What we learned – Thursday 1 August
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. Here is a recap of the main news:
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has warned of “a real risk that the conflict in [the Middle East] escalates seriously, and urged Australians to leave Lebanon.
The prime minister said the government had not “done well enough” on closing the gap.
Football Australia has confirmed that Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson’s contract will not be extended and his four-year tenure has come to an end.
Australians have lodged a record number of complaints against their financial institutions, with scams and insurance issues driving a 9% increase to 105,000 disputes, according to the financial ombudsman.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said the state government will host housing summit on Monday.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, refused to say when American B-52 aircraft will start operating from the Northern Territory.
Victorian Coalition MPs have staged a walkout of question time, calling it a “joke”.
NSW Police said a “gas or fume” smell is a line of inquiry in the death of a man and woman on a Sydney yacht.
Healthcare hardly mentioned in government’s disability report, physicians said.
The new minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said she will “reach across the aisle” to “elevate Indigenous affairs”.
A survey of nearly 20,000 young people, conducted by youth charity Mission Australia, found nearly one in 10 had experienced some form of homelessness in the previous 12 months.
The former Greens leader Bob Brown has urged Tasmanian-born Queen Mary of Denmark to intervene on behalf of the high-profile anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson after his arrest in Greenland.
Two people have been killed after a large tree fell on their ute as wild weather lashed parts of Western Australia.
Updated
Victorian ambulance response times worsen and the union is not surprised
Victorian paramedics say they have been “screaming” warnings about ambulance response times and it is reflected in the latest data showing the pace has slowed.
Ambulance Victoria (AV) on Thursday published its response time data for the April to June quarter.
It revealed almost two-thirds (64.2%) of urgent cases received a response within the target timeframe of 15 minutes, down from 67.7% across January and March.
The Victorian Ambulance Union acknowledged response times had deteriorated but said no paramedic would be surprised.
“The entire workforce has been screaming ‘iceberg right ahead’, and now the ship is sinking,” the union secretary, Danny Hill, said.
He said paramedics were spending more time ramped at hospitals and responding to trivial cases rather than responding to genuine emergency patients.
But AV suggested paramedics reached code 1 patients faster on average than a year ago despite a 5% increase in demand.
Code 1 cases can include heart attacks, strokes and car accidents.
The services’ executive director of regional operations, Danielle North, said performance had improved after the “busiest quarter ever”, with more than 102,000 code 1 cases.
The previous record of 100,238 was set in the last three months of 2022.
“That’s nearly 5,000 more ‘lights and sirens’ cases compared to the same time last year and a huge 35.2% more code 1 cases than before the pandemic five years ago,” North said.
“The entire health system continues to be extremely busy due to seasonal illnesses.”
Via AAP
Updated
Terror charges laid after Sydney shopping centre scare
A young man has been charged with planning a terrorist act after an incident in a shopping centre where he was allegedly seen throwing bottles of chemicals into a bathroom.
Emergency services were called to Miranda Westfield, in Sydney’s south, after reports of a man throwing bottles just after 2pm on 24 July.
Officers established a number of crime scenes and seized several bottles for forensic examination.
A 21-year-old man was arrested nearby and police will allege in court they found him carrying a knife and a bottle.
Witnesses reported hearing the sound of a small explosion inside the shopping centre at the time of the incident.
The man was charged with possession of a non-firearm for discharging an irritant in a public place, custody of a knife in a public place and leaving or sending a substance to create a false belief of danger.
Officers allege they later found and seized chemicals, electronic devices and mobile phones during a search of a nearby Loftus home.
Two further commonwealth charges were laid in Sutherland local court on Thursday after investigations by officers with the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team.
The charges include knowingly collecting or making a document connected with terrorism and doing an act in preparation or planning for a terrorist act.
Police will allege the man had “mixed and unclear ideological beliefs”. The man remains on remand and will next appear at Downing Centre local court on 25 September.
Via AAP
Updated
Cannabis use should be viewed as a fundamental right, longest-serving prosecutor says
Cannabis should be legalised for recreational use and access should be viewed as a fundamental right, Australia’s longest-serving chief prosecutor says.
Nicholas Cowdery – who was formerly responsible for leading the prosecution of drug dealers in the nation’s largest legal system – has argued the criminal justice framework is ill-equipped to deal with drug use.
People who “feel the need to take mood-altering substances” should be able to do so, he told a landmark NSW parliamentary inquiry into the impact of cannabis regulation on Thursday.
“A person’s choice to use a mood-altering substance without harming others must be respected as a human right,” the former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions said.
If the purpose of the criminal justice system was to make the community safe, then it was “totally unsuited” to dealing with somebody who chose to use drugs, he said.
Cowdery, a former president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, noted “far more harmful” drugs such as alcohol and nicotine were legal and regulated.
“What right could the state tell me that I can’t have a glass of wine with dinner?” he said.
“I have seen in my career the effects of alcohol time and time and time again and I’ve seen the statistics on the number of people who die from nicotine use.
“Cannabis doesn’t do that.”
Decriminalising cannabis for personal purposes would enable better government oversight of its use and the market, and free up law enforcement to look into more important criminal conduct, he said.
NSW will hold a drug summit in October and December, when MPs and experts will consider the legalisation of cannabis, the use of pill-testing sites and other harm-reduction measures.
