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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Kat Wong

Afternoon Update: Husic warns against weakening copyright laws; alleged stabbing at Brisbane school; and an epic journey for Christopher Nolan fans

Labor MP Ed Husic
Labor MP Ed Husic has warned colleagues that weakening copyright would go against the ethos of the Labor party. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Good afternoon.

Any moves to water down copyright law to benefit AI companies would be “going against the ethos” of Labor and undermine the principle of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”, Ed Husic has warned.

The Labor MP, who has long advocated for a more interventionist approach on AI policy, said big firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic should not be left to self-regulate, and that the federal government should be setting strong rules.

Husic’s comments come ahead of Anthony Albanese’s highly anticipated speech in Sydney on guardrails for AI, datacentres and Australian intellectual property.

Top news

In pictures

The number of dead dolphins washing up on South Australian beaches spiked in 2025, with long-term data revealing mortalities during the state’s devastating algal bloom were the highest in 12 years.

What they said …

***

“He wasn’t tarnished by that kind of cardinal ambition that is rife in our industry – but nor was he complacent. He just took life as it came.” – Charles Dance

Dance – who starred alongside Sam Neill in Plenty, To the Ends of the Earth and And Then There Were None – remembers him as a “very cool guy”. Read more tributes to the actor here.

Today in Focus

The lonely reality of male infertility – podcast

Sperm counts are in decline worldwide, and testosterone levels are said to be plunging, but male infertility still carries a stigma. Prof Michael Carroll on what every man should know

Listen to the episode here.

Before bed read

Cinephiles from all corners of the world are embarking on an epic journey to Australia to see Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey in one of the world’s few surviving cinemas capable of screening it in the film-maker’s preferred format.

As Sian Cain reports, Nolan has long championed Imax 1570 film – the highest-resolution film format in existence – but Imax in Melbourne is the only cinema in the southern hemisphere with a 1570 reel of The Odyssey.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: ROLL. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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