What we learned, Friday 7 August
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for today.
Before we go, let’s go over the day’s top headlines:
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Australian National Imams Council president said he was placed on “kill list” by Islamic State while giving evidence to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.
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The Alan Jones trials continued at Downing Centre local court, with complainant J, the first alleged victim, continuing to give evidence.
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Atlassian’s share price has surged after the Sydney-founded software giant beat investor expectations with stronger-than-predicted financial results.
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South Australia’s Royal Adelaide Show has cancelled all bird shows and exhibits as H5 bird flu numbers continue to rise. The state has recorded 119 out of 155 cases nationally. In Victoria, a temporary housing order for chicken and egg producers with 50 or more birds has been introduced.
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The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has written to the privacy commissioner over potential concerns surrounding smartglasses days after Kmart sells out of low-cost rival to Meta camera glasses across Australia.
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Travellers on domestic and international flights at Sydney airport have faced major delays and cancellations after Airservices Australia reported “operational restrictions to safely manage projected airborne and departure demands”.
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The federal inquiry into racism, hatred and violence directed at Indigenous peoples is continuing in Melbourne, with unions and national education and training organisations giving evidence.
Thanks for joining us, have a lovely weekend!
Updated
Second NSW Liberal frontbencher expected to give evidence to Icac
The NSW shadow finance minister, Eleni Petinos, will give evidence to Icac, making her the second Liberal frontbencher to appear before the commission’s Operation Rosny following the state’s shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope.
The NSW opposition and Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, has confirmed Petinos, who is on maternity leave, is expected to appear before the commission. In an interview with 2GB, she said:
Well, [Petinos] is a witness, but she’s assisting the inquiry. She’s not a person of interest. I would encourage any of my team or people within the Liberal party or outside of the Liberal party to assist the inquiry to help provide support their evidence. That doesn’t mean they’ve done anything wrong … And you know, if anything comes up that isn’t that, then I’ll consider it at the time.
The second allegation being investigated by the corruption watchdog is that between 2020 and 2023, fugitive property developer Jean Nassif made prohibited donations solicited or accepted by Liberal figures in exchange for the pursuit of outcomes sought by Nassif, including the removal of the then building commissioner, David Chandler.
On its first day, the inquiry heard an October 2021 phone call featuring Nassif, in which he allegedly claimed he had paid for Chandler’s removal, and that “the fair trading minister is gonna to be one of my girls”.
The inquiry heard that two months after the call, the then Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet appointed Petinos as fair trading minister in a reshuffle. In July 2022, Chandler handed in his resignation following an investigation into his conduct that had been requested by Petinos, which later cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC said evidence would determine if Nassif’s call was “an incidence of wishful thinking that serendipitously came to pass” or the result of work by conservative factional group the Reformers. Perrottet and Petinos have not been named in Icac’s allegations and are not accused of any wrongdoing.
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Progressive ‘Free Palestine Party’ thwarted in bid to rival right-wing provocateur Avi Yemini’s party using similar name
The would-be progressive “Free Palestine Party” has been knocked back in its attempt to stop right-wing provocateur Avi Yemini from using the name “Free Palestine” to funnel votes to conservatives.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) sent out a press release earlier today, stating it had refused the application by the “Free Palestine Party” to register as a political party.
The VEC said it was required by law to refuse the application because the party’s name resembled that of an unrelated recognised political party, causing likely confusion or mistake.
In this case, “Free Palestine Party” resembled the name of the registered political party “Free Palestine”, the VEC said.
It might seem confusing, but the latter party, “Free Palestine”, is a separate entity, linked to Yemini. It was formally recognised by the VEC on Wednesday.
Yemini, a former Israeli soldier and self-styled investigative journalist who creates content for his YouTube channel, Rebel News Australia, applied to register “Free Palestine” as a political party with the VEC on 2 May.
When he announced his plans for the party in April, Yemini said he would use it to funnel votes to conservative parties and “flow our preferences on to parties that want to free Palestine from Hamas” at the November state election.
In response, a counter-group calling itself the “Free Palestine Party” was set up. Guardian Australia has contacted the group for comment.
