What we learned today, Wednesday 20 May
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. I hope you have a lovely evening. Here were today’s top stories:
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Prime minister Anthony Albanese shared the nation’s condolences with Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family, after meeting them in Alice Springs.
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Rugby league representative player Jai Arrow announced his retirement from the NRL following a shock medical diagnosis of motor neurone disease.
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The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, defended her government’s decision to bring the controversial Land Forces weapons expo back to Melbourne in 2028.
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Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson addressed the National Press Club in Canberra following last week’s release of the federal budget where he railed against the Albanese government as one “empowered to kick the lemonade stands of the next generation”.
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Bianca Adler, an 18-year-old high school student from Melbourne became the youngest Australian to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
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The inquiry into New South Wales’ childcare sector released its final report. It was scathing, finding that systemic weaknesses have allowed predators to work in the industry and abuse children.
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The Australian government said it would “at the earliest opportunity” meet 11 Australians who attempted to deliver aid to Gaza as part of a global flotilla but were detained by Israeli forces.
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One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson asked the Department of Finance to investigate funding a second electorate office for her in the central Queensland seat of Capricornia.
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And the new Netflix documentary Kylie was released, revealing that pop star Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with cancer for a second time, in 2021.
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Boy’s alleged plane hijack plan ‘politically motivated’
Prosecutors have claimed a teen accused of trying to hijack a commercial plane was politically motivated as they pushed for his case to be heard in a higher court, AAP reports.
The 19-year-old is accused of bringing a firearm and fake bomb onto an aircraft at Avalon Airport, southwest of Melbourne, in March 2025.
About 160 passengers were on board the Jetstar plane, which was due to fly to Sydney.
The teen, who was 17 at the time, appeared in a children’s court via video link on Wednesday as prosecutors applied for his case to be heard in either the county or supreme courts.
The prosecutor argued the penalties available in the children’s court – a maximum sentence of a two-year supervision order – were inadequate to reflect the seriousness of the alleged crime.
“It could not be said that it would be sufficient ... to protect the community,” the prosecutor said.
There was an ideological or political motivation for the teen’s acts, the magistrate heard, although the details of the alleged motive were not discussed in open court.
The teen’s lawyer argued the purported motive was still unclear as he opposed the prosecution’s uplift application and flagged a potential mental impairment defence.
The defence lawyer argued the teen’s case should remain in the children’s court, where a magistrate could fairly and impartially decide on the facts.
The magistrate told the teen he would need some time to consider all of the material before making a decision.
The case is due to return to a children’s court in June.
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Greens, David Pocock criticise climate impact of proposed job cuts at CSIRO
Politicians have reacted to Guardian Australia’s story that scientists have warned proposed job cuts at CSIRO would mean Australia would no longer be able to submit climate projections to form part of global reports and would have significantly reduced ability to forecast future damage to the country.
The specific scale and nature of the cuts are expected to be confirmed at a staff meeting on Thursday.
The Greens have accused Labor of cowardice for not speaking about the climate modelling impacts. The party’s science spokesperson, Peter Whish-Wilson, said the government’s silence in response to questions about the cuts was “cowardly” and that:
Scientists have made a dire warning that Labor’s cuts to the CSIRO mean Australia will no longer be able to submit climate projections to form part of global reports – including the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change].
These projections are relied on by governments, industry and farmers to manage critical risks including to our national security and losing them will significantly reduce Australia’s sovereign capability to protect the country’s interests.
Independent senator David Pocock said it was “tragically short-sighted” to underfund science, the case for investing in Australian climate science had “never been clearer”, and that:
Sovereign expertise, once lost, is slow and expensive to rebuild. In a country already living with worsening floods, fires and droughts, we should be strengthening this capability, not winding it back.
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Government preparing ‘earliest opportunity’ to meet with 11 Australians on Gaza flotilla detained by Israel
Eleven Australians who attempted to deliver aid to Gaza as part of a global flotilla but were detained by Israeli forces off the coast of Cyprus are expected to arrive in Israel on Wednesday local time, with the Australian government seeking to meet them at the earliest opportunity.
The detained Australians are academics, doctors, students, activists and film-makers, including Anny Mokotow, Dr Bianca Pullman-Webb, Neve O’Connor, Violet Coco, Gemma O’Toole, Sam Woripa Watson, Zack Schofield, Helen O’Sullivan, Juliet Lamont, Isla Lamont and Surya McEwan.
A flotilla spokesperson said participants were understood to be arriving at Ashdod port on Wednesday, local time, from which they will be transferred to Ketziot prison.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the government was preparing to meet the detained Australians at the earliest opportunity:
The Australian government is engaging with Israeli authorities on the welfare of detained Australians involved in the flotilla and making preparations to visit them at the earliest opportunity.
We want to see all detained Australians released as soon as possible.
Australian officials continue to make clear to Israel our expectation that any detainees receive humane treatment in line with international norms.
The spokesperson declined to state the location of the meeting.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “strongly encouraged” the Australians not to participate, “given the risks to their safety and that of others,” the spokesperson said.
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Former rooming house in Melbourne’s St Kilda converted into supportive housing site
The Victorian minister for housing and building, Nick Staikos, has announced a former rooming house in St Kilda, Madden House, will share in $15m in funding from the state budget with four other supportive housing sites in Melbourne, Seddon, Shepparton and Mildura.
Madden House has been converted into 26 self-contained units with on-site support services. Residents moved into apartments in December last year, and since opening, there has been a 12% reduction in local by-name lists.
The state’s budget delivers $47m to tackle homelessness, including $26m for services that tackle rough sleeping through outreach services.
Staikos said:
Madden House is getting vulnerable Victorians off the streets and into secure housing, and we’re proud to back it.
Safe housing plus wraparound support – that’s what gets people back on their feet.
