>>23978158

Man charged with hate crime after Brisbane Synagogue targeted in alleged ramming incident

Police have released CCTV of a 32-year-old man allegedly ramming his ute into Brisbane Synagogue, with a person seen just centimetres from the gate.

Clareese Packer and Emma Kirk - February 21, 2026

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CCTV of a man allegedly ramming his ute into the gates of a Brisbane Synagogue has been released by police.

A 32-year-old Sunnybank man has been charged with a hate crime after a Brisbane synagogue was allegedly targeted in a ramming incident.

Police alleged the Brisbane Synagogue on Margaret Street was rammed by a Toyota HiLux ute shortly after 7pm on Friday.

The gates were knocked down before the car left the scene, a Queensland Police spokesman said.

Vision of the incident shows the driver narrowly avoid hitting a person who was standing behind the gates as they were rammed.

The ute allegedly used in the attack was found soon after and a Sunnybank man was charged with wilful damage serious vilification or hate crime, dangerous operation of a vehicle, possession dangerous drugs and possess utensils or pipes etc for use.

He is due to front a Queensland court on Saturday.

Police believe the man acted alone.

“Investigations continue, however, it is believed the man acted alone and there is no ongoing threat to the community,” the Queensland police spokesman said.

Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies Vice President Libby Burke said it was deeply distressing that a place of worship was targeted.

“To see the synagogue’s gates viciously rammed was profoundly devastating,” she said.

“This attack is not only an attack on my community, it is an attack on all of us,” she alleged.

“This attack could have easily resulted in serious injury or worse.”

Ms Burke said since October 7, 2023, there had been a meteoric rise in antisemitism across Australia and Queensland.

“Words matter, hateful slogans and symbols create the environment in which violence becomes possible,” she said

“This is precisely why we need strong legislation to criminalise acts of hate that are directly targeting Jewish Queenslanders, our elderly, our children,

“There must be clear consequences for those who seek to intimidate, to threaten or harm our community.”

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North Brisbane District Acting Superintendent Michael Hogan said Polair began tracking the alleged offender who owned the vehicle used in the ram soon after the incident.

He said police were able to quickly arrest the alleged offender who will appear in court on Saturday.

“Specialist counter terrorism of officers have been involved in the investigation from the very start, and I can confirm this is not considered a terrorist incident,” he said.

“Police are considering the man’s mental health and intoxication as being contributing factors.”

Mr Hogan said while it was a clear attack on a place of worship, circumstances of aggravation were applied which increased the severity of the charges.

“There was definitely a targeted attack against the Jewish synagogue,” he said.

“No one was injured, including the person that was present during the CCTV and the actual suspects of this matter as well.

“The video surveillance (shows) it’s very clear that (the driver) intended to do some damage to the gates.

“There’s certainly no indication … we’re not saying that he attempted to enter the synagogue at all.”

Anti-defamation Commission Chair Dr Dvir Abramovich said a ute didn’t just allegedly smash into metal gates last night.

“It smashed into the idea that Jews in Australia can pray in peace,” he said.

“The CCTV is chilling: a car reversing with force toward gates behind which a person stood just centimetres away. One slip. One second. And we could be talking about funerals instead of court dates.

“We are told this is not being treated as terrorism. But the label matters less than the impact. The fear is real. The shock is real.

“The message is unmistakable. Since October 7, antisemitism in this country has not whispered, it has roared. It has leapt from slogans to smashed windows, from online bile to physical assaults on Jewish spaces.

“Places of worship are meant to be sanctuaries.

“When their gates are torn down, something deeper is shaken, the sense of safety that underpins a civilised society. This is not just a Jewish issue.

“If a synagogue can be rammed without national outrage, then no church, mosque or temple should feel secure.

“A synagogue should echo with prayer, not with the sound of crashing steel.”

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli earlier said a car allegedly rammed the front gates of a synagogue overnight on Friday in a post on social media.

“This will be very distressing for the Jewish community in Queensland,” Mr Crisafulli said on X.

“I have spoken to Jewish leaders, as well as police, and I want to assure Queenslanders we are taking this seriously.

“This is another signal as to why we have put strong laws before parliament to protect all people where they worship.