According to its website, its creation was “spurred on by Avi Yemini’s plot to create a fake ‘Free Palestine’ party to deceive Victorian electors at the next state election”.
The “Free Palestine Party” applied to register with the VEC on 2 June, a month after Yemini lodged his application to register “Free Palestine”.
You can read more about Yemini’s plans here:
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Victoria requires poultry farms to house chickens as bird flu cases rise
The Victorian government has introduced a temporary housing order for chicken and egg producers with 50 or more birds, in a precautionary step to protect the poultry industry from H5 bird flu.
The measure, which will apply for an initial 14 days, will affect hundreds of businesses in Melbourne and along coastal areas.
The state’s agriculture minister, Michaela Settle, said the proactive approach was introduced to ensure that eggs and chicken remained affordable for consumers.
We’re working proactively to ensure that eggs and poultry are protected, and that Victorians can continue to afford and find them on the shelves.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has assured free range farmers that they would be able to continue to use the free range label.
Victoria has recorded 47 positive cases in wild birds, with new detections at Yambuk, Apollo Bay and Clyde, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne.
There is currently no detection of H5N1 bird flu in poultry in Victoria or in Australia.
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Second-year constable praised as “hero” cop for rescuing toddler from Charleville siege
A second-year constable who rescued a toddler from a siege in Charleville while in “grave danger” has been praised as a hero cop.
The 18-month-old child’s mother died at a house in the regional town, after police arrived to reports of a serious assault on Wednesday evening.
The southern region assistant commissioner, Matthew Vanderbyl, said police were confronted by Michael Waltke, who they believed to be armed, and were in grave danger.
Vanderbyl said the child appeared in a doorway covered in someone else’s blood. She was “scooped up” by a male officer who took her to safety, he said.
“That police officer took that distressed child and did what anybody who has young children or knows young children would do, and just held that child close to his chest, and turned himself away from the scene of danger,” Vanderbyl said.
The officers then “quite rightly” withdrew to a safe distance, Vanderbyl said.
“You have to feel for a child who has potentially seen what I … suspect that she has seen in that scene,” he said.
Expert forensic police are still at the scene, and the investigation continues.
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Andrew Leigh backs ACCC inquiry into alleged food mislabelling allegations
The assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, a has welcomed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) confirmation that it will investigate allegations of food mislabelling raised by an ABC Four Corners report.
In statement on Friday, the ACCC said it had “initiated inquiries” into the claims. The ACCC Commissioner, Luke Woodward, said:
It is important that consumers can be confident that any claims made on food labelling, packaging and in advertisements are truthful, accurate and not misleading.
We know that consumers may be guided by non-price factors, including claims about the country of origin or supply chain, when choosing which food products to buy.
At a press conference, Leigh echoed his comments on the inquiry’s importance:
Australians shouldn’t be duped by misleading labels. Australians should be able to walk into a store and know that what it says on the tin is accurate.
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VIC Liberal party endorses Roshena Campbell to replace Moira Deeming ahead of election
The Victorian Liberal Party has endorsed Roshena Campbell as its Upper House candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region.
Campbell replaces Moira Deeming, who was removed as a candidate after a state party vote following a legal saga stemming from an assault allegation she made against former leader Matthew Guy.
Campbell, who now serves as Melbourne’s current deputy lord mayor, will appear on the top spot on the Liberals’ upper house ticket this November. She said in a statement:
This State is broken. And I want to be part of the team with the experience and the Plan to fix it.
The West is the heart of multicultural Victoria, and I am passionate about ensuring our multicultural communities are heard and supported.
I’m proud to join Jess Wilson’s new Liberal Team in the West, to finally deliver the West’s fair share.
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NSW opposition leader will ‘let privileges committee do its work’ after two Liberals referred over Reformers allegations
The NSW Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, has again backed Damien Tudehope after he became one of two Liberals referred to the parliamentary privileges committee following allegations they aided a factional group under investigation by the corruption watchdog.
Yesterday afternoon, the NSW upper house voted to refer Liberal MLCs Damien Tudehope and Chris Rath to the privileges committee, in a motion unopposed by the opposition, after allegations they aided members of conservative factional group the Reformers during a parliamentary inquiry in 2023.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) is investigating whether members of the Reformers allegedly solicited or accepted illegal donations in order to recruit or renew members to the Liberal party, a practice known as “branch stacking”, which is not illegal.
