What we learned; Thursday 23 January
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the day’s main stories:
Australian police forces have formed a coordinated group to deal with hate crime, as a second person was charged with an alleged attack at a Sydney synagogue and a war of words erupted between the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton.
Bruce Lehrmann will seek a judge-only trial as he seeks to defend himself against two charges of rape, a Toowoomba court heard.
The LNP has denied the former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s claim that a decision has been made on Brisbane’s Olympics athletics venues.
About 650 retail workers will lose their jobs after receivers were unable to find a buyer for clothing and footwear brand Rivers.
Labor and the Coalition blame each other for a continuing slump in school attendance.
Myer shareholders approved a merger with Premier Investments apparel brands in Australia, which include Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E.
NSW police are investigating a serious assault in Sydney’s inner west that left an off-duty police officer unconscious.
Hot days and nights are forecast until the end of the week for much of Australia, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland.
Enjoy the rest of your evening, we will see you again tomorrow.
Updated
Tennis Australia declines to return serve on reporters
The Australian Open has not been drawn on its on-court interviewers after Ben Shelton launched a volley of criticism over the way the reporters treat tennis players.
The American player blasted on-court interviewers for being “disrespectful” and for their “negativity” after defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Wednesday.
Referring to on-court interviews conducted by John Fitzgerald, Roger Rasheed and James Sherry, Shelton said in a post-match press conference that he was “a little bit shocked this week with how players have been treated by the broadcasters”.
Tennis Australia, which oversees the Australian Open and employs the reporters, declined to respond to Shelton’s criticism when contacted by Guardian Australia on Thursday.
All three interviewers are understood to be “world feed” reporters chosen to work at the Australian Open by Tennis Australia. The world feed is the live broadcast package as sold to third-party broadcasters.
Channel Nine, which has exclusive broadcast rights to the grand slam tournament, is understood to make requests via Tennis Australia to use its own talent on court, such as Jim Courier and Jelena Dokic. None of the reporters singled out by Shelton are employed by Nine.
Coverage of the grand slam in Melbourne made headlines earlier this week after Novak Djokovic said comments made on air by the Channel Nine broadcaster Tony Jones insulted him and made a mockery of Serbian fans – an incident that Shelton suggested was not isolated.
Jones issued an apology to Djokovic after the veteran broadcaster’s comments led the 10-time Australian Open champion to boycott further Nine interviews.
The Czech player Jiri Lehecka and veteran tennis champions Boris Becker and Chris Evert took to X to agree with Shelton after the press conference.
Updated
