Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty gives up Order of Australia honour six years after Ben Roberts-Smith tip-off

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Federal court judge in last year’s defamation case found Roberts-Smith tried to evade surveillance after Keelty alerted him to pending war crimes investigation in 2018

The former Australian federal police commissioner Mick Keelty has relinquished his Order of Australia honour, six years after he passed information received from serving police officers to Ben Roberts-Smith, alerting him to a pending war crimes investigation.

Keelty retired from the AFP in 2009 after a 35-year law-enforcement career, including eight as AFP commissioner.

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Wieambilla killers ‘rocked’ police vehicle with bullets in response to surrender pleas, inquest hears

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The Trains used high-calibre guns to engage in firefight as police tried to negotiate, responder tells coroner

A family of killers were “robotic” in response to efforts to get them to surrender, continuing to fire at police vehicles, an inquest into the Wieambilla massacre has heard.

Sert operative 114, a team leader of the police Special Emergency Response Team (Sert), described how an armoured BearCat vehicle was “rocked” as a volley of accurate gunfire hit the windscreen, which was bullet resistant but not bulletproof.

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‘She looked lifeless’: teen tells court father used axe to kill Nelomie Perera in Melbourne home

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Son of Dinush Kurera, who has pleaded not guilty to wife’s murder, gives evidence in supreme court trial

A teen has told a Melbourne court that his father allegedly repeatedly slashed his mother with an axe “in a rage” and then turned the weapon on him when he tried to run for help.

Dinush Kurera’s 19-year-old son gave evidence to the Victorian supreme court on Thursday about the evening his father allegedly murdered his mother in their family home.

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Failure to learn from ‘African gangs’ furore puts community at risk, Victoria’s children’s commissioner says

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Amid claims of a growing crime wave, Liana Buchanan says the government must work harder to identify the causes of offending

The Victorian commissioner for children and young people says African-Australian youth are again the subject of “intense” media and police focus as the state responds to perceptions of a crime wave without working harder to identify the causes of offending.

Liana Buchanan, the principal commissioner of Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People, said she was concerned that it did not appear any lessons had been learned from the “African gangs” furore, and implored the state government, police and the youth justice system not to respond in ways that would make the community less safe.

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Australia news live: Linda Reynolds tells defamation trial she felt like a ‘punching clown on the fairground’ after social media posts by Higgins and Sharaz

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Wong endorses call from Blinken for de-escalation in Middle East

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said she endorsed Antony Blinken’s call for de-escalation in the Middle East.

We continue to add our voice to the support for the ceasefire outlined by President Biden and endorsed by the security council.

Thank you for an incredibly productive day.

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Alleged bandit charged after stealing $600,000 worth of Bluey limited edition ‘dollarbucks’ in Sydney

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NSW police allege 63,000 coins featuring popular tv show character were stolen from a Sydney warehouse

An alleged Bluey coin bandit has been charged by New South Wales police for allegedly stealing over $600,000 worth of limited edition currency.

The Royal Australian Mint’s “dollarbucks” coin collection featured Bluey, alongside other characters on the popular tv show, as part of a special limited release.

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Wieambilla shootout ‘most dangerous operation’ Queensland specialist police have ever undertaken, inquest hears

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Train family had ‘intense motivation to kill police’ and were highly prepared for shooting ambush, state coroner told

The final shootout between police and three radicalised murderers at a remote property near Wieambilla was the most dangerous operation ever undertaken by Queensland’s specialist tactical police, an inquest into the deadly ambush has heard.

Supt Tim Partridge, who now runs the Special Emergency Response Team (Sert), said the task would have been less risky if police had access to superior tactics such as the use of a sniper from a helicopter, and more reliable communications.

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Flawed Aguer Akech investigation shows why Victoria’s blanket suppression law is not fit for purpose

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Well-meaning law designed to protect children prevents a basic function of investigative journalism – holding people to account

It’s a law that was designed to protect children.

But in one recent case, it also prevents the naming of police officers involved in a botched murder investigation – a prosecution case described by one of Victoria’s most experienced judges as so “extraordinary” she had never seen anything like it.

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Senator gives evidence at defamation trial – as it happened

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For more on this, Daniel Hurst looked into the issue yesterday. A spokesperson for the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, had said the government was “firmly committed to minimising harms from online wagering”.

The government continues to engage with stakeholders regarding the recommendations from the online wagering inquiry as we formulate our response.

I hope that’s not the case. I hope the long consultation is because the government’s actually going to do the right thing and make gambling ads history, just like we did with tobacco. We live in hope it’s not too late, but the rumors are not encouraging.

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Police legally detained 15-year-old terror suspect in hotel without lawyers knowing location, solicitor says

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Ahmed Dib says legal team spent three days trying to find boy who was held with his mother in western Sydney

Asio and federal police officers legally detained a 15-year-old terror suspect in a hotel for multiple days without charge and without his lawyers being aware of his location, his solicitor alleges.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of seven people arrested by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team in the aftermath of the high-profile stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in April.

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Terror in Wieambilla: inquest hears of a radio blackspot, booby traps and ‘fatal funnel’ of gunfire

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Distressing details emerge about what happened when two young police officers were shot dead in an ambush by the Trains in December 2022

None of the four Queensland police officers were older than 30, but the horrors they were about to experience at 251 Wains Road would shock even the most hardened cop.

