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Man charged over allegedly stalking radio host Jackie O
A man faced court today after he was charged over allegedly stalking the KIIS FM radio host Jackie O Henderson.
David Gourlay, 38, was arrested on 4 July and later charged with four counts of stalk/intimidate with intent to cause fear or physical harm.
He was also charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend, one count of being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, and one count of possessing an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Police said Gourlay was arrested at Clovelly at about 10.30am on Friday 4 July, and was taken to hospital for assessment.
Yesterday he was discharged from hospital and placed back in police custody.
He was refused bail and was set to appear before to Waverley local court today.
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Vulnerable sea-eagle egg joy captured on camera
A 16-year project to observe sea-eagle breeding has spotted the first pair of eggs laid for the 2025 season.
A project called EagleCAM monitors the nest and its resident pair of white-bellied sea eagles, and captured two eggs laid in an 80-hour period starting on July 4.
The sea-eagle nest is in Sydney Olympic Park, more than 20 kilometres from the home of the namesake rugby league team on the city’s northern beaches.
The eggs are expected to hatch in about 40 days.
Bird lovers tuning in to EagleCAM for the incubation period can expect to see both the male and female birds sharing time incubating the eggs and bringing food back to the nest for each other.
Once the chicks start to poke their way through, they come into the world with no help from mum and dad.
EagleCAM operator Birdlife Southern NSW monitors the nation’s second-largest raptor, which has a wingspan of more than two metres, to gain insight into how the birds operate in the wild.
- AAP
Fire ants found in central Queensland as advocates condemn government ‘dithering’
Fire ants have been found for the first time in central Queensland, according to the Invasive Species Council, raising fears Australia is losing its chance to eradicate the pest amid government “dithering” on funding.
The council said a major fire ant outbreak had been confirmed at BHP’s Broadmeadow coalmine, about 150km inland from Mackay.
The invasive species can kill people and livestock, and damage infrastructure and ecosystems. Fire ants were found in New South Wales in 2023.
map that shows where McKay isThe advocacy manager at the Invasive Species Council, Reece Pianta, said:
I am incredibly angry about this. This is not bad luck, it’s a spectacular failure because of known gaps in funding, enforcement and surveillance.
Australia’s last chance to eradicate deadly fire ants is being destroyed because Australia’s governments are dithering and delaying critical funding increases.
We have warned for 2 years that there is a major gap in funding for suppression, with nest densities off the charts south of Brisbane.
The Senate inquiry found this. The independent program review found this. The Queensland Government has raised this. The federal biosecurity department knows this.
Pianta said every time the issues have been raised “the message we get back is that new funding is just around the corner if only we will be patient”.
Well, the time is up. If Australia’s governments do not immediately step in with extra suppression funding, then they are condemning huge parts of Australia to a permanent fire ant future.
Eradication requires a $2bn commitment, and experts warned those costs pale in comparison to the impacts of a nationwide infestation.
More here:
Caitlin Cassidy
More on the review of corporate governance at the University of Canberra.
The Tertiary Education Union said there were “still a lot of unanswered questions” in the review, including why UC had five vice-chancellors in 14 months.
The NTEU ACT division secretary, Dr Lachlan Clohesy, said the recommendations did speak to assessing the performance of university executives, but oversight of conduct was also important:
Notwithstanding the recommendation on the size of Council, we have been engaged in constructive discussions with UC and the ACT government on increasing staff representation. We are encouraged that Bill Shorten has previously expressed his support for more staff representation in UC staff Town Halls.
We hope UC seizes this opportunity to go beyond the recommendations and become an exemplar of good governance in higher education.
University of Canberra review finds staff feel ‘shut down’
Caitlin Cassidy
A review into corporate governance at the University of Canberra (UC) has found staff felt “shut down” and feared speaking up lest it have negative consequences on their careers, warning greater transparency and trust is needed to restore the institution’s reputation.