Via AAP
Updated
PM says Labor ‘focused’ on regional aviation services after Rex goes into administration
Earlier today, the PM was speaking to reporters about Rex Airlines and its recent struggles, which he blamed on the airline’s decision to invest in non-regional routes.
Anthony Albanese repeated that aviation is a “tough industry” while adding that the government is “focused” on ensuring regional communities have access to aviation services:
There’s a range of issues relating to Rex, one is that a regional airline made a decision to invest in routes that they hadn’t previously gone in. Sydney to Melbourne is not a regional route, it is one of the top 10 routes in the world.
It’s a tough industry, aviation. What my government is focused on is making sure that those in regional communities continue to have access to aviation services. That is absolutely critical for regional Australia. We are also concerned about the workforce.
We thank Virgin and Qantas, [they] have stepped up to assist customers, but have also stepped up, in terms of workforce, the potential for redeployment and priority being given there as well.
We are working through with the administrators who have been put in place to make sure that any damage that occurs is limited and that we continue to look after the workforce and we continue to look after those regional communities.
Updated
Marles refuses to say when US B-52s will start NT deployment
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has refused to say when American B-52 aircraft will start operating from the Northern Territory.
Marles held a press conference at the Royal Australian Air Force base in Darwin today. He was asked a direct question about whether he knew when B-52 aircraft would start their deployments from the RAAF base in Tindal, 320km south-east of Darwin, and replied:
Look, I’m not about to go into those details. Again, we are working very closely with our American partners.
There is a significant force posture initiative that’s being undertaken between ourselves and the United States, which I might say is seeing enormous American investment in our northern bases here at Darwin and Tindal, but across the north, that [provides] a huge advantage for our country.
A journalist persisted by asking: “You might not have to go into any detail, but are you personally aware of when the deployment will start?”
Marles replied:
We have a very close and detailed relationship with the United States – we have full knowledge and concurrence.
The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can carry out ocean surveillance and anti-ship operations and “can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance”, according to a US government summary.
In 2022, officials confirmed that a US-funded aircraft parking apron at RAAF Base Tindal would be capable of accommodating up to six B-52 aircraft, but said it could also house other aircraft types.
Updated
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson’s contract will not be extended
Football Australia has confirmed that Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson’s contract will not be extended and his four year tenure has come to an end.
The Matildas crashed out of the Paris Olympics at the group stage, with the FA saying in a statement the decision not to extend Gustavsson’s contract was a mutual one.
It represents the first time in 24 years that Australia has failed to make it to the knockout stage of the Games.
The 50 year old’s future has been a source of speculation since the Matildas lost the World Cup semi final on home soil last year.
FA CEO James Johnson thanked Gustavsson and said he had been an “integral part” of the Matildas journey in recent years:
Tony [Gustavsson] has been an integral part of the Matildas’ journey over the past four years, with a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Fifa World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023. We thank him for his strong contribution, passion and commitment during that time and wish him every success for the future.
Gustavsson said it had been a “great honour and privilege” to lead the Matildas, and thanked the players and staff in the statement:
It has been a great honour and privilege to have been able to be the head coach of the Matildas over the past four years. This journey with the team has had many incredible moments and memories that I will forever treasure.
Thank you to the incredible players for letting me play a small part in their stories, my staff for being beside me every step of the way, Football Australia for backing our vision for this team, the Australian football family for embracing me and the Australian public for the tremendous support.
Australian football will be forever in my heart, and I will be watching on and cheering on your success in the future.
Updated
Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you to take you through the rest of the day’s news.
That’s all from me on the blog today. Handing over to Mostafa Rachwani, who will roll your live news updates into the evening.
Coalition MPs walk out of Victorian question time
Victorian Coalition MPs have staged a walkout of question time, calling it a “joke”.
About halfway through question time, following repeated questions about the CFMEU, opposition leader John Pesutto and his colleagues walked out.
The only opposition MP to remain in the chamber was James Newbury. Newbury, who holds the position of manager of opposition business, told the chamber: “Question time has become a joke. It is a joke. It is not unreasonable for the premier to answer questions.
The walkout led to quips from the remaining MPs in the chamber, including the Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, who took over questioning of the government and said: “We always knew the Greens were the real opposition.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, accused the Coalition of “cutting and running from the field”.
They’re walking off the field of play because they’ve spat the dummy.
Pesutto is set to hold a press conference about the walkout.
Updated
Two killed in tree fall as wild weather lashes WA
Two people have been killed after a large tree fell on their ute as wild weather lashed parts of Western Australia.
Investigators are investigating the crash that killed a 78-year-old female and her 75-year-old male passenger.
Preliminary reports say the tree fell on to the vehicle as it was driving in Deanmill, a small town in the state’s south-west, at 3.30pm on Wednesday.
A strong cold front swept through south-west #WA yesterday and overnight, bringing showers, thunderstorms, and damaging wind gusts to some areas. Cold today with showers and small hail, easing into tomorrow. Latest: https://t.co/jlOoTZLz8d pic.twitter.com/kAQGO2QLnQ
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) August 1, 2024
Volunteer firefighters and SES workers helped clear the tree and remove the two people from the vehicle.
Both occupants in the vehicle died at the scene.
