What we learned; Sunday 12 October
That’s a wrap for today. Here’s what’s been keeping us busy:
A pro-Palestine march in Sydney’s CBD heard speeches from activists who took part in the Global Sumud flotilla as well as Palestine Action Group organiser Amal Naser, who submitted the form 1 application for the Opera House route. Palestine supporters also held rallies in Melbourne and Perth.
Melissa McIntosh said it was “extraordinary” that the Albanese government claims global pressure – including that of Australia – on Israel played a role in the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The shadow communications spokesperson also said that she supports a Senate inquiry into the Optus outage that last month led to the deaths of four people, alongside pulling “every single lever” to prevent a similar outage in the future.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, downplayed the importance of striking a deal with the US to offer Australia’s critical mineral supplies as Anthony Albanese prepares for his meeting this month with Donald Trump.
Two New Zealanders were charged after allegedly trying to smuggle 40kg of cocaine into Australia. Australian Border Force officers allegedly found the drugs on Friday after selecting 21-year-old men for a baggage examination after their arrival at Sydney airport.
A teenage boy was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries after he was bitten by a shark in the Torres Strait off far north Queensland.
A primary school-aged boy is in a stable condition in hospital after he was bitten by a dingo at K’gari yesterday.
Finally, Sydneysiders won’t be buying their Christmas prawns at the city’s new fish market after it was confirmed the new site would not be opening until January.
Thank you, as ever, for joining us. We’ll be back bright and early with more live news coverage.
Updated
Several thousand turn out for Sydney CBD march
The march organised by Palestine Action Group (PAG) in Sydney has reached its final destination in Belmore Park.
Neither the organisers nor NSW police are yet to provide an estimate for Sunday’s crowd in Sydney, but it appears to have been several thousand, short of the 40,000 on the form 1 application originally submitted to march to the Opera House.
The protest, which marks more than two years since the start of the conflict in Gaza, appears to have passed without incident, although marchers had to contend with rain and strong winds.
It comes as the Jewish community holds its own commemoration in Sydney tonight to mark the second anniversary of the 7 October attacks. It will include a speech by Geoffrey Majzner, the brother of Australian citizen Galit Carbone, who was killed during Hamas’s attack.
Updated
