Lidia Thorpe withdraws accusation made in parliament of sexual assault against senator David Van

Liberal vehemently denied the claims made by the independent senator under privilege, which she later withdrew to comply with Senate rules

Lidia Thorpe has withdrawn allegations she made in parliament accusing Senate colleague David Van of harassment and sexual assault, an allegation the Liberal politician vehemently denied.

After making the initial claim on Wednesday afternoon, Thorpe returned to the chamber to say she was withdrawing the remarks in order to comply with Senate standing orders, but would make further comment on Thursday. Thorpe made the initial claims under parliamentary privilege during an interjection in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon as Van was speaking about respect in parliament.

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Australia politics live: Labor blocks Zoe Daniel’s push to ban gambling ads but promises ‘comprehensive’ response to issue

Tony Burke says Labor committed to strong consumer protections regarding online gambling and does not oppose principle behind independent’s bill

‘A sackable offence’

Here is how that “conversation” played out.

What we want understand now is whether this Labor minister was in fact complicit in politicising this event. That is unforgivable.

Not only that, misleading parliament is a serious offence, a sackable offence and standing by this minister, if she has misled parliament, has consequences.

You were in the Senate yesterday when Katy went through what happened and what I’d like to understand from you is how is it the two years after this event you are trying to make this somehow the problem of the current government when we were not even in government, not four years after this event occurred.

The real issue is the fact that a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in our workplace and I would really like to focus on that is the main issue here because that is the main issue here, because that is the subject that matters.

What we are finding out now is what the minister knew and why her testimony to the Senate as different from that. There’s a lot of considerations here, I know people are talking about how this information came into the media and certainly the media has a lot of considerations to make.

There has to be respect for the parliament and the court and the law but that information is now out there and journalists need to make decisions about whether it is in the public interest.

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Liberal MPs break ranks to call for inquiry into Brittany Higgins’ leaked text messages

Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer make call after Network Ten asks AFP to investigate alleged leaking of evidence in Bruce Lehrmann trial

Liberals Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer have broken ranks to call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked, with Bragg labelling debate in the Senate where the Coalition is pursuing Katy Gallagher “very ugly”.

The pair made the call after the finance minister denied misleading the Senate about her knowledge of Higgins’ allegation before it aired and Network Ten asked the Australian federal police to investigate how Higgins’ texts became public.

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Sydney CBD sees uptick in commuters as big banks lead push to return workers to offices

City train stations at 70% of pre-pandemic capacity amid warnings of potential effects of bringing workers back full-time

Workers are returning to offices in inner Sydney as a handful of large companies, including big banks, tell employees to come back from their kitchen tables.

The corporate-led trend is observable in public transport usage figures that show a recent uptick in office returns. It marks a shift in working arrangements after Australians appeared to have largely settled into their new hybrid habits.

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Police search for mother and child after newborn taken from Queensland hospital

Police have issued an amber alert for a missing child after two women were seen taking a baby from Ipswich hospital

The search continues for a mother who is believed to have taken her newborn baby from a Queensland hospital.

Two women were seen taking the baby from Ipswich hospital on Monday and putting her into a white Suzuki, which has since been located.

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Missing Australian found dead in Canadian wilderness after ‘unfortunate hiking accident’

Police find body of Brisbane woman Julia-Mary Lane, 25, who had been living in Alberta, near Bear Lake in British Columbia

An Australian hiker has been found dead in Canadian bear country after a Mounties search that deployed police dogs and a drone.

Twenty-five-year-old Julia-Mary Lane, from Brisbane, had been living in Canmore, Alberta since January.

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Australian federal police abandon two alleged murder investigations into Ben Roberts-Smith

The long-running investigations into murder allegations in Afghanistan will be replaced by new inquiries because of concerns about evidence

Two key criminal investigations into alleged murders involving Ben Roberts-Smith have been abandoned by the Australian federal police because of concerns over potentially inadmissible evidence.

The long-running investigations – into murder allegations at a compound codenamed Whiskey 108 and in the southern Afghan village of Darwan – will be replaced by new inquiries undertaken by a new joint taskforce, staffed by officials from the Office of the Special Investigator and federal police investigators not previously connected to the cases.

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Australia to transport last asylum seekers off Nauru within weeks, refugees say

Exclusive: Three asylum seekers and refugee advocates say government has flagged a 30 June goal

The Australian government is expected to move all remaining refugees and asylum seekers off Nauru by the end of the month, more than a decade after offshore processing restarted on the Pacific Island nation.

But Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.

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Australia politics live: Morrison addresses Higgins discrepancy; PM says bus crash a ‘tragedy beyond comprehension’

Katy Gallagher hits back at Coalition attacks, saying she conducted herself with ‘highest levels of integrity’ over Higgins allegations. Follow live

First Nations people call on government to sign nuclear weapons prohibition

A group of people are on their way to Canberra to call on the prime minister to sign the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and speak to MPs about their experience surviving the British nuclear testing program in Western Australia and South Australia in the 1950s.

Our mob were not informed of those tests that were about to take place on our traditional lands.

Consent was never given by Anangu for the Emu Field tests. The government did not come and ask Anangu if it was okay to test on our traditional lands.

Everyone knows the commonwealth doesn’t have the power to cap rents. There’s eight different states and territories across the country all doing different things. Some of them have ruled it out.

We have data and evidence it doesn’t work and it puts downward pressure on supply. What we need to do is add to supply. That’s what we’re doing, not just with our housing Australia future fund and our other investments. We have homes under construction today because we made that money available.