Tudehope, who has stepped aside from his roles as shadow attorney general and Liberal leader in the upper house after being called as a witness in Icac’s inquiry, on Tuesday admitted to the watchdog he leaked a confidential draft parliamentary inquiry report on the allegations to a member of the Reformers in 2023.
Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rath helped members of the Reformers evade summons during the parliamentary inquiry that preceded Icac’s investigation. He received a caution from the privileges committee at the time, but yesterday marks his second referral over the same issue. Following yesterday’s vote, Rath, who is not named in Icac’s allegations, apologised again for the incident. Tudehope, who has not been named in Icac’s allegations, was absent from the chamber.
Asked if she would take action following Tudehope’s referral at a press conference today, Sloane said:
I’ll wait for the finding of that, and I don’t have that yet. Damien is on the backbench for the duration of the ICAC inquiry, and I’m not going to run parallel inquiries; I’ll let the privileges committee do its work and we’ll see what they say.
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Continuing from last post …
Frank Gaffer, a First Nations organiser with the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union, said that before 2026 there was no way for teachers in public schools to report racist incidents.
Prior to this year, if you were to report racism as a staff member of a school, you had to report it under the option of other or psychosocial safety, but there was no actual data collection of racism for educators within public schools.
But current reporting mechanisms can also be unsafe, said Kimberley Reed, also from the Australian Education Union, who told the committee that lodging a complaint or an incident could lead to further harm.
Reporting it can actually lead to further incidences of racism because often Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the only staff member in their school, so if someone has made a report of racism and it’s addressed with the person, whether they’re named or not, people know exactly where it came from.
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Racism inquiry hears evidence of violence and abuse targeting Indigenous students and teachers
The federal inquiry into racism, hatred and violence directed at Indigenous peoples is continuing in Melbourne, with unions and national education and training organisations giving evidence.
The committee heard evidence about the lack of cultural safety in Australian schools and universities for First Nations educators and students. Research indicated that at least 20% of Indigenous teachers who left the profession did so because of racism and discrimination.
Witnesses giving evidence raised concerns about a chilling impact on reporting racist incidents at universities, citing fears about speaking out, harmful or inappropriate curricula in schools and the over representation of Indigenous students excluded from educational settings.
The committee heard evidence of targeted racist graffiti against an Indigenous teacher and emails from educators questioning the existence or impact of Stolen Generations policies, which forcibly removed tens of thousands of Aboriginal children from their families until the 1970s.
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That’s all from me! Achol Arok will be your guide into the weekend. Take care.
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Three people charged, six in custody after alleged assault of Townsville boy
Three people have been charged and six others arrested after an alleged serious assault of a boy in Townsville last month.
Queensland police said the 17-year-old boy was found with serious injuries on 18 July in bushland after he was allegedly assaulted and tied to a tree. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
After investigations, officers charged three people, including a boy, 13, a woman, 35, and a girl, 14. They face charges including unlawfully detaining or confining, assault occasioning bodily harm and torture.
On Friday morning, six other people were taken into custody in relation to the investigation. They have not been charged.
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‘Overjoyed’: Police drop charges against protesters arrested at 2024 coal port blockade
More than 100 protesters who were arrested after blockading the world’s largest coal port in 2024 have had their charges dropped.
NSW police on Friday confirmed charges relating to Rising Tide’s 2024 demonstration at Newcastle port had been withdrawn.
Imala Cush, who had just finished high school when she was arrested at the protest, celebrated the result.
I’m overjoyed.
This has been a weight for the past two years and to finally have them dropped gives me hope for the climate movement and the strength of protests as a whole in this country.
The government cannot scare us away from fighting for a future.
Others who were arrested at the blockade said police should have withdrawn the charges earlier. Ecologist Susan Duncan said it would have “saved a lot of people time and heartaches”.
Almost 200 people were arrested as they paddled into the shipping channel in kayaks to prevent vessels from travelling through the Port of Newcastle.
Most of the arrested protesters were charged with operating a vessel to interfere with others’ use of waters and causing obstruction to a major facility, which could result in up to two years in prison.
A NSW police spokesperson said the decision to withdraw the charges followed a “review of the outstanding matters, taking into account the outcomes of cases already determined by the court and the available evidence in the remaining prosecutions”.
Matters from the 2025 Rising Tide event remain before the courts.
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Melbourne Royal Show monitoring bird flu situation before September event
Organisers of the Melbourne Royal Show say they are monitoring the evolving H5 bird flu situation before the event, planned for 24 September to 4 October.
The show’s general manager, Hannah von Bibra, said organisers would take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and well being of animals, exhibitors and visitors.
We are monitoring the H5N1 avian influenza situation, and are working closely with Agriculture Victoria, the Melbourne Royal Poultry Committee and veterinary advisers to assess the potential risks as it unfolds in Victoria.
We recognise this is an evolving situation and will continue to work closely with Agriculture Victoria and industry experts to ensure any decisions prioritise animal welfare and the safety of all involved.
The comments followed an announcement that South Australia’s Royal Adelaide Show had cancelled all bird shows and exhibits as H5 bird flu numbers continued to rise.
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Australia’s $50,000 parent visa takes so long to process that applicants die waiting
Wait times for visas to bring parents to Australia are so long that more than 1,500 applicants died before receiving their visa over a 21-month period to 31 March, new Department of Home Affairs data shows.
Reports of an upcoming overhaul of the nation’s migration system, including tougher rules for family visas, has intensified worry among Australians whose parents are waiting for their visas to be processed.
For applicants of non-contributory parent visas, which provide permanent residency for a fee of just under $9,000, the wait times are now an estimated 33 years.
Contributory parent visas have waiting times of about 15 years but cost almost $50,000 each.
Read more here:
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Complainant J cross-examined about stays at Jones’s Fitzroy Falls farm
Back in the Alan Jones trial, complainant J has told the court he stayed at the broadcaster’s farm at Fitzroy Falls on two occasions.
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC, J told the court he remembered a well-known tennis player being a fellow guest but not another athlete.
Bashir asked during cross-examination: “Were you ever at a barbecue with [them]?”
J replied: “No.”
J told the court he did remember the tennis player being a guest, although he didn’t know who they were at the time.
Bashir is challenging J’s memory of his visits to the southern highlands property, suggesting in court he had mixed up the occasions and the dates.
J agreed his family was invited to visit the property and that he accompanied them. Bashir is challenging him about how many nights he stayed at the property and which vehicle he was driving.
The court is now in recess for lunch. The trial continues.
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Back to the Alan Jones trial
The cross-examination of complainant J in Alan Jones’s indecent assault trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court is continuing.
Jones’s barrister, Gabrielle Bahsir SC, is putting to J that the defendant did not sit on a couch in the lounge room of his Fitzroy Falls property wearing a bathrobe, and Jones didn’t enter J’s guest bedroom, as the complainant alleged in court earlier this week.
Bashir said during cross-examination: “He wasn’t in your bedroom, was he?”
“Yes, he was,” J replied.
J struggled to recall parts of the evidence he gave earlier this week about the alleged indecent assaults at Fitzroy Falls, which he says took place on the couch, in the bedroom and at a pigsty.
Bashir said in court: “Are you prepared to accept you had no basis to give that evidence that Mr Jones spoke to you in a ‘passionate voice’ and pulled you in for a cuddle?”
J replied: “No, I just don’t remember it right now.”
Bashir put it to J that none of his accounts, including the alleged kissing and “penis wiggle”, ever happened. The complainant insisted in court that it all happened as he’d described.
J agreed with Bashir that he did not protect himself by barricading himself in his room or pushing Jones off him.
J told the court during cross-examination: “I didn’t [push him off] … I was very scared. In that room I was as scared as I’ve ever been. It’s like you don’t have control of your body. I was very scared.”
Jones has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching involving six men.
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Major delays and cancellations across Sydney airport due to air traffic control staff issues
Travellers on domestic and international flights at Sydney airport have faced major delays and cancellations after Airservices Australia reported “operational restrictions to safely manage projected airborne and departure demands”.