“We are going through the process and I fully intend to have them passed during the next sitting of parliament.”

https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/crime/brisbane-synagogue-targeted-in-alleged-ramming-incident/news-story/fcffd21b7b28a8b3a49ec6a9cd4289a0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYDVttEgIQA

>>23978158

>>23990903

>>23990910

>>23990927

>>23990940

>>24090610

‘A culture of tolerance’: Frydenberg’s hope for Bondi royal commission

Paul Sakkal - February 21, 2026

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Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has called for a sharp focus on religious extremism when the royal commission on antisemitism starts on Tuesday, as Opposition Leader Angus Taylor seeks to shift the spotlight back to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s handling of the Bondi massacre.

After weeks of inflammatory political debate on immigration and attitudes within the Australian Muslim community, following the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil, Taylor told this masthead that “serious questions need to be answered about warnings, preparedness and response, and why the Albanese government failed to act sooner”.

The former High Court justice running the probe, commissioner Virginia Bell, has in recent weeks met Jewish community leaders and other interested parties before an inquiry that Albanese was initially reluctant to establish after the Bondi massacre in which 15 people were killed.

Major Jewish community groups, including Frydenberg’s Dor Foundation, have come together ahead of the royal commission to co-ordinate on legal strategy.

Bell and the leading lawyer who will question witnesses, Richard Lancaster, SC, will give their opening remarks on Tuesday morning as they race to deliver a final report by the time of the first anniversary of the December 14 attack.

Frydenberg, the former Liberal member for Kooyong who gave an impassioned speech advocating for a royal commission at a Bondi memorial in the days after the massacre, said there was lots of goodwill in the community that the inquiry would “pave a path to a better Australia”.

“We need to rebuild a culture of tolerance in our country with a special focus on the extremists in our midst who want to hurt and do harm to their fellow Australians,” he told this masthead, saying the process would help prevent another terror attack like Bondi.

“[Extremists] can no longer be tolerated if we are going to turn a new page and create a safer and secure Australia for us all.”

The Bondi killings, one of the deadliest attacks on Jews outside Israel in modern history, triggered a national conversation about antisemitism and extremism.

Speaking on this masthead’s Inside Politics podcast earlier this month, Albanese took a swipe at Frydenberg, who had expressed early concern about Bell’s appointment.

Albanese said he did not regret the delay in calling a royal commission and repeated the claim that he was preparing to do so some time before he announced it, even though he was publicly arguing against it at the same time he claimed to be considering it.

“There was an attempt to secure political advantage perceived within 24 hours, and that, to me, is entirely inappropriate,” Albanese said.

“I draw a big distinction between the engagement of some political figures and the response of the local community.”

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Support for populist right-wing party One Nation was rising before the attack, but polling for Pauline Hanson’s outfit overtook the Coalition in the weeks after it.

The rise of the Queensland senator was tested last week as she received widespread condemnation for saying there were no “good” Muslims. Hanson’s top recruit, former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, showed signs of pressure trying to defend Hanson while not endorsing her inflammatory views.

Albanese called the comments “disgraceful”. Taylor responded to Hanson’s comments for the first time on Friday, saying: “I don’t agree with Pauline Hanson in what she said.”

At a press conference at Melbourne’s burnt-out Adass Synagogue, which became a symbol of the spate of attacks on Jewish sites over the past two years, Taylor declined to use strong language to criticise Hanson, but distanced himself from her comments.

“What I believe in is that people who don’t adopt and believe in our core values shouldn’t come to our shores, whatever their race or religion,” he said.

Taylor has also been focused on Labor’s management of the potential return of “ISIS brides” who travelled to Syria to join the same movement that allegedly inspired the Bondi attack.

The true extent of Hanson’s support faces real-life tests in South Australian and Victorian elections this year, as well as a federal byelection in Sussan Ley’s seat of Farrer.

On Friday afternoon, the Australian Federal Police said it had “received reports of crime” in relation to Hanson’s comments. Hanson was found guilty of racially vilifying Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, a Muslim woman born in Pakistan, in 2024 when she said Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan”.

The spike in Hanson’s polling has coincided with a surge in social media viewership of her content. Data provided by One Nation showed that in the 28 days to February 18, Hanson’s videos on Facebook and Instagram had been viewed 47 million times. The data from Meta showed viewers aged under 45 were mainly men, and mainly women for those 65 or older.

The royal commission will re-enliven scrutiny on the Albanese government and its intelligence agencies, which will be questioned about their knowledge of the alleged shooters before the December attack, as well as NSW agencies including police whose presence was small at the Hanukkah event.

