Good afternoon. Victoria’s police commissioner has apologised for the role the force played in the stolen generations over more than 100 years.
Shane Patton delivered what he described as a “long overdue” apology in the presence of survivors of the stolen generations, their children and other members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Melbourne on Friday.
The apology is part of a series of commitments Victoria police made after its appearance at the state’s truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, last year. You can view Patton’s full speech here.
Ian Hamm, a Yorta Yorta man and child of the stolen generations, said he “never thought” police would apologise and urged Patton, who critics have labelled “woke”, to embrace the term as a “badge of honour of doing what needed to be done”.
Top news
Papua New Guinea landslide | A landslide in a remote region in northern Papua New Guinea killed up to 100 people early on Friday, locals have estimated. Six villages in Mulitaka, in Enga province’s Porgera-Paiela district, were covered by the landslide. Authorities are yet to give an official death toll.
Australian suffers severe spinal injury after Singapore flight | Kerry Davis remains in intensive care in Bangkok with a severe spinal injury after she was flung to the ceiling before falling motionless to the floor when flight SQ321 hit turbulence. Her husband, Keith Davis, said she had no sensation from her waist down.
Ex-teacher’s child sexual abuse conviction quashed | A former New South Wales teacher has become the second person to have a historical child sexual abuse conviction quashed after successfully arguing the laws in place at the time did not cover women. Gaye Grant, now in her late 70s, had been jailed in December 2022 for abusing a boy in the 1970s after pleading guilty to maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
Doug Moran prize put on hold | Australia’s most lucrative portrait award has quietly disappeared, after the philanthropic arm of Moran Health Care Group, which funds the $150,000 prize, decided not to award it in 2023 or 2024.
Queensland blocks carbon capture storage project | The state government has rejected Glencore’s proposed carbon capture storage project in southern Queensland on the basis that it could cause “irreversible long-term change to groundwater quality”. The proposal drew fierce criticism from farming and environmental groups based on the risk it posed to the Great Artesian Basin.
First millennial saint | A London-born boy who died of leukaemia aged 15 will become the Catholic church’s first millennial saint. Carlo Acutis, an internet evangelist who lived from 1991 to 2006, qualified for canonisation on Thursday when Pope Francis decreed he had performed a second posthumous miracle.
US abortion | Leading anti-abortion activist Ingrid Skop, who previously said nine-year-olds could safely give birth, has been appointed to a Texas health committee tasked with reviewing maternal deaths. Thursday also saw California legislate to make it easier for those seeking abortions in Arizona to get care across the western border.
David Marr to replace Phillip Adams on Late Night Live | The veteran journalist will replace Adams as the host of ABC radio’s Late Night Live. Adams, who turns 85 in July, has held the role for nearly 33 years but is retiring due to poor health.
Melbourne boxer survives second shooting in two years | Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim, a professional boxer, was not wounded when shots were fired at him outside his home on Friday morning. The former Mongols bikie previously survived an assassination attempt outside a cemetery two years ago.
Mark Latham’s homophobic tweet whipped up ‘frenzy’ of abuse towards Alex Greenwich, defamation trial told | NSW independent MP Alex Greenwich was subjected to a level of abuse he had never experienced before following a homophobic tweet posted by Mark Latham, a court has heard.
What they said …
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“Macron is welcome, but he is not our president” – Axel, 21.
Axel defines himself as a child of Kanaky, the name given to New Caledonia by independence activists.
Indigenous Kanak protesters have told Guardian Australia they are fighting to correct years of widening inequality, after French president Emmanuel Macron visited the Pacific territory to quell violent protests against proposed voting reforms.
In numbers
The state was seeing only 280 cases a day last week, and case numbers are expected to increase.
Before bed read
Are we right to ban under-16s from social media when digital brain rot is hitting over-60s the hardest?
Miski Omar offers this argument for why we should ban older Australians from social media.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: . You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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