Queensland man jailed for child abuse-related offences – as it happened

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

What we learned: Tuesday 13 August

This is where we’ll leave the blog for today, but first let’s recap the main events:

The government services minister, Bill Shorten, announced a new federal ID system to be launched by the end of the year with “consent, choice and trust” at its heart.

David Pocock said no total gambling ad ban would be ‘complete betrayal’ of Peta Murphy’s legacy.

Independent Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel said that Bill Shorten has “got it wrong” when it comes to the ban on gambling ads.

Nancy Pelosi criticised Paul Keating’s comments on Taiwan as ‘Chinese real estate’. Keating then responded.

The NSW premier shut down the push for an Anzac Day pokie ban.

The government will move to strengthen laws for robodebt investigations.

Scott Morrison gave evidence in the Reynolds defamation case against Brittany Higgins.

In the Coalition party room, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said the Albanese government “hasn’t had a much-needed reset” despite reshuffling ministries in the mid-winter break.

The LNP’s Michael Sukkar was ejected from question time.

A Queensland man was jailed for child abuse-related offences as 16 children in the Philippines were removed from harm.

Amy will be back with you on the blog in the morning!

Charges laid after Sydney house fire

A man has been charged with domestic violence offence and having the intent to endanger life after a house fire in south west Sydney.

About 1.50am yesterday, emergency services were called to the suburb of Belfield, after reports of a fire.

The house was unoccupied but a 76-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman were in a granny flat at the rear of the premises. They were not injured.

After an investigation, a 71-year-old man has been charged with destroying/damaging property with the intent to endanger life in a domestic violence incident.

He was refused bail and will appear at Burwood local court on Wednesday 16 October 2024.

Narelle Towie

Kelton, in cross examination with lawyer Rachael Young SC, told the court she was sent to meet Higgins by Reynolds about the 2019 allegations but that a file note recording her actions can’t be found.

You don’t have your own secure area to keep documents and I gave my file note to the office manager in a sealed envelope to be kept in the safe in the front office.

When senator Reynolds’ stint as defence minister ended and the office was packed up, Kelton said she didn’t think to retrieve the note and she doesn’t know where it ended up.

The court has now been adjourned until 10.30am tomorrow morning.

Narelle Towie

Reynolds’ former chief of staff says senator was ‘extremely visibly stressed’

Senator Linda Reynolds’ then chief of staff, Alexandra Kelton, is now giving evidence in the defamation trial at the WA supreme court via video link.

Kelton says Reynolds was shocked and surprised by a news.com article detailing the handling of the 2019 allegations and that the details were not in line with her recollection. Kelton said:

She seemed genuinely extremely surprised by what was reported in the article.

Kelton also told the court that Reynolds was very upset that several staff believed she had said Higgins was lying.

It was important to her that people knew that she believed Brittany and she wanted to clarify that those comments were only in relation to the media reporting and were only in respect to how things unfolded after the incident.

Kelton said at that time Reynolds gathered the staff and told them she wanted to apologise for comments calling Higgins a lying cow, and that it was important they understood it was not in relation to the March 2019 allegations.

She was extremely visibly stressed throughout this period.

Queensland man jailed for child abuse-related offences as 16 children in Philippines removed from harm

A Queensland man has been sentenced to two years’ jail, and 16 children in the Philippines have been removed from harm after an international child protection investigation.

The 57-year-old man was sentenced by the Downing Centre district court on Monday 12 August for two child abuse-related offences, including trying to arrange sexual activity with children in the Philippines.

Australian federal police arrested the Mackay man at Sydney international airport in January 2023, after Border Force officers found child abuse material on his phone.

The officers saw messages detailing his intent to pay a facilitator to enable him to sexually abuse children in the Philippines.

The AFP then worked with the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre and the Philippine Police, which led to 16 children being removed from harm in the Philippines.

AFP Detective Acting Inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias said the investigation showed the commitment of police around the world to work together to combat the exploitation and abuse of children:

Our common goal is to protect children, wherever they live, and to ensure anyone who tries to harm them is identified and brought before the courts.

This is not a victimless crime. Children are not commodities to be used for the abhorrent gratification of sexual predators.

The AFP is working hand-in-glove with its partners here in Australia and abroad to find these offenders and bring them to justice.

Thanks Amy, and good afternoon everyone!

On that note, I will hand you over to Natasha May who will take you through the evening. I’ll be back with the team very early tomorrow morning for the third sitting day (huzzah). So until then, as always – take care of you.

Narelle Towie

Senator Linda Reynolds’ then chief of staff, Alexandra Kelton, is now giving evidence via video link in the high-profile defamation trial at the WA supreme court.

ACL says Labor will ‘fail Australians of faith’ by backing away from religious discrimination bill

The Australian Christian Lobby has also expressed disappointment that the government is backing away from a religious discrimination/freedoms bill (depending on which way you look at it).

In a statement the ACL said:

The Australian Christian Lobby has joined other religious groups in expressing their disappointment over the Prime Minister’s announcement that he would not proceed with laws that would have gone just some way towards improving much needed protection for religious groups, including against discrimination.

The Government’s commitment to this legislation was not the simple pre-election promise we all took it to be. Instead, it now appears it was shrouded in “ifs” and “buts” that allow scope for the Government to fail Australians of faith so dismally at this moment.

…The failure of the Albanese Government to introduce the promised Religious Freedom Bill follows their charity law proposals that promote legislation which would stifle the expression of religious belief, and most notoriously in the framing of an inquiry into religious school exemptions that appeared to target for eradication the exemptions from discrimination laws which faith-based schools currently depend on simply in order to keep faith with their ethos. This ethos is not about “discriminating”, but rather about reflecting the positive characteristics of an environment based on faith which make Christian schools increasingly in demand today throughout the country.

Gallagher says ‘a lot going on’ in media world besides issues of gambling ad revenue

On the ABC, Labor senator Katy Gallagher has been asked whether the lost ad revenue is a consideration when it comes to a gambling ad ban:

There is a lot of going on in … [the] media world and not just issues of advertising revenue, it is other issues as well, the rise of digital platforms. And this government has a very strong interest in making sure we maintain a level of public interest journalism [and] free-to-air regional coverage across Australia.

But they touch on the same issues: revenue from advertising, but also more broadly about the changing media landscape.

Australia’s wealth divide continues to widen

Well this makes for fun reading on a Tuesday afternoon (if you haven’t read it already):

As Stephanie Convery reports:

The wealth of the richest 200 people in Australia is equivalent to nearly a quarter of national GDP, with researchers warning that if this trend continues, wealth disparity will soon destroy any remaining semblance of equality in Australian society.

The wealth of the very rich has more than tripled in the past two decades, from 8.4% of Australia’s GDP in 2004 to 23.7% of GDP in 2024, with the top fifth of households holding wealth 146 times greater than the bottom fifth, according to research released on Tuesday by the Australia Institute.

Growth in capital gains – that is, increases in the value of assets, most of which is yielded by the already wealthy – has started to outstrip the national wages bill, held in check over the past 20 years only by the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the report said.

Scott Morrison concludes giving evidence in Linda Reynolds defamation trial

Narelle Towie

The former prime minister was questioned in a defamation trial in the WA supreme court for a few hours this morning and described the distress of seeing his friend of 20 years and defence minister, Linda Reynolds, who brought the case, in a “highly fragile emotional state” not long after Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations were aired.

Morrison said he had seen Reynolds in the whip’s office immediately after parliamentary question time and that he was very concerned about her physical condition. He said he feared the outcome would be fatal for Reynolds.

He also dismissed that his government covered up Higgins’ allegations of rape as “completely and utterly false and without any foundation”.

Morrison said he had hoped Reynolds would return to the defence portfolio after taking sick leave, but she had not been capable because of her physical and mental state and instead the job was given to the now opposition leader, Peter Dutton. Reynolds was instead appointed to a government services role.

In cross examination by Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, Morrison blamed deficiencies in the processes for dealing with these types of issues, not Reynolds. Morrison told the court:

The processes that were available to Miss Higgins and Reynolds and others, didn’t help any of them and that is what needed to be remedied.

He said the significant deficiencies let everybody down.

Morrison said the day after The Project aired, he ordered a review be conducted to look at the process of complaints in the parliamentary workplace.

He said prior to this, he was not aware of serious security breaches and issues with the senator’s office or that Higgins’ was disaffected with the handling of the allegations.

The public reporting on this brought to the head that the matter had not been resolved. Prior to that time, I am not aware of having it been raised.

Reynolds’ then chief of staff, Alexandra Kelton, will appear after the lunch break also via video link.

Here is some more from Mike Bowers’ lens.

When the wage price index is up, but within “expectations”:

When you remember it is question time:

A well-worn path for the member for Deakin.

Melbourne things from across the aisle (we assume they are talking about coffee)

Here is how Mike Bowers saw QT:

How it feels to set the hares running, and it’s not even your portfolio – a portrait:

How it feels to have to catch all those hares:

The merry wanderer of the night (talk shows):

What we learned in question time

It can be hard to pinpoint whether anyone actually learned anything given the frenetic nature of question time (and the lack of actual answers) but we did see the firming up of some themes.

The opposition is attempting to firm up its attempts to define the prime minister, this time through the use of “tricky prime minister”. It has had a few previous runs at coming up with a moniker for Anthony Albanese, but so far none have stuck.

The government really, really wants you to know it has done things to address the cost of living.

Ministers were also pretty thrilled to have a chance to debate the economy with the opposition, particularly on the point of “$315bn in spending” because it leads to an attack line the government wants to make leading into the election – that the opposition wants to cut pensions and services.

Housing continues to be a massive sore point for the government and it does not yet have a handle on how to deal with both the Greens and the Coalition dogging it over the issue, while also not bending on negotiation points for the government’s bills. (Well, the Greens aren’t bending. The Coalition is not at the table.)

The Coalition, particularly Michael Sukkar, is getting better at finding the weak points in government responses. Especially if it is a favoured topic like unions.

The crossbench is not going to let the gambling ban go lightly.

Liberal senator asks whether Labor can ensure ‘not a single Hamas supporter’ comes to Australia

In a follow-up question, the Liberal senator David Fawcett pointed to comments made by the Asio director general, Mike Burgess, when it comes to security checks for people who had fled Gaza. For completeness, this is what Burgess told Insiders on Sunday:

There are processes in place and I can assure your audience that when things get referred to Asio we deal with them effectively.

Of course there might be times when they didn’t get referred to us in time. Once we become aware of them, we’re able to do the assessments and deal with them effectively.

Fawcett asked whether that was “why multiple individuals leaving Gaza had their Australian visas [cancelled] after they had been granted”.

Minister Murray Watt told the Senate it was “an example of Asio doing its job and the government listening to the advice of Asio”. Watt said:

What we have done in some instances is cancel visas when security checks have revealed that those individuals should not be granted a visa. Again, this is exactly the same process as employed by the former government.

Fawcett then asked about media reports suggesting the government was considering a visa pathway to help Palestinians who arrived in Australia on temporary visas to remain in the country. Fawcett asked:

Will you make the commitment to the Australian people that not a single Hamas supporter will be brought into Australia under this scheme?

Watt said Burgess had explained Asio’s approach to the issue, adding that “we respect the advice of our security agencies and people like Mr Burgess and we act on that advice”.

Watt said the new minister for home affairs and immigration, Tony Burke, had made “the very obvious point that Gaza is a war zone” and that people were initially provided tourist visas “to get them out of a conflict zone quickly”. Watt added:

It is unrealistic to think that it is proper or safe to return people to a conflict zone like Gaza, which is why further consideration is being given to their status going forward.

Watt says process for Palestinians’ visas will be the same as that for Ukrainians and Afghans

Over in Senate question time, the Coalition has continued to prosecute its argument for tighter screening requirements for Palestinians who have fled Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The Liberal senator David Fawcett began by quoting from the interview given by the Asio boss, Mike Burgess, on Insiders on the weekend.

Murray Watt, representing the minister for home affairs and immigration, said the government was following the same approach as applied with Ukrainians and Afghans in recent years.

Watt said he was “a little surprised” to see Fawcett “question the judgment of the director general of Asio”.

Fawcett raised a point of order on relevance and used the occasion to reiterate that he was questioning the government’s commitment to refer every visa application to Asio for security checks, and he was not questioning the judgment of Burgess, for whom he had “the highest regard”.

Watt told the Senate:

As I have already implied and will now make explicit, we are following exactly the same process as applied under the former government.

Question time ends

And to the relief of everyone, question time ends.

Until tomorrow.