A question for Bell will be how much time and investigatory capacity she puts into exploring antisemitism in the media, universities and cultural institutions, where those with right- and left-wing views disagree on the nature of the problem.

Whether the pro-Palestine protest movement created a permissive environment for antisemitism is likely to be a talking point, as is the question of whether Israel’s war in Gaza and escalating violence in the West Bank contributed to the rise in antisemitism.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/a-culture-of-tolerance-frydenberg-s-hope-for-bondi-royal-commission-20260220-p5o43i.html

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>>24281824

>>24281975

How I took the shot of Andrew that flashed across the world

CHARLOTTE ALT - February 21, 2026

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It had been a long day after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, and Phil Noble, a photographer for the Reuters news agency, had just decided to walk back to his hotel near a Norfolk police station when his colleague called.

After being held for more than 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office, Andrew was being picked up by two Range Rovers.

Noble raced back just in time to see the cars leaving at high speed. He aimed his camera and flash at the second car and squeezed off six frames.

Two showed police, two were blank, one was out of focus. But one captured Andrew, slumped in the back seat and looking shaken.

“You can plan and use your experience and know roughly what you need to do, but still everything needs to align,” Noble said. “When you’re doing car shots it’s more luck than judgment.”

The resulting picture was the first to show Andrew after his arrest and made the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Andrew was arrested by Thames Valley police on his 66th birthday at his home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

When the news broke, Liverpool-born Noble drove for six hours from his home in Manchester.

Journalists did not know which of more than 20 police stations the former prince was being held at. Following a tip, Noble headed to Aylsham, an hour’s drive east of Sandringham.

Along with a colleague and a couple of other journalists, Noble waited outside the police station for six or seven hours with no sightings and started to think the tip may have been wrong.

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He had decided to head to a nearby hotel when his colleague called to tell him two black Range Rovers had arrived. At just before 7.30pm the cars left the police station with Andrew in the back of the second.

“It was a proper old-school news day, a guy being arrested, who can we call, tracking him down,” Noble said.

He said he was just relieved it had been Andrew in the back and did not look closely at his expression.

“Is it the best photo I’ve ever taken? No. Is it up there with most important? 100 per cent.”

Last week Thames Valley police announced an investigation into allegations that, while Andrew was a UK trade envoy, he had passed information to the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

According to emails released by the US Department of Justice, Andrew appeared to have forwarded official reports of trips to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam to Epstein in 2010 and 2011. He denies all wrongdoing and was released under investigation.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/how-i-took-the-shot-of-andrew-that-flashed-across-the-world/news-story/a057c7b66d3eaae02740bcbc625f50aa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrduRvKgJNg

>>24201399

>>24281824

Whitehall to search envoy records in Andrew investigation

OLIVER WRIGHT - 21 February 2026

Whitehall officials are preparing to sift through government records to identify documents relating to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s time as a trade envoy as part of the police investigation into him.

Government sources said Whitehall would “fully co-operate” with detectives investigating allegations that the former prince leaked confidential information to Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile financier.

The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, was told of Thames Valley police’s decision to take Andrew into custody at Sandringham on Thursday morning, and had sought advice from prosecutors. Buckingham Palace was notified only after the arrest had been made. It is understood that other senior government figures, including the prime minister, were also made aware of the impending action.

Thames Valley police are believed to have arrested Andrew, rather than suggested a voluntary interview, because detectives had material in their possession they wanted to question him about. The decision allowed officers to conduct searches and ensure that any evidence was preserved.

After the arrest, the Palace was told that a public statement announcing the move would be issued in an hour.

Sources said it was routine for Mahmood to be informed of sensitive arrests. “It would be a brave chief who didn’t tell the home secretary,” one said.

Norfolk police were informed, because Sandringham is within the force’s jurisdiction, but officers from Thames Valley made the arrest.

Even after Andrew was in custody, Thames Valley police refused to say whether he had been driven back to its jurisdiction or interviewed at a custody suite in Norfolk.

The Times understands that he was questioned at a police station in the Thames Valley area. Andrew can be held for up to 24 hours under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the law that governs police powers and safeguards for suspects.

The investigation will focus on emails released by the US Department of Justice that suggested Andrew had forwarded official reports of trips to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam in 2010 and 2011 when he was a government trade envoy. Under official guidance, trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over sensitive, commercial or political information about their official visits.