The review was initiated by the newly installed vice-chancellor, Bill Shorten, earlier this year and led by the former chief scientist and ANU vice-chancellor Prof Ian Chubb and former deputy chancellor at the University of Wollongong Sue Chapman.
It followed a “significant deterioration” in the university’s operating position, UC noted, “with the impact of financial challenges amplified by instability in university leadership”. About 150 staff have been let go as part of its redundancy program.
The review found a culture of confidence and trust needed to be improved among staff:
Faculty and management staff in faculties said they felt they were ‘shut down’, invalidated or told to put up with things … Staff feel reticent to speak up for fear of being shut down or negative consequences for their careers … If this continues, the university runs the risk of losing good staff.
Shorten said the review would “shape the way” UC approached governance and leadership:
The University needs to be agile and responsive to the dynamic environment we operate in. We will need to operate effectively with a reduced workforce, embrace change in the way we work, and trust our staff to make decisions supported by appropriate accountability measures. This will ensure our success.
Man charged over allegedly stalking radio host Jackie O
A man faced court today after he was charged over allegedly stalking the KIIS FM radio host Jackie O Henderson.
David Gourlay, 38, was arrested on 4 July and later charged with four counts of stalk/intimidate with intent to cause fear or physical harm.
He was also charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend, one count of being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, and one count of possessing an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Police said Gourlay was arrested at Clovelly at about 10.30am on Friday 4 July, and was taken to hospital for assessment.
Yesterday he was discharged from hospital and placed back in police custody.
He was refused bail and was set to appear before to Waverley local court today.
Search intensifies for missing German backpacker
The search for a missing German backpacker has ramped up after her abandoned van was found in remote outback bushland. Carolina Wilga was last seen in the general store in the Western Australian Wheatbelt town of Beacon about noon on 29 June, some 300km north-east of Perth.
The 26-year-old, who had been travelling and working in Australia for about two years, told friends she intended to explore regional WA. Her disappearance triggered a nationwide search after a desperate plea for help from her mother amid concerns for her daughter’s safety.
Police on Thursday found Wilga’s Mitsubishi van about 150km from Beacon in the Karroun Hill area. The van is believed to have suffered mechanical issues. The area has been described as remote and inhospitable.
WA police Acting Insp Jessica Securo said an inexperienced person could easily become lost in the remote location. Police are using aircraft to search for Wilga due to the difficult terrain.
– AAP
Bluey coin bandits wait to learn fate over coin theft
Two men will spend months behind bars before learning their fate after stealing more than 60,000 unreleased coins celebrating a popular Australian cartoon.
Steven John Neilson, 47, and Nassar Kanj, 45, stole a 500kg pallet of 63,000 limited edition Bluey coins from a western Sydney warehouse in June 2024.
Both have pleaded guilty to aggravated break and enter, and committing an indictable offence in company to steal more than $60,000.
The pair were given an 8 October date for sentencing in Parramatta District Court on Friday. The prosecutors will have until 26 September to file submissions with the defence to respond by 3 October.
The stolen coins were created by the Australian Mint for a special release in September 2024. Imprinted were characters of the popular Logie-winning kids’ television show Bluey.
AMA welcomes new guidelines for prescribing medicinal cannabis
The Australian Medical Association has welcomed updated guidelines that aim to address poor prescribing practices of medicinal cannabis.
The updated guidelines were released by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) in the wake of a surge in prescriptions for the Schedule 8 medicine and increasing reports of patient harm, including psychosis.
The AMA president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the surge had been driven by new direct-to-consumer, single-issue telehealth models. She said:
Current regulatory schemes were designed for a different healthcare system, built around in-person consultations and community pharmacy dispensing, but the landscape has changed significantly.
The rise of the telehealth phenomenon has led to certain models that bypass traditional regulatory frameworks, posing risks to individual patients and the health system more broadly.
These direct-to-consumer, single-issue telehealth models lack clear referral pathways or a feedback loop to GPs and other referrers.
A Jewish community group in Sydney has called out Jillian Segal’s proposal to tackle antisemitism as “Trumpian” and said it “strongly rejects” the recommendations.