Crash investigators have called for witnesses to contact police.
Thousands of people across Western Australia lost power as a severe thunderstorm smashed the state and others were warned to brace for heavy rain and damaging winds.
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
Aussies told to leave Lebanon as contingencies prepped
The federal government is working to have plans in place in case the security situation in Lebanon deteriorates further but Australian citizens have been urged to heed warnings and leave immediately.
About 15,000 Australians live in Lebanon, according to Foreign Affairs Department estimates.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government was “thinking through contingencies” but didn’t go into further detail. He told reporters in Darwin:
But we have a significant population of Australians who are in Lebanon, and if you are seeking to leave, you should be doing so right now.
The warning follows an Israeli drone strike that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, sparking fears of retaliation.
The Australia Defence Force most recently helped evacuate citizens from deadly riots in New Caledonia in May. It has also helped evacuate Australians and their families from Israel on a KC-30A and a C-17A Globemaster following Hamas’ October 7 attack.
- Australian Associated Press
More fact checking of Dutton’s comments
On ABC TV on the same Tuesday, Albanese said:
And there’s no place for antisemitism in this country or, indeed, anywhere else. We need to fight racism wherever we see it, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, some of the racially charged comments that have been made against Indigenous Australians during this referendum. It has no place.
In parliament on 16 October, Albanese moved a 16-part motion that included two condemnations of antisemitism. The same day the prime minister told parliament:
I know I speak for every member of this house when I say that this kind of hateful prejudice has no place in Australia. The awful antisemitism chanted by some of the protesters at the Sydney Opera House is beyond offensive; it is a betrayal of our Australian values. We reject it and we condemn it. Our country is better than that and our country is a better place because of our Jewish community. Our government is committed to keeping the community safe.
Updated
Fact check on Dutton comment on Opera House rally
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has given a misleading impression by claiming the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, did not “stand up when that unruly mob stepped on to the forecourt in Sydney at the Opera House”.
Dutton made the comment during a visit to Israel organised by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). Dutton has held a series of meetings, including with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
During an interview overnight, Sky News asked Dutton whether there was “an element of concern from Netanyahu and his security team, with the various foreign policy positions and public criticisms that have been taken by the Albanese government, particularly in the wake of October 7”.
Dutton replied that Albanese had shown a lack of leadership on rising levels of antisemitism in Australia:
I think most Australians recognise that now. It was the time for the prime minister to stand up when that unruly mob stepped on to the forecourt in Sydney at the Opera House. He didn’t, and it’s allowed a level of antisemitism to rise in our country that’s provided a level of, really, distress, I’ve got to say, within the Jewish community.
However, Albanese repeatedly condemned the rally in question, before and after it happened.
On Sky News on Monday 9 October, Albanese acknowledged “that there’s been a rise in antisemitism” and it was “just wrong”.
On 2GB that same Monday afternoon – shortly before the rally in Sydney CBD – Albanese said the march should not go ahead and “people need to really take a step back”.
At a press conference on Tuesday 10 October, the day after the rally, Albanese said he was “concerned about the rise of antisemitism”.
Later on Sky News on the same day, Albanese condemned the chants that were reportedly said at the rally outside the Opera House:
I’ve now seen the images just recently, and they’re horrific, quite clearly slogans which are antisemitic and just appalling, with no place. And I did say that that demonstration shouldn’t have gone ahead and I stand by that.
Updated
Queensland’s new youth remand centre should be open by year-end, minister says
The Queensland youth justice minister says construction of a new youth remand centre – which would reduce the number of children held indefinitely in police watch houses – should be open by the end of the year.
Guardian Australia and SBS The Feed published CCTV and bodycam footage last month showing the “abominable” treatment of young people in police watch houses and isolation cells, including a 13-year-old girl with a severe intellectual disability.
Children are held in adult watch houses for indefinite periods in Queensland.
The youth justice minister, Di Farmer, told a parliamentary estimates hearing on Thursday that the state imprisons more children than “most of the other states combined”.
As a result, youth detention centres are at capacity. When beds are not available, children held on remand are kept in watch houses.
Last year the state government said it would build a new “remand centre” to hold children at Wacol in Brisbane’s south. The facility has been designed by the Queensland police service and is on police land.
Farmer told estimates the centre had been “fast tracked” but would not be open until December – the same timeframe the government has repeatedly given.
She said the centre would increase the state’s detention capacity by 76 beds and “reduce the number of young people in watch houses”.
Updated
NGA acquires painting by ‘nasty piece of work’ Gauguin
The National Gallery of Australia has paid $9.8m for an important painting by the controversial French artist Paul Gauguin.
The Blue Roof or Farm at Le Pouldu 1890 is the first painting by Gauguin to become part of an Australian public collection.
The purchase has been announced during the gallery’s major exhibition on the influential artist, titled Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao.
Gauguin was a violent paedophile who abandoned his wife and five children in Europe, moving to French Polynesia and marrying three native teenage girls, the youngest 13 years old.
The NGA said in a statement:
In today’s context, Gauguin’s interactions in Polynesia in the later part of the 19th Century would not be accepted and are recognised as such.
The acquisition is a coup for the gallery, according to Sasha Grishin from the Australian National University. He told AAP:
It’s a good thing to have – whether something else could have been acquired, well that’s always the question.
