What we learned today, Thursday 9 October
That’s all for today. Thanks for joining. Here’s the day’s main news stories:
The federal government has welcomed the signing-off of the first phase of the Gaza peace plan and says it urges “all parties to respect the terms of the plan”;
The Palestine Action Group has lost its bid in the NSW court of appeal to march to the Sydney Opera House;
Australian authorities are preparing for the return of more women and children from former Islamic State caliphates in the Middle East, AAP reports;
Defence officials have told Senate estimates the nation has 54 defence export permits for Israel;
The resources minister, Madeleine King, has said an east coast gas reservation policy is “totally on the table”;
Jailed whistleblower David McBride’s application for his case to be heard in the high court has been dismissed;
Google blocked ads for a commonwealth-funded STI awareness campaign, lessening its reach and raising costs, the Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has told Senate estimates;
A pro-Palestine student group has said nationwide marches will go ahead over the weekend after Israel and Hamas agreed to the “first phase” of the Gaza peace plan;
Tasmania police have failed to locate a 76-year-old bushwalker on the fifth day of searching.
We’ll bring you more news tomorrow.
Updated
Jailed whistleblower loses bid for case to be heard in the high court
David McBride’s application for his case to be heard in the high court has been dismissed.
The former army lawyer was sentenced to five years and eight months in jail in May 2024 after earlier pleading guilty to three charges for his role in stealing secret defence documents about the Afghanistan war and leaking them to the media.
McBride collected mostly secret military information over an 18-month period in 2014 and 2015 and handed it to journalists at the ABC. The material was used as the basis for the public broadcaster’s 2017 investigative series exposing alleged war crimes committed by Australian defence force personnel in Afghanistan titled The Afghan Files.
McBride remains in Canberra’s Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Read more about his life inside prison here:
