Police investigating after Brittany Lauga allegedly assaulted in central Queensland town of Yeppoon
Queensland Labor MP Brittany Lauga has alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted in the central Queensland town of Yeppoon last weekend, and claims other women may also have been similarly attacked.
Lauga posted a statement on social media, saying she had contacted police early on the morning of Sunday 28 April.
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PM responds to reports regional women camping out, sleeping in cars
Anthony Albanese has commented on reports that carparks in regional areas are being opened for women to sleep in tents or their cars.
We have allocated funding through our Housing Australia Future Fund for emergency accommodation for women and children escaping domestic violence. I will be in discussions with the states and territories as well about what more can be done.
We know that the circumstances where a woman is escaping a violent situation [and] has to sleep in her car or surf on a couch of a friend and rotate around, we hear stories about that as well, is unacceptable in 2024. We need to do better. There’s no question about that.
We need to look at bail laws. More importantly, we actually need to look at how we can keep women, or victims and children in the home environment and force the perpetrator to leave. We have a program in NSW called the Staying Home: Leave Violence program. There are over 138 LGAs in this state at the moment, only 91 have access to that program, even though we know it is incredibly effective. We need programs like that funded immediately, not just across NSW but across the country.
I am optimistic about who we are as a country and our capacity to take responsibility for ourselves. The time of us to do this is now. We don’t have three months, which is what the government is suggesting, to wait and see what happens next. By then another 23 women will have lost their lives.
Continue reading...Sentencing to depend heavily on whether the judge considers the murder to be ‘particularly heinous’
The husband of murdered Queensland woman Emma Lovell wants the young man who fatally stabbed his wife in the heart to be jailed for life, he told a court on Friday.
Lovell, 41, was killed during a late-night attack at her home in North Lakes, north of Brisbane, by two youths on Boxing Day 2022. Her husband, Lee Lovell, was also stabbed twice in the back and kicked in the head in the attempted robbery.
Continue reading...Advocates fear the hard-won reform could be overturned if the LNP, which voted against the bill, wins government in October
Queensland parliament has passed historic legislation decriminalising sex work in the state, after decades of campaigning.
But advocates are concerned the hard-won reform could be overturned if the Liberal National opposition wins government in October. The party voted against the bill on Thursday evening.
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Prime minister says trial ongoing into funding for women escaping violence
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC RN about yesterday’s announcements after national cabinet.
Well, there is already a trial going ahead. We want to make sure that the processes are in place [so] that they will begin within the next financial year as a permanent program, not just offering financial support, but as well as offering support for referral services, risk assessments, safety planning, and other support …
This isn’t something that you solve with a meeting on one day. This is something that governments are determined to take action on. For some of us this is deeply personal, for others, it is incredibly important.
Continue reading...Final submissions begin in racial discrimination case brought by Mehreen Faruqi against Hanson. Follow the today’s news live
As we flagged earlier, the treasurer Jim Chalmers will today announce foreign investment changes, with approvals to be made quicker and greater scrutiny to be placed on potential risks.
You can read all the details on this from Peter Hannam below:
Right now, we treat investments from right around the world more or less the same. We want to streamline it for the less-risky investments so we can devote much more time and energy and resources to screening the sorts of investments that we’re seeing in critical industries – like critical minerals, critical infrastructure, critical data, and the like.
This is all about strengthening the foreign investment framework to make sure that investment is in the national interest. We want to maximise the right kind of investment, but we want to minimise risk and that’s what these changes I’ll announce today are all about.
Continue reading...Steven Miles’ government claims to have legal advice from Crown Law and solicitor general that amendments will not violate Human Rights Act or international law
The principle of detention as a last resort will be removed from the Queensland Youth Justice Act, under legislation introduced by the Labor government on Wednesday.
The Youth Justice Act will be redrafted to read: “A child should be detained in custody, where necessary, including to ensure community safety, where other non-custodial measures of prevention and intervention would not be sufficient, and for no longer than necessary to meet the purpose of detention.”
Continue reading...Fortitude Valley institution and sister venue Stranded will soon shut as owner cites cost-of-living pressures and young people drinking less
The Brisbane music venue the Zoo will call last drinks in July, with the owner listing a “perfect storm” of forces leading to its closure, including cost-of-living pressures and declining alcohol consumption among young people.
The 500-capacity room, which first opened its doors on Ann Street in 1992 in the formerly down-at-heel but now heavily gentrified inner suburb of Fortitude Valley, is one of Australia’s oldest music venues.
Continue reading...Exclusive: The raft of new laws includes expanding a trial of metal detectors to now include shopping centres and other high-risk locations
Queensland will introduce laws to bus children between police watch houses and youth detention centres as part of a $1.28bn community safety plan announced this week.
Guardian Australia understands the measure, set to be announced on Wednesday, will see children transported between facilities to ensure they receive exercise and access to rehabilitation services, schooling and support programs.
