Media executive’s exit comes as broadcaster faces a number of controversies
James Warburton, the chief executive and managing director of Seven West Media, left the company on Thursday, amid a tumultuous period for the broadcaster.
The prominent media executive was due to step down before the end of the financial year, according to executive changes first announced late last year.
Continue reading...Dani Mansour, 19, charged after allegedly filming himself damaging two police vehicles amid anger over stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel
The first person arrested and charged for taking part in the Wakeley riots was granted bail after appearing at Blacktown local court on Thursday. .
Dani Mansour, 19, was charged with riot, affray and destroying or damaging property as part of the mob that allegedly attacked police in Wakeley on Monday night. The incident took place in the aftermath of the stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church.
Continue reading...Premier Chris Minns is alarmed at the ‘wildfire’ of rumour and graphic content online after Wakeley and Bondi stabbings
Social media pages “infamous” for spreading misinformation have been taken down after the Wakeley church stabbing attack, the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said on Thursday, while expressing alarm at the “wildfire” of rumour and graphic content still proliferating on tech platforms.
On Monday night YouTube was live broadcasting Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel’s service at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church. After the stabbing occurred, video clips spread through WhatsApp groups before police had arrived on scene.
Continue reading...Advocates say the boy took his own life, leaving his family ‘devastated’ and triggering a coronial inquest
A 10-year-old First Nations boy has died in an apparent suicide in state care in Western Australia, advocates for the family say.
Advocates for the family say the boy, who cannot be named, took his own life on Friday night, leaving his family “devastated” and triggering a coronial inquiry.
Continue reading...Disappointment and frustration as parliamentary inquiry into youth justice reform ‘degenerates into a squabble’
Queensland’s only independent state MP, Sandy Bolton, had high hopes last October when she was made chair of a parliamentary committee tasked with coming up with solutions on youth crime.
It was the first parliamentary committee to be independently chaired in more than two decades, and Bolton hoped it would stymie the politicisation of the issue by taking “a collaborative and bipartisan approach” that would lead to “constructive solutions”.
Continue reading...Former secretary of the home affairs department recommends preparation of a ‘war book’ to allocate roles in the event of conflict
Australia needs a comprehensive national plan for war – a “war book” – to coordinate civil and military roles and “focus the national mind” on the possibility of future conflict, the former secretary of the home affairs department Mike Pezzullo has said.
In a speech to an invitation-only security seminar last week, Pezzullo said Australian leaders needed to resurrect a practice adopted in the 1930s and prepare “a war book” which clearly allocated roles and responsibilities in the event of a conflict.
Continue reading...The US talks of Aukus as ‘binding’ the allies for decades to come, but Richard Marles says Australia must become more ‘self-reliant’
Australia’s defence overhaul has accelerated some projects and cut others and has already prompted a plea from China to abandon a “cold war mentality”.
But as the dust settles on a plan to increase overall military spending, the Albanese government has also sent some significant signals on how it sees the future of the Indo-Pacific region – and these aren’t exactly how Australia’s top security ally, the US, might see things.
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Marles continues breakfast rounds to discuss defence spending
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has been making the rounds this morning and has also spoken to ABC RN about yesterday’s defence announcement.
The reason why we make the observation that an invasion of Australia is a very unlikely scenario, no matter what happens, is because any adversary that wished to do us harm could do so much to us before ever setting foot on Australian soil – and disrupting those specific sea lines of communication, which I’ve described, would obviously achieve that. That that is where the risk of coercion lies, as one example.
And in order to protect ourselves in respect of that, we do need the ability to [project], because if you think about it, … the geography of our national security when seen through those lands is not the coastline of our continent. It in fact, lies much further afield.
We’re looking at a substantial increase on what’s already in the Online Safety Act. So not only a large amount – so for example, a $3m fine for an offence and ongoing fines, but a percentage of turnover as well.
We know that the revenues of some of these online platforms exceed those of some nations and so it needs to be a meaningful and substantial penalty system that’s put in place.
Continue reading...Greens senator David Shoebridge says hundreds of children face ‘real threat’ of being separated from parents or sent overseas to ‘unknown future’
Asylum seeker advocates have warned 375 Australian-born children could face orders to cooperate with their removal from the country under Labor’s deportation bill – because they’ve had protection claims denied under the controversial fast-track method.
The home affairs department has revealed that as at 31 December 375 people born in Australia who are fast-track applicants had been refused temporary protection or a safe haven enterprise visa.
Continue reading...It was a masterclass in dispassionate legal dissection with lessons for future defamation and sexual assault prosecutions, and for media practice
In determining that Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins, federal court justice Michael Lee took a giant knot of allegations, with all its loops and loose ends, and meticulously and painstakingly unpicked it.
That he did it with such acerbic clarity makes an already unusual judgment only more so.
