Australian War Memorial kept ministers in the dark on contracts for $550m redevelopment, audit finds

In two cases, contracts were split to avoid triggering $1m threshold for ministerial approval, the Australian National Audit Office says

The Australian War Memorial kept ministers in the dark on key details of its controversial $550m redevelopment and failed to manage conflicts of interest, a new audit report has found.

The Australian National Audit Office said the AWM’s advice to ministers lacked “transparency [and] accuracy”, while “in two instances contracts were split” to avoid triggering the $1m threshold for ministerial approval.

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Queensland police employee accused of selling domestic violence victim’s personal information to ex-partner

Woman suspended from road policing command and charged with one count of stalking and four counts of computer hacking

A Queensland police employee has been suspended and faces criminal charges for allegedly selling the personal information of a domestic violence victim to a former partner, who was later accused of stalking.

The police employee, a 46-year-old woman from the Queensland road policing command, will face court on Friday.

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‘What is a woman?’: court asked to rule on definition in transgender woman’s case against Giggle for Girls platform

Roxanne Tickle’s lawyer says women-only app has ‘modus operandi of treating transgender women as men’

A court has been asked to define what a woman is as a landmark gender identity discrimination case comes to a close in front of a packed gallery of trans and women’s rights campaigners in Sydney.

Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman from regional New South Wales, is suing the women-only social media platform Giggle for Girls and its CEO, Sall Grover, for alleged unlawful discrimination after being blocked from using the networking app.

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Bridget Archer leads criticism after Peter Dutton compares pro-Palestine protest to Port Arthur massacre

Tasmanian Liberal MP labels comments ‘wholly inappropriate’ after PM says he was ‘taken aback’ by opposition leader’s speech

Peter Dutton has drawn widespread criticism, including from one of his own MPs, for comparing the 1996 mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur to a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House.

The Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer labelled Dutton’s comments “incredibly disrespectful” and “wholly inappropriate”.

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PM ‘taken aback’ by speech – as it happened

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Albanese says discussions on Palestinian statehood, two-state solution ‘are taking place’ globally

Moving back to the Australian government’s discussions regarding a Palestinian state (see earlier posts): Albanese was asked about comments from Peter Dutton last night, accusing Penny Wong of being “reckless” in advocating for Palestinian statehood as essential to sustainable Middle East peace.

A two-state solution is required in the Middle East to break the cycle that has been there for my entire lifetime. I think Australians want to see that and I want Israel to exist within secure borders in safety, security and prosperity, but I also want justice for Palestinians…

Well, they are taking place and you’re aware they’re taking place because you would have broadcast comments from people like David Cameron… who made similar comments, the comments of President Biden speaking [of] a two-state solution. Every one of our like-minded partners. I’ve issued joint statements with the prime ministers of Canada and New Zealand, three of the Five Eyes partners, calling for a two-state solution.

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Australia’s major supermarkets accused of purchasing properties to ‘turf out’ independent stores

Metcash, the owner of IGA and Foodland brands, tells Senate inquiry that ‘if they can’t buy the store, they try and buy the property’

The head of the food division at Metcash, which owns the IGA and Foodland brands, has accused major supermarkets of paying inflated prices to buy out competitors, and purchasing properties to “turf out” independently owned stores at the end of their leases.

Grant Ramage, the chief executive of Metcash Food, told a Senate inquiry on Thursday that the practices diminished the network of independent stores by removing successful businesses.

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Biden says he is ‘considering’ Australian call to drop Julian Assange charges

US prosecutors say the WikiLeaks founder encouraged and helped Chelsea Manning steal classified files before publishing them

Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he is considering a request from Australia to drop the decade-long US push to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing a trove of American classified documents.

For years, Australia has called on the US to drop its prosecution against Assange, an Australian citizen who has fought American extradition efforts from prison in the UK. Asked about the request on Wednesday, as he hosted the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, for an official visit, Biden said: “We’re considering it.”

