What we learned: Wednesday, 6 August
With that, we will wrap the blog for the day. Thanks for staying with us. Nick Visser will be back tomorrow morning to take you through Thursday’s breaking news. Until then, here were the biggest headlines:
Anthony Albanese spoke to France’s Emmanuel Macron about Gaza, climate and trade on the phone overnight.
Ed Husic called for the prime minister to work with Donald Trump as Australia weighs recognising a Palestinian state.
Faith and community groups called on Albanese to sanction Israel and recognise Palestine.
YouTube and Apple are not tracking the number of users reporting child sexual abuse on their platforms, the eSafety commissioner said. Meanwhile, Google said almost all child abuse content on YouTube was detected and removed.
Power prices could become more volatile due to the unpredictability of some renewable energy sources, a draft energy market review warned.
Victoria has recorded an 82% spike in e-bike collisions, with the blame laid on lingering “confusion” about how powerful the bikes can be.
NSW has moved to crack down on illegal tobacco vendors, with penalties of up to $1.5m in fines and seven years’ imprisonment.
Corporate regulator Asic said it was in the final stages of approving a rival for the ASX, after an application from CBOE Australia.
And Col Joye, the first Australian rock’n’roll musician to land a No 1 on the national music charts, has died at 89.
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$305,000 awarded to international student in ‘landmark’ sexual harassment case
The federal court has awarded an international student $305,000, after it found she was sexually harassed and further victimised by threats of a defamation case.
The damages ruling included $160,000 in general damages, which the Redfern Legal Centre said was the highest award ever recorded in an Australian sexual harassment claim.
The centre brought the case on behalf of the woman, then 22, who was working at a fast-food franchise. It was successful in claims of sexual harassment, victimisation and aggravated damages.
The woman has been unable to work for two and a half years since leaving the workplace where the harassment occurred, the centre said.
Seri Feldman-Gubbay, a senior solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, said:
No matter your income, race, disability, or visa status, if you are working in Australia, you have the right to a safe workplace, free from discrimination and harassment.
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Latham seeks documents on decade-old sexual harassment allegations against former NSW ALP secretary
Allegations of sexual harassment from 2015 against the former New South Wales Labor secretary Jamie Clements are again in the news.
Documents about the alleged harassment of a female Labor staffer in the NSW parliament will be made available to parliamentarians under an order for papers in the NSW upper house.
Independent Mark Latham, who has been under scrutiny over his own behaviour in parliament, called for the papers.
He is seeking documents related to investigations by the NSW Police. No charges were laid against Clements.
Latham has raised questions under privilege about the involvement of the premier, Chris Minns – then an opposition backbencher – in the aftermath of the incident.
Latham accused the premier of hypocrisy in calling out his alleged behaviour. He said Minns was a close friend of Clements and that the 2015 incident was not properly investigated.
“This is an incredibly serious matter, which the upper house needs to call the Labor party to account,” Latham said in support of his motion.
A decade of denial is enough. The slutshamers, the intimidators, the perpetrators and the perverters of justice thought they had got away with it.
Latham’s call for papers includes the police file and any other related documents created by government agencies that dealt with the 2015 incident.
Labor did not oppose the order. The Greens and other minor parties supported Latham’s request, saying there were real issues about the way allegations of sexual harassment were dealt with in the NSW parliament and by political parties, despite a report by Liz Broderick recommending reforms.
Documents are usually produced within 28 days. They are usually made public, but agencies can limit access to members of parliament for reasons of privacy or because they are privileged.
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Asic close to approving rival for ASX
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) could finally have some much-needed competition, after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) revealed it was in the “final stages” of approving an application from CBOE Australia to operate a rival exchange.
The ASX is effectively the only option for an Australian company that wants to publicly list its shares.
Cboe Australia was formerly known as Chi-X before being bought out by the American giant Cboe Global Markets in mid-2021. Cboe also has operations in Europe and Canada.
The regulator made the announcement at today’s meeting of Jim Chalmers’ investor roundtable, where Asic also announced it was looking at ways to make it easier for foreign companies to have a dual listing in the local share market.
Asic and the Reserve Bank have been intensely critical of the ASX’s operations after a major meltdown of its computer systems last year that led to serious disruptions before Christmas.
The regulator in June launched an inquiry into the ASX’s risk management, citing “repeated and serious failures”.
The Asic chair, Joe Longo, when launching the inquiry, referred to the ASX as “ubiquitous”. He said:
You simply cannot buy and settle on the Australian public equities and futures markets without relying on ASX and its systems.
Chalmers said in a statement that if the market listing went ahead, “this will mean more investment in Australian businesses and that means more jobs and opportunities for Australian workers”.
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Flood evacuations under way in Narrabri, NSW
Residents are evacuating Narrabri in northern New South Wales as water levels rise after heavy rains battered the state.
Narrabri Creek exceeded the major flood level this afternoon and could rise further this evening, the NSW State Emergency Service has warned. The SES has already issued 16 emergency warnings in the area, encouraging locals to leave.
Flooding is expected to reach the town of Wee Waa, 40km west of Narrabri, on Wednesday evening. The SES has issued a watch and act warning, urging residents not to enter flood waters.
The SES has already carried out 39 flood rescues and responded to more than 2,500 incidents as the damaging weather hits the state.
The SES acting assistant commissioner, Allison Flaxman, said water levels were expected to remain high for several days in some locations. She urged people in Narrabri to leave while they could:
Flood water can rise faster than expected and cut off roads, leaving people isolated or in danger. We are strongly urging everyone in the affected areas to evacuate while it’s still safe to do so. Please don’t wait until it’s too late.
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Arts and media groups demand Labor take a stand against ‘rampant theft’ of Australian content to train AI
Calls for the careful regulation of artificial intelligence from Ed Husic and Bridget McKenzie this afternoon follow advocacy today from arts, creative, and media groups, as well as the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley.
The organisations have demanded the government rule out allowing big tech companies to take Australian content to train AI models, with concerns such a shift would “sell out” Australian workers and lead to “rampant theft” of intellectual property.
The Albanese government said it had no plans to change copyright law, but any changes must consider the impact on artists and news media. Ley said copyrighted material must not be used without compensation.
“It is not appropriate for big tech to steal the work of Australian artists, musicians, creators, news media, journalism, and use it for their own ends without paying for it,” Ley said on Wednesday.
Read more here:
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eSafety commissioner has ‘too much power’, Liberal shadow minister says
The Coalition’s shadow communications minister has backed tighter rules for online platforms around child sexual abuse – but wants that call to be made by the government, not the eSafety commissioner.
The commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, today said YouTube and Apple were not tracking the number of users reporting child sexual abuse on their platforms. Google has since said almost all child abuse content was detected and removed.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh said the report showed more needed to be done, but she did not want the eSafety commissioner to be handed more powers. She told the ABC:
I feel in some respects the eSafety commissioner, as an unelected official, has too much power in some ways. I think she should be – it should be officials; it should be parliamentarians that are making such serious decisions.
McIntosh said more rules were needed, but the government should set them:
If children are being exploited in the most horrible, disgusting ways that no one reasonable could even imagine, the government needs to step in a little bit more.
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Nationals’ Bridget McKenzie says AI risks ‘challenging what it means to be a human’
The adoption of artificial intelligence could threaten what it means to be human, Bridget McKenzie, the Nationals frontbencher, has warned.
The Victorian senator and former Coalition minister told the ABC the financial savings of AI adoption should not outweigh the social costs. She said:
We also run the risk of really challenging what it means to be a human, and that is our creative industries and the process of creating. For us, it’s not just about the intellectual property piece, per se, but also the process of being a creative, writing a song, prose, dance, that is part of being human. I would hate to see that somehow be frittered away in a chase for some economic nirvana.
I’m also a grandmother. So, I have an interest in the future, not just next week’s share price.
McKenzie said she was worried about AI’s impact and endorsed calls from Labor’s Ed Husic for the consideration of overarching legislation or an “AI act”.
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Coalition frontbencher calls for ‘brave’ reform from roundtable
Bridget McKenzie has called for Labor to use its mandate to enact big economic reform ahead of the government’s productivity roundtable in two weeks’ time.
The Nationals frontbencher said tax, industrial relations and energy should be the focus of the roundtable, rather than the theme that the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is emphasising – government regulation.
McKenzie told the ABC the government should be more bold:
The Australian people have legit given these guys a huge mandate and they should use what is often nowadays quite a unique proposition. … Everything should be on the table.
I call on the treasurer to be brave. Our economy needs it.
McKenzie declined to specifically endorse the Productivity Commission’s proposal to cut company tax and bring in a cashflow tax. She pointed to the need to bring down road construction costs and ensure electric vehicle drivers paid for their road use:
There’s some really cool ways we can address the productivity concerns.
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Husic calls for Albanese to work with Trump on Palestine recognition
Ed Husic has called for the prime minister to coordinate with Donald Trump as Australia weighs recognising a Palestinian state.
Speaking to the ABC, Husic praised Anthony Albanese for discussing Gaza with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the wake of France’s commitment to recognising a Palestinian state.
The two leaders had a phone call overnight, discussing their longstanding support for a two state solution and their commitment to getting aid to civilians amid the crisis in Gaza. An official readout passed on to the media did not specifically mention recognition.
Husic said international cooperation would be essential if Australia was to work to end the violence facing Gaza’s innocent civilians. He added:
We’ll need to find ways too, as startling as this may sound, of engaging the Trump administration on this. Because they will have a lot of impact and sway on the Netanyahu government. So it will require us finding ways to work across nations on that.
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Former tech minister calls for an AI act
Ed Husic, Labor’s former industry and technology minister, has defended the prospect of economy-wide laws for artificial intelligence.
The government’s Productivity Commission overnight warned an overarching AI-specific piece of legislation risked stifling the technology’s potentially transformative benefits - a perspective Andrew Leigh, Labor’s assistant minister for productivity, has backed.
Husic has previously suggested Australia could benefit from an “AI act” while he was a minister in the Albanese government. Now a backbencher, he told the ABC:
The view that we can just skate through without having a firm regulatory approach is not going to cut it. … If we want people to have the confidence around that, you need to have a solid regulatory framework.
If we don’t have an economy-wide act, what we get left with is a Whack-A-Mole approach – an AI problem comes up, we whack a new law and regulation on it, we think it works, it’s horrendously slow, complicated and is contradictory in many cases.
Husic said a clear framework would be more effective than piecemeal regulation, warning unregulated AI uptake could lead to economic and political disruption if leads to loss of jobs:
It’s a bit unedifying to lose your job to an AI chat bot. Businesses that rush to just put the technology in without thinking of the consequences for their workforce, they create an element of political instability as well that gets pounced on by the extremes of politics, who claim that people are being ripped off and not being given a fair go.
The Labor backbencher also supported calls for creative workers to be compensated for the use of their work in AI training models.
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Leigh convenes economic roundtable in Melbourne ahead of larger roundtable discussions
Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for productivity, is bringing together a high level group of economic thinkers in Melbourne on Thursday, part of discussions ahead of this month’s government roundtable.
Leigh is assembling a roundtable for academics and think tanks “to consider ways to support a more dynamic and competitive economy, mobilise investment, develop Australia’s human capital, and facilitate innovation”.
Some of the notable names attending include tax experts Robert Breunig and Miranda Stewart, housing expert Peter Tulip from the Centre for Independent Studies, former Reserve Bank deputy Guy Debelle, economists Saul Eslake and Dan Andrews, Michael Brennan from the e61 Institute and John Asker from the University of California.
Sessions at the event will cover technology and human capital, investment and allocative efficiency. Leigh said:
By bringing together some of the country’s best academic and think tank economists, we’re tapping into a wealth of expertise to help shape smarter policy. This isn’t about theory for theory’s sake – it’s about practical ideas that can boost productivity and improve lives.
Economic forecasts are tricky – especially about the future. But with this roundtable, I predict success.
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Student strike for Palestine planned around Australia on Thursday
Students around Australia are planning to walk out of class tomorrow to protest starvation in Gaza and demand Australia sanction Israel.
Organisers said hundreds of university and high school students were expected to rally at Sydney’s Town Hall on Thursday, with more protests planned for Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Wollongong.
The rallies will demand the government cut trade and diplomatic ties with Israel and impose further sanctions, Students for Palestine said in a statement. Students will also protest universities’ partnerships with weapons companies and restrictions on pro-Palestine activism on campuses.
Josh Lees is among those who will address Sydney’s rally. The Palestine Action Group activist and organiser of Sunday’s Harbour Bridge march said:
Our incredible mobilisation on Sunday demonstrated that public opinion is overwhelmingly opposed to the crimes Israel is committing in Gaza …. The students are showing that ordinary people in Australia will continue to demonstrate until our voices are heard and our government ends its material support for Israel’s war crimes.
Hannah Thomas, the former Greens candidate whose eye was injured after attending a pro-Palestine rally, is also expected to speak.
Yasmine Johnson, rally organiser and a student at the University of Technology Sydney, pointed to a United Nations’ agency’s estimate that 28 children have died each day in Gaza in the past 22 months.
That’s a classroom’s worth of young lives being taken from us every day by bombing and starvation. Enough is enough.
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NSW flu cases almost double in July
Flu cases in NSW have nearly doubled in the last two months as doctors warn the state’s vaccination rates are lagging the rest of the country.
The latest data shows a jump of more than 78% in the number of flu cases in July (37,895) compared to June (21,257), the peak body for GPs is warning. The Royal Australian College of GPs is calling on patients to ensure they get the flu vaccination, which is recommended for all people aged 6 months and over to have yearly.
Dr Rebekah Hoffman, a Sydney-based GP and the NSW chair of the College, said there was a worrying trend of low immunity across the state.
I’ve diagnosed more influenza A and B cases in the last few weeks than I have over the rest of the flu season. And frankly, patients haven’t been getting their flu jabs at the same rate as other years. They can certainly help themselves when it comes to the flu vaccine.
The percentage of people aged 15 and over vaccinated in NSW is below the national average. There is also a shortage of people aged over 65 getting their jabs. We would urge them strongly to take action. People aged 65 years and over are more likely to require hospitalisation or have serious complications due to influenza, such as pneumonia or a heart attack.
Cases have almost doubled, and vaccinations are low – flu jabs need to be prioritised for those most vulnerable in our community- it is definitely still not too late to have your flu vaccine!
Dr Hoffman said flu vaccines should be free in NSW.
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CommBank predicts house prices to rise by 6% by year’s end
Home prices are on track to rise by 6% by the end of the year, the Commonwealth Bank says, as it revises its forecasts higher.
Housing prices have already grown faster than CommBank had expected, up 3.1% in 2025 so far, forcing the country’s biggest bank to hike its prediction from 4% over the year to 6% – though the year’s early hype has pulled down its 2026 growth expectation, from 5% to 4%.
CommBank’s economists Luke Yeaman and Lucinda Jerogin said the forecasts assumed the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates twice more this year. They wrote in a note:
The Sydney and Melbourne markets have been buoyed by rate cuts to date in 2025 and we anticipate two further rate reductions in August and November will lift price growth to 5% in both capitals by years’ end.
That’s a big boost from current annual paces of 1.6% in Sydney and 0.5% in Melbourne over the year to August, as the capitals shake off last year’s brief price cooldown.
Brisbane is on track to see home prices rise 8% by the end of 2025, while Perth and Adelaide are set to see growth of 7% and 6% respectively. That momentum will stay strong into 2026, at 5% or more for each city, CommBank predicts.
Is there any hope for homebuyers? Well, the CBA economists said construction activity is broadly tracking as expected for 2025, helping constrain price growth. Otherwise, the government’s productivity roundtable could discourage investors if property tax reform is put forward:
Whatever the outcome, active public discussion around changes to the tax treatment of housing will likely dampen investor appetite and could see home prices underperform. … Government policy is the wildcard that could see prices disappoint.
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Victorians lost more than $40m to AFL club poker machines in 2024-25
Victorians lost more than $40m to poker machines operated by four AFL clubs during the 2024-25 financial year, according to analysis of government data by the group No Pokies At Essendon.
The money was lost at 660 poker machines linked to the Essendon, St Kilda, Carlton and Richmond football clubs.
Roughly half of the money was lost to the 290 machines run by the Carlton football club across its four venues. Another $14.4m was lost to 190 machines owned by Essendon at Windy Hill and the Melton country club. Richmond’s 97 machines collected losses of $4.6m and the St Kilda social club collected almost $1.7m.
In a statement, No Pokies At Essendon said the figures “highlight the social damage caused by the failure of the state government to implement its proposed gambling reforms, including mandatory carded play”:
It appears the state government, like the AFL, remains closely tied to gambling interests, which explains why they have failed to provide a pathway for venue operators to exit the industry before the expiration of their [gaming machine] entitlements, without penalty.
A Victorian government-commissioned report by academics has found the social cost of gambling in the state had doubled from $7bn in 2014-15 to $14bn in 2022-23 – despite fewer people gambling.
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Thanks Nick and good afternoon. I’ll be taking you through the rest of today’s news.
That’s all for me, thanks for sticking with us this morning. Luca Ittimani will be your news guide this afternoon. Take care!
How a controversial hand gesture divided opinion in the NRL
The NRL showed leniency on Wednesday by letting off Wests Tigers players with a warning after they used a gesture offensive to some Lebanese-Australian communities in Sunday’s victory over Canterbury-Bankstown. But the sanction is unlikely to satisfy everyone given the range of responses elicited, from those outraged to others who believe the act was “just a bit of banter”.
Celebrating a second-half try to seal an upset Tigers’ win against the high-flying Bulldogs in pouring rain at Parramatta, backrower Samuela Fainu made a hand gesture known as “the khawd”, and his teammates quickly joined in.
Prominent Bulldogs podcast the Kennel sought to provide context amid the storm of attention this week. “Khawd literally means ‘take this’ in Arabic. If done to a mate it’s the funniest thing, but when done in spite people will literally kill each other over giving each other the khawd,” its host, Elmo, said.
Almost one in five residents of Bankstown have Lebanese ancestry, and the Bulldogs’ fanbase has a strong association with Arab communities in Sydney’s west. The club holds an annual Ifthar dinner each year during Ramadan and one of its favourite sons is Lebanon-born former winger Hazem El-Masri.
Many Bulldogs fans in the stands on Sunday took offence at the sign made by the raucous Tigers players, some returning with a khawd of their own, while others put their thumbs down or raised their middle finger.
Read more here:
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Body found after search for woman missing in NSW flood waters
Emergency officials have found a body believed to be that of a woman missing since Saturday after the vehicle she was travelling in became trapped in flood waters in the Hunter Valley.
Police have been searching for the woman, 26, for days after rescuers were called to the town of Rothbury amid reports a car had become stuck. Upon arrival they found a Mini Countryman another woman, 27, had attempted to drive through the flood before it became stuck.
The 27-year-old was rescued but the younger woman, a Chinese national who was working as an engineer in Australia, was swept away.
The body was located earlier today, and while police have not formally identified it, NSW police believe it is that of the missing woman. A report will be prepared by the coroner.
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Google responds to eSafety’s claims against YouTube’s tracking of child abuse
Earlier we brought you details of eSafety slamming tech companies Apple and Google over their responses to transparency requests on how they’re tracking and stopping child abuse material on their services. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said YouTube was not tracking the number of users reporting child sexual abuse.
In response, a spokesperson for Google said the commissioner’s comments “are rooted in reporting metrics, not online safety performance”.
The spokesperson said:
More than 99% of all [child abuse] content on YouTube is proactively detected and removed by our robust automated systems before it is flagged or viewed. Our focus remains on outcomes and detecting and removing [child abuse content] on YouTube.
Child safety is critical to us. We’ve led the industry fight against child sexual abuse material since day one, investing heavily in advanced technology to proactively find and remove this harmful content. We also provide these tools, like CSAI Match, free to partners in industry and NGOs.
Tasmanian trainer fined $2,000 for animal cruelty after repeatedly whipping racehorse
A Tasmanian racehorse trainer has been fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to animal cruelty for whipping a horse more than 40 times in four minutes, Martin Agatyn reports.
Liandra Gray was found guilty of one count of causing unreasonable and unjustifiable pain to 7-year-old thoroughbred gelding The Bolt by striking him repeatedly with a padded racing whip.
Magistrate Evan Hughes found the charge proven after a hearing in the Devonport magistrates court in May, and on Wednesday handed down a fine of $2,000, saying the court needed to demonstrate a general deterrent to breaches of the Tasmanian Animal Welfare Act.
The maximum penalty under the act is an $18,000 fine and 12 months’ prison.
Read more here:
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Australian share market hits record high
Australia’s share market has surged to record highs as miners helped the bourse shrug off a weak Wall Street session to top 8,800 points for the first time, AAP reports.
Buyers pushed the S&P/ASX200 up 0.6% as the broader All Ordinaries surged 0.64%. By midday the two indexes had eased to 8,818.6 and 9,084.3 points respectively.