Jewish Voices of Inner Sydney said in a statement that it urged the government to reject Jillian Segal’s recommendation to adopt the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and “her extraordinary proposal to be empowered to unilaterally defund our universities and cultural institutions”.
The group also argued that Segal is “formally linking Australian Jews to Israel” and that this action “may increase antisemitism in the community”.
The group wrote:
Segal’s plan is similar to the actions by the Trump administration. She proposes to use the IHRA definition to force universities and cultural institutions to pull back from discussion about Israel and Palestine by threatening to withdraw government funding.
Without evidence or any specific examples, Segal insists that Australians are being fed biased and distorted narratives about Israel. It seems clear that Segal feels that reporting and discussion that is critical of Israel is inherently biased against Israel.
At the same time she is promoting a definition of antisemitism that overtly links Australian Jews to Israel. Australians are broadly aware that Israel is active in a what the Court of Justice described as a plausible genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In this context, Segal formally linking Australian Jews to Israel may increase antisemitism in the community.
‘It is not as simple as just putting up cameras’
Lizzie Blandthorn has been asked why the Victorian government has not committed to making CCTV surveillance cameras in childcare centres mandatory, given her belief they would improve child safety.
Blandthorn says it is important the installation, use and storage of surveillance footage be carefully considered before being mandated. This is currently under consideration.
We want the review to look at questions about how you would safely store the information.
CCTV would act as a deterrent, but there are questions that need to be answered about how you safely install it and store the information and where that information goes.
It is not as simple as just putting up cameras. There are questions that need to be answered about the best way to do that. But we are absolutely interested in those questions because the police have told us that CCTV would be a deterrent.
Victorian minister for children backs CCTV cameras in childcare centres
The Victorian minister for children, Lizzie Blandthorn, has said she personally supports CCTV surveillance cameras being installed in childcare centres to act as a deterrent to protect children.
Blandthorn said the mandatory installation of surveillance cameras was being considered at a national level and that it was important for a uniform approach to be adopted across the country.
The Victorian government has announced a rapid review of the childcare sector designed to improve child safety in the wake of sexual abuse allegations.
Blandthorn has told reporters that CCTV would help keep children safe in childcare centres.
I personally think that CCTV would act as a deterrent and police have told me that it will act as a deterrent.
It is part of a national reform work and I am interested in ways we could bring CCTV forward so that we can keep children safe.
Anti-Islamophobia envoy to send ‘comprehensive’ list of recommendations to Albanese
Josh Butler
The federal Islamophobia envoy has announced he will “imminently” share recommendations to address anti-Muslim hate, a day after the antisemitism envoy shared her own list.
Aftab Malik, Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, announced he would soon share a “comprehensive” list of recommendations to prime minister Anthony Albanese – a submission he said was “imminent”:
My recommendations have been informed by conversations with more than 100 Muslim leaders and representatives including; experts on Islamophobia, youth, women, religious leaders, community leaders, Islamic societies and peak bodies from across Australia.
Through this engagement, I listened firsthand to the painful, often raw experiences, of Islamophobia that many Muslim Australians face as part of their daily life. My recommendations are built from extensive dialogue with academics and specialists from diverse disciplines, including social cohesion, hate crime prevention, and public policy.
Malik said he would call for a “whole-of-government approach”, adding that tackling Islamophobia would need a coordinated effort across and all levels of society.
My goal is to ensure that Islamophobia is understood and is actioned by Australian society as a collective priority. Action that results in education, community engagement, law enforcement and policy reform.
It comes a day after antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal announced her own list of 49 recommendations to the federal government. Albanese said his government would consider the list and provide a response in due course.
Graham Readfearn
Eight countries back Australia’s push to add WA rock art to World Heritage list
The Australian government has secured the backing of at least eight members of the 21-country World Heritage committee as it lobbies to quell concerns about the impacts of industrial emissions on Indigenous rock art at Murujuga and have the Western Australia site inscribed on the World Heritage list.