Police have held preliminary discussions about potential documents that would be “in scope” as part of a full criminal investigation.

It is expected to involve officials searching government records for emails and written correspondence with Andrew as part of his role, and examining what potentially confidential and sensitive information he had access to. It is likely to be highly sensitive given that it is expected to include exchanges with Buckingham Palace.

The trawl will be co-ordinated by the Cabinet Office but is likely to include archived correspondence from the Department for Business, the Foreign Office and Downing Street, all of which are involved in planning royal trips.

Mountbatten-Windsor served as trade envoy between 2001 and July 2011.

Lord Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, faces a similar investigation relating to claims of leaking information. Both Andrew and Mandelson are facing potential charges of misconduct in a public office and have denied wrongdoing.

Among the allegations likely to be investigated are claims that Andrew asked Amanda Thirsk, his deputy private secretary, to obtain an internal government briefing in February 2010 about the Icelandic financial crisis. At the time, Britain and Iceland were engaged in a diplomatic row over British deposits lost in the 2008 banking crisis.

Two hours later, he appears to have passed the note to Jonathan Rowland, a close friend and the former chief executive of Banque Havilland, a bank that had bought assets from a failed Icelandic lender a year earlier.

Before the arrest was announced, Sir Keir Starmer, asked about Andrew, told BBC Breakfast that “nobody is above the law”. “Anybody who has any information should testify, so whether it’s Andrew or anybody else, anybody who has got relevant information should come forward to whatever the relevant body is, in this particular case we’re talking about Epstein, but there are plenty of other cases.”

Providing an update on the investigation into Epstein and his associates in the UK, the CPS said: “We are in close contact with the Metropolitan Police service and Thames Valley police regarding high-profile individuals. We remain ready to support any police investigations if needed.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/whitehall-to-search-envoy-records-in-andrew-investigation/news-story/ffab2b744e4458f336a782d229fbd0b3

>>24201399

>>24281824

New Andrew bombshell as former prince accused of watching young girl being tortured

The former Duke of York has been accused of being present during alleged electric shock torture.

Jasmine Carey - Feb 18, 2026

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been accused of watching a girl aged six to eight years old being tortured with electric shocks. The former prince, who has recently been evicted from Royal Lodge, has been accused of watching a girl being restrained on a table and “tortured with electrical shocks” by Ghislaine Maxwell. It is believed these claims appeared in the Epstein files, with an FBI report from July 2020 containing allegations of sexual abuse against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in Surrey in the mid-1990s.

The claim, reportedly made by an anonymous tip, also alleges that other men also watched on with Andrew as the girl was tortured. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing and accusations against him. Appearing in the Epstein files does not automatically indicate any wrongdoing.

This allegation, that appeared in the Epstein files released just weeks ago, states that electric shocks were administered at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, Berkshire.

Surrey Police are urging people to come forward with any information about claims of non-recent human trafficking and sexual assaults following separate allegations relevant to that county. The force have confirmed that this appeal is nothing to do with the allegations of electric shock torture that surfaced in the Epstein Files.

The force said that it became aware of a redacted report alleging non-recent human trafficking and sexual assaults on a minor in Virginia Water village between 1994 and 1996.

Surrey Police said they have found no evidence of the allegations being reported to them after reviewing their systems.

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A Surrey Police spokesperson said: "After reviewing our systems using the limited information available to us, we found no evidence of these allegations being reported to Surrey Police."

The police force continued: "We therefore encourage anyone with information in relation to these allegations to report this to us online, or via 101. We take all reports of child and sexual abuse seriously and therefore, as with any other matter, should new and relevant information be brought to our attention, including any information resulting from the release of materials in the US, we will assess it.

"Where relevant, and via the national coordination group, we will engage with law enforcement agencies to obtain access to further information which may support our enquiries. It is important that any information is reviewed objectively and without speculation."

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing and accusations against him.

Appearing in the Epstein files does not automatically indicate any wrongdoing.

Andrew has been contacted for comment.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2172732/new-andrew-bombshell-epstein-files

https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00090319.pdf

https://www.justice.gov/epstein

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>>24264418

ADF member who trained with neo-Nazis allegedly caught with child abuse and extremist material

Michael McGowan - February 20, 2026

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A member of the Australian Defence Force who attended training sessions with the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network was allegedly found with child abuse and right-wing extremist material on devices stored at his Holsworthy Barracks accommodation.

