Australia news live: O’Neil says government ‘doing what it can’ to help 15,000 Australians in Lebanon as evacuation flights begin

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PM says Australia condemns Iranian missile attack on Israel

Anthony Albanese says that the Australian government condemns Iran’s missile attack on Israel. In a post to X, the prime minister wrote:

This is an extremely dangerous escalation – Australia and the global community have been clear in our calls for de-escalation. Further hostilities put civilians at risk.

We are monitoring the situation closely and encourage Australians in Israel to follow the advice of local authorities.

One in three Australians throwing unwanted clothes in rubbish, survey finds

Most Australians are confused about what to do with their unwanted clothes, leading about a third to throw their closet clutter in the rubbish, according to the first national survey of clothing use and disposal habits.

The RMIT-led survey of 3,080 Australians found 84% of people owned garments they hadn’t worn in the past year, including a third who hadn’t touched more than half of their wardrobe.

The survey’s lead author, Dr Alice Payne, said the results revealed consumers were confused about how to responsibly discard clothing.

Continue reading below:

Shadow foreign minister on Iranian attacks on Israel

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, has issued the following statement on social media following the Iranian attacks on Israel overnight:

Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, including Hamas, Hezbollah [and] Houthis, has inflicted great suffering on many. We condemn Iran’s attacks on Israel via proxy [and] their direct strikes.

Australia must support Israel’s right to self defence, including the removal of such threats.

Government secures more seats for Australians to leave Lebanon on Thursday

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the government is working to help Australians who want to leave Lebanon, “including with partners such as Canada and the UK.”

She said a number of Australians were assisted onto commercial flights on Monday and overnight, and additional seats have been secured for flights on Thursday.

We are working to access more flights over coming days.

DFAT is contacting registered Australians with updates. Australians in Lebanon who wish to leave should ensure they are registered via DFAT’s crisis portal.

Sanctions slapped on three Russian cyber criminals

Three Russians from the cybercrime group Evil Corp have been slapped with fresh sanctions and travel bans by the federal government, AAP reports.

The senior officials from the group, which has carried out ransomware attacks across the United States and Europe, will be banned from entering Australia under the penalties.

The sanctions on Maksim Viktorovich Yakubets, Igor Olegovich Turashev and Aleksandr Viktorovich Ryzhenkov will make it an offence for people to provide or deal with assets belonging to the Russians.

The Russian cyber criminal gang have been accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars around the world in hacking efforts.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, said the sanctions would help to deter other cyber attacks:

These sanctions are only possible because of the efforts of our domestic and international partner agencies who work tirelessly to disrupt cybercriminals and protect Australians from ransomware.

Watt: ‘We don’t think it’s acceptable for anyone to celebrate the October 7 terrorist attack’

Murray Watt was also asked about the move from NSW police to try to stop a pro-Palestine protest planned for 7 October, and whether he thinks this is appropriate.

The employment minister said protest permits are “always going to be a matter for state governments and state police”.

But what I can make clear is that we don’t think it’s acceptable for anyone to celebrate the October 7 terrorist attack, whether that be on seventh of October in a few days time or any other date. It was an appalling terrorist incident cost many lives… the worst loss of Jewish lives since the Holocaust. I don’t think that’s a cause for anyone to celebrate.

Amal Naser, spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group, yesterday said protesters are intending to “defending our right to protest and are determined to continue standing for justice for Palestine and Lebanon.”

Asked if the Australian government wants Israel to temper its response to the Iranian attack overnight, Murray Watt said: “We want to see hostilities end from all sides of this conflict.”

law applies to all countries.

There’s no doubting whatsoever that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation and it needs to be dealt with, as does Hamas. That’s been something that our ministers and our government have been saying for some time. But we don’t want to see Lebanese or Israeli civilians continue to pay the price of this conflict…

Watt was again asked if Australian believes Israel should “now hold back”, and responded that a ceasefire is the preference.

And that does involve all parties de-escalating rather than continuing to ramp up the hostilities. We support Israel and the entire region’s security … but we need to end this dangerous cycle of violence, and that requires all parties to negotiate, to cease hostilities and to resolve these issues peacefully and diplomatically.

Australia ‘very willing to play our part’ in deescalating Middle East conflict, Watt says

Murray Watt said the Australian government wants to see the “immediate de-escalation of the conflict in and around Lebanon” and for this to be “resolved diplomatically”.

We have already seen far too many civilians killed in the conflict around Gaza. We’re deeply concerned about the risk of more civilian deaths in and around Lebanon, and this needs an effort from the international community to bring this to an end, to have an immediate ceasefire, and Australia is very willing to play our part in getting to that point.

Patricia Karvelas asked if Israel has a right to respond to the attack overnight? Watt said “we certainly acknowledge that there have been hostilities inflicted on Israel for some time now”, and continued:

This is this is a situation [where] we want to work with Israel and neighbouring countries to bring to an end – It’s not in anyone’s interest, whether it be Israel or its neighbouring countries, for this conflict to go on, to continue to see civilian deaths on both sides of the border, and we’re determined to work with the international community to bring that to an end.