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Charles Darwin University asked inquiry not to publish staff submissions critical of its support for harbour project

In letter vice-chancellor requested committee not publish joint submission by two academics and redact parts of second submission ‘unfairly’ critical of CDU

Charles Darwin University asked a federal inquiry not to publish submissions by three of its staff after the academics criticised the university’s support for a gas and industrial development on Darwin Harbour.

It comes as the Northern Territory government is due to give evidence in Darwin on Thursday to the Middle Arm inquiry, which is examining the proposed precinct and a $1.5bn investment promised by the Albanese government.

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Christmas hams, candles and a ‘priceless’ 75cm statue: what Australia’s politicians are being gifted

Disclosures include a custom turntable from Joe Biden and a statue depicting Julian Hill on a gold armchair gifted by a local supporter

The Labor MP Julian Hill’s declaration of a 75-centimetre statue of himself, given by a constituent, has shone a light on the interesting – and sometimes weird – world of political disclosures and gifts.

Gifts ranging from bottles of wine to customised vinyl record turntables, free concert tickets to flight upgrades are accepted and dutifully recorded on the federal politicians’ publicly-available register of interests, as required under parliamentary rules.

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‘What we’re seeing is not telehealth’: alarm over doctors using AI and prescribing without seeing patients

Consumers Health Forum calls on Australian government to address ‘significant safety concerns’ about prescribing without any conversation with patient

Australia’s health regulator is fielding complaints about the use of artificial intelligence during telehealth prescribing, and patients being issued with prescriptions without ever speaking with a doctor.

A spokesperson for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) told Guardian Australia the agency had received 550 notifications about telehealth consults and prescribing across health professions since July 2020. Of those, 30% related to complaints about a practitioner not adequately assessing a patient, they said.

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Albanese says Australia needs ‘sharper elbows’ as he signals domestic innovation push

Prime minister says government needs to be ‘more strategic and more sophisticated’ to compete globally

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is signalling a dramatic shift to unapologetically and directly supporting Australian industry and innovation, saying the country needs “sharper elbows when it comes to marking out our national interest” and competing with the rest of the world.

In a speech to be delivered to the Queensland Press Club on Thursday, Albanese will effectively launch his bid for re-election with a plan for a green interventionist industry policy, one which uses direct government support to speed up the energy transition, provide certainty for business and stem the flow of money and ideas to countries offering investment incentives.

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Rozelle interchange: hundreds of residents vent frustration over traffic chaos as inquiry begins

Survey reveals locals’ disappointment with NSW transport agency’s response after bungled opening of $3.9bn junction

Hundreds of Sydney residents have vented their frustration about the traffic chaos caused by the Rozelle interchange in a survey released on the first day of an inquiry into the $3.9bn junction.

The majority of the 1,034 people who participated in the survey said the interchange had negatively affected them since it opened last November, with many voicing their disappointment at the New South Wales transport agency’s response.

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Australia news live: Andrew Hastie warns of ‘breakouts of strategic disorder’ across globe; high court gives government win in ‘steering wheel’ visa case

High court rules in favour of Andrew Giles in long-running case featuring a ‘bizarre’ photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel. Follow today’s news live

‘Aid workers are to be protected’

Penny Wong was also asked to provide an update on the work done by Mark Binskin so far, who was appointed special adviser on Israel’s response to the deaths of World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.

There are positive engagements and we appreciate that this is a very important issue for Australia. We have been saying for a very long time it is important that international humanitarian law be adhered to.

Under international humanitarian law, as you know, aid workers are to be protected. Demonstrably, there was a deadly failure of deconfliction – deconfliction being the ways in which making sure that defence forces are aware of where humanitarian workers are so they can be protected and there was a deadly failure.

We’ve made no such decision, the discussion I want to have is to look at what is happening in the international community where there is the very important debate about how it is we secure long-lasting peace in a region where which has known so much conflict.