The morning rally came after the top-200’s best-ever close on Tuesday, and flew past its previous intraday best of 8,776.4 on 18 July, taking its combined market capitalisation to $2.9tn.
The All Ordinaries, which includes the Australian Securities Exchange’s top 500 companies, is now valued at $3.1tn.
Helping the local bourse buck an overnight down-tick on Wall Street was Australia’s relative lack of volatility-prone tech companies and an ongoing influx of funds into global miners, said Michael McCarthy, a strategist at the Moomoo market trading platform.
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Tasmania Labor leader says motion of no confidence in premier to come on first day of new parliament
Tasmania’s Labor leader, Dean Winter, said Tasmania needs a government that will last the next four years, just hours after premier Jeremy Rockliff was reappointed until at least 19 August by the state’s governor.
Winter is speaking at a press conference, saying “we need to change the way that the parliament works and we need to change the government”. He said a motion of no confidence will be tabled on the first day of the new parliament, either by Labor or a crossbencher.
It is clear we need a parliament that will work together and Tasmania Labor stands ready to work with the crossbench to deliver Tasmanians a stable parliament and a stable government that can last four years. …
Tasmanians can be assured that any motion we move will not result in another election, it will result in either a Liberal government or a Labor government. …
There will be a motion moved. Whether it is by us or an independent, a motion will be moved in parliament of no-confidence in the Liberals and confidence in a Labor government.
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Sivaraman stresses needs to work with all communities at once to address discrimination
Giridharan Sivaraman, the race discrimination commissioner, said the government needs to come up with solutions to address hate speech that help “all communities”, and that involves talking to all sides while not pitting people from one demographic against another. He said:
When it comes to solutions that will tackle racism, if you just work with one community to the exclusion of another, you don’t come up with solutions that will help everyone. Other communities feel like they’re not seen, they’re not heard, that their trauma isn’t real.
That creates distrust in government. It creates distrust between communities.
He was also asked about Jillian Segal’s proposal to adopt a working definition of antisemitism. Sivaraman said the Race Discrimination Act already provides protections against racial discrimination without “specific definitions of particular types of racism”:
I don’t think we could move towards very specific definitions of types of racism.
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Sussan Ley concerned no ‘guardrails’ to prevent AI from using copyrighted work
The opposition leader Sussan Ley came out strongly against suggestions big tech companies could get a special deal to let their AI programs use copyrighted work from Australian journalists, creatives and artists, saying creators deserve fair compensation.
In a press conference today, Ley was asked about the Productivity Commission’s report into AI, which laid out several options on copyright material, including one suggestion of “amending the Copyright Act to include a fair dealing exception that would cover text and data mining”.
Ley said she was concerned that there were no “guardrails to prevent big tech stealing the hard earned products of our content creators, whether they be journalists or artists or musicians or writers.” She said:
It is not appropriate for big tech to steal the work of Australian artists, musicians, creators, news media, journalism, and use it for their own ends without paying for it.
We have to protect content creators, and I don’t see that. There’s very wishy-washy language coming from this government this morning about protecting the real intellectual property and the creative work of so many incredible Australians.
We need a government that actually protects our content creators. We need a government that backs in our artists, our writers, our musicians and our unique and special Australian content.
Ley continued that she had heard “alarm” from content creators and journalists about the suggestion. She said the opposition would continue consulting with interested parties, but stated: “that work is theirs and it can’t be taken without it being paid for.”
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Police arrest man on charges of supplying ‘supercharged’ vape liquid laced with synthetic opioid
NSW police have a charged a Sydney man with allegedly supplying vape liquid laced with nitazene, a synthetic opioid officials warn is highly addictive, potent and potentially lethal.
Officials said the man, 20, was arrested on Friday after a raid on a home in Revesby in Sydney’s west. Police seized 2.1kg of nitazene during that raid, part of what they described as an alleged sophisticated drug distribution model surrounding nitazene-laced vapes sold between March and July.
Police alleged the vials of vape liquid were labeled as “supercharged”.
The man faces charges of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime. He has been refused bail.
Det Supt John Watson, the commander of the drug and firearms squad, said he was deeply concerned after the raid. Health officials say nitazenes can be stronger than fentanyl.
Nitazenes are highly addictive, incredibly potent and can be lethal. …
This is the first time in Australia someone has been charged with supplying nitazene-laced vape liquid, which [we allege] demonstrates a disturbing evolution in the illicit drug trade, but our squad is constantly adapting to meet these emerging threats head-on.
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Race discrimination commissioner says balance between protection against hate speech and freedom of institutions must be made
Giridharan Sivaraman, the race discrimination commissioner, is speaking at the National Press Club.
Guardian Australia’s Krishani Dhanji just asked about special envoy on antisemitism Jillian Segal’s proposal that universities have their funding frozen if they don’t adequately address such hate.
Sivaraman said:
There has to be protection against racial vilification and hate speech, but there also has to be protection of the independence of institutions, whether it’s universities, media or other institutions. And that protection means that whatever restrictions you make need to be proportionate to the harm that you’re trying to eradicate. …
It is really important to get that right and that is something certainly that we’ll have to grapple with in our universities study.
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Should big tech be allowed to mine Australians’ text and data to train AI? The Productivity Commission is considering it
The Productivity Commission is examining whether technology firms should be exempted from copyright rules that stop companies from mining text and data to train artificial intelligence models.
The PC, in its interim report into “harnessing data and the digital economy”, used copyright as a case study for how Australia’s existing regulatory framework could be adapted to manage the risks of artificial intelligence.
A key recommendation from the interim report was that the federal government should conduct a sweeping review of regulations to plug potential gaps that could be exploited by “bad actors” using AI.
Read more here:
Nearly 40 flood rescues among the 2,500 incidents tackled by NSW SES
NSW’s State Emergency Service has responded to more than 2,500 incidents, including nearly 40 flood rescues, as severe weather batters the state.
The SES said 143 of those emergency incidents had occurred in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday. It also recorded more than 4,800 calls for help since heavy rain began threatening communities in the state’s north on Monday.
The SES warned of further flooding this afternoon in Narrabri and Wee Waa, in the state’s New England region, sending support to the region and warning residents to evacuate or prepare to leave.
Nearly 50 warnings remain in force across the Mid North Coast, Upper Hunter and New England regions. The SES expects flooding to endure in Gunnedah despite rain easing, while floodwaters are continuing to fall in the Hunter.
NSW Greens trying to protect Mark Latham ‘troubling’
Staying with New South Wales politics:
The independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, has responded to the censure motions against Mark Latham failing. He said:
Given the seriousness of the issue raised, and the public outrage, it’s deeply troubling that the Greens voted to protect Mark Latham.
Labor’s leader in the upper house, Penny Sharpe, had pushed for a censure motion against Latham, a former One Nation and now independent MP. But the opposition, Greens and some of the minor party members agreed to delay the move, arguing it should wait for the results of the privileges inquiry.
