dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

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The ABC's coverage of the Middle East has seen a surge in the number of complaints lodged with the corporation's ombudsman.

These reached a peak in the months following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Gaza war.

In the 2023-24 year, the ABC reported receiving a five-year high of more than 7,000 complaints relating to content and editorial standards.

The broadcaster said almost half of these, 49 per cent, were attributable to the Israel-Gaza war.

In the year 2024-25, 4,192 content complaints were handled by the ABC ombudsman's office, 26 per cent of which were related to Middle East coverage.

The ABC said to date the ombudsman had recorded breaches for five instances of ABC coverage concerning the Middle East.

The broadcaster said no complaints of bias had been upheld by the ombudsman in relation to ABC News coverage of the Middle East.

Difficulty of defining antisemitism

The ABC and SBS are also expected to be questioned at the commission on why they have decided not to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA definition, stating that "antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews", has been adopted by both the commission and the Australian government, but is a subject of controversy.

Detractors argue that it is used to stifle free speech and legitimate criticism.

The ABC and SBS have said they rely instead on their existing editorial guidelines on hate speech.

In its statement, the ABC said while IHRA's core definition was broadly consistent with the ABC's approach, "the IHRA's examples are contested and there has been criticism that in some cases they risk conflating legitimate political criticism of Israel with antisemitism".

SBS's statement did not directly address the dispute over use of the IHRA definition, but said the broadcaster was guided by its charter to serve diverse audience and contribute to social cohesion.

"SBS's commitment to factual, balanced and impartial journalism is supported by strong editorial standards, independent complaints processes, and ongoing engagement with communities across Australia," the statement said.

The Australian government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, is a strong supporter of the IHRA definition of antisemitism and has consistently urged public institutions to adopt it.

The commission has called Ms Segal to speak to concerns about ABC and SBS coverage.

She is due to testify before the broadcasters when proceedings get underway at 10am AEST on Thursday.

Criticism from all sides

While the commission's focus will be on allegations of antisemitism, the broadcaster has also been accused of being overly sensitive to complaints from Jewish Australians.

In a damning judgement issued last September in the Antoinette Lattouf case, Judge Darryl Rangiah found the broadcaster had "let down the Australian public badly when it abjectly surrendered the right of its employee Ms Lattouf to appease a lobby group".

Justice Darryl found Ms Lattouf was unlawfully terminated when she was taken off-air in response to what he described as "an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists".

According to the ABC, in the six months to December 2025, 51 per cent of complaints claimed the ABC's Israel-Gaza coverage was broadly pro-Palestinian and 47 per cent claimed it was broadly pro-Israel.

The broadcaster said, "this indicates that perceptions of bias are arising from strongly held views across the community rather than systematic editorial favouritism".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/bondi-antisemitism-social-cohesion-royal-commission-abc/106894204

ABC rejects call for new independent watchdog despite ‘bad mistake’ on Gaza coverage

JAMES DOWLING - 10 July 2026

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The ABC has admitted making a “bad mistake” when reporting that 14,000 babies could die from starvation in Gaza, but refused to accept calls for a new independent regulator to ensure it wasn’t “marking its own homework” on antisemitism.

In evidence to the Bondi royal commission on Thursday, antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal suggested the ABC and SBS were blind to biases in their own reporting and demanded an independent body be implemented to examine years of coverage on the Middle East conflict and antisemitism.

Witnesses from both broadcasters rejected Ms Segal’s proposal and royal commissioner Virginia Bell suggested it would leave them open to influence from personal agendas.

The commission on Thursday heard evidence relating to an incident when the ABC repeated a quote from United Nations spokesman Tom Fletcher, who incorrectly claimed in a BBC interview that 14,000 babies would die in Gaza within 48 hours if more aid wasn’t delivered.

“By 3am Australian time, it was apparent that the original comments were not accurate,” Ms Segal told the Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission.

“Then at 6am on that morning, ABC News Breakfast commenced broadcasting … and the opening headlines of the show included video footage of (the comments).

“It was inaccurate, and it was a result of insufficient investigation and scepticism, and following up on something that was a very negative story to begin with.”

The ABC corrected the record during its afternoon bulletin, but did not publish an online correction until a week later.

ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron found the reporting and corrections were insufficient, and said the ABC “failed to correct an erroneous statistic”.

ABC editorial director Gavin Fang said the national broadcaster had made a “bad mistake” and should have issued corrections broader and sooner, but denied there was a “pattern of late and not very prominent corrections” in the broadcaster’s Middle East coverage.

Ms Segal said public broadcasters were closed to the suggestion they could “ever get it wrong” and acted as their own “judge, counsel, and jury” by keeping ombudsmen in-house, and without powers to launch their own investigations or examine broad editorial attitudes.

Ms Bell questioned whether an independent regulator could leave the broadcasters vulnerable to personal agendas.

“How is it, in your view, consistent with promoting the trust in the ABC as independent if people know that there is a monitoring committee, whatever you want to call it, that has been selected to represent particular views?” she asked.

The SBS in a submission said the royal commission should avoid “oversight arrangements for public service media that would compromise editorial independence”.

Mr Fang said its existing checks or balances were adequate.

“I’m not sure how another oversight body might function in addition to that existing oversight body, which already has the power to review and to examine the ABC’s content,” he said.

Ms Cameron told the commission that under her current powers she could not field complaints about overarching bias at the national broadcaster or the newsworthiness of material left unreported. These matters, she said, are left to the ABC’s own editorial teams.

SBS Ombudsman Amy Stockwell argued it was better her role remain inside the organisation she regulated.

“It’s not a case of me marking my own homework. I mark someone else’s homework, then the (Australian Communications and Media Authority) marks mine,” she said.

(continued)

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The ABC in a statement before Thursday’s hearing said 51 per cent of the complaints about its Israel-Gaza coverage suggested it was unduly pro-Palestinian, while 47 per cent claimed the opposite.

“This indicates that perceptions of bias are arising from strongly held views across the community rather than systematic editorial favouritism,” it said in the statement.

But Ms Cameron and Ms Segal said it was misleading to use complaint tallies to vindicate the ABC’s objectivity.

Both broadcasters were questioned on why they refused to adopt the widely used but controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism within their editorial frameworks.

The IHRA definition is used within government and the royal commission itself, but has been criticised for conflating condemnation of Israel with antisemitism.

Mr Fang said he had to uphold “not just our independence, but the perception of independence”, and using the definition would hurt the ABC more than it helped.

SBS news director Amanda Wicks said it wasn’t the role of the public broadcaster to decide what constitutes antisemitism, and it therefore did not need to define it.

“We are only ever reporting on antisemitism when it is determined to be such by police, the legal system, the community itself,” she said. “We’re never in a position where we’re making a determination that something is antisemitic.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/abc-rejects-call-for-new-independent-watchdog-despite-bad-mistake-on-gaza-coverage/news-story/4005eda1568c2975d9cddfaf55f0e0d9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHqIo6cbyEo

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 10, 2026, 5:39 a.m. No.24810451 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0455

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Envoy to combat antisemitism calls for independent oversight committee to review ABC's compliance with charter

Phoebe Pin - 9 July 2026

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Australia's envoy to combat antisemitism has accused the ABC of being its own "judge, counsel and jury", recommending the establishment of an independent oversight committee to review the public broadcaster's compliance with its charter obligations.

The ABC and SBS were today called to give evidence at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, with the inquiry hearing that a number of complaints had been received about the public broadcasters' coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal was called to discuss those concerns, telling the inquiry the Jewish community had told her the nature and volume of the coverage of the Israel-Gaza war had contributed to "an impression of great negativity about Israel".

"Among the Australian Jewish community there is a common and pervasive perception that has been expressed to me repeatedly, that public broadcasters' coverage of the State of Israel's response to the October 7, 2023 attacks, and the ensuing conflict in [the] Gaza region lacked balance, was over-emphasised relative to other global conflicts, disproportionately gave voice to anti-Israel perspectives," she told the commission.

The inquiry heard the ABC repeatedly reported an incorrect statement first made on the BBC that 14,000 babies would die within 48 hours in Gaza on May 21, 2025.

The statement was made at 6am on News Breakfast, with an on-air correction not made until 4pm during Afternoon Briefing.

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC asked ABC's editorial director Gavin Fang whether he agreed the correction would not have been apparent to many of the viewers of the News Breakfast program.

"Yes, it was a bad mistake," he said.

"The correction came on the news channel, the same channel that hosts News Breakfast, later in the afternoon. Ordinarily we would try to … get a correction as soon as possible, but also do a correction to the same or similar audience."

An online correction was published online a week later.

Responding to four complaints about the incident, the ABC ombudsman found the broadcaster had breached its accuracy standards through its reporting and failure to issue a timely correction.

'Judge, counsel and jury'

Mr Lancaster put to Ms Segal that it was difficult to verify those community perceptions given the concerns were broad in nature.

Ms Segal said mechanisms like the ABC's complaints management process, overseen by the ABC ombudsman, could be used to test the accuracy of concerns within the Jewish community.

But she said those processes were currently ineffective, recommending an independent oversight board be appointed for the public broadcaster.

"They are, with respect, judge, counsel and jury.

"I suggest re-establishing … an external ombudsman like other industries have. It is the gold standard. They don't mark their own homework."

Mr Lancaster put to Ms Segal that the ABC ombudsman had a "track record" of causing editorial policy changes to be made in response to complaints about coverage of matters in the Middle East.

"Does that suggest that the ombudsman is functioning independently of the ABC editorial management because there is a track record of causing editorial changes to be made to at least that Middle East guidance policy?" he put to Ms Segal.

Ms Segal said the ombudsman, appointed by the ABC board, was a voice independent of the ABC's reporting, but maintained external oversight was important.

"Most important structures in our society … have external complaints management. It is the gold standard," she said.

"I think that the media … is incredibly important and we should make them be beyond reproach."

Mr Fang said he did not know how an external oversight body like the one Ms Segal suggested would operate effectively.

"I think the current structures, which involve an ombudsman that is separate to the content teams that reports to the board is functioning effectively, and there is additional oversight from the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority)," he said.

"I'm not sure how another oversight body might function in addition to that existing oversight body, which already has the power to review and to examine the ABC's content."

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 10, 2026, 5:41 a.m. No.24810455 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0463

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Ombudsmen detail number of complaints received

ABC ombudsman Fiona Cameron told the commission complaints to the ombudsman about ABC content had increased by 85 per cent in the year to date, with about 25,000 complaints received each year on average.

She said the use of artificial intelligence to create a number of identical complaints from organised groups of activists or campaigners had contributed to that increase.

Ms Cameron said between October 2023 and May 2026, her office had settled 19,000 content complaints, with 8,000 of those complaints relating to the ABC's coverage of Israel and Gaza.

She said a Q+A program that aired in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel prompted 2,000 complaints, many of which were identical.

Ms Cameron said the number of complaints did not necessarily indicate a problem, but rather pointed to the ABC's audience being engaged with news and current affairs.

"If someone is putting their signature to a concern, we take that seriously. It's usually done in good faith and it is usually about something that is important to them," she said.

"It reflects passion, interest, heartfelt concern."

Ms Cameron said it was not within the ombudsman's remit to investigate broad complaints about the ABC's coverage of the war in Gaza.

"I will occasionally get a complaint that says, 'You haven't reported on this matter, this is terrible'. It's very hard for me to investigate something that doesn't exist," she said.

"I might get complaints that suggest that all our reporting on an issue is biased. And again, that's not something I can address without an individual piece of content to investigate."

Ms Cameron said she may in those cases forward such complaints to the editorial director.

The commission heard the SBS ombudsman office received 157 complaints alleging breaches of the broadcaster's code of practice between July and December 2025.

Ombudsman Amy Stockwell said it was the largest number of complaints received in six years, attributing the rise to coverage of significant global events, contentious foreign policy and the use of AI in creating duplicate complaints.

Figures presented to the inquiry showed the ombudsman received 160 code complaints about 86 pieces of content relating to the war in the Middle East between October 7, 2023 and June 30, 2025.

That accounted for 44 per cent of all code complaints in that time period.

Following her investigations, Ms Stockwell recorded eight breaches of the SBS code of practice, five of which related to complaints about accuracy.

Mr Lancaster pressed Ms Segal on her claim that the public broadcasters had over-represented the Middle East conflict in their reporting compared to other international news events.

"Do you accept the ABC could not be criticised … considering it has an obligation given its statutory responsibilities to give a substantial measure of attention to a conflict of that significance?" he put to Ms Segal.

"I'm not in any way suggesting that they shouldn't cover the matters that they consider important, but there are also lots of important issues around the world," Ms Segal said in response.

"There are major famines, there are other wars we don't hear about at all in Africa.

"It's the perception of the Jewish community feeling constantly that they are being faced with reporting about the Middle East, about Gaza and about Israel in a way that paints Israel constantly in a negative light."

Broadcasters probed on IHRA adoption

Ms Segal also expressed concern that the ABC and SBS had not adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA definition, which states that "antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews", has been adopted by both the commission and the Australian government.

It is controversial, with some arguing it could be used to stifle free speech and legitimate criticism of Israel.

Mr Fang said the broadcaster relied on its existing editorial guidelines on hate speech.

"It is important for us to maintain, not just our independence, but the perception of independence," he said.

"Adopting a definition that is contested would not help us with both the perception of independence and our independence more broadly.

"Our current framework, as it relates to our editorial policies, is effective in doing that."

(continued)

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SBS news and current affairs director Mandi Wicks said the public broadcaster neither accepted nor rejected the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

She said the definition, without its examples, was included in the SBS style guide used by content creators and producers to help them "build their understanding" of antisemitism.

Ms Wicks said SBS was "never in a position" where it was required to determine whether something was antisemitic.

"We have covered extensively reporting on antisemitic attacks and the abhorrent impacts that that has had on the community here and globally, but we are only ever reporting on antisemitism when it is determined to be such by police, the legal system … we are attributing that to someone else," she said.

"We're never in a position where something happens and we would need a definition and we determine as SBS that that is antisemitic."

Media authority's role

Ms Segal said the Jewish community had also expressed frustration with the ACMA, which she described as a "well-meaning regulator" that was "without teeth".

She said the Jewish community was concerned the coverage of the Israel-Gaza war by the ABC and SBS had "exacerbated the prevalence of antisemitism in Australia due to the conflation of Jewish identity with the State of Israel and its actions".

Mr Lancaster told the commission ACMA had not found any instances of the ABC or SBS breaching relevant code provisions in coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict, or otherwise, since October 2023.

"Does that suggest also that the current structure of the ombudsman in each broadcaster is working effectively, that ACMA have not in any instance identified a difficulty?" he put to Ms Segal.

The special envoy rejected the suggestion.

"I just don't accept that," she said.

"I do concede [ACMA] haven't found a great deal of inaccuracy, but it's the more complex, nuanced issues of prioritisation, impartiality, objectivity and balance that I'm concerned to achieve."

Public broadcasters release statements

The ABC on Wednesday released a statement in which it rejected "claims that its journalism has contributed to antisemitism or social division".

In its statement ahead of the hearing, SBS said it represented "Jewish Australian stories and perspectives in a way that is respectful, accurate and inclusive".

SBS also released a 39-page written submission to the commission.

Mr Lancaster last week said the inquiry had received submissions from people and groups who were "dissatisfied and highly critical of the public broadcasters' coverage of the conflict in the Middle East".

At the start of the hearing block, Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell AC SC said the inquiry was not required to generally investigate claims of biased reporting in particular instances.

A group of about 50 people gathered outside the commission building in Sydney on Thursday morning to protest, calling on the inquiry to hear from more witnesses who were "anti-Zionist Jews, Palestinian activists and anti-genocide campaigners".

They carried signs with slogans such as "no pride in genocide" and "anti-Zionism is not antisemitism".

In September 2025, a Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory by the UN Human Rights Council found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.

The allegation of genocide is rejected by Israel.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-09/abc-sbs-bondi-antisemitism-social-cohesion-royal-commission/106895318

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Antisemitism Royal Commission: X Corp used Holocaust images in fight to keep Bondi footage online

The antisemitism royal commission has questioned whether Elon Musk’s X should have a ‘social licence to operate in Australia’ after it used photos from the Holocaust in legal submissions over Bondi footage.

JAMES DOWLING - July 10, 2026

Trillionaire Elon Musk’s X used pages of Holocaust pictures to justify why a video of murdered Bondi victims should remain online, according to extraordinary evidence heard before the Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission.

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC on Friday appeared to hint that a recommendation could be made for heavy regulation or a total ban on the parent company of the social media platform after condemning its “shocking disrespect and disregard for the Australian community”.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant last week told the royal commission that she had successfully ordered X Corp to remove violent footage of the December 14 Bondi massacre from its platform, but said the tech giant had fought to keep the video online and argued it was no worse than a “gore movie”.

Mr Lancaster on Friday grilled a sweep of social media platforms who “have either not co-operated with the commission or have co-operated in a manner that was insufficient”, with X Corp nominated as a chief offender.

He told commissioner Virginia Bell the inquiry had gotten copies of X’s legal submissions from its attempt to lower the video’s classification and keep it online.

Mr Lancaster said deploying Holocaust imagery in this argument was “extraordinary”, especially after a massacre targeting Jews, and the platform should be “unequivocally condemned” for doing it.

“X supported its case by saying that notorious depictions of historic and political significance are available online, none of which have been refused classification. The submission attached page after page of images from the Holocaust,” he said.

“It was extraordinary of X to deploy those images. In my submission, they give no support to a contention that a video made in 2025 showing some of the deceased after the Bondi Hanukkah attack should be permitted to be shown online, and the use of Holocaust imagery in that context should be unequivocally condemned.

“During the course of the eSafety Commissioner’s evidence, she referred to the concept of a social license. X Corp’s conduct, both within this commission and outside of it, begs the question whether X Corp has or ought to have a social license to operate in Australia.”

Mr Lancaster described how the royal commission had tried to contact X Corp and its lawyers on at least six different occasions and received no response, despite being a “key perpetrator in the proliferation of antisemitic hate in the online environment”.

It demonstrated, Mr Lancaster said, “a complete lack of interest in providing transparency concerning a topic as important as keeping Australians safe from the proliferation of terrorist and violent extremist material, including extreme antisemitism”.

“X Corp’s attitude to regulation and to antisemitism is perhaps most evident in its response to footage connected with the Bondi Hanukkah attack itself,” he said.

“Bringing the proceedings to challenge the classification was a step that was legally open to X, but what does it say about corporate and social responsibility?

“X decides to be active in Australia to fight for content to be available on X that would, if published, cause immense sadness and harm to the Australian Jewish community. Yet the same company refuses to engage with an Australian royal commission that is inquiring into ways to make social media a better place for Australian end users.”

It was part of a broader pattern of negligence among tech giants, he argued, saying Telegram and Reddit had failed to assist the commission “despite earning substantial advertising revenue from publishing content to Australian end users”.

Ms Bell echoed his point, saying: “It will not come as a surprise to those who are following the work of this commission that regulation of the online ecosystem, in order to tackle hate speech and antisemitism in particular, is very central to the work of this commission.”

(continued)

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In a plain-spoken condemnation, Mr Lancaster gave the clearest indication yet that the royal commission would recommend ambitious and wide-ranging social media reforms that would hold platforms to Australian law and to suffer Australian penalties when caught misbehaving.

“The social media companies are not sufficiently addressing anti-Semitism online. Regulatory obligations must be imposed on them, because they are not taking care of the problem themselves,” he said.

“If obligations are imposed on social media platforms, they must be capable of being enforced in Australia. If social media platforms are capable of inflicting harm, or are actually inflicting harm upon Australians, the laws of Australia must be capable of securing accountability for those harms.”

LinkedIn vice-president James Patrick Corrigan was the last social media executive called before the commission, where he was asked defend a policy of “feature gating” where users he frequently breached hate speech policies weren’t banned from the platform, but instead banned from posting publicly.

Another member of the commission’s counsel assisting team, Matt Sherman, suggested LinkedIn had a profit motive to keep antisemitic and abusive users on its platform.

“I’m not suggesting that you’re looking for growth at all costs. What I’m suggesting is that, to some extent, the number of users on the platform will contribute to the value of the product,” he said.

“The more users that are deplatformed based on the strike policy, the more there will be an impact on LinkedIn’s revenue as well.”

Mr Corrigan denied this and said changes to LinkedIn policy that allowed users to violate guidelines more often without being banned “had absolutely nothing to do with revenue”.

Ms Bell also announced the commission’s sixth hearing block from July 28 to 31 would focus on “knowledge, tools and support to recognise and respond to antisemitism” in workplaces. It will call witnesses from the education, healthcare, arts and public sectors.

“Education, training and strong standards play a critical role in building understanding, fostering respect and supporting social cohesion,” she said.

“Hearing block six will examine the effectiveness of existing frameworks and will explore ways to improve these frameworks to prevent and respond to antisemitic conduct and improve social cohesion.”

The commission will next week begin hearings on antisemitism at universities, while a subsequent hearing block will focus on security arrangements at Jewish community sites.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/x-corp-used-holocaust-images-in-fight-to-keep-bondi-footage-online-rc/news-story/1fa9d5617fc3950439a6373a1f5f378b

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‘Shocking disregard’: Elon Musk, X condemned at royal commission

Kate Aubusson and Alexandra Smith - July 10, 2026

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A counsel assisting the antisemitism royal commission unequivocally condemned X and its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, for using Holocaust images to justify allowing gruesome footage from the Bondi Hanukkah terror attack to appear online, after the platform ignored repeated requests to appear before the commission.

Richard Lancaster, SC, on Friday said that “although an apparent proponent of unconstrained speech, X has remained silent” in the face of damning evidence that the social media platform was one of the worst perpetrators in proliferating antisemitic hate online.

The corporation’s refusal to engage with the royal commission after repeated attempts to engage them showed “a shocking disregard for the Australian community”.

“X has demonstrated a complete lack of interest in providing transparency concerning a topic as important as keeping Australians safe from the proliferation of terrorist and violent mixed material, including extreme anti-Semitism,” Lancaster said.

He said X Corp’s attitude towards regulating hate speech was perhaps most evident in its response to footage connected with the Bondi Hanukkah attack itself, Lancaster said.

The royal commission earlier heard that Musk’s organisation fought to keep gruesome content relating to the Bondi massacre online, arguing it was no more graphic than a “gore movie”, Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told the royal commission on antisemitism.

Lancaster called X’s inclusion of “page after page” of Holocaust imagery in its submission supporting its position that a video depicting deceased victims of the Bondi Hanukkah attack should be permitted online “should be unequivocally condemned”.

“X Corp’s conduct, both within this commission and outside of it, begs the question whether X Corp has or ought to have a social licence to operate in Australia,” Lancaster said.

Dr Andre Oboler, chief executive officer of the Online Hate Prevention Institute, earlier told the commission that X had been difficult to work with for a decade, and particularly since the platform was bought by Musk, who had significantly downgraded its trust function.

“Dr Oboler has observed that [X] remains a major online contributor to online antisemitism … indeed, Dr Oboler was personally targeted on the platform,” Lancaster said.

Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor at CyberWell, a nonprofit that monitors and counters online antisemitism, told the commission that X’s removal rate for antisemitic content dropped from 54 per cent in 2024 to just above 29 per cent in 2026, making it the platform with the lowest removal rate, Lancaster recalled.

Lancaster said what occurs on social media platforms like X, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok had profound consequences for Australia.

“If social media platforms are capable of inflicting harm or are actually inflicting harm upon Australians, the laws of Australia must be capable of securing accountability for those harms,” he said.

(continued)

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Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell said that regulating the online ecosystem to tackle hate speech and antisemitism in particular was central to the commission’s work.

Earlier on Friday, Counsel Assisting Matt Sherman questioned LinkedIn’s vice president of legal and digital safety about why the professional networking platform did not explicitly include antisemitism as an example of hateful or derogatory content that violated its policies.

Corrigan said that there was no intention to exclude antisemitism from the public-facing community standards, and using the term “Zionist” as a slur in the context of a person who is Jewish was a violation.

Sherman quizzed Corrigan about whether profits were a factor in a policy change in June 2025 that relaxed “strike thresholds” that would ban users from using the platform.

“These changes had nothing to do with revenue,” Corrigan said.

The commission on Friday also heard from the Australian Communications and Media Authority chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, who was asked about a “bizarre limitation” on the media watchdog which prevents it from investigating complaints about streaming content.

“It certainly presents some challenges to us, and I think it also presents some challenges to complainants. We’ve had a range of complaints come to us over the last few years which have been out of our jurisdiction,” O’Loughlin told the commission.

“[It] must be very frustrating for a complainant when they’re proposing to complain about something which is on broadcast on the ABC, where they can come to us [but] it was actually a streamed version of a television program.”

O’Loughlin said rules applied to broadcasting services should be the same when they are delivered online.

The royal commission will hold hearings in Melbourne next week, where the focus will be on universities. Sydney University confirmed on Friday that it would appear.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/shocking-disregard-elon-musk-x-condemned-at-royal-commission-20260710-p60eba.html

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Australian antisemitism worse than in Muslim nations, declares Israel’s top diplomat

RICHARD FERGUSON - July 08, 2026

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Israel’s ambassador to Australia says he has never seen so much hatred toward Jews as he has in this country in a 26 year-long diplomatic career, declaring modern “blood libel” myths are being normalised and the nation could face more antisemitic terror and violence.

In his most searing comments since landing in Canberra earlier this year, and in the middle of a groundbreaking royal commission, top Israeli diplomat Hillel Newman has called the nation’s antisemitism scourge significantly worse than the two Muslim countries he was previously ambassador in.

While he does not reference Anthony Albanese or his government, Dr Newman’s intervention follows revelations that Labor’s draft policy platform has ramped up the ALP’s pressure on Israel and watered down the party’s previous commitment to hold Palestinian interests accountable.

Dr Newman writes in The Australian that “obsessive herds” accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and of using dogs to rape Palestinians are akin to medieval antisemitic tropes of Jews contaminating water with the black plague and using babies’ blood in rituals.

He also says that antisemites using the cloak of anti-Zionism could help spark further violence like the scenes at Bondi Beach last year that led to the nation’s worst terror attack.

“We should not be surprised if the toleration of the new inflammatory anti-Zionist antisemitism leads to further violence and terrorism,” he writes.

“Make no mistake – the obsessive, multi-ranged, wild, unfounded accusations thrown time and time again at Israel, are not legitimate criticism. They are not caring for anyone. They are driven by hate. They are a manifestation of antisemitism.

“Throughout my 26-year career as an Israeli diplomat, I have never seen such levels of hatred of Israel, and of Jews, as I experience and witness here in Australia.”

Dr Newman’s language is considerably stronger than any public statements made by his predecessor Amir Mamon, who headed up the embassy from before the October 7 massacres to the immediate aftermath of the Bondi terror attack.

The Israeli ambassador also hits out at progressives who campaign for Indigenous rights in Australia, but refuse to acknowledge the Jewish people’s thousands of years of connection to what is now modern day Israel and Jerusalem.

“People promote and support the connection Indigenous Australians have to land, history and ancestry,” Mr Newman writes. “Yet deny and refuse to recognise the historic connection between the Jews and the land of Israel, as documented in the Bible, archaeological artefacts and literature – this is a sign.”

Anti-Australia Day marches since the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack have conflated anti-Israel and far-left anti-colonial messages. Some of Australia’s strongest supporters of the Jewish community include Indigenous rights leaders like Marcia Langton and Noel Pearson.

(continued)

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Ahead of the ALP’s 50th national conference in Adelaide in a fortnight, The Australian revealed this week that Labor’s draft policy platform has strengthened its opposition to the Israeli “occupation” of Gaza.

References on Hamas disarming and the Palestinian Authority reforming have been removed from the latest draft, despite the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong making PA accountability and Hamas’s removal from Gazan government key conditions of their controversial recognition of a Palestinian state.

The draft also solidifies ALP support for the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice – as well as the “compliance of their binding decisions” – amid investigations by both courts into allegations against Israel and its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr Albanese has not labelled Israel’s actions in Gaza “genocide”, and has hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog on an official visit despite protests within in his own party. He also set up the royal commission after weeks of pressure post-Bondi, appointed an antisemitism envoy, and overhauled hate speech and hate symbol laws.

Despite this, anti-Israel protests have continued unabated after Bondi – helped by the NSW courts overruling Premier Chris Minns’ hate speech banning attempts – and Labor activists are likely to push for stronger anti-Israel action at the party’s national conference.

Dr Newman writes that unlike the Islamic nations of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where he served the Jewish State, more people are politicised and radicalised in Australia and “obsessive herds” are dominating debate on Israel and Palestine.

“I served as ambassador in two Muslim countries. Yet, I did not see these levels of hatred. The non-radicalised and un-politicised Muslims understood the issues and showed more understanding than the obsessive herds calling for Israel’s annihilation and protesting Israel’s existence on the streets of Australia. In a reverse of moral and immoral, this modern antisemitism disguises itself as virtue.”

Dr Newman used the infamous Sydney Opera House anti-Israel protests after the October 7 massacre – the worst single attack on Jews since the Holocaust – as an example of antisemitic movements in Australia focused on hatred of Israel rather than the welfare of Palestinians.

“The fact that these protests predate Israel’s self-defensive operation in Gaza disprove their dishonest attempts to attribute care for the Gazans as the reason for their protests. They were supporting the killing of Jews. Period,” he adds.

“When people march and chant ‘From the river to the sea’, they are calling for the annihilation of the state of Israel. That is a sign.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/australian-antisemitism-worse-than-in-muslim-nations-declares-israels-top-diplomat/news-story/0f959bc73eebeea859171f6149754e63

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>>24810505

COMMENTARY: I’ve seen less Jew-hatred in Muslim countries

HILLEL NEWMAN - July 08, 2026

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It is sad to say this, but the truth must be said. Throughout my 26-year career as an Israeli diplomat I have never seen such levels of hatred of Israel, and of Jews, as I experience and witness here in Australia.

I served as ambassador in two Muslim countries. Yet I did not see these levels of hatred. The non-radicalised and unpoliticised Muslims understood the issues and showed more understanding than the obsessive herds on the streets of Australia calling for Israel’s annihilation and protesting against Israel’s existence.

In a reverse of moral and immoral, this modern antisemitism disguises itself as virtue. They dress it up as caring for some humanitarian cause. It is not love or care of any kind that drives them. It is hatred. Hatred of Jews and hatred of Israel, the one and only majority Jewish state. Not only are these hate-filled people not held in contempt but in some cases they are even glorified. They become social icons and get rewarded for their deeds. You need to be blind, totally delusional or purely and simply antisemitic to lack the ability to detect the drive and motivation behind these activists.

As the royal commission continues its important work, we hear witness testimonies and are exposed to the levels of Jew-hatred in Australia. While this classic antisemitism continues to reveal itself, it has already evolved into the anti-Zionism version.

Those who feel that it may not be as popular as in the past to attack Jews dress up their Jew-hatred as hatred of the Jewish state. They then try to camouflage their hatred, calling it “legitimate criticism” of the state of Israel.

I have seen legitimate criticism of the policies of the Israeli government. As a robust democracy, Israel is full of self-reflection and internal criticism. Many Israelis have disagreements over the policies of the state of Israel, as I assume many in different democratic countries around the world may have legitimate criticism of their own government or any other government’s policies.

However, what we see on the streets of Australian cities is not legitimate criticism of policy decisions, it is pure antisemitic hatred. Hostility once directed at individual Jews is increasingly transposed on to the collective Jewish national experience – that is, on to the state of Israel. When antisemitism presented itself in the raw appearance of racial hatred, conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi manifestations, it became undeniable. So, we now see contemporary antisemitism presenting itself in more socially acceptable ways that allow deniability.

Although one cannot always prove motives, hatred is identifiable. When so-called moral activists chant hate slogans, reveal double standards, display hypocrisy and resort to distorting reality, this is a sign. When they demand conformity, bully those who do not conform, demonise the state of Israel, reduce complex realities to simplistic anti-Israel narratives, this is a sign.

When Israel and Jews become the object of disproportionate hostility, fixation or moral obsession, this is a sign. When Israel is judged by standards applied to no other nation or when Jewish self-determination (Zionism) is considered uniquely illegitimate, this is a sign.

One clear and obvious sign was the demonstration opposite Sydney Opera House only days after the brutal Hamas massacre in Israel. According to reports, demonstrators chanted “Gas the Jews”. This predated Israel’s incursion into Gaza. So, what were they protesting? They were celebrating the slaughter of 1200 Israelis and Jews.

The fact these protests predate Israel’s self-defensive operation in Gaza disproves their dishonest attempts to attribute care for the Gazans as the reason for their protests. They were supporting the killing of Jews. Period.

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When people march and chant “From the river to the sea”, they are not expressing legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies. They are not supporting coexistence and a two-state solution. They are calling for the annihilation of the state of Israel. That is a sign.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess shared this understanding during his annual national threat assessment.

He stated: “Hatred of Jews is one thing virtually all the violent extremist cohorts have in common. I recognise that criticism of the government of Israel is not of itself antisemitic but some of the threatening statements made by the perpetrators go well beyond political protest or commentary.”

Their wish to deny Israel the right of self-defence against the barbaric Hamas terrorists is just a continuation of that approach.

While they would understand any regime that acts to prevent such a murder spree, they wish to deny that right to Israel. By falsely calling Israel’s military operation “disproportionate” or “genocide”, they are attempting to deny that right. They are advocating for the murder of more Israelis.

When people claiming to care for Palestinians resort to lies and deception, this is an indication of the real motivation.

Already at early stages of the Israeli military operation against Hamas, they started their false claims of “genocide” and “intentional starvation”. Both claims were unfounded and untrue. Today we know the ratio of civilian casualties during the operation is one of the lowest in urban warfare. This does not stop them from repeating the genocide lie. Today we know that more than four times UN requirements of food and nutrition entered Gaza, in a massive humanitarian aid venture, yet they continue the lie of starvation.

When they manipulate pictures of Palestinian children stricken with illnesses, falsely portraying them as starved by Israel, neglecting to mention, of course, that these children were treated in Israeli hospitals, then this is a sign.

When people claim to go on a voyage to deliver urgent aid to Gazans but refuse the legal operative channels and fail to carry any significant aid, that is a sign. If people demonstrate against Israel, engaged in a self-defence operation, but neglect to protest against Iran, which butchered more than 40,000 of its own people, or neglect to even mention half a million casualties in Syria, or ignore the butchering of minorities in Syria, or ignore the plight of Palestinians perpetuated in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, then one should understand that it is not human care driving them but selective human hatred.

When people promote and support the connection Indigenous Australians have to land, history and ancestry yet deny and refuse to recognise the historic connection between the Jews and the land of Israel, as documented in the Bible, archaeological artifacts and literature, this is a sign.

Allow me to revert once again to the words of Burgess: “When antisemitism grows after being tolerated and normalised, we are shocked – but we should not be surprised. When inflammatory rhetoric and provocative protest lead to violence, we are shocked – but we should not be surprised.”

Make no mistake – the obsessive, multi-ranged, wild, unfounded accusations thrown time and time again at Israel are not legitimate criticism. They are not caring for anyone. They are driven by hate. They are a manifestation of antisemitism.

There is a continuous line from the blood libels of the past – accusing Jews of contaminating wells during the black plague or using blood of babies for baking unleavened bread for Passover – to the blood libels of the modern period: genocide, training dogs to rape and starvation. Our sages stated already in the Hellenistic period that there will be haters of Israel in every generation. We see them in our generation today. We should not be surprised if the toleration of the new inflammatory anti-Zionist antisemitism leads to further violence and terrorism.

Hillel Newman is Israel’s ambassador to Australia.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/ive-seen-less-jewhatred-inmuslim-countries/news-story/c76677a6cb740e9baa0d80bf07f84129

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Australia greenlights billions in uranium exports to India in new energy deal

BEN PACKHAM and THOMAS HENRY - July 09, 2026

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Anthony Albanese has announced a series of agreements struck with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including a deal to green light billions of dollars worth of Australian uranium exports to India.

“Today we can confirm the signing of the administrative arrangement to enable uranium exports to India for peaceful purposes under the 2015 Australia, India, nuclear co-operation agreement,” the Prime Minister said.

“The arrangement facilitates Australian uranium exports to India to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity, providing an additional market for the Australian resources sector.”

Speaking alongside Mr Modi, Mr Albanese also confirmed the pair had signed a joint declaration strengthening bilateral defence co-operation, which included a Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap and a strengthened partnership in “cyber and critical technologies”.

“Australia values India as a top tier security partner. And the declaration reflects our shared commitment to a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. We will boost strategic co-ordination, increase the complexity of our defence exercises and further build, interoperability between our defence forces,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Modi touted the uranium deal as an important step in securing India’s “strategic security”, declaring that strengthened coordination between India and Australia’s militaries would work to bring peace to the Pacific.

“We have signed an important agreement today on nuclear energy. This will pave the way for uranium supplies from Australia to India and give our clean energy objectives fresh momentum,” he said.

“We also believe that the tensions and wars across various parts of the world can only be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. In the entire Indo-Pacific region, we will together bring peace, stability, freedom of navigation, and a rules-based order in the entire region.”

Earlier, Mr Modi said Australia’s “huge uranium reserves” were critical to his country’s energy plans and represented a “historic opportunity” for bilateral co-operation.

Speaking at a business event in Melbourne alongside Mr Albanese, Mr Modi said India was aiming to produce 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2047 to power the country’s development.

“Australia’s huge uranium reserves are directly connected to India’s nuclear journey,” he said.

“Today the world is going through a period of uncertainty, supply chain disruptions and an energy crisis. At such a time it is both natural and necessary for Australia and India to advance (bilateral ties).”

He said Australia’s “technology, capital and resources” would also spur his country’s clean-energy transition.

Mr Albanese credited his counterpart and Australia’s vast Indian diaspora for the nation’s growing economic ties.

He said the Australia-India relationship was “underdone, under-explored and under-examined” until about a decade ago, but “that has changed for the better”.

“Prime Minister Modi, your leadership and your personal engagement with Australia has played a pivotal part in this,” he said.

“And so has the drive and determination of the business leaders in this room. You are the ‘living bridge’ between our nations.”

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Mr Albanese hailed the more than one million Australians of Indian heritage.

“Your entrepreneurship and innovation makes our economy more productive and dynamic. Your kindness, your community spirit and your love of this country, your home, lifts us all up,” he said.

He revealed the Business Council of Australia would lead a senior business delegation to India in December.

AustralianSuper will also move to capitalise on India’s growth by investing $500m in its National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, lifting its overall holdings in the country to close to $3.3bn.

The move follows the fund’s initial $240m investment in the NIIF in 2019, which has been one of the AustralianSuper’s best-performing infrastructure assets.

The leaders met at the Australia-India Economic Roadmap Business Reception at the Sofitel in Melbourne, which is under heavy police guard after a security incident on Wednesday night.

The pair were met by business leaders including BCA boss Bran Black and AustralianSuper CEO Paul Schroder.

Right-wing agitator Hugo Lennon, also known on social media as “Auspill’’, was removed from the Melbourne CBD hotel by police on Wednesday night after screaming “Fck Modi, Fck India” as the world leader walked through the lobby.

Mr Albanese will also attend a celebration of the Indian Prime Minister’s arrival, expected to attract tens of thousands of people to Marvel Stadium on Thursday night – a reprisal of a Sydney event during his diplomatic visit in 2023.

Multiple sources have told The Australian that “technical issues” preventing Australian uranium exports to India have now been resolved, opening the way to a multibillion-dollar trade to feed India’s energy needs.

“It has to be only for civil nuclear energy purposes,” a source told The Australian.

Australia-India Institute chief executive Lisa Singh said: “India’s energy needs are on a scale that we cannot fathom. It has an economy that is developing at a rapid speed, and has a population of 1.4 billion people. So, if we can assist in that delivery of clean energy, then we should be definitely playing a role. It’s a win-win for both of our countries.”

Mr Albanese, announcing the diplomatic visit last week, touted the importance of Australia’s relationship with the fastest-growing economy on the planet, but dodged calls from some of Mr Modi’s critics for the government to raise concerns around human rights issues.

The Australian Federal Police ahead of Mr Modi’s visit issued a warning to a young person alleged to have made a death threat towards the Indian Prime Minister online, while the Alliance Against Islamophobia group is set to protest outside the community event on Thursday night.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/pm-modi-meet-ahead-of-talks-on-uranium-deal/news-story/8b35319c7b0e20348a37d47d2e971525

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M1YbpnNbUs

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 10, 2026, 6:49 a.m. No.24810783 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0791

India and Australia look to fast-track sweeping free trade pact after uranium export deal

Matthew Knott - July 9, 2026

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India and Australia will fast-track negotiations on a sweeping free trade pact that would open up access for exporters to the world’s most populous country, after sealing an agreement to allow billions of dollars worth of Australian uranium to flow to India.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Melbourne on Thursday where they also agreed to deepen co-operation on defence and critical minerals.

Australia and India launched negotiations on a comprehensive economic agreement in 2011, settling on a more limited trade pact in 2022 that left key sticking points unresolved.

“We have now decided to work at a fast pace on a comprehensive economic co-operation agreement,” Modi told reporters, saying the pact “will be balanced, ambitious and win-win for both countries”.

“We will also move forward at a fast pace on a bilateral investment treaty,” he added.

India has traditionally focused on protecting its own agriculture sector, limiting overseas exporters’ ability to break into the market.

Finishing negotiations on the ambitious economic pact would be a major win for the Albanese government, which sealed a free trade deal with the European Union earlier this year.

Modi, who was preparing to appear before 30,000 members of the Indian-Australian community at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night, said the two nations had made “unprecedented progress over the last few years”.

As foreshadowed before the meeting, the nations finalised administrative arrangements to allow significant quantities of Australian uranium to flow to India for the first time.

Australia and India reached a historic nuclear co-operation agreement in 2014, but regulatory hurdles have choked off almost all uranium exports from Australia in the years since.

Speaking at a business event in Melbourne earlier in the day, Modi said India was aiming to produce 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2047 to meet the nation’s growing demand for power.

“Australia’s huge uranium reserves are directly connected to India’s nuclear journey,” he said.

India, home to 1.4 billion people, is planning a massive increase in nuclear power capacity to help reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and power the boom in data centres linked to artificial intelligence.

Albanese said the agreement “facilitates Australian uranium exports to India to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity, providing an additional market for the Australian resources sector”.

India must only use the uranium for peaceful civilian purposes.

(continued)

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Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney said there remained “compelling reasons for Australia not to send uranium to India” given it has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“Australian uranium would fuel radioactive risk and waste and potentially allow the diversion of domestic uranium reserves to fuel India’s nuclear weapons program in an already tense region,” he said.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable said “the supply of Australian uranium to India represents an immense opportunity” as she called on NSW, Western Australia and Queensland to overturn bans on uranium mining.

Albanese said that “Australia’s relationship with India has never been more consequential than it is today. Our partnership has never been stronger.

“Australia values India as a top-tier security partner. We will boost strategic co-ordination, increase the complexity of our defence exercises, and further build interoperability between our defence forces.

“We undertake to consult on defence-related developments in the Indo-Pacific that affect our shared interests,” he said.

Albanese added Australia had also agreed to commission a temporary space tracking terminal on the Cocos Keeling Islands to support India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight program, the country’s first attempt to send astronauts to space.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/india-and-australia-look-to-fast-track-sweeping-free-trade-pact-after-uranium-export-deal-20260709-p60e0c.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlWe661fdxw

Indian PM Narendra Modi comes bearing gifts on trade and defence

BEN PACKHAM and ANTHONY GALLOWAY - July 09, 2026

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Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi have pledged a major expansion of the nations’ defence ties, cleared the way for billions of dollars worth of uranium sales to India, and vowed to fast-track a new free-trade agreement and bilateral investment treaty.