Jonathan Salter, 25, was refused bail in the NSW Supreme Court this week, facing a series of charges over accessing and possessing child abuse and far-right extremist material after investigators allegedly found “extensive messages and files” showing his support for “white supremacy, Nazi ideology and violent extremism”.

Prosecutors also allege Salter possessed multiple “exceptionally serious examples” of child abuse material, including children as young as one being horrifically abused.

According to court files obtained by this masthead, police allege Salter repeatedly visited sites hosting the video of the Christchurch massacre, in which 51 worshippers were murdered at two mosques in New Zealand by an Australian white supremacist.

Investigators allegedly found a series of edited videos of the massacre – which the gunman, Australian Brenton Tarrant, live-streamed – as well as the manifesto of Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bomb attack and shooting spree in 2011.

Much of the content investigators allegedly found on Salter’s devices is too explicit to publish. In one, prosecutors allege segments of the Christchurch massacre are overlaid with a Rolling Stones song and references to the first-person shooter video game Call of Duty.

A voice-over states: “What happens when the soldier becomes the weapon.“

The extremist content allegedly found on Salter’s devices was ultra-violent in nature and depicted people being violently attacked alongside neo-Nazi slogans. One 13-second video depicted an explosion at a protest “followed by images of a Nazi swastika and partial footage from the Christchurch massacre”, prosecutors allege.

Salter, who was an apprentice carpenter in the ADF before his arrest, came to the attention of NSW Police when he attended a gathering of the Australian neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network in November 2024. Police passed on his details to the ADF, who executed a search warrant at his Holsworthy Barracks accommodation in February last year and seized five phones.

The ADF then passed the investigation onto the Australian Federal Police. However, he was not charged until August last year.

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Among the material allegedly seized by investigators were “various NSN propaganda documents” with white supremacist slogans, including a video recorded by the NSN figurehead Jacob Hersant in which he says there will be an “accounting” for people who live like “cowardly cattle”.

However, despite training with the NSN on two occasions, Salter did not join. In one conversation, he complained the NSN was not moving in a “serious direction”.

“I quite (sic) the NS group bro unfortunately, my views haven’t changed though,” he allegedly wrote.

“Yeah just don’t have enough time and i think NS for australia is pretty hopeless tbh. It’s still a good idea to join NS if you wanna meet like minded people … but i just don’t see the movement take a serious direction its just my opinion man.”

The material allegedly found on Salter’s devices showed a hatred of both Muslims and Jewish people. The devices contained anti-Islamic imagery taken from Breivik’s manifesto, for example, and despite his repeated viewing of the Christchurch massacre – Salter’s internet history contained searches such as “watchpeopledie christchurch” and “brenton tarrant letters” – he also said Tarrant had not mentioned the Jewish people.

In one conversation, he says Muslim immigrants – who he referred to using a racist term – were “bioweapons used by the Jews” and that Tarrant “did not understand that the Jews orchestrated Muslim immigration”.

Salter was refused bail in the Supreme Court this week and is due to appear before the local court again in April. He is facing 13 charges of possession and distributing child abuse and accessing and possession of extremist material.

In submissions seeking bail, his lawyers say there is “little risk of radicalisation” and no evidence to suggest Salter “has any current or recent ties to radical groups or terror groups”. They also say he has been diagnosed with autism.

However, prosecutors said there was “significant evidence” of Salter’s “adherence to a violent white supremacist ideology … with evidence of conversations as late as January 2025.

“Given the extreme views held by the applicant over a period of at least three years, the passage of seven months is not sufficient to give the court any confidence that [Salter] no longer adheres to this ideology,” prosecutors say in submissions opposing bail.

They also say the “exceptionally serious example” of child abuse material alone shows the risk of Salter “committing further serious offences and endangering the safety of the community, including the sexual safety of children”.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/nsw/adf-member-who-trained-with-neo-nazis-allegedly-caught-with-child-abuse-and-extremist-material-20260220-p5o44s.html

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nsw/white-nationalist-adf-soldier-refused-bail-after-police-make-shocking-discovery-on-his-phone-court/news-story/37531b53e4ed041a0128efdd099774ca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqMLbjJS_vM

Paedophile principal preyed on children for years after complaints ignored

Cameron Houston - February 15, 2026

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The Department of Education faces a wave of legal claims by former students abused by the paedophile principal of a western suburbs primary school, who preyed on children for another nine years after officials failed to properly investigate complaints of appalling misconduct.