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Webjet warns Australians avoiding Euro summer holiday, shares hit record low
Webjet has warned the oil crisis is squeezing Australian Euro summer travel, sending its shares crashing to a record low.
The company’s chief executive, Katrina Barry, told analysts Australians’ travel bookings over the last six weeks were running 12% below the same period last year, with travel switching towards nearby Asian destinations. She said:
We’re having to adapt and pivot all the time … No one’s buying international long haul – ‘Let’s pivot to focus on short-haul Asia and focus all our flights and package deals on that’.
The US-Israel war on Iran, rising air fares and cuts to airline capacity were to blame, Barry said. The loss of consumer confidence, though, was more severe and would not lift soon, even if the Australian government dropped its “do not travel” warning for the Middle East, she said.
It takes more than one drop of that [warning] to change people’s behaviours, particularly given people plan. The travel for European and North American summer, that is booked sometime between November to February … and there’s a lot more last-minute bookings.
Business travellers and “cashed [up] baby boomers” were still booking trips, Barry said.
Webjet reported its bookings and earnings had slumped in the year to March and it expected additional hits to revenue from credit card surcharge reforms and Virgin Australia’s plans to cut commissions to booking agencies. Traders sold out and Webjet’s share price dropped from 49 cents to 40 cents. It now sits at 44 cents, which would be a record low if sustained.
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Victoria’s free public transport brings 20% lift, boom in usage predicted
Victoria’s free public transport has seen trips rise by a fifth and the government expects network use will keep momentum.
Government data shows the network hosted 68m trips since free travel began on 31 March up to 11 May, a 19% increase from the same period in 2025.
April alone is estimated to have seen about 49m trips, in line with 2018 and 2019 numbers. Pandemic lockdowns crunched Victorian public transport use and April 2025 only recorded 42m.
The government has predicted the recovery in network use will continue into next year in its latest budget’s department projection.
Usage had been weakening slightly - 2024 saw 501m trips across the network but 2025 only had 490. Now free transport has the government predicting 510m trips for the year ending in June and 524m for the year after, with metropolitan train use in particular expected to pick up.
Victoria’s transport minister, Gabrielle Williams, said:
Free travel is taking pressure off the pump, with passengers making the most of more than 24,000 bus services, 3,500 train services and hundreds of tram services that have been added to the network.
The initiative will end on 31 May, to be replaced with half price fares until the end of 2026.
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Pauline Hanson seeks funding for second Queensland electorate office
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has asked the Department of Finance to investigate funding a second electorate office for her in the central Queensland seat of Capricornia.
Hanson already has an office in the Brisbane CBD. A spokesperson for Hanson said she was looking “at the possibility” of establishing a second, in Yeppoon, 700km north of Brisbane.
The Commonwealth funds electorate offices through the department of finance.
Hanson’s spokesperson said lower house MPs representing large electorates often had two offices but they were unsure if any senators – who represent an entire state – had similar arrangements.
The Hanson spokesperson said One Nation was also hoping to win the seat.
“We’ve already signalled publicly that there are certain seats that we’re going to be targeting strongly in Queensland. Capricornia is one of them,” he said, adding that
the electorates of Flynn, Groom, Maranoa and Kennedy were also on the party’s radar.
Capricornia has been held by LNP MP Michelle Landry since 2013.
Landry accused Senator Hanson of playing “little games” and said she would stand by her record if One Nation decided to run.
She told AAP:
It’s interesting when you have a celebrity politician that thinks they’re going to drop in and take the seat off a hard-working member that’s been in her fifth term.
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Victorian premier defends bringing Land Forces weapons expo back to Melbourne
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has defended her government’s decision to bring the controversial Land Forces weapons expo back to Melbourne in 2028.
The Greens criticised Labor’s decision to host the defence conference again, saying the state government was “completely out of touch”.
However, at a press conference this morning, Allan threw her support behind the defence industry, which she said “protects our freedom and protects our way of life here in this nation and in other democratic nations around the world”. She went on:
Having a major event like Land Forces continues to strengthen Victoria’s international reputation which is very important when it comes to securing industry contracts and work for the tens of thousands of people who work in the industry.
I also really firmly believe that if we as a nation are making a decision to send our young men and women into areas that are not safe then we need to ensure that they are equipped with the very best of equipment and vehicles [and] clothing.
And a lot of that is manufactured here in Melbourne and Victoria.
Allan also strongly backed the police, saying her government had given the force additional powers to crack down on “extremist” behaviours and the “small number of people who have used the cloak of protest to behave in an unacceptable way”.
In 2024, there was a public outcry over the expo. Protests outside the conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre turned violent and resulted in allegations police used excessive force against demonstrators.
While Victoria police denied the accusation, activists said at the time that several people protesting Land Forces expo are in hospital with serious injuries.
You can read some of our reporting from 2024 here:
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Over 100 large Australian businesses report paying ransoms over cyber attacks in 11 months
Last week, we reported that experts believed it is likely that Instructure - the company behind the education platform Canvas - paid hackers in a bid to prevent the release of personal information of over 200 million students and school staff across the globe following a ransomware attack.
It’s something the company hasn’t confirmed or responded to questions about, but it is not uncommon.
We reported on Saturday that as of the end of January, the number of Australian businesses with a turnover of $3m or more per year that had been required to report to the Australian government since May 2025 if they paid a ransom sat at 75.
The home affairs department has now updated us on the figure. As of the end of April, it now stands at 113 – an increase of 38 in three months.
A spokesperson for the department said the Cyber Security Act prevented disclosure of information about the amount paid and which businesses had reported making a payment.
Since the scheme came into effect, the government had been focusing on education of the industry first before enforcing compliance on the reporting obligations. But the spokesperson said that going forward the government would “further its regulatory posture for compliance and enforcement of the regime”.