Meeting his Indian counterpart in Melbourne, the Prime Minister declared the nations to be “top tier” security partners, and said Australia would become a “trusted supplier of uranium to India” under a new peaceful-use framework overturning more than a decade of stalled trade.

“Australia’s relationship with India has never been more consequential than it is today. Our partnership has never been stronger,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Modi, on a three-day visit to Australia, received a rock star welcome from Indian Australians at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.

In a rare move, Mr Modi started his speech in English which included an acknowledgment of the traditional owners of the land, before praising the Indian diaspora in Australia.

“All of you are contributing towards Australia’s growth, but I know that you continue to keep a close watch on India,” he said.

“I was very keen to meet all of you in Melbourne … so I thought this time I will come and have a flat white with all of you. The enthusiasm and the energy with which all of you and our Aussie friends have welcomed all of us, it is even more amazing. I am very grateful also to my friend, to India’s friend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“We have all seen that when Prime Minister Albanese speaks, he captivates the hearts and minds of Indians.”

Mr Albanese said Australia was a better nation because of Indian-Australians, describing them as the “living bridge” between the two countries. “Your love of this country has made it better, stronger and more vibrant,” he said.

Earlier, after 80 minutes of talks with Mr Albanese, he declared the nations’ ties had “attained new heights”, and revealed India was ready to upgrade the nations’ 2022 interim trade agreement to a new comprehensive deal. “We have now decided to work at a fast pace on a comprehensive economic co-operation agreement … an agreement that will be balanced, ambitious and win-win for both countries,” he said. “We will also move forward at a fast pace on a bilateral investment treaty.”

The move follows a slower-than-hoped increase in two-way trade and investment under Australia’s 2018 blueprint to make India a top-tier economic partner by 2035.

Under a new joint declaration on defence and security, the leaders agreed to co-ordinate their responses to emerging security threats, with a commitment to “consult on defence-related developments in the Indo-Pacific that affect shared interests”.

The nations’ military forces will also undertake more complex exercises, build interoperability, deepen naval co-operation under a new maritime security road map, and deploy aircraft from each others’ territories.

“Maritime security is where Australia and India’s geography and security interests most strongly align and intersect,” the declaration said.

The commitments came just days after China demonstrated its growing military capabilities by testing a nuclear-capable missile in the Pacific, in a move that drew protests from across the region.

Mr Modi said closer maritime co-operation would “infuse new strength to our shared efforts in the Indo-Pacific”. He said the partners would also co-operate on shipbuilding and ship repair and maintenance, while a new “defence innovation corridor” would connect start-ups and defence players.

“In the entire Indo-Pacific region, we will together bring peace, stability, freedom of navigation and a rules-based order in the entire region,” Mr Modi said.

Mr Albanese said: “Australia values India as a top tier security partner and the declaration reflects our shared commitment to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”

Australia agreed to export uranium to India for peaceful purposes in 2015, but the trade never got off the ground due to concerns over non-proliferation safeguards. But India overhauled its nuclear energy sector late last year, giving Australia the confidence for exports to go ahead.

(continued)

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Speaking at a business event, Mr Modi said India was aiming to produce 100GW of nuclear power by 2047, up from a current 8.8GW. “Australia’s huge uranium reserves are directly connected to India’s nuclear journey,” he said.

“Today the world is going through a period of uncertainty, supply chain disruptions and an energy crisis. At such a time it is both natural and necessary for Australia and India to advance (the trade).” Under a joint statement on energy security, Mr Albanese also committed to ensure the free flow of LNG to India, and Mr Modi pledged to ensure his country’s role as a reliable supplier of liquid fuels to Australia.

In other commitments, the leaders pledged strengthen clean energy and critical minerals co-operation, and work together to develop critical technologies and bolster supply chains, amid China’s growing stranglehold over key technologies inputs.

On the cultural front, India agreed to repatriate the remains of an indigenous Australian held by the Government Museum of Chennai, while Australia will return Indian artefacts held by the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW.

Mr Modi used a sporting analogy to underscore the increasingly close ties between the countries. “Cricket has become a commonly understood language of diplomacy between India and Australia, and that is why our meetings also kind of feel like a cricket match,” he said.

“The agenda is focused like a one-day match. Decisions are quick like a T20 match, and partnership is long time and intense, like a test match.”

Mr Albanese said the Australia-India relationship was “underdone, under-explored and under-examined” until about a decade ago, but “that has changed for the better”.

Australia’s Indian-born population is close to one million people, making it the second-largest overseas-born group in Australia after the UK.

On Friday, Mr Albanese will host his counterpart at the MCG for an announcement on a Big Bash cricket match in Chennai in December. Minerals Council chief executive Tania Constable said the uranium deal was a major opportunity, that would require Australia to expand its number of uranium mines from the four currently already in operation.

“We need to see the investment occurring,” she said. “I think it sends us very strong positive signal that markets are out there. It’s not just India chasing Australia’s uranium, it’s also the United States … it’s France, it’s many countries.

“India is the latest, and given the size of India, with a population of almost 1.4 billion people, and an ever increasing demand requirement on energy, this sends that positive signal and puts Australia in the box seat.”

AustralianSuper will move to capitalise on India’s growth by investing $500m in its National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, lifting its overall holdings in the country to close to $3.3bn.

The move follows the fund’s initial $240m investment in the NIIF in 2019, which has been one of the AustralianSuper’s best performing infrastructure assets.

The Business Council of Australia will also lean into the relations, leading a senior business delegation to India in December this year.

Professor Ian Hall, an expert on Indian politics at Griffith University, said the security commitments were far-reaching.

“These declarations highlight that the really dynamic component of the relationship concerns defence and especially regional maritime security,” he said. “The commitments to consult on threats, build interoperability and information sharing, and deploy more aircraft from each other’s territories are major steps forward.”

He said the uranium announcement was “eye-catching” but in the longer term, the joint statement on energy security would likely prove more consequential, amid push by like-minded states to secure supplies of liquid fuels and gas.

Lowy Institute India chair Shruti Pandalai said: “The political ambition on display for the relationship shows the strategic case for India and Australia is settled, the next step is the scaling up on the delivery.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/indian-pm-narendra-modi-comes-bearing-gifts-on-trade-and-defence/news-story/82cd2ce6615fdddc2607183aa7bbd0a6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr9lOlotUV8

>>24810832

‘We Indians infuse the world’: Thousands cheer Narendra Modi at stadium extravaganza

Stephen Brook - July 9, 2026

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Melbourne visit had a few elements: business, diplomatic, and sporting. And then there was Thursday night’s genre-busting community/cultural/rock star/political extravaganza at Marvel Stadium.

Thousands waved their mobile phone lights aloft as Modi took to a purple garlanded stage in the middle of the stadium, accompanied by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who both experienced a level of cheering and a lack of booing neither was used to.

In a speech punctuated by frequent bursts of applause, Modi declared that just as sugar sweetens milk, Indians integrate and sweeten societies globally.

“Just as when sugar is added to milk it makes it sweeter,” he said.

“Just as we Indians infuse the world,” he continued to a crowd estimated at 20,000.

“The milk comes from Australia. However, the tea is made the Indian way.

“I am the tea vendor – the chai wallah,” Modi said to huge applause.

Albanese said he had first visited India in 1991 as a backpacker, while Allan said that she was on a 600-day streak of practising yoga since visiting as premier in 2024.

Modi has now visited Australia three times, the first in 2014.

“This completes the hat trick,” he said. “This demonstrates the heights Indian-Australia relations have reached.”

Not even the Docklands stadium could contain the size or exuberance of “Melbourne Meets Modi”, with Cranbourne’s 50-strong Janagar Jana Dhol Pathak drumming group outside gate 2 delivering an eardrum-shattering serenade as the audience arrived.

“This is a very important event for us,” drumming leader Satish Gaikwad said. “Australia and India coming together. That’s the unity we want to show the world.”

The sound of the massive dhol drums, carried over the shoulder, and the smaller tasha drums completely eclipsed the 30-odd protesters who were sporting a feeble PA system and “Modi Go Home” and “Stop Indian Invasion” posters.

This group was largely unnoticed by the 20,000 Indians streaming along the concourse into the stadium, in what could be seen as a metaphor of geopolitical realities between Australia (population 27 million) and India (population 1.47 billion).

Rachita Savant from Wyndham Vale said she had mixed opinions about the protesters.

“I think they don’t have enough information about what they’re speaking,” she said.

“I understand their emotions. But honestly, the groups that are coming here today, they’re not all harmful to Australia. These are people who have some calibre to be here. They’re not here living off Centrelink.”

“Especially the Indians,” said her friend Gayatri Gangapurkar of Truganina.

“Australia is a diverse culture,” Gangapurkar added. “Australia accepts diversity and India is the same. Because it is one India, but there are different cultures, different languages living together. It’s quite similar.”

(continued)

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Thirty years ago, the Indian diaspora in Australia numbered 50,000, said Pawan Luthra, chief executive of the Indian Link media group. When the next census is released, it is expected to show the figure has grown to 1.3 million, he said.

The Indian diaspora has already eclipsed the British as the largest foreign-born group here.

“A lot of them transition from permanent resident to citizen over time,” Luthra said. “A lot of them want to fully participate in Australia – except when there is a cricket match on.”

As for Modi: “I value him as a strong economic manager, but there are a lot of things that should have been done better.”

As demonstrated by his embrace of Albanese on Thursday, Modi is a world leader who knows the power of a good selfie. He is only the second Indian prime minister in history to win a third consecutive term, after Jawaharlal Nehru. (Indira Gandhi won a non-consecutive four terms.)

Similarly to Nehru, who had his jacket, Modi’s sense of style means his name has been lent to the Modi kurta, a fitted half or full-sleeve top with a mandarin collar he is often seen wearing.

But some are highly critical of him. Hindus for Human Rights Australia said it had serious concerns about “democracy and human rights, custodial deaths, press freedoms, collapsing educational systems, the right to protest and civil liberties, environmental protections, women’s safety, and the persecution of minorities in India”.

Both countries are helping each other, said Dr Jagwinder Virk, chair of the India-Australia Strategic Alliance.

“Relationships are building up,” he said, pointing to critical minerals, trade and the Indian Premier League.

“Most Australian players spend three to four months in India. They have a second home in India now,” he said. “Glenn Maxwell is married to an Indian woman. That is a good thing.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/we-indians-infuse-the-world-thousands-cheer-narendra-modi-at-stadium-extravaganza-20260709-p60e26.html

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>>24810894

Far-right influencer gatecrashes Indian PM’s Australian hotel, leads protest at event

Carla Jaeger and Sherryn Groch - July 9, 2026

A far-right agitator gatecrashed the Melbourne hotel of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hours before dozens of neo-Nazis and their associates gathered to protest his visit.

But the small contingent gathered outside Marvel Stadium were drowned out by joyful performers from an Indian-Australian drumming group celebrating Modi’s Australian visit.

Neo-Nazi associate Hugo Lennon, a wealthy property development heir turned far-right influencer, posted footage of his late-night tirade against the Indian leader after midnight on Thursday. In the video, police officers quickly swarm Lennon and drag him away from the first-floor balcony overlooking the hotel lobby as he bellows “Fck Modi!” and “Fck India!” to people below.

Lennon later led the small protest group from the Department of Home Affairs headquarters to the steps of Marvel Stadium, where they hurled racist abuse at the incoming crowd for two hours before disbanding.

Modi touched down in Melbourne at 10.30pm Wednesday just hours before Lennon’s hotel stunt.

Police did not answer questions regarding how Lennon knew where the Indian prime minister was staying or how close he got to Modi but confirmed a 22-year-old man “attended a hotel and shouted political statements” about 12:30am.

“He was moved on by police without incident”, a Victoria Police spokesperson said.

Lennon and his collaborator Mitch Hobbs, a Melbourne stockbroker who goes by the name “Sir Doug”, had organised the protest against Modi’s visit and Australian immigration.

Posters for the event were circulated online by prominent neo-Nazis, including Thomas Sewell, the leader of the now outlawed National Socialist Network.

Many attendees at the demonstration were known neo-Nazis, including Nathan Bull and Michael J Nelson, who were also seen shaking hands with Lennon and Hobbs.

But the groups efforts to disrupt the event made little impact on the festive atmosphere of the arriving crowd, some who took defiant pictures in front of the far-right contingent.

Two musical groups drowned out the protesters’ chants, and Lennon was forced to stop his speech after the Janagar Jana Dhol Pathak drumming group began performing in front of the neo-Nazis.

Lennon’s stunt overnight follows a series of ambushes on politicians by far-right figures during the 2025 federal election, including when two other known neo-Nazi associates confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a Melbourne hotel lobby. At the time, those involved boasted in leaked audio about gaining “private intel” on Albanese’s movements.

Nelson also unsuccessfully gatecrashed a One Nation fundraiser last month.

Both Lennon and Hobbs are among a number of wealthy backers recently unmasked by this masthead now helping Sewell and his supporters plot their next move into politics.

Some far-right influencers had shared knowledge online of Modi’s movements around the city during his visit.

Victoria Police stressed officers would be out in force in Melbourne’s CBD throughout.

Security measures are expected to be high throughout Modi’s trip after the Australian Federal Police issued an official warning to a young person who made a death threat towards the Indian leader last week.

An AFP spokesperson said on Monday the source of the online threat was identified and spoken to on July 3.

“Following an assessment of the matter, the young person was issued a formal warning,” they said. “There is no current or impending risk to the community.”

Lennon has been contacted for comment.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/far-right-influencer-gatecrashes-indian-pm-s-australian-hotel-20260709-p60dvw.html

>>24704389 (pb)

>>24711827 (pb)

>>24737270 (pb)

>>24767277 (pb)

Isolated, scared, forlorn: The heartbreaking final months of Virginia Giuffre’s life

Virginia Giuffre made global headlines for her fight against her sexual abusers among the wealthy elite, all detailed in a bestselling memoir. Now new questions have emerged about the private anguish she faced at home.

Melissa Fyfe and Carla Hildebrandt - JULY 11, 2026

1/8

It’s the morning of Tuesday, January 14, 2025 and Virginia Giuffre is hiding from her husband, Robbie Giuffre. Virginia, the most prominent of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, texts her sister-in-law in the United States. She’s safe in a Perth hotel, she says, “so it would be difficult for him to find me”.

Virginia had told her US-based family that Robbie had assaulted her on a family holiday. In the days afterwards, as she moved from hotel to hotel, she documented her injuries. Her photographs from that time show a smattering of bruises, like tiny storm clouds, crossing her chest. There’s an arched mark on her right eyebrow and bruises above and below her eyes (Robbie has denied Virginia’s allegations, saying she attacked him).

Virginia sent these pictures far and wide. She sent them to friends and family, her publicist and Amy Wallace, the ghostwriter of Virginia’s bestselling memoir, Nobody’s Girl. She’d been with Robbie – an Australian she met in Thailand in 2002 – for 22 years, but now she was done keeping the marriage’s secrets.

A few months later, on April 5, she issued a statement to People magazine saying that she was able to fight back against Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, but was unable to escape domestic violence: “After my husband’s latest physical assault, I can no longer stay silent.” A few weeks later, Virginia was dead, taking her own life on her farm north of Perth. She was 41.

That January morning in the hotel, texting her American family, Virginia nuts out a plan to keep safe. “We’re getting our ducks in order and we are figuring this out day by day.” The “we” refers to Virginia and her devoted full-time carer Cheryl Myers, then 71 (a degenerative spinal issue and broken neck had left Virginia often bedridden or in a wheelchair). “The police are coming to the hotel and they’re gonna go talk to Rob and hopefully he’s [taken] away [from] me please.” She also mentions her next step: “I go to court today to put a permanent [restraining order] on him.”

That text was sent at 7.31am. If she had gone to the court at 9am, perhaps the next few months would have unfolded differently. But a few hours later, Robbie Giuffre was walking up the steps of the Perth Magistrates Court, just several city blocks away. He submitted a seven-page form and had a 15-minute hearing with the magistrate. He feared Virginia, he said, and she’d been violent on a recent family holiday.

What the magistrate didn’t know was that, just hours earlier, he’d come off a 72-hour restraining order served on him by police. When he walked out of court that morning, Robbie had secured an interim family violence restraining order against Virginia, banning her for six months from contacting him and their two youngest children, a daughter, then 15, and a son, 17. “It was the worst thing that could have happened to her,” says her sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts. “Her children were her life.”

Virginia Roberts – who grew up in Loxahatchee, Florida, about 35 minutes from US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort – fell into Epstein’s world after an unimaginably awful childhood. Abused by her father from seven to 11, he also trafficked her to a friend (he denies both claims). Her mother then sent her to a notorious juvenile facility. She escaped and was picked up by sex trafficker Ron Eppinger, who was later jailed. This was all by the time she was 15. Ghislaine Maxwell spotted Virginia, then 16, working as a Mar-a-Lago spa attendant and recruited her as a sex slave for Epstein.

Virginia’s lawyers estimated that, between 2000 and 2002, Epstein also trafficked her to about 30 men. Virginia named some in her book: Jean-Luc Brunel, the French modelling agent, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew (which he denies). Fearful of naming others, she called them things like billionaire number one, two or three in her book. As a kid with her history of abuse, Virginia said, she just thought this was how the world worked. She also genuinely feared Epstein, who’d claimed to know where her adored brother Sky went to school.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 11, 2026, 1:09 a.m. No.24813563 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3564

>>24813561

2/8

One day, when Virginia was 18, turning 19, Epstein and Maxwell surprised her with a proposal: they wanted her to have their baby. Virginia knew then that she had to get away but, terrified of upsetting them, she struck a deal: if they finally sent her to the massage training they’d promised, she’d have the baby. So they booked her a course in Chiang Mai, in Thailand.

That was where Virginia met Robbie, then 26. The son of Sicilian parents who had migrated to Sydney, Robbie had dropped out of high school and was in Chiang Mai studying Thai boxing. “I looked over my shoulder. Butterflies. And she’s it, that’s the one,” he told 60 Minutes. “Personally,” said Virginia, “I knew he was the one when he told me the people that are abusing you, it’s not right, and you don’t have to live like that.” They married in a Buddhist temple 10 days later. She called Epstein before flying to Australia. “I fell in love and got married, Jeffrey. I’m never coming back,” she writes in her book. There was a pause. “Have a great life,” he said. And hung up.

In Australia, she wanted to forget her previous life. But in 2008, Virginia was put in contact with a lawyer via the US Department of Justice (she had been identified as an Epstein victim). To Virginia’s outrage, the lawyer explained that Epstein’s 2008 sweetheart deal – for which he served minimal prison time – would mean no trial. Any hope of bringing Epstein to justice was dead. However, he said, there would be financial compensation. She filed a lawsuit under a pseudonym and, in November 2009, Epstein settled with Virginia, paying her $US500,000. She said she later learnt that one victim was paid 10 times that, but she’d just looked at house prices where she lived on the NSW Central Coast and asked for that.

But in 2010, after having two sons, Virginia gave birth to a daughter. Something shifted in Virginia: she decided to fight. She produced that iconic photograph of the Epstein scandal: Prince Andrew with his arm around the slim waist of a 17-year-old Virginia, a beaming Maxwell behind. Eventually, in 2022, Prince Andrew paid Virginia $US10 million – according to documents we’ve obtained – to settle a lawsuit she’d brought against him. She also sued Maxwell for defamation in a lawsuit that provided crucial evidence for US prosecutors in their case against the socialite. Maxwell settled for $US7 million (Virginia got about $3.8 million after lawyers and expenses).

Not all of Virginia’s legal cases were successful. In 2022, she signed a settlement with lawyer Alan Dershowitz saying she “may have made a mistake” identifying him as her abuser. In the end, from class actions, to compensation payouts and settlements, Virginia was paid the equivalent of $US25 million.

Going public had its price – paparazzi, online trolling, strange break-ins, a credible death threat that sent the family into hiding for several weeks – but Virginia inspired dozens of victims to come forward. “You have started a movement,” said Epstein survivor Danielle Bensky at Virginia’s memorial service in Washington in April, “and proved that one small girl can, in fact, change the world.”

Piecing together the secrets of Virginia’s and Robbie’s marriage is like finding clues in a cold case: Virginia kept the reality of their relationship a secret for a long time. On April 4, 2025, a few weeks before she died, Virginia sent her New York-based friend and publicist Dini von Mueffling a text about an alleged incident in 2010, the earliest allegation we’ve found. She wrote that Robbie, coming off a three-day bender, “punched me in the face, which dropped me to the floor, and continuously kicking [sic] me in the stomach”. He’d been violent “throughout the whole marriage”. She called police, but Rob pleaded not to be charged. “But as time went on, it only got worse. I am shattered even writing this.”

Last year, our colleagues at 60 Minutes tracked down about seven women – friends of Virginia’s – who saw signs of domestic violence during this time. One woman, whose identity was obscured because she feared Robbie, said she saw Virginia with a black eye. “I just said, ‘That wasn’t Robbie, was it?’ And she said, ‘Yes, she said it was … just a little scuffle.’ ”

In 2013, Virginia and Robbie moved to her home state of Florida. Amanda Roberts, Virginia’s sister-in-law, first noticed something was wrong when she was giving birth and Virginia was by her side. Amanda noticed a mark about her neck, as if a chain had been pulled against it.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 11, 2026, 1:11 a.m. No.24813564 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3565

>>24813563

3/8

A few months later, at one of his children’s birthday parties, Robbie was complaining to her brother Sky that Amanda was gossiping about Virginia. Amanda and Sky said Robbie started screaming at Sky, so they decided to leave. “Robbie comes running from the backyard,” says Amanda, “and he charged Sky while he’s holding my three-month-old.” Virginia’s brother, Danny, intervened. (Few in Virginia’s family were immune to Robbie’s wrath: the brothers gave us reams of abusive texts and memes – such as “I swear I will bitch slap you”, “stupid” or “loser” – that Robbie sent to their mother using Virginia’s phone.)

In 2014, the family moved to a small town in Colorado called Penrose to be closer to Virginia’s mother. On March 4, 2015, police attended the Giuffre home after receiving several 911 hang-up calls. According to the police report, Virginia said she tried to stop Robbie punching and kicking their dog, Bear, which Robbie said had bitten him. She said Robbie then punched her several times in her face and head, grabbed her by the throat and strangled her. Virginia had a bruise forming on her left cheek, blood on her sleeve and a whitish-clear fluid mixed with blood leaking from her ear, which police noted could be cerebral spinal fluid, a symptom of severe head trauma. Robbie was arrested on domestic violence charges and taken to jail, where he told an officer he’d hit Virginia by accident.

Dale King, the then-detective sergeant who went to check on Virginia the next morning, tells Good Weekend he remembers Robbie flagged him down in the street. He knew the couple because he’d been to the house to keep the paparazzi in line and investigate the strange break-ins. King said Robbie seemed to be soothing himself with a story he’d heard him narrate before, about being the saviour. “He’s trying to convince me that I have to let him get back home so he can protect her,” he says. “Hell,” he remembers thinking. “You’re her biggest threat right now.”

Robbie was charged with assault but returned to Australia soon after. Virginia’s family begged her to stay, but she decided, for the kids’ sake, to give Robbie another go. She had the record of the Colorado incident suppressed – perhaps she didn’t want the distraction of media reporting – but last December, like a message in a bottle swept to shore, the police report emerged as part of the Epstein files. For Virginia’s brothers – who were in a battle with Robbie over Virginia’s estate and trying to prove he was a domestic abuser – it was a crucial piece of evidence.

It’s 2018 and two young families are barbecuing on the palm-fringed Kewarra Beach in Cairns. The two mothers notice each other. The blonde mother has a pram carrying her pet red-tailed black cockatoo. A rainbow lorikeet is perched on the shoulder of the dark-haired mother. This was Virginia Giuffre and her soon-to-be best buddy Linda Freitag. “We sort of looked at each other as these two crazy bird ladies … it was an instant friendship,” says Freitag.

After Virginia and Robbie moved to Cairns in 2017, things seemed brighter. “They seemed happy enough,” says Freitag of the Giuffre marriage. Freitag and Robbie were close too, back then. “He’s extremely passionate. He’s like a person of extremes,” she says. His darker side could be “quite severe”, but his loving side was generous and considerate, “and outspoken as well, in a good way”. With Maxwell’s payment, Virginia had become a multimillionaire overnight, which meant Robbie no longer needed to work.

But then, in 2020, Virginia contracted meningitis. Delirious, she was admitted to hospital where she got out of bed, lost her footing and broke her neck. She later had two surgeries on her spine and would rely heavily on painkillers. She would also later be diagnosed with fibromyalgia and serious gynaecological issues.

In January 2021, the family moved from Cairns to Perth. Virginia purchased a $1.9 million beachside home in the suburb of Ocean Reef with sea views, six bedrooms and a pool. They had plenty of money to live well but, as Virginia wrote in diary notes found after her death (undated but written post-separation), she felt trapped by Robbie’s increasing control. “The stronger I became, the scarier he became.” She describes it as manifesting in small ways at first: monitoring her daily activities and accusing her of unfaithfulness “on an almost daily basis”. She wrote, “Not allowed to go downstairs while any mate was over. And that was every day. I became a prisoner.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 11, 2026, 1:12 a.m. No.24813565 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3566

>>24813564

4/8

In early 2022, Virginia hit rock bottom. She’d been hospitalised after a bad bout of COVID-19. Worn out from near-constant neck pain, haunted by nightmares of past abuse and with people online calling her a liar, sellout and whore, she tried to overdose on pills in hospital. She was revived, went home, and tried again. Her eldest son found her, saving her life. After that, she wrote in her memoir, it would be a long time before thoughts of self-annihilation would begin to subside.

In December 2024, a few weeks before everything blew up between Robbie and Virginia, there was an incident at their Perth home. In one of the documents we’ve obtained, she wrote that Robbie was following her around being argumentative and then called her a whore. “I noticed my daughter’s face go pale, her jaw drop and a shocked look. My instinct was a sense of preservation and to show my daughter it’s not acceptable and I just struck out to which he called the police.” They served her with a 72-hour on-the-spot violence restraining order. She didn’t know it then, but this would soon be used against her to devastating effect.

Virginia had everything planned for the girls’ trip. It was her daughter’s birthday (she’s still a minor, so we’ll call her Ellie) and they were off to the coastal getaway of Dunsborough, about 2½ hours south of Perth. It would be a mother-and-daughter thing. But then Ellie wanted her brothers there, which meant Robbie, too. Matters were strained between the couple then, but Virginia decided to make the most of it. The date was January 9, 2025.

Robbie and Virginia have different versions of what happened that night at their luxury rental on Geographe Bay. In Virginia’s version, Robbie argued with the then-girlfriend of one of his sons – a girl who was 16 or 17 – and kicked her out of the house late at night (we’ve also been told this by an independent source). Virginia paid for her $350 taxi ride back to Perth. Later, Robbie wanted sex, but Virginia – recovering from a spinal operation in November and a serious urinary tract infection – said no.

“It got physical, got violent,” says Sky. He said Virginia told them Robbie punched her in the face and put her in a martial arts position, a sort of stranglehold, cracking her sternum and causing her to pass out. Good Weekend can’t confirm the cracked sternum as we can’t access Virginia’s medical records.

Just before 3pm the next day, local police from Busselton attended the holiday rental and interviewed Virginia. They advised her to go to the local hospital. At 8.55pm, on January 10, 2025, Virginia texted her mother, one of the few people she told about Robbie’s violence. “Mommy, pls call me when you’re awake. Rob did it again, I’m in the hospital and I need your voice to help me calm down.” She FaceTimed Sky and Amanda and called her ghostwriter Amy Wallace, who later wrote in the memoir’s preface that Virginia was in extreme distress. Robbie and the kids left that morning. During the day, police served him with a 72-hour restraining order, which expired on January 13.

A day later, Robbie made his move.

On January 14, Virginia and carer Cheryl Myers were in a Perth hotel room when police knocked on the door. They had called earlier to find out where she was. They then served Virginia with a six-month interim family violence order. She could neither go home nor contact her two youngest children. And she – or anyone on her behalf – could not contact Robbie. “She was in total shock,” says Myers, a gently spoken widow who raised three sons. “And so was I.”

In WA, and across Australia, anyone can apply for an emergency or interim restraining order against a violent partner. The system is designed for people – mostly women – in genuine fear and immediate need of protection. Less evidence is needed compared to other court hearings and, for safety reasons, the alleged abuser does not have to be notified or be present. And that’s why, on January 14, Virginia had no idea what was about to happen.

On that morning, Robbie filled out an affidavit, which we’ve obtained. Robbie notes that Virginia had a police order made against her, “approximately four weeks ago” (presumably the incident when Virginia lashed out at Robbie for calling her a whore in front of Ellie). He writes that Virginia has been “physically, mentally and emotionally abusive and financially to myself and my kids”. She suffers, he writes, from mental health issues and has been admitted into mental hospitals numerous times. “She has attempted suicide on numerous occasions with kids present.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 11, 2026, 1:13 a.m. No.24813566 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3567

>>24813565

5/8

In the form, he writes down his version of the Dunsborough incident. “We went to bed [and] were having a conversation and the conversation led to an argument and then she started physically assaulting me with headbutts, punching, scratching, hammerfist and spitting. I was trying to protect myself by covering my face. And as soon as I had a chance to flee I did and then seeked [sic] to protect my children and told them to pack to leave in the morning.” He had scratches and bruising to the head, he writes, and was constantly in fear and anxious Virginia would return to the house and assault him.

Two pages later, he says that he’s the primary carer and describes Virginia as a manipulative and unpredictable person who put “my children” in harm’s way to the point one required two surgeries (likely a reference to a 2024 incident when Virginia was driving a quad bike with Ellie on the back and they ran into a tree; Ellie’s jaw needed two operations).

With the form done, Robbie then argued his case before magistrate Lynette Dias. We don’t know what happened in that courtroom because the court has refused our request for the transcript twice and Robbie has repeatedly declined to speak to us. One of the few people who does know, however, is defence lawyer Nick Terry.

Terry filed an objection against the order for Virginia and applied for the transcript. He can’t give it to us because of his professional obligations to the court, but he said the hearing lasted about 15 minutes and that Robbie did not tell the magistrate about the recent 72-hour restraining order against him.

The system is so overwhelmed – the Perth Magistrates Court alone handles around 5600 family violence restraining order applications a year – the first time Virginia could challenge the order was in six months, the length of the order itself. (A statement released to Good Weekend by Robbie’s lawyer said: “Due to Virginia’s behaviour in January 2025, it was necessary for the courts to impose protective measures to safeguard Robert and the children from harm.”)

Meanwhile, Virginia was dealing with the police. She was interviewed again about the assault, this time in her hotel room by two female officers from Perth. “They were extremely good. But then a guy stepped in,” says Myers. “He just wanted to brush it off, you know. So I was not impressed.”

In the following weeks, Cheryl Myers says Virginia repeatedly called police with concerns about Robbie’s guns and his history of violence against her. Ultimately, WA police did not charge Robbie with assault. Myers thinks this is because the children told police their mother had injured herself. The police declined to talk to us about their inquiries into the January 9, 2025 incident, citing a possible coronial inquest, but last month Commissioner Col Blanch said they were reviewing their investigation after the family officially complained. “Her local police force failed her,” says her brother Danny Wilson.

Virginia’s “ranch” is the kind of place you’re likely to see kangaroos. We did when we went to Neergabby a few months ago: a mother and a joey minding their own business on the long driveway that curved to Virginia’s homestead. This property, with its 16 hectares of bush and running brook, is where she lived for the last four months of her life with carer Myers, two dogs, a horse, two sheep and 12 chickens. It was her favourite place.

As Virginia documented in her notes, she became increasingly isolated post-separation. Wilson remembers his sister ringing one night. She said she had been cut off from her mobile phone, satellite internet and power. It was dark. “She got up in the middle of the night, drove to Perth and checked into a hotel.” Later, she described being cut from her health and house insurance and locked her out of her personal and work emails. Due to the interim order, neither she nor Myers could contact Robbie to find out what had happened.

His guns were also causing her great distress. (Not long after Robbie had sole custody of the children, he pleaded guilty to a charge of keeping his ammunition unsecured.) “She was isolated, totally isolated,” says Myers of those last few months. “It was just a complete nightmare.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 11, 2026, 1:15 a.m. No.24813567 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3570

>>24813566

6/8

During this period, police charged Virginia with breaching the restraining order after she sent texts to Robbie. She was told to appear before the Joondalup magistrates court in March. She also tried desperately to get through to her children, changing her Netflix profile to “Mommy Loves You”. “My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them,” she posted to Instagram on March 22. “I miss them so very much. I have been through hell & back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else.”

On March 30, 2025, Virginia Giuffre created another Instagram post that sent shockwaves around the world. She was lying on a hospital bed, eyes downcast, face bruised. She said a bus driving at 110 kilometres an hour had hit her car and she’d gone into kidney renal failure. “They’ve given me four days to live … I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time.”

Six days prior, Myers had been driving Virginia home – she was in the back seat with her dogs – when an orange school bus clipped her from behind as she turned into the farm. The next day, Virginia went to hospital where, Myers says, doctors were concerned the crash had ruptured her liver and would cause eventual renal failure. But Virginia left to move to a bigger hospital.

Initially, the WA Police said they had no record of a crash, which fuelled scepticism. The driver, Ross Munns, pointed out buses are legally not allowed to go 110 kilometres an hour in WA. “It was a fake crash, this evil woman should be arrested for making false allegations,” read one typical comment on a news story. Myers says the post was a message to her kids, that she needed to see them. Virginia’s family maintain it was never meant to go public: she didn’t realise her Instagram was connected to her private Facebook account.

After Wilson saw the post, he jumped on a plane. When he arrived on April 2, Virginia was staying at Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and had undergone dialysis. “She was in pretty bad shape,” he says.

Around this time, three weeks before her death, Virginia started to seriously rethink the manuscript for her hit book, Nobody’s Girl. She’d approved its contents in October 2024, three months before her marriage fell apart. This version had Robbie starring as the white knight. But when Virginia went public, telling People magazine on April 5 about her violent marriage, it created an obvious problem: the white knight was now an alleged abuser. According to those closest to her, Virginia wanted either a total rewrite, Robbie taken out of the “saviour” role, or the book to be silent about him. Despite her feelings about Robbie’s portrayal, Virginia did want the book published, emailing Amy Wallace on April 1 that “in the event of my passing, I would like to ensure Nobody’s Girl is still released”.

After Virginia’s death, von Mueffling, Sky and Danny and their wives fought Penguin Random House, lobbying for her wishes to be realised. In August 2025, they went to The New York Times, declaring Virginia would not want it published in its current form. In the end, Penguin Random House released the version Virginia was unhappy with but added an opening note from Wallace that included the January 9 and Colorado incidents, the People article and the family’s concerns that the book underplayed domestic abuse (a titbit not included, Wallace tells Good Weekend, was that on one of her Australian visits, Robbie made it clear after 11 days that she was no longer welcome, slamming the door behind her).

Nobody’s Girl, which has sold 1.4 million copies, recently won three British Book of the Year Awards, including the overall book of the year for “honouring Giuffre’s memory, her story and her words”. But it has also become an important account for Robbie. Responding to domestic abuse allegations in this article, his lawyer pointed out that the book “praised and thanked Robert for his support of her throughout their marriage”.

On April 13, 2025, Sky flew to Australia, then Danny left. Sky has fond memories from this time, including watching The Red with Virginia, a horror film about a bloodthirsty zombie kangaroo. One day, he watched as Robbie had all of Virginia’s belongings delivered from the Ocean Reef house in garbage bags. Around this time, Virginia told her Cairns friend Linda Freitag that Robbie “was just waiting for me to die”.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 11, 2026, 1:17 a.m. No.24813570 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3571

>>24813567

7/8

But few people, including Myers and Sky, saw Virginia’s death coming. On the day before she died, she was excited because she had found a psychologist she connected with, a Canadian. He told her he wanted to focus on her future, not her past. Myers describes her as hugging him and calling later in the day about the treatments he’d mentioned. “She said, ‘You actually understand. I don’t want to go backwards. I want to go forwards.’ ”

The next morning, a Friday, was Anzac Day. Virginia insisted Myers go and see her soldier son march in the parade. She left at about 12.30pm. “We did the usual,” says Myers, “‘I love you, no, I love you, no, I love you more. No, I love you more.’ ”

Virginia phoned Myers an hour later, saying she’d realised they needed to pick up more medication the next day. “She said, ‘Look, Sky’s here, why don’t you stay home tonight, pick up the meds in the morning and then come back.’… She was in a good mood,” says Myers. That was the last time they spoke.

Meanwhile, Sky had left to do some laundry and check out Perth’s beaches (he was leaving soon and hadn’t done much sightseeing). He says he got back at 3.30pm or 4pm and Virginia wasn’t out of her bedroom, so he had a nap. When he woke, he decided to get something to eat. He went to Virginia’s door and was going to knock, but heard what he describes as “some really nice therapeutic sounds”. He decided to leave her be and left the property to get dinner.

Before leaving, he noticed that the CCTV system he’d installed for Virginia had been unplugged (it had external cameras and one facing the kitchen and front door area). When he returned around 9pm, he was talking to Amanda on the phone when he realised he hadn’t spoken to Virginia all day. So he knocked on her door. No answer. Eventually, he kicked the door in.

And that’s when he found Virginia. He rang Triple Zero and tried to resuscitate her for 45 minutes. “That whole time I was …” He stops, trying to steady his wavering voice. “I was trying to bring her back to life. You could just tell, though, she was lifeless and her face was drained.”

When news of Virginia’s death broke, conspiracy theories went into overdrive. Online sleuths pointed to her December 2019 post that said “in no way, shape or form am I suicidal”. Her father went on television to declare “somebody got to her”. That she was murdered in a shadowy Epstein-related plot is still a common sentiment in online comments. But Sky, who will not reveal the method of Virginia’s suicide, said: “I know it’s hard to accept it because of the warrior she was, but she did commit suicide.”

No one can really know what, in those final moments, drives a person to take their life. Her family believe Virginia was broken by not seeing her children. One of her sons was to turn 18 in two days. “At the very core of her was being a mother,” says Sky. Says Myers: “If [she was] just allowed to speak to her children, not even see them but speak to her children, she would be alive today.”

Sky was initially impressed with the police investigation into his sister’s suicide. But, he says, they failed to properly investigate what Virginia alleged were Robbie’s isolating tactics and domestic and systems abuse. Sky says there was plenty of evidence for police: they took photographs of her diaries that detailed the alleged abuse. He says he spent hours telling them about Robbie’s alleged violence: the January 9 incident, Colorado.

The family – backed by 16 of Australia’s top domestic violence experts – are asking for a public inquest so that the coroner can examine the systems that failed her and look at issues such as the alleged misidentification of Virginia as a perpetrator, the hidden toll of domestic violence-related suicide, systems abuse, coercive control and the police failures. “I don’t want there to be more Virginias out there that have to go through the same thing,” Sky says.

Meanwhile, a battle is unfolding over Virginia’s estate which, with book royalties and investment returns, could be worth up to $30 million, Good Weekend has been told. Robbie’s and Virginia’s divorce is yet to be finalised, and Robbie may emerge from that with millions of dollars. The remainder will be divided according to whoever wins the case slowly making its way through the WA Supreme Court (Virginia died without a will).

(continued)

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On one side are sons Christian and Noah, backed by their father. If they win, Robbie stands to inherit just over a third of what’s left after the divorce settlement, with the remaining two-thirds divided between the three children. That would make him the main beneficiary and most likely the administrator of Virginia’s worldwide estate.

On the other is Myers and Virginia’s Perth lawyer Karrie Louden, backed by Virginia’s brothers and their wives. They say Virginia had an “informal will”, expressed to Louden and also emailed to her accountant in February 2025, stipulating a small amount of money going to Virginia’s family and friends, but the bulk to her children and none to Robbie. They say she wanted the money held in trust until the kids turned 25.

In a statement to Good Weekend, Robbie’s lawyer said Virginia suffered “significant mental health issues and overreliance on prescription medication”, due to the pressure of being in the public eye. “This may have led to Virginia’s change of perspective.” Robbie was limited in responding to “various unfounded allegations” for legal reasons, the statement said, but he and the children just wanted to “remember Virginia as a loving wife and mother”.

“What appears to be an orchestrated attempt by persons to gain financially from Virginia’s death by making unsubstantiated allegations, when they should have been aware of Virginia’s medical conditions, is simply disgraceful,” the statement said.

Sometimes Virginia would tell random people she was going to marry Cheryl Myers. This embarrassed the 71-year-old grandmother, of course. “I know you love me,” Virginia would say. And Myers did. “I loved her as if she was my own daughter.” Virginia, who always yearned for the unconditional, protective love of a parent, found that in Myers. But she also, in those last months, found something else: a clarity about healthy relationships. She wrote in her diary about the need to recognise early signs of control, such as jealousy and possessiveness. “We must challenge traditional notions that confuse love with control.”

In early February, she texted von Mueffling. Her life was a shambles, she wrote, but for the first time she felt liberated: “I am nobody’s girl.” Myers noticed this, too: “In that last four months, I seen the mother in Virginia, where she yearned for her children. I seen the child in Virginia that had missed out on her childhood. I seen the teenager in Virginia where she would put pranks on me all the time.”

A few days before her death, Virginia spent $8000 on furniture to set up her long-held dream of a retreat on her farm for victims of domestic and sexual violence. “She had so much more to offer this world,” says Myers. “She really did.”

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/isolated-scared-forlorn-the-heartbreaking-final-months-of-virginia-giuffre-s-life-20260629-p60avr.html

https://www.instagram.com/virginiarobertsrising11/p/DH0vvDKzDvu/

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/what-happened-virginia-giuffre-husband-family-epstein-zr2cxwrlh

—

Q Post #4923

Oct 21 2020 20:55:05 (EST)

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1319071346282778624

Dearest Virginia -

We stand with you.

Now and always.

Find peace through prayer.

Never give up the good fight.

God bless you.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4923

https://qanon.pub/#4568

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Australia issued blunt warning over AUKUS and China's nuclear capabilities

Paul Johnson - 8 July 2026

The vice-president of the Center for China and Globalisation (CCG) has issued Australia a warning over acquiring nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement, just days after his nation test-fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in the Pacific.

"Australia should really treasure the luxury of being a nuclear-free country," Victor Gao, vice-president of the CCG, told 7.30.

"Stay away from being a nuclear power, because you don't know what will be the consequence."

That warning was followed by a boast about China's own nuclear capabilities, which Professor Gao said were on par with those of the United States.

As of 2024, the Pentagon estimated China's nuclear warhead stockpile numbers were in the low 600s, and it predicted that arsenal would climb to more than 1,000 operational warheads by 2030.

But Professor Gao told 7.30 it was folly for other nations to guess at Chinese capabilities.

"You never know how many nuclear warheads China has, and this is the biggest strategic ambiguity in our times," he said.

"Last year … I made a point [that] no country should ever imagine imposing a nuclear war on China because, while China will not tell you how many nuclear warheads China has, China will have enough nuclear warheads to annihilate the country which dares to impose a nuclear war on China.

"This is the strategic certainty and the assurance in our time."

The stark words came in the aftermath of the test that was condemned by Pacific leaders and described as "provocative" by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Professor Gao dismissed Monday's test, launched from a nuclear-powered submarine, as "very routine".

However, it was China's first test of such a weapon since September 2024, when it conducted a land-based launch.

Asked if the world would see more testing from China, Professor Gao again looked to promote China's nuclear strength.

"China has already declared to the world its nuclear launch capabilities can touch any corner, in any part of the world within 20 minutes or so," he said.

"No country should be an obstacle to China's testing like this.

"I hope every country in the world, including Australia, should be very happy to see that China's declared nuclear policies not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapon country."

