Sydney man charged with terrorism offences after he allegedly travelled to Turkey in 2013 and on to Syria, where police say he recruited foreign fighters for Isis
A 30-year-old Sydney man who is alleged to be an Islamic State recruiter has been arrested and charged with terrorism offences upon his return to Australia.
Mohamed Zuhbi arrived in Melbourne on a flight from Turkey about 4pm on Saturday and was taken into custody by counterterrorism authorities at the airport.
Continue reading...Hundreds gathered at a vigil to pay tribute to ‘beloved daughter, sister and mother’ who was killed last week
Mother-of-three Kelly Wilkinson has been remembered as a “strong, fierce woman with an enormous heart” at a vigil in the Gold Coast.
Hundreds gathered in Parkwood on Monday afternoon to pay tribute to the 27-year-old, who was killed last Wednesday. Her estranged husband has been charged with her murder.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lukman Thalib says he struggles to recall what he said during ‘calculated’ torture
An Australian public health professor alleges he told Australian consulate staff he was being tortured and held without charge they visited him in a Qatari prison, but says they did nothing to help.
Biostatistician Prof Lukman Thalib, 58, was arrested at his Doha home and detained for five months without charge in Qatar, where he had been working as acting head of Qatar University’s public health department.
Continue reading...Request to travel interstate to take accuser’s statement was rejected in March 2020 because it was not deemed essential, documents reveal
The New South Wales police passed up an offer by South Australian police to take a statement alleging sexual assault against Christian Porter – apparently without putting the option to the victim – new documents reveal.
The documents, produced to the NSW Legislative Council after a motion by MP David Shoebridge, reveal how a request to travel interstate to take the statement was rejected in March 2020 because it was not deemed essential.
Continue reading...Guardian Australia database tallies the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who have died in police and prison custody since 1991
At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police and prison custody since the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody handed down its final report in 1991, new research has revealed.
Guardian Australia has spent the past three years tracking Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths in custody for the Deaths Inside project.
Continue reading...Kayley Ketley and Latia Henderson allegedly detained the 24-year-old victim in Sydney before driving south on the Hume Highway
An alleged kidnapping victim who was rescued after waving through a hole in her own car’s boot had been detained for 13 hours, a NSW court has been told.
The 24-year-old woman was found with multiple stab wounds in the boot of her Holden sedan after it was pulled over on the Hume Highway at Berrima, south of Sydney, on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Jason Renwick had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault over the 2019 incident in Brisbane, which he said was a ‘workplace accident’
A jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the case of a police sergeant charged with indecently touching a female colleague during a training exercise.
Jason Scott Renwick, 49, pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault over the incident at a Brisbane training facility in February 2019.
Continue reading...The police stories: Two former Western Australian and NSW officers speak out about what they saw during their time in uniform
One of the worst moments of Jim Taylor’s eight-year career as a Western Australian police officer was the day he strip-searched a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy.
Taylor, now 44, was working in Perth in the Juvenile Aid Group, or “Jag”. He says he was driving around the city’s central business district with his senior sergeant and two other officers when they came across a group of four young Aboriginal kids. They rounded them up and took them back to the station.
Continue reading...NSW premier concerned over low testing levels as state grapples with growing number of mystery cases; partner of a Brisbane hotel quarantine cleaner who contracted new Covid-19 strain tests positive. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Two Emirates flight attendants are in isolation in Australia after testing positive to Covid-19 on Sunday, two days after Australia introduced mandatory quarantining and testing of international flight crews.
The positive tests were included in Monday’s numbers.
The crew members identified as positive cases are being managed per usual processes and remain in Australia.
Since the incoming Emirates flight EK430 from Dubai to Brisbane was serviced by the same crew, as per the airline’s safety protocols the remaining crew members were determined to be close contacts. As a precautionary measure, the decision was therefore made to cancel flight EK431 from Brisbane to Dubai for the safety of its passengers.
The health and safety of our crew, customers and communities remains our top priority, and we continue to work closely with all relevant authorities to implement the latest health and safety protocols.
And just when you thought acting prime minister Michael McCormack’s controversial day was over, he has now used the controversial right-wing phrase “all lives matter” at a press conference when discussing the “black lives matter” protests.
The Nationals leader has come under fire today and yesterday for comparing the insurrection at the Capitol building by far-right rioters to the Black Lives Matter protest and riots earlier in the year.
I abhor violence of any form. The Black Lives Matter protests, as at mid-last year, cost 19 lives. That’s 19 lives that should not have been lost. I’m not going to apologise because I said that violence in any form should not happen, from a protest...
I appreciate there are a lot of people out there who are being a bit bleeding heart about this and who are confecting outrage, but they should know those lives matter too. All lives matter.
