Australia news live: UN human rights rapporteur applies to join legal case against NSW protest laws

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NSW beach closed after shark knocks surfer off board

A beach in northern New South Wales was this morning closed after a shark reportedly knocked a surfer from their board.

The incident took place at Angels beach near Flat Rock in East Ballina.

A post on Dorsal Watch advised:

“SLS advise Flat Rock Beach, BALLINA, closed until further notice after reported shark incident earlier today, 29 Jan 2026. Please be #SharkSmart”.

According to SharkSmart, Angels beach has SMART drumlines and shark drone surveillance.

It is about 23km south of Byron Bay. The region has a history of shark bite incidents, including some that were fatal.

Apple rolls out fix for old iPhones on Telstra that can’t call or text

Earlier we reported that an update this week for iPhones 8, 8 Plus and X caused customers who use Telstra’s mobile network (including resellers) to not be able to connect to the network.

Apple has now rolled out a fix for this issue, which people can implement on their phone by doing the following:

Connect your impacted iPhone to Wi-Fi

Tap Settings > General > About

Accept the carrier settings fix by tapping “OK”

Confirm the update installed by going to Settings > General > About and make sure it says “Telstra 54.1” next to Service Provider.

After this, you should see cellular bars populate, be able to make calls, and use data.

Forensic investigations begin after remains found in search for Celine Cremer

We have more details about human remains found during a search for missing Belgian woman Celine Cremer.

The 31-year-old was last seen in the Philosopher Falls area near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania’s north-west on 17 June 2023.

A bushwalker found what are thought to be human bones on a dry, rocky riverbed in the Philosopher Falls area on Wednesday morning as part of the search, police inspector Andrew Hanson told reporters this afternoon.

Hanson said the bushwalker had taken photos and the GPS coordinates of the site, which he then passed on to police. Forensic police were then helicoptered to the site where the two bones were analysed.

Police found five more “items” – believed to be human remains – nearby, he said. One of the seven items was a lower jaw bone and would probably be analysed alongside Cremer’s dental records, he said.

He continued:

There is no doubt that the proximity of those bones is close enough to the area where Celine Cremer went missing that we are considering the possibility that the remains are those of Celine. But again, to make it very clear, that is not confirmed, and it is something that will have to come through forensic testing.

In December, Cremer’s phone was found by an independent search party which included the bushwalker.

He said experts were tomorrow planning to return the area of the Arthur river where the remains were discovered, where they will conduct systematically searching the riverbed from 500m below the site of the remains.

He said:

If those remains do turn out to be Celine Cremer’s … it does support the theory that she most likely could have gotten lost through misadventure, simply by losing her phone and becoming disoriented – but again, that’s a matter that the coroner will determine based on all the information and evidence that we put up in our police report.

Bookshop gets behind Guardian Australia’s Best Picture Book poll

Over to Queensland for something a little more lighthearted.

A bookshop in Toowoomba has changed its children’s book window display to feature the titles nominated in Guardian Australia’s Best Picture Book poll.

The Booktree posted a photo of the display on its social media channels yesterday.

Votes for the poll are now open. Cast your vote from 27 January to 5 February. The five books with the least votes will be eliminated each morning from 28 January, with tallies starting afresh at 9.30am. You can vote every day.

Vote here:

Albanese ‘astonished’ Liberal party is in leadership talks on sombre day

Anthony Albanese says the Liberal party is a “mess” and that it is “extraordinary” that its internal issues are playing out publicly on the day of Katie Allen’s funeral.

“They’re a mess, that’s the truth. Anyone can see,” he told reporters in Cairns earlier. The prime minister continued:

And I find it extraordinary, frankly, that you have had a mess on the Day of Mourning and a focus on their internal issues today with the funeral of Katie Allen, who was a very decent human being, who made a contribution to public life and was a candidate in the most recent federal election, again. And my heart goes out to her family, to her many friends and colleagues.

I find it astonishing that there are meetings taking place about the leadership of the Liberal party on a day such as today.

Thank you, Natasha May. Let’s get going with the rest of the day’s news.

Thank you for following today’s blog. I’m handing over to Daisy Dumas who will take you through to the evening!

Three new gas exploration areas opened by Queensland government

The Queensland government has unlocked three new gas exploration areas in the far western part of the state.

The resources minister, Dale Last, boasted that the area covered a landmass almost three times the size of the ACT:

By appointing capable explorers, we’re laying the foundations for new production that will keep Queensland’s resources sector strong into the future.

That’s why we’re also preparing further areas for release later this year, to maintain a strong pipeline of new projects that will keep Queensland’s gas supplies flowing and delivering continued investment across our state.