'Australia should be grateful'

China's test on Monday came just hours after Mr Albanese and his Fiji counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka unveiled the Ocean of Peace Alliance, along with the Vuvale Union treaty, following months of secretive negotiations.

Professor Gao said the timing of the test had nothing to do with the alliance and was instead timed to coincide with the anniversary of the July 7 incident with Japan, which took place in 1937.

On Monday night, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told 7.30 that she could not speak to China's intentions on the launch but also insisted that the test was "destabilising".

Professor Gao, echoing China's foreign ministry spokesperson, insisted China was within its rights to conduct the test.

"Australia should have no reason to be surprised about that," Professor Gao said.

"China follows international protocol in notifying countries of concern for this testing.

"I think Australia should be grateful that China gave Australia the courtesy of advanced notice about the testing.

"I hope China and Australia will really get along with each other, not only as two very large economic trading partners, but also more and more sharing and coordinating on political matters or even geopolitical matters.

"The Pacific is not a prohibited region for nuclear testing and China has absolute legitimacy in doing this kind of testing without violating any international protocol."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/chinese-think-tank-vp-issues-warning-to-australia-victor-gao/106885330

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWEF03Ceqok

>>24820628

ADF releases footage of missile interceptor test days after Chinese ICBM launch

Tom Lowrey - 9 July 2026

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has test-fired a ground-based air defence system aimed at intercepting incoming missiles bound for Australia.

The live-fire test of the prototype took place in June at the Woomera testing range in South Australia.

The test involved a Standard Missile-2, which has a range of up to 166 kilometres and is used by the Royal Australian Navy, and an American launcher and control system.

An Australian radar system was used to guide the interceptor and take down an airborne cruise missile target.

The ADF is expecting to spend between $7 billion and $10 billion over the next 10 years on missile defence across the country, including a new medium-range ground-based air defence system.

The Australian and American test, conducted last month, is seen as a step towards rolling out the system in strategically significant areas around Australia.

The release of new details and imagery from the test comes days after China test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile in the South Pacific.

The Chinese missile test prompted widespread criticism from countries in the Pacific, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

It also prompted concern from the federal opposition about Australia's ability to intercept such a missile.

The federal government argues that the development of defence capabilities is critical to countering long-range and high-speed missiles targeting the country.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the test marked a step forward on that path.

"This first of type live-fire test is a practical demonstration of how the Australian Defence Force is working with its partners and local industry to deliver crucial defence capabilities, growing our sovereignty and helping to keep Australians safe," he said.

Air and missile defence a priority

Defence's 2026 Integrated Investment Plan, which charts where and how Defence will spend its money over the next decade to build its capability, indicates integrated air and missile defence as a priority.

The need for a medium-range, ground-based air and missile defence system is singled out and the document points to decisions likely to be made this year.

Air Marshal Stephen Chappell, the chief of the Air Force, said this testing was a key part of that development process.

"[This exercise] is an Air Force-led Integrated air and missile defence activity designed to explore medium-range air defence capability options to inform capability acquisition decisions," he said.

Earlier this week Shadow Defence Minister James Paterson criticised the pace at which air and missile defence was being pursued.

He pointed to the Chinese ballistic missile test as an example of an attack Australia could struggle to defend.

"I'm very concerned about the lack of Australia's integrated air and missile defence," he told Channel 7.

"We don't have sufficient capabilities to intercept missiles like this if they were launched towards Australia.

"We are not investing fast enough or moving quick enough to have those capabilities."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-09/adf-missile-interceptor-australian-defence-china-icbm-test/106898684

>>24656415 (pb)

Trump looks to Australia for US retirement overhaul

JOE KELLY - July 07, 2026

Donald Trump has again floated interest in building an Australian-style superannuation retirement system for American workers, saying his administration was looking at a model that “worked out very well” in Australia.

The US President was speaking at the White House Oval Office on Monday (Tuesday, AEST) to launch his “Trump Accounts”, which are investment vehicles for children created under his One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Mr Trump marked the occasion by ringing the opening bell for the first time for both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq from the Oval Office at 9.30am, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the administration was “equipping the next generation with the right to claim their rightful share”.

Mr Bessent outlined a plan to turn more Americans into capitalists who invested in the sharemarket. “Our President is creating an ownership economy, an ownership economy where all citizens become shareholders,” Mr Bessent said.

“Thirty-eight per cent of American families do not have any exposure to our great equity markets but, with Trump Accounts, over time, we can get that number to zero. Already, six million American children have signed up, 86 per cent of them with families earning less than $US200,000.”

Mr Bessent said 1.4 million of those accounts would receive $US1000 in seed funding from the US Treasury as soon as the markets opened.

He has previously promoted the program by saying it was aimed at giving children a “stake in the American Dream”.

Under the scheme, the administration would provide $US1000 for every American child born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, with a valid social security number whose family registered for a Trump account.

The account would remain in the name of the child, but parents would remain sole custodians until their child turned 18.

Parents, other family members and employers would be allowed to contribute to the Trump Account. Contribution limits for individuals and employers is $US5000 for 2026 and 2027 but will be indexed for inflation beyond 2027.

Charitable and philanthropic organisations will also be allowed to contribute.

At the White House on Monday, Mr Bessent said “on the heels of our 250th anniversary, this will be one of the President’s most enduring legacies.”

Mr Trump said “nobody thought it was possible. Think of it, children that are born without money, without any money … They can have everything. They can become very wealthy children at 18.”

“And they can flip it over, their people can flip it over into other vehicles at a certain age, so that they don’t take it out. I would recommend they probably don’t take it out,” he said.

Mr Trump then signalled his ambitions were broader than providing investment vehicles for children, harking back to his State of the Union address in February when he warned that half of all working Americans lacked access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer.

On Monday, he said he was “going to be doing also something we’re working on later on. And it’ll be also, I think, very popular.”

“I guess the best definition is they have a plan in Australia, which people really like. It’s really worked out very well, incredibly well, and is very respected,” Mr Trump said.

“And we’re going to be talking about that with congress, and see if we can implement it.”

“That would be more for grown-ups as opposed to children, but it’s something that’s going to be great … if we can get it done.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on May 1 said the administration was working with the Department of Treasury and congress on a model“pretty close or in the direction of the Australian system”.

He was speaking at event where Mr Trump signed an executive order directing Treasury to create TrumpIRA.gov – a platform aimed at making it easier for Americans without workplace retirement plans to open low-cost retirement accounts.

Mr Hassett said the plan to try to build a model based on the Australian superannuation system was Phase II of the administration’s retirement agenda.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/trump-looks-to-australia-for-us-retirement-overhaul/news-story/adda4510a913a6620111fbc030f43e9b

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‘Eternity of pain’: Angus Taylor takes on Pauline Hanson in crucial speech for the Coalition leader

GREG BROWN - July 09, 2026

1/2

Angus Taylor has warned a One Nation government would create an “eternity of pain” for Australians and deliver even worse economic outcomes than the Albanese government, likening Pauline Hanson’s populist party to the Greens in his fiercest critique since becoming Liberal leader.

The Opposition Leader said One Nation’s unfunded policies would increase inflation, send interest rates 3 per cent higher, cost mortgage holders $20,000 a year, triple the debt, and cause a sovereign debt crisis requiring cuts to pensions and Medicare.

In a major speech to the Sydney Institute on Thursday evening, Mr Taylor warned Australians were becoming poorer under Labor due to bigger government, sluggish productivity, high immigration, support for net zero and a the rollout of a union-endorsed industrial relations agenda.

“Labor expands government, which slows the economy, reducing revenue,” Mr Taylor said. “So it levies new taxes on investment, saving, and aspiration. And this slows the economy further, reducing revenue further still. Labor has put our economy into a death loop.”

But he warned the future would be even worse under a government led by Senator Hanson, likening One Nation to the Greens while declaring the party would “send us broke” if it won an election.

Mr Taylor’s speech came as Senator Hanson travelled to Britain this week to meet with far-right celebrities including former Neighbours actor Holly Valance and the controversial anti-Islam podcaster Tommy Robinson.

With the Coalition grappling over how to campaign against a surging One Nation that is rivalling Labor in the polls, Mr Taylor did not take a personal swipe at Senator Hanson but tore down her party’s answers to Australia’s economic problems and argued she did not have a credible team around her.

He also empathised with many voters turning to One Nation, describing them as people who have done “everything right” but are weighed down by an economy not delivering for them.

“Many have lost hope,” he said, according to a copy of his speech. “They look left at a government that lies to them. They look right at an opposition that has too many times let them down. I understand why some Australians think the way out is to blow the place up.

“But to those who feel like lighting a match, believe me when I say, that a moment of satisfaction isn’t worth the eternity of pain that will follow.

“One Nation claims to offer a way out of our national malaise. In reality, they would only make things worse.”

Describing One Nation as a “column of smoke”, Mr Taylor said the party was long on rhetoric but short on substance.

He rejected Senator Hanson’s claim One Nation had consistent values since she founded the party in the 1990s, highlighting the divergent views of Queensland senator Malcolm Roberts and new Farrer MP David Farley.

“One Nation’s offering is a random grab bag of poorly defined, contradictory, and constantly changing positions that leave no clear sense of who they are or what they stand for,” he said. “Their longest serving MP thinks the United States is the ‘world’s greatest terrorist organisation’, and their newest MP is already voting with the Greens and teals.”

While Mr Taylor said commonwealth spending needed to be curtailed to fix the nation’s economic woes, he accused One Nation of planning to “double down” on big government intervention. “But with even less of a concern than Labor about how to make the numbers add up,” Mr Taylor said. “Their top four financial commitments alone could cost the budget in the order of a trillion dollars over a decade. And they have no clear or credible plan for how they’d pay for these commitments.

“One Nation’s promise to abolish parts of the bureaucracy would cover perhaps just one 15th of these commitments.

“Of course, it’s easy to make promises when you aren’t a party of government. One Nation is a lot like the Greens in that regard.”

(continued)

2/2

Mr Taylor said One Nation’s unfunded policies would “generate a surge in inflation requiring the RBA to raise interest rates by around 3 percentage points”.

“That would add around $20,000 a year in interest to the average new mortgage. And that’s on top of the $30,000 a year Labor has already lumped mortgage holders with,” he said.

“Our national debt, already nearing $1 trillion, would be on track to nearly triple. Rising rates would then create a compounding feedback loop. Down that road lies a sovereign debt crisis.

“Their only alternative is deeper cuts to essential services – pensions and Medicare chief among them. That’s why I warn that an eternity of pain would follow a One Nation government.”

Mr Taylor is basing his analysis off One Nation’s four most expensive policies including supporting the Coalition’s policy to index tax thresholds, income splitting, raising defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product and “net-zero migration”.

A spokesman for Senator Hanson dismissed Mr Taylor’s attack. “The Coalition had almost 10 years to end the real cost-of-living pain caused to Australian households and businesses by net zero and did nothing,” the spokesman said. “The Coalition had almost 10 years to end the real housing pain caused by mass immigration and did nothing. There’s imagined pain, and then there’s real pain. Who’s responsible for the real pain?”

The Liberal leader also faces his own questions from Labor over balancing his own policies, with Jim Chalmers accusing the Coalition of having a $544bn black hole. This is partly predicated on Mr Taylor vowing to wind back Labor’s budget tax hikes, increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP and indexing tax thresholds at a cost of more than $200bn over a decade. Mr Taylor is also promising to cut migration to lower levels than Labor, which will impact the budget.

The Australian reported last month leading economists were concerned that One Nation’s policies would not help the fight against inflation and provide the most help for the wealthy.

Among One Nation’s cost-of-living measures is income splitting for couples with dependent children, halving the fuel excise for three years, raising the tax-free threshold for self-funded retirees to $35,000 and removing the excise on beer and spirits in venues. It also has proposals to immediately cut electricity prices by 20 per cent, allow pensioners to work more without cutting payments, and an unspecified increase to the Medicare rebate to “better remunerate GPs and promote bulk billing”.

While One Nation has not costed its policies – falsely claiming the PBO was only available for parties with five or more seats in the lower house – economists put the price tag on its fuel excise policy at about $10bn a year while the alcohol tax policy would cost about $2bn a year.

One Nation claims it will offset spending through a $90bn-a-year plan to cut “government waste”, despite modelling by former Liberal senator Gerard Rennick showing income splitting alone could cost as much as $70bn over 10 years, while the price of a promised defence investment uplift would be hundreds of billions of dollars over a decade.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/eternity-of-pain-angus-taylor-takes-on-pauline-hanson-in-crucial-speech-for-the-coalition-leader/news-story/0dfbd3a66edbb887bd59ca64f13c3d5c

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/one-nation-wants-to-fix-our-country-by-blowing-it-up/news-story/d4a09e9c216db59d86575a50b5448854

Pauline Hanson meets with UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson

A controversial British activist with a string of convictions and ties to Russian disinformation units, has praised One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as “one of the bravest” people on the planet.

Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer - July 9, 2026

1/2

A British far-right activist with ties to Russian propagandists has praised One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as “one of the bravest lady’s (sic) on the planet” after interviewing her on a podcast.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the moniker Tommy Robinson, has a string of convictions ranging from assault to passport fraud.

He rose to prominence early last decade after co-founding the English Defence League and staging anti-Islam street protests across the UK.

In recent years, he has rebranded himself as an independent media figure and is associated with several fringe and alt-right outlets and activist groups as well as Russian state media.

His interview with Karl Stefanovic last month led to the veteran broadcaster’s termination with Nine.

“Had a fascinating time chatting to one of the bravest lady’s (sic) on the planet,” Yaxley-Lennon posted on social media on Thursday.

“Fearless, relentless, consistent, fighting for the Australian people and hopefully the next leader of her nation.”

Senator Hanson has met with several right-wing figures since arriving in the UK after parliament paused last week for the midwinter break.

Among them is Australian actor-turned-conservative activist Holly Vallance, who is also an associate of Mr Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

(continued)

2/2

Yaxley-Lennon has drawn the attention of British authorities for travelling to Russia and making statements in support of the country, which both UK and Australia are sanctioning over the war in Ukraine.

Returning from a trip to Moscow in June, Yaxley-Lennon was stopped by police at London’s Heathrow Airport and his phone was seized under laws meant to stop potential threats to the UK.

While in Moscow, he told media he had “come to see how this country got itself so well on to the straight and narrow and see the beauty of a civilised society here”.

“Russia is not the enemy of Britain,” Yaxley-Lennon told The Guardian at the time.

The British government, including outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer, has warned Russia could attack NATO “as soon as 2030”.

During his interview with Karl Stefanovic, Yaxley-Lennon said he was in awe of Senator Hanson’s rise.

“I love Pauline,” he said, adding that he had “watched her for years”.

“She spoke up for me. She’s one of the only people who spoke up for me from that side of the world and I respect her.

“So, looking at her rise, do you know how happy I am for her? Because she’s been through what I’ve been through.

“She’s been condemned, attacked, battered, every name under the sun and here she is. She’s carried on against all of that backlash.”

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/uk-politics/pauline-hanson-meets-with-uk-farright-activist-tommy-robinson/news-story/91b9674c9e8bc40a4ea7393cf58a9457

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E2UKLvjhjk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqQM7WowL74

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Deeming apologises to backers, vows to ‘boot this corrupt Labor Grubberment out’

GEORGIA PALGAN - July 07, 2026

Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has apologised to her supporters for “so many huge distractions” after she made unsubstantiated allegations of assault against her colleague Matthew Guy, while urging voters to keep faith in her ahead of the state election.

In a video on her social channels, Ms Deeming said she could not elaborate on her ongoing legal battle against the Victorian Liberal Party, but suggested matters were “being mediated behind the scenes where it should be mediated”.

She responded to negative comments on the post by expressing support for current leader Jess Wilson and saying it was “excruciating” not to be able to defend herself publicly.

“There have been so many huge distractions that have taken away from the work that you as my constituents and Victorians really needed to be done, and I am genuinely so, so sorry that all of these things over the past 3½ years have happened,” she said in the video.

The court action was lodged by Ms Deeming after she made assault allegations against former opposition leader Mr Guy that were unable to be substantiated by police, and then defied Ms Wilson’s request to apologise.

A trial, which will determine whether the party can disendorse Ms Deeming ahead of the November state election, is set down for next week.

The action is the third time Ms Deeming has been involved in a legal case against fellow Liberals, after she successfully sued then opposition leader John Pesutto for defaming her over her attendance at a Let Women Speak rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

She remains an independently represented defendant in a case being brought by five current and former members of the Liberal state executive against the party over the decision to loan Mr Pesutto $1.55m to enable him to pay his legal debts.

Comments flooded Ms Deeming’s Facebook post, with one suggesting they had backed the MP “all the way with the initial incident. However, a public apology for your misunderstanding to Matt Guy was required last week.”

Ms Deeming replied to the commenter: “I hear you – please understand I am not against Jess, believe it or not … It’s excruciating not being able to just defend myself publicly.

“But only Labor wins if I do that right now.”

On Tuesday, Ms Deeming acknowledged the loyalty of supporters who had backed her through what she described as the most difficult and tenuous period of her life, and said their trust remained well-placed.

“For all of you people that have been supporting me, you supported me through the most difficult times … and I have just been so grateful for the way in which you’ve all done that and you’ve put your trust in me and I hope you all know that you can still trust me,” she said.

A caption that accompanied Tuesday’s post read: “Don’t lose hope. Hold steady and press towards the goal. Let’s boot this corrupt Labor Grubberment out of office.”

“The simple fact is that things go wrong in life and you have to just pick yourself up and keep going forward. That’s what I intend to do,” she said.

Ms Deeming said she remained committed to the agenda her constituents had elected her to pursue, including fighting union corruption, defending parental rights and child safeguards, and advancing what she described as “actual true equality in the law”.

“That job is still sitting there, it needs to be done, and we have never, ever been so close to being able to get rid of Labor and actually do it,” Ms Deeming said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/deeming-apologises-to-backers-vows-to-boot-this-corrupt-labor-grubberment-out/news-story/126df9ad41e4ba072b34907463846a1b

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1319740489847037

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 13, 2026, 12:31 a.m. No.24820686 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0687

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Teenager accused of terror plot used AI to craft Bondi-inspired massacre stories

MACKENZIE SCOTT - July 09, 2026

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A reclusive teenager accused of planning a terror attack at a Queensland primary school had allegedly used AI to create first-person mass-murder stories, including one inspired by the Bondi Beach massacre.

At a Supreme Court appeal hearing over whether to grant the 13-year-old bail on Wednesday, judge Peter Davis upheld the decision by a Fraser Coast magistrate to deny the boy’s release because of “the unstable nature” of his mental state.

Police allege the boy held neo-Nazi-aligned views, and had a hatred of young children, black people, Muslims and Jews.

At 4.37am on April 22, little more than a month after he was alleged to have entered a service station with a knife, the boy was accused of asking an AI program to create a fictional story inspired by Bondi and a Russian school shooting.

“Make me a mass shooting story 18+ kinda like the Bondi beach shooting, but it’s in Qld heavybay (sic) beach when there is a Jewish and blacks festival,” he is alleged to have prompted.

“The mc (main character) shooter is Romolus Vanguard, 19, immigrant from Europe.

“Legal immigrant, moved when he was 11 year old. He is from sebira (sic), dark messy hair, good looking, sharp jawline, tall and skinny like (Crimean school shooter) Vladislav Roslyakov and more he uses a sp-15-tac.

“The POVs (point of view) are just normal Australians on the beach … he also is neo nazi.”

In 2018, 18-year-old Roslyakov killed 20 people at his high school, Kerch Polytechnic College, before committing suicide.

Footage from the massacre event can be found online.

The Maryborough teen, who cannot be identified because of his age, faces one state and one commonwealth terror charge.

He allegedly walked into a petrol station on May 28 wearing a lower face covering and carrying a knife taken from the kitchen sink, before threatening the attendant. Investigators will allege he also tried to steal a car in order to drive to a primary school and fulfil his plan to kill children, whom he perceived to be easy targets.

Police were called to the business and arrested the boy, who allegedly disclosed in an interview that he had wanted to kill people for months and had been inspired by Russian shooters and mass killers who targeted schools.

He was released with a warning under the Youth Justice Act.

(continued)

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Two days later, counter-terrorism police undertook a search warrant of the home, seizing three devices. They allegedly found several concerning documents, including a manifesto detailing his alleged neo-Nazi views, a note titled “The Albert Massacre”, seemingly referring to the local Albert State School, and dark web access to firearms and illegal weapons suppliers.

Defence barrister Clem van der Weegen submitted that the teenager’s musings were “just dark thoughts” and noted that there was no offence known to law where a person was charged with thoughts or being in conspiracy with oneself. He added that the boy, who had not been to school in two years or interacted with children his own age, is not known to have communicated the so-called plans to anyone else.

Mr van der Weegen previously told the court the boy had locked himself in a bathroom at the service station and had made the threat to harm the man from behind a closed door, allegedly telling arresting officers “he couldn’t do it”.

A series of bail conditions were proposed by the defence that stopped the boy accessing the internet or leaving his home, except to attend medical appointments or programs. He would also wear an electronic monitoring device at all times.

However, Justice Davis rejected the proposal because of the boy’s mental state. The court heard he had previously threatened to shoot his mother and smother his sister with a pillow.

The teen is currently admitted to Brisbane Children’s Hospital for involuntary mental health treatment, with the court hearing he had previously self-harmed.

“The applicant clearly has a mental disorder,” he said.

“It is in this residence that the applicant became a radicalised recluse … the evidence shows that his mother is scared of the applicant.

“Almost the entire existence of the applicant in the past two years, while in the family home, has involved trawling the internet and developing radical views.”

However, Justice Davis left the door open for bail to be reassessed at a later date, once the boy’s mental state improved.

“At this point there must be an unacceptable risk of the commission of an offence which endangers the safety of the community or the safety of a person and that risk, if it manifests itself, could result in serious harm,” he said.

“Given what appears to be the unstable nature of the applicant’s mental state, the risk cannot be mitigated to a satisfactory level by the imposition of conditions.”

The matter will next be heard on September 15 at Maryborough Children’s Court.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/teenager-accused-of-terror-plot-used-ai-to-craft-bondiinspired-massacre-stories/news-story/1aac4e14f0419d830646f8648faf929e

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‘A different time’: Julia Gillard rows back on her changes to Sex Discrimination Act

JACQUELIN MAGNAY - July 02, 2026

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Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard has rowed back on her government’s controversial changes to the Australian Sex Discrimination Act in 2013, telling an audience at Manchester University: “It was a different time.”

After delivering the Cockroft Rutherford lecture at the university on Wednesday evening, Ms Gillard was asked by an audience member about the issues of gender identity and the fact that, thanks to the changes to the act under her government, women in Australia are no longer defined by biological sex.

Ms Gillard at first claimed the issue wouldn’t be of interest to a British audience, before telling her questioner that the issues “were not raised by anyone (back in 2012, when the legislation came before parliament) because they simply weren’t a matter of public discourse the way they are today.”

“It was a different time,’’ she added. “So it is an error to uplift what we know now and the public discourse now and just putting it down to 14 years ago’’.

The comments were the first recent public utterances Ms Gillard has made about the impact of Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act which was changed in 2013 when she was prime minister. It comes as she has faced a series of protests held by pro-women activists in Britain over the past month highlighting her government’s legislative changes and the deleterious impact they have had on women’s rights.

For many years Ms Gillard has declined to answer “what is a woman?”, instead claiming it was a “gotcha question”. In 2023 this prompted criticism in the Senate by senator Claire Chandler who said Ms Gillard’s dodging of the question “was no game”.

Senator Chandler said the Gillard government’s removal of the definition of a woman from the Sex Discrimination Act had led directly “to some of the most perverse policy decisions Australia has ever witnessed”.

At the time of the changed legislation in 2013, an explanatory Australian government memorandum said the Act would repeal the Act’s statutory definitions of “man” and “woman”, while simultaneously adding new protected attributes of sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status.

But by removing the explicit biological definitions of a man and a woman, the Act has since been interpreted by the courts as preferencing gender identity ahead of biological sex.

The issue is central to the Tickle versus Giggle court case where the Federal Court has ruled the Sex Discrimination Act does not confine the legal concept of sex to biological sex and found that Sall Grover’s company Giggle, which was designed for women, had discriminated against trans woman Roxanne Tickle on the basis of appearance.

On Wednesday Ms Gillard said she wouldn’t comment on the court case, which is currently the subject of an appeal.

(continued)

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Outside the Manchester University’s Nancy Rothwell Building, around a dozen pro-women activists protested against Ms Gillard and told audience members that “Julia Gillard is no feminist”.

The activists said Ms Gillard had destroyed protections for women by making biology and sex redundant in Australian law.

In a pamphlet handed out to passersby, the group said the situation in Australia was that women do not have the right to single sex spaces, that it is unlawful for lesbians to hold a public lesbian only event without including men who identify as women and that males who identify as women cannot be excluded from services or spaces for women.

Last month two audience members at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival erected a banner at a panel discussion involving Ms Gillard, which said “Julia Gillard Destroyer of Women’s Rights”. One of the women attempted to ask Ms Gillard about Australian women’s gender-based rights but was cut off by moderator Katya Adler, who said “we are finished”, to some applause from the audience members.

That attempted intervention came two days after a protest was staged outside the Australian High Commission in London in support of Ms Grover, where around 100 people drew attention to Australia’s legal position in relation to women’s spaces. They called for a change to the Act in Australia so that it is similar to the UK Supreme Court ruling that sex is based on biology, not feelings or identity.

Ms Gillard was giving the prestigious Cockcroft Rutherford lecture at the university in her role as the chair of the Wellcome Trust, which awards £111 million to Manchester for scientific research activities.

At the end of the speech Ms Gillard gave some advice to any incoming political leader – without naming Manchester’s own Andy Burnham who is likely to become Britain’s next prime minister- saying “your most precious resource is time.”

She added: “And it can be incredibly easy for your diary to fill in a completely exhausting and spirit-crushing way every day and it not be in the service of having impact or driving your agenda. Ruthless prioritisation of time often does mean you break quite a few people’s hearts about who you see and who you don’t.

“But it’s really important. Complete clarity about a small number of strategic goals that you want to achieve. However long you’re in politics, it won’t ever be long enough to do everything that you would have liked to have done and it won’t ever be enough to fix everything in our world.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/no-public-debate-julia-gillard-rows-back-on-her-changes-to-sex-discrimination-act/news-story/b7115f531f99334e138166ccd3174646

>>24820703

‘It was a different time’: Julia Gillard remark ignites push on gender law

RACHEL BAXENDALE - July 02, 2026

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Labor faces widespread calls to put biological sex back into the nation’s discrimination laws, after former prime minister Julia Gillard claimed her 2013 gender reforms did not anticipate “a different time” where transgender activists would use them to challenge women’s rights.

Ms Gillard’s comments coincided with Labor and the Greens voting this week to block the introduction of Coalition and One Nation bills to reintroduce definitions of biological sex in the Sex Discrimination Act, preventing them from even being debated.

After delivering the Cockroft Rutherford Lecture at Manchester University on Wednesday evening, Ms Gillard was asked by an audience member about the issues of gender identity and the fact that, thanks to the changes to the Act under her government, women in Australia are no longer defined by biological sex.

The former PM at first claimed the issue wouldn’t be of interest to a British audience, before telling her questioner that the issues “were not raised by anyone (back in 2012, when the legislation came before parliament) because they simply weren’t a matter of public discourse the way they are today”.

“It was a different time,’’ she added. “So it is an error to uplift what we know now and the public discourse now and just putting it down to 14 years ago’’.

The comments were the first recent public utterances Ms Gillard has made about the impact of the 2013 changes, and come as she has faced a series of protests held by pro-women activists in Britain over the past month highlighting the deleterious impact of the reforms on women’s rights.

At the time of the changed legislation in 2013, an explanatory Australian government memorandum said the Act would repeal its statutory definitions of “man” and “woman”, while simultaneously adding new protected attributes of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status. But by removing the explicit biological definitions of a man and a woman, the Act has since been interpreted by the courts as preferencing gender identity ahead of biological sex.

The issue is central to the Tickle v Giggle court case where the Federal Court has ruled the Sex Discrimination Act does not confine the legal concept of sex to biological sex, and found that Sall Grover’s company, Giggle, which was designed for women, had discriminated against trans woman Roxanne Tickle on the basis of appearance.

Ms Grover, who is appealing the verdict in the High Court, told The Australian on Thursday that Ms Gillard’s comments should prompt action from the government to reform the Act.

“The onus is now on Albanese to do something, and he will regret it if he doesn’t,” Ms Grover said.

“History will judge him. People want this. This is a very easy political win.

“Gender ideology has taken down politicians all over the world. We’re no different here. I think he should show that he is capable of actually listening to Australian citizens and doing something that we want.

“Everybody knows that men aren’t women, including the people that have been involved in doing the harm.”

Ms Grover said there was one defence available to Ms Gillard, which was that parliament “never intended” for the 2013 changes to the Act to infringe upon the rights of women to female-only spaces and services.

“How it was supposed to work was that all existing protections remained, and then you added gender identity in,” Ms Grover said.

“If that was what you were being discriminated on the basis of, you were now protected.

“There’s no evidence parliament intended for there to be an impact on women’s rights, and Gillard should just say it.

“People make mistakes. I would have so much respect for her if she just said, ‘it’s a mistake, let me help you fix it’.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 13, 2026, 1:38 a.m. No.24820712 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0714

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Women’s Forum Australia CEO Rachael Wong said Ms Gillard had “effectively acknowledged” that the 2013 changes “had consequences that were never properly debated”.

“But it is not enough to suggest that ‘it was a different time’ and move on,” Ms Wong said.

“You can’t intentionally remove the definition of woman from law and then act surprised when that has grave consequences for women and girls – including in prisons, sport and other sex-segregated settings.

“As a legislator, Gillard had a duty to consider the ramifications of the laws she was passing.

“The most powerful thing she can do is acknowledge she made and mistake and call on her party to fix it.

“Yet this week, Labor and the Greens blocked two bills that would have restored sex-based protections in the Act, once again putting ideology above the rights and safety of women and girls.”

Former Family Court judge Catherine Carew KC – who has argued that it was “an extraordinary overreach” for the Federal Court to find in Tickle v Giggle that the ordinary meaning of “woman” includes a biological male who merely identifies as a woman – said that while Ms Gillard “may be able to claim plausible deniability” on the impacts of the 2013 amendments, “there can be little doubt that the bureaucrats behind the amendments knew exactly what they were doing”.

“It is a timely reminder that people in positions of power in government and institutions need to take back control, as they are ultimately responsible,” Ms Carew said.

“For too long now bureaucrats, particularly in the human resources sector, promote ‘ideology’ to the ultimate detriment of the vast population.

“Diversity and inclusion sounds benign, but it is often anything but, as women in particular have found.”

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said Ms Gillard had “belled the cat”, and the Albanese government “should listen”.

“Nobody could foresee in 2013 that we would end up in the mess we are in at the moment,” Senator Cash said.

“The bill I introduced in the Senate yesterday, which was blocked by Labor and the Greens, would fix this issue once and for all, giving biological women the rights they deserve without taking away any other protections which currently exist in the Act.

“It is an absolute disgrace the Albanese government will not even allow this issue to be debated. The Prime Minister has betrayed millions of Australian women and girls and needs to be held to account.”

A One Nation spokesman said issues of women’s rights had been specifically raised when the Gillard government, with the support of the Coalition, changed the law.

“They were raised in the report on the bill made by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, tabled in June 2013,” the spokesman said.

“One Nation has not only been twice blocked from amending the SDA to reflect biological reality. We have tried to move Senate inquiries into the sharp rise in Australian children presenting with gender dysphoria and being treated at gender clinics, the silencing of health professionals like (Queensland psychiatrist) Dr Jillian Spencer, the findings of the Cass Review in the UK, and other related matters.

“Labor, the Greens, crossbenchers and members of the Coalition have blocked each of these inquiries.”

A government spokesperson said Labor remained “committed to eliminating discrimination against women and ensuring that everyone receives the protection of the law, regardless of their sex or gender identity”.

“Every individual is entitled to respect, dignity and the opportunity to participate in society and access the services they need,” the spokesperson said.

“The federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in a range of areas of public life. That is appropriate.

“The Act has had bipartisan support under successive governments – both Liberal and Labor.”

(continued)

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Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody – who has described attempts to reintroduce biological definitions to the SDA as a “retrograde step” – did not respond to a request for comment.

Greens LGBTIQA+ spokesman Nick McKim said: “The Greens will never apologise for standing up for the rights of trans people, who are coming under sustained attack from the toilet police, wannabe genital inspectors and their fellow travellers in the hate media.”

On Wednesday Ms Gillard said she wouldn’t comment on the Tickle v Giggle case, with the appeal under way.

Outside Manchester University’s Nancy Rothwell Building, around a dozen pro-women activists protested against Ms Gillard and told audience members “Julia Gillard is no feminist”.

The activists said Ms Gillard had destroyed protections for women by making biology and sex redundant in Australian law.

In a pamphlet handed out to passers-by, the group said the situation in Australia was that women do not have the right to single-sex spaces, that it is unlawful for lesbians to hold a public lesbian-only event without including men who identify as women, and that males who identify as women cannot be excluded from services or spaces for women.

Last month two audience members at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival erected a banner at a panel discussion involving Ms Gillard, which said “Julia Gillard Destroyer of Women’s Rights”.

One of the women attempted to ask Ms Gillard about Australian women’s gender-based rights but was cut off by moderator Katya Adler, who said “we are finished”, to some applause from the audience members.

That attempted intervention came two days after a protest was staged outside the Australian high commission in London in support of Ms Grover, where around 100 people drew attention to Australia’s legal position in relation to women’s spaces.

They called for a change to the Act in Australia so that it is similar to the UK Supreme Court ruling that sex is based on biology, not feelings or identity.

Ms Gillard was giving the prestigious Cockcroft Rutherford lecture at the university in her role as the chair of the Wellcome Trust, which awards £111m ($215m) to Manchester University for scientific research activities.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/it-was-a-different-time-julia-gillard-remark-ignites-push-on-gender-law/news-story/b4d05c2c99aea9d6aaf48f452ccb5299

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University leaders called to royal commission over campus antisemitism crisis

NATASHA BITA - July 10, 2026

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Sydney University, Melbourne University, Monash University and the Australian National University have been called to give evidence to the Royal Commission’s on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion next week.

The lived experiences of antisemitism and its impacts on Jewish students and academics will be examined during the fourth block of hearings, which starts in Melbourne on Monday.

Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell will inquire into the universities’ responses to combat the antisemitism that was experienced by staff and students.

Most of Australia’s sandstone city universities hosted protests and student encampments in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, and Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza.

The University of Sydney – where anti-Israel activists have targeted Jewish students and academics – revealed on Friday that it had been called to appear before the commission.

“To assist with its important work, the university will appear before the royal commission,’’ it told staff in a statement.

“We have made important progress over the last two years but we know our work is not yet finished. We will continue to engage openly and constructively with the royal commission and listen to our community. Antisemitism has absolutely no place at the University of Sydney, or in society.’’

Masked protesters have interrupted lectures by Jewish professors at the University of Sydney, including its director of European Studies, Professor Peter Morgan, who was left “shaking’’ after the infiltrators shouted at his students and refused to leave the lecture theatre in a 2024 incident.

The university sacked a staff member last year after she was filmed ranting at Jewish students celebrating the religious festival of Sukkoth, calling them “depraved’’ and “disgusting’’.

The University of Melbourne confirmed the royal commission had called its interim vice-chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis.

“The University of Melbourne is part of the national process to reflect, mourn and seek a renewed sense of trust and belonging for all,’’ a spokesperson said.

“We reaffirm our commitment to a safe, inclusive and supportive environment for all and acknowledge the important work of the royal commission. As a diverse university community, we must come together and stand united in our continued efforts to eradicate hate and discrimination in all forms.’’

(continued)

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A Monash University spokesman confirmed that vice-chancellor Professor Sharon Pickering had also been called to give evidence.

The university – named after eminent World War I general Sir John Monash, a Jew who founded the Zionist Federation of Australia – was the site of some of the biggest anti-Israel protests in 2024.

Pro-Palestine activist Mohammad Sharab was filmed swearing at Jewish students on campus in May 2024 that “Israel is a terrorist state and Zionism is a terrorist entity – now get your phone and f*ck off’’.

Macquarie University – which set up “safe rooms’’ for Jewish students – is not scheduled to give evidence next week but has already provided written information to the royal commission. “Macquarie University respects the significant work of the (royal commission) and has submitted documentation requested by the royal commission,’’ a spokesman said.

ANU– which refused to take action against a student who used an online meeting to make gestures that Jewish classmates interpreted as a Nazi salute and Hitler’s moustache – confirmed that it would also give evidence.

“The university can confirm that interim vice-chancellor Rebekah Brown and acting provost Joan Leach have been called to appear,’’ a spokesperson said.

University of Queensland – where a student urinated on a Jewish academic’s desk, protesters flew an Islamic terror flag and antisemitic stickers were plastered on campus – said it had not been called.

Members of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, known as 5A, will give evidence of “normalised and deeply embedded antisemitism on campuses’’.

“Many Jewish staff and students conceal their identities for fear of discrimination, retribution or exclusion,’’ 5A CEO Alisa Pincus said on Friday.

“Intervention by university leaders is the rare exception, leading to a climate in which hostility, intimidation and the use of antisemitic tropes have become normalised.’’

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, asked former Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Emeritus Professor Greg Craven to report on universities’ actions to stamp out antisemitism.

In an interim report in May, Professor Craven found that Jewish academics were being “targeted and silenced’’, and he exposed ongoing intimidation of Jewish staff and students.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/university-leaders-called-to-royal-commission-over-campus-antisemitism-crisis/news-story/cc401a6b4125b58714e5a06e3699b44e

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 13, 2026, 2:01 a.m. No.24820738 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0741

‘Baby killer, genocide supporter’: Jewish student describes ‘exhausting’ life on campus

Michael Bachelard - July 13, 2026

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A Jewish student was called a “baby killer” and “genocide supporter” on a prestigious Australian university campus by people taking part in the country’s longest-running university encampment in 2024.

Appearing as part of a two-week block of hearings in Melbourne for the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the student, Liat, was granted partial anonymity and was the first of a number of lived experience witnesses who will not be fully named.

Commissioner Virginia Bell said the hearings were taking place in Melbourne because it was the location of Australia’s largest Jewish population.

Liat on Monday described experiencing a “low-level hum” of antisemitism on campus before October 2023, but said that after the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza, a sense of “pervasive fear” had developed. She told the royal commission she felt the need to hide her identity, to the extent of not using her real name when ordering coffee.

Living as a Jew at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra had been “exhausting”, Liat said, and passing the encampment, which was set up in the middle of the campus, was a daily ordeal.

“I felt very physically unsafe when people would laugh and leer at me and say, ‘Look at the baby killer, look at the genocide supporter’,” she said.

Liat, who acts as a spokesperson for the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, said she helped organise a counter-protest on campus where a man approached, despite a heavy security presence, and performed a Nazi salute.

After October 2023, the student, who told the commission she was a Zionist, said she lost the vast majority of her non-Jewish friends.

She said one friend told her: “You’re of Israeli heritage, you can’t possibly be my friend.”

In the magazine welcoming students produced by the ANU student association, a line included said: “Zionism is a far-right political project, and the state of Israel is run by war criminals and proponents of genocide”. Liat told the royal commission the statement “portrays Jews as uniquely and distinctly bloodthirsty and murderous” and was an antisemitic trope.

She said she also felt unwelcome when, in a meeting of the student association, fellow students voted to remove a reference that condemned Hamas as a terror organisation.

Bell said on Monday lived experience witnesses would not be cross-examined on their evidence.

In other evidence, a tutor and PhD student at the University of New South Wales told the commission that in 2024, four students had performed the Nazi salute towards him in his classroom, and again in the corridor outside the business lesson.

As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, he said, “when someone does a Nazi salute to me, it feels like they want to kill me”.

When the man complained to the university, he said the response was inadequate. Initially, he was told the students would be given a verbal reprimand and reminded of university policies, and it was only after he reported the incident to police that the students were suspended for two weeks.

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Dr Andy Smidt, a speech pathology academic formerly at the University of Sydney, said it was “really difficult to do your job” during the pro-Palestinian protests and encampment on campus.

“If the Jews on campus, primarily as the Jews in Australia do, identify with Israel as part of who they are, then any attack on Israel is an attack on the Jews,” she told the commission.

“And so it’s not about conflating. It’s about the fact that they are connected. They’re undeniably inextricably connected.”

Introducing the hearing, Zelie Heger, SC, the counsel assisting the commissioner, said Australian universities carried a “profound duty of care to ensure that everyone feels safe, respected and included”.

Heger acknowledged institutions faced challenges in balancing different rights and freedoms and that, “it’s not always easy to discern when legitimate expressions of opinion cross the line into antisemitism or other forms of racism”.

“Nevertheless, the difficulty of striking that balance cannot be used as an excuse for inaction,” she said.

The hearing comes after the Albanese government’s announcement on Sunday that it would compel all universities to apply clear definitions of racism, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Aboriginal racism.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government would not mandate any current working definition, such as the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and universities would be able to design their own or adopt credible definitions.

Universities will also be required to file annual reports to the regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency.

Universities Australia, the sector’s peak body, last year drafted a new definition of antisemitism, and it was endorsed by 39 of its members. The government said campuses would not have to be compliant until January 1, 2027.

Burke said he had used the definition in visa cancellations “to test where there might be an allegation that there’s antisemitism involved”.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the tertiary regulator needed “more teeth, more powers” and should be able to issue fines when institutions fail to act.

“The regulator, at the moment, if it wants to fine a university, needs to go to court,” Clare said. “I figure that that’s not the right approach, and so we’ll introduce legislation to give the regulator more powers over the coming months.”

Speaking after giving her evidence, Liat agreed with the government’s decision to require universities to define antisemitism.

“I don’t think any of these people want to be antisemitic, and if you have a tool – whether that’s a definition or a policy – that tells you how not to be hateful towards a group of people, I see no reason why you wouldn’t want to use that,” she said.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/baby-killer-genocide-supporter-jewish-student-describes-exhausting-life-on-campus-20260713-p60es6.html

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ISIS-linked Australian woman Hodan Abby was enforcer of Sharia law in Syrian camp, ABC told

Stephanie March - 13 July 2026

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It would come as a silent threat in the middle of the night - a niqab and a knife - left outside a tent in the squalid, prison-like detention camp housing Islamic State-linked families in Syria.

The message for the occupant was simple: wear the black veil preferred by the Islamic State (IS), or else.

This is one of the not-so-subtle acts in support of IS ideology that Sydney woman Hodan Abby is alleged to have been behind during her years in the Kurdish-run detention camp, al-Roj, in north-east Syria, the ABC can reveal.

She is the last known Australian IS-linked woman in Syria and was issued with a temporary exclusion order (TEO) in February, barring her from returning to Australia.

That order was later revoked, and she was issued a return permit last month.

A security source from within the camp - who doesn't want to be named - but who dealt directly with Hodan Abby - described the Australian as a cunning, threatening figure and the "driving force" behind many of the problems in the camp.

According to the security source, Ms Abby acted as what they called a "Sharia judge", or an enforcer of Sharia law, arranged marriages for IS women over the phone, and bribed other women in the camp with charity money to win their loyalty.

Some of her alleged actions landed her in trouble with camp authorities - the source said Ms Abby admitted to taking instructions and orders from IS commanders in Idlib and Jarabulus and passing them on to others within the camp. The security source said they oversaw Hodan Abby's two stints in the camp "prison" in 2021 and 2022.

The ABC understands that in these camps, intelligence officers conduct interrogations and detain individuals periodically, and the prison is an informal detention facility with no formal jurisdiction or judicial proceedings.