Continue reading...What are the restrictions in Brisbane since a worker tested positive to the UK strain of Covid-19? Do I have to wear a mask and how do Victoria’s border closures with NSW and Queensland work? Untangle Australia’s Covid-19 laws and guidelines with our guide
Australian states and territories have different levels of restrictions to contain Covid-19.
Here we answer some common questions about restrictions in each state, based on the information available as of 8 January.
Continue reading...Drug baron remains in jail while he appeals other guilty verdicts citing involvement of lawyer-turned-police informant Nicola Gobbo
Little time was wasted on pleasantries during the first meeting between the gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo and the police officers who were handling her as an informant in 2005.
“Tell us everything you know about Tony Mokbel,” was how the police handler known as Mr White started the meeting.
Continue reading...Activist group Pride in Protest says presence of police makes Indigenous people feel unsafe
A controversial bid to remove police and prison officer floats from the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has failed at the event’s annual general meeting.
But, in a strong anti-police statement, Saturday’s motion attracted 44% of the votes, drawing 261 votes in favour. Three hundred and twenty-seven members voted against it.
Continue reading...Police say armed man tried to box in the car and chase the teenagers in a pursuit that could have ‘easily ended in tragedy’
A man armed with a tyre iron pursued a stolen car driven by young teenagers until they crashed into a power pole in Townsville, police say.
On Saturday night about 10pm, police say a 48-year-old man was driving along McLean Street in the suburb of Gulliver, when he saw a Hyundai Santa Fe that had been stolen from the neighbouring suburb of Aitkenvale.
Continue reading...Police allege Mark De Hesselle collected 139 boxes of the pulp and searched through them to remove the drug
A Sydney man is facing life in prison after federal police intercepted cocaine worth $248m concealed in frozen fruit products from Brazil.
AFP and Border Force officers seized 552kg of the drug hidden in pallets of banana pulp and branded with koala pictures in Sydney on Friday.
Continue reading...Phone records of former police chief considered crucial in investigation to determine who made the decision to use private security guards
Victoria police never formally requested Telstra provide ex-police chief Graham Ashton’s phone records to help the hotel quarantine inquiry uncover who made the decision to use private security guards in the botched program, Guardian Australia can reveal.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Victoria police told Guardian Australia that police “did contact Telstra and request incoming call data for the former chief commissioner’s phone”.
Continue reading...Aboriginal legal services say they don’t have enough funding to meet the new commitments
The coroner’s court of Victoria has changed the way it investigates Indigenous deaths in custody to reflect recommendations made in a royal commission almost 30 years ago, but Aboriginal legal services say they don’t have enough funding to meet the court’s new commitments.
The Victorian state coroner, judge John Cain, issued a practice direction on Tuesday outlining new standards for investigating Indigenous deaths in custody. It includes a requirement that the coroner attend the scene of death where practicable, instead of relying on the report of the police officer conducting the investigation.
Continue reading...Protesters run through back streets in ‘chaotic scenes’ as further demonstrations expected on Sunday
Police have arrested 16 anti-lockdown protesters and fined 21 others during “chaotic” scenes in Melbourne’s south-east in which demonstrators were chased by police on horseback.
About 50 to 100 demonstrators began protesting at the State Library but moved to Elsternwick Park where they were pursued by police.
Continue reading...NSW Firearms Registry officer didn’t read into allegations on police profile during an assessment for gun training permit, court told
A NSW Firearms Registry clerk who told investigators John Edwards’ police profile hadn’t “rung alarm bells” for her has been forced to admit she didn’t properly look at the profile.
An inquest was told on Tuesday the pensioner was granted a gun licence about a year before he murdered his estranged children, Jack and Jennifer Edwards, with a legally owned pistol in July 2018.
Continue reading...About 100 people attended the protests, with 51 fines issued for breaching stay-at-home orders
Victoria police have arrested 14 people at illegal anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne, with 51 fines issued for breaching stay-at-home orders.
About 100 people attended the protests at various locations in the city, with a large police presence outnumbering those taking part in the so-called “freedom walk” at the popular running track the Tan and Fitzroy Gardens.
Continue reading...QAnon is dangerous but some action taken to stem its influence may further embolden its followers
Saturday, 5 September was supposed to be the day Australian history was irreconcilably changed. It was to be “Freedom Day”, the day when “real” Aussies took back control of the streets, their airways and their collective destiny.
Rather than changing it, the protests amounted to what might constitute a footnote in an awfully specific history of Australia. Disparate groups gathered in separate events around the country. Dozens of protesters were arrested, dozens more were fined with breaching Covid-19 restrictions, one protester jumped into Melbourne’s Albert Park Lake and all of it was livestreamed.
Continue reading...