Four former students of Braybrook Primary School recently received $5 million in legal settlements after they were sexually assaulted or photographed by former principal Richard George Ross.

Lawyer Michael Magazanik, of Rightside Legal, warned the department to brace for further litigation after a string of inquiries from former students allegedly abused by Ross, who was principal of the now-defunct school from 1969.

The department has issued an unreserved apology for Ross’ abuse of students under its care, but did not comment on its failure to investigate reports from parents and police that Ross photographed a naked girl in 1980 – nine years before he resigned.

“We deeply regret, acknowledge and apologise for the harm caused by Richard Ross during his time as principal at Braybrook Primary School – no one should experience the devastating impacts of child sexual abuse,” a department spokeswoman said.

“We encourage anyone who has experienced any form of abuse as a current or former student at a Victorian government school to report it to both the Department of Education and Victoria Police, so perpetrators can be held to account and victims can access the support they need and deserve.”

In 1989, Ross abruptly resigned as principal when detectives from the child exploitation unit uncovered in his office more than 3000 explicit images of 16 children, along with 100 rolls of unexposed film hidden in a filing cabinet.

Ross was found guilty of the sexual penetration and indecent assault of an 11-year-old boy in 1990, but was handed a suspended sentence, which caused outrage at the time.

He died in October 2022, at the age of 92, while under police investigation over allegations of other abuse involving children.

However, the full extent of his predatory behaviour has only recently come to light.

A statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court last year alleged Ross had systematically groomed, photographed and repeatedly raped a student and several other boys during his 20-year tenure as principal.

In 1980, Ross founded a community garden at the former primary school, which was recognised with several government awards, but gave him regular access to students out of school hours. It is alleged in legal documents that Ross used the horticultural project to groom his victims and then offered them money to pose for photographs in the school’s darkroom.

The plaintiff, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claimed he and several other boys were sexually assaulted in the darkroom, in Ross’ office and at his former home in Williamstown.

Many of the specific allegations made against Ross in court documents are too graphic to publish.

“The plaintiff together with other boys who did gardening duties at the school attended Ross’ house about 30 to 40 times a year … Ross invited the boys in, made them have a shower naked, and observed the boys via a two-way mirror.

“Ross regularly drugged the plaintiff and other boys using a sedative which Ross had put into cups of Milo and subsequently sexually abused the plaintiff and other boys,” according to the statement of claim.

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The civil case was recently resolved just days before it was due to go to trial, when the Department of Education offered the plaintiff $2 million plus all legal costs.

The man, now aged in his 50s, told this masthead he had suffered for decades before finding the courage to pursue legal action against the government.

“What that criminal scumbag did to me has hung over me for decades,” he said.

“I helped the police with their investigation in the 1980s, identifying victims for them. But I couldn’t bring myself to face a courtroom at that time. But now, all these years later, I’ve been able to. I want the kids I went to school with to know that there is justice if you fight for it,” said the former Braybrook Primary School student.

Magazanik said his client could have escaped the horrific abuse and decades of psychological trauma had the Department of Education responded appropriately to the initial complaint against Ross in 1980.

“It is unbelievable that he was allowed to keep teaching, and abusing children – and costing the state government millions of dollars – for nearly a decade, after a mother told police and education authorities that her daughter had been photographed naked,” Magazanik said.

“We are in discussions with a number of men and women with strong claims because the failings of the department are so obvious.”

He accused the department of again turning a blind eye to the same institutionalised violence and predatory behaviour that occurred at Beaumaris Primary School and several other government schools between 1960 and 1999, which was the subject of a Victorian inquiry.

In 2024, the board of inquiry found the Department of Education had made “a series of repeated, systemic and self-reinforcing failures”, which included a culture of prioritising the reputation of schools and teachers over the safety of children.

The report found there had “been no systemic reviews led by the department to understand the scope and scale of historical child sexual abuse in government schools from 1960 to today”.

Convicted paedophile Vincent Henry Reynolds, who taught at state primary schools across north and central Victoria, was one of the teachers identified in the report. His offending over three decades forced the department to pay up to $34 million in compensation to dozens of survivors.

Reynolds was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2019, after pleading guilty to sexually abusing 38 children.