Delays of up to 120 minutes were recorded across 75 Qantas and Jetstar flights, as well as four cancellations. Virgin Australia saw delays across 50 flights, while Rex was forced to off-load passengers after delays of up to an hour on the tarmac.
Airlines were advised the disruption was caused by staffing shortages at Airservices Australia.
The Airlines for Australia and New Zealand chief executive, Stephen Beckett, said the disruptions are unacceptable and “enough is enough”.
We need Airservices Australia to step up and support their traffic controllers to make sure there are enough of them, and their rosters are robust enough to make sure that this type of delay and disruption stops occurring.
The national network cannot grind to a halt because two or three people call in sick.
Airservices said the air traffic flow management measures had since been removed and “no further significant delays are anticipated”.
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Attorney general writes to privacy commissioner about smartglasses concerns
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has written to the privacy commissioner over potential concerns surrounding smartglasses.
Rowland said the products, which are growing in popularity, had significant implications, especially for women and children who could be disproportionately affected by “inappropriate recording, harassment, surveillance or other harmful conduct”.
Rowland said in a statement:
Privacy is an essential part of all our lives; it allows us to be who we are with dignity and without fear.
Unlike other forms of technology, smart glasses may be used more discreetly, making it harder to know when you are being recorded.
The government is continuing to work on the next phase of privacy reforms to ensure our privacy laws are fit for purpose in the digital age.
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Racism inquiry continues with the landmark Victorian treaty hailed as ‘changing the landscape’ of the state
The federal inquiry into racism, hatred and violence directed at Indigenous peoples is continuing today in Melbourne, with the committee hearing from peak Aboriginal groups and community-controlled family violence and legal services.
Evidence has concentrated on the widespread structural racism in Australian institutions, with calls for a deep policy and structural shift to eradicate racism in society and growing calls for treaties and a formal truth-telling process across the inquiry’s public hearings.
The CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency, Muriel Bamblett, said that the Victorian treaty process was already having a positive impact for many in the community. She said:
Treaty has changed the landscape of Victoria. We’re seeing our culture now become much more visible … we’re holding many more activities, return to countries, culture stories and revival of our culture.
Bamblett warned against the undoing of treaty if there is a change of government in the upcoming November state election, saying recent moves to transfer authority to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are resulting in more Aboriginal children safely returned home and reunified with family.
She told the inquiry that while the department’s reunification rate hovers about 12%, the five Aboriginal organisations with guardianship orders are reunifying just under a quarter of Aboriginal children with their families.
We’re seeing more children going home and going home safely. Children that have been on long-term orders … I think we’re going to have tensions if the Victorian government does walk away from treaty.
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Royal Adelaide Show cancels poultry and bird exhibits as H5 bird flu cases rise
South Australia’s Royal Adelaide Show, planned from 5 to 13 September, has cancelled all bird shows and exhibits as H5 bird flu numbers continue to rise. The state has recorded 119 out of 155 cases nationally.
Will Rayner, the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society SA chief executive, said:
Animal welfare and biosecurity is something that we take very seriously, we have for more than 186 years. And while we think the risk is very low, we took the decision now out of the abundance of caution and to make sure that our volunteers and those exhibitors had as much time to prepare as possible.
The decision would affect about 150 exhibitors, volunteers and stewards in the poultry and bird section.
An additional 32 cases of H5N1 bird flu were confirmed in South Australia on Friday. Testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness confirmed positive detections in 25 greater crested terns on the Limestone Coast, three silver gulls on the Limestone Coast at Southend, three greater crested terns at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island and one greater crested tern at Port Elliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
The SA environment minister, Emily Bourke, said the state government supported the show’s decision:
Making this decision now is providing certainty and confidence, to not only exhibitors, but also to show goers.
Read more about what’s unfolding on the Limestone Coast:
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Shadow treasurer says statue of Daniel Andrews risks ‘becoming a public urinal’
Tim Wilson, the shadow treasurer, was on Channel 9’s Today earlier where he spoke about a statue of former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Andrews is set to have a statue honouring his tenure as the state’s leader for more than 3,000 days. But the project has proven unpopular to some Victorians.