Whether the gallery should have held the Gauguin exhibition, or has acknowledged Gauguin’s past sufficiently in the show, are separate questions to its decision to buy the painting, Grishin said.
Whether when you enter the exhibition, you should have a little plaque up saying this person is a really, really nasty piece of work – perhaps that should be brought to the forefront.
The artwork is certainly an important acquisition, agreed the National Gallery director, Nick Mitzevich. He said:
It captures a key point in art history – the moment when the artist emerged as an intensely original master, taking Impressionist colour schemes and transcending them to be bolder and more daring.
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
The prime minister visited St John XXIII Catholic College in Stanhope Gardens, Sydney today – here he is taking a selfie:
Updated
Pothole campaign ‘a bit crass’ but effective
As the Victorian government struggles to repair potholes, one resident in South Gippsland has taken it upon themselves to force the council into action by painting something crass over one pothole:
According to the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times, the hole was repaired the day after the graffiti was painted, which would pose a success for the person behind it.
It comes after the Victorian minister for roads, Melissa Horne, yesterday admitted the government had been struggling to keep up with pothole maintenance after wild storms and wetter than average conditions.
Updated
'Gas or fume' a line of inquiry in death of man and woman on Sydney yacht
NSW police are live, addressing a man and woman found dead on a Sydney yacht overnight.
The man and woman, believed to be in their early 60s, left on the vessel on Monday and were not discovered until 9pm on Wednesday, police said.
A “gas or fume” smell noticed by police who boarded the vessel is a line of inquiry under investigation, but there was “no obvious cause of death” and “nothing has been discounted”:
At this stage we don’t know what has happened to them …
When police boarded the vessel they thought they may have smelt some kind of gas or fume so all precaution was taken with a fire brigade notified and that is definitely a line of inquiry under investigation.
Detectives are currently walking up and down the marinas and talking to people as we speak … There is no obvious cause of death when police attended, and nothing has been discounted.
We’re still making inquiries and with family. Obviously it’s distressing for any family.
Two cars owned by the man and woman were towed from the scene.
Updated
Some context on the former senator Bob Brown’s plea to Queen Mary of Denmark to intervene on behalf of the high-profile anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson after his arrest in Greenland, courtesy of AAP:
In 2008, the Australian federal court ruled the Japanese whaling was a criminal activity.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation uses “aggressive non-violence” to protect whales and other marine life.
More than a dozen Danish police and Swat team members boarded the John Paul DeJoria last month and a handcuffed Watson was led off the ship.
The vessel had stopped in Greenland to refuel, en route to the Northwest Passage on a mission to intercept Japan’s newly built factory whaling ship Kangei Maru in the North Pacific.
The arrest was believed to be related to a former “red notice” issued for Watson’s previous anti-whaling interventions in the Antarctic region, the foundation’s ship operations director, Locky MacLean, said.
Japan’s Antarctic research whaling program Jarpa was declared illegal by the international court of justice in 2014.
MacLean said:
We’re completely shocked, as the red notice had disappeared a few months ago.
We understand now that Japan made it confidential to lure Paul into a false sense of security.
He said the foundation was imploring the Danish government to release Watson and not to entertain a politically motivated request.
He said the crew and foundation had no way to contact Watson, who is a Canadian-American citizen, and it had received no updates.
It was not known whether Denmark would allow him to be extradited to Japan.
Updated
Bob Brown asks Queen Mary to intervene in arrest of Sea Shepherd founder
The former Greens leader Bob Brown has urged Tasmanian-born Queen Mary of Denmark to intervene on behalf of the high-profile anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson after his arrest in Greenland.
The Hobart-based Sea Shepherd founder was taken into custody by police when his ship, the John Paul DeJoria, docked in Danish-controlled Greenland’s Nuuk harbour on 21 July.
A local court ordered that he be detained until 15 August after a Japanese notice for his arrest was issued through Interpol.
Brown said the case would shame Copenhagen in the eyes of the world “if it acts as the lickspittle of Tokyo, whose cruel and bloody whaling in Antarctic waters ended in 2014 because it was found to be illegal by the International Court of Justice”.
He said:
I am well aware of the constitutional restraints on the monarchy in Denmark.
But there is enormous respect for Her Majesty Queen Mary here in her native Tasmania and, at the same time, huge support for Watson, who was pivotal to getting the illegal Japanese whale-killers out of our oceans.
In his letter to the Queen, Brown writes that most Australians supported Watson’s efforts to end the cruel and illegal whale slaughter. He wrote:
We owe him a great debt.
I am drawing his plight to your attention so that you may know about the need to gain his release. Japan has withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission and has a new whaling vessel capable of resuming whaling in the south again.
More to come in the next post.
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
Nearly one in 10 young people have experienced homelessness, survey finds
A survey of nearly 20,000 young people conducted by youth charity Mission Australia found nearly one in 10 had experienced some form of homelessness in the previous 12 months.
The charity released its youth homelessness report on Thursday, based on responses from 19,501 young people aged 15 to 19, finding that 1,508 respondents (8.6%) had experienced homelessness in the previous 12 months.
The responses showed loneliness, social barriers and strained family relationships were overrepresented among those who had an experience of homelessness.
