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Seven of nine closed beaches reopen after ball-shaped debris washed ashore
Catie McLeod
Sydney’s Northern Beaches council says it has reopened seven of the nine beaches it closed yesterday after marble-sized ball-shaped debris washed ashore.
Dee Why and South Curl Curl beaches remain closed, while Manly, Long Reef, Queenscliff, Freshwater, North Curl Curl, North Steyne and North Narrabeen beaches have reopened.
In a statement, the council said it had organised crews to clean the beaches and the decision to reopen them was made on criteria provided by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority.
Debris samples have been sent for testing but the source of the balls and what they are made of is yet to be determined, the council said. The Northern Beaches mayor, Sue Heins, said:
I congratulate the crews for a fast clean up so we could get beachgoers back in the water today. We will continue to monitor the beaches’ condition, especially following the high tide this morning.
The discovery of the balls comes after thousands of pieces of spherical debris washed up on several eastern suburbs beaches in October last year, forcing their temporary closure.
Those mystery balls were initially widely reported to be “tar balls” comprising crude oil until testing coordinated with the EPA revealed they were consistent with human-generated waste – or “likely lumps of fatberg”, according to experts.
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Search for boater missing at popular river tourist spot
A search is under way for a man who fell from a boat at a popular holiday spot on the Murray River and did not resurface, AAP reports.
NSW police responded to reports that a man, believed to be in his 20s, fell into the water near a boat ramp at Moama about 7.30pm yesterday.
Emergency services scoured waters along the NSW-Victoria border for hours but no trace of the man was found.
Marine Rescue NSW shone a spotlight on the banks of the river as they searched the area by boat, but the operation was paused after it became dark. The search resumed at 8am today.
An estimated 1.5 million people visit the border towns of Echuca and Moama each year, with the two towns on either side of the Murray River functioning as one community. The area is popular with campers and visitors seeking out water sports.
Benita Kolovos
Bandt points to need for national anti-racism strategy amid calls for national cabinet to address antisemitism
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, is also at the childcare centre in Windsor, Victoria this morning.
Asked if there should be a national cabinet held on the issue of antisemitism, he pointed to the need for a national anti-racism strategy:
Every level of government needs to do all it can to fight antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism. And that is something that we’ve called for a very long time.
Australia is a proudly multicultural society … the Greens have been calling for many, many years now for a national, fully funded anti-racism strategy … that tackles antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism. It’s something that we all need to work towards to ensure that we protect our multicultural community.
Also asked about calls for mandatory jail time for people that vandalise, Bandt said he would leave that up to “largely the state governments that are going to be looking at that”:
I think one of the things that we critically need to do is start with education. We need to ensure that the fundamental elements of our multicultural society, which start at the community level, are protected so we support needs to stamp out racism in all its forms.
Benita Kolovos
Burns says ‘outsiders’ should not ‘meddle’ in Australia’s democracy ahead of election
On the prospect of X’s owner, Elon Musk, getting involved in the federal election, Josh Burns said “Australian democracy is for Australians, not for international people”:
We don’t meddle in other people’s democratic rights or goings on, and we would expect the same for others. So anyone who wants to come into Australia and interfere in our democracy, who is an outsider, shouldn’t.
Benita Kolovos
Burns calls for Australian politics to ‘take a step forward and be more considerate’
Josh Burns was also asked whether he’s worried the next election is going to be a content fought on character assassination rather than on political policy.
He said politics “should be a battle of ideas” and “a contest where political parties come together, we respectfully put forward our ideas, we respectfully come forward and outline our vision for our country”:
Certainly, that’s what I’m going to be doing in McNamara, which is the community I’m privileged to represent. My two candidates who are here today, they believe in our community as well, and we have disagreements on policy, but it’s not personal against them, and it never should be.
That’s the way I’ll be conducting myself, and I hope politics in this country can take a step forward and be more considerate, and we can disagree respectfully, but we don’t have to make it personal as well.
Benita Kolovos
Josh Burns says there are ‘gaps in legal framework’ when it comes to combatting antisemitism
Over in Victoria, the Labor MP for Macnamara, Josh Burns, has been speaking at Windsor community childcare centre to throw his support behind saving the centre from closure.
We’ll bring you more on that later, but in he meantime, he was asked about special envoy to combat antisemitism Jillian Segal’s comments on the front page of the Australia today, calling for tougher sentencing and more prosecutions for anti-Jewish hate crimes.