Devoted 'by choice'

Former US diplomat, Peter Galbraith - who has spent decades helping rescue IS-linked children from north-east Syria - said his sources in the camp also describe Ms Abby as an IS "true believer".

"She is known in the camps to the people I'm in touch with, and they say that she was very radical," he told the ABC.

"She would try to enforce Islamic dress, that she made people - along with another woman - go to their tents [and] make them repent any supposed sins they committed, to say the Shahada [Islamic declaration of faith]," he said.

His source alleged that an ideological disagreement with another camp resident led to violence.

"In 2021, she allegedly hit a woman with a hammer," he said.

His source also said she spent a lot of time talking online to IS men to solicit donations from them.

He said his contacts said there was no evidence that Ms Abby was coerced into following IS ideology in the camps.

"There are a number of women in the camps, of course, including the women that I talk to, who have renounced ISIS - they no longer follow the ISIS dress code, and they can function in the camp.

"The women who are still devoted to ISIS are doing so by choice, and they can be a threat to other women in the camp," he said.

Connections to the highly radicalised

The camp security source who spoke to the ABC also said Ms Abby was "very close" to a family which includes Khadra Essa - a Dutch-Somali woman who the US State Department said "advocated the use of violence and encouraged other ISIS members to conduct attacks in multiple countries". The State Department has put a USD$5 million bounty on her head.

Essa, also known as Umm Qaqa al-Somali, is accused of being the chief Sharia instructor of an all-female fighting battalion that formed in Raqqa in 2016 called the Nusaybah Katibah (ISIS-NK), and is trained in using weapons, explosives, and carrying out suicide operations.

"Additionally, she has taught ISIS extremist ideology that justified suicide operations and killing of civilians and has recruited new members for ISIS," the State Department said.

Essa is most well-known for her role in allegedly hiding two US-born children who had been taken to the self-declared IS caliphate by their mother, who died in an air strike.

"In 2019, she held US siblings Yusuf and Zahra Shikder and took them to an undisclosed location in Syria after their mother died during a military strike against ISIS forces," the State Department said.

Mr Galbraith has been looking for Yusuf and Zahra but said they have "simply disappeared".

"Radical ISIS women hid other people's children to keep them from going to families who might be unbelievers," he said.

"Keeping children in miserable conditions and away from their families is yet another example of the cruelty of ISIS and its adherents. Cruel to the families and cruel to the children," he said.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 13, 2026, 2:15 a.m. No.24820752 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4755

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Khadra Essa is also the sister-in-law of Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh, who travelled to Syria to join IS. He took the name Abu Yousef al-Australie but was dubbed "Dr Jihad" by the media. He worked in paediatrics in Raqqa and appeared in two IS propaganda videos. It's believed he was killed in Syria in 2018.

Several years ago, Mr Galbraith discovered Kamleh's wife and the sister of Khadra Essa - Umm Yakeen - was hiding a US-born child whose mother had died in an air strike. Mr Galbraith managed to get the child repatriated to her extended family in America.

"The Essa family not only adhere to an extreme form of ISIS ideology, but they are participants and significant actors in crimes that are part of ISIS, that is to say, kidnapping and hiding children among other things," Mr Galbraith said.

It's not clear when all allegations about Ms Abby's time in the camp occurred or if they are reflective of her most recent behaviour and views.

"Being held in a closed detention camp since 2019 has a very different experience on different women who have been held there," Devorah Margolin, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said.

Dr Margolin has been tracking the detention of people linked to the Islamic State since 2017.

"Some came in extremely radicalised by the Islamic State, having been bought into the ideology, and the longer they were in detention, the more they saw that the Islamic State was not coming for them, the more disenfranchised they became," she told the ABC from Washington DC.

"Others felt the experience that their countries of origin were leaving them in these detention camps, not repatriating them, was enough of a radicalising factor."

As of March this year, the US State Department reported that 2,454 people remain in the al-Roj camp, with most being foreign nationals.

Dr Margolin said in more recent years, security problems that had long existed in the larger al Hol camp began to appear in the much smaller al Roj camp.

"It includes policing of other women, hurting and beating other women, it includes things such as attacking Syrian Democratic Forces that are running the camp and NGOs and creating almost no-go zones in the camp that security and NGO workers were not able to access because those allied to the Islamic State were creating their own communities in the camp," she said.

Return permit issued

The ABC previously revealed that Hodan Abby is alleged to have been known as Umm Osama in the so-called IS caliphate and allegedly abused a Yazidi girl who was enslaved in her home for several months in 2016.

Ms Abby was forbidden from returning home earlier this year after the Home Affairs Department issued her with a temporary exclusion order (TEO), designed to prevent someone who poses a terrorism or security threat from returning to Australia.

Last month, she was issued a return permit. It’s believed she is still in Syria with her daughter, who reportedly has shrapnel injuries and needs surgery that she has been unable to get abroad.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the agencies under his portfolio know where she was but would not elaborate on the details.

"Having seen some people who returned be arrested on arrival at the airport, she'd be weighing up the different things that she's done and would be making a decision as to whether or not she, in fact, ever returns," he told ABC News Breakfast.

Donald Rothwell, an international law expert at Australian National University, said these latest allegations likely informed the government's decision to issue the TEO, and could form the basis of charges against Ms Abby.

"One can only speculate at the moment as to what those charges could be, but the Commonwealth criminal code under Australian federal law creates a raft of offences generally within the category of a crime against humanity, which would fall into some of the categories that have been alleged with respect to Hodan Abbey's conduct," he said.

Mr Burke did not rule out charges being laid.

"Our agencies continue to build evidence," he said.

"Sometimes people have been arrested at the airport.

"Sometimes, as you've seen as well, we've continued to collect additional evidence after their arrival and arrests have happened later."

The ABC has contacted her family and lawyers for comment, but has received no response.

The AFP has said they have "no comment" when asked if they are aware of the allegations or have plans to charge Ms Abby.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-13/australian-is-hodan-abby-inside-al-roj-camp-syria/106895922

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Police investigating Andrew plan to talk to Virginia Giuffre’s family in US

Thames Valley police want to speak to relatives about her allegations of sexual assault against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Josie Ensor and Fiona Hamilton - July 10 2026

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Detectives investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are preparing to travel to the United States to speak with the family of his accuser Virginia Giuffre, The Times has learnt.

Thames Valley police want to talk to relatives of Giuffre, who died in April last year, about her allegations of sexual assault against Andrew.

Andrew’s former role as a trade envoy is at the centre of Thames Valley’s investigation into alleged misconduct in public office after revelations in the mass dump of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the paedophile financier.

However, detectives have issued a wider appeal for information and are also assessing allegations that another woman was sent to the UK in 2010 by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew at Royal Lodge. Andrew has always denied wrongdoing.

After he was arrested on his 66th birthday Giuffre’s family issued a statement thanking Thames Valley and saying that “our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty”.

It is understood detectives are planning to visit Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, in the coming weeks. It will not be a formal interview as they are not considered direct witnesses to the allegations. However, the family are in contact with detectives and revealed they would be visiting the US soon. Thames Valley have already sought files in the case from the Met, and are likely to speak with Andrew’s former protection officers.

In 2022, Andrew paid a £12 million settlement to Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was 17. Andrew denied wrongdoing and said he did not remember meeting Giuffre.

She killed herself in April last year aged 41. Her family were disappointed by the Met’s failure to carry out a full inquiry into her allegations, but believe that Thames Valley have been “very proactive”.

It is unclear whether Thames Valley has received the required permission from US authorities to travel and conduct interviews.

Sky and Amanda Roberts will seek a meeting with the new prime minister during a trip to the UK later this year.

Millions of documents were released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) that suggested Andrew forwarded confidential government itineraries and commercial reports to Epstein.

While those documents will be crucial for any prosecution, The Times understands that the DoJ has still not released material from the Epstein files to British police.

That is despite a trip to Washington in March by Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, who pressed for the release of unredacted exchanges. The Met is investigating Lord Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, for alleged misconduct in public office. Mandelson denies wrongdoing.

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The Met interviewed Giuffre in July 2015 after she made complaints of trafficking for sexual exploitation by Epstein, who died in his prison cell in New York four years later, and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. However, the force did not launch a full-blown investigation, saying there was no allegation of criminal conduct against any UK based-citizens, and that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities outside the UK and perpetrators based overseas.

The Met has reviewed the case on a series of occasions including late last year, months after Giuffre’s death, and its position remains unchanged. Thames Valley police officers are understood to be seeking records in relation to its interviews and decision-making process.

Andrew’s royal protection officers could be approached given they stayed with him at properties owned by Epstein and were instructed to provide security at his New York home, according to the Epstein files.

Thames Valley has been clear that its investigation is not limited. Detectives are still assessing allegations that a woman was trafficked to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew before she was given a tour of Buckingham Palace. Her lawyer has given a statement to police but she has not been interviewed. There have been reports she has decided not to pursue a formal criminal complaint, citing fears over loss of privacy and unwanted publicity.

In an appeal in May, Oliver Wright, assistant chief constable at Thames Valley, said that there were a “number of aspects of alleged misconduct that the investigation is examining”.

He added: “Misconduct in public office is a crime that can take different forms, making this a complex investigation. We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation into all reasonable lines of inquiry, wherever they may lead. We encourage anyone with information to get in touch.”

Andrew has been contacted for contact. Thames Valley said it cannot go into specifics of its investigation but it was following “all reasonable lines of inquiry”.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/andrew-mountbatten-windsor-us-virginia-giuffre-fgdc6xd0s

Derryn Hinch, the 'human headline', former senator and broadcaster, dies aged 82

Melissa Brown - 10 July 2026

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Derryn Hinch, the outspoken - and at times controversial - broadcaster and former senator, has died aged 82.

The barnstorming journalist was known for his distinctive broadcast style, honed over decades in the media, as well as his law-breaking crusades to expose sex offenders that earned him several stints in jail.

His death was confirmed on-air on his former radio station, 3AW.

The ABC confirmed the former senator had died in his sleep this morning.

Former colleague Peter Ford told 3AW Hinch was an important figure in the history of the radio station.

"It is one of those moments when you think that was an extraordinary life and career," he said.

"It's an amazing story of somebody who, as a young guy in rural New Zealand, had dreams of getting into journalism and slowly but surely, boy, did he do that.

"Apart from having a really good journalist's mind for a story, he knew how to write a story, how to present a story … he knew a good yarn when he heard it.

"Now that wasn't to say, of course, that he wasn't provocative; he stirred the pot a lot, he upset people a lot, and he saw that almost as being validation of doing his job well."

Denis O'Kane had a long working relationship with Hinch since the late 1970s , and remained close friends with him over the decades.

He told 3AW that he saw Hinch recently.

"Derryn hadn't changed, a lot of fun, serious guy to a lot of people but also when you're out with him, he was so much fun," he said.

"A great man … and we love him very much."

Loud and opinionated from the start

In early 2025, Hinch was sitting in a cafe in Melbourne when he was approached by a woman.

She wanted to read his 2010 autobiography about his then 50 years in the media, Human Headlines, but her local library had a waiting list to borrow it.

The conversation made Hinch realise how many more chapters needed to be added to his life story.

"I've had a little bit transpire - been to jail, been a senator, so a few things have happened," Hinch told the ABC at the time.

Born in New Zealand, Hinch began his long career at The Taranaki Herald in 1960, at the age of 15.

Just a few years later, he moved to Australia, taking on the police round at The Sun newspaper in Sydney.

Over the next six decades, he landed roles in nearly every arm of the media … and often told people he was sacked from "16 or 17" of them.

His time working for Fairfax in New York in the late 1960s and 70s was noted in a speech delivered by his contemporary, Ray Martin, at Hinch's 2018 induction into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

Martin revealed that Hinch's trademark style of being loud and highly opinionated was established early in his career.

"He flaunted more company credit cards and pulled off more front-page scoops than any other compatriot," Martin told the ceremony.

Martin recalled being taken to task by his own ABC editors for not having as many contacts inside the UN as Hinch, or the same headline-grabbing quotes from within its corridors.

"Whenever I challenged the veracity of some of those diplomatic sources - as I occasionally did - Hinch's retort would be to ask somewhat rhetorically, 'Listen, did your story lead the bulletin? Did it make the front page of the First Edition? No? Well, end of section, Sunshine.'"

From fame to infamy

While in the US, Hinch provided live commentary of the Apollo 11 launch for Sydney radio station 2GB in 1969.

A snippet of the broadcast was replayed during an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne breakfast hosts Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy.

"That still gives me goosebumps when I hear that," he told the pair.

"I was a real radio rookie. I was a print journo. It wasn't a bad way to start my radio career, though."

Over the decades, Hinch drifted in and out of talkback radio in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide - including ratings-winning slots on 3AW.

He appeared as a panellist on the TV talk show Beauty and the Beast, hosted The Midday Show on the Nine Network and, in more recent years, was a commentator for various news programs on Seven and Sky News.

But it was his eponymous current affairs shows on Seven and Ten that made Hinch one of the most recognisable faces on television in the late 1980s and 90s.

He was equally known for his unabashed opinions and his catchphrases - "That's life" and "Shame, shame, shame" - which were most famously parodied by Steve Vizard on the comedy show Fast Forward.

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He also became infamous for flouting contempt-of-court laws regarding sex offenders, which saw him convicted three times.

He was fined and jailed for 12 days in 1987 for identifying paedophile Catholic priest Michael Glennon while a criminal trial was pending.

He spent five months in home detention in 2011 for breaching suppression orders over two other offenders.

A few years later, he opted to spend 50 days in prison rather than pay a $100,000 fine for airing details about the criminal history of Adrian Ernest Bailey, the killer of ABC employee Jill Meagher.

Hinch claimed the public's right to know about sex offenders was more important than laws of contempt and sub judice.

Looking back on his time on the inside, he told triple j Hack: "People get it too cushy in jail. I had more quality meat in the week than most pensioners would get in the month.

"Judges and magistrates are out of touch with community expectations on sentencing."

Social justice issues were of such importance to Hinch that he decided to enter politics at the age of 72.

A public sex offender register was one of the key platforms of his campaign when running for the Senate.

He was successful, serving from 2016 to 2019.

The oldest first-time senator, he was credited with the introduction of a new law restricting the overseas travel of convicted paedophiles.

He was also instrumental in relaxing the rules around the types of photos the media could take in the Senate, even though he himself had been photographed asleep in parliament.

He formed his own political party, the Derryn Hinch Justice Party, with his candidates winning three seats in the 2018 Victorian election.

The party advocated for tougher sentences for sexual and violent offences.

None of the candidates were successful in the 2022 Victorian state election, leading to him dissolving the party, which he described as "one of the saddest moments of my life".

Through sickness and in health

Hinch wrote more than a dozen books, and revealed in 2025 that he was indeed working on those additions to his autobiography.

Among the memoirs and tell-alls were guides to everything from winning the board game Scrabble to coping with grief, heartbreak and illness.

On the last two subjects, he was well versed.

The marriage equality supporter was wed five times, including to theatre, TV and film actor Jacki Weaver, with whom he appeared in the film clip for John Farnham's hit song You're the Voice.

In an ABC interview, he recalled an amusing encounter with the young actor who played the couple's daughter in the video clip.

"When I was campaigning for the Senate, a woman walked up to me and said, 'Oh Derryn, hi. I'm your daughter!' which is what you don't need to hear when you're on the campaign trail," he laughed.

It was while he was a senator that Hinch had one of several medical scares, suffering a brain injury after falling from an Uber in Melbourne.

A revelation that he had consumed two glasses of wine before the incident attracted some criticism, as Hinch had been the recipient of a liver transplant in 2011 after being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and inoperable liver cancer.

"I drink occasionally, and I'm not stupid," he told Sky News at the time.

"You've got to live your life."

His contemporary, Ray Martin, provided what could be considered the last word on Hinch's six decades in the media while inducting him into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2018.

"Senator Derryn Hinch has been a colourful, megaphone-campaigning, ground-breaking journalist. He has always pursued the story as ambitiously and doggedly as the headline. He has long been amongst the very best tabloid reporters in Australia, a special skill that should be recognised and rewarded. He has also consistently been on the 'decent' side of most public debates.

"Derryn Nigel Hinch truly deserves the accolades. He is a legend of Australian journalism."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-10/derryn-hinch-obituary-media-broadcaster-former-politician/105893604

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-10/tributes-for-derryn-hinch-after-his-death/106902058

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 13, 2026, 2:57 a.m. No.24820802 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0805

>>24820794

He wasn't perfect, but Derryn Hinch confronted sexual abuse when others turned a blind eye

Russell Jackson - 11 July 2026

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It was a classic Derryn Hinchism: "Who's looking after the children?"

Verbose? Certainly. Self-aggrandising? Perhaps a little. But when Hinch first started asking it in the 1980s, too few others who possessed the megaphone of mass media seemed to give a single damn.

With Hinch's death on Friday, a large and remarkable chunk of Australia's tabloid media history died with the "Human Headline". Obituarists will grapple with a confusing legacy but permit me the personal perspective of a present-day journalist who recently had a meaningful opportunity to reappraise Hinch's efforts for sexual abuse survivors.

A few years ago, when ABC Investigations started unravelling the horror story of the Victorian Education Department's multi-decade cover-up of rampant child sexual abuse, we were stunned to realise that a scandal so widespread and devastating could have passed with so little media attention.

Thanks to a series of government inquiries, we now understand it as a crisis to rank with the worst excesses of the Catholic Church: for decades, sexually abusive teachers were shuffled all over the state rather than being sacked and reported to police; for decades, the government effectively covered it up; for decades, the reputation of the school system was put ahead of child safety, and the societal consequences were disastrous.

But before all that, a most glaring question had presented itself: if so many people had known this human tragedy was unfolding in plain sight, why had nobody in the media shouted it from the rooftops?

Actually, we were amazed to discover, one man had: Derryn Hinch.

A scenario that seemed too crazy to be true

During our investigations, a former detective in one of Victoria Police's nascent child protection units told us that due to the 12-month statute of limitations to press charges against offenders in the 1980s, not to mention the inaction of the education department, he and colleagues often felt powerless in their attempts to take down sexually abusive government school teachers. In such situations, he said, their last resort was Hinch.

Which is how readers of The Sun newspaper were greeted one Saturday morning in June, 1990, by a blistering Hinch editorial that began: "I want to accuse some of the top echelon of the Victorian Education Department of negligence."

Decades before the inquiries, long before anyone else cared, Hinch explained a scenario that seemed too crazy to be true: in the full knowledge of the Victorian government, the principal of a primary school in Melbourne's western suburbs had been allowed to sexually abuse children for an entire decade. This was despite a written warning from Victoria Police that he was a danger to children.

The rampant, decades-long sexual offending of Braybrook Primary principal Richard "Dick" Ross is now a notorious case in Melbourne legal circles. His crimes have cost the Victorian government many millions of dollars in compensation payouts to survivors.

But even 36 years on, the specifics of the case as outlined in Hinch's article still have the power to stun.

"[Ross] pleaded guilty in court this week to charges of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and indecent assault," Hinch wrote.

"Apparently a lot of people knew he was a perv - including the Education Department. But year after year, nothing was done about it.

"His offences against children - the ones he pleaded guilty to - happened since 1980. An important date because the Education Department - the supposed protector of your children during school hours - knew about his habits in February 1981.

"They knew because a senior police officer wrote to the department and explained in explicit detail what the headmaster of the school had been up to in 1980."

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For Hinch, Richard Ross's prosecution and sacking from his job had been far too long coming and the affair was not without its own complications for Hinch and Pamela Graham, a reporter on Hinch's eponymous TV program.

Their stories had commenced six months earlier, but rather than serving as a clarion call to other media outlets who should have followed them up with vigour, they resulted in Hinch and Graham being lashed: the Australian Journalists Association ethics committee fined Graham $500 for her methods in obtaining the original story in 1989.

Without such fearless reporting, Ross undoubtedly would have gone on abusing children. Even with it in the public domain, the opportunity to confront the full horror of the Victorian Education Department's system of cover-ups was inexcusably missed.

It was, Hinch later told us, a case of weary rivals saying: "it's just Hinch being Hinch". There are former journalists of Hinch's vintage who now grimace to consider it.

Age did not quell Hinch's sense of injustice

Whatever one might think about Hinch's propensity to shoot his mouth off before thinking, or his reckless and often counterproductive forays into vigilantism, his willingness to stand up for society's most vulnerable clearly derived from a strong and unwavering moral conviction.

When ABC Investigations sat down with him to talk about the Richard Ross case, not even the passage of 35 years had quelled Hinch's sense of injustice. An old, ill and quite frail man by then, he still bristled with anger and outrage as he recounted the story. In my head, I can still hear him berating the faceless bureaucrats: "It was an absolute disgrace!"

Had he screwed a few things up along the way? Undoubtedly, Hinch said. We told him that some survivors of Paul Bussey, another sexually abusive Victorian government schoolteacher, still lamented Hinch's decision not to blur their faces in a TV story about Bussey's crimes.

Hinch said he could understand where they were coming from. During his childhood in New Zealand, Hinch suffered sexual abuse himself - an episode he later recounted in his memoirs, and whose specifics seem a kind of template to his career. Hinch's parents found out almost immediately, believed him and with a fury that clearly lingered in his subconscious, chased his abuser out of town.

Hinch, we must now assume, learned that even if those who harm children are sometimes destined to evade the law, the rest of us should not give up the fight to expose their wrongdoing. A Melbourne lawyer once said that Hinch had never turned down an opportunity to appear in court on behalf of a survivor of sexual abuse.

Who's looking after the children? Say what you like about him, but Derryn Hinch tried.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-11/derryn-hinch-pursuit-of-justice-over-child-sexual-abuse/106902540

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Revealed: Accused Sydney day care paedophile Hamish Tait allegedly abused more than 150 children

Perry Duffin - July 13, 2026

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A Sydney day care worker facing more than 320 charges over his alleged abuse of 150 children can now be identified after this masthead and police fought to lift a year-long gag order over his name.

Detectives hope heart-wrenching photographs, including a dinosaur puffer vest and a pink and gold backpack, will help parents identify 22 more children allegedly preyed on by the man trusted with their care.

Hamish Alexander Edward Tait, 35, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in July 2025 and charged with using children to make abuse material, but his name has never been made public.

His identity was suppressed to “HT” at his first appearance in court at the request of the AFP to protect the investigation. That order has now lifted after a hearing at Parramatta Local Court on Monday.

“There are chances now for other potential victims to come forward,” one mother told reporters outside court, requesting her name not be published.

“If people are watching the news and hear the name Hamish Tait, and (their children) had contact with this man, contact the AFP.”

The woman had multiple children in Tait’s care. She sent their photographs to the AFP and waited a “daunting” week until investigators cleared them as suspected victims.

“It’s horrifying. And that’s why the suppression order needed to be lifted. It had to be lifted so that potentially those victims can be identified and their parents can be notified,” she said.

Tait had come onto the radar of authorities after allegedly uploading one of his recordings to a cloud server.

Investigators ultimately seized approximately 2.5 million files from his electronic devices. Operation Moonbi has since discovered 158 alleged child victims in the files.

Of that number, 136 children have been identified and 22 are unidentified, despite the tireless work by victim identification teams.

The AFP on Friday laid an additional 137 charges against Tait. They include producing child abuse material, filming a person in a private act and sexual touching – which relates to allegedly posing the children to photograph them.

Tait is now facing 329 charges in total, making him Australia’s most prolific alleged abuser in a day care setting. The scale of the alleged offending means that if found guilty, he will have abused more children than any other childcare worker in the country’s history.

The AFP has information suggesting Tait worked at 62 centres through his career. Ten were raided by police, and the alleged abuse identified at five. Tait’s alleged victims, spoken to by investigators, are located across Australia and the United Kingdom.

Tait, this masthead can now reveal, had worked in the industry for years at a large franchise called Fit Kidz, which has branches across Sydney’s north-west.

Fit Kidz Box Hill posted photographs of Tait with children dressed in colourful costumes and wigs for his 15th anniversary with the group.

He described himself as a “founder/facilitator and educator” of Fit Kidz at the service in one online profile.

Tait’s online resume said that from 2019 he went on to become the “owner-operator” of Wild Earthlings, a business which took children on bushwalks around Sydney.

Wild Earthlings was promoted by a Fit Kidz centre at Dural South as an interactive stall and “bush kindy service aimed at reconnecting children to the natural world” in October 2024.

It claimed to have four locations around Sydney – Glenorie, West Pennant Hills, Alexandria and Wolli Creek.

Photographs from Wild Earthlings shows Tait playing the didgeridoo to children and speaking with them in bushland settings.

“I am an early childhood educator by profession which means I love seeing children explore and learn about their world,” Tait wrote online.

“Capturing the beautiful world of children in a candid, innocent and natural way is something I take so much joy in.

“Here are some samples of the wonderful children I have had the pleasure of photographing. I would love to see you and your little ones for a session very soon!”

Soon after Tait’s arrest, almost all signs of him were scrubbed from the social pages of Fit Kidz and other learning centres, while his Wild Earthlings site was deactivated, along with all private social pages.

Tait has made no application for bail since his arrest last year.

The AFP’s non-publication order covering Tait’s identity allowed them to identify and reach out to impacted families without a media frenzy.

The Herald and The Age last year agreed not to challenge the AFP’s non-publication order to allow the investigation to be properly handled – with July 1 becoming the deadline to name Tait.

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In a court document, the AFP said they wanted to name Tait to help parents identify the last 22 children in the files, using swatches of clothing patterns and distinctive items.

“Whilst it is likely that some victims may never be positively identified due to the nature of the images … there are some images where I consider that a level of public outreach could assist in positively identifying additional victims,” AFP Commander Brett James wrote in the document.

James said the AFP wanted to release “sanitised images” on a website along with a list of the centres where he worked, to identify the children.

“(Two images) depict a puffer vest with a distinctive dinosaur pattern and a pink and gold backpack,” James wrote.

The unique items could be recognised by parents, who could come forward to police, detectives hope.

Police want to establish a local contact point which would allow parents to easily get information about the case and contact detectives with information.

Tait launched an eleventh-hour bid to keep his name secret one day before the order expired. The case returned to Parramatta Local Court on Monday for a hearing into whether the order concealing his identity should be made permanent.

Tait argued his right to a fair trial would be put at risk if his name was released in connection with the allegations.

But this masthead’s executive counsel, Larina Alick, told the court that the sheer numbers of alleged victims and centres in Operation Moonbi has made it impossible to keep the man’s identity secret.

“The accused’s name and workplaces are already not a secret, there has been disclosure by the AFP to 121 families in the local community,” Alick said on Monday.

“The idea this is somehow a secret to be protected is not true. The social media posts indicate this is the worst-kept secret in that community.

“Of course people will talk.”

Alick said identifying the workplaces, but not the man himself, would cast aspersions on all male staff in the centres.

“They will all be accused of these very serious offences, including the other men who work there … all of those men become ‘the accused’ if we can’t name this man,” Alick said.

Judge Stuart Devine was “not convinced” that media publication of the allegations against Tait would prejudice a jury when it comes to trial.

Further, Devine said, it was significant that the AFP needed to identify Tait’s workplaces publicly to carry on their investigations.

“In this case the applicant’s evidence has not persuaded me,” Devine said.

“I do not accept publication of the accused[’s] name and workplaces will cause incurable prejudice … to the contrary I find a NPO would frustrate attempts of the Australian Federal Police.”

Furious parents over the last fortnight have fired off emails, DMs and formed social media groups urging for the man to be publicly identified.

Some parents were at the hearing on Monday, eager for the name to be released.

One former employer also released a statement saying they wished Tait would be named, so they can properly address the fury from parents.

The AFP’s lawyers warned the court the investigation would be “prejudiced” if the names are kept secret any longer, because they will prevent the public from helping.

“The AFP should have the opportunity to identify the remaining potential victims,” the AFP’s lawyer said.

“The AFP’s approach is not to name the target of the investigation. The difficulty is identifying the places at which he worked will essentially identify him … It’s an all or nothing situation.”

AFP Acting Commissioner Luke Needham alleged that Tait shared abuse material overseas on three occasions during the “horrific” offending.

“The abuse of trust we allege has occurred is devastating and will have lifelong ramifications for victims and their families,” Needham told reporters after the court hearing.

“As a parent myself, I’m acutely aware of how distressing this news is.”

The AFP set up a similar contact point after asking a court to lift a suppression order over confessed childcare paedophile David James, to identify the centres in which he had worked.

This masthead was in that case also aware of James’ identity and fought to have the order lifted only once investigators had reached out to directly impacted parents.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/revealed-accused-sydney-daycare-paedophile-who-abused-more-than-150-children-20260629-p60aum.html

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/victims-notified-local-contact-point-established-sydney-childcare-worker

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/community-information/operation-moonbi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-jxV_Mz5M

Childcare centres where alleged abuser Hamish Tait worked ban men from toileting duties

CLAREESE PACKER - July 13, 2026

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Four of the childcare centres where one of Australia’s worst alleged child abusers is accused of carrying out his alleged crimes have barred male educators from toileting and bathroom duties.

Hamish Tait can now be unmasked as the childcare worker facing 329 charges relating to the alleged sexual abuse of more than 136 children after a Sydney court overturned a suppression order on Monday.

Mr Tait, aged 35, is accused of carrying out the alleged abuse between 2009 to 2025 across multiple childcare centres in Sydney’s northwest.

A full list of the early childhood learning centres Mr Tait worked at or visited over the 16-year period has been released by the Australian Federal Police. It indicates he allegedly abused children at four Fit Kidz Learning Centres at Box Hill, Putney, Rouse Hill and Warrawee.

Fit Kidz has since banned male educators from toileting and bathroom duties across all of its centres unless they have received written consent from parents, according to a statement on the company’s website last week.

The move is a precautionary one and there is no allegation that those male educators engaged in wrongdoing.

“Philosophically this doesn’t always sit well, but for now, and the foreseeable future, we have our males on stand down from bathroom and toileting since last year,” the statement read.

Phones that were kept in the centres to take photos have also been taken out, with the company issuing an apology and rejecting accusations swirling on social media that it had tried to “cover up” Mr Tait’s alleged offending.

“The devastation caused by this situation is difficult to put into words, and our thoughts remain firmly with the children, families, educators and wider community who have been impacted,” the apology read.

“Regardless, a number of these alleged offences have occurred on our watch, and we are profoundly sorry.

“Nothing is more important to us or more sacred to our contract with our parents than to keep children safe in our care. It is utterly sickening and absolutely devastating to us and our entire team.”

The company rejected allegations aired on social media that it had tried to help “cover up” Mr Tati’s alleged abuse, explaining it had no involvement in orders made by a court that prevented Mr Tait’s identity from being revealed.

The statement said the company had “never had any interest in protecting a person whose (alleged) actions have caused such profound harm to so many”, asking people to let facts guide any criticism of the centres.

“There has been no cover up! And contrary to a persistent theme online – nobody is protecting the alleged offender,” the statement read.

It’s understood a series of social media posts were made about Mr Tait and his work history over the last year despite a court order prohibiting the publication of his identity.

Grim search for 22 alleged childcare victims.

The AFP has identified 136 alleged victims from 121 families across Sydney, but there are a further 22 potential victims investigators are trying to identify.

All the alleged victims were either preschool or primary school aged, with AFP Acting Commander Luke Needham calling the alleged abuse “devastating”.

“All I can say is we never gave up, and we never will.”

Mr Tait now faces a total of 329 charges after he was hit with more than 100 fresh charges last week, making him one of the country’s worst alleged child abusers.

He had fought to keep his identity suppressed, but a judge on Monday ruled in favour of the AFP, prosecutors, and the media who had all opposed his bid for secrecy.

Mr Tait came to the attention of the AFP in June 2025 after they were alerted by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children that child abuse had allegedly been uploaded online.

More than two million files were seized from the man’s devices during a search warrant, with a large volume of CAM allegedly found.

The AFP further allege Mr Tait shared child abuse material overseas on three occasions, but Mr Needham said there was no evidence to suggest he had uploaded anything to the dark web.

Most of the alleged offending occurred in NSW, however Mr Needham said there was some “limited offending” in another state.

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The AFP have listed all of the early childhood education facilities Mr Tait worked at or visited on their website for the taskforce Operation Moonbi, which includes a series of Fit Kidz learning centres.

The website also includes advice on support services and who to contact should people require further assistance.

“There are 22 victims who we are yet to positively identify and that’s why I would point the community to our website … We would ask the community to consider what they might be able to share with the AFP which we hope goes some way in assisting us in identifying those other 22 (alleged) victims,” he said.

“As a parent myself, I’m acutely aware of how distressing this news is.”

Some of Mr Tait’s alleged victims could now be adults due to how far back the alleged abuse spans, Mr Needham said.

Alleged child abuser loses secrecy bid

Mr Tait is facing more than 160 counts related to allegations he produced child abuse material (CAM) and 46 allegations he used a child under the age of 14 to make CAM.

The remaining charges include a series of accusations that he sexually touched children aged under 10, filmed a person in a private act without consent, filmed a person’s private parts without consent, and used a carriage service to make child abuse available.

His identity had been subject to a temporary suppression order originally sought by the AFP to protect their investigation, however the agency fought against Mr Tait’s bid for an extended order which would have kept his identity a secret.

Mr Tait’s lawyers argued naming him and his former workplaces could prejudice a potential jury or juries and suggested the AFP could pursue other options in seeking to identify further alleged victims without naming Mr Tait.

The AFP in turn argued its ongoing investigation could be prejudiced if an order were to be made, and authorities should have the opportunity to identify any remaining potential victims.

Judge Peter Feather ultimately ruled against Mr Tait, telling the court his evidence “has not persuaded me”.

He rejected submissions that the publication of his name would incurably prejudice and hinder the administration of justice against Mr Tait.

“I find to make a non-publication order would frustrate the investigative attempts of the AFP which is part of the proper administration of justice,” Mr Feather told the Parramatta Local Court on Monday.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said she was “deeply sickened and heartbroken” by reports of the alleged abuse.

“My thoughts are with all the victims and families who have been affected,” Ms Rowland said in a statement posted on social media.

“Every child and young person has the right to be safe, and parents should be able to drop their children off at childcare without fear for their safety.

“Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime, and anyone who has committed such vile acts must face the full force of the law.”

Minister for Education Jason Clare said “not enough has been done in the past to keep our kids safe”, but that “that’s now changing” while speaking generally on Monday.

The government is investing half a billion dollars to support safety reforms across the childcare sector, and have passed legislation to allow funding to be cut from centres that aren’t up to scratch.

“This is not the end. It’s just the start. The terrible truth is this work will never end,” Mr Clare said while speaking generally.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/sydney-childcare-worker-facing-329-allegations-of-child-abuse-as-police-hit-him-with-more-than-100-new-charges/news-story/cc52d36f5585b3cda19dad2e88990d4b

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/victims-notified-local-contact-point-established-sydney-childcare-worker

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/community-information/operation-moonbi

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Police fear ‘worst day care paedophile’ Hamish Tait targeted remote Indigenous community

Perry Duffin - July 14, 2026

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One of the country’s most prolific alleged day care abusers travelled to a remote South Australian community and preyed upon vulnerable children, police suspect.

This masthead can also reveal advances in the case against Hamish Tait one day after he was unmasked as parents grapple with the devastating breach of trust and reach out to police.

Tait was charged in July last year by the Australian Federal Police under Operation Moonbi after he allegedly uploaded child abuse material to a cloud server.

The investigation has laid 329 charges against the 35-year-old, alleging he abused 158 children and worked at 62 centres. (See list at end of this article.) The scale of the alleged offending means that if found guilty, he will have abused more children than any other childcare worker in the country’s history.

Electronic evidence recovered from Tait’s phones and devices allegedly shows he filmed children in toilets between 2009 and 2025 at five of those centres.

Tait’s identity was suppressed until Monday – when this masthead fought and defeated his legal bid to keep his name out of the press.

Court documents, lodged in the process to identify Tait, reveal details about the case against him – including that the AFP has identified alleged victims across Australia and the UK.

One passage, in a document from November last year, says the AFP reached out to South Australia Police.

“The AFP has engaged South Australia Police (SAPOL) in relation to access to an Indigenous Township in rural South Australia,” the document reads.

The document identifies a small community, which this masthead has chosen not to reprint to protect the identities of potential victims.

The township is one of many located in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands that border the Northern Territory in the west of South Australia.

The APY Lands are permit-only entry for most visitors, but Tait was working with children in the remote community, sources have told the Herald and The Age.

The details of the investigation are redacted from court documents.

Friends and family tagged Tait in Facebook posts related to news in the APY Lands as far back as 2018.

That year, Tait founded a business called Wild Earthlings that allowed Sydney parents to hand over their children to his care in bushland areas around the city.

Tait would introduce them to bushcraft. In social media posts the alleged paedophile is seen playing a didgeridoo for children, pushing them on swings and showing them leaves and bark.

“Each session begins with our Wild Earthlings acknowledgement of country, where we gather together and pay our respects to all First Nations people,” the now-deleted Wild Earthlings site reads.

“Natural, inviting activities such as clay, Indigenous perspectives, painting and many more ideas will be used in collaboration with the children and what they would like to learn.”

Operation Moonbi had identified more than 130 children recorded by Tait, court documents allege, but 22 remain unidentified.

The AFP, which supported this masthead’s bid to lift the gag order on Tait’s identity, activated a Local Contact Point on Monday evening.

It will allow concerned parents to reach out and help them identify further alleged victims from items of clothing allegedly recorded by Tait, including a dinosaur-print puffer vest, and a pink and gold backpack.

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The contact point received about 40 calls within hours of Tait’s identity being reported on Monday afternoon.

Politicians, parents and those who knew Tait reacted with shock as news spread of the allegations against the veteran day care worker.

One mother said she recognised Tait’s photograph in this masthead on Monday evening.

“I read it and was absolutely stick to my stomach – shaken to my core,” she said.

“As a parent, you put your trust in them and only to find out, years later, that he could be a paedophile? Devastating.”

The woman, who spoke anonymously, said parents felt Tait was “brilliant” in the years he taught their children.

“I was glad my daughter had a male childcare teacher, he was very personable, the kids seemed to love him and feel comfortable around him,” she said.

“This feels like a breach of trust. It’s completely unexpected.”

The mother is now considering reaching out to the AFP to get a definitive answer to a harrowing question – was her child one of the 22 unidentified youngsters allegedly filmed by Tait?

Online, hundreds more parents and teachers feared the same.

“Unfortunately, Windsor Preschool has been listed as one of the 62 Early Childhood Education facilities that it has been alleged Hamish Tait worked at or attended,” the preschool wrote online.

“There were no children in attendance and he did not have access to photos of any children.”

Another woman who worked with Tait urged people to reach out to the AFP.

“I worked alongside Hamish when I was 17 years old. I was completely unaware he had been jailed for the past year,” she wrote this month.

“My heart goes out to all families and [alleged] victims whose lives have been affected because of this man.”

Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, whose community extends into Sydney’s north-west, where Tait was allegedly most active in his abuse, said she was “sickened and heartbroken” by the news.

“Every child and young person has the right to be safe, and parents should be able to drop their children off at childcare without fear for their safety,” Rowland said.

“Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime, and anyone who has committed such vile acts must face the full force of the law.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the government was investing half a billion dollars to lift standards and safety across the centre.

It will include a national register for childcare workers and trialling CCTV in centres, along with banning workers’ personal phones.

“Not enough has been done in the past to keep our kids safe,” Clare said in a statement.

“This is not the end. It’s just the start. The terrible truth is this work will never end.”

Parents who believe their child had contact with Tait are being urged to reach out to the AFP’s contact point on (02) 9765 1000, from 7am to 7pm AEST.

Australian Federal Police - Operation Moonbi

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/community-information/operation-moonbi

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/police-fear-worst-day-care-paedophile-targeted-remote-indigenous-community-20260714-p60f4z.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvQ5PjdzWl0

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 15, 2026, 3:41 a.m. No.24828095 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8102

‘TikTok dances in the car parks of Auschwitz’: Universities slammed at royal commission

Michael Bachelard - July 14, 2026

When Paris Enten went to Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic with her peers at university in 2024, she wasn’t there for a European summer holiday. She was there to better understand her beloved grandmother’s Holocaust experience – but she says her fellow students from Monash University did not feel the same way.

“People were doing TikTok dances in the car parks of Auschwitz and concentration camps,” Lenten told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Tuesday.

“People complained about having to go to visit camps and ghettos where people were mass slaughtered because it was too early in the morning; they were still hungover … People made comments to the effect of, ‘Well, Jews weren’t really the main victims of the Holocaust,’” Enten said.

“If you’re going to be giggling in the Auschwitz car park, you’re not a friend to Jews.”

On the second day in Melbourne, Commissioner Virginia Bell heard a string of stories from staff and students on Australian university campuses, along with deep dissatisfaction about how institutions dealt with their complaints.

Professor Steven Prawer told the commission he was left fearful after a group of masked people occupied his office, and those identified ultimately had their punishments overturned.

A registered interpreter, who was given the pseudonym ACK, told the commission they had been forced to translate someone at a university saying in class, “Hitler didn’t have anything against Jewish people, he just didn’t want them to suffer”. ACK told the commission nobody in the classroom responded.

President of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students Jeremy Suss said of universities: “We’ve seen them minimise … they discredit reports of incidents. Their instant incident reporting mechanisms drag on for months … reporting of racism, reporting of harassment feels like it goes nowhere.”

Lenten said she had felt ostracised a number of times at Monash University because of her identity as a Zionist Jew.

The law student said that when taking a flyer from a left-wing activist on a refugee issue, she mentioned she had visited a kibbutz in Israel and was told, “we’re an anti-Zionist organisation”. Members of the group then started chanting slogans at her, and one activist said: “We won’t stop until people like you are kicked off campus”.

When she signed a petition for women’s rights after the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade judgment in 2022 – a year before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza – an activist scratched her name out because she was Jewish.

“I think there was a crisis of antisemitism on campus already in 2021,” Lenten said.

After the Holocaust trip, she said she became what she described as “clinically traumatised”.

“I would hear people laughing in the street and for a split second assume they were laughing at me because for so much of the trip I was being laughed at, and my family was being laughed at,” she told the commission. “It took a really long time for me to return to a normal state.”

Speaking to reporters after providing evidence, Lenten said: “I started university incredibly naive, incredibly excited to meet people and to make friends … I was a happy-go-lucky kid.

“By the time I ended, I was jaded and traumatised and untrusting and very deeply angry and scared. And just a very different person.”

For Professor Steven Prawer, the University of Melbourne’s campus protest became deeply personal in 2024 when about 20 masked intruders occupied his office and told him he was guilty of genocide.

The physics professor recalled chants the group made that day, including: “‘Prawer, Prawer, you can’t hide. You’re guilty of genocide.’”

They also left behind an inverted red triangle – often used to denote terror organisation Hamas – and a message saying, “Your work will break your soul before it breaks the resistance.”

“Clearly, this was a highly personal attack,” Prawer said. “‘Break your soul’ is … not generic. It’s not a generic chant.”

Prawer said he was targeted by protesters because he had done work with the Commonwealth’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation and, separately, with a PhD program involving the Hebrew University in Israel.

However, he said these two projects had not been related, and protesters had conflated them to target him, a visible, kippah-wearing Jewish Zionist on campus.

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The incursion into his office occurred about a year after the October 7 attack, where he walked in and found protesters wearing keffiyahs over their faces as makeshift masks.

“This is a classic terrorist pose,” Prawer told the commission.

“For the benefit of those who never experienced that, it’s a little bit like being in a bank and someone walking in with a balaclava over their head … I had no idea at that stage if it was a protest or if it was a terrorist attack.”

Prawer said that while the university’s response had initially been strong, he later became deeply disappointed with its handling of his complaints.