Some 41% of respondents who had recently experienced homelessness said they had a mental health condition, compared with 13% of young people with stable homes.
Young people with a recent experience of homelessness were also more likely to find it difficult to socialise and fit in compared to their peers (46% compared with 26%), and were more likely to experience strained or poor family relationships (34% compared with 5%).
The charity is calling for $500m to be invested in targeted homelessness prevention for young people with high risk of homelessness, to increase youth housing options, including in social housing and the private rental market; and for increases to income support payments such as jobseeker and youth allowance that would support young people to live independently.
Updated
Government needs stronger commitment to royal commission recommendations, disability discrimination commissioner says
The disability discrimination commissioner, Rosemary Kayess, has urged the federal government to make a stronger commitment to the recommendations of the disability royal commission if it wants a more equitable and inclusive nation.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, after the joint federal, state and territory government response to the royal commission was released, Kayess said Australia needed to reframe its approach to disability.
Kayess said:
People with disability have waited almost a year for the government to release its response, and it unfortunately comes without a clear plan for action or roadmap for implementation.
The findings were clear that segregation and exclusion are core enablers of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability, which impedes the realisation of people’s rights and is inconsistent with the intent and purpose of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Ending violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability was impossible unless their human rights are embedded within law, policy and practice, Kayess said.
The federal government accepted in full only 13 of the royal commission’s 222 recommendations, and accepted 117 in principle.
The government should also strengthen laws around supported decision-making to protect the autonomy of and empower people with disability, Kayess said, as current policies and practices were falling short.
People need to know the government has taken the evidence they provided seriously, with the intention to act on key recommendations – no matter how complex or challenging.
Genuine change will no doubt take time, but if our leaders are serious about creating a truly inclusive society then we need to plant the seeds of change and act now.
Updated
'Governments have not done well enough' on closing the gap, PM concedes
Addressing the Closing the Gap report released today, Anthony Albanese says “governments have not done well enough in the past”.
My government is committed to closing the gap, working with Indigenous communities, listening to Indigenous communities across the full range of issues, whether it be economic empowerment, [or] the decision that we made just in the last days about no mining at Jabiluka in response to the wishes of the traditional owners and its significant to the Kakadu national park …
There are other examples as well. The agreement in the Northern Territory about education – it will significantly benefit students from those remote communities.
We put $4bn into remote housing … That is the key, you cannot get improvements in health and education if you have overcrowding in communities and you have homelessness and people being crowded, multiple families, into tiny places relatively.
We have provided record funding in places like central Australia, a $250m program that is looking at health with increased access to dialysis support.
I will be at the Garma festival in the Northern Territory in Arnhem Land tomorrow with the new minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy. We are committed to making a difference.
The challenges are there. You cannot resolve intergenerational inequity overnight but what you can do is be committed to making a difference. My government is.
Quite clearly governments of all persuasions at all levels have not done well enough in the past but we are committed to working with those communities and also, of course, working with the private sector as well to make a difference.
Updated
'We want to see a de-escalation, we want to see a ceasefire': PM
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is now speaking, warning about potential escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
We want to see a de-escalation, we want to see a ceasefire, want to see the hostages released and we want to see a plan for peace and security in the Middle East where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security with prosperity. That is the objective that my government has.
He also reminds Australians to not travel to Lebanon, and urges any Australians there to take the opportunity to leave:
We will continue to play a constructive role in that but, as well, I take the opportunity to say to Australians, do not travel to Lebanon at the moment.
We have a very clear statement that has been issued through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and for those Australians that are overseas, they should take the opportunity to come home to Australia.
There is a risk that the Beirut airport might not be open for commercial flights and, given the numbers of people that are there, there is no guarantee that … people will be able to come home through other means if that airport is shut.
Updated
Asked about priorities in her new role as the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy says her goal is to “bring different political allegiances together”:
This weekend it is getting out of Garma festival, listening to First Nations people, it will be the first real gathering since the referendum about regrouping and working with the prime minister on his targets going forward but again, as I said, working with crossbenchers in the parliament.
It is really important to elevate Indigenous affairs in a way that brings a lot of harmonious responses. We have high rates of suicide as First Nations people, the highest rate of incarceration.
I will be reaching across a parliamentary divide to ensure there are some certain areas of Aboriginal affairs where we should be untouched in terms of it being a political football, and I will be striving to do my best to bring different political allegiances together on that issue.
Updated
New minister says she will ‘reach across the aisle’ to ‘elevate Indigenous affairs’
The new minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, is speaking in Darwin, after the Closing the Gap report found “deeply troubling trends”.
She says bipartisanship in the parliament is an area “we need to improve on”:
I will be working very hard to try to reach across the aisle to Coalition members, the Greens, the teals and crossbenchers, that we have to elevate Indigenous affairs, especially around these areas of Closing the Gap targets.
We need to work together as a parliament, just as we are trying to do with first ministers in Indigenous affairs in every state and territory jurisdiction, so I will certainly be wanting to do that.
What I will also do is reach out to the Productivity Commission. I know the report that came down earlier this year also had some directions that we should be looking at. There will be quite a lot of people attending Garma festival this week and it will be my first event to be having these discussions.