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Australian hiker, 24, missing in Canadian bear country

Julia-Mary Lane failed to return from road trip, prompting housemate in Alberta to contact her family in Queensland

An Australian hiker has gone missing in Canadian bear country, prompting an urgent plea from her family as searches continue.

Twenty-four-year-old Julia-Mary Lane was living in town in Alberta, Canada, and travelled to British Columbia for a week-long road trip, according to a social media post from her housemate.

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Network Ten asks AFP to investigate ‘leaking’ of evidence in Bruce Lehrmann trial

Lehrmann is suing Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court over their initial reporting of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, which he denies

Federal police have been asked to investigate the alleged leaking of evidence from the trial of Bruce Lehrmann to the media by a lawyer representing Network Ten.

Marlia Saunders, a partner at Thomson Geer, who is representing Network Ten in a defamation case brought by Lehrmann against them, confirmed she had made a complaint to the AFP on 7 June regarding the leak.

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Katy Gallagher denies misleading parliament as she blasts ‘giddy’ reaction to Brittany Higgins texts

Finance minister tells Senate she has ‘always acted ethically and with basic human decency on all matters to do with Ms Higgins’

Katy Gallagher has denied misleading parliament over her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, hitting back at the Coalition over their “giddy” reaction to leaked text messages.

The minister for finance and women made a personal explanation to the Senate on Tuesday, after Peter Dutton claimed Labor had used the complaint for “political purposes” and “conspired” to maximise the damage to the Morrison government.

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Giant saltworks proposed for Exmouth Gulf a threat to Ningaloo and endangered species, conservationists say

German company’s plan for 210-sq-km development in WA could ‘block the water that runs over that coastline into the gulf’

A proposal to build a giant saltworks in the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia has been condemned by conservationists as a threat to endangered species.

German industrial company K+S has submitted its proposal to build a 210-sq-km saltworks on the pristine gulf – a crucial part of the adjacent world heritage-listed Ningaloo coast.

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Treasurer Cameron Dick all smiles as coal fight results in billions flowing into Queensland’s budget

Labor’s voter-pleasing cost-of-living handouts, new housing and health funding have now been linked to increasing royalties on mining profits

A year ago, common logic suggested the Queensland government was taking a huge political risk by increasing royalties on record-high coal prices, and picking a fight with the cashed-up mining sector.

Plans to increase taxes on the miners have been historically fraught. Meanwhile, the wounds inflicted on Labor by the Adani saga still feel fresh.

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Hunter Valley bus crash: driver due to face court; community mourns as it awaits official news of the dead

A 58-year-old man from Maitland is due to appear in court in Cessnock charged with 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. Follow the day’s news live

After Sunday night’s tragic wedding bus crash in the Hunter Valley, stunned locals are still anxiously waiting for details of how the accident occurred and official confirmation of who was among the victims.

The driver of the bus, a 58-year-old man from Maitland, will appear in court in Cessnock this morning charged with 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. The Guardian will be in court and will have the details as they emerge.

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Labor guarantees minimum $500m each year for housing in bid to win Greens support

Housing minister says work for social and affordable homes can begin as soon as future fund is established but Greens say it should begin now

Labor has guaranteed a minimum of $500m will be paid out of the Housing Australia Future Fund every year in a last-ditch bid to win Greens support for the bill to help build social and affordable housing.

The housing minister, Julie Collins, wrote to the crossbench on Monday offering a “guaranteed fixed disbursement” of $500m from 2024-25, with a new power for the treasurer and finance minister to increase the amount by regulation, making it a floor not a ceiling.

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Tony Abbott and John Howard join Jordan Peterson-led group looking at ‘meaning of life’

Alliance for Responsible Citizenship includes prominent Brexit voices and Bjørn Lomborg, who has questioned the urgency of the climate crisis

The former prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard are among six Australians who have joined a global group fronted by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and backed by a pro-Brexit hedge fund billionaire and a Dubai-based investment group.

The group – The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) – has been gathering high-profile figures from politics, industry, academia and thinktanks for an inaugural three-day conference in London in late October.

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Australians’ support for Indigenous voice steady with 60% in favour, Essential poll finds

Guardian Essential poll finds high level of backing for voice to parliament, despite other polls showing support flagging

Public support for the Indigenous voice to parliament is holding steady and remains high, the latest Guardian Essential poll shows, in contrast with other recent polls suggesting that support is sliding.

The poll of 1,123 voters, published on Tuesday, found 60% of respondents were in favour of the voice, up one point on the previous survey, while 40% were opposed to it.

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Calls for restorative justice after ‘dehumanising’ incidents in Victoria’s mental health care system

‘I chewed my way through the restraints in front of two security guards who were laughing at me’, says one woman

When Victoria’s mental health royal commission made landmark findings of systemic human rights breaches in 2021, there was little that surprised Anna*.

At the time of the inquiry’s hearings, Anna had numerous stints in the psychiatric wards of Victorian public hospitals. She said the experiences were “dehumanising” and often chipped away at her will to live.

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Coalition’s wounded feelings over Brittany Higgins will sink debate to new lows

The opposition is out for vengeance over what it sees as ‘collusion’ and ‘weaponisation’ but Labor will no doubt push back

What an edifying spectacle parliament is going to be this week.

The Coalition’s two-year old wound caused by accusations it mishandled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation has been reopened, and they’re out for vengeance.

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