What we learned today, Monday 29 September
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. We’ll be back early tomorrow morning with more breaking news for you. Until then, I hope you have a great night, and here were today’s top stories:
The federal opposition went on the attack after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese – who had been in London following his visit to the US – travelled to Liverpool to speak at a UK Labour conference, saying it was inappropriate for him to participate in a political forum overseas.
In his speech, Albanese defended the UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s struggling leadership, insisting the Labour government has an “absolute resolve” to stand up for democracy and fight far-right forces in Britain.
Back in Australia, Optus reported another triple-zero outage overnight and the communications minister, Anika Wells, was preparing to confront the boss of the telco’s Singaporean owner, Singtel at a meeting.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said she didn’t believe Liberal colleague Andrew Hastie was after her job, and brushed off his claims about immigration.
Four teenage boys were arrested after a car chase through Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and into the city centre, which ended when they abandoned the allegedly stolen BMW in the middle of Bourke Street mall.
And Freya Leach’s Sky After Dark program was axed after only six weeks on air, following a decision to let on a far-right guest who wore a shirt festooned with raw bacon rashers and went on a diatribe about Islam while the show was being broadcast live.
Updated
PM tours Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque during UAE visit
In more news from the prime minister’s overseas trip, Anthony Albanese has toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, as he begins a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates.
Albanese and his partner, Jodie Haydon, were shown the huge mosque complex, including its grand central square and colonnade, some of its more than 80 domes, about 1,000 columns, 24-carat-gold gilded chandeliers and the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet.
Albanese will meet with the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during the visit.
He said:
It is a great honour for me to be here at the Grand Mosque, and it is very humbling.
You get the real feeling when you are here about the human experience and how humbled we are before the glory of God.
It is just a beautiful building that has also architecture and art from all around the world, [by people] who have contributed to make this such a glorious place.
Updated