In 2024, the department also paid a record $8 million to a survivor of notorious paedophile Darrell Ray, who taught at Beaumaris Primary School in the 1970s, and was found by the board of inquiry to have abused up to 60 children.

Ray, who had previously been jailed for abusing students in his care, died late last year, aged 82. He was facing fresh charges over historical sex crimes at the time.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline (13 11 14), the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467), Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) and Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800).

https://www.1800respect.org.au/

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://www.kidshelpline.com.au/

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/paedophile-principal-preyed-on-children-for-years-after-complaints-ignored-20260214-p5o2ac.html

https://qresear.ch/?q=Darrell+Ray

https://qresear.ch/?q=Vincent+Reynolds

https://qresear.ch/?q=Vincent+Henry+Reynolds

https://qresear.ch/?q=Beaumaris

>>24006107

Staff ‘feared reprisal’, concerned parents ‘alienated’ at ‘unsafe’ Cairns gender clinic

RACHEL BAXENDALE - February 13, 2026

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Children as young as 12 were prescribed puberty blockers without adequate assessment, documentation or monitoring, staff feared ­reprisal when speaking up about patient safety concerns, and parents who objected to the treatment were alienated, a damning review of the Cairns pediatric gender health service has found.

The 213-page report, commissioned by Queensland Health ­director-general David Rosengren in January 2025 and made public this week, found there was a limited understanding among the workforce of clinical governance responsibility, “with access prioritised over safety, consumer-led care prioritised over appropriate and effective evidence-based care, and individual clinician approaches prioritised over family-centred care”. “The clinical environment was not reliably safe for pediatric clients, with mixed adult-child settings, unsecured medications and incomplete risk assessments for high risk adolescents,” the report found, making 21 recommendations, all of which have been ­accepted “in principle” by Queensland Health.

The two investigators, whose names have been redacted in the published version of the report, wrote of staff raising concerns about being asked to prescribe ­puberty blockers “almost as a technician rather than as part of a multidisciplinary assessment”.

“A review in December 2024 of 17 patient records showed major deficiencies, including incomplete clinical notes, missing baseline tests, absence of consent documentation, long prescription intervals, and lack of pediatric or mental health input,” they found.

“Some children as young as 12 were commenced on puberty blockers, with others on testosterone, without adequate documentation of assessments or monitoring.”

The investigators found “little evidence” that staff had properly assessed Gillick competency — the capacity for a child or young adult under 18 years to consent to medical treatment. “In many cases (it was) either not done or not ­recorded.” Staff reported that young people with developmental delays were prescribed medication “despite lacking capacity to understand treatment information”.

The report revealed a Queensland-wide multidisciplinary review of under-18 gender dysphoria cases had identified “missed hormone monitoring and bone density tests, and decisions one doctor noted as ‘extremely dubious’, including starting testosterone for 17-year-olds without parental knowledge”.

“There were cases where pediatric patients moved from psychology to hormone treatment within weeks, without a consistent process for family engagement or education,” the report found. “Treatment in some cases commenced before formal consent was obtained from clients or their families.”

The report highlighted the dismissal of staff concerns, finding senior staff “noted a culture of ‘we do excellent care and you don’t question it’, which discouraged scrutiny and feedback.” “The (service) demonstrated a negative ­patient safety culture, and the workplace was typified by lack of psychological safety,” it found.

“Staff did not feel safe from bullying and harassment and feared reprisal when speaking up about patient safety concerns.

“In 2018 there were anecdotal reports from senior medical staff regarding misdiagnosis of patients with gender dysphoria when they had mental health conditions, and comments suggesting non-adherence to guidelines. Instead of triggering closer scrutiny of adherence to guidelines, the issue wasn’t followed up.”

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The report noted concerns from parents “that their children, who had multiple mental health conditions, were assessed as Gillick competent without adequate safeguards, and those who questioned care were labelled ‘aggressive’ … despite correspondence showing otherwise.”

“The (chief executive of the Cairns Hospital) observed that the service had ‘pushed patients’ families away’, raising questions about whether decisions were driven more by a philosophical than a clinical approach,” it found.

One staff member told investigators of informal complaints made by patients who felt pressured to join trans support groups, while another noted that parents who objected to aspects of care “had their concerns dismissed”.

“One of the issues with the culture was that if a parent had any objection related to their diagnosis of gender dysphoria or the pathway towards puberty blockers, they were basically alienated,” the staff member was quoted as saying. The report found the Cairns Sexual Health Service had been treating clients under the age of 18 for gender dysphoria “from at least 2008, and possibly earlier”.