They’d been sent to the remote area of Wieambilla, halfway between Chinchilla and Tara, in south-eastern Queensland, to find a missing person. It was in the middle of a known radio blackspot, with residents so off the grid some of them laid booby traps.

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‘Running for her life’: how police rescued trapped officer from Wieambilla ambush

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Rescue team members tell inquest they devised a code to guide Const Keely Brough to safety, drawing gunfire as they blocked property entrance

The leader of a police extraction team sent to rescue trapped constable Keely Brough from the Wieambilla ambush has told an inquest of the moment he saw the officer emerge from scrub “running for her life” to escape the property.

An inquest on Friday heard evidence from several officers involved in the rescue attempt, which was launched while shooters Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train were nearby and considered “active armed offenders”.

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Ex-Australia Post employee and friend plead guilty in Australian of the Year insider information betting scandal

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The men faced a Melbourne court after being charged following a three-year investigation by federal police into gambling on the annual awards

Two high school friends used insider information to bet on the winner of three Australian of the Year awards, and pocket thousands of dollars, a court has heard.

James Dawkins, 39, and 38-year-old Dean Young fronted Dandenong magistrates court in Melbourne on Thursday after details of their plan came to light.

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‘We could have all been dead’: Wieambilla shooting survivor blames police for failing to warn of danger

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Survivor Victor Lewis and victim Alan Dare’s widow Kerry demand changes and accountability in testimony to Queensland inquest

A survivor of the Wieambilla massacre whose friend was shot and killed while standing next to him has demanded answers about why police failed to warn of the danger.

Victor Lewis travelled to the property with his friend Alan Dare to investigate a fire, and was standing shoulder to shoulder with Dare when he was shot and killed.

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Jury hears Nelomie Perera’s screams before alleged murder in front of children

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Dinush Kurera has pleaded not guilty to murder and assaulting his son after wife’s 2022 death in Melbourne home

The screams of a mother’s final moments alive while her estranged husband allegedly hacked her to death in front of their children have been played to a Victorian jury.

“Help me, help me,” Nelomie Perera yelled in a recording captured on her watch, which was played to Melbourne’s supreme court.

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Knife-wielding man shot dead by police in Sydney’s south-west

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The 34-year-old allegedly struck an officer with a knife in Middleton Grange before he was shot

A knife-wielding man has been shot dead in Sydney’s southwest after he allegedly attempted to stab a police officer, who narrowly avoided “catastrophic injuries”.

Emergency services were called to Bird Walton Avenue in Middleton Grange, about 40km from the CBD, about 11pm on Saturday following reports a man was armed with a knife.

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Victoria’s tobacco wars: police investigate suspicious fire that destroyed Melbourne shop

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Firefighters found the building on Bridge Road, Richmond engulfed in flames on Saturday morning

Police are treating as suspicious a fire that destroyed a Melbourne tobacco shop on Saturday morning, after a series of arson attacks on tobacco retailers.

Firefighters found the building fully engulfed in flames after being alerted to the blaze on Bridge Road, Richmond by callers to triple zero at 3.44am.

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Immigration detainee charged over alleged drug ring operating from inside Villawood detention centre

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Police allege the man used an encrypted messaging service to deal drugs and coordinate a network of runners outside the Sydney facility

An immigration detainee and another man have been charged over an alleged drug ring operating from inside a detention facility.

Police say the 49-year-old dealt large amounts of methylamphetamine using an encrypted messaging service from Villawood immigration detention centre in Sydney’s west.

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Man dies after trying to drive truck on to NSW ferry; global sea ice levels hit record low – as it happened

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Q: Why target the individuals when it’s state policy?

Penny Wong said the Australian government has been “clear in terms of state-to-state relations about our view on settlements”.

They are unlawful under international law. We’ve been clear about that … We have also said that we want to continue to take steps towards a two-state solution.

That may not be the view of some people in the Israeli government, but that is the view of the Australian government.

These individuals have been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians, including things such as beating, sexual assault and torture, resulting in serious injury and in some cases death.

We have imposed these after careful consideration and we would expect that all Australians would recognise the weight of these.

Settlements are unlawful under international law. We are continuing to act in ways that we can to look to how we protect a pathway to a two-state solution, and part of that is to ensure we also impose penalties who perpetrate violence against Palestinians.

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NT military exercise suspended after pilot escapes crash – as it happened

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Import ban fails to curb flow of Nazi-linked items

The number of items imported into Australia bearing Nazi imagery has not been slowed by a national ban on the symbols, AAP reports.

The importation into Australia of Nazi memorabilia, both historically genuine items and modern recreations, has not abated with the passage of [the ban].

Where these goods are imported in quantities which indicates the goods are likely to be traded, the Australian Border Force refers the goods to the Australian federal police to consider investigation under the criminal code.

Consumers are crying out for clear information on how to save money, protect their health and reduce emissions – and they want that information online where they make their purchasing decisions.

We call on the state and federal governments to give consumers the real truth about the risks of gas appliances, by mandating comprehensive pollution labels on all their ads and websites.

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