Australia news live: Amnesty International warns proposed antisemitism plan risks ‘deepening community division’; new fire ant discovery

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Government has recognised stronger regulation of childcare is needed, Thistlethwaite says

Matt Thistlethwaite has also told the ABC the federal government has recognised that stronger regulation of the childcare sector is needed to protect children:

Obviously we’re going to have to do more. We’ve realised that as a government.

The education minister, Jason Clare, has convened a meeting of state education ministers. That was the major topic of discussion.

We know we need to strengthen the regulations [and] look at things like a register of childcare workers, greater checks on their backgrounds and the like. We’ll do what it takes to ensure the safety of children and the welfare of parents.

‘PBS is off the table’ in Trump trade talks, Thistlethwaite says

The assistant foreign minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, has continued to outline the federal government’s commitment to safeguarding the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Donald Trump has threatened to impose 200% tariffs on drug imports to the US, amid growing warnings the president’s growing trade war will seriously damage the global economy.

Thistlethwaite says Australian diplomats will try to negotiate to remove those tariffs, but will not negotiate on the operations of the PBS, which he described as “off the table”. Here’s what he told the ABC:

When you look at the Australian healthcare system, there’s two fundamental foundations: Medicare and the PBS.

They have produced one of the best healthcare systems in the world, where Australians enjoy relatively high living standards and healthier outcomes compared to the rest of the world.

We’re not going to jeopardise that in any way. So we’ve said we’re happy to negotiate on other issues, but the PBS is off the table.

Western Australia police are ruling out foul play as they continue searching for missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga, saying they believe she may have walked into inhospitable bush after her van broke down.

Police on Thursday found Wilga’s abandoned Mitsubishi van about 150km from Beacon in the Karroun Hill area, which has been described as remote and inhospitable country.

The van is believed to have suffered mechanical issues, and police believe Wilga may have walked away from her vehicle.

The 26-year-old last had contact with friends on 29 June after travelling through the towns of Toodyay and Dowerin, south-west of Beacon, earlier in the day.

Acting inspector Jessica Securo said that an inexperienced person could easily become lost in the remote location. Securo told ABC News:

The terrain is outback country and there are large, rocky outcrops.

So although there’s a number of tracks, you can see how it would be easy to become lost or disorientated in that area if you didn’t know it well.

Amnesty expresses concerns about antisemitism plan

The international human rights advocacy group Amnesty has expressed concerns that Jillian Segal’s plan to combat antisemitism may undermine “fundamental civil and political rights, stifle protest, and risk deepening community division”.

The antisemitism envoy’s recommendations to the federal government, released on Thursday, include a series of sweeping recommendations, such as launching a “university report card” and withholding government funding from universities, cultural institutions and festivals that “facilitate, enable or fail to act against antisemitism” – a move she later clarified was a “last resort”.

Mohamed Duar from Amnesty Australia has outlined the group’s opposition:

Restricting freedom of expression and assembly is not a plan to combat antisemitism – it is an outrageous and blatant act of repression designed to stifle demands for human rights for Palestinians enduring genocide, occupation and apartheid. This dangerous plan is designed not to protect communities, but to shield Israel from criticism.

There is a real risk this plan will be weaponised to censor protest and dissent, particularly against the atrocities unfolding in Gaza. Far from addressing antisemitism, it threatens activism and shuts down calls for accountability and justice.

Conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism not only undermines freedom of expression but weakens the fight against genuine antisemitism, and further fuels racial division and fear.

Court reveals why mushroom trial was held in Morwell, not Melbourne

Victoria’s supreme court has provided some clarity as to why the trial of Erin Patterson was held in Morwell, not in Melbourne as initially proposed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Criminal Procedure Act states a trial “is to be held in the court sitting at the place that is nearest to the place where the offence is alleged to have been committed, unless an order is made under Section 192”.

In July last year, an application was made to hold the trial in Melbourne as Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died at Austin hospital, in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg.

But information provided by the supreme court on Friday reveals Justice Jane Dixon believed the place of death should not determine where the trial would be held.

Her decision considered whether holding the trial in Melbourne, rather than closer to Leongatha, would lead to the local community being “disenfranchised from the trial process”:

Whilst not disputing the director [of prosecutions] entitlement to frame the offence date and location based on date and place of death, I do not regard this fact as leading to the interpretation that that is where the offence is alleged to have been committed.

In fact, as a matter of common sense (…) the Crown will submit to the jury that by the time [Erin Patterson] had administered the luncheon food to the three deceased, she had, on their case, committed the actus reus for murder.”

The term actus reus refers to the conduct or action that is a constituent element of the crime.

The offending will be alleged in the Crown’s opening statements to have been committed in Leongatha notwithstanding that the offence was allegedly completed by the death of the three alleged victims in Heidelberg.”

Mental health advocate calls for police apology for attack on woman

The peak body representing people with mental health challenges in NSW has called for the state’s top cop to issue a public apology after revelations two officers pepper-sprayed and dragged a schizophrenic woman by her hair in Sydney in 2023.

It has also called for the independent police watchdog to launch a critical incident investigation.

A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two NSW police officers who have admitted using unlawful force.

Sen Const Nathan Black and Const Timothy John Trautsch were in plainclothes when they made a welfare check on a 48-year-old schizophrenic woman at Emu Plains on 22 January 2023.

Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith district court on Thursday shows the pair’s violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman.

Mental health organisation Being urged the NSW acting police commissioner, Peter Thurtell, to issue an apology.

It also urged action from the NSW government to implement alternatives to police-led mental health crisis responses.

The chief executive of Being, Giancarlo de Vera, said:

This case highlights another example of systemic discrimination against mental health consumers and reinforces the urgent need for a NSW Human Rights Act, so that basic human rights of NSW citizens are enshrined in law.

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 Sea-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 4 July.

The sea eagle nest is in Sydney Olympic Park, more than 20km 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 Sea-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.

Sea-EagleCAM operator Birdlife Southern NSW monitors the nation’s second-largest raptor, which has a wingspan of more than 2 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.

The 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:

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’

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.