Sharpe had detailed Latham’s use of parliamentary privilege, which protects MPs from defamation proceedings, to share the medical records of Greenwich. The records had been part of a workplace sexual harassment and vilification claim that Greenwich won against Latham.
More on this story here:
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NSW moves to hike illegal tobacco fines and prison sentences
Sellers of illegal tobacco will face large fines of up to $1.5m and seven years imprisonment under new laws before the NSW parliament today, the state’s health minister, Ryan Park, has announced.
The government also will introduce short term 30-day closure orders which can be followed up with longer 1-year closures issued by courts, as well as powers to remove licences to sell tobacco legally from those caught also selling illegal tobacco.
“What we are determined to do is stem the spread of these illegal tobacco shops across NSW and across Sydney,” Park said.
The premier, Chris Minns, said NSW had been prompted to act after Queensland introduced tough new laws. He said:
I don’t want to be in a position where that illegal trade migrates across the Queensland-NSW border into our state.
Park said:
We don’t pretend we can stop this trade immediately. But it is another step to reduce the availability of this product across NSW.
The government is also increasing the number of enforcement officers within the health department who will work with NSW police.
Minns said NSW would continue to advocate for the federal government a cut to the excise on legal tobacco, despite the federal health minister, Mark Butler, rejecting this approach.
Minns said it was “a commonsense approach” to cut excise on tobacco to bring down the cost of legal tobacco.
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University of Sydney responds to increase in sexual misconduct complaints
In an email to the university community on Wednesday, the vice chancellor, Prof Mark Scott, said the report underscored the university’s commitment to “transparency, accountability and care” in addressing sexual misconduct.
Scott said:
We acknowledge the strength and courage of all victim-survivors ... Sexual misconduct is unacceptable in any form, and we recognise our unique responsibility to help drive meaningful change in our community.
While we have made progress in fostering a safer and more respectful environment for our community, we continue working to listen, build trust, and reduce barriers for those who bravely report sexual misconduct.
Scott noted there was a 7% increase in the ratio of complaints to disclosures, which may reflect a “greater awareness of and confidence in our complaints handling processes and a higher number of bystander complaints”.
There were 176 disclosures to the university, which are reported by people who don’t want investigations or specific actions to be taken but may be seeking support.
All disclosures and complaints are reflected in the university’s report regardless of where the incident occurred or who it involved.
This year’s report comes as a National Student Ombudsman has been operating on campuses as part of the federal government action plan to address gender-based violence in higher education.
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Sexual misconduct complaints nearly double at University of Sydney
Sexual misconduct complaints have almost doubled at the University of Sydney in the past year, new data shows, with the vice chancellor attributing the rise to greater awareness in its processes.
The university’s third annual report on sexual misconduct, released on Wednesday, found there had been 55 sexual misconduct complaints in 2024, including 38 that were victim-survivor led, 10 lodged by bystanders and seven initiated by the university due to concerns over student or staff safety.
All were confirmed to be incidents of university-related sexual misconduct, up from 29 in 2023 and 22 in 2022. Eight of last year’s complaints were categorised as sexual assault and 47 were categorised as sexual harassment.
Since 2023, one person has been expelled from the university over sexual misconduct and two have been suspended, the report found.
Universities are not required to publicly release sexual misconduct data, but it is becoming more common as the sector addresses backlash over poor complaints mechanisms. Of Australia’s 39 public universities, almost a dozen - including the University of Melbourne, ANU, UNSW and Monash - have begun formally disclosing annual reports.
The latest National Student Safety Survey, released in 2021, found one in 20 students had been sexually assaulted since starting university and one in six had reported being sexually harassed. Universities Australia, the peak body for the sector, was due to hold another national survey in 2024 after criticism over its response to student safety but it was yet to be released.
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Rockliff says he expects to govern for a full term
Jeremy Rockliff, newly reappointed as Tasmanian premier, said he believes the Liberal party will govern the state for the next four years despite its minority in parliament.
Rockliff has been speaking to reporters in Hobart. He said:
I believe that through sensible communication, everyone working together, pragmatism, working together on policies, working together in the best interests of Tasmanians. This is a government and a parliament that will last the full term.
Asked if he would serve as premier for the full four-year term, Rockliff said: “Yes”.
The premier said the Liberal party had no position on who should serve as speaker in the new parliament:
The next speaker is determined by the parliament. … I would welcome nominations from our party room, and would support someone being progressed forward from our team, of course. But that’s up to our party room.
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Rockliff thanks governor after being reappointed, says he’s ready to ‘get on with the job’
Jeremy Rockliff is speaking at a press conference for Nyrstar, which received a bailout from the federal government and state governments of South Australia and Tasmania yesterday. Rockliff said he wants to build on the progress made before the state’s snap election, saying:
What we want to do, by evidenced of today, is get on with the job. …
We all need to take learnings from the previous parliament. And certainly, I have. And we want to build on the progress that was made in terms of how parliament works for the betterment of all members of parliament and, of course, that means the betterment of all Tasmanians. And move forward.
Rockliff was asked if he would survive as leader in his first day of parliament, but said Tasmanians wouldn’t stand for any more “political games”:
Tasmanians are sick of the political games, and, frankly, they are turned off by the hostility. And so, what is important is that we are all mature in our approach.
Rockliff reappointed as Tasmania’s premier
The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has been reappointed until at least 19 August after his meeting with the state’s governor, Barbara Baker.
Baker said in a statement:
In a hung parliament, where no one clearly holds the confidence of the majority of the House of Assembly, the incumbent has the right to remain in office in order to test the numbers in the House of Assembly and for Parliament to have the final say in who should be Premier.
I consider the convention of incumbency applies in the current circumstances. I shall reappoint the Premier.
Rockliff and his cabinet will be sworn in early next week, with the next session of parliament to begin on 19 August.
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Jeremy Rockliff formally asks for Liberals to form government despite no crossbench deal
Tasmania’s premier has visited the governor in a bid to secure power and end weeks of political limbo after the state election, AAP reports.
Jeremy Rockliff arrived at a meeting with the governor, Barbara Baker, on Wednesday morning to formally ask for his government to be recommissioned, following a snap election that did not deliver either main party a majority.
Rockliff has not secured supply and confidence agreements with key crossbenchers, who are needed if a party hopes to govern in minority. However, he had previously indicated he thought it was “not necessary” in this instance.
The Labor leader, Dean Winter, is still vying for his party to form government, after revealing he had stepped up negotiations with crossbenchers – in particular independents – in recent days. Winter has so far ruled out a deal with the Greens, despite Labor needing the minor party’s support as well as that of the crossbench to form a majority.
Winter said Rockliff had the first shot at asking the governor to recommission him but it was not the only opportunity to form a government.
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Narrabri residents told to evacuate amid flooding on Peel and Namoi rivers
The NSW SES just issued new flood evacuations and warnings for the New England region as flood waters from a weekend of heavy rain head downstream.
Large parts of the town of Narrabri are being urged to evacuate by 2pm, with other areas under watch and act guidance. The warnings come as parts of Gunnedah are still under evacuation as authorities caution other areas could face similar threats as flood waters move down the Peel River and Namoi River.
