Thousands rally around Australia in support of voice despite polls suggesting decline in yes vote

Peter Dutton, meanwhile, lashes companies supporting yes campaign saying they ‘lacked a significant backbone’

Thousands of people have turned out at rallies nationwide to back the Indigenous voice to parliament, with organisers hoping momentum will build despite recent polls showing a decline in the yes vote.

Welcome to country and smoking ceremonies kicked off Sunday’s day of action with the Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, addressing a crowd at the Brisbane Yes23 event.

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Humpback whale buried in NSW dunes after stranding on Seven Mile beach

Research suggests buried carcass unlikely to attract sharks so long as it is placed above water table and high tide mark

A 30-tonne humpback whale has been buried in the dunes behind where it beached and died on Seven Mile beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

The adult whale became stranded early on Saturday morning and, despite attempts by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to save it, died about 7pm.

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Ukrainian ambassador invites Penny Wong to visit Kyiv to see ‘traumatised’ children

Vasyl Myroshnychenko says foreign minister does understand Ukraine well but ‘when you visit it gives you a different angle’

The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has invited the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, to visit his war-torn country, describing the devastation inflicted by the Russian invasion.

Myroshnychenko said on Sunday it would be “wonderful” to have Wong visit the capital Kyiv. Asked if he was inviting her, he said: “Absolutely.”

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Greens refer PwC to Nacc; yes campaign holds voice events across the country – as it happened

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Myroshnychenko says Ukraine war can’t get any worse

On the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his wagner mercenary group, Myroshnychenko says he is reluctant to get into speculation about “palace intrigue” in Russia.

We haven’t seen any major impact in the battlefield as the mutiny was unfolding, Russians sent on shelling Ukrainian cities sending missiles, heavy battlefields on the frontlines. Definitely the reputation of Vladimir Putin was dented. His leadership was challenged. And in a country like Russia is really extraordinary to see it happening. Putin is running the country as a thug so pretty much a gangster country and all these thugs and somebody revolts all of a sudden, this is already kind of bizarre.

I don’t think anything can be worse, right? Can it get any worse? Look, Russians have deployed 150,000 people in Ukraine – occupied 20% of the land. They just shell us on a continuous basis, killing and raping and murdering people. Can it get any worse? I don’t think so.

I think any support for Ukraine will be very good investment into the restoration of the rules-base international system.

Something which is so important for every Pacific nation because if you can allow a bigger power to curse a smaller power – and you don’t fight back and you let that happen, that sends a wrong signal especially to your neighbours, to countries that depend so much on your support to be sovereign and to make their own decisions and not to be influence bid bigger powers.

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Hiker assisting police as search continues for Belgian Celine Cremer in Tasmania wilderness

Investigators say hiker ‘not in any trouble’ but could help determine tourist’s movements prior to her disappearance

Police are continuing to search for missing Belgian tourist Celine Cremer in north-western Tasmania, a day after a hiker came forward who police hope could provide crucial clues about her disappearance.

Celine Cremer was reported missing on Monday but was last seen on 17 June in Waratah near Cradle Mountain.

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Australian teens ‘inundated’ with gambling ads with YouTube most common platform, report states

At-risk children between 12 and 17 reported seeing promotions from a wide range of sources including their homes, school and social media

Young people are being “inundated” with gambling ads in their everyday lives, particularly sports betting ads and social casino games, amid unprecedented levels of exposure for at-risk adolescents.

Children between 12 and 17 who are at risk of becoming problem gamblers reported a wide range of sources that promote gambling, including in their home, school, social, digital and media environments.

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RBA should pause rate rises as ‘deflationary shock’ sweeps global economy, former board member says

Warwick McKibbin says Australia’s central bank has been slow to react as supply pressures from Covid and war in Ukraine abate

The Reserve Bank should pause lifting interest rates because a “deflationary shock” is beginning to sweep the global economy, according to the former RBA board member Warwick McKibbin.

The director of the ANU Research School of Economics said it is becoming clear supply shocks from Covid and Russia’s war against Ukraine are abating. However central banks, including Australia’s, have so far been slow to react.

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Lawyer claims she wasn’t told for months that Aboriginal teen tried to take her life in youth detention

Incident at South Australia’s Kurlana Tapa centre was downplayed, lawyer claims, but government says safety and wellbeing of children is ‘highest priority’

A lawyer representing children detained at South Australia’s only juvenile justice centre claims she was not informed for almost two months when an Aboriginal teenager attempted to take her own life in custody.

The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) lawyer who represents the girl in her early teens said the seriousness of the incident in early 2023 at Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre was not conveyed until eight weeks later.

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Strong winds cause travel chaos in Sydney as passengers hospitalised after ‘severe turbulence’ on Hawaii flight

Airlines warn of disruptions as Sydney airport braces for single runway operations for a second day due to worsening conditions

Strong winds in Sydney continued to cause chaos for holiday travel plans around Australia on Saturday, while passengers have been hospitalised after “severe turbulence” on a flight arriving from Honolulu.

Airlines were warning of flight disruptions on Saturday morning, as they braced for one of Sydney airport’s runways to be closed for the second time in as many days after a warning from air traffic controllers of worsening winds.

