What we learned: Friday, 9 June
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Enjoy the rest of your Friday, whether you’re hitting the town or tucking in with a good book (like myself).
Here were today’s major developments:
Lawyers for Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson have made explosive allegations that a “calculated” and “concerted” media campaign using restricted court material is being waged to pressure and dissuade witnesses from giving evidence in the defamation trial brought by Bruce Lehrmann.
It comes as, on Friday evening, the network issued an apology to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price following disparaging comments made by Wilkinson in leaked audio reported in the media.
The Northern Territory’s four land councils have declared their support of a First Nations voice in the upcoming referendum, handing the Barunga Voice Declaration to the minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has defended Katy Gallagher amid the opposition’s allegations she misled parliament over what she knew in connection to the Brittany Higgins allegations.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has decried “disgusting political mudslinging”, while independent MP Zali Steggall said the opposition’s attacks on Higgins were “vile”.
A UK high court judge has rejected all eight grounds of Julian Assange’s appeal against his extradition order to the US on espionage charges, provoking calls from independent Andrew Wilkie for the prime minister to get on the phone with Joe Biden to push for his release.
And the man who led Victoria’s health response throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, chief health officer Brett Sutton, has resigned.
Updated
More than 300 million native animals are killed by cats in Australia each year as owners continue to allow their pets to roam free, AAP reports.
The number of deaths represents a 34 per cent rise since the pandemic pet boom. Wildlife advocates are calling on owners to take greater responsibility for their cats to curb the losses.
Almost three in four allow them to freely roam, with more than half a billion mostly native animals preyed upon each year, according to research by the Biodiversity Council, Invasive Species Council and Birdlife Australia.
Darwin University Professor and ecologist Sarah Legge Charles said 323 million of Australia’s native animals were killed by domestic cats in the past year, up from 241 million in 2020.
The Biodiversity Council spokeswoman said the numbers are an alarm bell for governments to enact responsible pet ownership laws, including 24/7 cat curfews.
Cats have played a leading role in most of Australia’s 34 mammal extinctions since 1788 and are central to the ongoing decline of more than 200 threatened native species.