Murray Watt: ‘Australia unreservedly condemns Iran’s actions’

The Labor minister Murray Watt has been speaking to ABC RN about the Iranian missile attack on Israel overnight.

Host Patricia Karvelas says Australia is calling for a ceasefire but the US has been providing Israel support – and asks where the Australian government stands. Watt says he “wouldn’t put it that way”.

This is obviously an extremely dangerous escalation that we’ve seen overnight, and Australia unreservedly condemns Iran’s actions in what it’s done overnight. But I think what we’ve seen in recent days is that not just Australia, but the global community generally, has been very clear in our calls for de-escalation in the region.

You would have seen a few days ago, 21 countries from around the world – including Australia, the US, the UK, the EU and a number of other countries – called for an immediate ceasefire in and around Lebanon.

So our position, I think, is actually consistent with those of like-minded countries in many parts of the world.

Heatwave continuing in Top End of NT

In more weather news, the heatwave is continuing in the Top End, with hot days and warm, humid nights.

Heat in the Daly district peaked yesterday and is expected to peak again today, reaching extreme heatwave conditions.

The heatwave is expected to continue through the weekend.

Severe weather warning for south-west WA

A severe weather warning has been issued for large parts of south-west Western Australia.

Damaging wind gusts up to 100km/h are forecast as a cold front moves through, and locally destructive gusts up to 125km/h are possible about the coast later this evening.

Australian Jewry chief says planned 7 October rallies are ‘callous’ and ‘shameful’

Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, has spoken with ABC News Breakfast after the Iranian missile attack on Israel overnight.

He was asked about planned protests on 6 and 7 October this weekend (7 October is a public holiday in NSW), and whether people be able to peacefully rally and hold vigils to mark the anniversary?

Ryvchin said “we have never opposed the right of anyone to gather peacefully” but “we’re talking about October 7”.

So for the pro-Palestinian people to want to gather on that day, which is about a week before Israel’s response even began, it is callous, it’s heartless and it’s shameful. And I ask these people – show some concern for peace-loving Australians who just want to gather on October 7 and mourn and remember those who were needlessly massacred.

Amal Naser, spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group, said yesterday: “We intend on defending our right to protest and are determined to continue standing for justice for Palestine and Lebanon.”

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, died on 7 October when Hamas attacked Israel. More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, one in 55 of the pre-war population. More than 700 people have died in Lebanon in the recent wave of Israeli attacks.

Human bone found at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach

The origins of a human bone located at a Western Australian beach is being investigated by police.

A member of the public located the bone at Cottesloe Beach in Perth on Saturday. It has since undergone assessment by a pathologist who determined it to be human.

Western Australia police said in a statement that further forensic testing will take place to “match the bone to any outstanding missing persons”.

Media coverage ‘creating more and more fear’ on youth crime, children’s commissioner says

The children’s commissioner said that when it comes to the role of the media in this issue, what she has observed is “a lack of interest in the solutions to the problem”.

Anne Hollonds told ABC RN:

There’s a lot of reporting of apparent youth crime, you know, lots of headlines like ‘teenage dirt bags’ and ‘kindergarten crims’. We know crime sells… But there’s not a lot of digging in and asking, ‘well, why are these children offending, and what can we do to prevent that?’ …

The media, in just reporting it again and again, in showing all the footage that we get from CCTV and dashcam and body cam and iPhones now, that’s kind of creating more and more fear – which really is just escalating the pressure on the politicians to be tough.

Many police and frontline staff aren’t trained to care for children, Hollonds says

Anne Hollonds was asked about her proposal to build a capable and child-specialised workforce – and how this could happen amid broader workforce issues?

She said it was the “failures of support and training” for frontline personnel that “came up again and again” in submissions and roundtables and interviews while compiling the report.

We see it in the police watch houses, for example … Those police have no training to care for any children, let alone children with serious disabilities and mental health issues, and who are traumatised.

So it’s not fair on those frontline staff, by the way – it’s not fair on them to put them in those positions, but mostly I’m worried about the children, because it’s not fair on them. We can’t expect them to get the care they need if we don’t support the staff.

Q: Is there any appetite from the federal government to coordinate such an approach with the states to youth justice?

Anne Hollonds said “so far, I haven’t had that indication”, but she has had indication from the state’s they would be willing to work together on this:

I am hoping that we may have reached a tipping point whereby the horrendous failures in these systems that we’ve seen – such as the two tragic suicides of children in youth detention recently, within less than a year, and other horrific stories – I’m hoping that there is an appetite for thinking ‘well, we need to take a different approach’. We need to pivot towards the solutions that will focus on addressing the underlying causes, because just locking up these children is not a winning strategy at all for anybody.

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