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Government considering updating screening and travel advice as Ebola spreads
The federal government is considering updating screening arrangements for travellers as the Ebola outbreak spreads throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, the health minister, Mark Butler, said.
The DRC has been listed as a “do not travel” country on the Smartraveller website “for quite a period of time,” Butler told Sydney’s 2SM morning program on Wednesday.
“The World Health Organization has provided some updated advice overnight that I’ve looked at,” Butler said.
They’re very worried about the sharp increase in case numbers … the fatality rate of Ebola is very, very high … and the numbers are climbing alarmingly.
The strain of Ebola driving the outbreak is the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments.
There is concern the virus may have spread into South Sudan, Butler said, “but because of the state of that country, it’s hard to get accurate reporting from that”.
“We’re talking about whether we need to consider different screening arrangements at the border,” he said.
It’s quite a complex trip back from the DRC or Uganda back to Australia, so [it is] obviously not as significant an issue for us as it would be for countries that are closer to the centre of this outbreak.
He said people thinking of travelling to affected areas should check the Smartraveller website for updates. Currently, people are urged to exercise a high degree of caution if travelling to Uganda.
But Butler said travel to affected areas “would not be advisable right now … this is one of the more serious outbreaks we’ve seen for a while”.
Nobody has ever been diagnosed with Ebola in Australia.
According to the Australian Centre for Disease Control, “Australia has strong border health measures to screen for people who may be symptomatic with very serious communicable diseases like Ebola disease”.
Listen here:
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NSW treasurer backs Minns’ bracket creep comments
Returning to the NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey has said he supports the premier, Chris Minns’ comments about bracket creep.
As we reported earlier, the premier said working families were being “stung” by income tax, including those in the highest marginal bracket of with earnings over $190,000. He has said federal changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing should have been accompanied by greater income tax reform.
At a Q&A after his pre-budget speech this afternoon, Mookhey was asked if he supported changes to capital gains and negative gearing, and if he agreed with the premier’s comments on income tax. He said:
I would remind everyone that the [capital gains and negative gearing] tax code we had a week ago wasn’t fit for purpose, wasn’t helping us build productive enterprise, wasn’t helping people convert work into wealth, wasn’t helping us build new businesses. It’s totally legitimate for there to be a debate about how do you change things like capital gains and others to help us do that, and I’ll let the federal government engage in the detail of that debate …
Which brings me to the second part … I’m going to confess, I haven’t seen exactly what the premier said, but I support it.
Mookhey went on to say that he supports “any federal tax change” that helps people who only earn their income through work.
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Hi, I’ll take you through the rest of the news this afternoon.
That’s all from me. Catie McLeod will take things from here. Take care.
PM shares condolences of the nation after meeting with family of Kumanjayi Little Baby
Prime minister Anthony Albanese is speaking in Alice Springs after meeting with the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby.
Albanese said Australia had lost a young person far too early under “unbearable” circumstances. He said the family was trying to “bear their way through this with dignity [and] with respect”.
It will remain something that is with them for ever …
They’re proud of their much-loved daughter and granddaughter, of who she was, but also that sense of regret that she won’t get to be the young woman and woman that she should have become.
They’re going through a grieving process, and they’ve asked to be able to do that with respect.
The prime minister went on:
This is a time where, what I want to see, is the different levels of government coming together with the community in the same way that the community has come together itself.
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Opera Australia back in the black after years of losses
Opera Australia has returned a small operating surplus for 2025 following years of steep post-pandemic losses.
The result marks a substantial improvement from 2024, when the nation’s largest performing arts company suffered a $10.1m operating deficit. On a consolidated basis, which includes the Opera Australia capital fund, the company recorded a surplus of $3.6m for the 2025 financial year.
CEO Alex Budd attributed the turnaround to tighter cost controls, disciplined corporate decision-making and a “carefully balanced repertoire of work”.
The 2025 season staged 25 productions across opera, musical theatre and concerts, relying on commercial musical theatre to cross-subsidise its core operatic offerings.
Total revenue reached $122.8m, bolstered by a surge in box office income that climbed to $65.3m from $50.7m the previous year. Attendance rose almost 60% to 574,809 patrons across 457 performances, up from 362,430 attendees in 2024.
Just before the pandemic hit, Opera Australia posted a modest operating surplus of almost $200,000 and record attendances of more than 660,000 people.
But the Covid lockdowns were closely followed by the closure of the Sydney Opera House for the next two years for a $150m acoustic and structural upgrade and over the ensuing years the company managed to stay afloat by selling its Alexandria warehouse facility and securing $21.1m in combined state and federal government pandemic support.
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Unions call for 6% minimum wage boost with decision just weeks away
The Australian Council of Trade Unions says a 6% increase to minimum wage is “absolutely necessary” as the Fair Work Commission approaches its final decision for the wages of 3 million workers.
Workers who rely on award wages, particularly prevalent in hospitality, retail and care, will receive a pay boost when the national wage review is finalised in coming weeks.
After the budget forecast inflation would hit 5%, the ACTU boosted its wage claim from a 5% lift to 6%. Secretary Sally McManus today said workers would have to cut back on food and medical treatment if their wages fell behind inflation, as happened in 2022 and 2023. She told reporters:
This 6% pay increase is absolutely necessary to keep people’s heads above water, to keep ahead of inflation, at a time when Donald Trump’s war is pushing up prices. … We’ve been here before, it’s not our first rodeo, unfortunately, with inflation spikes.
Business groups have rejected those calls, saying costs are rising too fast and the wage increase should be less than 4%, while some have called for any wage increase to be delayed to the end of the year. McManus said that approach was “cruel and wrong” and employers should be ready to pay for a bigger increase.