Months after the incursion, the institution identified four students involved and charged them with misconduct. However, Prawer said the university did not to tell him who they were. When two of the students were expelled, and two were suspended for a year, he was also not told.

“I didn’t hear about it because the university process is so opaque that they don’t make any announcements … But the students, or the four students, were outraged that they had been penalised, so they publicised it,” explaining how he came to learn of the action taken.

He said 150 university employees and affiliates had signed a petition saying the sit-ins were a legitimate form of protest and by punishing students, the University of Melbourne was violating academic freedom.

Several months later, the academic board overturned the student expulsions, and the two were instead suspended for a year.

“I still don’t know who they are, and I think for my protection also, I should know who these people are,” Prawer said. “Their suspensions will end in a week’s time, and I will have no idea if they’re on campus.”

The other intruders “got off scott-free”, Prawer said, and “must be having a giggle about how they’ve managed to remain here and managed to intimidate a professor without any consequences”.

In addition to the incursion, the words “Death to Israel. Death to USA. Death to Steven Prawer” were graffitied on a noticeboard – something the professor said left him and his family in fear of their lives, and significantly bumping up their vigilance at work and at home.

The University of Melbourne issued a statement on Tuesday saying it acknowledged the “significant impact” on Prawer and his family, and that it was providing him with ongoing support. Its interim vice-chancellor, Glyn Davis, will appear at the royal commission later this week.

Another academic, La Trobe University professor Dennis Altman, said he had been surprised by the focus on university protest, and how little talk there had been in the royal commission so far – which began on May 4 in Sydney – about neo-Nazis.

“I was surprised how little attention many of the people who talk about antisemitism have given to the rise of neo-Nazis,” Altman, a Jewish son of Holocaust survivors, told journalists on Tuesday after his appearance.

“If there’s one thing that scares me most as a Jew, it is the sight of 20 or 30 young men in black, obviously thirsting for some sort of attack,” he said.

“I think there is a real need for us to be much more aware of that, and perhaps less concerned about isolated incidents within universities.”

He also called for more discussion between sides.

“I think there are real problems in the way in which the Jewish community, which is clearly better able to work the system than Palestinian Australians … that the Jewish community seems to be making so little attempt at outreach and discussion with Australian Palestinians and Muslims.”

Jeremy Suss told the commission that after the Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14, 2025, where 15 Jews were killed at a Hanukkah event, student groups had shared images from the scene with “political slogans overlaid”.

“It’s cruel,” he said. “It’s a callous thing to do, and I was deeply shocked that student groups would do that.”

He also said that when Jewish students organise parties on campus, there is a risk of them being disrupted by protesters.

“We’ve seen people … finding out that it’s Jewish and sneaking in to then scream at people and berate them. And people are really nervous to go to a party,” he said.

Suss was also highly critical of institutions, saying: “I think that many universities have the tools to solve a lot of these issues and I think a lot of the time we’ve seen them delay.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/your-work-will-break-your-soul-professor-describes-masked-campus-protest-20260714-p60f2w.html

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 15, 2026, 3:52 a.m. No.24828139 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8143

‘It’s a form of intimidation and unacceptable’: Vice-chancellor grilled on student protesters

Michael Bachelard - July 15, 2026

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The pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the University of Melbourne made it the least popular campus in Australia, its interim vice-chancellor has conceded, but says that was not enough to shut down the protest.

Professor Glyn Davis was the first of three university leaders to give evidence at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in Melbourne on Wednesday, where he was taken through the chaotic on-campus incidents of 2024, when Israel’s war on Gaza was in full swing.

Under questioning, Davis defended the university’s actions in allowing the encampment to proceed, and its handling of Professor Steven Prawer’s office being invaded.

The commission also heard on Wednesday from the vice-chancellors of Sydney University and the University of NSW.

Sydney University Vice Chancellor Mark Scott used his appearance to apologise for his light-touch approach to a two-month pro-Palestinian encampment on his campus in mid-2024 and the harm it caused.

“I can see that our Jewish students and staff paid the price for that as the encampment dragged on, and I am sorry to them that it took that long for us to get it done, and I’m sorry we did not keep them more closely engaged and listen more intently to them as it was going,” Scott told the commission.

In a sometimes feisty encounter, Scott had to fend off criticisms that his campus remains unsafe for Jewish staff and students.

Melbourne University’s Davis, who was not in charge during the protest period, told Commissioner Virginia Bell that when encampments on the south lawn had been set up in early 2024, the university’s approach was to allow the protests as long as they did not present a threat to safety.

“There were constant discussions between the university security team and the leaders of the encampment and that was a shared objective,” Davis said.

He said the large presence of protesters in a high-traffic area of the campus, the “chants and singing and waving of banners”, and regular marches towards the central administrative building “made people nervous about their safety … [and] whether they’re welcome on campus”.

This was reflected in surveys which include a measure of student satisfaction with their time on campus.

“We got in 2024 our worst-ever scores, the worst in the sector … and I think students used that measure to tell us they were unhappy with what was going on,” Davis said.

Even so, the right to protest was upheld.

In early May 2024, the University of Melbourne received a letter from the deputy commissioner of Victoria Police asking it to “carefully consider the risks of whether to allow” a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

The letter read: “We assess the presence of permanent encampments, and any increase in size in those encampments, will likely lead to significant public safety risks.”

The atmosphere had changed, Davis said, when protesters occupied the Arts West building, erecting 20 tents with 50 protesters in residence in early May 2024.

Then-vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell ordered they leave the university grounds and warned that if they did not, they would be charged with trespassing. Still, the protesters stayed.

“There was significant damage to the building,” Davis told the commission. “There was damage in the adjacent building … people were coming in at night, red paint through the library.”

On May 22, 2024, the protesters and university negotiated an end to that protest. The university agreed to publish a list of its defence collaborations, yielding details of agreements with Boeing Aerostructures and Lockheed Martin, among US Defence Department collaborations worth $15.4 million.

Challenged by counsel assisting the royal commission Zelie Heger about whether it was appropriate for the university to negotiate with the protesters, Davis said: “The university was very clear … that this was unacceptable behaviour.”

He added: “On the other hand, the university does not have a police service, doesn’t have its own enforcement. Security guards who work at the university are not empowered to move people on – certainly are not empowered to arrest people for breaking the law. And only Victoria Police can decide that something is trespass.”

Davis said it took four police officers to forcibly remove one protester.

In response, the university changed its bylaws, which included an order that camping was not allowed on campus, and outsiders could not protest at the university.

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Davis was also quizzed about the incursion into the office of Professor Steven Prawer, who appeared at the commission on Tuesday, where he recounted the moment he found about 20 masked pro-Palestinian protesters inside his office chanting, “Prawer, Prawer, you can’t hide. You’re guilty of genocide”.

Davis revealed on Wednesday the protesters had gained access because a new swipe card access point was being installed in response to earlier targeting of the professor.

“The only reason they got into the building was because the doors were open, so security people could put the security changes in place,” Davis said, adding, “life is full of ironies”.

Davis agreed the incursion was unacceptable, but pushed back against the professor’s complaint that the university had not kept him abreast of their investigation into the incident.

Though four students were identified and suspended in relation to incursion, Prawer said he still did not know their identities and was in fear because he could unknowingly encounter them on campus.

Davis told the commission that privacy and confidentiality were key to Melbourne University’s complaints process.

“We do not provide names of students to anybody in the process, and we do not publicise the outcomes of the process. There is no press release,” Davis said.

“Steven Prawer spoke eloquently yesterday about why he was distressed by that decision by the university. I can say it wasn’t made lightly. There was a whole set of internal processes to grapple with that question about whether to breach that principle in his case, and in the end, [the decision] was not to do so, and that was just a difficult, on-balance decision.”

Lawyer Gabi Crafti, who represents seven mainstream Jewish communal organisations, cross-examined Davis about a practice among some students during the height of the protests, where students would enter lectures before “inviting classes to vote on matters connected with the Middle East conflict, with the voting then being photographed or recorded” and put on social media.

Davis agreed this was clearly unacceptable.

“You’re filming people without their permission, but you’re also identifying people who don’t vote for your proposition, and you’re putting it on social media. So it’s a form of intimidation and unacceptable,” he said.

Rachel Doyle, representing the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, asked the vice-chancellor whether anyone had complained about antisemitism during the encampments.

“I’m not aware of any complaint of antisemitism in either,” Davis replied.

Doyle then addressed the broader questions about freedom of speech in the classroom.

“Have you read or heard of criticisms by lecturers in your law school that they’re concerned that their teaching and study about Israel in international law classes is at risk of being, and has been, criticised as being inherently antisemitic?” Doyle asked.

“I’m aware in general terms, but not of specific concerns,” Davis replied.

“It’s an interesting question across the campus where we teach around conflict in the Middle East. People tend to come to those classes with strong views, and it’s not uncommon to get criticism of those courses.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/it-s-a-form-of-intimidation-and-unacceptable-vice-chancellor-grilled-on-student-protesters-20260715-p60fep.html

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 15, 2026, 4:14 a.m. No.24828189 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7453

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Rayann El Houli: Court hears ISIS bride’s alleged lessons in slaying ‘disbelievers’

MOHAMMAD ALFARES - 14 July 2026

An accused Australian ISIS bride seeking freedom on bail had allegedly filmed herself training her toddlers how to use a rifle and demanded they show her how jihadist fighters “slaughter” an infidel.

The disturbing clips were not aired in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court because playing the footage would have distressed the 34-year-old accused, Rayann El Houli.

Instead, Ms El Houli teared up as harrowing transcripts of the videos she allegedly captured in Syria were read aloud.

She faces charges of being a member of a terrorist organisation and entering a declared conflict zone after allegedly fleeing Melbourne to join the caliphate in 2014.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet is expected to hand down his final decision on her release next week.

The court heard that over a two-year period, Ms El Houli allegedly recorded her young children being exposed to violent extremist media.

In one video from May 2015, Ms El Houli allegedly captured herself quizzing her eldest child – who was an toddler at the time – about Islamic State fighters while jihadi chants played in the background.

According to court transcripts, she asked the child who the “mujahidin” were and what happens to “disbelievers”.

When the child did not initially answer, Ms El Houli prompted them multiple times until the child repeated: “In the hellfire.”

In another video recorded in March 2016, Ms El Houli’s children – then aged just 2 years and 9 months, and 1 year and 9 months – were shown watching an ISIS media production. The footage featured a French jihadist singer and a commentator threatening to “fill your streets with terror” in the West.

During the screening, Ms El Houli’s youngest child was allegedly filmed raising her index finger in alignment with the commentary, before the accused asked: “What does the Mujahid do to the infidel?”

Raising the index finger in Islam is a gesture known as Tawhid, which signifies the indivisible oneness of God.

Only days later, Ms El Houli allegedly filmed her eldest child playing with a toy rifle. In the recording, she coached the toddler on how to hold the weapon like a “fighter” and asked: “Did you see how the Mujahideen kill the Kuffar (infidels) with the knife? Look at me. How did they slaughter them with the knife?

“Look at me, how do they slaughter the apostate? Show me how.”

According to police, Ms El Houli initially travelled to the conflict zone in September 2014 with her first husband, Allak Hamad, who was pictured carrying an automatic assault rifle before being killed in early 2015.

Ms El Houli then chose to enter into two more marriages with known Australian ISIS militants – Abdulkadehr Assaad (who was also killed) and Mohammed Noor Masri (whom she later divorced in an ISIS sharia court).

Police search warrants executed on Ms El Houli’s family in Australia further uncovered photos from 2018 showing an AK-47 automatic assault rifle left unsecured, leaning against a wall directly next to a bed where her young children slept.

Following the military defeat of the caliphate in 2019, the accused and her children spent more than six years interred in Syria’s Al-Hawl displaced persons camp before being smuggled into Lebanon and eventually returned to Australia in late 2025.

The AFP are fiercely opposing bail, stating she is an unacceptable risk to public safety and noting that since her return to Melbourne, Ms El Houli has flatly refused to participate in the government’s Counter Violent Extremism counselling program.

But as she shed tears in court on Tuesday, her high-profile defence lawyer Peter Morrissey SC told the court his client was no threat to the community.

“The risk alleged in this case is not a catastrophic risk,” Mr Morrissey said, highlighting a 10-year gap since the initial offending began.

Mr Morrissey, who successfully bailed former ISIS bride Kawsar Abbas last month, had painted a picture of a naive 21-year-old mother who “took the Kool-Aid” under strict “marital coercion” from her husband.

He argued that Ms El Houli was never an extremist “preacher” and has already suffered heavy consequences.

If Mr Sonnet grants bail next Monday, Ms El Houli is prepared to accept stringent conditions, including zero contact with individuals of concern to the police, and will reside under the supervision of her mother, who dialled into the courtroom.

Prosecutor Andrew Sprague argued that the volume of evidence comfortably proved Ms El Houli’s ideological alignment with ISIS and vehemently opposed bail.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/court-hears-accused-isis-bride-quizzed-toddler-about-killing-disbelievers/news-story/66e8a072885afd9d1b6bc926a2c3f437

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Janai Samarra Safar: 'ISIS bride' accused of training with terror fighters

A so-called "ISIS bride" who is accused of training for weeks with Islamic State will remain behind bars after being refused bail for a second time.

Adelaide Lang - 15 July 2026

A woman has been refused bail for a second time over allegations she trained for weeks with Islamic State and married two fighters linked to the terror organisation.

Janai Samarra Safar was arrested in May after touching down in Australia with a group of women and children who were all returning from a Syrian refugee camp.

The 32-year-old is charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation between 2015 and 2019 and remaining in a declared conflict zone in Syria for two years.

She has been behind bars for two months after being denied bail due to the seriousness of the charges.

Her barrister made a second release bid on Wednesday, citing the psychological impact of the woman’s segregation in detention.

Safar suffered significant psychological injury after spending years in a refugee camp in appalling conditions, which included limited food and pressure to tow the IS line, Michael Ainsworth said.

“She needs help to deal now with the ongoing effect of those seven years and some months in those conditions,” he said.

The 32-year-old has disavowed the terror group’s ideology, which she was unable to do in Syria because it would put her and her family at risk of retribution from enforcers, Mr Ainsworth added.

Safar has an extensive family who would help her recover after years of being “treated like dirt” and seeing things no one should ever have to see, including bombings and corpses, he said.

The case against Safar cites a 2019 newspaper article in which she talks about living under IS, which Mr Ainsworth suggested misrepresented his client and may not be admissible.

But crown prosecutor Brian Massone said the veracity of the quotes appeared to be bolstered by texts between Safar and her father, which were consistent with IS ideology.

“I said my husband has weapons because if I said I didn’t, they would know I am lying,” Safar allegedly texted her father about the article.

She surreptitiously travelled to a declared area in Syria, knowing it was linked to an organisation that has carried out some of the worst atrocities in recent history, Mr Massone said.

“She married not one, but two fighters associated with Islamic State,” he told the court.

Safar is accused of training for three weeks with the terror organisation, with her mother telling authorities she had been sent photos of her daughter holding rifles.

But her mother had since been diagnosed with dementia and was unlikely to be able to give evidence, the court was told.

Mr Massone acknowledged the “wretched conditions” and resulting mental and physical health issues Safar experienced, but he noted expert evidence suggested women in terror organisations had agency.

Judge Marguerite Vassall said the prosecution case had some strength and refused to grant bail.

She noted evidence that Safar was receiving treatment in custody and had a pending appointment with a psychiatrist.

Safar has not entered pleas to the charges and is not required to at this early stage.

The 32-year-old, who wore an orange jumpsuit as she dialled into the court from custody, kept a blank face as her second bid for freedom was denied.

She is one of several women who have been charged as a result of an almost decade-long investigation that began after the women travelled to the Middle East with their partners, who intended to fight for IS.

Some of the women travelled willingly, but advocates say others were coerced or only made the journey to ensure their family was not separated.

One of the arrested women - Rayann El Houli, 34 - is waiting to learn whether she will be granted bail over allegations that she tried to indoctrinate young children with extremist propaganda.

https://thenightly.com.au/australia/alleged-isis-bride-janai-samarra-safar-32-makes-second-bid-for-release-c-22581157

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9sZ0pe6v-s

>>24820676

Victorian Liberals to reject Moira Deeming’s last-ditch plea to mediate dispute

ANTHONY GALLOWAY - 15 July 2026

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The Victorian Liberal Party will reject Moira Deeming’s last-ditch bid to mediate her dispute after she argued she was being punished for following the party’s internal complaints process, amid conflicting accounts over who leaked her complaint against former opposition leader Matthew Guy.

Ms Deeming on Wednesday released a 12-page statement she had sent to the party’s state executive, proposing the matter be resolved through a joint statement acknowledging that Mr Guy’s actions were intended only as “a friendly gesture”, while affirming that she had acted “honestly, privately, in good faith and in accordance with the Liberal Party’s established processes”.

The party moved to disendorse Ms Deeming after she refused to apologise for making assault allegations against Mr Guy that were unable to be substantiated by police.

Ms Deeming on Wednesday told The Australian she “only refused to apologise for two things – making a fraudulent bad faith police complaint and leaking this to defame him”.

CCTV of the incident on May 23 showed Mr Guy – who vehemently denies any wrongdoing – putting his right arm across Ms Deeming’s shoulder during a conversation.

Multiple senior Victorian Liberal Party sources confirmed to The Australian that the party would proceed with Ms Deeming’s disendorsement and Friday’s one-day Supreme Court hearing, at which she is seeking orders preventing the party from taking that action.

Liberal leader Jess Wilson said on Wednesday “the matter is before the courts and it’s not appropriate to comment at this time”.

In her statement to state executive members, Ms Deeming said she was making inquiries into “how my private internal complaints to senior members within the Liberal Party came to be provided to Mr Guy, and from Mr Guy to journalists, while a police investigation was active”.

“Those enquiries are ongoing. The state executive should not act until all the facts are established,” she wrote.

Ms Deeming’s complaint, together with the CCTV footage, was first reported on June 24 by several media outlets, including The Australian.

But senior Liberal figures, who were not authorised to comment publicly on the complaint, said it is their understanding the complaint first reached the media through individuals with whom Ms Deeming had shared its contents, rather than through Mr Guy.

They said Mr Guy sought access to the CCTV footage from the May 23 Macedonian community function only after becoming aware of the complaint.

Ms Deeming disputes that account, saying in her statement that “I did not leak the story, brief journalists, or disclose my complaint. I had not even seen the CCTV footage until it appeared in the media”.

Ms Deeming alleged Mr Guy provided CCTV footage and excerpts of her confidential complaint to journalists while the police investigation was under way, and said she has sought legal advice into how her private communications became public.

Mr Guy was contacted for comment.

She doubled down on her accusation that she was “grabbed, held and pulled with force that caused me pain and distress” by Mr Guy during a Liberal Party event in May and subsequently sought to resolve the matter privately through senior party figures.

Ms Deeming said disendorsing her would set a dangerous precedent by discouraging party members from making confidential complaints.

“You may soon be asked to consider revoking my endorsement as the Party’s number one candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region, less than five months from the election,” she wrote.

“This decision extends well beyond my own endorsement. It will also establish an important precedent about whether party members may safely use our confidential complaints processes without fear of political reprisal.”

(continued)

>>24828214

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Ms Deeming said she was instructed by the party to report the matter to Victoria Police in accordance with the party’s complaints policy after officials determined the incident involved physical contact.

She maintains her police statement was deliberately restrained and “does not contain the word ‘violent’ or ‘violence’ nor attribute malicious intent to Mr Guy”, arguing she simply reported what she believed had occurred.

“I cannot apologise for using the party’s confidential complaint processes,” she wrote.

The statement also detailed Ms Deeming’s previous experiences of sexual assault and PTSD, which she argues are relevant to understanding her reaction to the incident, together with what she describes as years of hostility from within the Liberal Party following her dispute with former leader John Pesutto.

She outlined a series of previous clashes with Mr Guy dating back to 2022, including claims she was excluded from campaign events and targeted during internal party disputes.

She also released a letter from Victoria Police to her lawyer Tim Houweling, confirming “a decision was made not to charge”.

Ms Deeming is arguing that a decision “not to charge” differs materially from Victoria Police’s original statement that “no offence was detected”.

At a press conference last month, Mr Guy said “there is no ambiguity, I did not do what’s alleged”.

“The CCTV proves this. It did from the start, and Victoria Police agree,” he said.

“Moira Deeming owes me a public apology.”

Describing the incident, Ms Deeming alleged Mr Guy “grabb[ed] hold of me firmly around the back of my neck and shoulders, gripped me painfully, and pulled me diagonally forward and downward towards him”.

She said the interaction caused panic and distress, adding: “No matter what Mr Guy thought he was doing, or why, the fact is that he subjected me to painful and forceful physical contact without my consent.”

The statement concludes with an appeal for unity before the November election, urging party leaders to resolve the dispute through confidential mediation rather than disendorsement and proposing a joint statement that would acknowledge Mr Guy intended only “a friendly gesture” while affirming that she acted “honestly, privately, in good faith and in accordance with the Liberal Party’s established processes”.

In a cover letter attached to the statement, Ms Deeming said she had the “legal and moral right to make good faith, confidential complaints internally and externally about unwanted, inappropriate, painful physical ‘grabbing’ of my body by men known to be hostile to me in this party”.

“On principle and out of necessity, I will defend myself against this disendorsement,” she said.

“That the Liberal Party would seek to disendorse me without any reasonable grounds, after having already allowed injustice, is disgraceful.

“And to triple down on such egregious institutional failures, five months before an election as though it were in ‘the best interests of the party’ could only prove the critics right about ‘who’ and ‘what’ the Liberals really stand for.

“I ask you to consider the attached statement and mediation proposal.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/moira-deemings-lastditch-plea-to-mediate-dispute/news-story/001159327e05b45d3a3d4f60e4535aed

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Joe Courtney: Donald Trump too soft on China’s Pacific missile launch

JOE KELLY - 15 July 2026

Joe Courtney, the key champion for AUKUS in the US congress, says that Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio should have more forcefully condemned China for launching a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile in the South Pacific.

Mr Courtney, the Democratic co-chair of the bipartisan Friends of Australia Caucus, made clear the value of the landmark AUKUS agreement was in providing deterrence in the Indo-Pacific against a more aggressive China.

He said there was “no question that five years ago there was a recognition that the capacity of the Chinese Navy … really screamed out for countries and allies like the US, Australia (and) the UK to really come together and bring all their strengths to really balance the security environment and fundamentally restore real deterrence.”

Leaving the Australian American Leadership Dialogue in Pentagon City in Northern Virginia on Tuesday, Mr Courtney said China’s missile launch deserved the “strongest condemnation in terms of how disruptive and dangerous” it was.

The representative for Connecticut’s second congressional district expressed disappointment the reaction was limited to a brief State Department statement from spokesman Thomas Pigott warning that China’s “opaque nuclear weapons build-up” was “of great concern to the region and the world.”

Mr Courtney criticised Beijing for conducting the launch “with no warning” along with the “fecklessness of this administration in terms of just the hot and cold communication that comes out.”

“I think if you look at the National Defence Strategy that they put out there where China’s placement was right at the top, it just confounds me that they (the Trump administration) are that passive,” he said.

The launch of the missile by China on Monday July 6 came after Australia signed a far-reaching military alliance with Fiji that could be joined by other island nations.

The landmark Veitacini Treaty – also known as the Ocean of Peace Alliance – commits both nations to come to “act to meet the common danger” if either is attacked.

It marks Fiji’s first defence alliance and Australia’s fourth alongside its pacts with the US, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

The treaty also has a provision allowing other Pacific nations to sign up to the agreement of the original signatories. So far, New Zealand and Tonga have been flagged as possible additions.

A spokesman for the State Department told The Australian that Washington “welcomes recent Australian agreements with Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and other Pacific Island countries to expand development co-operation and strengthen security ties.”

“As a nation with deep ties to the Pacific, we continue to engage closely with Pacific Island countries, Australia, and other allies and partners to ensure the region’s security, stability, and prosperity.”

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Courtney said he would have “absolutely” liked to have seen a stronger response from Mr Trump and Mr Rubio to the launch of the Chinese missile.

He would have liked the administration to more clearly identify the missile launch was taking place “in a part of the world that has a really pretty dark history in terms of nuclear testing.”

Mr Courtney also said that it really called into question China’s sincerity when it came to its rhetoric about maintaining peaceful coexistence with its neighbours.”

Chinese media outlet The Global Times defended the test as “both necessary and restrained”, warning countries in the region to “accept and get used to” China’s nuclear program.

Anthony Albanese said the firing of the missile was a “provocative act by China which does destabilise the region.”

“In particular, we point out that it is standard procedure for tests such as this … to be given 48 hours notice. This was not done on this occasion.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/courtney-trump-too-soft-on-chinas-pacific-missile-launch/news-story/400edb3edb58c68a6e5f573fa484b10d

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 15, 2026, 4:43 a.m. No.24828255 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8258

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WA project approval seals Trump’s critical minerals pact

Michael Philipps - July 15, 2026

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A major WA project set to provide around 10 per cent of the world’s demand for gallium has been given the green light, marking a major development in the critical minerals pact signed by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump last year.

Bauxite miner Alcoa is set to construct and manage the operation at the site of its Wagerup alumina refinery in the south west of WA after a final investment decision was made with the backing of three nations.

Australia, Japan and the United States will support the construction of the project in a bid to strengthen critical mineral supply chains between the countries.

The international support has allowed Alcoa to officially kick off the project, which was identified as a priority under a framework to secure supply in the mining and processing of critical minerals signed by Albanese and Trump last year

Production capacity is anticipated to be 100 tonnes per annum, representing about 10 per cent of the global demand for the critical mineral, which is used heavily in the manufacturing of electronics, including semiconductors.

Global supply of gallium is currently highly concentrated, but the mineral can be extracted during the bauxite-to-alumina refining process, meaning the material would come from Alcoa’s strip-mining venture in WA’s Darling Scarp.

Antimony, gallium and rare earths have been flagged as the first three minerals to be focused on under the $1.2 billion strategic reserve for critical minerals, with the Australian government identifying them as crucial to clean-energy and high-technology manufacturing, as well as advanced military equipment.

However, the process by which gallium will be extracted by Alcoa has raised eyebrows, especially given its tie-in with existing strip-mining operations in Perth’s northern jarrah forest.

Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said the deal struck between the US and Australia highlighted that government support, funding and trade agreements were increasingly focused on defence – “not the energy transition that was pitched to Australians ahead of the last election”.

Roberts said the federal government had more than 15 years to take action on Alcoa’s clearing, which is currently operating under a “national interest” mining order exemption as its operations in WA are assessed.

He said the company was now allowed to continue bulldozing the forest under the “halo” of a critical minerals deal, on the eve of “tougher” new environment laws coming into effect.

“This exemption to support the gallium deal does nothing to protect the environment here in Western Australia, but it does demonstrate the federal government’s willingness to advance the interests of foreign powers and corporations,” Roberts said.

“There is no tenable excuse to support increased bauxite mining from an environmental perspective. Alcoa’s operations are pushing the Northern Jarrah Forest and the threatened species that rely on this habitat to the brink of extinction.”

(continued)

>>24828255

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Australia’s financing is being provided through Export Finance Australia under the Critical Minerals Facility.

Resources Minister Madeleine King said Alcoa’s move would build supply chains that bolstered global technology, defence capability and economic security.

“Our national security and the security of our partners is built on the back of our resources sector,” she said.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said the investment marked a major step forward in securing resilient supply chains.

Alcoa president and chief executive William F Oplinger said the final investment decision reflected a shared commitment by governments and industry to strengthen critical mineral supply chains among partners.

“The project underscores the strategic importance of Western Australia and the role Alcoa’s operations play in delivering critical materials essential to the global economy,” he said.

According to Alcoa, when compared to the existing refinery, it will be a relatively small plant occupying less than 2 per cent of the overall refinery footprint.

Five production trains will be built in a phased manner and in an enclosed shed. The plant will be connected to the existing refinery with process liquor pumped to and from it.

Ion exchange technology will be used to extract the gallium from the refinery’s process liquor. According to Alcoa, ion exchange is considered a safer, cleaner and more efficient process than some other gallium extraction methods.

It is the second project for which government support has enabled a final investment decision following on from the US-Australia framework, with Arafura Rare Earths able to confirm its decision to ramp up operations in May.

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-project-approval-seals-trump-s-critical-minerals-pact-20260715-p60fk7.html

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 15, 2026, 4:47 a.m. No.24828268 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7929

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Prosecutors drop four charges against Alan Jones

STEVE ZEMEK - July 14, 2026

Prosecutors have dropped four charges against veteran broadcaster Alan Jones, with the number of alleged victims involved in his upcoming trial being reduced to six.

Mr Jones, 85, is scheduled to front a Sydney court next month for what’s expected to be a monster trial having pleaded not guilty to a string of sexual touching and indecent assault allegations relating to eight complainants.

The former talkback host previously pleaded not guilty to 24 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching.

In the Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, prosecutors withdrew four counts of indecent assault relating to two complainants.

Mr Jones is now facing 20 counts of indecent assault.

It means that only six complainants will be involved in his upcoming trial, which is due to begin on August 3.

The dropped charges relate to two alleged victims who can only be known as “Complainant D” and “Complainant G”.

Before the charges were dropped, Mr Jones had been alleged to have indecently assaulted “Complainant D” on three occasions at Kiama on the NSW south coast at some point in 2008.

As well, Mr Jones had been alleged to have indecently assaulted “Complainant G” at the Sydney Opera House in 2014.

Mr Jones has persistently denied all allegations and has said he will fight them at trial.

Prosecutors last month withdrew one count of indecent assault relating to one complainant.

In September last year, charges relating to two complainants were withdrawn along with 16 charges.

The court was told on Tuesday that 76 witnesses were scheduled to give evidence during the trial.

According to court documents, the alleged offences occurred in Sydney, Fitzroy Falls, and Mittagong between 2003 and 2020.

Following his first court appearance in December 2024, Mr Jones issued a strong denial and said he would fight the charges.

“I have never indecently assaulted these people,” he said at the time.

“The law assumes I am not guilty, and I am not guilty.

“I am emphatic that I’ll be defending every charge.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/prosecutors-drop-four-charges-against-alan-jones/news-story/ed831a462b271fdcdc3052749ec77e59

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAv5YgOpKCI

>>24824653

Investigation into Sydney childcare worker Hamish Tait expands to South Australian Indigenous community

Ethan Rix - 15 July 2026

A federal police investigation into a Sydney childcare worker who allegedly abused 136 children has expanded to a remote Indigenous community in South Australia as authorities search for an anonymous overseas individual who was allegedly sent abuse material.

Hamish Tait is facing 329 charges related to the alleged abuse of the children over a 16-year period.

A court order protecting the 35-year-old's identity was lifted on Monday, allowing him to be revealed as the man arrested by Australian Federal Police (AFP) in July last year.

His charges include 162 counts of producing child abuse material, 81 counts of filming a person engaged in a private act without consent and 24 counts of using a child under 14 years for the production of child abuse material.

The matter remains before the courts in NSW and he has not been charged with any offences in South Australia.

The AFP said Mr Tait had either worked at or attended 62 childcare centres over the course of his career, but believe his alleged offending occurred at four centres in Sydney and at his own early education business, Wild Earthlings in Glenorie.

Police have established a website under Operation Moonbi, which includes a list of the 55 childcare centres where Mr Tait worked at or attended between 2009 and 2025, predominantly in Sydney's north-west.

A small government preschool in a remote Indigenous community in South Australia has been included on the list, with police saying that Mr Tait worked at the school in a voluntary capacity in the mid-2010s.

The ABC understands several centres have been removed from the list over the past few days after detectives confirmed that Mr Tait had no access to children during brief visits, which often focused on speaking to staff.

Accused 'spent a lot of time in remote Indigenous communities'

Addressing the media on Monday, AFP Acting Commander Luke Needham said all current charges related to alleged offending in NSW, but said investigators had identified "limited offending that occurred in South Australia".

Mr Tait previously advertised on his now-closed business website that he had "spent a lot of time in remote Indigenous communities both teaching and learning from the people and the land".

"I adore watching children explore and express their innate curiosity and creativity and hope that during our time spent together we can give each child a magical experience that shapes and guides who they are," his website previously read.

Acting South Australian Premier and Indigenous Affairs Minister Kyam Maher told 891 ABC Adelaide the allegations were "disturbing".

"The police will of course investigate what's happened, what the involvement was with children … this is disturbing and we would hope that the police investigate fully," Mr Maher said.

"I have requested more information from our South Australian police who work very closely with the federal police on a whole range of things, including these sorts of matters."

In a statement, the SA education department said it was aware of the matter and that the investigation was ongoing.

"The Department for Education has a policy around informing a school community at the appropriate time whenever allegations of sexual misconduct are made against any person who has been involved in any capacity at a school, including external contractors and volunteers," the spokesperson told the ABC.

AFP searching for individual overseas

Acting Commander Needham said the AFP had been in contact with 121 families in Australia and overseas, but 22 victims were still yet to be identified.

He said investigators believed Mr Tait shared the child abuse material to an individual overseas on at least three occasions.

"Unfortunately, we have uncovered evidence of him sharing this material with an individual overseas. Those enquires are ongoing," he said.

"[Our] investigation is continuing in attempting to identify who that individual is."

At this stage, the AFP has found no evidence of any sexual assault.

Mr Tait has been in custody since his arrest last year.

A dedicated local contact point has also been established for families who believe they may be impacted to contact health professionals and counsellors.

Australian Federal Police - Operation Moonbi

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/community-information/operation-moonbi

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-15/nsw-hamish-tait-childcare-worker-abuse-sa-indigenous-communities/106916388

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IGFB3b6Np0

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 16, 2026, 4:20 a.m. No.24831632 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1635

University defends action on alleged Nazi salute, pro-Palestine encampment

Michael Bachelard - July 16, 2026

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When Monash University vice chancellor Sharon Pickering first heard students were planning a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on her campus in April 2024, she was on a flight stopover at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

“Fortunately, I had Wi-Fi,” she told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Thursday. “I sat in the lounge at JFK, and I watched the police come onto campus at Columbia [University], and I watched what happened. I needed to get home.”

On the fourth day of the commission’s scrutiny of Australian universities, Pickering’s evidence suggested she did things differently to some of her colleagues.

When she became aware non-students were on campus in the 40-tent encampment – and at pro-Israel counter-protests – Pickering had them removed using existing powers to get police to issue exclusion orders.

Monash set up CCTV cameras, and Pickering declined to negotiate directly with the protesters, insisting they go through the democratically elected student union –which they did not do.

When she saw an Instagram post saying “Zionists are not welcome on campus” she judged it was a “watershed” – that the words of the protest had moved from simply causing “offence … to real harm”.

The university made it clear to protesters in a statement that it would “not tolerate thinly disguised antisemitism”.

When it came to the controversial chants of “globalise the intifada”, and “from the river to the sea”, Pickering, a criminologist by training, said she had sought advice, then issued a warning to protesters that they faced investigation and possible sanction if they used them.

“There had been increasing, what I’m calling the atmospherics of hostility on campus, and we needed to calm things down,” Pickering told the commission on Thursday.

“What you’re contending with is, where are the justifiable limitations in a real community with real people, not as a legal abstract argument.

“The encampment had brought a level of hostility that was unacceptable … so we worked really hard with student organisations, the police, with our community … We did not seek to use any special powers. We simply used the policies and procedures that we had.”

Other vice chancellors from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra who provided evidence to the commission this week have been more equivocal, saying a commitment to academic freedom had made a crackdown difficult, and they had wanted to avoid conflict with protesters.

University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott, who apologised to Jewish staff and students, said on Wednesday that because the chants did not break the law, the issue was “hard for us to deal with”.

He also admitted he did not know whether non-students had been protesting on his campus.

Monash’s campus’s encampment lasted 17 days – compared to 110 days at the Australian National University (ANU) and 56 days at the University of Sydney.

Professor Rebekah Brown, the interim vice chancellor of the ANU, apologised to Jewish staff and students in her evidence.

“Jewish students and staff have an absolute right to feel safe, respected and heard on our campus, and I’m sorry that they didn’t,” Brown told commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday.

“I’ve committed in my role, as long as I am the interim vice chancellor, to do better.”

Brown said she had been “very moved … very affected” by the evidence of former ANU student Liat, who gave evidence this week that she had felt unsafe when being taunted as a “baby killer” and “genocide supporter” during the encampment that ran between April and August 2024.

An expert on psychosocial hazards later told the university its encampment, Australia’s longest, “could lead to serious injury”.

(continued)

>>24831632

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Under questioning on Thursday, Brown agreed that freedom of academic expression meant nobody had a right not to be offended. However, she said the university had not acted as well as it should have.

It had since upped the strength of its policies on psychosocial risks, was implementing an antisemitism policy and rolling out training, Brown said.

Though she had not been vice chancellor at the time, Brown agreed there “had been failures” with how ANU handled the protests in mid-2024.

Brown’s evidence came after the ANU’s acting provost, Professor Joan Leach, said the encampment was not broken up earlier because of a fear it would cause US-style violent confrontations with students.

Leach told the royal commission only one student had been disciplined as a result of the encampment, and not for antisemitism. She also related how students who appeared to mimic a Hitler moustache and a Nazi salute on a student livestream had been cleared in an internal investigation.

Asked about the encampment, Leach said the students were directed twice in May 2024 to disband for health and safety notices. They did not.

It was almost two months later, on July 23, 2024, that university authorities cut power to the site for reasons of electrical safety.

Despite a number of complaints from Jewish students that they felt unsafe on campus, particularly due to chants, the protest did not move until August 17, 2024.

Leach said the “images of students being pulled by police off campuses” in the US had been “very much on people’s minds”. The university wanted to bring the encampment to a close “peacefully, without violence, and with some agreement with the students”.

“In hindsight, that might appear naive or inadequate, but I do believe at the time there was a hope that the encampment could be brought to a peaceful end,” Leach said.

In the end, the university agreed to publish on its website details of investments it had with defence manufacturing firms.

During the protest period, the ANU Students’ Association held a notorious meeting in which Jewish students proposed that Hamas be condemned as a terror organisation.

During the meeting, allegations were made that a student performed a Nazi salute, and that another made a gesture indicating a Hitler moustache.

Leach told the royal commission an investigation cleared both students.

One student, Leach said, was found to have been using her finger to cover a facial feature they were uncomfortable with – “not a moustache gesture but a gesture this student commonly made in multiple contexts in multiple events”.

The alleged Nazi salute was not fully visible on the video, Leach said, and it was “very, very difficult to discern exactly what was going on”.

Both students were cleared, but the findings were not communicated to the Jewish students involved. The Jewish students did not find out the result of the investigation until the university revealed them at a Senate estimates hearing.

After the encampment at ANU, eight students were charged with misconduct because they had disobeyed university directions. None was charged over allegations of antisemitism and Leach told the royal commission seven of the eight were cleared.

The university has since begun a review into student conduct rules, and has prohibited tents and banned sleeping on campus.

Yasser Bakri, a lawyer representing the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, put to Leach that the university had acted poorly towards a Palestinian student during the encampment.

Bakri said the student applied for special consideration because multiple members of her family had died in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

The course co-ordinator told the young woman she needed to provide a death certificate for every member of her family killed for the extension to be considered, Bakri said.

“After those death certificates were procured, which was very difficult given the circumstances in Gaza, the student was then told to obtain a notarised translation for the death certificates,” Bakri said. The lawyer said the entire process took the student more than a year.

Leach agreed that, if true, the university should do better.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/university-defends-action-on-alleged-nazi-salute-pro-palestine-encampment-20260716-p60fre.html

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>>24828214

Moira Deeming drops court bid against Victorian Liberals; party set to disendorse MP

ANTHONY GALLOWAY - 16 July 2026

The Victorian Liberal Party will move to disendorse MP Moira Deeming within days after she dropped her Supreme Court action against the party.

Ms Deeming announced late on Wednesday night she was withdrawing her injunction against the party’s move to revoke her preselection and now wanted the state executive to review her proposal for mediation which includes a joint statement between her and former leader Matthew Guy.

The party moved to disendorse Ms Deeming after she refused to apologise for making assault allegations against Mr Guy that were unable to be substantiated by police.

While a new meeting of the state executive has not yet been scheduled, it is understood it will meet within days to disendorse Ms Deeming. Senior sources told The Australian the party will not agree to her mediation proposal.

The move will end years of turmoil between the Victorian Liberals and the upper house MP since entering parliament in 2022.

Ms Deeming was expelled from the parliamentary party in May 2023 after her attendance at a pro-women rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. She then successfully sued then-leader John Pesutto for defamation and was readmitted to the party room.

But her allegation that Mr Guy assaulted her at a community event on May 23 was met with widespread anger within the party months out from the November election which polls show leader Jess Wilson is in a position to win.

CCTV of the incident on May 23 showed Mr Guy – who vehemently denies any wrongdoing – putting his right arm across Ms Deeming’s shoulder during a conversation.

In her statement on Wednesday night, Ms Deeming said the injunction against the party had “achieved exactly what it was intended to achieve”.

Ms Deeming said she was overseas and unwell when the story broke and “jet-lagged and unwell when the disendorsement meeting was called”.

“The injunction gave me time to recover, review all the facts, learn the difference between a headlock and a collar-tie grip, and gather my thoughts,” she said.

“Now that I have provided the state executive with my statement and a mediation proposal, I have withdrawn the injunction.

“The state executive, having all the evidence before them, can now decide whether or not to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me.”

From the beginning of the saga, Ms Deeming said she had progressed the issue “in good faith, respected the confidentiality of all involved, submitted myself to the instructions and policies of the party and obeyed the law rather than run it through the media”.

Earlier on Wednesday Ms Deeming released a 12-page statement she had sent to the party’s state executive, proposing the matter be resolved through a joint statement acknowledging that Mr Guy’s actions were intended only as “a friendly gesture”, while affirming that she had acted “honestly, privately, in good faith and in accordance with the Liberal Party’s established processes”.

But she also said she was continuing to inquire “how my private internal complaints to senior members within the Liberal Party came to be provided to Mr Guy, and from Mr Guy to journalists, while a police investigation was active”.

“Those inquiries are ongoing. The state executive should not act until all the facts are established,” she wrote.

But senior Liberal figures, who were not authorised to comment publicly on the complaint, said it was their understanding the complaint first reached the media through individuals with whom Ms Deeming had shared its contents, rather than through Mr Guy.

They said Mr Guy sought access to the CCTV footage from the May 23 Macedonian community function only after becoming aware of the complaint.

Mr Guy has been contacted for comment.

At a press conference last month, Mr Guy said “there is no ambiguity, I did not do what’s alleged”.

“The CCTV proves this. It did from the start, and Victoria Police agree,” he said.

“Moira Deeming owes me a public apology.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/moira-deemings-lastditch-plea-to-mediate-dispute/news-story/001159327e05b45d3a3d4f60e4535aed

https://x.com/MoiraDeemingMP/status/2077356932785230255

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 16, 2026, 4:46 a.m. No.24831680 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1685

>>24795432 (pb)

>>24820628

>>24828231

New Australia-Indonesia security pact prepares nations for blockade threat

DIAN SEPTIARI - 16 July 2026

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Indonesia and Australia’s new Treaty on Common Security could prove critical in helping the two nations prepare for future regional security threats - including potentially crippling shipping blockades, assistant foreign minister Matt Thistlethwaite said during a three-day visit to Jakarta.

Speaking at the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) this week, Mr Thistlethwaite said the recent disruption to global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had shown how quickly maritime chokepoints could affect global trade, a scenario once deemed improbable in our own region but now increasingly plausible.

“Imagine a blockade to the north in the Natuna Sea,” he said, referring to the Indonesian waters that sit at the southern edge of the South China Sea, where Beijing’s sweeping “nine-dash line” overlaps with the exclusive economic zones claimed by several Southeast Asian countries.