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‘Sign here’: high court finds no requirement for minister to read submissions on visa decisions

Long-running dispute, featuring ‘bizarre’ photo of visa cancellation next to steering wheel, ends with finding that minister can rely on accurate summaries from department

The immigration minister is not required to personally read submissions for intervention on visa decisions, the high court has ruled, in a decision breaking Labor’s losing streak on sensitive migration cases.

On Wednesday, the high court unanimously ruled in favour of Andrew Giles in a long-running case featuring a “bizarre” photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel.

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Swapping red meat for herring, sardines and anchovies could save 750,000 lives, study suggests

Switch could also cut prevalence of disability linked to diet-related disease and help tackle the climate crisis, researchers found

Swapping red meat for forage fish such as herring, sardines and anchovies could save 750,000 lives a year and help tackle the climate crisis, a study suggests.

Mounting evidence links red meat consumption with a higher risk of disease in humans as well as significant harm to the environment. In contrast, forage fish are highly nutritious, environmentally friendly and the most abundant fish species in the world’s oceans.

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Great Barrier Reef discovery overturns belief Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery, archaeologists say

Paper dates 82 pottery pieces found in single dig site at between 3,000 and 2,000 years old

Groundbreaking archaeological research may have upended the longstanding belief that Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery.

A paper published in the Quaternary Science Reviews on Wednesday details the finding of 82 pottery pieces from a single dig site on a Great Barrier Reef island, dates them at between 3,000 and 2,000 years old and determines that the pots were most likely made by Aboriginal people using locally sourced clay and temper.

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Scott Morrison-era ‘accounting tricks’ to cost public schools $13bn over next five years

National School Resourcing Board’s review finds state schools lost more than $2bn in 2022 due to a Coalition-era loophole

Australia’s public schools will miss out on $13bn in the next five years if accounting tricks are maintained in upcoming funding agreements, a major report has found.

The National School Resourcing Board’s annual review, tabled in parliament last week, showed government schools lost more than $2bn in 2022 because of a Morrison-era loophole that allows states and territories to claim up to 4% of public school funding on non-school expenditures.

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Brittany Higgins questions whether she was drugged on night of alleged rape in new court submission

Higgins says any question about her evidence in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case should take into account her trauma and the possibility she may have been drugged

Brittany Higgins has told the federal court the suggestion by an AFP officer that she might have been drugged on the night she was allegedly raped should have been raised in the defamation trial.

Higgins filed a seven-page submission to the court on Tuesday after being invited by Justice Michael Lee last week to make final submissions concerning her credit before the judgment in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson is handed down on Monday.

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Mona loses Ladies Lounge anti-discrimination case with ‘persons who do not identify as ladies’ to be allowed entry – as it happened

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A search will resume this morning for a woman who went missing while bushwalking at Belmore Falls in New South Wales.

Just after 1pm on Sunday, emergency services were called to Belmore Falls near Robertson after reports a woman had slipped and fallen down a cliff. An extensive search was initiated, but the 20-year-old was not located and the search was suspended at dusk.

We’ve got large multinationals in the supermarket ring who aren’t captured. So I’d like to see this expanded over time.

Woolworths, I think, makes a good point, and that is the code to be extended should be expanded to cover rivals Amazon, Costco and even Chemist Warehouse.

We’ll have more to say on that in coming weeks and months.

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Asbestos confirmed in seven Melbourne parks after latest tests

PA Burns Reserve and the Altona Coastal Park the latest sites to have ‘small amounts of asbestos’ discovered

Victoria’s environment watchdog and a Melbourne council have confirmed traces of asbestos at seven parks and reserves across Melbourne, as the regulator probes the sources of the contamination.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, the Environment Protection Authority confirmed small amounts of asbestos-contaminated material had been discovered at PA Burns Reserve in Altona, in Melbourne’s west. The EPA said its inspection over the weekend found “good quality mulch laid over industrial waste”.

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