Santos QNT Pty Ltd and Drillsearch Energy Pty Ltd have been named preferred tenderers for three gas exploration areas in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin, near the Queensland-South Australia border.

Queensland Conservation Council Energy Strategist Clare Silcock said the decision undermines the state’s commitment to reduce emissions by 75% by 2035 and “there is no credible path to net zero that includes new gas projects”. Silcock said:

These gas exploration licences in the Cooper and Eromanga Basins are in the precious Lake Eyre Basin which traditional owners, landholders and communities have fought for years to protect from gas extraction. We have deep concerns about the exploration for gas extraction into these fragile ancient landscapes.

Lawyers for state of NSW oppose Ben Saul joining challenge to protest laws

On Thursday, in a directions hearing before the NSW chief justice Andrew Bell, lawyers acting on behalf of the state of NSW opposed Ben Saul joining as an intervener, saying it would “widen the issues”.

Bell also determined during the hearing that the case would be heard in the court of appeal after it was referred to the court by Julia Lonergan earlier this month. He set the hearing date for 26 February.

The laws being challenged provide police the power to make a public assembly restriction declaration (Pard) for 14-day increments for up to 90 days in the wake of a terror attack. The restriction effectively bans the ability for protesters to march the streets of designated areas without the risk of being arrested.

Last Tuesday, the government narrowed the Pard currently in place ahead of the annual Invasion Day rally. This is due to expire on Tuesday, with the commissioner expected to announce then whether it will be extended and the designated area again varied.

UN human rights rapporteur applies to join legal case against NSW protest laws

Ben Saul, a leading expert on international law, has applied to join a legal challenge against protest restrictions passed by the Minns government in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, arguing they are inconsistent with Australia’s international legal obligations.

Saul has applied to join as an amicus curiae (a friend of the court) rather than a party to the proceedings.

Groups the Blak Caucus, the Palestine Action Group (PAG) and Jews Against the Occupation ’48 filed the legal challenge against New South Wales laws restricting protests after terrorist incidents in early January, arguing the laws were invalid because they impinge on the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication.

Saul told Guardian Australia that if his application to join as an intervener is accepted by the court, he would argue that the law and the police declarations following it are inconsistent with Australia’s international legal obligations to protect the human rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of association.

He said:

These international law obligations are relevant to interpreting and applying the implied freedom of political communication under the Australian constitution.

Saul is the United Nations special rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism. He is also the chair of international law at the University of Sydney.

An amicus curiae provides the court with expertise to assist its decision.

Osman Samin, a solicitor acting on behalf of Saul, said:

Part of that enquiry involves a question of proportionality. That is, an assessment of whether the restrictions imposed by these laws on the implied right to political communication are necessary and proportionate, and in considering proportionality, whether they are the least intrusive means available.

Greg Hunt pays tribute to ‘lion’ Katie Allen

Greg Hunt, the former minister for health, has remembered former Liberal MP Prof Katie Allen as a principled leader who “became a lion” when others were at risk and “stood up when it mattered”.

Hunt spoke on behalf of the parliament and the Liberal party at a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s cathedral in Melbourne for the specialist doctor and former member for the Victorian seat of Higgins, following her death on 23 December.

Hunt reflected on the pivotal role Allen played in Australia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the sole medical practitioner in the Liberal party, she “rose to her full policy height and influence”, he said. At the “most critical time she was a fundamental voice” convincing both him and the prime minister of the need for decisions such as shutting Australia’s border with China.

She stood up when it mattered … and she always put her hand up for Q&A on the ABC when no one else would.

After a great performance by Allen on Q&A in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hunt recalled how he told her she could be a future PM. She responded it was “very flattering, but only after Josh [Frydenberg]”.

The proudest policy achievement of Allen, who worked as a paediatric allergist and gastroenterologist at the Royal Melbourne, was ushering in the Allergy Strategy, Hunt said.

Hunt said Allen loved most to be among her constituents; one story her chief of staff passed on was how Allen doorknocked every housing commission flat in her electorate, learning key phrases in Russian, as well as meeting and helping the homeless and loving the challenge of talking with anybody. He also remembered how:

It was when others were at risk or most in need that she became a lion.

During evacuation of Kabul, he recalled how she took up the case of a group of Afghan women who had studied with Monash University – “they were alone, frightened and at terrible risk of what might happen under the Taliban”, and petitioned in order to get them on one of last flights out of Kabul.

‘I certainly welcome him,’ Albanese says of Israel president’s visit

Anthony Albanese says he welcomes Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit next month.

Speaking with reporters in Cairns just now, the prime minister said:

This country needs to come together. The atrocity that occurred on December 14 was an appalling event that has traumatised Jewish Australians and President Herzog has been invited here by the governor general as head of state to head of state, but I certainly welcome him coming and I look forward to [him] visiting.