Continue reading...Cambridge scientists critique research that concluded the disease is no longer a threat to the species’ survival
Cambridge researchers have challenged a previous study which had concluded a facial cancer that devastated the Tasmanian devil population was on the decline.
Devil facial tumour disease, a fatal cancer spread through biting and sharing of food, first emerged in the 1980s. The spread of DFTD led to the species being listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2008.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Housing advocacy group says amenity-rich eastern suburbs must be rezoned to accommodate thousands of new homes
They’re close to the city, public transport, schools and parks – and Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs should be shouldering the burden when it comes to new housing, according to a new report.
The report, by housing advocacy group Yimby Melbourne and published on Thursday, recommends introducing enforceable housing targets for the 19 local governments in inner Melbourne, as well as an overhaul of restrictive zoning rules.
Continue reading...Treasurer and finance minister hail ‘remarkable achievement’ as monitor finds balance to be behind only Canada among G20 countries
Australia’s overall budget balance is the second strongest among G20 nations, behind only Canada, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest fiscal monitor.
The IMF’s half-yearly update, released on Wednesday night, found Australia’s overall budget balance came in at -0.9% of gross domestic product in 2023, with only Canada’s budget position (-0.6%) faring better.
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Unemployment ‘might take up a little bit’ when new numbers released later this week
Q: Given the economic conditions we’re seeing, what should households with mortgages expect?
[Inflation] won’t necessarily continue to come off in a perfectly straight line, but [it] is a fraction of what it was a couple of years ago when we came to office. That’s a good thing.
So we’ve got a whole bunch of things going for us in Australia, but enough to concern us as well about the global conditions about the way that people are still under considerable cost of living pressure.
The way that I would describe it to your listeners is we’ve got inflation lingering in parts of the world, we’ve got growth slowing in China and elsewhere, we’ve got tensions rising in the Middle East and the war in Europe. We’ve got supply chains which are straining and we’ve got a global economy which is fragmenting and transforming and so all of these factors are really important to us as we finalise the government’s third budget.
These are going to be these global conditions are going to be a really big influence on our budget, so the trip to DC which will be a pretty quick and make the most of it but it’s a good opportunity to take the temperature of the global economy.
Continue reading...Floods, cyclones, heat stress and predatory starfish contributing to impacts as fourth planet-wide bleaching event confirmed
The Great Barrier Reef is in the midst of what could be its worst summer on record with a widespread and extreme coral bleaching event coming on top of floods, two cyclones and outbreaks of coral-eating starfish, according to an official Australian government report.
The “summer snapshot” report released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science said: “Compared [with] previous summers, cumulative impacts have been much higher this summer and a widespread bleaching event is still unfolding.”
Continue reading...Rachael Dixon, 53, identified as person police believe died after ingesting a drink at Soul Barn in Clunes, near Ballarat
Family members have paid tribute to a Melbourne woman who died after allegedly ingesting a drink at a Victorian health retreat on the weekend, with police investigating whether it contained mushrooms.
Rachael Dixon, 53, became ill after consuming a drink at the Soul Barn retreat in the town of Clunes, north of Ballarat, at around midnight Sunday. She died at the scene.
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Continue reading...Albanese government says overhaul will ensure military can project power further from Australian shores
Australia is pouring an extra $50bn into defence spending over the next 10 years, as part of an overhaul that the federal government says will ensure the military can project power further from its shores.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has also flagged plans to recruit non-citizens to serve in the Australian defence force to address workforce shortages.
Continue reading...Australia Institute says 2021 analysis had 15-year timeframe when modelling of the invasive species is usually over 20 to 30 years
The cost of a widespread fire ant outbreak may be far higher than predicted in “flawed” government modelling provided to ministers in the fight against the highly invasive species, new research suggests.
The Australia Institute data, released on Wednesday, found that red imported fire ants will cost Australians more than $22bn by the 2040s if left to run rampant, with the benefits of achieving eradication estimated to be three to nine times greater than the $3bn needed to achieve that eradication.
Continue reading...State government and Nature Conservancy jointly purchase Vergemont station, which contains habitat for endangered night parrots
A Queensland outback cattle station the size of Yosemite national park which includes key habitat for the elusive night parrot has been acquired for conservation after an anonymous donation of $21m.
Vergemont station, 110km west of Longreach, was acquired in a joint purchase by the Queensland government and the Nature Conservancy, which brokered the deal. The group said it is likely the single largest philanthropic contribution to land protection in Australia.
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Continue reading...Premier Steven Miles says experts advise all classrooms at Rochedale state school ‘are safe for staff and students to return’
Parents are terrified their children are still being exposed to asbestos at a Queensland primary school, alleging a patch-up job has not made the classrooms safe.
They fear children may have been exposed to asbestos for months or even years at the school.
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