Updated
Healthcare hardly mentioned in government’s disability report, physicians say
The peak body for physicians is adding its voice to advocates criticising the government’s response to the disability royal commission.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) says the response delivered yesterday does not adequately address healthcare for people with disability, with the word healthcare “hardly mentioned” in the report – used less than 50 times across the 312 pages.
The report also failed to accept the implementation of the findings of the Tune review, which would ensure the advice of physicians (doctors who specialise in internal medicine) is included in all aspects of patient assessments, the college said.
Prof Jennifer Martin, the president of the RACP, says that while the college welcomed the government’s in-principle acceptance of the recommendation to improve specialist training and continuing professional development in cognitive disability healthcare, more is needed:
Physicians have an important role to play in the healthcare of people with a disability and we were hoping to see a greater emphasis on the value they bring.
In particular, the federal government must ensure that Australians who need extra support have effective and inclusive communication channels, particularly with and between healthcare providers, to access the information they need for themselves and for their loved ones to get the care they need.
Addressing health literacy has been overlooked in the government’s response, which is disappointing. People with disability should always be able to understand information and communicate their needs in the way that is best for them.
Updated
Senator wants Australian Olympics not to replicate supposedly ‘satanic, degenerate and disgusting’ Paris opening ceremony
Senator Ralph Babet has written an open letter to the Australian Olympic Committee, seeking “assurances from those planning the Australian Olympic Games that our event will honour tradition, history and culture”.
Babet, of the United Australia Party, called out the Paris games’ opening ceremony “that was in my opinion satanic, degenerate, and disgusting,” he wrote in a post on Twitter.
My open letter to the Australian Olympic Committee. I’ve been one of the only Australian politicians to call out an opening ceremony that was in my opinion satanic, degenerate, and disgusting. Stand with me. Fight with me. Together we will change the world.
— Senator Babet (@senatorbabet) July 31, 2024
Do you part, Join The… pic.twitter.com/lPAN5FSdh6
His letter calls for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games to “avoid the mistakes of Paris – where organisers used their opening ceremony to make cheap political and religious points”.
It continues:
I do not for one moment believe the claims of Paris organisers that they were trying to create inclusion in highlighting diversity. It was clear they used the platform afforded them to shock and outrage. In doing so, they let down their own people and outraged many around the world.
By focusing on sexual preferences, radical gender theory and a rejection of Christianity, the French organisers created outrage and division …
I am desperately keen that we in Australia do not allow the same to happen to us.
An opening ceremony is a chance to showcase history, tradition and culture while emphasising everything good about our nation.
To that end, I am writing to seek assurances from those planning the Australian Olympic Games that our event will honour tradition, history and culture rather than undermine them, that it will be something that all Australians will be proud of rather than just a niche and fringe few.
Updated
Jacinta Allan says state government to host housing summit on Monday
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has been asked whether the increases in land, vacant property taxes and a Covid-19 levy on investment properties are to blame for Melbourne’s housing prices falling four months in a row. She replies:
The vacant residential land tax … was designed in a way to not have properties and land left vacant for long periods of time … [and] to deal with some of the challenges around land banking. But also providing a bit of encouragement for property owners to consider the best use of that property.
This is another example of how we are using every lever we can to build more homes [and] make more homes available to more Victorians.
Allan said the government would be hosting a housing summit with stakeholders and ministers on Monday:
A number of ministers are coming together with a large number of organisations and people who represent all parts of the building industry but also local government representatives. Again, we’re wanting to use every lever to build more homes, we’re wanting to make sure every voice every organisation that can be part of that work … I want it to be an ideas factory on how we can continue to build on the work we’ve done to date to build more homes for more Victorians because we know there’s more to do. We have released the housing statement, but there’s more that needs to be done.
Asked whether it was a good or bad thing that property prices were falling, she says:
That is a little bit in the eye of the beholder in terms of where you sit … in the world of ownership or otherwise of real estate.
Updated
Australia ‘deeply disappointed’ by Japan adding massive fin whales to hunt
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, says Australia is “deeply disappointed” by Japan’s decision last month to add fin whales to its commercial whaling program.
In a statement, she said the move expanded Japan’s long-running whale hunts beyond the Bryde’s, minke and sei whales that are already killed. She said:
Fin whales are the second largest of all whales and are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Australia is opposed to all commercial whaling and urges all countries to end this practice. Australia’s efforts through the international whaling commission have contributed to a whaling-free southern ocean and a decline in commercial whaling around the world.
Australia will continue to advocate for the protection and conservation of whales and the health of our ocean for future generations.
Updated
Jacinta Allan provides update on legionnaires’ disease outbreak
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is providing an update on the legionnaires’ disease outbreak in the state. She says she spoke to the chief health officer yesterday about the “increasing number of cases”.
She continues:
I spoke with the chief health officer yesterday and she advised very clearly and requested that I reinforced the message that if people are experiencing symptoms to go and seek urgent medical care, because particularly for people who may have other underlying conditions or who may be vulnerable or immunocompromised this can be quite a severe illness. And many of there are many people in ICU and many who have are currently hospitalised as they’re getting treatment for this illness.
Allan says the source of the outbreak is yet to be identified other than the general location of north-west Melbourne, but the process takes time.