It should not be that the lowest paid workers in Australia are the ones that suffer the most … It could well be afforded by all of the companies in question.
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Package of support coming to help with diphtheria outbreak
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, has described the latest diphtheria outbreak – which began in the Northern Territory and has spread across borders – as “unlike anything we’ve seen” in the 35 years the infectious disease has been tracked in Australia.
He told Sydney’s 2SM morning program about 60% of the 226 cases are in the NT, which he described as “really the centre of this outbreak”, with a quarter of cases ending up in hospital.
Butler said:
A few cases have been found south of the border in the APY Lands in the very far north of South Australia, a few cases in Queensland, and then quite a number in the northern part of Western Australia as well.
We’ve been working very hard with the Northern Territory Government, and we’ll be finalising a package today, not only to get more and more vaccines into the area, but we need to surge the workforce to get the needles into people’s arms.
Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday that a lack of nurses, doctors and other clinical staff had slowed down vaccine rollouts. Overcrowding, declining vaccination rates – especially in adults due for a booster diphtheria shots – are also thought to have all contributed to spread, which is mainly occurring among adults.
The federal government response will include support for boosters, Butler said:
We need boosters every five years or so. So that’s really going to be the centrepiece of the response. But we’re really concerned about this. It is by far the biggest outbreak we’ve had for many, many decades. We’ve been tracking numbers for 35 years, and this is unlike anything we’ve seen in that period of time.
There are two types of diphtheria – respiratory and cutaneous (skin), with respiratory the more deadly of the two as it has a death rate of up to 30% without treatment. Cutaneous diphtheria is rarely fatal. Both are bacterial infections.
“The concerning thing for me and all of us, is that we’re seeing the bigger increases happening in respiratory cases of diphtheria,” Butler said.
So about a quarter of all cases are ending up in hospital right now.
Read more:
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NSW treasurer flags $8bn drop in stamp duty and land tax earnings
The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, says the government has revised down its forward estimates for stamp duty and land tax earnings by $8bn, amid the impact of rising inflation and the global oil shock.
In his keynote speech to the McKell Institute today ahead of next month’s state budget, Mookhey said the impact to the state’s forecasted tax receipts for the next four financial years was “substantial”, including a drop in stamp duty collections of $5bn and land tax of $3bn on its predictions from six months ago.
The treasurer said “a lot has changed” since the government published its mid-year review in December:
Consider this: 152 days ago, the typical working family had just seen their wages rise, their interest rates fall, and their grocery prices finally begin to level out, all in time for Christmas. Since then, that same working family have felt their wallets burn as fuel prices have risen by 50%.
The RBA has added about $415 to their monthly mortgage, and their grocery bill is no cheaper. That family did not expect to be living through the greatest oil shock since the 1970s last December, and in truth, NSW treasury did not either.
Mookhey says the budget will include “relief for the immediate cost of living pressures working families are facing today reform to curb their fundamental causes for tomorrow”, including investment in public hospitals and education, further steps to combat the housing crisis and a “$100bn plus” infrastructure program.
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Pro-Palestinian protester arrested after chaining himself to Brisbane factory
A pro-Palestinian protester has been arrested after chaining himself to a military parts manufacturer in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs for about two hours.
Subhi Awad was chained by the neck with a bike U-lock to the fence of the Ferra Engineering factory in Tingalpa about 8am Wednesday morning. He undid the lock about two hours later, after being warned he would be charged with Queensland’s so-called “lock-on laws”, which carry maximum penalties of imprisonment, and taken to Cleveland watch house.
Awad was released before 1pm and charged with public nuisance.
In a statement, the protesters claim “Ferra is the sole global supplier of weapons adapters that hold and release bombs from F-35 fighter jets”.
“Without these adapters manufactured in Tingalpa, Brisbane, F-35s cannot deploy their weapons,” the statement reads.
Ferra declined to comment.
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A quick note about Chris Minns’ comments on bracket creep for those earning over $190,000
Returning to the NSW premier, Chris Minns, who hit out earlier at bracket creep, saying earners in the top bracket of 47% were effectively working “Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday for yourself and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the government”.
In fact, the marginal rate of 47% is not paid on your entire income but only the income over $190,000 each year.
Someone earning $200,000 would pay less than a third of that in income tax and the Medicare levy.
For a 40-hour working week, that would be equivalent to working for yourself until Thursday lunchtime, and then the government for the rest of the week.
The premier, of course, works for the government for the whole week.
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Wilson rails against government ‘empowered to kick the lemonade stands of the next generation’
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson is speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra following last week’s release of the federal budget.
He described the budget as an “earthquake” that will require a “substantial clean-up job” – presumably when the Coalition comes to power – but said it is not a time to despair. Wilson told the crowd:
We need courage to fight for a new dawn – a dawn that restores living standards and protects our way of life. A dawn that fills young Australians with hope, aspiration and confidence …
To build an economy that favours the Australian people, rather than Labor, big union and big superfund oligarchs. And not a government that is empowered to kick the lemonade stands of the next generation.
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Coalition says government hasn’t done enough to stop return
Opposition immigration spokesperson Jonno Duniam told Sky News he believed the government had not gone far enough in stopping the women returning, AAP adds.
“They are the government. They can do something about it. I don’t buy the story that they’re running, that they can’t stop them from coming back. They can and they should,” he said.
Duniam continued:
The fact that there was a brief of evidence available to authorities to arrest these people on arrival, yet it wasn’t enough to apply a temporary travel ban or revoke a travel document like a passport, beggars belief.
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Albanese rules out help for second group with links to Islamic State fighters
More Australian women linked to terror group Islamic State look likely to leave Syria within days, but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, insists no government help will be provided to the group, AAP reports.
The six women, along with their children and grandchildren, have been living in a camp for former IS fighters and their families.