The total cost of the statue is $134,304 and work is already under way.
Wilson had this to say about the monument:
I don’t think Dan Andrews should want this statue, because I think it’s a serious risk of becoming a public urinal if erected today. … The first minor public project that should be cut should be Dan Andrews statue, because that does not sit on any hierarchy of a single Victorian and their priorities.
Wilson went on to say new Victorian premier Ben Carroll’s plans to cut back on some public spending should also include the statue “because the state can’t afford it”.
Atlassian share price surges
Atlassian’s share price has surged after the Sydney-founded software giant beat investor expectations with stronger-than-predicted financial results.
Shares in the tech company, which is listed on the New York stock exchange’s Nasdaq index, were up by more than 35% in extended trading on Thursday night, US time, or this morning in Australia, after it released its results for the 2025-2026 financial year and the last quarter.
The company’s revenue for the fourth quarter of the 2025-2026 financial year grew to almost $US1.8bn (AUS $2.4bn), a 28% increase compared with the three months to 30 June 2025.
Its strong quarterly results come right after it laid off 1,600 workers, or about 10% of its total workforce, including nearly 500 Australian staff, in March.
The company is also forecasting it will earn more in the first quarter of this financial year than analysts were expecting.
Atlassian, whose software tools such as Jira Service Management and Rovo are designed to help clients manage teams, track work and analyse data, has benefited from companies incorporating machine learning and adopting AI to automate tasks.
In a note to investors, Atlassian’s CEO and co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, said the company’s long-term strategy was paying off and it was finding its “edge” with new products such as its Teamwork Graph, a background system that collates work data and apps into a map.
He said:
In the AI era, context is the edge but it’s hard to build and can’t be hired.
Thanks to 25 years of connecting teams, customers get one of the best context graphs for orchestrating agentic workflows. Simply put, the Teamwork Graph helps every customer get better, faster, and cheaper results with AI.
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Alan Jones trial continues
The cross-examination of the first alleged victim to give evidence in Alan Jones’s indecent assault trial continues in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court.
Complainant J, aged in his 40s, is one of six alleged victims of the former broadcaster, who has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching.
J has been giving evidence for five days.
The court has heard that Jones’s Fitzroy Falls farm was staffed by a butler, a cleaner and a maintenance man, with the latter living on the property with his family.
Jones’s defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC has put to complainant J that he fabricated his evidence that Jones kissed him at a pigsty on the farm.
Bashir said during cross-examination on Friday: “There was no kiss at the pigsty. It was a fabrication.”
J replied: “No it wasn’t.”
The trial continues.
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Australian National Imams Council president says he was placed on ‘kill list’ by Islamic State
Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman, the president of the Australian National Imams Council, has been giving evidence to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.
The commission scheduled the sheikh to give evidence on a Friday, overlooking the fact that the sheikh is required to offer Friday prayers at his mosque.
“My apologies,” commissioner Virginia Bell told Alsuleiman, “in planning we overlooked that consideration.”
Alsuleiman told the commission he was placed on a “kill list” by the so-called Islamic State because of his efforts to promote social cohesion and harmony across faiths.
I was added to an Isis ‘kill-list’ of 30 religious leaders around the entire world.
Alsuleiman told the commission:
My personal opinion – which is the opinion of the Australian National Imams Council, and which we have been very public about – is that Isis is a terrorist, dangerous organisation that has no links to Islam.
We’ve made that statement publicly in the past, and we reiterated this, that they are the enemy of the entire humanity, including Muslims.
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On the frontline of Australia’s bird flu outbreak, people are distressed
It has only been three weeks since H5 bird flu was detected on South Australia’s Limestone Coast and already encounters with sick or dead birds are becoming commonplace.
Maureen Christie, who lives in the seaside town of Carpenter Rocks, has been observing and protecting birds in the region for decades. She is now witnessing many stricken and suffering.
“It’s just awful,” Christie said, who helped establish the Friends of Shorebirds SE more than 20 years ago. “We expected it but, now it’s here, it’s just traumatic.”