“A year or so ago, most people would have said, ‘Well, that’s never going to happen. That’s unrealistic’. Given what’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz at the moment, not so remote anymore.”

Indonesia is not a claimant to the disputed Spratly Islands, but China’s claims overlap with waters around the Natunas, leading to repeated confrontations between Chinese vessels and Indonesian maritime authorities.

Mr Thistlethwaite said any disruption to shipping around the Natuna Sea would have severe economic consequences for both Indonesia and Australia.

“There is a realisation now in both of our nations that we share a common interest as middle powers working together on the stability and peace of our region,” he said.

“Ahead of us is a more unstable geostrategic balance as great powers increasingly engage in a contest of power and influence. The largest and most rapid military build-up since World War II is happening right here in our region.”

The implications of that were made “clear and real last week when a submarine-launched ballistic missile test splashed down in the Pacific”, he added, referring to China’s firing from a nuclear-powered submarine of a long-range warhead near Tuvalu.

Mr Thistlethwaite’s remarks offer one of the clearest explanations yet from an Australian official of the strategic thinking behind the Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security, or Jakarta Treaty.

The assistant foreign minister said the treaty not only committed the leaders of both nations to meet and talk regularly about shared security threats, but would also facilitate deeper and broader security co-operation, including through earlier military exchanges to build strong and lasting relationships among younger officers from both militaries.

Asked whether Canberra was encouraging Jakarta to adopt a similar strategic assessment of China, Mr Thistlethwaite averred, instead emphasising Australia’s reliance on Southeast Asia for trade and energy supplies.

“We’ve relied in recent times on the goodwill and the good economic partnerships that we’ve had with Southeast Asian nations,” he said.

Open and free shipping lanes and freedom of navigation were “vitally important to both of our countries”, and principles both governments were committed to upholding through the Jakarta Treaty, he added.

The landmark security pact was signed during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s two day February visit to Jakarta, marking a new high point in the bilateral relationship that has weathered ups and downs in recent decades.

(continued)

>>24831680

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Indonesia has long maintained it has no overlapping maritime claims with China, and that Chinese incursions near the Natuna Islands stem solely from Beijing’s expansive “nine-dash line,” which Jakarta does not recognise under international law.

But that position appeared to shift in late 2024, when President Prabowo Subianto and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a joint statement acknowledging “overlapping claims” in maritime areas _ language that surprised analysts because it departed from Indonesia’s longstanding diplomatic position.

The question of freedom of navigation through Indonesia’s own archipelagic straits was also briefly and controversially raised in April when the country’s finance minister suggested imposing shipping tolls could be a handy source of revenue for the cash-strapped administration, before being quickly shot down by Indonesia’s foreign ministry.

Asked about the previous proposal to charge ships transiting the co-managed Strait of Malacca or other Indonesian straits, Mr Thistlethwaite said discussions with Indonesian officials had reaffirmed both countries’ commitment to freedom of navigation and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The two governments remained committed to maintaining “free and open shipping” and upholding those principles through their co-operation, he added.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/new-australiaindonesia-security-pact-prepares-nations-for-blockade-threat/news-story/815eccec3275f054673b775faf4aaf3d

>>24795432 (pb)

>>24798579 (pb)

>>24820628

>>24828231

China insists it has ‘no geopolitical intent’ after missile sparks Pacific fury

AMANDA HODGE - 16 July 2026

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China has moved to mend fences with Pacific island nations a week after sparking regional fury by firing a dummy warhead from a submarine into regional nuclear-free waters, insisting it has “no geopolitical intent” in the Pacific and does not seek to make it a “sphere of influence”.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks during a meeting late on Tuesday with his Solomon Islands counterpart Rick Houenipwela, dispatched to Beijing in the wake of Prime Minister Mathew Wale’s “strong protest” on behalf of Pacific Island nations.

Mr Wale has made little secret of his anger at China’s missile test, fired within hours of Australia and Fiji signing a landmark defence agreement, calling the launch “a provocative act” and warning Beijing: “Be our friend, but don’t threaten us.”

Regional analysts say his remarks are likely the tip of an iceberg of Pacific concern over China’s actions, given a growing well of distrust of Beijing that has led to high-level regional bilateral agreements with Australia from the Puk Puk treaty with PNG, Nakamal agreement with Vanuatu, Vuvale Union and Oceans of Peace Alliance with Fiji, and pacts with Tuvalu and Nauru.

Beijing clearly knows it has ground to make up in its “permanent competition” with Australia for diplomatic supremacy across the region.

It also knows it is in danger of losing influence in the Solomons – previously its most reliable Pacific partner – after China-sceptic Mr Wale took office in May and announced an intention to strengthen ties with Australia.

China’s pitch as a “no political strings attached” alternative underwriter of Pacific Islands’ security and prosperity was already looking dubious before it gave less than two hours’ notice of its intention to fire a missile into waters covered by the Treaty of Rarotonga – an action Beijing called a “routine part of China’s annual military program” but which sparked protests from Australia, the US, Japan, New Zealand and nine Pacific island nations.

Yet at Tuesday’s meeting, its top envoy appeared stuck in a loop of the same old talking points; the Pacific Island nations are no one’s “backyard”, China does not seek “spheres of influence”, Beijing has “no geopolitical intent” in the region.

“China’s co-operation with Solomon Islands is free of political conditions, does not impose its will on others, and does not issue ‘empty promises’,” said Mr Wang in a Chinese readout of Tuesday’s meeting with Mr Houenipwela.

No explanations were offered for why China ignored standard protocols for ballistic missile testing – including at least 48 hours’ notice – or why it chose to launch inside a designated nuclear-weapons-free zone within hours of Australia and Fiji signing a defence alliance.

Nor were there any substantive sweeteners offered to its most reliable Pacific Island nation partner to match Australia’s recent rails-run of diplomatic achievements.

“In many ways China is its own worst enemy in terms of its ham-fisted diplomacy,” says Mike Hughes, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Defence Strategy program. “China has for half a decade at least chastised Australia to our Pacific Island partners over AUKUS supposedly violating the Treaty of Rarotonga – which is nonsense – but the great irony is they’re now testing an ICBM whose sole purpose is to draw nuclear weapons into the South Pacific,” he added.

(continued)

>>24831694

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Mr Hughes said China would still be “reeling” from Mr Wales’s ascendancy to the prime ministership, given his promise to review the secretive security agreement signed in early 2022 that prompted such alarm in Canberra and Washington. “The Solomons really was the jewel in the crown for the realising of China’s intent for the region. To have lost it so quickly and suddenly, with Mathew Wale coming out all guns blazing about resetting the bilateral relationship with Australia, will be seen as a massive setback.”

Still, he said, it would almost certainly learn lessons from its mistakes and come back stronger, given China’s interests in the Pacific “were enduring as long as they have this intent to reshape global order”.

Lowy Institute acting Pacific Islands program director Oliver Nobetau said Tuesday’s China-Solomons’ meeting was notable for the fact it delivered “nothing of significance” to challenge Australia’s run of diplomatic and security wins.

“What would have been a good show of faith was some language that could denote an apology, that it was not their intention to cause concern, but we have not seen anything of that regard,” he said.

While last week’s missile launch was undoubtedly a self-inflicted diplomatic injury for China, it was also a sobering reminder of its rising military capacity and reach.

The question now is whether that will hamper Australia’s regional diplomatic achievements or accelerate them.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/china-insists-it-has-no-geopolitical-intent-after-missile-sparks-pacific-fury/news-story/fb0861939b52a474e8ee59b2690d0ad9

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>>24831694

China’s ambassador Xiao Qian to depart Canberra after memorable diplomatic stint

WILL GLASGOW - July 15, 2026

After a memorable four-and-a-half-year stint, Xi Jinping’s man in Canberra is packing his bags. You read it here first.

Ambassador Xiao Qian arrived in Canberra in January 2022, with five months left of Scott Morrison’s prime ministership.

It was a time when Australians had huge anxiety about China’s military build-up and its increasingly bullying behaviour in the region – all made worse by Australia’s economic co-dependency with its biggest security threat.

None of those fundamentals have changed: Beijing still causes Australia’s defence planners and security officials more grief than the rest of the world combined, while China remains by far the biggest customer of Australian exports.

But the surface of the relationship is much smoother now than when Ambassador Xiao moved into China’s huge embassy compound in Canberra.

After Anthony Albanese’s election in May 2022, a switch was flicked in Beijing. Within months, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong – the first ministerial engagement between the two countries since Xi ordered Australia be put in the back corner of China’s diplomatic freezer in 2020.

Two and a half years later, by Christmas 2024, live Australian lobsters were again allowed to clear China’s customs department. The return of that trade marked the end of China’s trade coercion campaign, which at its peak spanned Australian goods worth $20bn a year.

In-between, Cheng Lei was released from her Beijing prison cell and, in August 2024, I was credentialed to be based in China, ending a four-year unofficial black-listing of Australian journalists.

Xiao was there through it all: sometimes smiling and purring about Gough Whitlam, sometimes threatening violence if Australia didn’t watch itself around Taiwan, sometimes fulminating about what would follow if the PM delivered his election commitment to end Chinese company Landbridge’s ownership of the Port of Darwin, and most recently telling off ASIO head Mike Burgess for suggesting China was behind “so-called interference in Australia”.

These and many more happy memories will be discussed at his Canberra farewell party, a knees-up with Chinese characteristics now less than a fortnight away.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/margin-call/chinas-ambassador-xiao-qian-to-depart-canberra-after-memorable-diplomatic-stint/news-story/b468724d5044ce146a9cf398aeb36cc7

https://qresear.ch/?q=Xiao+Qian

>>24777262 (pb)

>>24831694

>>24831702

China’s next Ambassador to Australia is expected to be a ‘wolf warrior’ diplomat as Xiao Qian exits Canberra

Departing Ambassador Xiao oversaw a stabilisation of rocky relations between Australia and China, but that’s about to change.

Andrew Greene - 16 July 2026

Beijing is widely tipped to revert to so-called “wolf warrior” diplomacy with Australia by soon dispatching a more assertive ambassador to Canberra to manage the increasingly tense strategic relationship between both nations.

Current Ambassador Xiao Qian, who has served in Australia for more than four years, will be formally farewelled later this month by other members of Canberra’s diplomatic corps during an event to be held at the Chinese embassy.

Since arriving in early 2022, Ambassador Xiao has overseen a stabilisation of relations between Australia and China which hit rock bottom when Beijing imposed crippling trade sanctions against the Morrison government during the COVID pandemic.

Numerous diplomatic figures have told The Nightly they are now expecting veteran Chinese Foreign Ministry official Liu Jinsong to soon be announced as his replacement, but the appointment has not been officially confirmed by Beijing.

Within five months of his arrival to Canberra as China’s ambassador, Anthony Albanese defeated Scott Morrison to become Prime Minister after vowing to restore relations with Australia’s largest trading partner.

Soon after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong for the first ministerial level engagement between both two countries since relations sourced over the Morrison government’s call for a COVID inquiry in 2020.

By late 2024, China had officially ended all trade sanctions imposed by President Xi Jinping’s administration when restrictions on Australian exports of rock lobsters and beef were finally lifted.

Over recent weeks however tensions between China and Australia have resumed, particularly after the People’s Liberation Army-Navy fired a nuclear-capable missile into the Pacific Ocean earlier this month.

In early July Ambassador Xiao also launched a furious attack on ASIO and other Western intelligence agencies, accusing them of fabricating spying claims against his nation while denying that Beijing engages in foreign interference.

Last weekend diplomatic tensions over China’s growing strategic reach were again ignited, this time by the 10-year anniversary of an international legal ruling against Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Another recent test to emerge in the fickle and fractious relationship between the Albanese government and the rising superpower is a proposal by Taiwan to establish a new unofficial consular presence in Western Australia.

Earlier this month The Nightly revealed that China’s embassy in Canberra had launched a strong protest with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to oppose the additional “Taipei Economic and Cultural Office” in Perth.

Ambassador Xiao’s widely tipped replacement Liu Jinsong currently serves as the head of the foreign ministry’s department for Asian affairs and was previously posted to Thailand, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Last November a video released by Chinese state media, which spread quickly online, showed the senior diplomat glaring down at his Japanese counterpart, further inflaming tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.

Japanese media reports have also credited Mr Liu with being instrumental in defusing tensions between Beijing and Tokyo after a heated disagreement over remarks by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan in December last year.

National security figures have over recent weeks also privately speculated that relations with China are heading in the direction of the lows experienced during the Morrison government, saying they believe “wolf warrior diplomacy” is returning.

In keeping with recent practice, China’s embassy in Canberra declined to comment on Ambassador Xiao’s departure, and his likely replacement, when contacted by The Nightly.

While China prepares to replace its ambassador to Canberra, the United States is yet to fill its top diplomatic post in Australia since the departure of former envoy Caroline Kennedy who departed shortly after Donald Trump’s election win in 2024.

In April President Trump nominated conservative Republican David Brat as the next ambassador to Australia, but his confirmation for the diplomatic posting has not yet been completed.

https://thenightly.com.au/politics/chinas-next-ambassador-to-australia-is-expected-to-be-a-wolf-warrior-diplomat-as-xiao-qian-exits-canberra-c-22576924

https://www.facebook.com/japandailydotjp/posts/a-viral-video-circulated-by-chinese-state-linked-media-claimed-japanese-diplomat/1318259873676997/

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 16, 2026, 5:32 a.m. No.24831758 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1765

Hamish Tait: Photos released in search for alleged victims of ‘worst day care paedophile’

Jack Gramenz and Perry Duffin - July 16, 2026

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A dinosaur puffer vest, blue patterned shorts and a two-tone T-shirt pictured in images seized from the devices of one of the country’s most prolific alleged day care abusers could help police continue identifying potential victims.

The images have been released as part of Operation Moonbi, which has laid 329 charges against Hamish Tait, 35, alleging he abused 158 children and attended 62 centres. Tait attended some centres for training purposes and had no access to children. (See the updated list at the end of this article.)

The images were taken at childcare centres in the Sydney suburbs of Rouse Hill and Putney between 2018 and 2024.

A distinctive dinosaur-print patterned puffer vest is seen in one picture believed to have been taken in June 2023 at a Rouse Hill centre.

Another image featuring blue-patterned shorts and a T-shirt with an animal pattern on the front was taken at a centre in Rouse Hill between February 2020 and March 2024.

Another image with a blue-and-white T-shirt was likely to have been taken at a Putney centre in January 2018.

Police have identified 142 of Tait’s alleged victims. A further 16 are unidentified, despite the work by victim identification teams.

The scale of the alleged offending means that if found guilty, Tait will have abused more children than any other childcare worker in the country’s history.

Electronic evidence recovered from Tait’s phones and devices allegedly shows he filmed children in toilets between 2009 and 2025 at five centres.

Tait was arrested in July 2025, but his name was suppressed until Monday.

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>>24831758

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AFP detective acting inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias says the unique items could be recognisable.

“Every image may contain a clue that helps identify a child,” he said.

“Our victim ID team is tenacious; they’re committed and will stop at nothing to identify children or victims of child sexual exploitation.”

Six further alleged victims have been identified since Tait’s name became public on Monday, Tsardoulias said.

“The impact on these families can’t be understated. It’s a really tough time for them.”

More than 300 calls have been made to the AFP’s dedicated local contact point.

While much of Tait’s alleged offending occurred in Sydney, multiple alleged victims have also been identified in South Australia, Tsardoulias said.

Parents who believe their child had contact with Tait are urged to contact the AFP on (02) 9765 1000, from 7am to 7pm AEST.

Operation Moonbi: AFP releases images to assist with victim identification

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/operation-moonbi-afp-releases-images-assist-victim-identification

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/photos-released-in-search-for-alleged-victims-of-worst-day-care-paedophile-20260716-p60fps.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpepm2ZL2lM

>>24820703

COMMENTARY - Sorry, Anthony Albanese: We’re biological women, not culture warriors

SALL GROVER - July 15, 2026

At the recent women’s rights rallies in Melbourne and Brisbane, the message from trans activists was unmistakable and menacing. While women gathered peacefully to defend sex-based rights and urge fixes to the Sex Discrimination Act, counter-protesters brought signs that crossed into explicit threats of violence.

These were not subtle expressions of disagreement. They were public, intimidating warnings aimed at women who dared to state that biological sex was real and that female-only spaces must stay that way.

Across the two cities, hundreds of trans activists carried large, handpainted placards such as one reading “TERFS GET THE WALL!” in bold red lettering – a direct euphemism for execution by firing squad – and another demanding that I be thrown into a men’s prison. Activists posted pictures and videos of themselves preparing these banners alongside trans flags to social media. Once in the public square, most of the activists wore masks.

Groups including the Trans Action Network, Queer Solidarity Magandjin and Socialist Alternative UQ organised and celebrated the counter-protests.

Far from spontaneous individual outrage, the co-ordinated presence, matching signage and targeted messaging revealed a deliberate campaign of intimidation. This level of organisation turns isolated anger into something far more systematic.

Anthony Albanese previously has framed the whole issue as a tiresome “culture war”. Yet when a rally sign explicitly threatens a woman for defending her rights, that is not cultural debate. It is incitement that demands serious attention. The Prime Minister’s characterisation airbrushes away the aggression that makes this debate so urgent.

As the woman named on one of those signs, I felt the fear first-hand. It is not abstract. It forces you to confront your own safety in a country where speaking biological truth can make you a target. The chilling effect is deliberate and it is being ignored by too many in positions of influence. This is the reality for growing numbers of Australian women who refuse to pretend away material facts.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody should be the first line of defence for women confronting such threats.

Her role exists to protect sex-based rights. Instead, she has prioritised gender ideology to the point of stretching pregnancy-related protections to cover biological males and treating sex as something negotiable rather than immutable.

For women facing real intimidation, her office is about as useful as the morning-after pill is to a man. When the institution charged with safeguarding women on the basis of sex subordinates that mandate to ideology, women are left isolated and unprotected. Vulnerable.

The rallies made the case more powerfully than any argument could. The aggression, entitlement and explicit threats on display are textbook male-pattern behaviour, the reason female-only spaces in prisons, shelters, sports and changing rooms were created.

Declaring yourself a woman does not alter chromosomes, reproductive biology or well-documented patterns of violence. It merely insists that everyone else ignore those realities, usually at women’s expense.

Media hesitation, political reframing and ideologically captured human rights bodies only worsen the problem. Many of these institutions now redefine “woman”, place self-ID above biological sex and treat the defence of single-sex spaces as the genuine offence. It is little wonder a direct threat on a public sign is ignored while the women targeted are cast as provocateurs.

The path forward is obvious. Governments and institutions must acknowledge biological reality and the reality of the situation. Men cannot become women and the explicit threats from trans activists prove exactly why female-only spaces are essential for safety, privacy and fairness. It is beyond time for the Albanese government and the Sex Discrimination Commissioner to recognise that the women in this fight are right.

Reality cannot be shouted or legislated away. The threats make that clearer than ever.

Sall Grover is founder and chief executive of Giggle and an accidental women’s rights advocate.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/sorry-pm-were-biological-women-not-culture-warriors/news-story/e400e34372467f8d9d62ab2290f84f03

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 18, 2026, 7:44 a.m. No.24841251 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1254

>>24688818 (pb)

‘Create jobs, not replace them’: PM flags crackdown on data centres and AI copyright

Paul Sakkal - July 15, 2026

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Labor and the union movement have joined to send a firm message to corporate Australia that widespread job cuts will not be tolerated in the AI revolution, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese forces tech behemoths to supply their own water and energy to fuel the data centre gold rush.

In an attempt to grab hold of the fast-moving debate on AI’s transformative prospects, Albanese used a speech at Sydney University to say the nation could not “turn back the clock” on the technology, insisting he would not give up the rights to Australian music and publishing content to US firms wanting to train their models. He argued such a move would amount to “theft” and flagged a novel solution to allow firms to pay for material.

The prime minister’s speech argued that AI was a more profound development than social media, as New York became the first US state to put a moratorium on data centres and the Australian housing sector warned construction resources were being diverted away from home building.

A year after Labor walked away from creating an AI act, Albanese flagged laws regulating the new frontier will be introduced early next year.

“We want AI to support and create good jobs, not replace them,” Albanese declared, a week out from a Labor Party conference at which unions will pressure him to shield workers from redundancy.

“Our great country can be much more than a data warehouse for AI products made overseas. We cannot settle for a short-term boom in capital expenditure.

“We can lead in everything from cybersecurity and biotechnology to advanced manufacturing. We must create a new generation of good, secure jobs.”

His rhetoric in a highly anticipated speech is a sign Labor is prepared to use industrial laws to help augment the workforce with AI rather than upend it. He delivered the speech a day after 200 leading US economists warned that the new computing transformation could be as severe as the Industrial Revolution unfolding over a much shorter timeframe.

Australian Council of Trade Unions leader Sally McManus backed the prime minister on Wednesday afternoon, revealing that she had been lobbying Labor to clarify workplace laws to make clear that companies must consult unions before technologies are introduced in the workforce, not after a decision to lay off workers.

She said that if companies thought, “Yeah, we’ll just get rid of people and replace them … in Australia” then “they’ve got another thing coming for them”.

Earlier on Wednesday, deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume warned about the prospect of greater powers for unions, setting up brawls on industrial policy and the AI legislation that Labor wants to introduce next year.

Tech giants willing to play by new rules

Australia, Albanese said, had to act quickly to maintain community support for data centres and to make sure workers were assisted rather than replaced, adding that rules for data centres would create certainty and allow more investment, attempting to strike a balance between attracting companies and ameliorating anxiety.

The government hopes to next year introduce laws that would set minimum requirements for firms building data centres, which have propped up business investment and growth in an otherwise flat economy.

Albanese said the computing factories used to power AI models should not compete with housing developers for land. Firms must pay for energy to offset their own electricity usage and build water facilities, he added.

The government had previously suggested these contributions but not enforced them. But Labor is now more attuned to local blowback and MPs’ concerns about big tech firms competing for resources.

As One Nation starts to campaign against data centres, Albanese pledged to ensure they “do not increase power prices for Australians”.

(continued)

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Two of the biggest tech companies, Anthropic and OpenAI, welcomed Albanese’s speech and pledged to work with the government on its commitment to strict rules on AI development.

“Anthropic has been clear for some time that societal-level solutions are needed for AI,” said Anthropic general counsel Jeff Bleich.

An OpenAI spokesperson said the company would engage constructively “on an approach that is practical, sustainable and right for Australia”.

Seeking a copyright solution

The standoff between Anthropic and the Albanese government over access to copyrighted content has not been settled, but the prime minister used his firmest language yet on Australia’s intent to protect artists. There have been mixed views inside the government about a copyright exemption for AI, but Labor’s position had hardened after an energetic lobbying campaign from artists.

Albanese’s cabinet is discussing ways to get US firms to pay for content such as songs and books. Anthropic wants access to Australian material in exchange for ploughing billions into Australia as its second home for training its language models.

The prime minister signalled Labor wanted a new model that would allow creatives to choose whether their works would be used to train AI and how they are paid.

“No company should use Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI without the artist’s control. That includes the artist’s control of the price and value of their work,” he said. “Anything less, is theft.”

Matt Stanton, chief executive of Nine, which owns this masthead, said Albanese sent an unequivocal message that publishers retained a right to decide how their content is used. “As Nine has illustrated with its recent AI licensing agreement with Microsoft, we are open for business and ready to do deals that recognise the value of our journalism,” Stanton said.

News Corp boss Michael Miller said Labor had “set out a path for Australia to lead the world in AI innovation, infrastructure and intellectual property” and urged the government to move quickly.

States need to buy in

NSW Premier Chris Minns welcomed the proposed AI framework but stressed communities’ rights must be ensured. “We need to get the settings right,” he said.

The rules for data centres would have to be ratified by premiers and chief ministers, who oversee planning approvals, at a meeting of the national cabinet next month. Conservative governments of Queensland and Tasmania may baulk at any requirements to pressure data centre firms to build renewables ahead of other forms of energy.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black warned against over-regulation but said he would wait to see what was contained in Labor’s regulation.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-flags-crackdown-on-power-hungry-data-centres-and-ai-copyright-theft-20260715-p60fhm.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0WzjJ1LAy8

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ESafety: tech giants leaving ‘significant gaps’ on sexual extortion of young people

NOAH YIM - July 13, 2026

Tech giants have left “significant gaps” in tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse and are failing to adequately tackle sexual extortion on their platforms, the eSafety Commissioner says.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said her agency had received more than 2000 complaints of sexual extortion – where perpetrators share or threaten to share intimate material – mostly from men aged 18-24.

Ms Inman Grant also said her agency needed stronger powers to tackle “nudify” artificial intelligence platforms, after the Albanese government in September said it would move to restrict those platforms.

The regulator has taken action against several platforms that offer “nudify” services – which can receive pictures of people and use AI to generate naked deepfakes of them – by requiring age assurance to access those services from Australian IP addresses.

But Ms Inman Grant acknowledged that the harm from such services could be damaging whether or not the user was under or over 18.

“It’s just what tools we can use,” she said.

Ms Inman Grant said she needed more powers to tackle the broader harm, with the technology increasingly used to bully or coerce. The federal government introduced new legislation in 2024 to specifically criminalise the creation of deepfakes without consent.

“I think that has been something that the government and specifically (Communications) Minister (Anika) Wells indicated that we will be looking at in this new set of reforms along with the Online Safety Act reforms, the commissioner said.

“This is also something that could be tackled further with the digital duty of care. We’re a scrappy regulator. We’re going to use the tools that we have to the best of our ability now. And this is why it’s so important that we’re continuing to see these reforms move forward, because the threat environment is changing rapidly.”

On sexual extortion, eSafety said platforms like Apple’s iMessage, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap should be using AI and language analysis to “identify well-known coercion scripts used by sexual extortion offenders”.

“Gaps in reporting tools also persist across services like WhatsApp, iMessage, Discord and Google Messages, with some services lacking clear, accessible ways for users to report sexual extortion or child abuse or failing to provide dedicated reporting categories for these harms,” the regulator said in a statement. She said the agency’s new transparency report “shows that platforms could and should be doing a lot more to prevent these harms and there are simple steps they can take today to protect users”.

“Offenders are continuing to exploit gaps in platform design, weak detection systems and inconsistent safeguards to move seamlessly between services and escalate harm against children,” she said.

“Technology already exists to better detect livestreamed child sexual abuse and newly created child sexual abuse material, but it is not being consistently deployed.

“These are some of the most innovative companies on the planet with some of the best minds, we would like to see some of this innovation going into the development of new technologies to tackle the worst-of-the-worst online content.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/esafety-tech-giants-leaving-significant-gaps-on-sexual-extortion-of-young-people/news-story/66e12f438bdd269cdcea03949e77d226

https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/esafety-report-reveals-big-tech-blind-spots-in-protecting-children-and-young-adults-from-sexual-extortion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3T_vFbKMp0

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UK announces social media curfew for older teens

AFP - July 15, 2026

The UK government said Tuesday it will introduce an overnight social media curfew for children aged 16 and 17, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month announced an under-16 social media ban.

In the latest crackdown on children's access to addictive apps, the government said there will be a curfew for teenagers aged 16 and 17 on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, between midnight and 6:00 am.

The government also announced plans for a default setting that will disable addictive features like infinite scrolling for older teenagers.

Users will be able to switch off these settings, however, with critics saying they would be ineffective. It was not clear how these changes would be enforced.

Last month, the UK became the latest to ban social media sites including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook for under-16s, in changes set to come into effect early 2027.

"Even as young people gain greater independence at 16, they should still be protected from the most addictive online features that can have a harmful impact on their wellbeing," technology minister Liz Kendall said in a statement.

"These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends."

The measures also include checks on the use of artificial intelligence chatbots that would require those under 18 to take regular breaks while using the platforms.

While some children's charities have welcomed the reforms as long overdue protections, others have warned they could result in children using the internet in unsafe ways.

Australia in December became the first nation to ban people under 16 from social media, in a move that has seen mixed success.

Canada and the UAE are among other countries that have announced similar bans, while Indonesia began enforcing its ban for users under 16 in March.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/uk-announces-social-media-curfew-for-older-teens/news-story/2bc058ae9dd2c24b598b44f941f353ef

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One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts praised conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as ‘beacon of hope’

Rob Harris - July 13, 2026

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One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts hailed American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as “a beacon of hope around the world” after the shock jock spent years claiming the Sandy Hook school massacre was staged and promoting the September 11 terrorist attacks as an inside job.

The remarks, made during an appearance on The Alex Jones Show in October 2024, add to scrutiny of Pauline Hanson’s long-time loyal colleague’s promotion of conspiracy theories.

The interview, which went unreported at the time, has re-emerged after the 71-year-old was condemned for refusing to rule out suggestions the Bondi massacre was a “false flag” earlier this year and using an antisemitic trope to claim “globalist parasites” had hijacked the United States government. He also described the US government as “the world’s greatest terrorist organisation”.

Roberts, first elected to represent Queensland on behalf of Hanson’s party in 2016, repeatedly praised Jones during the interview, which covered COVID-19, climate change and digital ID laws.

“Thank you so much for what you’re doing. You’ve been fighting a lone battle until fairly recently, and now people recognise that your credibility is very, very high. So, thank you so much for what you’re doing,” Roberts told Jones.

He later added: “You’re a beacon of hope around the world. I mean, just amazing.”

Jones became infamous for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 20 children and six staff members were murdered, was a staged “false flag” operation and that “no one died”.

He later acknowledged the massacre was real after families of the victims won almost $1.5 billion in defamation damages. Jones subsequently filed for bankruptcy and recorded his last show on his Infowars site in May when it was forced into liquidation.

Over many years, Jones claimed the Bush administration orchestrated the September 11 attacks by blowing up the World Trade Centre with “controlled demolitions”. He has also promoted conspiracy theories about “chemtrails”, chemicals in drinking water turning people gay and former US first lady Michelle Obama being male.

Roberts closed his interview by saying: “Thanks to you, Alex, because you have been under the pump for years and years and years, and you’ve been saying the same thing, and now there are many people around the world waking up. So thank you, and keep going.”

Roberts said in response that Jones had been vindicated “on many topics”, but he had not researched Sandy Hook, September 11 or Michelle Obama’s gender, so was unable to comment.

“Yes, SOME of Alex’s views are contentious. That is not a criteria for assessing a topic he or anyone else raises or questions. Instead, I rely on hard data,” he said.

“I am proud to have been a guest on Alex Jones’s show. He invites people capable of researching and thinking for ourselves and capable of questioning the mainstream narrative.”

(continued)

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One Nation, previously leading both Labor and the Coalition in several published opinion polls – including this masthead’s Resolve – has suffered a hit among voters over the past month since Hanson’s first National Press Club address.

She has courted controversy in recent days by appearing alongside far-right British anti-Islam agitator Tommy Robinson, who has said she’s “destined to be the next leader of Australia”.

Last month, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry condemned Roberts after he claimed “globalist parasites” had hijacked the US government, turning it into “the world’s greatest terrorist organisation”.

Roberts used similar phrasing in his interview with Jones, saying government policies in Commonwealth countries in particular were driven by “globalists … unelected parasites who are fronts for big corporations, who are fronts for a few people that own them and control them”. A transcript of the conversation remains on his website.

He faced criticism in May after he declined to dismiss suggestions the Bondi massacre was a “false flag”. Roberts told the interviewer he doubted it was a hoax, but did not have the data to rule it out completely.

When asked at a press conference while standing next to his colleagues, he said: “First of all, it’s an absurd proposition. Second thing, I reinforce the fact that I make decisions and statements based on data, and I don’t have data on that.”

Hanson then interjected to say: “I will answer, because I’ve had this discussion with Senator Roberts. There is no false flag.”

Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson said it was “strike three for Malcolm Roberts”.

“First he speculated the Bondi terror attack was a false flag. Then he called the United States the world’s greatest terrorist organisation. Now he’s praising a 9/11 truther and school-shooting denier,” he said.

“How much is Pauline Hanson willing to tolerate from her colleague before she publicly condemns him for these unhinged comments?”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/one-nation-s-malcolm-roberts-praised-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-as-beacon-of-hope-20260713-p60eta.html

https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/tag/infowars/

https://www.facebook.com/malcolmrobertsonenation/videos/it-was-a-pleasure-to-join-alex-jones-on-infowars-thanks-for-having-me-on-your-pr/529795703249101/

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 18, 2026, 8:12 a.m. No.24841305 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1314

One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts claims US Air Force ‘highly likely’ to be conducting chemtrail trials

JACK QUAIL - July 15, 2026

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has claimed it is “highly likely” the US Air Force is spraying “chemtrails” – a debunked conspiracy theory which posits that deadly toxins are being released into the atmosphere as part of a secret global depopulation plan.

The previously unreported comments, made in a video posted to his YouTube channel last year, are the latest in a string of fringe views expressed by the loyal lieutenant to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson which have intensified scrutiny of the party and threaten to erode its recent polling gains.

Speaking in an 89-minute clip with Graham Hood – a former Qantas pilot who made headlines in 2021 when he resigned from the airline in protest against its mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy – Senator Roberts firmly embraced the chemtrails conspiracy, claiming with near-certainty the US government was involved in the practice.

“So many people ridicule the notion of chemtrails in Australia,” he said. “I don’t ridicule the idea. I’m open to there being chemtrails in Australia.

“I have never denied it.

“And I think it’s likely, highly likely, that the USA military are doing trials on these things.”

To aid his argument, Senator Roberts asserted that the US military has a history of conducting “inhuman experiments with drugs and chemicals” that had “killed army people and army soldiers in America”.

“They’re probably doing the same with the air force,” he added.

“And a high proportion of what people claim is evidence that comes to us from the Americans.”

Originating in the late 1990s, the chemtrail conspiracy theory is the baseless belief that routine aircraft contrails are actually secret biological or chemical agents sprayed for nefarious purposes, including weather control and depopulation.

Scientists have repeatedly dismissed the claims, finding no distinction between purported chemtrails and the normal water-based vapour trails left by high-altitude flights.

Senator Roberts was contacted for comment.

The development follows several reports in recent days concerning Senator Roberts’s fringe beliefs.

On Wednesday, The Australian reported that the Queensland senator had promoted the works of antisemitic conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier Eustace Mullins.

He also likened Australia’s pandemic-era political leaders, including former prime minister Scott Morrison, to dictators Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Separate reports published by Nine newspapers have unearthed past comments by Senator Roberts stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “earned his respect” by invading Ukraine, and that he had also labelled American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as a “beacon of hope around the world”.

As heightened scrutiny follows One Nation’s recent boom in popularity, the populist right-wing party has begun to slip in major opinion polls.

Fresh YouGov polling released on Wednesday showed primary support for Senator Hanson’s outfit fell four percentage points to 26 per cent, leaving them behind Labor on 28 per cent but still outstripping the Coalition on 20 per cent.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/one-nations-malcolm-roberts-claims-us-air-force-highly-likely-to-be-conducting-chemtrail-trials/news-story/ff2ecad228b6ff39ae6b426ffaffe0b6

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 18, 2026, 8:19 a.m. No.24841314 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1315

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Fresh condemnation for Malcolm Roberts over notorious antisemitic mural post

Rob Harris - July 16, 2026

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One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts shared an image of a notorious antisemitic mural on his social media, described as “the most powerful pic I’ve ever seen”, as his repeated promotion of conspiracy theories was condemned by Jewish leaders.

The image, titled Freedom for Humanity, depicts a group of businessmen and bankers with exaggerated features gathered around a Monopoly-style board counting money. In the background is a pyramid with an eyeball in it – synonymous with the Illuminati conspiracy theory. To one side of the painting, a man holds up a placard that says: “The New World Order is the enemy of humanity.”

Painted by graffiti artist Kalen Ockerman, known as Mear One, on a wall in London’s East End in 2012, it was removed by local authorities after complaints from residents that it was antisemitic.

The mural became an international political controversy after former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was criticised for initially defending its artist. Corbyn later apologised, saying he had failed to properly examine an image that was “deeply disturbing and antisemitic”. Mear One has denied being antisemitic, saying the work was about “class and privilege”.

The post on X, made in May 2024, has drawn fresh condemnation from Jewish leaders after the senator continued to promote a string of conspiracy theories laced with antisemitic tropes, including the continued use of “globalist parasites” and claiming climate change was driven by policies “cabal” of “the major banking families in the world”.

This masthead also reported this week he had praised notorious US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who infamously claimed the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax, and praised Russia’s Vladimir Putin for fighting “globalists” in Ukraine. Globalists is a term commonly used as a pejorative in far-right politics and in various conspiracy theories, often with antisemitic tropes.

The Australian reported on Wednesday that Roberts had also promoted the work of Holocaust denier Eustace Mullins in a 2013 essay attacking international bankers and recommending The Secrets of the Federal Reserve as “a reasonable introduction”. Roberts has previously said he did not know Mullins was an antisemite.

Peak body of the Australian Jewish community, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, did not want to offer comment about Roberts’ post, but co-chief executive Peter Wertheim has previously said of him “no politician in Australia could be taken seriously if they subscribe to conspiracy theories”.

“It doesn’t matter how long ago these sorts of comments were made, they have never been repudiated and they need to be,” he said.

The council included Roberts’ post in their report on antisemitism released later in 2024.

“Roberts added his own globalist conspiracist words to the post,” the report said. “He did not refer expressly to Jews, but the mural has a notorious antisemitic history.”

(continued)

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Dr Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said Roberts’ post had shared “one of the most notorious antisemitic murals of our time”.

“I do not know what is in Senator Roberts’ heart. I can only judge what he placed before the Australian public, which is one of the most notorious antisemitic murals of our time, posted beneath the words ‘the most powerful pic I’ve ever seen’,” he said.

Abramovich said elected representatives carried a heightened responsibility because their statements conferred legitimacy on material they promoted.

“A man who circulates a painting of Jewish financiers gaming the world on the backs of the poor, and recommends literature about hidden families running the planet, is not asking questions. He is fanning the flames of the oldest hatred at the very moment this country is burning with it.”

He called on Roberts to delete the posts, repudiate the mural and tell his followers “that the fantasy of hidden Jewish puppet-masters and shadowy cabals is a slur with a body count”.

“Most of what Malcolm Roberts says is a load of rubbish,” Labor MP Dr Mike Freelander, said. “It is anti-science, and his conspiracy theories about bankers and global politics are often antisemitic. Most people choose to ignore him as part on the ongoing One Nation circus.”

Sources told this masthead Roberts’ office had received multiple complaints about the post at the time, pointing out it was widely regarded as antisemitic.

Roberts, who is on leave in Europe, was contacted for comment. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was also approached for comment. She has not yet responded to questions about Roberts, her longest-serving colleague who was elected alongside her in 2016.

She is currently in England and will speak at the conservatives conference CPAC Great Britain later this week, alongside Coalition senators Sarah Henderson and Bridget Mckenzie.

Colleague Barnaby Joyce on Tuesday distanced himself from Roberts’ praise of controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, saying he did not reflect the party’s views.

Roberts has previously denied being antisemitic. When asked by this masthead last month to comment on his claim that “globalist parasites” had hijacked the United States government, a spokesman declined to comment but said the senator would be happy to speak to concerned Jewish groups.

When questioned in 2017 about appearing on an antisemitic website, “Jew World Order”, he said: “I respect and admire the Jews,” adding that two of the founders of his Galileo Movement climate sceptic network were Jewish.

“There is no one religion involved. I have nothing against any particular religion,” he told reporters.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/fresh-condemnation-for-malcolm-roberts-over-notorious-antisemitic-mural-post-20260715-p60fh4.html

https://x.com/MRobertsQLD/status/1787565577818583145

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National gun buyback criticised as NSW Premier confirms only two jurisdictions remain

LACHLAN LEEMING - July 14, 2026

Only two jurisdictions are poised to participate in Anthony Albanese’s “nationwide” gun buyback, as a senior South Australian minister slammed the federal government for failing to properly consult the public on the scheme.

NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday became the first politician to confirm the planned buyback would likely only include his state and the ACT, with other states refusing to participate.

The Premier said the buyback only “came up briefly” at the last meeting of national cabinet in June, despite the looming July 1 deadline for states to move legislation supporting gun reforms.

With that deadline passed, Mr Minns on Monday acknowledged the national buyback would likely consist of only two jurisdictions.

“To be frank with you, it does look like it’ll be NSW (and) the ACT,” he said, adding Western Australia had already undertaken a similar reform. “But that’s likely to be the only states. Nonetheless, we’re going ahead with it.”

Mr Minns claimed his state had an announcement on the buyback that was “imminent”. He added that while he would prefer other governments “come on board”, he couldn’t “genuinely influence the policies of other jurisdictions”.

SA Police Minister Michael Brown told The Australian the Malinauskas government would not sign up to national firearm reforms if it involved no consultation with the public. He added SA could not sign up to a scheme with no national consensus.

“The state government will not sign up to any firearms reform proposal that requires regulatory change before undertaking genuine consultation,” he said.

An ACT government spokesman confirmed the jurisdiction would participate in the buyback alongside NSW. The Territory has introduced legislation but not yet passed it.

“The ACT continues to work closely with the commonwealth government on the scope, design and implementation of the proposed buyback scheme in the Territory,” the spokesman said.

Tasmania is considering its own version of a buyback that would cover only certain types of guns, after the state rejected caps accepted by the ACT and NSW.

The state has also said running a buyback would be contingent on the commonwealth stumping up funding that would guarantee gun owners of surrendered firearms received 1½ times the value of a handed-in weapon.

Furthermore, Tasmania’s buyback would only be for firearms that have been reclassified into stricter categories.

Queensland Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie also reaffirmed his state’s opposition to the scheme.

“As we have stated previously, Queensland will not be progressing a gun buyback as it does not focus on keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals, which was at the heart of what we saw at Bondi,” he said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office didn’t answer questions including whether the commonwealth was progressing with plans for a national buyback consisting of just the ACT and NSW.

Western Australia completed a buyback earlier this year, while the Northern Territory has rejected participating in the national scheme.

Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia chief executive James Walsh, a strident critic of NSW’s participation in the scheme, said Mr Minns should “save face and reverse” the decision.

“The rest of Australia has said this is no good and at the end of the day it’s not going to take a firearm off someone who shouldn’t have it,” Mr Walsh said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/national-gun-buyback-criticised-as-nsw-premier-confirms-only-two-jurisdictions-remain/news-story/d8218d30604dc952344365e3ed7a5f75

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 18, 2026, 8:37 a.m. No.24841354 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1357

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Government baulks at removing religious motivation from terror laws in Islamophobia response

Mike Foley - July 18, 2026

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The Albanese government has overlooked some of the most significant recommendations from the special envoy for tackling Islamophobia, as it commits to a raft of measures described as a necessary step in preventing religious discrimination “dangerously close” to becoming entrenched in society.

Aftab Malik, the special envoy to combat Islamophobia, handed a report to government in September with 54 recommendations. The government’s response, released today, addressed 35 of those recommendations and said it would consider the rest.

It did not respond to Malik’s call for a ban on religious discrimination; to protect Muslims in racial discrimination laws; an independent review into counter-terrorism laws; and a commission of inquiry into Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism.

The government also rebuffed Malik’s push, outlined in his submission to the antisemitism royal commission, for a change to terrorism laws that would reduce reliance on religious and ideological motivation “as a central criterion to the offence” of terrorism.

Instead, it announced a series of measures to promote social cohesion in education, such as a review to find ways to strengthen religious and racial tolerance; community support such as funding for mental health, especially for Muslim women; the creation of an Islamophobia-related trauma protocol; promoting cross-cultural events; and workplace training for politicians and public servants.