Logistics are being negotiated between Kurdish and Syrian officials for the 10-hour drive from the al-Roj refugee camp to Damascus, multiple media outlets, including the ABC, have reported. The group is then likely to board flights to Australia.
Albanese told ABC radio earlier today:
There wasn’t a government person on the plane (with the previous cohort), because we weren’t providing any assistance, and won’t.
If there have been any breaches of Australian law, they will face the full force of the law, which is what happened to people when they arrived back just a couple of weeks ago.
The US state department has been very keen on people leaving those camps.
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NSW police say alleged Sydney shooting may be linked to organised crime
New South Wales police are investigating the possibility last night’s alleged shooting attack in Sydney’s south-west, which killed one man and injured four others, was linked to organised crime.
However, Det Supt Craig Middleton said police believed the alleged incident in Canley Heights was “targeted” but said the motive remained “quite unclear” at this “very early” stage of the investigation.
Speaking to reporters outside Fairfield police station a short time ago, Middleton described the alleged attack as “brazen and violent”, and said:
We are aware of some organised crime links although I can’t confirm that as this stage.
I can also confirm that we believe that this is a targeted attack although the motive for this attack is unclear at this stage and we’re working through a number of inquiries.
At this stage, as you can appreciate, it’s very early [in the investigation].
Middleton said all five alleged victims knew each other.
He could not confirm many details of how detectives believe the alleged incident transpired but said police were looking for two men who entered a home on Arbutus Street, Canley Heights before “a number of gunshots” were allegedly heard.
Middleton said:
They fled that premises and decamped in a vehicle that has not been recovered by police at this stage.
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AVO against Mark Latham over domestic violence allegations withdrawn
Mark Latham’s former partner has withdrawn a restraining order against the One Nation turned independent NSW MP after alleging he engaged in a “sustained pattern” of abuse against her.
A three day hearing over the domestic violence allegations was to begin before the Downing Centre local court on Wednesday, but it was vacated after the court heard the apprehended violence order (AVO) had been withdrawn by consent.
Outside court, Latham’s lawyer, Zali Burrows, told reporters:
The AVO application has been withdrawn and dismissed.
Latham’s former partner, Nathalie Matthews, had outlined last year allegations of a “sustained pattern” of abuse and manipulation in an application for a restraining order against him.
Latham, 64, had denied the claims, describing them as “comically false and ridiculous” and maintaining he has not broken any laws.
Police did not lay any charges against the one-time prime ministerial candidate and the local court had refused to release the documents as they contain untested allegations.
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Minns says working families being ‘stung’ by income tax
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has again criticised what he has characterised as the federal government’s inaction on income tax, saying working families are being “stung” by bracket creep.
Asked at a press conference this morning if he would have liked to have seen greater income tax cuts alongside the federal budget’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, Minns said:
We do need to make sure we’re taking urgent action when it comes to personal income taxes, because at the moment, a lot of working families are getting stung.
Minns’ criticism of this year’s federal budget has focused on those in the highest bracket. Today, he said:
The top marginal rate of 47%, as I said in parliament last week, you’re working Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday for yourself and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the government. It’s a tough burden for a lot of families to hit.
As part of modest changes in this year’s federal budget, taxpayers will receive a $250 offset on earned income and an instant $1,000 tax deduction.
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‘Foolish’ CSIRO job cuts will mean Australia unable to provide climate projections to global reports, scientists warn
Job cuts at the national science agency mean Australia will no longer be able to submit climate projections to form part of global reports and will have significantly reduced ability to forecast future damage to the country, leading researchers have warned.
Multiple sources told Guardian Australia that CSIRO planned to sack a third of the team working on the national climate model that provides projections relied on by governments, councils, industry and farmers as they plan for the future.
Senior scientists said it would result in Australia no longer having an international-standard climate model to contribute projections to major assessment reports by the world’s leading climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
CSIRO management is expected to confirm at a staff meeting on Thursday that it is making about 100 scientists redundant as part of a plan announced last November to cut full-time research positions by between 300 and 350. It follows the sacking of 818 support staff last year.
Read more here:
Israeli foreign ministry says 430 people from humanitarian flotilla detained
The Israeli foreign ministry said it had detained 430 people travelling onboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was attempting to transport humanitarian aid to Gaza before it was intercepted off the coast of Cyprus yesterday.
Israeli officials wrote on social media that all of those detained had now been transferred to Israeli vessels and were making their way to the country, where they will be met by consular representatives. Israel called the flotilla “another PR” stunt “at the service of Hamas”:
Another PR flotilla has come to an end … Israel will continue to act in full accordance with international law and will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza.
The flotilla had a slightly different figure, saying 428 detained activists from over 40 nations remain “unaccounted for”, the Associated Press reports.
A spokesperson for the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said yesterday the government was engaging with the Israelis on the welfare of the Australians involved in the flotilla and would visit them at the earliest opportunity. The spokesperson said:
We want to see all detained Australians released as soon as possible.
Australian officials continue to make clear to Israel our expectation that any detainees receive humane treatment in line with international norms.
Wong’s office said it continues “to encourage those wishing to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza to do so through established channels”.
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Victorian Greens rebuke decision to bring weapons expo back to Melbourne in 2028
The Victorian Greens have criticised Jacinta Allan’s government for bringing the weapons expo Land Forces back to Melbourne in 2028, saying they are “completely out of touch”.
It comes after the government announced it would be bringing the expo back in 2028 on Tuesday afternoon. The expo was cancelled in Melbourne and announced in Perth for 2026.
In 2024, there was a public outcry and protests at the conference and allegations of excessive police tactics and force used against protesters.
The Greens spokesperson for peace and disarmament, Gabrielle de Vietri, said:
The public have made it very clear that they do not want this weapons trading expo in our peaceful city. Jacinta Allan’s Labor Government would prefer to prop up an industry designed to kill than listen to the people they are supposed to represent.
