Good afternoon. New material and claims that were not allowed to be heard by the jury in Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial have now been made public, after an interim suppression order was lifted.
One argument heard in court, but ruled inadmissible by the trial judge, involved police suspicions that Patterson might have previously used rat poison in an alleged attempt to kill her estranged husband, Simon.
The pre-trial hearings also heard that Simon had told his father, Don, and other family members of his suspicions before the fatal beef wellington lunch in July 2023, but that “he thought he was the only person she was targeting, and that [his relatives] would be safe”.
Meanwhile, the Victorian supreme court has released redacted footage of Patterson’s interview with police, conducted a week after the fatal lunch, in which she told police she did not own a dehydrator nor ever foraged for mushrooms – evidence she later admitted in court were lies. This interview was played to the jury during the trial but has not been released publicly until now.
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One doctor’s hopes to rebuild Gaza’s health system
Abdalkarim Alharazin has seen more suffering and death than most in his time as a junior doctor on Gaza’s frontlines. Amid relentless Israeli bombardment, displacement and starvation, the Palestinian paediatrician applied for and has been accepted into a master of public health at the University of Sydney.
With significant hurdles ahead, logistically and financially, Alharazin joins Nour Haydar to talk about what he’s witnessed and his plans to rebuild Gaza’s health infrastructure.
What they said …
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“How can you represent your community from behind bars?” – Chris Minns
The New South Wales premier said Gareth Ward’s resignation from the state parliament on Friday “should have come earlier” after the convicted rapist resigned as MP for Kiama moments before parliament was due to expel him. Ward, who is on remand in Cessnock prison, on Thursday lost his bid for an injunction to prevent his expulsion while he appealed his conviction. His resignation now automatically vacates his south coast seat, meaning there will be a byelection.
Australian Politics
Andrew Bragg on AI, housing and what the Coalition got wrong – Australian Politics podcast
Two weeks out from Labor’s economic roundtable, the Coalition’s shadow minister for productivity, housing and homelessness, Andrew Bragg, joins us to talk about the biggest challenges facing the economy.
Speaking to chief political correspondent Tom McIlroy, Bragg cautions against over-regulating artificial intelligence, reflects on the Coalition’s missteps with migrant communities, and reveals how he still carves out time for long runs and audiobooks amid the chaos of federal politics.
Before bed read
Live music always reminds Zoya Patel how special art is, and how lucky we are when we experience it together, she writes. If you can’t be in public without trying to control other people’s every movement, maybe you should just stay at home?
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: TYPE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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