Burns says he agrees more needs to be done:
There are some laws that obviously I’ll leave to my state colleagues, because many of those laws around what happens in our community is a matter for the state governments. What I would say is that there are clearly gaps in our legal framework. Clearly we have a crisis in antisemitism in this country.
Clearly we have a situation where no one should be discriminated against, but certainly with the rise of antisemitism, we need to tackle it together in a unified way, ideally in a situation like this today, where political parties come together and not squabble over discrimination in this country.
On the prospect of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Burns says he’s very hopeful and “I pray for peace.”
This nightmare has gone on for long enough, and I hope the world wakes up tomorrow and it’s a bit more of a peaceful place. That will be a wonderful thing.
Children’s television legend Simon Townsend has died
Amanda Meade
Children’s television legend Simon Townsend of Wonder World fame has died aged 79.
The former ABC journalist launched Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! on Channel 10 in 1979 with mascot Woodrow the Bloodhound and reporters Sandy Mauger, Jonathan Coleman, Angela Catterns and Adam Bowen.
The groundbreaking show made him a household name, delighting young audiences with magazine-style stories which covered a wide range of topics.
Wonder World ran until 1987, winning five Logie Awards and stellar ratings for Ten. His family said in a statement to the ABC:
In his final days, Simon was surrounded by his family and a mix of journalists, writers, actors, political activists and Italians. The conversation to the last was loud, passionate and full of laughs.
His daughter actor and dramaturg Nadia Townsend has been approached for comment.
PM asked whether national cabinet will be convened to address antisemitism
Anthony Albanese also fielded questions on whether a national cabinet meeting would be convened to combat antisemitism.
As Sarah Basford Canales reported earlier, the government yesterday held a snap meeting with the NSW and Victorian premiers and the federal police on the matter.
Speaking to reporters, the PM said “what I want is to ensure that any act of antisemitism – it stops.”
I want people who are responsible for these acts to be prosecuted fully, because they’re a crime and people should be held to account with the full force of the law.
Would a national cabinet be convened on the matter? The PM said “we responded with the states that were involved”:
Jillian Segal [Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism] was very pleased. I spoke with her after the discussion that took place and she was very pleased that occurred.
PM criticises Dutton’s call for cuts to public spending
Continuing to speak to reporters, Anthony Albanese is criticising the opposition leader Peter Dutton’s call for cuts to public spending.
He accused Dutton of “cutting wages growth off at the knees” and said cuts would transplant “new taxes on Medicare” and prescribe a “lethal dose of cuts to cost of living support.”
His idea of economic surgery isn’t a scalpel, it’s a sledgehammer or a chainsaw. He wants to take those cuts to Medicare, to cost of living support, to housing, to all of these measures …
Peter Dutton has a plan for massive cuts and even [former Queensland premier] Campbell Newman today, of all people, and what should be a chilling reminder for Queenslanders is saying, maybe there’ll be some issues if you try to cut all the public servants that Peter Dutton has committed to cutting.
Albanese ‘hopeful’ for ceasefire in Gaza
Asked about the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, Anthony Albanese said this is something Australia and the international community “overwhelmingly” wants to see.
We have been calling for some time for hostages to be released. We want Hamas to have no role in the future of that region, and we want a ceasefire in the interests of both Israelis and those in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
So we are hopeful of a ceasefire, that would be a good thing. I think that is what overwhelmingly Australians want to see, and indeed, the international community wants to see as well.
PM says government will take 'strongest possible action' if any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins
Circling back to Anthony Albanese’s press conference in Tasmania, he has been asked about reports that Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins has been killed after being captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine.
The PM said the government would “take the strongest possible action if that can be confirmed”:
Dfat is seeking urgent clarification as to what these circumstances are. I spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador on Monday in my office. We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins status. We remain gravely concerned.
We will await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that is absolutely reprehensible, and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible.
Albanese said he “wasn’t getting ahead of the facts”, telling reporters:
That’s the responsible thing for us to do … I’m not someone who’s competing to be shadow foreign minister, I’m someone who’s prime minister of Australia, and we respond to the facts.
I’ve said that we have called in the Russian ambassador already, we are seeking clarification as to whether Oscar Jenkins, any harm has occurred to [him], and we will take the strongest possible action if it is the case that any harm has been caused to him.