“As the (pediatric) service evolved gradually, it was not subject to the greater rigour and structured oversight of a newly implemented service.”

The investigation was commissioned on January 28, 2025 – the same day Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced a statewide pause on the provision of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to gender dysphoria patients aged under 18 in the public system.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/staff-feared-reprisal-concerned-parents-alienated-at-unsafe-cairns-gender-clinic/news-story/955f2d64682af870eb915dc43602f6f4

https://www.health.qld.gov.au/research-reports/reports/review-investigation/cairns-paediatric-gender-health-services-review

https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0036/1484865/part-9-HSI-CHHHS-Paediatric-Gender-Health-Services-final-report-redacted.pdf

https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0033/1484862/response-recommendations-investigation-paediatric-gender-services.pdf

Oscar winner Tom Hanks spotted talking selfies with fans while riding Sydney’s Metro

A legendary Hollywood star worth $600 million was spotted taking a ride on Sydney’s Metro to the delight of fellow riders.

Joshua Haigh - February 21, 2026

Hollywood legend and Oscar winner Tom Hanks has been spotted slumming it with us regular folk on the Sydney Metro.

A fan had to double take on Friday when she realised Hanks was stood on the train while appearing to be chatting to a pal.

Sporting dark sunglasses and a bucket hat, Hanks seemed to realise the fan was snapping a picture as he waited for his stop.

Hanks certainly didn’t seem to mind though, in fact he appeared to welcome the attention and even posed for numerous selfies with fans while still on the train.

It’s not the first time he has been spotted Down Under recently.

Last month, the Hollywood star was seen chatting to fans on set while filming, and on Monday he was seen shopping with his son Truman, whom he shares with his wife Rita Wilson, at a cricket store in North Sydney.

The 69-year-old Toy Story star is in Australia to film the sequel to his 2020 World War II movie Greyhound for Apple TV.

Greyhound has quietly become one of Apple TV’s most successful movies in recent years. The film was met with positive reception from both critics and audiences, leading to scores of 78 per cent from the former and 76 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hanks’ current trip is at least his second to Australia since 2020, as he was here then to film his role as Colonel Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann’s epic movie Elvis.

Hanks seems keen on using public transport wherever he is in the world. Last year, he was seen riding the subway in New York.

Even with a face mask on, there was no mistaking the man beneath the mask was Hanks, who was also later spotted grabbing a $1 coffee from a street cart.

“Gotta love how humble and normal he is despite being a huge star,” one fan tweeted as photos of the actor on-board circulated online.

“Tom Hanks just casually riding the NYC subway like a regular New Yorker. The definition of down to earth. What a legend!” another tweeted.

Other X users weren’t as impressed with the actor for wearing a face mask while on the $3 train ride.

“Blending right in with locals behind a simple face mask,” one user sarcastically tweeted, as another commented, “Got that mask so he don’t catch any of those poor people germs?”

Meanwhile, last year, Hanks hit headlines when he praised his daughter E.A. Hanks’ candid new memoir, which detailed her “abusive” childhood with her late mother, Samantha Lewes.

“It’s a pride because, I think, she shares it with me; she’s been very open about what the process is,” Hanks told Access Hollywood.

“I’m not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal, as well as the curiosity, as well as, I’m going to say, perhaps, the ‘shoot herself in the foot’ kind of wherewithal in order to examine this thing that I think she was incredibly honest about.”

The Cast Away star shares E.A., 43, and son Colin Hanks, 47, with Lewes, whom he was married to from 1978 to 1987.

“We all come from checked or cracked lives, all of us, despite the fact that part of it would seem as though she worked for some international well-known firm with a copyrighted last name,” the Forrest Gump actor, 68, continued.

“She knows that, and she leans into absolutely everything of it, and I think anyone who does that is a bold journalistic literary mind, and I’m thrilled I can say the same thing about my daughter.”

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/celebrity-photos/oscar-winner-tom-hanks-spotted-talking-selfies-with-fans-while-riding-sydneys-metro/news-story/9104a710ed3f3f0d4cb18ddb72559684

https://www.instagram.com/lanecove_living/p/DU-FJaYkzIK/

https://www.instagram.com/lanecove_living/p/DU1px9Nk6Pb/

https://qresear.ch/?q=Tom+Hanks