Jacinta Allan’s Labor Government couldn’t be more transparent – they moved Land Forces to Perth in an election year to avoid scrutiny and mass protests just before an election but are happy to keep dealing in war and weapons in plain sight once the election is done and dusted.
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NSW upper house establishes inquiry into dingo management
The New South Wales upper house has agreed to establish a parliamentary inquiry to examine the treatment of dingo populations in the state’s national parks.
The probe will consider the genetic status of dingoes and legislation and policies that inform their management.
Animal Justice Party MLC Emma Hurst said it was “a chance to hear from voices that want to change the way dingoes are managed within national parks” with the species currently exempt from protection under the state’s biodiversity conservation laws.
Humane World for Animals Australia said it was “a milestone in the effort to end persecution of the species” and the organisation was “particularly glad that this inquiry will examine the genetic status of dingoes in New South Wales and the distinction between dingoes and wild dogs”.
Alix Livingstone from Defend the Wild said the state’s management of dingoes did not reflect the important role they played in ecosystems and the inquiry was a chance to “bring together a growing body of evidence, on-ground experience, and Traditional Owner knowledge to better understand the role dingoes play on Country”.
Kylie Minogue announces she had second cancer diagnosis in 2021
Kylie Minogue has revealed that in early 2021 she was diagnosed with cancer for a second time, after diagnosis and successful treatment for breast cancer in 2005.
The pop star discussed the previously unannounced diagnosis in a new Netflix documentary entitled Kylie, available from today. “My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself … Not like the first time,” she said, referring to her highly publicised first treatment.
Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well. Hey, who knows what’s around the corner, but pop music nurtures me … my passion for music is greater than ever.
Minogue said that after her treatment, she struggled “to find the right time” to announce it publicly, including after the huge success of her Grammy-winning 2023 single Padam Padam.
Read more here:
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Hanson says office staff cuts are ‘serious issue’ for staffer health
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called on the Albanese government to allocate more staff to her party, stating she had begged and pleaded for more employees to deal with the “heavy workload”.
Hanson said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that her office has been “inundated with thousands of calls, emails and messages every week and it’s not possible to respond to all of them”.
She said the federal government cut staff allocation to One Nation after the last election, and despite requests to restore staffing levels, the government “hasn’t even responded and couldn’t care less”.
She said:
My staff have continued out of loyalty, and they want to help the Australian people but their health has now become a serious issue.
As the leader of One Nation, I have 5 electorate officers and just 2 Parliamentary Advisers.
The leader of the Greens, Larissa Waters, has 5 electorate officers and 15 advisers.
The prime minister has 59 personal advisers. Adding his other ministers, the Government employs a total of 504 personal advisers.
This is the prime minister using his powers to disadvantage his political opponents who don’t agree with his agenda.
Hanson said she didn’t want to air the issue publicly, but the government had given her no choice.
I am the leader of a political party that is polling more than major political parties. The government has failed to staff One Nation anywhere close to a functional level. This is pure, bloody-minded politics by the Labor party.
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No indication new group with links to Islamic State have plans to leave Syrian camp, sources say
Government sources say there is no indication a group of women and children linked to IS fighters have made plans to leave a camp in northern Syria.
Media reports today suggest six Australian women, their children and grandchildren, look likely to leave the al-Roj camp in Syria very soon.
But so far the federal government has not had any information to suggest any of the group have made plans to come to Australia.
If and when they come home, the group is certain to face scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.
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Vanuatu says it is ready to sign economic and security deal with Australia
Vanuatu will sign a major cooperation agreement with Australia after renegotiating the deal, prime minister Jotham Napat told the Pacific island nation’s parliament on Tuesday, according to AFP.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese travelled to Vanuatu in September in the expectation the leaders would sign the $500m Nakamal Agreement to strengthen security and economic ties, but a ceremony was cancelled at short notice after concerns from some Vanuatu lawmakers.
Vanuatu has maintained a non-aligned foreign policy since independence from France and Britain, and fiercely protects its position of “friends to all and enemies to none” amid jostling for influence by China, Australia and the United States in the strategically located Pacific.
Napat said the agreement with Australia was not a security pact, but contained a security clause where Vanuatu agreed not to allow any outside force in its territory.
Australia is wary of China’s police presence in the nearby Solomon Islands, and has struck a series of treaties with Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Nauru seeking to curb Beijing’s security inroads to the region.
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More IS-linked families preparing to return from Syria
Authorities are preparing for another six Australian women, along with their children and grandchildren, to return home from Syria, amid speculation the group may leave in the coming days.
The group – linked to IS fighters and stuck in the al-Roj camp in the country’s north – will be closely watched by government and law enforcement agencies if they do return home.
Their arrival could be as soon as next week.
Earlier this month, four women and nine children took commercial flights to Sydney and Melbourne. The Australian federal police arrested and charged three of the women.
The assistant minister for multicultural affairs, Julian Hill, told Sky News this morning he had no information about the group, though added intelligence agencies and police were monitoring their movements.
“I’m not going to prejudge the operations of law enforcement agencies or security agencies but I’ll say this very clearly and very deliberately to anyone who’s listening,” Hill said.
Law enforcement agencies are well aware of this cohort … including those who’ve come back over many, many cycles, including under the Morrison government.
Hill would not be drawn on whether members of the group would face arrest on return to Australia.
Agencies are prepared … and we don’t want these people back in.
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AI nudify service ordered by eSafety to prevent children’s access
The eSafety commissioner has issued a direction to comply to restrict Australian children’s access to an unnamed nudify service that uses AI to generate sexually-explicit deepfakes of people based on uploaded images.
