Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today
Project producer says David Sharaz told him Higgins had been to police again
Llewellyn is now being asked about what role, if any, The Project played in Higgins reactivating her complaint about the alleged rape with ACT police in 2021.
Continue reading...Recordings of Leon Zwier and others reportedly revealed lawyer discussing how Higgins could respond to cross examination in defamation trial. Zwier has denied coaching his client through her fiance
So-called “secret” recordings of Brittany Higgins’ lawyer speaking to Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz at a Sydney bar while she faced cross-examination are being sought by Bruce Lehrmann as he sues for defamation.
The recordings were taken of Leon Zwier and others at the Park Hyatt Lobby Bar on December 4 and reportedly revealed the lawyer discussing how Higgins’ could respond to questions in cross-examination.
Continue reading...Labor minister immediately criticised by Peter Dutton who says Husic’s comments are ‘ill-considered’ and ‘offensive’
Federal Labor frontbencher Ed Husic has described Israel’s military action in Gaza as “very disproportionate”, declaring that children “are not Hamas” and should not bear such a heavy impact from the war.
Husic, the industry minister, said on Tuesday that Australians should be free to express concerns about the loss of innocent life in Gaza without being “professionally blacklisted”.
Continue reading...The NSW premier has paid tribute to a firefighter who was killed after the house he was in collapsed
A firefighter has died after he collapsed while responding to a house engulfed in flames in Sydney’s north-west.
The 51-year-old man was among the first crews to arrive at the house at Grose Vale, west of Richmond, just before 8am on Tuesday.
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Palaszczuk made decision ‘in the interest of the state’, Swan says
ALP national secretary Wayne Swan has spoken to ABC RN about Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s resignation announcement yesterday.
That’s always ever present for any leader at any time but I think she made the decision in the interest of the state and I think in her own interest as well.
I think people are sensibly discussing what the options are and if one candidate has a pretty clear majority then I think it would be unlikely that you’d see a battle, because it would simply be very difficult for the government over a period of time when they need to re-establish a leader in the job.
Continue reading...Jones strongly denies allegations as NSW police confirm there is no current investigation into Jones but say sex crimes squad will try to contact complainant this week
New South Wales police say they will this week try to speak to a person who made a complaint about Alan Jones to officers in 2017, after the police commissioner, Karen Webb, said last week that no complaints had been made about the broadcaster.
She made the comments during a press conference on Friday after allegations of indecent assault were published in the Sydney Morning Herald the day before. Jones has strongly denied the allegations and has threatened legal action.
Continue reading...Five patrons at the Royal Daylesford Hotel about an hour’s drive from Melbourne were killed after a car crashed into the beer garden
A man charged over the Daylesford beer garden crash that killed five people received multiple alerts on his phone suggesting his blood glucose levels were low shortly before the incident, a Melbourne court has heard.
On Monday morning, Victoria police charged William Swale, 66, with five counts of culpable driving causing death, two counts of negligently causing serious injury and seven counts of reckless conduct endangering life over the 5 November crash.
Continue reading...Officers interviewed people who wished to remain silent despite court judgments finding practice was improper, law enforcement commission says
New South Wales police officers have been interviewing young people in custody in a way that compromises their right to silence, with a report by the state’s law enforcement watchdog finding it is a “systemic problem”.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) found that NSW police had also failed to act with any urgency to prevent officers interviewing vulnerable people, including Aboriginal people and young people, after they had received legal advice and said that they did not wish to be interviewed.
Continue reading...The defamation action against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson was due to finish on Thursday but may extend until Monday. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today
Defence liaison officer told Higgins found in ‘state of undress’, court hears
Payne gave evidence that early in the week following the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, he had been told by minister Linda Reynolds’s chief-of-staff, Fiona Brown, about an incident involving Lehrmann in Parliament House.
Continue reading...Cyclone weakened to category 1 on Sunday night but BoM says it is expected to intensify before crossing coast of far north Qld near Cairns
Residents of far north Queensland are bracing for wild weather, possible power outages, and internet and water supply disruptions with the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Jasper.
As of 4.30am on Monday, Jasper had weakened again to a category 1 system and was about 600km east of Cairns and 530km northeast of Townsville.