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As we reported, X has provided an update on its legal challenge against Australia’s eSafety commissioner, stating it had complied with a direction to remove content from the Wakeley church stabbing.
However, underneath the post from the platform’s global government affairs team (which we quoted in our previous post), the video is available to watch in a reply to the post, as of 7.45am AEST.
The eSafety Commissioner required X to remove posts containing a video of the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, filmed by an innocent bystander. [The bishop] has expressed his desire for the video to remain online.
X believes it has complied with the notice issued by eSafety, and with Australian law, by restricting all the posts at issue in Australia.
Continue reading...A 26-year-old Beachmere man has been charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder
Homicide detectives have charged a man with murder after a man was found dead and a woman suffered serious head injuries at a home north of Brisbane.
Det Insp David Harbison said it was not a domestic violence-related incident and the 26-year-old man was not previously known to the victims.
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Hundreds gather in Sydney for Anzac Day dawn service
AAP has the details on Sydney’s dawn service where hundreds of people – including veterans – gathered under a full moon and clear skies for a solemn service in the CBD.
You who have loved will remember the glow of their glad young years, as you stand today to salute them in silence, with pride and with tears.
The best thing about the ceremony this morning is to see the number of people that come early in the morning.
Continue reading...Less than 24 hours after the bot was launched, internet users were already attempting to ‘jailbreak’ the program
Charlie, the AI war veteran chatbot, was programmed to educate people about the first world war, mateship and life in the trenches in time for Anzac Day.
But less than 24 hours after the bot was launched, internet users were already attempting to “jailbreak” it.
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Inspired by similar protests in the United States, students from Sydney University established a protest on the quad in support of Palestine last night, stating they will remain until the uni cuts ties “with Israeli universities and weapons manufacturers”.
In the US, dozens of students have been arrested at pro-Palestine demonstrations at Yale University and New York University amid similar protests:
For six months now, we have watched bombs rain down on Gaza. These bombs hit their civilian targets because of the research carried out by universities like Sydney University... Students have a responsibility to stand up and refuse to be complicit in genocide.
Continue reading...Green light created impression both bike and bus had right of way when 20-year-old Max Patrick McDowall was killed, coroner’s court hears
A forensic crash investigator was “alarmed” at the design of the intersection where a 20-year-old cyclist died, because its traffic lights gave both vehicles the impression they had right of way simultaneously, the Queensland coroner’s court has heard.
A recreation of the fatal accident showed that the driver of the Brisbane city council bus, Andrew Rudnicki, had almost no opportunity to see Maximillian Patrick McDowall, before he struck and killed him.
Continue reading...Plan for 42-turbine Wooroora project withdrawn after minister signals refusal because of threat to spectacled flying-fox habitat
A proposed windfarm next to the wet tropics world heritage area in north Queensland will not go ahead after the federal government signalled it would refuse the project.
Ark Energy had proposed building the 42-turbine Wooroora Station windfarm – formerly known as the Chalumbin windfarm project – 15km south-west of Ravenshoe.
Continue reading...Reports of explosions in Iranian city of Isfahan prompt sell-off of stocks in Australia – and in other markets such as Japan. Follow the day’s news live
The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, is speaking to the media after a 16-year-old was charged with a “terrorist act” for allegedly stabbing a bishop on Monday and is expected to appear at a bedside hearing today.
She said members of the joint counter-terrorism team interviewed the alleged offender at a medical facility last night, and he was subsequently charged with a commonwealth offence for terrorism and refused bail.
We expect he will be attending a bedside court hearing today to determine bail. This relates to the stabbing of the Bishop [Mar Mari Emmanuel, who] we allege on Monday night [was] stabbed up to six times.
We also allege that the boy had travelled for 90 minutes to attend that location from his home address.
We’ve got a crisis of male violence in Australia. We know that it’s a scourge in our society, we know it must end and I think it’s really clear women can’t be expected to solve violence against women although it is time for men to step up.
I don’t think debating definitions is the way to go … We need to act, we need to educate ourselves, men need to step up, we need to talk to our sons, to our colleagues, to our friends. We need to work together to a solution. And I think going down some kind of almost a wrong path to say let’s redefine – it’s not about definitions. This is about action. We need to shift the way in which we think about this …
Continue reading...Body of 16-year-old boy discovered with injuries ‘consistent with a crocodile attack’ as wildlife officers search for animal
A teenager has died after a suspected crocodile attack off an island in the Torres Strait, police have confirmed.
Thursday Island water police launched a search and rescue operation near Saibai Island after receiving reports at about 4am on Thursday that a 16-year-old boy was missing.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ethical standards command launches internal review as Guardian Australia unearths Facebook posts dating back years
Queensland police’s ethical standards command is conducting a review after high-ranking members of the service appeared to publicly share and comment on lewd social media posts over a number of years, including one about a sexual assault.
From 2017 to 2022, Det Supt Benjamin Fadian publicly tagged a number of officers in dozens of Facebook posts about subjects including pornography, masturbation and dildos.
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”.
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