What we learned today, Friday 9 January
We’re leaving our live coverage there for the day. Here’s what we covered this afternoon, and what we know about the bushfires burning across eastern Australia.
Multiple emergency bushfires were burning across Victoria, with changes in wind direction on Friday evening bringing dangerous, unpredictable conditions. A total fire ban was declared in several states for Saturday.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, described Friday as “one of the most dangerous fire days that this state has experienced in years”.
The Longwood fire in central Victoria continued to burn out of control, with at least 20 properties destroyed in the town of Ruffy, and three people remaining unaccounted for in Longwood East.
Residents in Victorian towns affected by the 2009 Black Saturday fires were being told to leave immediately.
Temperatures in Melbourne reached above 43C, as temperatures climbed in Sydney ahead of a hot day on Saturday.
North-east Queensland was under a severe weather warning as a tropical low threatened to turn into a tropical cyclone.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, welcomed a federal royal commission into the Bondi attack, but said it needed to probe the prime minister’s efforts on antisemitism.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said he supported a commonwealth probe into the terror attack, but said the state may still conduct its own inquiries.
Dozens of authors, journalists and media personalities said they would boycott the Adelaide festival after it dumped a Palestinian Australian author from its lineup.
Please stay safe and cool and follow emergency advice. We’ll continue to bring you coverage of the bushfires and heatwave over the weekend.
Updated
Online safety watchdog queries X over Grok AI safeguards
eSafety Australia has written to X to ask for information about the safeguards in place to prevent the misuse of its AI tool Grok amid concerns it is being used to generate content that may sexualise or exploit people – particularly children.
A statement from the eSafety commissioner today revealed eSafety had written to X to request the information, saying it “remained concerned” about the reports.
While the number of reports eSafety has received remains small, eSafety has seen a recent increase from almost none to several reports over the past couple of weeks relating to the use of Grok to generate sexualised or exploitative imagery. eSafety will use its powers, including removal notices, where appropriate and where material meets the relevant thresholds defined in the Online Safety Act.
As Tory Shepherd has reported, the online safety watchdog is already investigating sexualised deepfake images posted on X by its AI tool.
Updated
