What we learned: Monday 31 October
And with that, we are going to put this blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big stories:
The education minister hailed the post-lockdown Naplan results as “better than expected”.
Hearings began in the robodebt royal commission in which it was revealed a government department received advice in 2014 that the scheme may not be legal.
The chair of the Australian Monarchist League and former Coalition senator, Eric Abetz, criticised Labor’s republic minister, saying the government’s proposed consultation tour next year was “a con to the Australian people”.
Leftist candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva staged an astonishing comeback to win Brazil’s election, beating the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro.
Defence has been caught up in a cyber-attack on a contractor, which may have exposed private communications between current and former members of the defence force.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, sent condolences to family of Grace Rached, who was identified as the Australian killed in the South Korean crowd crush.
The Victorian government will sponsor the Diamonds netball team in a four-and-a-half-year deal after Hancock Prospecting’s exit.
VicForests has paid $1.65m in court costs to environment group Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, bringing a five-year legal matter to a close.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow to do it again.
Updated
A ransomware attack may have resulted in data related to private communications between current and former Australian defence force members being compromised, with as many as 40,000 records at risk.
The defence department confirmed on Monday that a dataset from ForceNet, a communications platform, may have been compromised after an attack on an external ICT service provider.
Updated