⚠️Major #FloodWarning for the #PeelRiver and #NamoiRiver.
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) August 5, 2025
🟥 Major #flooding continuing at #Gunnedah.
🟥 Major flooding possible at #Narrabri from Wednesday afternoon and at #WeeWaa from Wednesday evening.
Details: https://t.co/r9o6ODg3Od pic.twitter.com/Xcl7u2UAzc
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Digital incoming passenger card trial expands to NZ-Sydney flights
Qantas travellers from New Zealand into Sydney airport will be the latest to trial new digital incoming passenger cards, ditching the infamous double-sided paper forms everyone is required to fill out before entering the country. Passengers on two inbound Qantas flights, QF144 from Auckland and QF122 from Queenstown, will now be able to complete the digital form in the airline’s app prior to travelling.
If travellers complete that declaration, they’ll be given a digital pass with a QR code meant to streamline their security clearance. Tony Burke, the minister for home affairs, said in a statement:
When people arrive in Sydney, I want them out of the airport and experiencing the city as fast as possible. Extending the trial to Australia’s busiest airport means every day, hundreds more passengers will have a more seamless travel experience.
More than 70,000 people have trialled the digital cards since the project was launched in Brisbane in October.
The trial for the new Australian Digital Travel Declaration (ATD) has kicked off via the Qantas app 📲
— Qantas (@Qantas) October 23, 2024
Qantas customers travelling from New Zealand have become the first to experience the fast-tracked arrival process, as part of a joint initiative with the Australian Government.… pic.twitter.com/ecWLrgM0Lx
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Peter Garrett says Australia can play ‘good, productive role’ in nuclear disarmament
Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil frontman and former federal environment minister, was asked earlier today about a new poll that found a majority of Australians support ratifying a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Garrett told RN Breakfast Australia had an important role to play in nuclear disarmament:
That’s a lot of Australians who are ready for this nuclear weapons treaty, an important treaty, to be signed. And a lot of those people would have voted for the government, and a lot of them would be Labor party members as well …
We’ve got to reduce the possibility for them to be used, and we’ve got to start working towards disarmament …
Essentially, what’s happened is that those powers that hold nuclear weapons, that believe that it does increase their security, [they] have held the world to ransom ever since that period of time … It’s not a good place for the world to be in. And Australia can play a really good, productive role here.
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Unicef says eSafety transparency report shows ‘patchwork effort’ to tackle child exploitation
Unicef Australia said laws need to be strengthened, including legislating a new duty of care on tech platforms, following the eSafety commissioner’s transparency report, as reported earlier in the blog.
Unicef Australia said in a statement:
The report shows a patchwork of efforts from tech companies to tackle child exploitation, but what we need is consistency. From our work around the world, UNICEF knows that consistency is paramount, particularly across platforms and across countries, because people who intend to harm children will exploit inconsistency wherever they find it.
Every sector has a role to play in tackling this terrible problem, including governments, law enforcement and tech platforms. Our laws need to be strengthened, and top of the list is legislating a new duty of care on tech platforms to ensure the safety of users, particularly children.
Col Joye, rock’n’roll trailblazer, dies at 89
Col Joye, the first Australian rock’n’roll musician to land a No 1 on the national music charts, has died aged 89.
The singer, born Colin Jacobsen in 1937, died on Tuesday night, his brother and former bandmate Kevin Jacobsen confirmed to Guardian Australia.
Joye started out as a member of the KJ Quintet, which was fronted by his brother Kevin and included their brother Keith, in Sydney in 1957. The band “impulsively” changed their name to Col Joye and the Joy Boys – a decision they later regretted – but their single Bye Bye Baby hit No 1 on the Sydney music charts in 1959 and No 3 nationally.
Their third single, Oh Yeah Uh Huh, released in October 1959, was the first rock song recorded and produced in Australia to become a national No 1 pop hit; unusually, the song’s beat was provided by the sound of a typewriter.
Both Kevin and Colin went into entertainment management, with Colin signing the Bee Gees to Joye Music after seeing them perform in Surfers Paradise in 1961. The Gibb brothers performed backing vocals on Joye’s 1963 hit Starlight of Love.
Joye was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1981 and inducted into the Aria Hall of Fame in 1988.
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Victoria records 82% spike in e-bike collisions
There’s been a 82% rise in collisions involving e-bikes in Victoria, prompting a crackdown over lingering “confusion” about how powerful the bikes can be, AAP reports.
There were 144 collisions involving e-bikes on Victorian roads in 2024, compared to 79 the previous year. It’s on track to be even higher in 2025, with early police data revealing 113 e-bike collisions were recorded in the first seven months of the year.
Road policing assistant commissioner Glenn Weir said 90% of the time e-bike crashes involved bikes that were overpowered, non-compliant with safety regulations or riders who had flouted road rules.
He pointed to community “confusion” over e-bikes, but stressed the onus was on riders to make sure their bikes don’t exceed power or speed rules, on top of complying with laws that affect all cyclists, like wearing a helmet.
Victoria police launched a fresh crackdown on Wednesday, targeting riders on overpowered or illegal e-bikes in Melbourne’s CBD.
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Jim Chalmers ‘optimistic’ AI can be force for good, but realises ‘risks’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is talking about the priorities of his upcoming productivity roundtable at a press conference. He had this to say on artificial intelligence:
I’m optimistic that AI can be a force for good, but I’m also realistic about the risks. It is not beyond us, in my view, to maximise the opportunities of AI while we manage the risks the best that we can.
We can chart a middle course that makes our workers and our people and our industries beneficiaries, not victims, of technological change … The only way to make our people and workers and industries beneficiaries is if we treat AI as an enabler, not an enemy, of what we want to see in our economy. That means listening to people. It means empowering workers with the right skills as well.
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Advertising revenue falls at News Corp’s Australian mastheads
News Corp’s Australian mastheads have endured another tough year, with revenue from advertising, circulation and subscription all down.
The company’s Australian division, which includes The Australian, Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun, saw advertising revenue fall by 5% to $US343m ($530m), while circulation and subscription income was down by 2%.
Weak advertising conditions have hit media companies around the world during a period marked by high inflation and elevated business costs.
News Corp’s Australian digital subscriber numbers did increase over the financial year, from 1.12m to 1.17m, according to financial results released early this morning.
The Australian division was still stronger than News Corp’s UK operations, where advertising revenue was down 11%.
While News Corp is best known for its traditional media assets, its book publishing, real estate portal and Dow Jones information businesses are the profit drivers.
Those businesses helped the Rupert Murdoch-controlled conglomerate post an overall increase in revenue during the past 12 months.
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Albanese increasing diplomatic moves on recognising Palestinian statehood
As he prepares to head to the UN general assembly in New York next month, Anthony Albanese has discussed plans to recognise Palestinian statehood with the organisation’s chief diplomat.
On Friday last week, the prime minister spoke with the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, about the ongoing war between Israel and terror group Hamas, and the growing coalition of countries preparing to recognise Palestine.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age first reported the contents of the conversation on Wednesday.
Albanese is intensifying diplomatic moves around recognition of Palestinian statehood, and has discussed the matter with world leaders including Emmanuel Macron of France overnight.