Read more here:
Privacy commissioner says smart glasses and wearable tech may require new laws
Australia’s privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, has said the arrival of smart glasses with cameras, such as Meta’s Ray-Bans and Kmart’s Anko glasses, will “fundamentally alter our experience of interpersonal interactions” and requires consideration if new laws are required.
In a blog post on Friday, Kind said:
The proliferation of smart glasses – and their future peers, such as wearable pins or advanced earbuds – would fundamentally alter our experience of interpersonal interactions, in both private and public spaces … without knowing we could be filmed, recorded or photographed at any time.
Kind said Australia’s Privacy Act only applies to businesses and government agencies, and there should be consideration on whether new laws are needed.
As Australia’s privacy regulator we are giving serious consideration to the issues raised by surveillance wearables and monitoring their market presence in order to understand if scrutiny and intervention is required or warranted.
We have engaged with one entity on at least two occasions this year to further understand the technical specifications of surveillance wearables on offer.
In a nod to the public backlash to the glasses, Kind said public trust in tech companies is “extremely low” and the bar for establishing a social licence for new tech “will be high”.
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Australia’s best sustainable architecture for 2026 – in pictures
This year’s finalists for the National Architecture awards’ sustainability category include a compact Canberra housing development and the largest commercial use of hempcrete in the country.
See more here:
New Victoria premier pushes on with work-from-home laws
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, who took over as leader after an internal revolt against Jacinta Allan, will continue pursuing the laws she championed, AAP reports.
The legislation would give full-time, part-time and casual workers the right to work from home two days a week on a pro-rata basis where reasonable.
The bill has already passed the Labor-controlled lower house and will soon be debated in the upper house as the November state election approaches.
It has attracted staunch opposition from business lobby groups, which have met with Carroll since his elevation to premier. But a Victorian government spokesperson confirmed on Friday the government’s position had not changed.
Among the more contentious elements of the bill is a requirement for employers to pay any reasonable costs to allow an eligible employee to work remotely. This may include essential equipment and secure access to work systems.
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Have a question for our politics team?
Federal parliament is returning from winter break next week.
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Guardian Australia’s team of political reporters in Canberra? Our political editor, Tom McIlroy, and the team will be answering readers’ questions on the Australian Politics podcast.
Please send us your questions to [email protected].
We’d love to hear from you.
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Can Australia make housing affordable while avoiding a major market crash?
The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates and the property market is in retreat. So far, so normal.
Or is it?
There is a sense that this year’s fall in home prices feels different from previous episodes. The data tells another story.
Over the past four decades there have been seven property market downturns of varying length and depth, according to analysis put together by Shane Oliver, AMP’s chief economist.
They are often triggered by interest rate hikes, which make home loans more expensive, but they also occur during crises and policy changes.
Read more here:
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Police investigating after 23-year-old found dead at rural property with injuries consistent with animal attack
Police are investigating after the body of a man was found with significant injuries in Sydney yesterday, with initial inquiries indicating he may have been attacked by animals prior to his death.
NSW police said emergency services were called to a rural property in the suburb of Eschol Park in south-west Sydney on Wednesday around noon. On arrival, officers found the body of a 23-year-old man.
A crime scene was established and detectives have begun an investigation into the death.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
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EV imports more than doubled in June quarter
Electric vehicle imports have also surged as the US-Iran conflict drove up petrol prices and sent motorists flocking to Chinese manufacturers such as BYD, AAP reports.
Battery electric vehicle sales more than doubled in the June quarter to 69,414, data from the Australian Automobile Association showed.
On the other hand, imports of automated data processing (ADP) equipment – including equipment used to fit out AI datacentres – fell by more than a quarter in the three months to June after a surge at the start of 2026.
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Fuel diplomacy tanks Australia’s trade surplus
Australia has recorded its lowest quarterly trade surplus in almost a decade as the federal government raced to secure fuel cargoes during the Middle East oil crisis, AAP reports.
The jump in imports narrowed Australia’s goods trade surplus to $1.1bn in the June quarter, the lowest figure since 2017, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed on Thursday.
The Albanese government’s deal-making blitz to secure supplies from Australia’s fuel trading partners was evident in country-specific data.