The regulator – which declined to name the platform so as to not add to its growing popularity – issued the direction to comply with age verification requirements after seeing the traffic from Australian users growing in the past few months, with 40,000 Australian visitors per month as of March this year.
Using recently introduced codes requiring age verification for adult content, eSafety initially had sought to engage with the Argentina-based company about compliance, but it failed to respond, leading to the formal warning.
The company now has 14 days to meet the requirements, after which eSafety has flagged it could seek fines of up to $49.5m against the company, and issue delisting notices to search engines.
In September last year, the Albanese government pledged to pass legislation banning nudify services being used to generate non-consensual content, but without that in place, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant indicated she was using her existing powers to take the action she could for now.
Inman Grant said:
I like many others struggle to see a positive use case for such services as it is, and services like these demonstrate where AI is causing irreparable harms today.
Thankfully, eSafety was able to ensure our world-leading codes required the purveyors and profiteers of such services to put measures in place to, at the very least, prevent children from accessing their platform.
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$1m reward for information surrounding unsolved opal miner’s death
A $1m reward has been announced for information relating to the suspicious death of an opal miner more than 30 years ago, AAP reports.
Paul Murray was last seen alive on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge, an outback town in north-western New South Wales, on 19 March 1995.
Murray, then aged 40, owned an opal mining field about 8km north-west of the town and lived in a camp at the site. A local resident had picked him up and dropped him off at the edge of town, becoming the last known person to see him alive.
Murray was reported missing one week later. After an extensive search, two graziers found his body in scrubland, about 2km from his campsite. A postmortem examination found no obvious cause of death and no signs of trauma.
Authorities will again lift the reward on Wednesday, more than three decades on from Murray’s death, to $1m.
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Consultation with tech sector on CGT changes about ‘unique arrangements’, finance minister says
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says tech companies and startups have “unique arrangements” that required the government to consult with them on proposed changes to capital gains tax in last week’s federal budget, but the government had not taken a position on whether the sector will get a carve out from the changes.
Amid fury and memes from the sector over the change – which replaces the 50% tax discount on profits with cost-base indexation – Gallagher told ABC’s 7.30 there had been a “level of misinformation around how some of these changes will impact” businesses. When asked why the tech sector was being consulted after the budget, she said a final conclusion could not be reached until the budget was released.
Asked whether a carve-out for startups and tech companies was being considered, and if it would create a two-tier system for businesses in Australia, Gallagher said the government wants “to talk further with that sector about some unique features of their industry”, adding:
And I think that is a responsible thing to do.
She said the government “hasn’t taken a position on carve-outs” for particular sectors:
What we’ve said is we want to work with that sector to understand a little bit more about the concerns they are raising, and it is particularly about some of the costs … the way that their business is structured, particularly when they start, when they are early, young businesses – that we want to work through that with them further and the treasurer has undertaken to do that, and it is clear in the budget papers.
Gallagher said the government will be proceeding with its decisions in legislation to be introduced into parliament in the coming weeks, “and we would want to pass those bills as soon as [we’re] reasonably able to.”
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NSW treasurer warns of slower growth ahead of next month’s state budget
The NSW economy will grow less than expected next financial year amid rising inflation and the global oil shock, the state’s treasurer will warn ahead of next month’s budget.
In a speech today ahead of the 23 June state budget, Daniel Mookhey will warn that NSW will only avoid a recession in 2026-27 because of the number of renewable energy projects now under construction in the state.
Prompted by the conflict in the Middle East, he has released treasury forecasts earlier than usual, which show the economy will grow by 1% next financial year, less than the 2.5% predicted at a mid-year review in December.
Mookhey has previously flagged this year’s budget will involve “difficult choices” about public spending. Following the federal budget, the Minns government has criticised the allocation of commonwealth infrastructure spending, adding to ongoing tension over the allocation of GST, after NSW received its lowest ever share in the allocation for 2026-27.
In his key pre-budget speech to the McKell Institute today, Mookhey will say that economic pain is more pronounced in NSW because typical working families in the state borrow more for their mortgages.
Attentive budget watchers will notice a slowdown more pronounced in NSW than elsewhere in the federation. The simple reason is that higher inflation has led to higher interest rates which is lowering consumption spending; the point of the [Reserve Bank of Australia’s] increased interest rates. But the more complicated explanation is this: higher interest rates hurt working Australians in every state, but they hurt working Australians more in this state.
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Minister says reaction to the budget going ‘as we expected it to’
Catherine King, the federal infrastructure minister, said the reaction to the federal budget is going “as we expected it to”, adding the government was responsible for explaining the changes, and the rationale behind them, to the country.
King spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying there had been some misinformation about the budget, but added people would always be concerned about major economic changes.
She went on:
We think when you’re trying to do big, hard changes and big reforms, these are the sorts of things … and it’s our job to go out and explain it to people, and to sell it to people. I think it’s to be expected that there will be people and commentary from people who are concerned about those changes.
King was also asked if the government was concerned some business and innovation would move overseas after the changes. She said:
Australia is a good stable democracy, good stable economy, [with] lots of advantages over many other places in terms of investing and we want to make sure that continues.
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Afterpay to rename Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena as buy now, pay later booms
Buy now, pay later platform Afterpay has bought the naming rights to one of Sydney’s biggest arenas, expanding the reach of its payments plan in a multimillion dollar deal.
Afterpay says it has grown to 4.1 million active customers across Australia and New Zealand, with more than half of its Australian customers using its platform to buy live entertainment.
The company has established partnerships with Australian businesses’ peak bodies and is now moving into venue sponsorship. The 2000 Olympics-era Sydney Showgrounds venue, now known as Qudos Bank Arena, will be renamed Afterpay Arena later this year.
Under the new naming rights deal, the 21,000-capacity venue is also set to offer Afterpay’s flexible payments across ticket purchases.