People who present with the illness provide tests – they take between five to seven days to be processed. And obviously firstly someone has to first be identified as having legionnaires’, and then there’s that further testing that’s undertaken. And so that is why a very strong a precautionary message is to be delivered around people who may have been in that broader geographic exposure area to go and seek medical attention if they feel that they have those symptoms that can be quite debilitating.
Updated
Financial complaints surge as scams take hold
Australians have lodged a record number of complaints against their financial institutions, with scams and insurance issues driving a 9% increase to 105,000 disputes, according to the financial ombudsman.
Fiscal year data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows scam-related complaints increased by more than 80% in 2023-24, averaging 913 a month compared with 504 a month the previous financial year.
That was reflected in disputes related to personal transaction accounts, which were the most complained about financial product overall.
Consumers typically lodge complaints with AFCA after receiving an unsatisfactory response from their bank or lender.
“Our view is that firms could be resolving more complaints themselves, or preventing them in the first place,” chief ombudsman David Locke said.
We continue to take steps to be able to keep up with the increasing demand for our service, but it’s in everyone’s interests that rising complaints are tackled at the source.
In 2023, Australians lost $2.74bn to scams, according to the competition regulator, and there are fears the sophistication of such schemes will escalate through AI advances, such as voice cloning.
Consumer groups have described the federal government’s reforms to help consumers as “too vague” and “a mess”.
Updated
Indigenous Australians ‘frustrated’ at slow progress
Indigenous Australians are “somewhere between disappointed and frustrated” at a lack of traction on socio-economic targets, after a scorecard found most aren’t being met.
Only five out of 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track, the Productivity commission’s annual data compilation report, released today, shows.
Catherine Liddle, the CEO of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care and co-convenor of the Coalition of Peaks (a representative body of more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups), said the federal government needed to do better because “screaming from the rooftop for ages” wasn’t working.
“Somewhere between disappointed and frustrated and I always find that a very uncomfortable place to be, because I’m a person that likes to see light,” she told ABC TV in response to the commission’s report.
You see those datasets that again reinforce what we heard even at the beginning of the year, and that is governments are not moving fast enough on this, it’s frustrating.
A fresh approach was not needed, though, because the evidence showed areas that are succeeding were the ones that gave communities control of decision-making processes, the Arrernte and Luritja woman from Central Australia said.
It’s not about finding a new pathway – certainly that’s not what the productivity commission is saying. It’s saying: share the decision-making – this is commonsense, governments talking to the people about the issues that impact them, and the solutions to solve that.
Read more about the report here:
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
Two Victorian men charged over alleged betting on the Australian of the Year awards using inside information
Two Victorian men, charged with allegedly using inside information to bet on the outcome of three Australian of the Year Awards, are expected to appear in Dandenong magistrates court today, according to an AFP media release.
A Mount Martha man, 38, is alleged to have used information from a Commonwealth employee to place a series of bets on the awards between 2017 and 2019. A Mornington man, 39, is alleged to have provided the information to the Mount Martha man.
Operation Maridun began in February 2021, when ACIC provided a report to the AFP about betting irregularities in the 2021 Australian of the Year Awards.
The Mornington man has been charged with three counts of abuse of public office. The maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment.
The Mount Martha man has been charged with three counts of aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring offences of abuse of public office, which also has a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
The AFP will allege the Mount Martha man received $13,302 from the bets.
Updated
Gallagher rejects criticism Labor spending too much
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, has rejected opposition criticism Labor was spending too much, saying inflation was largely in line with the Reserve Bank forecast, AAP reports.
She told ABC TV:
We believe the decisions we have taken have been very responsible, they’re being targeted indeed to sort of help people with those cost-of-living pressures but not add to the inflation challenge.
You can see that some of those policies, whether it be energy [bill relief] or some of our rent assistance, are actually putting downward pressure on inflation.
Updated
Australia must be reimagined, disability advocate says
The federal government released its response to the disability royal commission yesterday, 10 months after the final report was released – and advocacy groups have reacted with dismay after only 13 of the 222 recommendations for which the commonwealth has full or joint responsibility were accepted.
People with Disability Australia’s interim president, Marayke Jonkers, said the plan was insufficient and lacked a concrete timeframe when change was so urgently needed. She told AAP:
Every day we wait on this, someone is suffering further abuse, neglect, experiencing PTSD.
These people could be part of the community, they’re people’s loved ones – you could be one slip, fall or illness away from this.
The government should accept every suggestion to completely reimagine Australia as an inclusive society rather than try to fit people with disability into existing systems, Jonkers said.
What we want to do is create a special community for all of us – whether we have a disability or not – where we know how to understand each other, how to communicate with each other and how to include each other so we can all live up to our full potential.
Over four years of public hearings, private sessions and written submissions, more than 10,000 stories were heard. The commission found “transformational change” was needed, and proposed reforms across human rights law, advocacy, guardianship, schooling, employment and the justice system.
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
Rex may need to offer board seat for more goverment funding
Any government bailout for embattled regional airline Rex would need strict conditions and could require the government taking a seat on the board, an expert says.
The airline has appointed administrators and grounded the Boeing 737s on its intercity routes, while its regional services remain operational.
The federal transport minister, Catherine King, said the government was working closely with administrators to ensure the airline’s “absolutely vital” regional presence remained.
