The relentless attacks on Jacinda Ardern may have contributed to her decision to step down, several prominent political figures have said.
The abuse Ardern endured, primarily from a vocal anti-vaccination movement, escalated over the course of the pandemic, with police saying threats to the PM tripled in the three years to 2022.
Several men were arrested for threatening to assassinate her, protesters in a car chased her vehicle while shouting she was a “Nazi”, and protesters at an anti-vaccination riot in front of parliament called for her execution.
“In this era of social media, clickbait and 24/7 media cycles, Jacinda has faced a level of hatred and vitriol which in my experience is unprecedented in our country,” the former prime minister Helen Clark said.
Top news
No change to Aus Open schedule | Tournament boss Craig Tiley has ruled out changing the schedule after receiving a barrage of criticism for allowing last night’s epic clash between Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis to start at 10.20pm. The game didn’t finish until 4am. “At this point there is no need to alter the schedule,” Tiley said.
Pell protest | Protesters are planning to march to Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral on the day of George Pell’s funeral – expected to be held on 2 February – to denounce his strident and long-held opposition to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights.
David Crosby dies aged 81 | The legendary US musician, who co-founded the folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, has passed away after a “long illness”. From the Byrds in 1965 to Woodstock in 1999, see his life in pictures here.
Deadly Peru protests | More than 50 people have died in six weeks of mass protests demanding the resignation of president Dina Boluarte. In a late-night television address, Boluarte vowed to punish protesters with “all the rigour of the law”. Protests began after Boluarte ousted former president Pedro Castillo last month. “We want that usurper out, she doesn’t represent us,” one protester said.
Is this the world’s largest toad? | Rangers in Queensland’s Conway national park might have found the largest cane toad on record and dubbed it “Toadzilla”. She tipped the scales at 2.7kg. The Guinness world record for the largest toad in history is 2.65kg, found in 1991.
Woman charged over WA painting protest | A video released on Thursday showed a woman spraypainting a Woodside logo on Frederick McCubbin’s Down on his luck, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. “This painting is barely 100 years old,” a man on the video said. “We have 50,000-year-old artwork that Woodside is destroying.”
New penguin colony discovered | Scientists discovered the colony of about 500 emperor penguins using satellite images of one the most remote and inaccessible regions of Antarctica.
Effective bowel cancer treatment | Giving bowel cancer patients chemotherapy before surgery cuts the risk of it coming back by 28%, according to the results of a trial that experts are hailing as “fantastic”.
Full Story
The details on the Indigenous voice to parliament
Peter Dutton has amped up his criticism of the voice to parliament, reiterating questions about specific details of the body. So what are the details, and are they the right questions to ask? We speak to Prof Megan Davis, an expert adviser to the government on the referendum process.
What they said …
***
“Rather than the discussion being about an epic Murray-Kokkinakis match it ends in a bit of a farce.” – Andy Murray
Murray was less than impressed with the Australian Open scheduling that saw him finish his cliffhanger victory against Kokkinakis at 4am.
In numbers
And Australians consume more than 2.4bn litres of sugary drinks annually, prompting the AMA to call for a sugar tax to combat obesity and diabetes.
Before bed read
Ever taken a budget train or ferry on an overseas trip to save a few pennies – then regretted every minute of it? Benita Kolovos has, when she and her boyfriend opted for an overnight ferry from Italy to Croatia.
“We put a chair against the door for safety purposes, though all that would have done was warn us of impending doom, given there was nowhere for us to run.”
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