He had a call with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday and is publicly seeking a conversation with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, this week.
It’s possible Albanese will head to London after the UN trip in early September. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, is one of the world leaders Albanese is coordinating with on recognition of statehood and the pair spoke about a possible bilateral visit at the G7 summit in Canada in June. A meeting with Donald Trump is also expected sometime in coming months.
Overnight, an Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to discuss Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, was postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible.
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eSafety commissioner says latest report on YouTube, Apple’s treatment of abuse material ‘deeply concerning’
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, sharply criticised major tech companies following a report that Apple and YouTube were not tracking the number of child sexual abuse reports they received, saying the tech giants certainly had the ability to do so. She told RN Breakfast this morning:
I think this is hugely concerning. This is illegal content … and they’re enabling it and turning a blind eye.
Some of the companies, Apple and Google’s YouTube, would not even give us the number of trust and safety personnel they have, would not tell us how many child sexual abuse material reports they got or how quickly they responded to them. And some of the other platforms don’t even have public reporting functionality. So this is really problematic.
Inman Grant said companies had told her they couldn’t say how many employees were working on trust and safety, or how many reports of abuse they’d received. She called those claims “bollocks”.
They’ve got the technology, they’ve got the systems in place. What’s happening is we’re seeing a winding back of content moderation and trust and safety policies and an evisceration of trust and safety teams.
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Renewables can lead to long periods of low prices, but also sharp price spikes, report says
The report warns that the main driver of power prices is shifting – from being dependent on demand and supply-side fuel costs, to being increasingly influenced by “supply-side variability, driven by the weather-dependent nature” of renewable energy. It says:
Prices are increasingly characterised by longer periods of very low prices when solar and wind output is strong, punctuated by sharp, often very high, price spikes during periods of low renewable generation or unexpected outages.
Prices are likely to become predictably more variable and unpredictably more volatile.
The report says variability, like the daily changes in solar or wind output, can be forecast and managed – but volatility, like unexpected network outages or long-term changes in wind and solar output, “poses more significant challenges”.
The report is now out for consultation, with responses requested by 17 September. Chris Bowen said the final recommendations, to be delivered by the end of 2025, will be considered carefully. The minister said:
Australia has the world’s best sun and wind to power our future.
We’ve provided the certainty to get investment flowing, to secure the jobs we need now and into the future. We are working with the states and territories to deliver a better, fairer energy system that Australians deserve.
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Power prices could become more volatile, draft energy review says
Australian power prices are likely to become more variable and more volatile due to the unpredictability of some renewable energy sources, a draft review of the nation’s electricity market (NEM) has warned.
The draft national electricity market review, released on Wednesday by the energy minister, Chris Bowen, says renewable energy – particularly consumer changes like rooftop solar and battery systems – can improve efficiency, reduce costs and improve outcomes for ordinary Australians.
But even Bowen admits the report finds that the energy transition away from fossil fuel means “reform is needed to ensure our modern grid is affordable and reliable”.
The report warns the NEM is facing “real” challenges and “mounting pressures”, but that they are not insurmountable. It says:
Due to changes to the way we generate and consume electricity, the NEM is becoming a system that is more weather dependent, more energy constrained, less scheduled and less dispatchable.
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Skinks’ resistance to snake venom could streamline design of antivenoms, research suggests
Australian skinks have evolved the means to resist snake venom by shutting down their muscles, suggests new research, which could help to inform future treatments for snakebites.
Research led by the University of Queensland has found that multiple species of Australian skink have evolved venom resistance through changes to a critical muscle receptor.
In other animals, the receptor is the target of venom neurotoxins, which cause rapid paralysis and death.
Read more here:
Marles says government listening to Australians on Gaza, recognition of Palestinian state
Richard Marles was asked about growing calls for Australia to recognise a Palestinian state. He told RN Breakfast:
We listen to the Australian community, and that’s our job as a government … I think the protests that we saw over the weekend were a very powerful statement. Fundamentally, this government is thinking this through and based on what is the right thing to do here, what’s the right principle … thinking about this in terms of how any decision that we make will actually contribute to making a difference on the ground.
Because what we fundamentally want to see is an end to the tragedy that’s unfolding in the Middle East. The humanitarian disaster which has being played out in Gaza is an utter tragedy and the hostages that are held there, one can only imagine how that is being felt by their families, and they must be returned.
And that’s what we need to see an end to. And that’s, obviously more than anything, what is informing the way in which we are thinking about this issue.
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Richard Marles says Japan frigate deal ‘significant’ moment in relationship between two countries
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has called yesterday’s announcement of a $10bn contract with Japan to grow Australia’s war fleet a “big step forward in the relationship” with the country.
Australia said it will spend the money to buy three Mogami-class frigates over the next decade, awarding the contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as part of a wider deal to replace the ageing Anzac-class frigates. The first three will be built in Japan by 2034, before construction moves to the Henderson naval precinct in Western Australia.
Marles told RN Breakfast:
There’s no doubt that this is a very significant moment in our relationship with Japan. There’s no country with whom we have a greater strategic alignment than Japan, and we’re doing more as a result in relation to that defence relationship …
As a result of this, this is easily the biggest defence industry agreement that will exist between Australia and Japan.
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Ican Australia director: ‘Australians are crystal clear – our country must take action’
The bombings of Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 – 80 years ago – killed more than 210,000 people. Survivors of the blast – hibakusha – have been vociferous advocates for the global abandonment of nuclear weapons.
There are about 12,000 nuclear warheads in the world today, a dramatic reduction from the cold war peak of 70,000, but several countries, including Russia and North Korea are believed to be increasing and updating their stockpiles.
Labor committed in its policy platform to signing and ratifying the UN prohibition treaty in 2018, and reaffirmed this in 2021 and 2023. The government has participated as an observer at treaty meetings since 2022, but has not yet signed the treaty.
Labor’s current policy platform states: “Labor in government will sign and ratify the Ban Treaty” but with the caveats around enforcement mechanisms, complementarity with the non-proliferation treaty, and work towards universal support for the ban treaty.
Gem Romuld, Ican Australia director, said:
Eighty years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Australians are crystal clear – our country must take action to ensure these weapons are never used again. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the global pathway forward. Australians expect our government to deliver on Labor’s longstanding promise to sign and ratify the treaty, and to do so in this term of Parliament.
This is not a symbolic gesture – it is a concrete step towards a safer future. Australians across the political spectrum want to see leadership that matches our values and reflects the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Most Australians support ratifying treaty banning nuclear weapons, poll finds
Two-thirds of Australians support ratifying the global treaty banning nuclear weapons, a new national poll, released on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, shows.
The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force in 2021: 73 countries are parties to it, including the majority of Australia’s neighbours in the Pacific and south-east Asia.
The treaty bans the development, testing, stockpiling, use, and threat of nuclear weapons, advocating for their complete elimination.
None of the world’s nine nuclear weapons countries – the US, Russia, China, UK, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea – are parties to the treaty.
Essential Research polling commissioned by the Nobel peace prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) Australia, shows more than two-thirds (68%) of Australians support signing and ratifying the treaty, with opposition to Australia joining the treaty at just 11%.
