Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update. The hunt for Porepunkah shooting suspect Dezi Freeman has entered its third day as severe weather conditions in Victoria’s high country are expected to hamper police efforts.
Parts of the state’s north-east were blanketed with fresh winter snow on Wednesday night. As one of the strongest cold fronts of the season approaches the alpine region, Victoria’s police minister has said the force is “throwing everything” at the manhunt.
Specialist police continued to scour bushland around the rural property where detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson, 59, and senior constable Vadim De Waart, 35, were allegedly killed by Freeman. Follow live updates here.
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In pictures
Sophie Cape has won the $100,000 Hadley’s art prize, awarded to the most outstanding portrayal of Australian landscape, in her first year as a finalist. Her work, made using locally sourced materials found in southern NSW after the 2024 floods, will be exhibited with the other finalists in Hobart from 29 August until 21 September.
What they said …
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“I play grade cricket with young cricketers who are coming through. There are 16-year-olds with gambling accounts and they cannot watch the game without putting a bet on.” – Usman Khawaja
The Australian cricketer says the federal government has been “100% too slow” to ban gambling ads and must sever the industry’s link with sport to protect children. He met with Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers on Thursday.
Full Story
The manhunt in Porepunkah continues
Since Tuesday morning, police have been searching for Dezi Freeman, a so-called “sovereign citizen”. Police say he has fled into bushland after the alleged killing of two police officers at a property in the Victorian town of Porepunkah.
Reged Ahmad speaks to Catie McLeod, who is on the ground in Porepunkah, and Nino Bucci about what we know of the suspect and the manhunt for him.
Before bed read
The concept of a “fair go” is quintessentially Australian. Yet it appears that our ideas about equality in this country may be increasingly ill-founded. A new report found that Australians significantly underestimate the number of people with lower-than-average earnings, and overestimate how many earn in the top 30%, with far-reaching implications.
Nicki Hutley writes about how this is a lucky country for many, but our wealth is not shared equally.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: DIVI. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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