Further government funding could require conditions allowing some control in the boardroom, according to Helen Bird, a law and corporate governance specialist at Swinburne University:
Whoever is the new investor, be it government or otherwise, is essentially taking up fixing a corporation that got to where it is because of poor governance and poor management.
Private investors take advantage of that opportunity all the time, she said. “But we’ve got to be very careful before we let taxpayers’ money go down that route, and certainly we need to put some pretty strict conditions on it,” Bird said.
A failing company would not attract unconditional funding. Bird said:
Unless you saw it as an essential service, which it is in regional Australia, and you said, ‘Well, if we are going to give that kind of money as a government we’ll need to have a shareholding stake’.
We haven’t done that in the past, certainly with Qantas, and the government gave lots of money to Qantas during Covid. They didn’t require that but I note that a number of airlines overseas did ... in return for funding.
- Australian Associated Press
Updated
Chalmers says he understands ‘people under pressure’ in the current economy
Asked whether he accepts that “people feel like we’re living in a recession,” treasurer Jim Chalmers said:
I certainly understand that people’s experience of the economy right now is an economy which is soft and people are under pressure. And those two things are related.
You know, we’ve had these interest rate rises in the system already putting people under pressure and slowing the economy, and we’ve got other issues as well, a lot of global economic uncertainty. And those things combine to create an economy which is pretty soft.
We saw in the first three months of the year, the economy barely grew at all. We’ve seen household savings come off. We got numbers yesterday showing retail trade is soft. And none of those things would come as a surprise to Australians. They know that things are difficult right now, and that’s the primary motivation for all of this cost-of-living relief that we’re rolling out in the most responsible way.
Updated
Chalmers agrees ‘housing pipeline is not where we want it to be’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the “housing pipeline is not what we want it to be” on ABC RN:
This is really a defining issue in the economy right now. The housing pipeline is not what we want it to be. Rents are too high, even with the help being provided by our two increases to Commonwealth rent assistance. And that’s why that $32bn of new investment, including an extra $6bn in the May budget, is so important because we need to build more homes. We need to build more rental properties. We need more homes for Australians.
That’s really one of the big features of that budget we handed down in May. A lot of that is still to roll out. It’s rolling out right now. It’s a tribute to Julie Collins, the former housing minister, and it’s a big job for the new housing minister, Clare O’Neil, and it’s a very, very high priority for us.
We’re helping out in the near term with these increases to rent assistance, but building more homes is really the key here, and that’s why we’ve got tens of billions of dollars invested in that task
Updated
Chalmers acknowledges inflation ‘more stubborn than any of us would like to see’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking on ABC RN this morning, getting straight into “persistent” inflation:
The strategy that we have deployed here – which is to get the budget in much better nick and to roll out all of this cost of living help in the most responsible way that we can – has helped ensure that inflation, which had a six in front of it a couple of years ago, now has a three in front of it.
We know that people are still under pressure. We know that this inflation is more persistent, stickier, more stubborn than any of us would like to see.
Updated
Australians urged out of Lebanon amid 'real risk' of escalation, Wong says
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has warned of “a real risk that the conflict in [the Middle east] escalates seriously” in a video message last night after Israeli airstrikes killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in the space of 12 hours, crushing hopes for an imminent Gaza ceasefire and raising fears of a “dangerous escalation” in the region.
Wong said:
My message to Australian citizens and residents in Lebanon is: now is the time to leave. If you are in Australia and thinking of travelling to Lebanon – do not.
Some commercial flights are still operating. If you can leave, you should.
Beirut Airport could close completely if the situation worsens. And if that happens, the government may not be able to help Australians still in Lebanon to evacuate. You may not be able to leave Lebanon for an extended period.
I know, Australians, in particular the Lebanese Australian community, are worried. We share your concerns. We are working with partners in the region to push for restraint and de-escalation. But now is not the time for Australians in the region to wait and see what happens. Now is the time to leave.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning, and welcome to another day on the live blog.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, urged Australian citizens in Lebanon to leave on available commercial flights in a video message last night, warning “there is a real risk that the conflict in the region escalates seriously” and the security situation could deteriorate quickly and with little notice.
A man and woman believed to be in their 50s and 60s were found dead on a 47ft Sydney yacht overnight, according to a NSW police media release. Emergencies services were called to a mooring at Tunks Park about 9pm yesterday. Sydney water police boarded the vessel to find the bodies. Fire and Rescue NSW were sought due to concerns of fumes detected on board.
The number of Indigenous Australians imprisoned, taking their own life and losing children to out-of-home care have all increased in the first Closing the Gap report since the voice referendum was defeated.
Cheating at Australian universities has risen exponentially since the rise of generative AI, but the old-school practice of simply paying someone to do the work is far from dead, integrity analysts have said – and sites offering cheating services to students are hard to trace, with some run by criminals willing to make threats of violence.
And Adelaide homes may soon be more expensive than Melbourne, with property prices falling in the Victorian capital for the fourth month in a row – Melbourne homes are now worth 4.4% less than they were at their peak in 2022 and fell 0.21% in July.
I’m Rafqa Touma, and I’ll be rolling today’s live news updates. If there is anything you don’t want the blog to miss, shoot it my way on Twitter @At_Raf_