Australian National Imams Council senior adviser Bilal Rauf welcomed the government’s recognition of Islamophobia, but said he was disappointed that the government was not contemplating legislative changes to deal with it like it did in January with antisemitism, following the Bondi terror attack.

“There doesn’t appear to be any approach to involving legislative change,” Rauf said.

“We know that there is hate out there. The most vulnerable among us, women, children, are suffering, and our laws are deficient. They don’t capture Islamophobia.

“To that extent, it does stand in contrast to the range of responses to deal with the equally important experience of antisemitism.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was clear that the government must do more to combat Islamophobia and the government’s response was based on the principles outlined by Malik, with practical action to promote social cohesion and to keep communities safe.

“Islamophobia has no place in Australia,” said Albanese. “Every Australian deserves to be safe, respected, and at home in our country.”

Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly declared the response a milestone moment, as the first government recognition that Islamophobia is an immediate threat to the community.

“It is dangerously close to becoming normalised, and that it has traumatising, detrimental and long-lasting effects on a significant number of Australians,” Aly said.

(continued)

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Malik welcomed the government’s response and said its recognition of the threat from Islamophobia was significant, but said he would continue to advocate for further measures that still needed to be addressed.

“This is just the start of the journey,” Malik said. “To tackle Islamophobia at its roots, we must address the challenging questions. These include stronger and more consistent legal protections for Muslim Australians, further national examination of Islamophobia, and action that addresses its social, institutional and structural causes.”

In reference to the overlooked recommendations, Malik said he recognised that governments must balance competing priorities, but said there was an urgent need for further action.

“Muslim Australians should not be expected to bear the cost of that complexity indefinitely,” he said.

Malik, in his submission to the antisemitism royal commission, argued that the current definition of terrorism was “ill-equipped to address the reality of modern extremism, which features hybrid, intersecting, fluid, non-coherent ideologies that are also progressively driven by personal grievances”.

ASIO strongly disagreed in its submission to the same inquiry, arguing for religious and ideological motivation to remain in the definition of terrorism, as they “reflect the key overarching belief systems through which narratives can … mobilise large numbers of people to action, including towards violent action”.

Albanese said the government decision to ignore Malik’s recommendation was guided by advice from security agencies.

“Everyone’s view is given consideration, but primarily we sit in the National Security Committee of the government and we take advice from our security agencies. I have confidence in them.”

The Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian National Imams Council welcomed the government’s response but said “much more needs to be done” following its long-awaited release.

“It must be followed by meaningful and timely action, supported by clear commitments, appropriate resources and strong accountability,” the groups said in a joint statement. “This should include practical enhancements that lead to lasting systemic and structural improvements across government policy, education, legislation, community safety, public institutions and other areas.”

The Australian reported on Saturday that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson had described Islam as a religion based on terrorism in a podcast interview in April.

“I’m sorry, it’s an ideology that is, you know, and a lot of it’s based on terrorism,” Hanson said to podcast host Isaac Butterfield, a right-wing comedian.

“Pauline Hanson has been undermining social cohesion for 30 years … since her comments led to her being disendorsed by the Liberal Party in the lead-up to the 1996 election,” Albanese said on Saturday.

Malik said remarks such as Hanson’s isolated and marginalised Muslims.

“Words have consequences, and we’ve seen that in America, we’ve seen that in England, and we’ve seen that across Australia of late,” he said.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/government-baulks-at-removing-religious-motivation-from-terror-laws-in-islamophobia-response-20260718-p60gez.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EgNWMjrUr8

Meta and YouTube remove accounts of Hizb ut-Tahrir linked protest group

JAMES DOWLING - July 17, 2026

Social media accounts for the pro-Palestine activist offshoot of designated hate group Hizb ut-Tahrir have been pulled offline in a further dismantling after it was targeted in a post-Bondi crackdown.

YouTube, Facebook and Instagram accounts for controversial protest group Stand4Palestine, which organised rallies on the anniversaries of the October 7 attack and this week was the subject of scathing testimony in the antisemitism royal commission, were taken off its platforms earlier this month.

Earlier this year Hizb ut-Tahrir quickly dismantled its online presence, taking down its website and affiliated media channels after the Albanese government passed new hate group legislation targeting it.

A Meta spokesperson refused to say why the accounts were removed and whether it was a reaction to the federal government’s recent hate group designation of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a fundamentalist Islamist group recognised abroad as a terror body.

“For privacy reasons, we can’t share information about individual accounts with anyone other than the account holder,” the spokesperson said.

Stand4Palestine, Home Affairs, YouTube and its parent company Google were contacted for comment. The Australian understands the eSafety Commissioner had no involvement in the take-down.

In past weeks the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion slammed social media companies for inaction on antisemitism and investigated the suspected infiltration of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Stand4Palestine members into the University of Sydney pro-Palestine student encampment.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott was warned by a Jewish student body that Hizb ut-Tahrir had likely joined the encampment but took no further action after receiving neutral advice from police.

Pressure grew when investigative program 60 Minutes released a story on Hizb ut-Tahrir’s growing sway on the camp and the broader Sydney protest movement, arguing it used Stand4Palestine as a vehicle to conceal its ideological roots.

On Wednesday Professor Scott told the commission he remained powerless to remove its members from university grounds because the campus was “porous” and the use of move-on notices was a grey area for the site.

The commission reserved some of its most searing criticism for social media companies. Last week its senior counsel assisting, Richard Lancaster SC, all but confirmed it would recommend wide-ranging new standards on global tech giants.

“The social media companies are not sufficiently addressing antisemitism online. Regulatory obligations must be imposed on them because they are not taking care of the problem themselves,” he said. “If social media platforms are capable of inflicting harm, or are actually inflicting harm upon Australians, the laws of Australia must be capable of securing accountability for those harms.”

In March Hizb ut-Tahrir became the first target of hate speech laws introduced after the Bondi attack. The threshold for hate group designation is lower than a terror listing. Under the regime, supporters and participants in Hizb ut-Tahrir or any clear affiliate or derivative group face up to 15 years incarceration.

A spokesperson for the group previously said the laws were a product of “Zionist influence” and pledged to fight the legislation in the High Court.

The other group listed under the regime – the neo-Nazi Nationalist Socialist Network – also is challenging the laws.

Hizb ut-Tahrir advocates replacing democratic systems with a caliphate and espouses a conservative interpretation of Islam.

Stand4Palestine member Mukhlis Mah made headlines in March for heckling Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke during a visit to Lakemba mosque.

Stand4Palestine denies ties to Hizb ut-Tahrir despite their overlapping memberships and detailed ties across media and public inquiries.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/meta-and-youtube-remove-accounts-of-hizb-uttahrir-linked-protest-group/news-story/270f845db8bc10e569994c7029a1724f

https://qresear.ch/?q=Hizb+ut-Tahrir

Antisemitism royal commission to investigate policing of Opera House and neo-Nazi protests

JAMES DOWLING - July 17, 2026

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The antisemitism royal commission will analyse the October 9, 2023, Sydney Opera House pro-Palestinian protest that followed the Hamas attack on Israel and a neo-Nazi rally outside the NSW parliament as part of an investigation into protests and policing.

The Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission on Friday announced the subject of its seventh hearing block that will run across two days on August 3 and 4, placing attention on police standards.

Its announcement came at the conclusion of its hearing block on universities, where on Friday the chief of Australia’s tertiary education regulator spoke about sector-wide concerns that “external actors” were bringing antisemitism onto campuses.

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency chief executive Mary Russell said her agency recorded a shift across campus protests towards antisemitic behaviour coinciding with the increased involvement of protesters and factions who were not university staff or students.

“Some of the student protesters and some of the universities had initially tried to engage in discourse and take a more engaged approach to the issues. The intrusion of outside actors typically saw an end to that and saw much more heated, aggressive, and very personalised expressions of protests and ideas,” Dr Russell said.

“When we spoke to universities, they told us that they had strong suspicions, particularly from their direct observations, that there were people taking part in protests, or inflaming or inciting an increase in the activity that did not appear to them to be students or staff.

“We had some accounts that people were enrolling in single subjects at universities so that they had access passes and access to some areas of universities.”

Former chief scientist Alan Finkel, who led an antisemitism investigation for the Group of Eight university collective, said vice-chancellors had to build working relationships with police.

“It’s very clear that some of the encampments and protests had gotten to the point where vice-chancellors were trying to decide whether to call police or not, and in many cases they did,” he said.

“In some cases there was an appropriate response. In others, there was less response than the vice-chancellors had hoped for, and it’s always difficult.”

He also pushed for universities to monitor the social media footprint of staff, arguing there was little distinction between views shared on campus and online.

“There’s a permeability between the physical world and the social media world,” he said.

“Without being extreme about it, the universities need to have awareness and policies that provide clarity to the lecturers, to the students, to the student leaders, to all staff, that their actions on social media, if they’re on a public channel, have this permeability and overlap with their actions in the in the real world.”

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In the protest hearing block, witnesses will be asked about police responses to protests, how hate speech emerges from protest rhetoric, and the democratic function of activism.

The Opera House and state parliament protests will be case studies for these topics.

“The right to engage in peaceful protest is a fundamental attribute of democratic life. The commission’s focus in this hearing block will be on whether there are opportunities to improve the way police respond to antisemitic conduct in protest settings,” royal commissioner Virginia Bell said.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has announced new standards that would force universities to adopt definitions of antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism against Indigenous Australians within their policies.

Education Department deputy secretary Jasmina Joldic was asked by the commission on Friday about the policy, with internal correspondence between TEQSA and the department showing how it decided the government should not mandate a specific definition of antisemitism.

The royal commission will next week look at security arrangements for Jewish groups and institutions, government funding for protective measures, and co-ordination between police and private security contracted by Jewish groups.

Monash University’s director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, David Slucki, told the commission how flashpoints in domestic Israeli politics introduced difficulties for Zionist members of the Jewish diaspora.

“Many people are very conflicted because they’re attached to the state of Israel, but they have a vision for what that state ought to look like. Most people don’t want violence; they don’t want to see endless conflict,” he said.

“Most Australian Jews want to see a two-state solution in Israel, so they do support the idea that there ought to be a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state, and then there is this question of what does that look like.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/antisemitism-royal-commission-to-investigate-policing-of-opera-house-and-neonazi-protests/news-story/3caa411d2c4b417eb9d1f711141d6e2b

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>>24649839 (pb)

>>24729231 (pb)

NSW woman arrested over network suspected of harbouring Dezi Freeman

JOHN FERGUSON and LIAM MENDES - July 17, 2026

A NSW woman has been arrested in eastern Victoria over the network of people suspected of being involved in the harbouring of double police killer Dezi Freeman.

Victoria Police said the 58-year-old woman had been arrested in the Bairnsdale area on Friday and would be interviewed by Taskforce Summit investigators.

She is one of several women police have sought over who helped Freeman, 56, after he murdered the two officers and attempted to kill another two on August 26 last year.

Police have raided multiple properties in NSW as part of the investigation, suggesting the killer may have been harboured interstate for at least some of the time before he was gunned down in northeastern Victoria on March 30.

Police have said they will not comment further because the deaths are before the Coroner; the arrest does not mean the woman is guilty of any offence.

“Detectives from Taskforce Summit arrested a 58-year-old NSW woman in the Bairnsdale area this morning as part of their ongoing investigation into the movements of Desmond Freeman following the fatal shooting of two police officers in Porepunkah last August,’’ police said in a statement.

“The woman will now be interviewed by police.

“The investigation remains ongoing and as such, we are not in a position to provide further details at this time.”

Bairnsdale is about 240km south of Porepunkah, where the police were murdered by Freeman.

One theory is that Freeman was spirited away from near the scene of the crime soon after it was committed and as police attempted to rally after the murders.

Last month four of the raids chasing Freeman’s helpers were in NSW, a state Freeman had visited many times, including on holidays with his children.

NSW raids were conducted at Greenwich Park near Goulburn, at nearby Tarlo, Wombeyan Caves near Bowral, and Umina Beach on the Central Coast.

Last month Victoria Police also executed warrants at three rural properties at Buckland, near Bright in northeastern Victoria, nearby Stanley, and at Lucyvale, south of where Freeman was killed by special operations police.

The Victorian police operation is called Taskforce Summit, while the NSW police aspect is part of Strikeforce Namberta, with a total estimated cost of tens of millions of dollars.

Freeman was gunned down on March 30 after he refused to surrender at a property at Thologolong near the Murray River, east of Albury.

The police decision to intensify the pursuit of collaborators comes as NSW is now playing a larger role than first thought, with Freeman likely to have fled as far north as the Central Coast, before being shot dead on the NSW-Victorian border.

Details of Freeman’s final hours and the Porepunkah killings were aired recently in the Victorian Coroners Court, where an inquest into the deaths of two police officers was heard alongside a separate inquest into his fatal police shooting.

The Porepunkah inquest heard that Freeman shot Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson in the face after the officer had breached Freeman’s makeshift home outside Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne.

Freeman then took Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart’s service handgun after shooting him in the head from behind, using it to fire again at Thompson when he was already dead.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nsw-woman-arrested-over-network-suspected-of-harbouring-dezi-freeman/news-story/73b8c70ec40f7693086847327baff443

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 18, 2026, 9:07 a.m. No.24841441 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7763

>>24820676

>>24828214

>>24831677

Moira Deeming ousted as Liberal candidate after apology stand-off

Rachel Eddie - 17 July 2026

Moira Deeming's political career as a Liberal is over after the party's state executive voted to revoke the MP's candidacy for the November state election.

The Liberal Party disendorsed Mrs Deeming on Friday night in a unanimous decision that only took 13 minutes.

She had alleged her partyroom colleague Matthew Guy had assaulted her at a community event in May. Police reviewed CCTV of the interaction and said no offence was detected.

Mrs Deeming refused to apologise, saying she had made the allegation in good faith.

The party had attempted to move against her a fortnight ago, but Mrs Deeming sought an injunction in the Supreme Court — action she withdrew this week.

The Liberals united behind Mr Guy and were unmoved by her mediation attempts.

Mrs Deeming remains a member of the Liberal Party and an MP in the parliamentary team after Friday night's vote, which confirms she will lose her position at the November election.

Three-quarters of the state executive, which includes Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, needed to agree to disendorse her.

Mr Guy has always maintained his innocence and demanded an apology, which was backed in by Ms Wilson.

Vision of the May interaction appeared to show Mr Guy placing his hand on Mrs Deeming's back during a conversation at the crowded function.

In a 12-page statement to the state executive earlier this week, Mrs Deeming continued to allege she was "grabbed, held and pulled with force" by Mr Guy, which she said caused "pain and distress".

She said removing her for making a complaint would set a bad precedent.

Mrs Deeming is yet to comment on Friday's decision.

After the meeting, a statement from the Liberals said the party wished to "thank Moira for her service".

"The Liberal Party considers this matter resolved," the statement read.

Ms Wilson issued a similar statement, saying the matter was now concluded and that her focus remained on the November election.

Deeming flags possible bankruptcy

Mrs Deeming has separately flagged the possibility of facing bankruptcy, the ABC revealed on Thursday.

Writing to the Liberal state executive, Mrs Deeming wrote she was "facing bankruptcy over $1.55 million in legal costs that a former Liberal leader was ordered by the Federal Court to pay me".

A declaration of bankruptcy would force her removal from parliament.

NSW businessman Hilton Grugeon is seeking to be repaid for funding Mrs Deeming's successful defamation action against former opposition leader John Pesutto earlier this term.

Mrs Deeming has been unable to repay Mr Grugeon while a Liberal Party loan to Mr Pesutto, who was ordered to pay her legal costs, remains before the courts.

"I'm hoping out of all this she will never be involved in the Victorian Liberal Party again, for both her sake and her family's," Mr Grugeon said in a statement to the ABC.

The Liberal Party last year agreed to loan Mr Pesutto $1.55 million to ensure he could pay her fees, sparing Mr Pesutto from bankruptcy and a by-election in his marginal seat.

But a breakaway group of current and former members of the party's state executive have challenged the loan in the Supreme Court.

The party's loan to Mr Pesutto is sitting in a trust account, held by Mrs Deeming's lawyers, while that case remains before the courts.

Mr Grugeon said he hoped Mrs Deeming was disendorsed because he believed the party had treated her poorly, and that his actions should not be interpreted as hostility against her.

He said his loan to Mrs Deeming had been bogged down by Victorian Liberal infighting, and, if his action results in her bankruptcy, "it would at least help her to get clear of everything that's led her to this position".

Mr Grugeon claimed this could result in Mr Pesutto's donors being liable immediately.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-17/moira-deeming-liberal-party-decision-preselection/106928954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb8yh9DyA9o

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 18, 2026, 9:13 a.m. No.24841474 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1479

Trump airs sensational claims about ‘meddling’, data theft and fraud in US elections

Michael Koziol - July 17, 2026

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Washington: US President Donald Trump has made a series of sensational claims alleging wholesale corruption of American elections, including that China meddled in the 2020 presidential poll and stole the data of 220 million voters, in an extraordinary prime-time television address ahead of November’s midterms.

Trump claimed his country’s elections were “worse than any Third World country” and could not continue as they were, warning that the country risked having “a stolen election again”. That referred to his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and rigged against him.

Simultaneously, the Trump administration declassified and published dozens of files that it said proved Trump’s claims about the vulnerabilities of US elections. This masthead has not yet examined the trove of documents.

But CNN, which said it had reviewed all the documents, reported that they largely discussed vulnerabilities that had been known for years and were already reflected in a 2021 intelligence community assessment. The declassified documents did not support the conclusion that any previous election results – including in 2020 – were manipulated, CNN reported.

In his address, Trump claimed the People’s Republic of China illegally acquired the personal data of 220 million American voters over several years starting in 2020, in what was “believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history”.

The data included names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences and other sensitive data, he said, “presenting an unprecedented election security nightmare”. He said China assigned a data exploitation unit specifically to the project.

Furthermore, Trump claimed that Beijing engaged in activities to undermine his first term and influence the results of the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential election.

That included efforts to use Chinese contacts in large US companies to influence corporate leaders to turn against Trump, he said, or pay American journalists to write negative articles about him. He did not provide any examples.

“They fought like hell not to have Donald Trump to win,” Trump said. “The reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them.”

The president accused China of attempting to influence the election to shift public opinion, but did not explicitly accuse China of interference, which generally is used to denote compromising the voting process or counting of ballots.

In addition, Trump alleged that “members of the deep state” – usually taken to refer to spies and members of the intelligence community – actively worked to suppress and downplay the extent of “China’s election meddling”.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian called the claims “pure fabrication and malicious smears” that had “long been proven to be nonsense”.

“China adheres to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. We have no interest in interfering in the US elections and have never done so,” Lin told reporters in Beijing.

“We urge the US to reflect on its own actions, stop its unfounded smears against China, stop using China as a pretext in elections, and do more to benefit China-US relations.”

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow categorically rejected all allegations of past election meddling.

In one of the most sensational moments of the address, Trump claimed his administration recently discovered significant numbers of “burn bags” containing documents with information given by former president Barack Obama. The bags were supposed to be burnt, but that did not happen, Trump claimed.

He did not provide evidence for these claims, but said he was commissioning the director of national intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CIA to investigate the matter, fire those responsible and bring criminal charges against them if appropriate.

Trump also reiterated previous, debunked claims that electronic voting machines used in the US were liable to be attacked and interfered with by American adversaries. He said the documents his administration had declassified would prove this.

He also alleged that at least 278,000 non-citizens or dead people were on US voter rolls across the country. The real number was higher, Trump claimed, but some Democrat-run states did not share their voter registration rolls.

(continued)

>>24841474

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A new White House portal on election integrity reveals FBI director Kash Patel has been tasked with investigating “alleged fraud by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan”, relating to a Democratic get-out-the-vote organisation in that state.

Trump used the prime-time address to demand Republicans in Congress pass a piece of legislation called the SAVE Act, which would introduce requirements for voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when they enrol to vote, and show photographic ID at the polling booth. Currently, arrangements differ from state to state.

Passing the legislation before the midterm elections is now Trump’s singular domestic priority, and he recently refused to sign a major housing affordability bill in protest at Republicans’ failure to get the SAVE Act passed.

“China and other countries have been trying to meddle in our elections,” Trump said in his speech on Thursday night (Washington time). “Evidence of fraud has been buried. Hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls.

“And yet we still have elections with no voter ID, no proof of citizenship and tens of millions of ballots floating aimlessly through the mail.”

Trump had telegraphed the speech days in advance, and it was known that he would air fresh claims about election integrity and interference. Some major television networks such as NBC and ABC did not take the speech live, leading Trump to say they should have their broadcast licences revoked.

CNN also declined to run the speech live, instead airing portions and providing analysis. Murdoch-owned Fox News ran the address in full, but a reporter noted afterwards: “Fox News has not seen the evidence yet and is not in a position to evaluate the accuracy of the president’s statement and claims.”

Trump’s decision to again denounce the legitimacy of the 2020 election attracted criticism in the hours before his address, including from Republicans.

“We can’t re-prosecute that campaign,” said Republican senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina on Thursday. “Any time you’re looking back, you’re not looking ahead. I’m looking ahead to these elections and the president should as well.”

The US intelligence community – under leaders appointed by Trump in his first term – concluded in early 2021 that no foreign actor attempted to interfere in the 2020 election.

An assessment published by the National Intelligence Council said: “We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”

Trump delivered the speech from the East Room of the White House, where he had an audience of about 50 who included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche, several other cabinet officials, Patel and the acting Director Of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte. They broke into applause at the end of Trump’s remarks.

The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said Trump’s televised address was a pathetic attempt to deny that he lost the 2020 election. He said Trump had lost the support of American families through the rising cost of living and the war against Iran.

“Rather than pivot his policies, he is working to rig the midterms before a single vote has even been cast. We won’t let him,” Schumer said. “Democrats will fight like hell to make sure every American voter can cast their ballot freely, without obstruction or interference from Donald Trump.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/trump-airs-sensational-claims-about-meddling-data-theft-and-fraud-in-us-elections-20260717-p60g20.html

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

Canada is a Jesuit Judicial Dictatorship as is the Commonwealth and this group went to war with the USA in 2019 calling it a Pandemic, they attacked all Non Roman Catholic Christians with a deadly

Jabs in the USA and Commonwealth Nations. The Psychological Warfare on a Captive Population is a War Crime. The Jesuit Judicial Dictatorship used biochemical weapons on a Captive

Population to Erase from Existence the Non Roman Catholic Christians, another War Crime. The Jesuit Courts robbed as much property, Wealth and Businesses from a Captive Population of

Non Roman Catholic Christians as they could as they had done with Previous Pandemics another War Crime.

The Roman Catholics are already pointing at the Jesuits as the ones behind everything and will eliminate them for 40 years then restart the group and back to the same old game of Poisoning the Well.

V Jabs are an enemy biochemical Weapon, take down the Enemy within.

Islam ‘based on terror’: Pauline Hanson sparks concern inside One Nation

GREG BROWN - July 17, 2026

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has declared a lot of Islam is “based on terrorism” in one of her biggest attacks yet on the religion, prompting Barnaby Joyce to disagree with his leader in an escalation of the chaos within the populist party.

Senator Hanson made the incendiary comments in April during a podcast interview with right-wing comedian Isaac Butterfield, where she also accused some Muslims of pretending to befriend Australians and “ingratiate themselves into the country”.

“I’m sorry, it’s (Islam) an ideology that is, you know, a lot of it’s based on terrorism,” Senator Hanson said. While describing Bondi terror hero Ahmed al-Ahmed as an example of a good Muslim, Senator Hanson said she had trouble trusting people of the Islamic faith, argued that they used “fear” to silence critics and claimed it had more violent people than other religions.

“How do I know they’re telling me the truth? Because under the Islamic religion, they can actually lie to you, befriend you, do whatever they need to do to ingratiate themselves into the country,” Senator Hanson said.

“And then, you know, if you’ve got issues or jihad was called … then you’ve got real problems. You don’t know where they stand.”

She said Muslims believed that a woman would be “leaving yourself open to be raped” if she did not wear the burqa or weren’t completely covered up.

The discovery of Senator Hanson’s interview with Butterfield came after she was criticised over comments she made in a separate interview with far-right British podcaster Tommy Robinson.

In the interview with the convicted criminal and anti-Islam activist released on Friday morning, Senator Hanson referenced the end of the last vestiges of the White Australia policy under the Whitlam government as the beginning of Australia’s migration problems.

She also claimed “a lot” of people from Muslim communities were ripping off the National Disability Insurance Scheme and declared her daughter, Lee, could be the next leader of One Nation.

Senator Hanson will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in London on Saturday, capping off her “fact-finding” trip to Europe that has included attending a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Sicily with billionaire backer Gina Rinehart and enjoying a private tour of Blenheim Palace with former Neighbours actor Holly Vallance.

Mr Joyce said he did not agree with Senator Hanson’s comments made in the Butterfield podcast about Islam being based on terrorism, while she was condemned by Labor and the Coalition.

“I have a different view from that quote,” Mr Joyce said, when The Australian read Senator Hanson’s comments to him.

“I think there are definitely Islamic terrorists, 100 per cent. And I think that a literal view of Islam creates all sorts of problems and I’m happy to take it up with anybody who thinks otherwise.

“But, is that a premise for terrorism? No I don’t believe it is a premise for terrorism.

“I think Islam can be utilised for terrorism, I think it most certainly has been utilised for terrorism as recently as Bondi. But I would not say, therefore, that Islam is a religion of terrorism.”

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Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly said Senator Hanson “offers nothing but hate and division”, arguing her latest remarks were among the worst yet. “She has a long record of bigotry and racism but these remarks are among her most disgraceful,” said Australia’s most senior Muslim MP.

“For too long Australians have heard what Pauline is against. But we’re yet to hear what she’s for. She peddles in hatred and division and Australians want someone who will show up to their job, work for them and bring us together.”

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume criticised Senator Hanson’s comments to Butterfield, arguing “Australians have always rejected this kind of vilification”.

“To suggest all Muslims believe in a terrorist ideology is divisive, inflammatory and un-Australian,” Senator Hume said. “Australians want change, not outrage or hate. But real change has a plan and that is what Australians will get with a Liberal-National government.”

One Nation has come under sustained pressure from the Coalition and Labor since Angus Taylor last week delivered a major speech taking aim at Senator Hanson’s economic credibility.

Mr Joyce this week also distanced himself from One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts after it was revealed he praised notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, promoted the work of a holocaust denier, shared the work of an antisemitic mural on social media, backed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and labelled the Biden administration the “world’s greatest terrorist organisation.”

Mr Joyce on Friday denied he and Senator Hanson were feuding, after Nine newspapers reported he had privately complained his leader agreed to an interview with Robinson. “Pauline and I are great mates,” Mr Joyce told Nine’s Today. “We spoke yesterday, we spoke exactly about what people were trying to do. People were trying to divide us up.

“We are not dumb. We’ve both been around, between the two of us, about 50-plus years in politics. We’ve played this game before. And we get along very very well.”

Health Minister Mark Butler said Senator Hanson’s claim that Muslim migrants were rorting the NDIS was a “baseless smear”.

“The evidence I have doesn’t suggest any change in the proportion of people, by way of nationality or religious background, in terms of their enrolment with the NDIS,” Mr Butler said.

In her interview with Butterfield, Senator Hanson agreed with his assertion that there were more violent members of Islam per capita than any religion.

Butterfield said he had never experienced more death threats than when he made a joke about the Christchurch massacre, when white supremacist Brenton Tarrant killed 51 Muslims at a mosque.

When Butterfield said he had never had that feedback from jokes that impacted other religions, Senator Hanson said it was the “dominance of fear”.

“Once they put fear into people, they know that they can do whatever they want to do. And you know damn well that some of them do,” she said. “Because they are martyrs, they are so ingrained to their Koran, to Muhammad, to Allahu Akbar. No other religion behaves like that.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/islam-based-on-terror-pauline-hanson-sparks-concern-inside-one-nation/news-story/c6beec346a3c5900e70f407026b295c5

>>24844152

Pauline Hanson says Australia is woke and ‘stupid’ for not banning burqa

The One Nation leader has told the London conference ‘We have to stand our ground’ amid domestic backlash over her comments on Islam and immigration.

HELEN TRINCA - July 18, 2026

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Pauline Hanson has told a major conservative conference in the UK that Australians were “stupid” for not banning the burqa.

In a wide-ranging address to about 150 people at the CPAC conference in London she said that 24 countries around the world had banned the burqa but Australia was stupid in not seeing the impact it had to society.

The One Nation leader told the audience that Australia could not cope with mass migration that was leaving people living in tents and cars and couch surfing.

She said Australia was now woke, that net zero was a threat, and that feminist organisations were pushing common sense to one side. Australia was five to 10 years behind Britain on immigration and she was determined to shake people up.

She urged the audience, which gave her a standing ovation: “Don’t apologise for being white, I am sick of hearing about white privilege.”

Senator Hanson said she had been a threat to the system since she appeared in national politics 30 years ago and related the fact that she had been criticised for calling for a monoculture.

“Do I want Sharia law? No,” she said. “Do I want child marriage? No. …

““Do I want to see the burqa on our streets? No.”

Australia had benefited from migrants but “we are now being told that we must forgo” our culture.

“We have to stand our ground,” she said.

She said a visit to Tower Hamlets in London – where there are a large number of British Asians – had been “a rude awakening, I felt it was another country” and she said she did not want Australia to become like France, Germany and other countries where immigration was an issue.

Senator Hanson told the conference the government was flooding the country with migrants.

“We brought in 3000 people from Gaza. We don’t even know who they are. We’re bringing people in. They have no intentions of assimilating. We see the change in our culture, of what’s happened to our nation.”

Senator Hanson said that England – outside of London – was a beautiful country, but when it came to London “no thanks”.

Andrew Cooper, the director of CPAC in Australia, told the audience that his movement had for the first time endorsed all three conservative parties – Liberals, Nationals and One Nation. But it was Pauline Hanson, the “courageous, conviction politician” who had shifted public opinion in Australia towards the right.

‘Woke’ Australia ‘diluting’ culture: McKenzie

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie told the CPAC conference on Saturday that Australia was more “woke” than Britain or Canada.

She said Australia had become addicted to high migration as an economic strategy. But the end result was that it was “diluting” the culture.

While GDP rose, the reality was hitting Australians in cost of living.

In a panel discussion she said that the impact on the culture of woke movements was “worse” in Australia than in Britain because Britain’s history and culture were more present.

“We are very far away,” she said.

“In Australia kids were having to write apology letters to Indigenous ancestors, Jewish lecturers offices are urinated on in the most prestigious university in Australia. That’s what’s happening.”

(continued)

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Busy schedule

On Friday night (local time) Senator Hanson spoke off the cuff to hundreds of delegates at a dinner at the Intercontinental O2 on the Richmond Peninsula.

Press were barred from the event.

Senator Hanson had returned to London from Sicily to address the conservative CPAC conference amid mounting controversy over her comments on Islam and migration.

Earlier, Hanson was in the conference audience as far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed he had been demonised by revelations of his receipt of a £5 million ($9.6 million) gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Senator Hanson was praised as a future prime minister of Australia and for building a global reputation as a right-wing leader.

Her appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference will cap off a controversial two-week “fact finding” mission to the UK to look at immigration, but the trip has been dogged by controversy.

In Australia she has been heavily criticised for comments made in separate podcasts, including with the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson released on Friday.

In a separate podcast recorded in April in Australia, Hanson declared that a lot of Islam is “based on terrorism”. It prompted Barnaby Joyce to disagree with his leader in an escalation of the chaos within One Nation.

Hanson has also courted controversy by breaking her tour and attending a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Sicily with billionaire backer Gina Rinehart.

She also took a private tour of Blenheim Palace with former Neighbours actor Holly Vallance before visiting the satellite town of Luton with Robinson as part of a documentary to be shown on Australian TV on Sunday night.

In the documentary, she says she was “gobsmacked” because Luton, which has a big population of British Asians and Blacks, did not look like Britain.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/pauline-hanson-speaks-at-london-cpac-following-controversial-uk-tour/news-story/089d83cc1dc36aee4f5ed959e77a2219

https://www.facebook.com/PaulineHansonAu/posts/wonderful-to-catch-up-with-nigel-farage-at-the-first-cpac-here-in-london-he-gave/1588526485974201/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeNJQMtZY7w

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>>24676849 (pb)

Australian companies could face criminal charges over forced labour in global supply chains

Rob Harris - July 16, 2026

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Large Australian companies could face criminal prosecution if they fail to prevent forced labour in their global supply chains under sweeping reforms the Albanese government says will give the country’s modern slavery regime “teeth”.

The proposed changes come after Australia was singled out by the Trump administration last month as one of 54 economies that had failed to do enough to stop imports made with forced labour, with the United States threatening an additional 12.5 per cent levy on affected goods.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said on Wednesday that companies with annual consolidated revenue above $100 million could commit a new criminal offence if they fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains.

Businesses would have a defence if they could demonstrate they had taken reasonable steps to identify and prevent forced labour, slavery or debt bondage in their operations and supply chains.

The government will also introduce civil penalties for companies that fail to comply with existing obligations under Australia’s Modern Slavery Act, replacing a regime that critics have long argued relied too heavily on voluntary reporting.

The reforms follow years of pressure from investors, unions and human rights advocates who argued the existing laws had failed to drive meaningful change.

An independent review led by Professor John McMillan found Australia’s 2018 Modern Slavery Act had “not yet caused meaningful change” for victims and recommended mandatory due diligence requirements. While the Albanese government accepted most of the review’s recommendations in principle in 2024, legislation is yet to be introduced.

Modelling from Fair Supply, a supply chain risk intelligence platform, estimates more than 21 per cent of all goods brought into the country last financial year – about $1 in every $5 spent on imports – were linked to supply chains where coercion, debt bondage and other forms of modern slavery are known to occur.

The Global Slavery Index estimates about 50 million people worldwide are living in modern slavery. Modelling by supply chain intelligence firm Fair Supply has estimated more than one in five goods imported into Australia come from supply chains where forced labour risks are known to exist.

The crackdown also follows mounting international scrutiny, with US trade representative Jamieson Greer last month declaring the failure of key trading partners to address imports made with forced labour was “unacceptable” as Washington stepped up pressure on countries to tighten enforcement.

Australia’s modern slavery commissioner Chris Evans, a former Labor cabinet minister, said at the time the government was not doing enough to prevent forced labour in supply chains but said the Trump administration was not motivated by a genuine concern about worker rights.

Evans said the United States Trade Representative’s office had only conducted a “very cursory examination of the issues” involving one interview with Australian officials.

Without linking her announcement to the US decision, Rowland said Australians expected products sold domestically were not produced through exploitation.

“The proposed changes will introduce greater accountability, levelling the playing field for the majority of Australian businesses already doing the right thing,” she said.

The government will consult on how the new offence should operate, including whether deferred prosecution agreements should be available and what remedies should be provided to victims.

(continued)

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The reforms were welcomed by Walk Free founding director Grace Forrest, who said Australia was beginning to catch up with comparable economies that had already imposed stronger corporate obligations.

“Introducing criminal liability into the Modern Slavery Act confirms the government is serious about holding businesses to account for failing to prevent exploitation in their supply chains,” Forrest said.

She cautioned, however, that the reforms would only succeed if prosecutions remained achievable.

“If the bar for convictions is too high or deferred prosecutions are too easily permitted, too many survivors will be left without recourse,” she said.

Modern slavery encompasses slavery, forced labour, debt bondage and other forms of severe exploitation and is a criminal offence under Australian law, including where conduct occurs overseas.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president, Michele O’Neil, said it was a “significant positive step”.

“Holding big companies accountable for preventing modern slavery in their supply chains is good for workers and good for the many Australian businesses that do the right thing,” she said but warned a standalone criminal offence would have limitations if it was solely up to police to enforce it, given the extent of the issue globally.

Be Slavery Free, a coalition of civil society campaigning against human trafficking, forced and child labour, warned the changes still left the systemic change Australia needed undelivered.

“We asked the government for a new road. What we got is a promise of a fence at the top of the cliff, and the same old, inadequate ambulance service waiting at the bottom for the people who fall through the gaps,” co-director Carolyn Kitto said.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australian-companies-could-face-criminal-charges-over-forced-labour-in-global-supply-chains-20260716-p60frl.html

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JK Rowling vows to fund lawsuits against Amnesty over trans ‘hate’ report

STEPHEN RICE - July 17, 2026

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Amnesty International scored a World Cup-class own goal when it decided last week to take a kick at billionaire author and Harry Potter creator JK Rowling.

The human rights group that once pitted itself against tyrants and torturers somehow thought it was a good idea to publish a blacklist of women’s rights and gay groups it deemed “hateful” towards trans people – including a rape crisis shelter in Scotland wholly funded by Rowling herself.

The author set up Beira’s Place as a women-only space after the chief executive of Edinburgh’s official Rape Crisis centre dismissed the concerns of sexual assault survivors who objected to receiving support from a transgender woman, suggesting they should “reframe” their trauma.

Precisely how a women’s refuge came to be identified as an “anti-rights organisation” was never spelt out in Amnesty’s 22-page report.

But an attack on Beira’s Place was always going to be an attack on Rowling – a woman who has repeatedly shown she won’t back down in the face of trans activists.

“Nothing could better demonstrate how far Amnesty has fallen than their demonisation of gay rights charities for refusing to adopt Amnesty’s approved gender beliefs, or their attack on a rape crisis centre because it is run by women, for women,” Rowling responded in a social media post.

With 13.7 million followers on X, Rowling has become the figurehead of the “gender critical” movement – those who believe sex is immutable and that men cannot become women, or vice versa.

And as a growing number of the 51 organisations smeared by Amnesty’s report line up to sue for defamation, Rowling has vowed to fund their cases.

It’s not just the libelled organisations that are appalled by Amnesty’s hit list.

Monty Python founder John Cleese was once a major fund raiser for Amnesty, creating a series of benefit shows called The Secret Policeman’s Ball. “But in those days it was about preventing torture, not about sexual identity,” he says. “I disown them.”

The organisation faces an existential crisis, with Amnesty International UK chief Kerry Moscogiuri under pressure to quit and the contagion set to spread to Australia, where the local Amnesty branch regularly enlists the support of trans lobby groups in its campaigns.

Amnesty International was established in 1961 to push for the release of political prisoners.

Rowling herself worked in the organisation’s African research department in London in her early 20s, though she admits: “I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours.”

But the organisation has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade as it skewed its approach to human rights.

Five years ago Amnesty stripped the late Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny of his status as a prisoner of conscience after a Kremlin-orchestrated smear campaign, only to reverse the decision months later with a belated apology for the “mistake”.

In the UK it opposed the landmark For Women Scotland case that established that the term “woman” referred to biological sex.

As one observer noted this week: “It’s a bleak irony that Amnesty International, founded in 1961 to support those punished by dictatorships for holding the ‘wrong’ opinions, is now black-listing people for believing sex is real.”

(continued)

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In Australia, the local Amnesty branch has attacked the “anti-trans lobby” which it claims “wants to intimidate trans people into disappearance”.

It has opposed the Crisafulli government’s suspension of hormone treatment for young trans people, campaigned in various states to ban “conversion” practices, and demanded inclusive sports policies for trans and gender-diverse people.

It has formed a close relationship with trans lobby group ACON, recommending members use ACON’s Trans Hub to “fight back against transphobia”.

It dismissed the findings of the 2024 UK Cass report, which cautioned against gender-affirming care, claiming “experts have said the review’s findings were not directly applicable to the Australian context”.

Of the 11 “experts” Amnesty cited – in a press release issued by LGBTQI group Equality Australia – only one, a GP, had medical qualifications, while others included Equality Australia’s legal director and ACON’s then director of Community Health, Teddy Cook.

Amnesty International Australia also supports the Trans Justice Project, an organisation founded by campaigner Jackie Turner, who claims that The Australian, among other mainstream media outlets, is part of the “anti-trans lobby”.

Amnesty International UK has refused to apologise for the “anti-rights” report but expressed “regret” that it was “uploaded to our website without going through the established internal review processes”. The report’s “use of language does not reflect the position of Amnesty International UK”, the organisation said.

The suggestion that this was some kind of lapse in a normally fair-minded process didn’t cut it with those who had been targeted.

“Far from it,” said Maya Forstater of the human rights organisation Sex Matters. “Amnesty has been misrepresenting and denigrating anyone who recognises the biological and legal importance of the two sexes for several years now.”

Lawyers for Rowling and Beira’s Place have demanded Amnesty permanently withdraw the report, publish a public apology and commission an external investigation into how the report was produced.

Don’t expect the fearless author to back down any time soon.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/jk-rowling-vows-to-fund-lawsuits-against-amnesty-over-trans-hate-report/news-story/5a4cf587d181002a0fe549ed6e71ea1a

https://web.archive.org/web/20260710172435/https://www.amnesty.org.uk/knowledge-hub/all-resources/report-a-growing-threat-the-anti-rights-movement-in-the-uk-july-2026/

https://web.archive.org/web/20260709084603/https://media.amnesty.org.uk/documents/Report_-_A_growing_threat__the_anti-rights_movement_in_the_UK_July_2026.pdf

https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2076230556258324600

https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2077683670261829940

Child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer ends fight with hospital but battle continues over medical licence

MICHAEL MCKENNA - July 13, 2026

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Child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer is claiming victory in a three-year fight with Queensland Health that led to her suspension for challenging gender-affirming medical treatment for children.

Dr Spencer told a rally in Brisbane on Sunday that the Queensland Children’s Hospital would this week issue a statement regarding her employment as a senior staff specialist in the consultation liaison psychiatry team.

She was stood down in April 2023, and suspended later that year, for allegedly breaching the public service code of conduct after being accused of disparaging her colleagues and the work of the hospital’s gender clinic.

In September last year, Queensland Health issued a termination notice against her which she then challenged with an application for a judicial review in the Supreme Court that has yet to be heard.

Dr Spencer told the “Reclaim Our Rights, Fix the Act” rally that she was not allowed to pre-empt the hospital statement about her employment status.

“I’m not allowed to talk about it, but I’ll give you a sign,’’ she told the crowd, before giving the two-fingered victory sign.

Later, Dr Spencer told The Australian she was prevented from talking about her fight with Queensland Health but that the “matter has now been resolved”.

She also took to X with a post carrying a photograph of her lighting a cigar and, again, giving the victory sign.

“On 17th July, the Queensland Children’s Hospital will release a media statement about my employment situation and the recommended model of care for children with gender distress,’’ she wrote.

The Queensland government would not comment.

Dr Spencer, who spoke at the rally alongside Giggle app founder Sall Grover, former Queensland Greens party founder Drew Hutton and One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts, has become an outspoken critic about the use of puberty blockers and sex-change hormones in children since her suspension from the hospital.

At the rally, she told the crowd the “gender transitioning of children is a medical scandal’’.

“The Australian gender clinic model involves affirmation of a child’s claimed gender identity, the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and later on referral for gender surgeries to make the child resemble the opposite sex,’’ she told the crowd of several hundred people.

“Over the last six years, there have been multiple systematic reviews of the worldwide research literature that have found that gender interventions lack evidence of benefit and cause serious harms such as infertility, lack of sexual function, physical health problems, and the risk of regret.

“In the face of a medical scandal, there is no honour in keeping quiet, there is no honour in keeping your job if your job involves harming children.

“The public’s trust in medicine will not be maintained by doctors pretending that there isn’t a problem and turning a blind eye to their colleagues’ harmful hormonal interventions.”

(continued)

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Dr Spencer was told this year that the Health Ombudsman had referred a complaint against her to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency after a notification that a social media post had “criticised gender-affirming care and encouraged followers to petition against it”.

The subsequent AHPRA investigation into the complaint – which could result in Dr Spencer losing her medical registration – is ongoing.

At the rally, Dr Spencer said “AHPRA had aligned itself with the perspective of gender activists’’.