He said the minister for multicultural affairs, Anne Aly, had also made “appropriate” comments welcoming the role the visit will play and anything that leads to a greater sense of unity.

“We need to build social cohesion in this country,” he added.

Minns acknowledges The Domain ‘potentially’ a good option for rallies if CBD protests curtailed

Returning the NSW premier, Chris Minns has also been challenged on other planned changes to protest laws following the Bondi attack.

Guardian Australia reported yesterday that the government was considering changes to NSW’s form 1 protest application system and land use policies to curtail protests in the Sydney CBD, which could see the Domain designated a protest site under land use rules.

Asked today about the plans, Minns said the government had yet to make a final decision, but the Domain was “potentially” a good option.

Minns has also been challenged on a parliamentary inquiry which is meeting this afternoon to finalise its recommendations on the banning of the phrase “globalise the intifada”. The chair of the Labor-controlled committee indicated to Guardian Australia his intention to recommend the phrase be banned before all submissions had been received. The inquiry, which has been hold over the holiday period, will have no public hearings and is not publishing hundreds of individual submissions.

Asked why the government is not holding an open inquiry given constitutional concerns raised by expert submissions, Minns says:

If the inquiry runs long, then the submission can’t be given to government. We can’t then potentially draft legislation, then we can’t introduce it to parliament. So it’s a little bit like congested train line. We have to get one moving so the rest of the machinery can work.

Albanese talks up Indo-Pacific ties after ‘very successful’ trip to Timor-Leste

After a “very successful” visit to Timor-Leste and before another to Indonesia, Anthony Albanese says it is “important that Australia continues to play a role as a middle power”.

The prime minister is speaking to reporters in Cairns now. He said:

I have just come back from Timor-Leste. It was a very successful visit. We once again signed an agreement upgrading our relationship … Our countries to our north as well as the Pacific are so important for us. We have PNG, the upgrade of the alliance. We have in Timor-Leste the upgrade of our relationship across security, economy and social policy as well.

He will next week visit Indonesia “to advance that relationship”, he said, adding:

In a turbulent world, it is important that Australia continues to play a role as a middle power.

Nationwide protests planned over Israeli president visit

A visit to Australia by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, will be met with nationwide protests after the Palestine Action Group announced marches across capital cities would be held on 9 February.

A spokesperson for the group, Josh Lees, said in a video posted to social media:

That Monday evening, thousands and thousands and thousands of us are going to be gathering in dozens of cities all around this country to say [Herzog] is not welcome here.

If he steps foot in this country, he should be arrested and investigated for the war crimes that he is alleged to have carried out, including inciting genocide in Gaza.

A United Nations commission concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. That commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, stated that Herzog, Benjamin Netanyahu and then defence minister Yoav Gallant “have incited the commission of genocide”.

Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the commission’s report, calling it “distorted and false” and claiming it “relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods”.

Herzog has called the genocide case against Israel in the international court of justice a “form of blood libel” and pushed back on criticism of his 2023 statement that “it is an entire nation out there that is responsible” for the 7 October attacks on Israel. He claimed he had been taken out of context, and noted he had said in the same media appearance that Israel would respect international law and there was no excuse for the killing of innocent civilians. The ICJ is yet to issue its final ruling.

On Wednesday a spokesperson for Isaac Herzog confirmed he would visit Australia’s Jewish communities and meet with political leaders between 8 and 12 February. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, invited him to visit in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

The Palestine Action Group has only announced the location of the Sydney march, which will be town hall. Protests are currently restricted in this area after police effectively banned the ability for protesters to march without the risk of being arrested in certain parts of the CBD in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

NSW police are due to announce on Tuesday whether that restriction will be extended for another 14 days.

‘You will be charged’: Police warning to anyone assisting triple murder suspect

The New South Wales police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, has made a direct appeal to anyone who may be harbouring or helping suspected Lake Cargelligo triple murderer Julian Ingram.

Speaking with reporters a short time ago, he addressed anyone assisting Ingram:

Think about the broader community. What he has committed here is an atrocity. What we certainly allege is something which is completely unacceptable. Domestic and family violence whatever the circumstance is unacceptable. For those who are thinking of assisting him, think again. You will be charged if we have evidence of that. We are committed to putting Mr Ingram before the court.

He also said NSW police had charged more than 33,000 individuals with domestic and family violence assaults in the last year alone, a figure he called a “disgrace”. He added:

Since I have been the commissioner, I made it really clear that domestic and family violence will be one of my key priorities because of the impact it has on community, and we have seen such a horrific impact … here in Lake Cargelligo.