Despite the decline in the quarterly trade surplus, the trade balance increased $4.3bn in the month of June, above forecasts. That was largely driven by a 60% jump in non-monetary gold exports, reversing a 35% decline in May.
Former ABC executive says Race Around the World clip about Rinehart not a breach, but worthy of apology
Alan Sunderland, a former editorial director at the ABC, has said he was not surprised the broadcaster’s ombudsman found an episode of its Race Around the World program did not breach its editorial standards related to harm and offence.
The program included a four-minute documentary that ended with crude and offensive comments about mining magnate Gina Rinehart, including a line about “mixing her guts up nice and smooth, to make one big sausage roll”. The ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, later apologised for the episode amid Rinehart’s threats of legal action, and the broadcaster edited the footage to remove the offending lines.
Sunderland said there was a “long history of latitude” at the ABC for content, “particularly with satirical entertainment programs where people ascertain that the depiction of violence, whatever it is, was clearly meant to be humorous”:
It is not per se a breach of standards to depict violence where nobody would reasonably in good faith think that it was an actual direct threat of violence.
Still, Sunderland said he believes it was probably right for Marks to apologise:
I think the ABC needs to take account of public tastes on this. Public tastes move and shift over questions of what is and isn’t offensive, but I think there was a pretty common acceptance, even from the film-maker herself, that it was inappropriate. And I think they did the right thing to make that call, regardless of whether it breached editorial standards or not.
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Marles says Tony Burke’s speech was moved, not cancelled
Marles was asked about home affairs minister Tony Burke’s delayed speech before the National Press Club about migration policies.
The deputy prime minister said the decision was merely a move of date, not a cancellation. Marles said:
It’s not unusual for dates to be moved around in people’s diaries and in terms of presenting speeches of that kind. I think what’s important here in terms of migration policy is complex. It’s one that we’ve been working on since we’ve come to government.
Tony Burke will be talking about that and he’ll be talking about that at the National Press Club at the earliest opportunity.
He went on:
Moving around dates in a diary for senior members of government is very routine. It happens literally all the time. The speech hasn’t been called off. A date has been changed. That literally happens every week. And there’s nothing more to it than that.
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Marles maintains gambling reforms about striking a ‘balance’ over ‘complex’ issue
Richard Marles, the deputy prime minister, said the government still intends to get its gambling reforms past parliament despite opposition from the Greens and the Coalition, who both argue that they do not go far enough.
Marles spoke to RN Breakfast, echoing the government line that they are the “strongest reforms in respect of gambling advertising that have ever been put forward”. He went on:
I mean, we are doing more in terms of breaking the link between gambling advertising and sport, more in terms of protecting our kids from being exposed to gambling advertising on TV and radio at the times when they would be watching and listening. We’re doing more in terms of supporting BetStop, which helps people who identify to restrict their own gambling habits.
So this is really important legislation and we’ll work with the parties across the parliament to get it passed.
When asked about criticism of the legislation, Marles said gambling was a “complex” issue with differing views.
It’s also an area where you need to strike a balance and we believe we’ve done that … We’re not saying that people should not be able to engage in betting but there needs to be a balance. And it’s important.
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Penny Wong says Australia has ‘more work to do’ forging relationships in the Pacific
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, is in Fiji today amid a meeting with her counterparts from across the Pacific.
Wong said Australia has been working to rebuild trust and Australia’s reputation in the region, as well as its “strategic position in the Pacific”.
We’ve got work more work to do. We’ve announced that we do want to engage with and negotiate with both Tonga and Solomon Islands. Obviously, there’ll be a lot of work there that we want to do with them in partnership.
Wong also said she hopes China “takes note” of the region-wide opposition to a ballistic missile test Beijing undertook in July.
It was a test which was destabilising and in a region where leaders have said we want an ocean of peace. It’s really important that partners respect that, and we would continue to encourage that respect.
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Welcome
Good morning, and welcome to Friday. It’s Nick Visser here to get us started. Here’s what’s on deck.
Australia has recorded its lowest quarterly trade surplus in nearly a decade amid a long push to secure fuel cargoes during the oil crisis in the Middle East.
Electric vehicle imports have surged, with battery EV sales more than doubling in the June quarter to nearly 70,000.
Stick with us.
