least 70 carcasses of common and bottlenose dolphins were found across SA, with a further 20 reported in 2026, including the recent death of a popular Port River dolphin known as Zoom.
Many of those found in Gulf St Vincent, a large marine zone west of Adelaide, which was heavily affected by the bloom, were severely emaciated.
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George Miller remembers Sam Neill as ‘comprehensively an amazing person’
Acclaimed director George Miller shared memories of the late Sam Neill, who died yesterday at the age of 78.
Miller told RN Breakfast this morning he was shocked by Neill’s death, saying he had been doing “really, really well”. He went on:
He was such an exemplary human being. We saw him as an actor and we got to know him as an actor. The world did. But what was so amazing about him is that he was comprehensively an amazing person. …
He lived life very, very fully, basically with an enormous amount of wisdom ultimately.
Miller said Neill was passionate about telling stories of and in both New Zealand and Australia.
He was, you know, part of the global industry, but never, never pretended he was from anywhere else. He’s one of those people that at heart, I guess he was a Kiwi, but Australia, he had significant influence on Australian cinema, and globally.
Sydney man charged with murder after 74-year-old man was allegedly assaulted on his morning walk
A Sydney man was charged with murder after the death of a 74-year-old man following an alleged assault in the city’s south-west last weekend.
NSW police said emergency services were called to Yennora amid reports a man had been found unconscious. On arrival, paramedics treated the man, 74, before he was taken to hospital in critical condition. Investigators believe the man was on his regular morning walk before the alleged assault.
He died in hospital on Monday.
After inquiries, police arrested and charged a man, 45, with murder and cause wounding/grievous bodily harm to a person with the intent to murder. He was refused bail and will appear before local court today.
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Minister says government waiting to see ‘what happens’ after Trump threat of 20% strait of Hormuz tariff
Kristy McBain, the federal minister for emergency management, said the government is waiting to see “what happens” amid US president Donald Trump’s demand for a 20% tariff on all cargoes shipped through the strait of Hormuz.
McBain said the government was still calling for a deescalation in Iran amid renewed tensions with the US, but said Australia is well placed when it comes to oil reserves after securing increased shipments this year. When asked about Trump’s threatened tariffs, she had this to say to RN Breakfast:
We really need to see some restraint here and constructive engagement to prevent further escalation …
We’ll wait to see what happens here. … We know that there needs to be an agreement that is struck and one that lasts, because otherwise it is Australian households and consumers who ultimately end up paying the price. But we’ll continue to play our part here and continue to call for that de-escalation.
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‘It can happen very quickly’: eSafety commissioner says organised crime groups use AI to perpetrate sextortion
Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety commissioner, is detailing the findings in that report, saying the perpetrators of sextortion are generally organised criminal group overseas. She spoke to ABC News this morning, saying:
They do a lot of research. They know who your followers are, who your parents and families might be. They’re increasingly using generative AI to create avatars or personas that are not real people or voice cloning. It can happen very quickly. …
Once you take your clothes off, they capture that and immediately start sextorting you.
Inman Grant said high-pressure tactics are used to “isolate and panic young people” to try to make them pay, which causes severe emotional distress and even suicide. She said:
Sometimes they feel like their life is over. One of the key tips we give them is to disclose, disclose, disclose. You won’t be surprised that it’s an underreported crime.
The eSafety commissioner said the agency is working with social media companies after finding many are overrun by bad actors “literally colonising” their platforms.
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Young men report more ‘sextortion’ than any other age group, Australia’s online safety watchdog says
A new report by Australia’s online safety regulator has found “significant gaps” in how major tech platforms tackle online sexual extortion and child sexual exploitation, as “reports of this abuse continue to rise”.
The findings come from eSafety’s latest transparency report, examining how tech companies – including Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Snap, Discord and WhatsApp – are addressing child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Between July and December 2025, more than 2,000 complaints of sexual extortion were made to eSafety. While men aged 18 to 24 made the most complaints of any cohort, accounting for about 800 reports, younger teens were increasingly being targeted, the regulator said.
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More cancer in young people, but survival rates improving
Young people are increasingly being diagnosed with cancers but survival rates are improving, according to the most detailed picture of the disease, Australian Associated Press reports.
Some improvement in cancer outcomes for First Nations people has also been reported in Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data released today.
Though First Nations people are twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancers with low survival rates than other Australians, the number of cases is in decline.
Cancer incidence has dropped from 342 cases per 100,000 people to 315 between 2011 and 2025, while the mortality rate dropped from 148 deaths to 105.
The detailed figures could help better direct healthcare, the Institute’s spokesperson Justin Harvey said.
“This is the most comprehensive cancer data available for First Nations people to date,” Harvey said in a statement.
With a more complete picture of cancer outcomes, alongside more detailed information about geography and socio-economic status, it becomes possible to identify where disparities are greatest and where targeted action can make the biggest difference.
The analysis also confirmed cancer among younger people is on the rise with rates for those in their 30s increasing over the past 25 years, largely driven by more colorectal and thyroid cancers.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to pick up the blog. Let’s dive in.
Four more charged over alleged murder of Chris Baghsarian
Four more people have been charged over the alleged kidnapping and murder of 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian in Sydney in February.
NSW police have now charged 11 men over the alleged crimes. They say one of the four men charged include the “alleged coordinator”.
Baghsarian was taken from his home in North Ryde on 13 February and his remains were found near a golf club in Pitt Town on 24 February.
Police say he was not the intended target of the kidnapping and was taken in a case of mistaken identity.
A 32-year-old man arrested in February over an unrelated investigation was re-arrested on 8 July and charged with detaining in company with intention to ransom, occasioning actual bodily harm, and murder. He was refused bail and remanded in custody to appear next on 17 July.
Last Thursday a 22 year old man was charged with detaining in company with intention to ransom, occasioning actual bodily harm, and murder.
On Monday morning police arrested a 21 year old man and a 19 year old man and charged them with being “accessory before the fact” to murder. The latter is due to appear in court today.
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NT police release unseen photos from Peter Falconio murder investigation
Northern Territory police have opened evidence boxes to uncover several previously unseen photographs from the investigation of the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and attempted abduction of his girlfriend, Joanne Lees.
Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous outback disappearance.
Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of the 28-year-old’s murder but he died on 15 July 2025 without ever admitting to what he had done or disclosing the location of Falconio’s remains.
The photographs show a stunned looking Lees in the hours after her encounter with Murdoch on a remote part of the Stuart Highway on the fateful evening of 14 July 2001.
Another shows Murdoch as photographed by police, staring back at the camera.
Despite Murdoch being convicted and sentenced to life, the investigation into Falconio’s murder would stay open until his remains were found, the NT police commissioner, Martin Dole, said.
A reward of $500,000 remains on offer for information leading directly to the discovery of Falconio’s remains.
“No piece of information is too small; what may seem insignificant could prove critical in helping investigators finally resolve this case,” Dole said.
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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 will be Nick Visser with the main action.
Young people are increasingly being diagnosed with cancers but survival rates are improving, according to the most detailed picture of how the disease affects Australians.
There have been four more charges over the alleged kidnapping and murder of New South Wales man Chris Baghsarian, and NT police have issued a renewed plea for tips before the 25th anniversary of the murder of backpacker Peter Falconio, whose body was never found.