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has been in Paris for the meeting since Wednesday, alongside a delegation from the WA state government and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, which has led the nomination.
The committee is due to make a decision on the inscription of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape on Friday night or early Saturday, Australia time. Indigenous groups have been pushing for the nomination for two decades.
UN advisers, the Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), has said the site is deserving of world heritage status but in May recommended the committee refer the nomination back to Australia over concerns the site is “extremely vulnerable to industrial pollution”.
Bob Brown praises 'courage, integrity and advocacy' of Hannah Thomas in newspaper ad wishing her full recovery
More on Hannah Thomas and the injury she sustained to her eye during an interaction with police at a pro-Palestine protest:
The former Greens leader Bob Brown took out an ad in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning wishing Thomas a “speedy and full recovery”.
Brown, the co-founder of the Bob Brown Foundation, wrote:
You also stood against PM Albanese as the Greens candidate for Grayndler, offering voters options including Australia acting more assertively to end the death toll and human misery in Gaza. You did not win, but well done.
I salute your courage, integrity and advocacy of a fair go.
I trust Anthony Albanese will have the ordinary Aussie decency to also contact you soon and wish you well.
Hannah Thomas says 'long road ahead' for eye injured during Sydney protest
The former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas, who was injured during an interaction with police at a pro-Palestine protest, has said it could be months before she knows how much sight she will recover in her right eye.
Police arrested and later charged Thomas after the 35-year-old attended a protest in Sydney on 27 June that was attended by about 60 people. She was subsequently taken to hospital and expressed fears she could lose sight in her right eye.
Thomas was a Greens candidate who ran against Anthony Albanese at the federal election.
Thomas told Guardian Australia she underwent a second surgery yesterday and was recovering well. However, she said it could be months before she knows how much of her sight she will recover.
“It’s a long road ahead,” Thomas said.
Last week, New South Wales police dropped a charge against Thomas that relied on a rarely used emergency power introduced in the wake of the 2005 Cronulla riots. Police said Thomas would instead face an additional charge of refusing or failing to comply with a direction – alongside her charge of resisting police.
Victoria’s acting premier addresses fatal crash involving elderly driver
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s acting premier Ben Carroll held a press conference earlier this morning to spruik the government’s neighbourhood battery program. He was also asked about a fatal crash in Wantirna South yesterday, which involved a 91-year-old driver.
Police say the 91-year-old woman lost control of her Toyota Yaris hatchback on Coleman Road, Wantirna South, about 12.20pm on Thursday, which struck three pedestrians before driving through a fence. A woman died and a two-year-old boy and a man were seriously injured.
Asked generally if elderly Victorians should have to prove their fitness to drive, Carroll replied:
My heart, as every Victorians, just breaks for this family and what they’re going through, and our thoughts are with them.
In relation to people that are elderly and driving, I think it is a valid question that you raise around testing. I will work with the road safety minister on this.
There are a range of initiatives in place through our general practitioners right around Victoria when it comes to making sure that Victorians continue to get tested for their driver’s license.
But I think this, no doubt this tragedy has brought it into focus. Having said that there will be a thorough investigation underway, and we’ll wait for that to run its course, but our thoughts are with all involved at the moment.
‘We keep Australians safe. That is what we do’
Staying with the prime minister’s press conference. Anthony Albanese was also asked about the Jillian Segal’s report and the recommendation to screen visa applicants for antisemitism.
Albanese was asked if agreed with Segal that “if someone who suggests that the state of Israel should be eliminated, that is an antisemitic view, and they should be deported”. He responded:
We have our system which goes through security clearances, and that’s a condition that with that, we make across the board, we examine whether someone’s an appropriate person to be granted a visa to Australia. We we assess people on the basis of our national security assessments. We do that across the board. We keep Australians safe. That is what we do.
Albanese also said that the government already screens for antisemitic views, and pointed to US rapper and artist Kanye West was recently barred from travelling to Australia after the release of his widely condemned song Heil Hitler.