“AHPRA is not trying to protect children from these harmful interventions,’’ she said.

“Instead, they are punishing health practitioners who raise concerns.

“They say these practitioners are discriminating against trans people.’’

The rally heard calls for the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act to be amended to reintroduce definitions of biological sex and ensure the rights of women to single-sex spaces and services.

Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard this month defended changes to the act in 2013 that led courts to preference gender identity ahead of biological sex.

The issue is central to the Tickle v Giggle court case where the Federal Court has ruled the Sex Discrimination Act does not confine the legal concept of sex to biological sex, and found that Ms Grover’s company, Giggle, which was designed for women, had discriminated against trans woman Roxanne Tickle on the basis of appearance.

At the rally, Ms Grover, who is appealing the verdict in the High Court, said she would take her website offshore if her legal fight was not successful.

“It won’t stop me, we will have to go international,’’ she said.

A rival protest of demonstrators who opposed the rally was kept separate and a street away by Queensland Police.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/child-psychiatrist-ends-fight-with-hospital-but-battle-continues-over-medical-licence/news-story/18f063929bb1cf61d4ce725eb634a2f2

https://x.com/Jilliantweeting/status/2076170905919832466

https://qresear.ch/?q=Jillian+Spencer

Queensland Children’s Hospital clears psychiatrist over gender treatment concerns

MACKENZIE SCOTT - July 17, 2026

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Child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer has compared medical whistleblowing to an extreme sport after being cleared of wrongdoing by Queensland’s leading children’s hospital four years after raising concerns about gender-affirming care.

Dr Spencer, who was a senior specialist at the Queensland Children’s Hospital prior to her suspension in 2023 for questioning the state’s gender service policy.

She hoped the exoneration would be a national catalyst for change amid emerging international research identifying harmful outcomes for young people treated under a gender-affirming model and act as a wake-up call for the medical fraternity, which is often hamstrung by the political class aligning itself with ideology.

“I thought medicine was all about understanding the research and applying that to patient care,” Dr Spencer told The Australian.

“That is the job, and what this situation has suggested is that instead, we have to follow the directives of a political movement who have goals for society that are different from the goal of delivering evidence-based and safe patient care.

“So, I find it incredibly dangerous to think that the medical profession can remain silent in the face of a political movement taking over patient care.”

The former staff specialist in the Queensland Children’s Hospital’s consultation liaison psychiatry team first raised concerns in 2022 that the gender-affirming care model was allowing young people with complex medical issues to be placed on a predetermined treatment pathway and prescribed cross-sex hormones without being offered other care options.

The QCH issued a statement on Friday acknowledging the “legitimate concerns” raised by the experienced psychiatrist and the importance of professional and public debate on patient safety and clinical outcomes.

Dr Spencer said the “extraordinary” and “challenging” period had revealed the importance of fighting for patient outcomes as the medical fraternity faces retribution from health regulators and those ideologically supportive of gender treatment.

“I think of medical whistleblowing as a psychological extreme sport,” she said. “But I’m very proud of having fought hard for this because I think it’s worth it.

“It’s shown us that there is an unwillingness among doctors to support colleagues who are doing the right thing publicly to raise concerns about a medical scandal, which leads to people who are brave enough to do it taking all the heat on behalf of the profession.”

While all of Dr Spencer’s disputes with the QCH have now been settled, she has resigned from her position at the hospital. The hospital statement was made as part of the settlement terms, but no other details have been made public.

“Dr Spencer has been a strong advocate for change in Queensland in the model of care for children and adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria,” the statement said.

“One of the features of the clinical approach that Dr Spencer has sought is the delay in medical interventions for such patients until adulthood, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, because they are serious decisions regarding their body and long-term health,” it said.

“CHQ HHS [Children’s Health Queensland, Hospital and Health Service] accepts that Dr Spencer’s concerns were grounded in her training and background as an experienced child and adolescent psychiatrist,” the statement said.

“CHQ HHS acknowledges that health practitioners must take a clinical approach to the treatment of gender dysphoria that focuses on the best available research and the child’s best interests rather than directing a child down a predetermined treatment pathway.

“Health practitioners must employ a holistic clinical approach that comprehensively assesses all relevant factors – including any comorbidities or other mental health conditions – and use information gathered from that process to determine the best available mode of treatment and care for the patient.”

(continued)

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Public hospitals in Queensland have been unable to provide hormone therapy and puberty blockers to new patients under 18 since a statewide ban was instituted in January 2025, after it was discovered dozens of children received treatment outside of clinical guidelines.

While the Crisafulli Liberal National Party government’s ban was overturned on procedural grounds in a Supreme Court challenge in October, Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls issued a ministerial directive hours later to keep the stoppage in place. A second directive was issued in January.

In a short statement on Friday, Mr Nicholls said Dr Spencer’s settlement was exclusively an employment dispute.

“All matters between the parties have been resolved by mutual agreement,” he said.

The Human Rights Law Alliance welcomed the settlement. Principal lawyer John Steenhof said the outcome was “vindication” for the care of children and rights of doctors against “ideological coercion”.

“Doctors must be free to exercise independent clinical judgment, speak honestly about patient safety concerns, and pursue what they believe to be the best interests of their patients without fear of disciplinary retaliation,” Mr Steenhof said.

“It is the strongest statement ever from government that doctors need to exercise caution and ensure the best care possible to protect confused children.”

A separate investigation into Dr Spencer, launched by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency following a complaint, was dropped on Tuesday.

Now, she will remain a lone voice speaking out against the accepted model. Queensland psychiatrist Andrew Amos remains unable to have clinical contact with patients or post objections about gender-affirming care on social media following directions from AHPRA and the Medical Board of Australia.

“It really just leaves me,” Dr Spencer said. “Then all the risk accumulates upon me on behalf of my profession, and when really it’s a collective responsibility.

“What we really need is for AHPRA to be brought to heel in this regard. They should be restricted to only investigating complaints from patients. I don’t think they should take a role in policing the discussion of doctors on important medical issues.”

The Australian Christian Lobby’s chief executive Michelle Pearse also called on the QCH’s concessions to spark national change.

“Every child deserves compassionate care, but compassion must be grounded in sound medical evidence rather than ideology,” Ms Pearse said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/queensland-childrens-hospital-clears-psychologist-over-gender-treatment-concerns/news-story/a6ec5528d6e497ae0b090850e0adbafd

https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/about-us/news/media-releases/statement-from-childrens-health-queensland-hospital-and-health-service

https://x.com/salltweets/status/2076985486351167801

https://x.com/Jilliantweeting/status/2076964132432355351

https://qresear.ch/?q=Jillian+Spencer

Canada is a Jesuit Judicial Dictatorship as is the Commonwealth and this group went to war with the USA in 2019 calling it a Pandemic, they attacked all Non Roman Catholic Christians with deadly Jabs in the USA and Commonwealth Nations. The Psychological Warfare on a Captive Population is a War Crime.

The Jesuit Judicial Dictatorship used biochemical weapons on a Captive Population to Erase from Existence the Non Roman Catholic Christians, another War Crime. The Jesuit Courts robbed as much property, Wealth and Businesses from a Captive Population of Non Roman Catholic Christians as they could as they had done with Previous Pandemics another War Crime.

The Roman Catholics are already pointing at the Jesuits as the ones behind everything and will eliminate them for 40 years then restart the group and back to the same old game of Poisoning the Well.

V Jabs are an enemy biochemical Weapon, take down the Enemy within.

>>24844152

NSW Labor fears losing Hunter heartland to ‘racist’ One Nation

LACHLAN LEEMING and ELIZABETH PIKE - July 19, 2026

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NSW Labor has pivoted its attention to protecting its former heartland in the state’s Hunter Valley from One Nation, with Premier Chris Minns saying a Hanson-Coalition alliance at next year’s state election would be bad for people without white skin.

Mr Minns told reporters he had to make his position clear as a leader after Senator Hanson derided the end of the White Australia policy on a recent podcast with UK agitator Tommy Robinson.

The comments were widely criticised by Anthony Albanese, Labor ministers and the Coalition, but Mr Minns went a step further and claimed Australia would become an outcast under Senator Hanson.

“Pauline Hanson made comments in the last 24 hours indicating that the problem with Australia was the removal of the White Australia policy, as if keeping it in Australia is the right policy for our country,” Mr Minns said.

As One Nation threatens to up-end the state election in March, Mr Minns tried to link the state Coalition with One Nation and said it would be bad for people without “white pigmentation”.

“What will that policy view and this leader mean for the state of NSW? If (this coalition) has significant power in our political institutions, inside our government … I think that that would be bad for our economy, bad for community cohesion, and bad for young people that may not have white pigmentation.

“So, in my view, the time is now for the Liberals and the Nationals to just let us know: Are they contemplating a government with this kind of awful view of the world, or are they not?”

Amid Mr Minn’s attacks, senior ministers in the NSW government made three major announcements in the Hunter over the past week, while the Premier’s headline announcement at the state Labor conference earlier this month was the unveiling of a $12bn train manufacturing facility for the region.

The pursuit of a deal with the federal government to jointly-fund the continued operation of the region’s Tomago aluminium smelter is also being driven by anxiety over what job losses would mean for Labor’s support.

Multiple party figures confirmed to The Australian One Nation’s surge meant seats previously considered welded to the party for decades would now require serious campaign resources.

“If an election is held today, the Labor Party is throwing the kitchen sink at these places,” one Labor source said.

Another said within the party there was “definitely a view there needs to be a focus on the Hunter” ahead of the March 2027 election, warning that “if there was an election tomorrow, we lose Cessnock”.

“There’s a view that Newcastle hasn’t received a lot of love and support for 12 years under the Coalition … if we don’t show it some love, who will?” they said.

It comes as analysis of polling obtained by the Australian suggests Labor-held seats across the Central Coast and nearby Hunter would be wiped out in an orange wave.

The seat-by-seat analysis, which is based off polling done by DemosAU last month overlaid with electoral census data, suggests Labor could lose a net three seats across the state, while the Coalition would be reduced to a rump of 12 MPs.

Among Labor’s seats in the firing line are Cessnock, held by Labor since 1927 except for one term, and Port Stephens, while One Nation would also win all the seats along The Central Coast.

Cessnock MP Clayton Barr said last week’s Hunter announcements, which included plans to transform former mine sites into industrial land, had been in the pipeline for years.

“We’re always had to work hard in the Hunter – this election won’t be any different,” he said.

A One Nation insider, responding to Labor’s recent focus on the region, said: “It must be an election year if Labor are suddenly paying attention to the Hunter again”.

“All they’ve done for the last three years is attack the critical industries that support our region — banning all new mining projects, axing coal jobs, and carving up prime farmland with massive transmission lines,” they said.

(continued)

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Mr Minns on Wednesday told a business event One Nation was a long-term electoral threat extending beyond being just a “flash in the pan”.

“I have seen it with my own eyes, my own community. They’ve got a big pool of support,” he told a Business Sydney dinner.

“I’ve deliberately not come here and said, ‘One Nation’s a flash in the pan, we don’t think it’s going to be a big deal’.”

The Premier also targeted One Nation in his address to the Labor faithful at the party’s state conference earlier this month, eschewing attacks on the Coalition.

The original DemosAU polling, held from June 15 to 18 of 1038 NSW voters, stated One Nation’s primary vote would be as high as 27 per cent – just five points below Labor.

The Coalition’s primary vote was down to 20 per cent.

Echoing popular sentiment in political circles, analysis of that polling shows a string of inner Sydney Liberal seats could be delivered to Labor with One Nation eating into the Liberals’ primary vote.

Metropolitan seats which would flow to Labor include Drummoyne, Epping and Ryde.

The analysis, which is floating around NSW political circles, also states the Nationals would go from 11 seats in NSW to just two – the Northern Tablelands and Cootamundra.

One Nation would win 27 seats according to the analysis, despite not yet naming a single candidate for the March 2027 election.

The analysis layered on the polling doesn’t take into account the benefits of incumbency.

“Since Farrer, the Liberals have shown no change – no fight – nothing to show they’re willing to stick it to the government,” a Liberal source said.

NSW opposition leader Kellie Sloane has refused to buy-in to questioning over whether she’d seek or accept any deals with One Nation, saying a month ago she was “determined” to win voters off the populist party.

“If they vote One Nation unfortunately because of the marginal seats in NSW … that means they’ll guarantee a bad Labor government is returned,” she said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nsw-labor-fears-losing-hunter-heartland-amid-one-nation-polling-surge/news-story/668d695b804b8eeb801d4a166399fdef

Joyce backs Hanson on mass deportations, denies One Nation wants return of White Australia policy

Brittany Busch - July 20, 2026

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Barnaby Joyce has denied One Nation supports the White Australia policy, while backing party leader Pauline Hanson’s call for mass deportations and suggesting illegal immigrants could be targeted when they seek medical treatment.

Hanson’s approval of a far-right UK party’s deportation plan was broadcast on Seven’s Spotlight on Sunday night, as Joyce joined the cleanup of Hanson’s earlier remarks in which she said Australia’s woes began after the end of the White Australia policy.

“We don’t support the White Australia policy. Let’s get that completely clear,” Joyce told Sunrise on Monday, after Lee Hanson blamed her mother’s lack of eloquence for her being “misunderstood”.

Joyce said the winding down of the exclusionary migration policy in 1973 did not immediately cause problems, “but over time, we got a section of people who didn’t want to really assimilate with Australia”.

Hanson said in an interview with convicted criminal and far-right agitator Tommy Robinson last week that Australia’s problems with immigration began when the Whitlam government “opened up and got rid of the White Australian [sic] policy, then they started bringing in the different migrants”. Hanson defended herself on social media, saying media including this masthead made “false allegations” in reporting her comments.

During her trip, Hanson also met with leader of far-right party Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe, and discussed his plan to remove up to 2 million people from the UK. Asked during the Spotlight interview what she thought of mass deportations in Australia, Hanson said: “I love it.”

Joyce backed the call on Monday, saying “illegal immigrants” would be targeted. Asked how mass deportations would be executed, Joyce said the system was imperfect, but immigrants come into contact with the system from “time to time” such as when they go to the doctor.

“As it becomes apparent that they’re not supposed to be here … they’ll be put on a plane and sent back to where they’re supposed to be,” he said.

Hanson was unable to explain how immigrants would be identified for deportation in the Spotlight interview. One Nation’s policy is to deport 75,000 people who have arrived illegally or overstayed their visas.

Australia’s geography and strict offshore processing regime mean the country has greater control of migration than the UK, which is grappling with boat crossings of the English Channel.

Hanson’s daughter addressed the White Australia remarks on Sky News on Sunday night, saying her mother had been misunderstood.

“Under no way, shape, or form did she say she wished the White Australia policy hadn’t of been changed,” she said.

“She may not be the most eloquent person in the world, but that is also a positive about her too because she’s not necessarily the polished politician that speaks the talking points as everybody else. She is authentic but, yes, it was misunderstood, that’s for sure.”

(continued)

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Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said the One Nation leader was establishing a pattern of claiming she had been misrepresented.

“She very clearly said that the problem started after we got rid of the White Australia policy, and she also backed in mass deportation,” Plibersek said on Monday, appearing alongside Joyce on Sunrise.

“This is a woman who will say anything, and then when it is challenged, she wants to stick her head in the sand and pretend she never said it. It’s like watching a toddler do something wrong in front of you, and then turn around to you and say ‘no, no, never did, it wasn’t me’.”

Asked on Monday about Hanson’s call for mass deportations, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slammed the One Nation leader for speaking badly about Australia during her international visit.

“I find it astonishing that Pauline Hanson has travelled overseas in order to denigrate and talk down Australia,” Albanese said at a press conference in Darwin.

“What we need to do as public representatives is take our responsibility seriously. We live in the best country on earth, and we are the envy of the world for the society that we have built together … When I’m overseas, I talk Australia up,” he said.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused Hanson of avoiding scrutiny by refusing to front Australian media during her overseas trip, and called on the One Nation leader to explain her association with “convicted felon and aggressive thug”, Robinson.

“The reason we’ve got clean-up boy Barnaby out today is because Pauline Hanson is hiding. Pauline Hanson is hiding from the media, and she’s hiding from the Australian people,” Hanson-Young told reporters in Canberra.

Australian National Imams Council spokesman Bilal Rauf accused Hanson of importing divisive ideas that dehumanise minority groups.

“Rhetoric about ‘mass deportations’ is deeply disturbing and damaging to social cohesion,” Rauf said.

“It encourages suspicion, exclusion and hostility towards Australians from migrant and minority backgrounds, many of whom are citizens who have lived, worked and contributed here for generations.

“Senator Hanson’s remarks must be understood in the context of a long history of attacks on Muslims, multiculturalism and other communities. They reflect a desperate, but misguided, need for relevance and attention on her part.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/joyce-backs-hanson-on-mass-deportations-denies-one-nation-wants-return-of-white-australia-policy-20260720-p60goy.html

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 20, 2026, 3:59 a.m. No.24847418 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7420

‘I had never experienced that form of abuse’: Former attorney-general calls for new protections

Michael Bachelard - July 20, 2026

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Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus says Australia should consider banning protests outside synagogues and Jewish schools by introducing laws similar to those that protect abortion clinics.

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion opened a new block of hearings on Monday into Jewish community security, with counsel assisting Richard Lancaster, SC, saying Australian Jews had been under “constant threat” since October 7, 2023.

Commissioner Virginia Bell granted pseudonyms to a number of witnesses appearing on Monday to protect their identity, while others gave evidence in closed court.

One witness said the number of antisemitic incidents – ranging from abuse to threats and violence – reported to Jewish Community Security Groups hit an all-time high last year.

A total of 1576 incidents were reported to the groups across Australia in 2025 – a rise of 22 per cent compared to 2024.

Dreyfus said Jewish schools have now “hardened” the exterior of their buildings, and said the commission it should consider recommending new laws “analogous to the restrictions on protest activity around abortion clinics” as part of its final report.

The High Court ruled in 2019 (with Bell serving on the bench at the time) creating buffer zones around abortion centres where protests were prohibited did not unduly limit freedom of political expression and would reduce distress and anxiety to patients entering and leaving.

“I think because of the events we’ve heard in recent years … it’s time to consider whether we need some similar restriction on protest activity outside synagogues, schools and Jewish places of gathering … not to ban political protest, not say that people cannot express their views in our community, but rather to protect Jewish Australians,” Dreyfus said.

Serving as the attorney-general between 2022 and 2025, Dreyfus told the commission no other religious group in Australia had to walk past guards to get to their place of worship.

“The Jewish community does, in response to a real and assessed risk. No one would wish for this, but it has been necessary, and sadly continues to be necessary,” he said.

Speaking of his own personal encounters with antisemitism, the member for Isaacs said in 2024 he was approached by a man in the street who said: “You are a genocidal Zionist, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

“I had never experienced that form of abuse,” Dreyfus said. “No one had ever hurled abuse at me because I am Jewish.”

About a month later, his electorate office in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs was vandalised, with signs painted saying, “Who does Attorney-General Dreyfus serve?”

“It invokes all of those old antisemitic tropes about dual loyalties and treachery to Australia, all of which are false. It’s a deeply wounding attack.”

Dreyfus also said he had been called a “kapo” – a reference to Jews who had cooperated with concentration camp guards during the Holocaust – on social media by Jewish Australians. He said he believed it was because he had been constrained in what he could say publicly by cabinet solidarity.

“I found those attacks from some Jewish Australians particularly difficult and painful,” Dreyfus said.

Dreyfus also told the commission that Australia should again consider legal changes to criminalise hate speech, establish a national gun registry, and impose new restrictions on social media.

These could include a right for Australians to sue social media companies for abuse that appears on their platforms, getting them to take down posts. The costs should be borne by the companies, he said.

“It’s something that pushes the cost onto social media platforms at an early stage, and says you’re going to pay the whole cost of this … it can’t just be left to the eSafety commissioner,” he said.

(continued)

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The commission also heard evidence on Monday of the heavy reliance on Community Security Groups, or CSGs – organisations of volunteers set up to protect Jewish people and institutions against threats and attacks.

One witness, given the pseudonym ACP, said 569 incidents of antisemitism had been reported to Victorian CSGs, and 543 in NSW, in 2025.

Attacks on synagogues seemed “more targeted” last year compared to 2024, when they had been opportunistic, they said.

The definition of antisemitism ranged from violence and assault to threats, damage and desecration of property, and abusive behaviour and literature.

Several hundred incidents had been reported by Jewish school children travelling to and from school, ACP said.

Jason Steinberg, the president of the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies, told the commission that online surveys in Queensland showed 71 per cent of his community had experienced “direct attacks against them”.

Other anonymous witnesses said that when CSG guards were not present at Jewish events, they felt like “sitting ducks”.

A volunteer guard, given the pseudonym ACR, said the role had become “all-encompassing” for him.

“I don’t really remember the last time I sat in the synagogue with my father and properly participated in the service,” he told the commission.

“I’m never fully there. It’s the reality. I’m always alert. I’m always carrying my CSG equipment, and I’m always sort of scanning the area, switched on. I’m never really able to fully relax or enjoy the experience.”

Growing emotional, the witness said he discouraged his family from attending community events when he was there in the capacity of a guard.

“Selfishly, I don’t want to put myself in a position where I would have to decide between extracting them or dealing with a threat if something arose. And so that’s that’s incredibly difficult.”

Another witness, given the pseudonym ACO, said the cost of running the CSG service – which is mostly community-funded – had “pretty much tripled” since 2023. The organisation had received some state and federal government funding, he said, but it was inadequate.

“There shouldn’t be this financial burden of being Jewish today, and I don’t see how this is sustainable. Nor do I see why it should be sustainable.”

Lancaster opened the commission’s fifth hearing block by saying synagogues had been forced to cancel events and services, and there had been a “shrinking of Jewish communal life” because of security issues that included “individuals who waited near the synagogue gate, shouting abuse at those who attended”.

He quoted a school principal who said students were sitting exams with the equivalent of “20 per cent of their brain switched off” because they were so preoccupied with safety measures.

That was “the bandwidth that has to be directed to dealing with the impacts of antisemitism and the consequential physical measures”, Lancaster said.

“That principal and others are right to say that no Australian community should face these conditions.”

Lancaster said this hearing block, designed to last until next Monday, would contain four categories of evidence – the experience of Jewish Australians under these conditions, the government funding for security, the role of police, and the role of Jewish communal security groups.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/i-had-never-experienced-that-form-of-abuse-former-attorney-general-calls-for-new-protections-20260720-p60grc.html

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Anthony Albanese launches Exercise Pitch Black in Darwin as US Iran conflict escalates

More than 100 military aircraft from 20 partner nations have arrived in Darwin for Exercise Pitch Black as tensions between the United States and Iran continue to escalate.

Andrew Greene - 19 JUL 2026

More than 100 military aircraft and personnel from 20 partner nations have gathered in the Northern Territory for the Royal Australian Air Force’s largest exercise as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral into all-out war between the United States and Iran.

The biennial Exercise Pitch Black, which formally begins on Monday, is taking place as the US steps up its targeting of key infrastructure in Iran, following the death of at least two American soldiers.

Exercise Pitch Black Commander Air Commodore Matthew McCormack says the continual training of forces allows the RAAF to ensure it is ready at a moment’s notice should someone threaten Australia’s security.

The Air Commodore insisted that aviators taking part in Exercise Pitch Black were not training for any one specific threat.

“It’s all about the defence of the nation. I am continually impressed with the expertise of all our regional partners, which is comforting in the deteriorating global environment that they are our friends,” the RAAF officer said.

“We learn a lot from the other Air Forces as well which improves. What it does then is allow us to understand how we work together in peacetime and training operations so that, if required, we are effective and lethal if we need to go to combat together.”

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will officially launch the event in Darwin, where it has been hosted for over 40 years.

“Australia is strongest when we work closely with our partners,” he said in a statement ahead of the opening.

“Exercise Pitch Black strengthens those partnerships and demonstrates Australia’s commitment to working closely across our region to support peace, stability and security.

Defence Minister Richard Marles described Exercise Pitch Black as “one of the most complex and significant air exercises” which occurs in the Indo-Pacific and said this year’s would be one of the largest in its history.

“Through this exercise, our Air Force is showcasing Australia’s ability to bring together partners from the region and beyond to enhance interoperability and deepen defence cooperation,” he said.

Aircraft from the United States, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Republic of Korea, India, Singapore, Germany, France and Spain will take to the skies above Australia’s north during the exercises. Embedded personnel from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, Brunei, Malaysia are also taking part, as well as military aviators from Finland and Sweden for the first time.

The United States Air Force has deployed C-130J, F-35A and KC-135 aircraft while the Royal Air Force has sent over its Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker.

https://thenightly.com.au/politics/anthony-albanese-launches-exercise-pitch-black-in-darwin-as-us-iran-conflict-escalates-c-22597781

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTPJrUGlXT0

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 20, 2026, 4:16 a.m. No.24847453 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7454

>>24828189

Rayann El Houli: Accused Islamic State bride granted bail despite allegedly teaching her children jihad

MOHAMMAD ALFARES and TIA CLARKSON-PASCOE - 20 July 2026

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An Islamic State “bride” accused of indoctrinating her children into violent jihad has been freed on bail by a Victorian court and told not to contact a convicted terrorist who plotted attacks in Melbourne.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet handed down the decision to allow Rayann El Houli to walk from custody under an extraordinarily restrictive set of conditions, including a ban on her communicating with Islamist terror leader Nacer Benbrika or his son.

Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was jailed for 18 years in 2009 for heading a local extremist cell that plotted to blow up the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 2005 AFL Grand Final.

The extent of any relationship between Ms El Houli and the Benbrika family was not aired in court but police had previously said they would seek to ban her from making any contact with “two individuals” of concern, being Benbrika and his son, Ibrahim, who is currently before the courts on assault and robbery offences.

The decision to bail Ms El Houli follows details aired in the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week, when it heard she had quizzed her children over killing “infidels”.

Snapshots of footage tendered in court also show her children being forced to watch propaganda videos of Islamic State fighters. Ms El Houli, in her early 20s at the time, faces charges of being a member of a terrorist organisation and entering a declared conflict zone.

She appeared in court via audiovisual link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre wearing a purple hijab. To secure her release, a family member lodged a $50,000 financial guarantee.

She is prohibited from leaving Victoria, must surrender all travel documents, and cannot go within 100m of any place of worship except for a pre-approved mosque, nor can she contact prosecution witnesses.

She is also barred from accessing any extremist propaganda and cannot take up employment without providing police with notice of her specific duties and workplace.

Monday’s decision marks the second successful bail application by an “ISIS bride” following the release of Kawsar Abbas, who is facing crimes against humanity offences.

Both women were represented by lawyer Peter Morrissey, who argued that their release would not pose a risk to the community.

During his ruling after a week of deliberations, Mr Sonnet determined that while the case against Ms El Houli was strong, a combination of “exceptional circumstances”, such as likely delays, justified her release on bail.

“In my view the application for bail must be granted,” he said.

Mr Sonnet accepted defence submissions that the time she would spend on remand awaiting trial could exceed any period of imprisonment she might serve if convicted.

The prosecution strongly opposed bail, pointing to the disturbing video evidence viewed by the magistrate in chambers, which they argued demonstrated an adherence to radical ideology.

The prosecution contended she posed an unacceptable risk to the safety of the community.

(continued)

>>24847453

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Mr Morrissey said his client’s focus had completely shifted towards her duties as a mother since returning to Australia.

Mr Sonnet accepted the risk to the community was “relatively low” because of her social isolation from radical elements since arriving back in Australia.

Prosecutors allege the Melbourne-raised woman, now 34, travelled to Syria in 2014, then aged 21 or 22, with her husband, Allak Hamad, to join Islamic State.

It was then argued that she could have been coerced into filming her young children being indoctrinated into violent jihad.

Mr Sonnet told the court that while the videos were disturbing, he accepted the evidence of clinical psychologist Katie Seidler, who said she had assessed Ms El Houli as a low risk after using a clinical assessment tool.

He also noted she had several protective factors, including her four children, supportive family, co-operation with police and ongoing health and psychological care.

In a recording from May 2015, Ms El Houli allegedly filmed herself questioning her firstborn about Islamic State militants.

Court transcripts show she questioned the toddler about who the “mujahidin” were and what happens to “disbelievers”. When there was no response, Ms El Houli urged the child to state: “In the hellfire.”

In another video in March 2016, Ms El Houli’s children – then aged 2 years and 9 months, and 1 year and 9 months – were pictured watching ISIS videos.

During the screening, Ms El Houli’s youngest child was allegedly filmed raising her index finger, before the accused asked: “What does the Mujahid do to the infidel?” Days later, she allegedly filmed her eldest child playing with a toy rifle. In the recording, she coached the toddler on how to hold the weapon like a “fighter” and asked: “Did you see how the Mujahideen kill the Kuffar (infidels) with the knife? Look at me. How did they slaughter them with the knife?

“Look at me, how do they slaughter the apostate? Show me how.”

Ms El Houli left the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on Monday night with members of her family. She will reside at an address with her mother, in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The family of the last remaining imprisoned woman in Melbourne who married an ISIS fighter, Zeinab Ahmad, were also at the Dame Phyllis centre in Ravenhall on Monday night. Ms Ahmad remains behind bars after her bail application was denied.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/accused-islamic-state-bride-granted-bail-despite-teaching-her-children-jihad/news-story/d38849422cc76ad01ebd25aba37b15bc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNL2GbVtALM

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Taxpayers could pay millions to abuse survivors if Christian Brothers goes bankrupt, court documents reveal

Catholic order with a record of child abuse could be subject to hundreds of redress claims worth up to $65m

Christopher Knaus - 20 Jul 2026

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Australian taxpayers could be forced to cover up to $65m in payouts to hundreds of abuse victims when a failing arm of the Catholic church disappears, new court documents reveal.

Last month, the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order with a shocking record of child abuse, informed a court it was going broke and would not be able to afford to pay out survivors.

The move has affected hundreds of cases brought either through the civil courts or through the government-run national redress scheme, which allows survivors to seek capped amounts of compensation without going to court.

An actuarial report detailing the state of the Christian Brothers finances was released to the media on Monday, alongside other court documents.

The report reveals there are currently 340 redress claims involving the Christian Brothers, which will cost the religious order an estimated $25m.

But the report also predicts the Christian Brothers will be subject to another 590 redress claims, worth $40m, in future years.

In total, it is on the hook for 930 redress claims worth $65m.

The rules of the redress scheme make the federal government a “funder of last resort”.

That means that where an institution no longer exists or is unable to pay, the federal government is forced to step in and cover the costs.

The situation has prompted a withering response from the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek.

“Victim-survivors deserve to have those responsible for their abuse held accountable,” she said. “Christian Brothers should take responsibility for the harm members of their order have caused.

“Funder of last resort arrangements which call on taxpayer funds should be just that – the absolute last resort.”

The Christian Brothers is currently proposing a scheme that would sell off its remaining 36 properties and divide up the proceeds between a range of creditors, including survivors and the government. But the proceeds from those property sales will be nowhere near enough to cover survivors’ claims, and are likely to provide a fraction of what survivors are owed.

Survivors and plaintiff law firms are angry that the Christian Brothers has spent the past decade transferring vast and lucrative holdings of property to a separate entity, known as the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia, for nominal amounts of $1. That entity is resisting any attempt to sell off those properties to help pay survivors.

(continued)

>>24847479

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Plibersek said the government would take a “forensic approach” to the matter.

“I want to assure victim-survivors that the Albanese Labor government will ensure the integrity of the National Redress Scheme is upheld, and applications naming Christian Brothers can continue to be lodged and will be determined in the usual way,” she said.

“The commonwealth, through the Department of Social Services, is participating in the current supreme court of New South Wales proceedings concerning the Christian Brothers’ proposed creditors’ scheme and is acting to ensure the interests of victim survivors and taxpayers are protected. We will be adopting a forensic approach to the Christian Brothers’ proposed financial restructure.”

The Guardian also revealed the Christian Brothers has used its dwindling finances to support nine convicted child abusers who remain in the order, and used two remaining properties to house brothers with horrific histories of abuse, including one who preyed on orphans and another who was kept in teaching positions for almost three decades after senior officials became aware of his offending.

The newly released court documents also reveal there is more property still that is owned by an entity known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Ireland, which is currently out of the reach of survivors and other creditors.

The court documents show the entity held net assets of $57m as at 31 December 2025. That has reduced rapidly to $47m in net assets by May this year.

The Christian Brothers is attempting to fold those assets into its proposed sell-off scheme, which could boost the funds available to survivors and other creditors.

Earlier this month, Plibersek expressed serious concern about the approach of the Christian Brothers. Speaking in parliament after revelations about the transfer of property to the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia, she said: “Growing up, I was taught that there was one church and one God, not multiple corporate entities that transfer assets for purposes that are yet to be made clear.

“The feeling that no one may be held to account for this abuse – that is perhaps even worse than the financial impacts … The idea that no one will be held to account for child sexual abuse, when it is identifiable where it happened and who was responsible, I think is devastating for victims and survivors.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/20/christian-brothers-australia-abuse-survivors-ntwnfb

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 20, 2026, 4:57 a.m. No.24847519 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7522

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Landon Germanotta-Mills: Accused leader of alleged satanic pedophile ring hit with 20 new child abuse and bestiality charges

A man accused of being the leader of an international satanic pedophile ring was dramatically arrested just days after he was released on bail.

Clareese Packer and Jack Nivison - July 19, 2026

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Warning: Distressing content.

A self-proclaimed “investigative journalist” accused of running a satanic pedophile ring has been hit with 20 new child abuse and bestiality charges after he was arrested for a second time.

The international ring allegedly shared devastating videos of children aged from infancy to 12 being sexually abused online, police have alleged.

Six NSW men, including a former police officer, have been charged over their alleged involvement while investigators have identified an additional 145 people involved across the globe.

The alleged ringleader, Landon Germanotta-Mills, is accused of having possessed troves of child abuse and bestiality material at the time of his arrest last December.

He won a bid for freedom in May after a court granted him conditional bail, but he was back behind bars on remand just days later after allegedly breaching his release conditions.

The dramatic arrest was filmed by a woman and published on social media, showing officers loading Mr Germanotta-Mills into a police car as a tense verbal exchange unfolded between the woman filming and a relative of the accused.

The footage cannot be published in its entirety for legal reasons.

Since being back in custody, Mr Germanotta-Mills has been hit with a further 20 CAM and bestiality material charges.

The new charges, laid on Wednesday, bring his number of alleged offences up to 36.

Alleged pedo’s ‘reasons’ for alleged child abuse material

The so-called “investigative journalist” had told police during his initial arrest that he was willing to co-operate if he could “explain reasons” for why more than 200 files of child abuse material (CAM) and 91 of bestiality material were allegedly found on his phones, telling officers he had been working on an article.

“It was on my devices to build a bigger case up … and now that I’m saying it, I’ve realised that I should have sent it straight away to you guys and reported it straight away instead of trying to make my case and build, be a typical journalist to get my story,” he allegedly told police.

It is alleged he stored CAM on at least five cloud and email storage accounts while also possessing CAM on the messaging platforms Signal and Telegram according to court documents seen by NewsWire.

He is further accused of sending CAM during an exchange on Telegram, and sending a series of “offensive” messages to multiple users on the app.

Crown prosecutors have previously alleged Mr Germanotta-Mills used storage platforms to store and share more than 6800 files of CAM and animal abuse between October 2023 and November 2025.

One of those accounts was used to join a chat called “boys mega link exchange” which had 97 other participants and was used to receive CAM.

Mr Germanotta-Mills worked as an independent journalist for Underground Media Network until the time of his arrest in December and previously spent time as a production assistant at Network 10 between 2015 and 2017 according to his LinkedIn profile.

Now back in custody, he is facing 11 counts of using a carriage service to make child abuse available, 11 of possessing child abuse data, six of transmitting child abuse matter to himself, four of using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend, two counts of possessing bestiality material, and one each of using a carriage service to solicit CAM and disseminating bestiality material.

He is also charged with allegedly breaching his bail conditions, while two additional bestiality and CAM charges are expected to be withdrawn.

(continued)

>>24847519

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‘Symbols and rituals’: Horrific details of alleged pedo ring

Referrals are being made to law enforcement agencies in Australia, USA, Canada, Mexico, Europe, New Zealand, South America, and Southeast Asia in relation to the alleged ring, police said in February.

NSW sex crime squad commander Jane Doherty previously said the videos involved in the case were “particularly devastating” and used “symbols and rituals”.

Horrific details were earlier revealed during a bail hearing for Colin Milne, who is among those charged over the alleged pedophile ring.

“The (alleged) facts reveal extremely graphic, violent and depraved nature of the child abuse material found on the accused’s devices, including videos depicting infants, babies and children … and real adults,” a prosecutor told the court during Mr Milne’s bail hearing in February.

“Having read the (alleged) statement of facts – which detail unfortunately in some significant way the content of the videos – I can say that they are concerning and horrific.

“In somewhat nearly 20 years of sitting as a judicial officer I haven’t read many worse than this, quite frankly.

“It’s the depravity of the material that I have real concerns in terms of the most vulnerable in our community and for their safety, quite frankly.”

The 62-year-old lost his fight for freedom in February, which he’d sought over fears he would be “bashed” in custody, but has since been granted bail in May.

Mr Milne is charged with nine counts of using a carriage service to make child abuse available, two of using a carriage service to access CAM, two of disseminating bestiality material, one of possessing animal crush material, one of possessing a prohibited drug, one of participating in a criminal group and contributing to criminal activity, and two of contravening an order.

Mark Andrew Sendecky, Stuart Woods Riches, Benjamin Raymond Drysdale and former police officer sergeant David Turner have also been accused of being involved in the pedophile ring.

Mr Sendecky, 45, is facing a single charge of possessing child abuse data using a carriage service, with additional charges of using a carriage service to access CAM and possessing CAM expected to be withdrawn.

Mr Riches, 40, is facing one count each of possessing bestiality material, using a carriage service to procure a person aged under 16 for sexual activity, using a carriage service to make child abuse available, and using a carriage service to solicit CAM.

He is also facing two counts of possessing child abuse data using a carriage service, two of possessing a prohibited drug, six counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations, and two counts of using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend.

A charge of possessing CAM and another of using a carriage service to access CAM are due to be withdrawn.

Mr Drysdale, 47, is facing one count of using a carriage service to make child abuse available, two counts of using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend, two counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations, and two counts of contravening a prohibition order, and one count of possessing a prohibited drug.

Mr Turner, 42, is facing two counts each of using a carriage service to access CAM and possessing a prohibited drug, and one count each of using a carriage service to make child abuse available and possessing bestiality material.

None of the six NSW men have yet entered pleas. They all remain before the courts.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/accused-leader-of-alleged-satanic-pedophile-ring-hit-with-20-new-child-abuse-and-bestiality-charges/news-story/e86008219152791338e8630057f81e13

In Canada 6 million Roman Catholics conspired and used Vaccines to eliminate many of the Non Roman Catholic Christians.

Canada is a Jesuit Judicial Dictatorship as is the Commonwealth and this group went to war with the USA in 2019 calling it a Pandemic, they attacked all Non Roman Catholic Christians with deadly Jabs in the USA and Commonwealth Nations. The Psychological Warfare on a Captive Population is a War Crime.

The Jesuit Judicial Dictatorship used biochemical weapons on a Captive Population to Erase from Existence the Non Roman Catholic Christians, another War Crime. The Jesuit Courts robbed as much property, Wealth and Businesses from a Captive Population of Non Roman Catholic Christians as they could as they had done with Previous Pandemics another War Crime.

The Roman Catholics are already pointing at the Jesuits as the ones behind everything and will eliminate them for 40 years then restart the group and back to the same old game of Poisoning the Well.

V Jabs are an enemy biochemical Weapon, take down the Enemy within.

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 21, 2026, 3:41 a.m. No.24850378 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0380

Antisemitism royal commission hears evidence about attacks on synagogues

Jesse Thompson - 21 July 2026

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A representative of a Melbourne synagogue razed in a firebombing says multiple bids for additional security funding were knocked back before the building was destroyed in the 2024 arson attack.

Adass Israel Synagogue board member Benjamin Klein was among several Jewish leaders to describe spiralling security expenses and mounting safety concerns as the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion continued security-focused hearings in Melbourne today.

The synagogue in Melbourne's inner south was open for up to 20 hours a day before it was destroyed in an early morning arson attack that the domestic spy agency, ASIO, believes was ordered by Iran.

While political leaders subsequently committed funding to its rebuild, Mr Klein said the synagogue had been unsuccessful in securing funding from all tiers of government in the lead-up to the December 2024 attack.

"There were technicalities in terms of incorporated entities, unincorporated entities," he said.

"There was a lot of red tape to get through, and we weren't successful."

Mr Klein told the inquiry the community was left to contend with frequent verbal abuse from strangers at a time when it had lost "the heartbeat and the centre of our community".

"By taking that away, by burning that down, it's really changed the whole fabric of the community," he said.

George Foster OAM, the president of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, told the inquiry that his Sydney synagogue had been targeted several times in the past, including a firebombing in 1991.

The building was again targeted with antisemitic graffiti in January 2025.

But Dr Foster said the broader response to the earlier incidents was far more supportive because "there wasn't the overt vilification of Jewish people then".

A fence was installed after the 2025 incident, but Dr Foster said safety remained a key concern for congregants in a post October-2023 environment.

"People would call me and say, 'Is it safe to come to the synagogue?'" he told the commission.

"'Do you have security? Because without security, we're not going to come.'"

Neither witness was asked detailed questions about the 2024 arson attack or 2025 graffiti because of pending criminal proceedings.

(continued)

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Largest synagogue spends more than half a million on security

The commission has been hearing from Jewish institutions, religious leaders and security agencies as it probes the adequacy of security arrangements for Jewish communities.

Much of Tuesday's evidence focused on the growing security costs borne by prominent Jewish schools and synagogues in Melbourne and Sydney.

Leaders from three Jewish schools told the commission the annual levy paid by parents to cover these costs had surged, in one case by 230 per cent.

At Mount Scopus Memorial College, which was targeted with antisemitic graffiti in 2024, the security cost per student was reportedly more than $3,000 by 2025.

Despite the expenditure, Emanuel School principal Linda Emms said she felt unable to assure parents their students would be categorically safe at the school after last year's Bondi terror attack.

"It was very hard because I couldn't give a categorical assurance," she said.

"I couldn't say they would 100 per cent be safe."

The Australian Council of Jewish Schools said Jewish schools across the country together spent $58 million on security between 2022 and 2025, and called on recurrent expenditure to be covered by the federal government.

Some schools said they had won grant funding, but in some cases it only covered capital works.

The commission earlier heard the bill for security guards and upgrades at Australia's largest synagogue ran to $640,000 last year.

Rabbi Levi Wolff from Sydney's Central Synagogue told the commission that security, stronger legislative protections and education about Jewish life would help curb the threat of antisemitism.

"One of the greatest drivers of antisemitism is ignorance," he said.

"When people know very little about Jews, that vacuum is rarely left empty. It is filled with misinformation, conspiracy theories and extremist propaganda."

He told the commission that many families in his congregation had bought property in Israel as they considered leaving Australia.

Others had taken steps to conceal their Jewish identities, especially on university campuses, he said.

Questioned about pro-Palestinian protesters on those campuses, Rabbi Wolff said people should have the right to criticise the Israeli government but that denying Israel's right to exist was "something fundamentally different".

The commission is expected to hear from police witnesses, a counterterrorism expert and the Department of Home Affairs as hearings continue this week.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-21/antisemitism-royal-commission-hears-from-synagogues-security/106940422

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLR78V2DKg8

Anonymous ID: 6c5b6f July 21, 2026, 3:53 a.m. No.24850393 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0396