Afterpay is understood to have paid several million dollars for the five-year deal, with similar partnerships typically valued between $10m and $20m.
Unusually for a naming deal, Square – the point-of-sale payment platform operated by Afterpay’s parent company, Block – will also be built into the arena’s food and merchandise sales.
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Planning under way to implement safe nursing levels in NSW general wards
The New South Wales government says planning is under way for the next stage of its commitment to introduce safe staffing levels in all public hospitals.
In the coming months, the next phase of the Safe Staffing Levels rollout will begin to ensure a minimum of one nurse to four patients for morning and afternoon shifts in general medical, surgical and specialty wards.
It comes after the recruitment of more than 900 full-time equivalent staff to 78 emergency departments as part of a minimum commitment of at least one nurse for every three patients in emergency wards. The health minister, Ryan Park, says:
Increasing staffing levels is crucial to supporting our health workforce and relieving pressure on our hospitals. Safe Staffing Levels is an historic reform to strengthen care for patients right across NSW.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has frequently raised concerns about understaffing under Coalition and Labor governments, including in regional communities and on maternity wards, as well as following two escapes by mental health patients from a western Sydney hospital earlier this year.
The government is working with the NSWNMA to finalise the first hospitals to benefit from the rollout. The NSWNMA general secretary, Michael Whaites, says the reform is crucial “for nurses and midwives who have been dealing with chronic staffing shortages in the health system for years”.
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Good morning, and happy Wednesday. Nick Visser here to step up to the plate. Let’s see what’s in store.
Wilson launches ‘stand with small’ campaign for small businesses
Following Angus Taylor’s proposal to index income tax brackets and remove non-citizens from receiving social welfare, Tim Wilson will announce a campaign to support small businesses called … “stand with small”.
The shadow treasurer is promising a dedicated federal small business act with a single national definition for the sector and to set up legal maximum payment terms to small businesses from government and big business.
The Coalition will also consult on new minimum requirements for government procurement that must come from small business.
Wilson will tell the National Press Club that the Albanese government has “declared war on the self-starters and small businesses of the nation”, but the Coalition will fight for them.
Over the past year I have been speaking with small businesses across the country, and particularly about how the rules of the economy increasingly feel rigged against them.
And I have reached a conclusion: we have an economy designed for the 20th century, and I am no longer convinced tinkering at the margins will fix it. We need new economic structures for the 21st century.”
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Treasurer an ‘inflation arsonist’, says Wilson
Tim Wilson will accuse Labor of a “bad faith budget” written by a “paper tiger treasurer” in his post-budget address to the National Press Club today. Typically after the opposition leader does the budget reply, the shadow treasurer gets to have their say at the club the following week.
The shadow treasurer will say the budget, handed down last Tuesday, continues to inflate costs for households and small businesses and punishes entrepreneurs.
Wilson will take aim at the impact of capital gains tax changes on businesses and startups – which have this week started a social media campaign with doctored AI generated images of the prime minister, calling him an extra partner with 47% equity.
The innovators, disruptors, risk takers and builders of this country have worked this prime minister out: he’s the guy in that group assignment that does none of the work, but still takes the grade.
This was a budget of narrative, over numbers. Revenue, without reform. A budget crafted by a paper tiger treasurer … The treasurer is the inflation arsonist cosplaying as the firefighter. He says he has the habit under control, but he keeps reaching for the fiscal jerry can.
See more of our coverage of the 2026 federal budget here.
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Man dies, four others in serious condition after alleged Sydney shooting
A man has died in hospital and four other men are in serious condition following an alleged shooting in Sydney’s south-west, NSW police said in a statement overnight.
Police were called to Liverpool hospital at around 8.30pm last night after reports two men believed to be in their 20s had shown up with multiple wounds.
One of the men died despite treatment, and is yet to be identified. The other man remains in hospital in a stable condition, police said.
Soon after, at 8.40pm, two men presented to Fairfield Hospital in a critical condition, and are still being treated.
Another man, believed to be aged 19, is in a stable condition and being treated at Liverpool hospital, where he appeared at 9.50pm last night, according to police.
Police established a crime scene at a home in Canley Heights, and investigations are ongoing.
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Former governor general Peter Hollingworth dies at 91
The former governor general and Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, Peter Hollingworth, has died at the age of 91.
Hollingworth was appointed Australia’s 23rd governor general by the Howard government in June 2001. He stood down less than two years later following controversy around his handling of church sexual abuse reports.
Hollingworth had been Anglican archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years from 1990, and in 2003 a board of inquiry into the handling of complaints of sexual abuse found that Hollingworth failed to act on knowledge of sexual abuse and allowed two clergy to remain in the church despite knowing they had sexually assaulted children.
In a statement, the current Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, The Most Reverend Jeremy Greaves said:
Anglican Church of Southern Queensland acknowledges with deep regret the past failings of the church.
Anglican Church of Southern Queensland apologises unreservedly to those who have suffered abuse, distress, isolation, and harm caused by the Church’s failure to respond with integrity and care when it was needed most.
Hollingworth himself was not accused of abuse. He previously acknowledged he made mistakes, and apologised.
Hollingworth said previously he considered his failings almost every day but his actions were influenced by the advice of church lawyers and insurance companies at the time.
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Good morning
Hi all, and welcome to another Guardian Australia live blog. Nick Visser will be with you shortly to steer you through the day’s news as it unfolds.
Former governor general Peter Hollingworth, who resigned over his handling of child sexual abuse in the Anglican church, has died at the age of 91.
Overnight in Sydney, one person has been killed and four more wounded in a shooting at Canley Heights in Sydney’s south-west.
And the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, is due to deliver his budget reply speech at the National Press Club later today.
We’ll have more on all this for you soon.