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Kmart accused of misleading customers by sourcing clothes from factories linked to Uyghur forced labour
Kmart is facing accusations it misled customers on its ethical credentials by sourcing clothing supplies from factories in China with links to slave labour, Australian Associated Press reports.
An Australian-based Uyghur group has filed a lawsuit against the outlet in the federal court, seeking to gain documents so they can see whether it knowingly sourced stock from suppliers who used forced labour from those in the ethnic group.
In its ethical sourcing statement, Kmart said it aimed to provide products that respected human rights according to its ethical sourcing code which committed to abiding by international standards, including guidelines set out in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The lawsuit filed by the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association claims Kmart included on its 2024 and 2025 factory lists two suppliers with links to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
It said this region in China’s west has been well-documented for “systemic state-sponsored forced labour and other atrocities against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim people”.
The group wants proof from Kmart that it has abided by its ethical sourcing promises regarding these suppliers and whether its public statements have been misleading or deceptive.
Hundreds of jobseeker payments cancelled illegally by government IT system, watchdog finds
Welfare advocates are calling for an end to mutual obligation, after the commonwealth ombudsman found the department’s automatic system unlawfully cancelled payments.
Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Kristin O’Connell said :
The release of this damning report is a significant moment for every person who has been subjected to compulsory activities while on a Centrelink payment and for those who have spoken up about the abuse they experienced. For the first time, welfare recipients may feel their experiences are being taken seriously and their lives being treated as valuable by someone in a position of power.
Today, the government can and must urgently stop all Centrelink payment penalties – including suspensions, reductions and cancellations – related to compulsory activities and commit to permanently removing the Targeted Compliance Framework.
Every person who has had a hand in operating these unlawful systems should feel deep shame and be held responsible for the damage done to people in poverty.
Read the full story here:
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take over for Martin Farrer. Let’s dive in.
Nearly 40% of homeless Tasmanians are under 25, new data shows
TasCOSS, in collaboration with the Youth Network of Tasmania and CatholicCare Tasmania, has released new child and youth homelessness indicators, which highlight the increased rates of child and youth homelessness and the glaring gaps in the service system.
Youth Network of Tasmania CEO, Tania Hunt, said an alarming 39% (911) of homeless Tasmanians were children and young people aged 0-24 years:
Homelessness affects a person’s mental and physical health, as well as their education and employment opportunities, and their ability to participate in society – these effects are particularly damaging for children and young people.
TasCOSS chief, Adrienne Picone, said the homelessness system in Tasmania is simply not adequately resourced to meet the needs of children and young people, with 61% of people turned away from homelessness services under 25 years of age.
Tasmania’s rate of young people presenting alone to specialist homelessness services (231.7 clients per 10,000 people) is the second highest of all states and territories, only after the Northern Territory.
Faith and community groups call on PM to sanction Israel and recognise Palestine
A coalition of Australian interfaith and community organisations is calling on Anthony Albanese to sanction Israel and to urgently recognise Palestine as a sovereign state.
In an open letter, the 24 groups, including the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and Palestinian Christians in Australia, write:
United in solidarity with each other and with our fellow human beings in Gaza, we call on the Albanese Government to immediately impose sanctions on the Netanyahu Government and formally recognise Palestine as a sovereign state.
As widely acknowledged by genocide scholars and human rights groups, including Israeli B’Tselem, the Israeli government is carrying out a genocide – killing, starving and displacing Palestinians in Gaza en masse.
We are facing a moment of profound moral reckoning. In light of clear violations of international law, it is imperative that Australia respond with urgency and use every means available to help end this horror.
It is time to stand decisively for justice, dignity, and the right of all human beings to live free from occupation and slaughter.
Sanction the Netanyahu Government now. Recognise Palestine as a sovereign state.
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Queensland teachers to strike from today
Members of the Queensland Teachers’ Union will walk off the job today for the first time since 2009.
About 50,000 union members are expecting to strike without pay, with thousands of Brisbane members planning to march on parliament. Members will also gather in several regional locations, including Cairns, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba.
The QTU president, Cresta Richardson, said the union was protesting against a pay offer in a new enterprise bargaining agreement from the state government that would “place members at the bottom end of the Australian pay scale in three years”, after months of negotiations.
Our members have voted unanimously to send this government a clear message. We are united and dedicated to turning around the exodus of burned-out teachers and school leaders from our schools. Our students and school communities need the government to do its job.
Queensland’s state government is currently locked in negotiation with several public sector unions, including the nurses’ union, Professionals Australia and the Queensland Professional Firefighters Union. Conciliation over teachers’ bargaining will soon begin at the Industrial Relations Commission.
Apple and YouTube not tracking number of child sexual abuse reports, eSafety commissioner says
YouTube and Apple have not been tracking the number of users reporting child sexual abuse on their platforms, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has said.
In the latest transparency report from eSafety covering Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Discord, WhatsApp and Skype, both Apple and Google also failed to provide numbers on trust and safety staff employed at the companies.
In the reports covering what the platforms are doing to tackle child sexual abuse on their services, Inman Grant said many of the issues identified by her office in 2022 and 2023 had not been addressed meaningfully.
She said:
In the case of Apple services and Google’s YouTube, they didn’t even answer our questions about how many user reports they received about child sexual abuse on their services or details of how many Trust & Safety personnel Apple and Google have on-staff.
It shows that when left to their own devices, these companies aren’t prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services.
The companies are required to report to her every six months.
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Anthony Albanese speaks to Emmanuel Macron about Gaza, climate and trade
The prime minister had a chat on the phone with France’s president overnight, according to an official readout passed on to the media.
It said Anthony Albanese and Emmanuel Macron spoke about the crisis in Gaza and “their ongoing commitment to getting aid to civilians”.
Both leaders discussed their longstanding support for a two state solution (France recently committed to recognising a Palestinian state, but the readout didn’t say if this specifically came up).
They also discussed action on climate and France’s support for Australia’s joint bid to host Cop 31 in partnership with the Pacific.
They agreed on “the importance of finalising the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement”, the readout said, and signed off by promising to “stay in close touch and meet again at the United Nations General Assembly in September”.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best stories making news this morning before Nick Visser steps up to the plate.
Teachers in Queensland are going on strike today over pay in their first walk out since 2009. Approximately 50,000 teachers will be striking without pay with thousands planning to march through Brisbane to highlight their claim. More coming up.
There’s more pressure on Anthony Albanese to take more action against Israel this morning, this time from interfaith and community groups including the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, and Palestinian Christians in Australia. It comes amid reports this morning that the prime minister has spoken to the head of the UN and also to the head of the Palestinian Authority as he explores ways to help end the Gaza war. More coming up.
Speaking of which, Albanese also spoke with France’s Emmanuel Macron overnight, and the discussion included Gaza. More on that very soon.
The retail chain Kmart is facing accusations it misled customers on its ethical credentials by sourcing clothing supplies from factories in China with links to slave labour. It is being sued by an Australian-based Uyghur group at the federal court. More details shortly.