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‘A gamechanger’: yes campaign launches nationwide voice events as momentum builds ahead of Naidoc Week

Director of Yes23 says support is growing within communities and the movement has the right message to win referendum

Two dozen major referendum events nationwide this weekend will be a “gamechanger” for the voice, says the director of Yes23, who is confident support will keep rising once grassroots campaigning fully activates in coming weeks.

After a week campaigning across the Kimberley region, Dean Parkin said the voice was crucial to help remote Indigenous communities that were being ignored. He maintained the campaign had the right message and strategy to win the referendum.

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Pope Francis holds meeting with Julian Assange’s wife

‘He understands Julian is suffering and is concerned,’ says Stella Assange after audience with pontiff

Pope Francis has met Stella Assange, the wife of the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder, who said the pope’s gesture in receiving her was evidence of his “ongoing show of support for our family’s plight” and concern over the suffering of her husband, Julian.

After the audience, Stella Assange said Francis had sent a letter to her husband in March 2021, during a particularly difficult period. “He has provided great solace and comfort and we are extremely appreciative for his reaching out to our family in this way,” she told the Associated Press. “He understands that Julian is suffering and is concerned.”

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Recovering gambling addict targeted by bookmaker a day after complaining about harmful treatment

Mark Kempster continues to receive unsolicited betting emails despite being listed on self-exclusion register

A recovering gambling addict who revealed the damage caused by unsolicited gambling inducements has been directly targeted by bookmakers, just one day after publicly complaining about the harmful practice.

Mark Kempster has repeatedly asked gambling companies not to contact him with special offers and is listed on a self-exclusion register, but his details continue to be shared with bookmakers who are eager to lure him back to betting.

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How much is Taylor Swift making from the Australian concerts of her Eras tour?

It is estimated the seven shows will earn the singer $35m on top of the expected $700m for her US concerts

Australians will be playing their part in possibly inducting Taylor Swift into the billionaires club, with some industry insiders estimating the pop star could pocket as much as A$35m from the Australian leg of her Eras tour alone.

Estimates in the US put Swift’s earnings at an average of US$13.6m (A$20.5m) a show, based on an average ticket price of US$215, meaning she would gross more than US$700m from the 52 dates in the North American leg. That is without taking into account the more than 50 concerts she is performing around the world.

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July forecast to start off wet and cold across large parts of Australia

Unseasonable cloud band over north of the country predicted to hit parts of New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania

It will be a wet and chilly start to July in large parts of Australia, with rain and low temperatures set to kick off the month.

Weatherzone reported that an unseasonable cloud band over the north of Western Australia will bring back heavy rainfall and possible flooding in the next couple of days. Areas in the far north of WA, the Northern Territory and Queensland could see 50-100mm of rain in the next three to five days.

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Australia’s budget surplus swells to $19bn due to surging tax revenue

Economist Chris Richardson says figure well above earlier forecasts is a reminder of ‘how lucky the Lucky Country has been’

The federal budget is on track to smash its earlier surplus forecasts as the government rakes in much more revenue.

The underlying cash balance for the 12 months to May was $19bn, well above the $4.2bn surplus flagged for the 2022-23 financial year in the last federal budget.

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Labor’s nature repair market must ban offsets and will need initial funding injection, scientists say

Members of threatened species scientific committee say allowing environmental offsets would undermine the scheme

A “nature repair market” proposed by Labor will not succeed unless backed by substantial initial public funding and a ban on environmental offsets in the scheme, government scientific advisers have warned.

The Senate environment legislation committee heard a range of critical evidence about the bill on Friday, prompting the government to concede it will indefinitely postpone its passage in parliament.

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Federal budget on track to smash surplus forecasts as cash balance hits $19bn – as it happened

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Melbourne hit by magnitude 4.6 earthquake

Melburnians were shaken by a magnitude 4.6 earthquake at 1.32am.

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Victoria earthquake: 4.6-magnitude tremor shakes Melbourne and state’s regions

Geoscience Australia said the earthquake struck at 1.32am on Friday near Rawson, a small town around 150km east of Melbourne

A 4.6-magnitude earthquake has rattled residents in regional Victoria and Melbourne, with thousands of people feeling the early morning tremor.

Geoscience Australia said the earthquake struck at 1.32am on Friday near Rawson, a small town around 150km east of Melbourne.

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Australian sea dumping law changes condemned amid warnings of gas industry expansion

Greens and environmentalists say legislation introduced to parliament by Tanya Plibersek could facilitate new fossil fuel projects

Proposed changes to Australia’s sea dumping laws that would allow carbon dioxide to be pumped into international waters could be used to justify the expansion of the gas industry, the Greens and environment groups say.

The legislation, which was introduced to parliament by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, last week, would allow the minister to grant permits so CO2 captured during industrial processes could be exported and stored under the seabed – a process known as carbon, capture and storage (CCS) – in another country’s waters.

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Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt oppose total ban of online gambling ads

National party MPs argue it is a ‘legitimate industry’ and that it should be ‘managed appropriately’ to avoid commercial stations suffering

National party MPs Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt have warned against a total ban on online gambling ads, arguing it is a “legitimate industry” that can be managed with less extensive measures.

The pair are the first federal MPs to caution against the plan proposed by a parliamentary inquiry, which has raised concerns from television broadcasters about loss of gambling ad revenue.

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