Continue reading...Government says temporary migration system is ‘broken’ and changes to student and skilled worker visas are needed to address exploitation
The Albanese government will lift the bar for international students and some workers to get a visa and as it seeks to overhaul what it says is Australia’s “broken” temporary migration program.
A new 10-year temporary migration strategy to be released on Monday will include moves to crack down on the use of student visas as a “back door” entry for employers looking to import low-skilled workers, while the government will also create new visas targeting highly skilled workers, particularly those in growth industries. It comes with the government flagging that overseas migration has peaked and is set to fall in the next 12 months.
Continue reading...While deputy premier is considered the frontrunner, suggestions his two rivals may team up would make vote ‘incredibly close’
Senior Queensland Labor figures say they expect a contested ballot for the party leadership, despite attempts to rally support behind the deputy premier, Steven Miles, to avoid a messy contest to succeed Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Miles declared his intention to run for the Labor leadership on Sunday, just hours after Palaszczuk announced she would retire from politics and endorsed him as her successor.
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Palaszczuk reveals she changed her mind in recent weeks
It was only a couple of months ago that Annastacia Palaszczuk insisted she would lead the Labor party to next year’s state election.
I feel refreshed, I feel energised and I’m absolutely determined to lead the party and this government to the next election. I just want to make that very clear to everybody.
In 2015 Annastacia promised good, decent government for the people of Queensland. That’s exactly what she’s delivered for the last nine years. Congratulations on your premiership. You are one of the true Qld Labor greats
Continue reading...Labor leader says state is ‘in good shape’ and ‘now is the time for me to leave’ following months of speculation about her future
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced her retirement from politics, saying she had “given my all” and “now is the time for me to leave”.
Palaszczuk made the announcement at a press conference on Sunday following months of speculation about her future.
Continue reading...Southerly buster sweeps up the NSW coast bringing thunderstorms and dropping temperatures by up to 10C
Parts of South Australia have received more than two months of rainfall in under 24 hours, as a record-breaking heatwave begins to ease across most of New South Wales.
SA’s state emergency service has warned of potential localised flooding with the heaviest rainfall expected on the Eyre Peninsula, the west coast, and the north-west pastoral districts.
Continue reading...Fees for foreign investors who leave properties vacant will double and taxes will triple for those who buy existing houses
Foreign investors in Australia will face higher fees and steeper penalties for buying existing homes and leaving them empty as the government aims to address housing affordability.
The federal government on Sunday announced new rules tripling taxes for foreigners who buy existing houses in Australia and a doubling in fees for those who leave dwellings vacant.
Continue reading...Woman found in critical condition north of Brisbane later died at scene while 32-year-old man died in hospital following injuries sustained in nearby house fire
Police say they are investigating the alleged domestic violence killing of a Brisbane woman who was stabbed and later collapsed in front of a neighbour’s home.
About 7pm, emergency services were called to a street in Kallangur, north of Brisbane, where the woman – understood to be a New Zealand national and a mother of young children – was found in a critical condition. She died at the scene soon afterwards.
Continue reading...High court demolished indefinite detention system and ‘within one month the Albanese government’s resolved it’, Labor minister says
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten said it would have been “helpful” if the high court had given its reasons for ruling indefinite detention was unconstitutional at the same time it handed down its decision.
The Albanese government has spent the last month weathering criticism it was too slow to react to the high court’s decision, which overturned a 20-year precedent allowing the government to indefinitely detain refugees and migrants it could not deport.
Continue reading...As NSW sweltered in heatwave conditions, Cyclone Jasper bore down on Queensland and Adelaide expected close to 50mm of rain
Temperatures in New South Wales soared above 43C on Saturday and bushfires burned across the state, as Cyclone Jasper loomed off the coast of Queensland.
The temperature at Sydney airport and Badgerys Creek reached 43C at 1pm, while the mercury at Sydney Olympic Park peaked at 42.5C at 3pm and Penrith was sitting on 42.9C at 4pm.
Continue reading...Overhaul follows once-in-a-generation review which found immigration system ‘badly broken’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has flagged a major plan to return immigration to what he believes is a sustainable level after a post-Covid influx.
Immigration will be scaled back to what are considered sustainable levels hand-in-hand with a crackdown on abuses of Australia’s intake of overseas students.
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