Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
Victoria police have confirmed that a 22-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Samantha Murphy.
The arrest comes more than a month after the 51-year-old Ballarat woman was first reported missing by her family after failing to return home from her morning run.
The man was arrested in his home of Scotsburn, located about 20km south-east of Ballarat. Police have also confirmed that Murphy’s body has not been found, and the investigation is still ongoing.
Top news
National gender equality scheme revealed | Big business and government boards will be pushed to improve gender equality under new measures announced by the Albanese government. The minister for women, Katy Gallagher, announced on Thursday that businesses with 500 employees or more will be required to meet new gender equality targets if they want to win government contracts.
The curious case of the councillor seeking re-election while fighting a murder charge | Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden smiles and greets voters by name as they enter the pre-poll booth on the Gold Coast’s Runaway Bay. Locals are happy to see him – and he’s just as pleased. But this isn’t any ordinary council election. If you look closely, you’ll notice the shape of an ankle monitor bulging at the bottom of his jeans …
‘False claims’ force Tesla from Australian auto lobby | Tesla is quitting Australia’s main auto industry lobby group and has asked the consumer watchdog to investigate what it says are the organisation’s “demonstrably false claims” about the impact of the Albanese government’s clean car policy. The climate and energy minister, Chris Bowen, says he supports the move.
Minns would not consider ‘stupid white bastard’ racist | When asked if he would consider being called a ‘stupid white bastard’ racist, The New South Wales premiere, Chris Minns, has offered a firm ‘No’. As previously reported, Sam Kerr, who has pleaded not guilty to racially aggravated harrassment in the UK, is alleged to have called a police officer a “stupid white bastard”.
Spencer Leniu facing NRL suspension | Spencer Leniu has apologised to Ezra Mam, whom he admits he targeted with a racial slur during the NRL’s opening round in Las Vegas. But the Sydney Roosters prop, who has pleaded guilty to contrary conduct, claims he did not intend to racially vilify Indigenous five-eighth Mam by calling him a “monkey” mid-game on Sunday (AEDT).
Steely Dan keyboardist dies | Jim Beard, known for collaborations with jazz legends including Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter, has died at 63. According to a representative, Beard died from complications due to a sudden illness.
Guilty verdict over fatal film set shooting | Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the film Rust, has been found guilty for her role in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico film set. Hutchins was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin while the actor was rehearsing a scene for the neo-western
Blockbuster regret | This week saw Dakota Johnson admit that she can understand the backlash to her superhero flop Madame Web but can you match the post-flop quote to the actor and the movie?
In pictures
Carp Diem: targeting the ‘perfect invasive species’ one fishing competition at a time
The 16th annual Namoi Carp Muster in Narrabri is in full swing. It is one of the biggest weekends of the year for the town of 5,500 people, located 530km north-west of Sydney. Fishing starts at sunrise and the truck fills as the day heats up, reaching 36.5C on Saturday afternoon.
What they said …
***
“Utterly uneconomic” – The climate and energy minister, Chris Bowen, when asked why the government won’t be exploring a lifting of the ban on nuclear energy.
As well as some states implementing their own ban, Bowen drew on his own experience, that setting up the necessary regulatory regime would take 10 years to develop, for his reasoning.
In numbers
Stones deliberately fashioned from volcanic rock may offer evidence of the oldest human presence in the region.
“This is the earliest evidence of any type of human in Europe that is dated,” said Mads Faurschou Knudsen, a geophysicist at Aarhus University in Denmark and co-author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Before bed read
Floral and fruity, or ashy and vegetal? Consumer advocacy group Choice has taste-tested more than 30 black teas from Australian supermarkets and retailers and has concluded that price has little bearing on quality.
Get all the tea on all the teas here.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: . You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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