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Key posts
- Thanks and goodnight
- High-profile man’s suppression application rejected
- 40k votes cast overseas for Voice
- Students punished over Arab dress-up
- WA to see Voice vote roll in while polls open
- Vic tourism agency defends 600k spent on Games promo
- Senate tells NSW, federal government to act now on feral horses
- Three men arrested in Sydney over Nazi salute
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Thanks and goodnight
Thanks for joining us for our live coverage today. Here’s what you may have missed:
- A magistrate has rejected an application for a suppression order protecting the identity of a high-profile man charged with rape in Toowoomba.
- Students at Brighton Secondary College are believed to be facing disciplinary action after they turned up to school on muck-up day on Friday dressed as Arabs.
- Three men have been arrested after allegedly performing Nazi salutes outside the Sydney Jewish Museum on Friday afternoon.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led the Yes campaign’s final push ahead of the Voice to parliament referendum voting day tomorrow in a flurry of Friday media appearances.
- Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has countered the prime minister’s call for a Yes vote, instead declaring Albanese “wrote a cheque that he couldn’t cash” by failing to provide details on the Voice.
- In business news, the local sharemarket is down slightly today, but looks like it will finish above 7000 points to close positive for the week after bond yields had sent jitters through markets globally over the past month.
- In state news, NSW Police have invoked extraordinary powers first granted during the 2005 Cronulla race riots ahead of an unauthorised pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney on Sunday.
- In international news, the Israel-Hamas conflict continues to inflict devastation upon civilians. A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the Gaza Strip as Israel cut off food, water and power. The first repatriation flight for Australians is leaving today.
We’ll be back tomorrow to bring you rolling coverage, as voters head to the polls to have their say on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Sarah Keoghan, signing off.
High-profile man’s suppression application rejected
A magistrate has rejected an application for a suppression order protecting the identity of a high-profile man charged with rape in Toowoomba.
However, an interim order remains in place until Tuesday, allowing the man’s lawyers time to consider appealing to a higher court.
The man has remained on bail and has not been required to appear for multiple court dates relating to two charges of rape from alleged events in Toowoomba in October 2021.
On Friday, in the Toowoomba Magistrate’s Court, his lawyers argued an interim suppression order over his identity should be made permanent to protect the man’s mental health and the proper administration of justice.
Lawyers for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and registered media – including Brisbane Times – were present to oppose ongoing suppression in the interests of open justice, the complainant’s wishes, and an “irreconcilable difference” between a psychologist’s report and the man’s “public presentation”.
After considering the arguments, Magistrate Clare Kelly proposed lifting the suppression order but agreed to adjourn the case until Tuesday afternoon.
Millions committed in intellectual disability support funding
Australians living with intellectual disabilities will benefit from improved support, health services and groundbreaking research as part of the government’s plan to bolster the nation’s health systems.
There are more than 450,000 Australians living with an intellectual disability who are twice as likely to die from something avoidable.
They are also more likely to suffer physical and mental health conditions while receiving less preventative health care.
Drawing on experiences with her sister who has an intellectual disability, Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney said she has seen the challenges these Australians face.
“They deserve access to excellent, tailored and empathetic healthcare that fits their needs,” she said on Friday.
The federal government has committed $22 million over four years to establish a National Centre for Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health, as one of its 2022 election promises.
Run by a consortium of universities and intellectual disability organisations and led by the University of New South Wales, the centre will improve health services for people with intellectual disabilities and their families and identify gaps in research.
Lived experience will be an integral part of the centre, as its staff will include people who have an intellectual disability, as well as family members and carers.
The centre is part of the government’s national roadmap for improving the health of people with intellectual disability.
Previously, the government provided $6.7 million to improve access to annual health assessments for people with intellectual disability and identify their unmet needs.
AAP
40k votes cast overseas for Voice
Some interesting stats coming out of the Australian Electoral Commission today.
There have been around 40,000 votes cast overseas with more than 14,000 cast at Australia House in London.
The AEC also said 100,000 temporary workers were hired for the referendum.
“They’re people from all across the country who put their hand up to work for our democracy. When you see them, be kind,” the AEC said on their social media channels.
An early voting centre opens in Perth’s CBD.Credit: Trevor Collens
Students punished over Arab dress-up
Students at Brighton Secondary College are believed to be facing disciplinary action after they turned up to school on muck-up day on Friday dressed as Arabs.
A Department of Education spokesperson said the college was continuing to investigate the incident and appropriate action was being taken in response.
“The school apologises unreservedly that this has occurred, with support available to students in light of recent events,” he said.
It comes after the Federal Court ruled the State pay $435,000 in compensation to five former Brighton Secondary students who had been subjected to anti-Semitic bullying.
Meanwhile, the University of Melbourne received a report saying a student found a razor blade lodged behind a poster related to the Israel, Palestine war on campus.
“The matter is being investigated and any findings will be handed to the Victorian Police for further action,” she said.
“Intentional acts of violence or vilification against others at the University of Melbourne will not be tolerated.”
“Violent, criminal behaviour is never the solution and is totally unacceptable in our University community and society.”
There have also been reports of anti-semitic chalk writing on Clarendon St in South Melbourne of “Kill the Jews”.
Chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dvir Abramovich called it a “real and escalating crisis that can have deadly consequences if left unchecked”.
Schools are advising parents to monitor their children’s social media due to the explicit content about the war.
The Education Department has provided a resource on assisting children entitled: Helping my children after trauma.
WA to see Voice vote roll in while polls open
The Australian Electoral Commission has conceded it would be impractical to delay eastern state vote counts until polls closed in the west, meaning West Australians will be able to see the referendum’s results streaming in while still being able to vote.
Polls will be open from 8am to 6pm in local times across the nation and, thanks to daylight savings, WA is three hours behind New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, meaning it will be 9pm in those states by the time voting finishes in WA.
Early voting in the Voice to parliament referendum is under way.Credit: Trevor Collens
It will be the first time since 2004 that a major federal election or referendum has been held during an east coast daylight savings period in which WA was also not participating.
When asked how the commission would manage the influence that seeing early results could have on WA voters, a spokeswoman said it could not delay the count.
“We will be counting votes from soon after polls close in a polling place at 6pm local time. These results will flow through the tally room in real-time, as occurs during a federal election,” she said.
“Polling day is already a very long day for the AEC’s temporary staff of 100,000 people as well as campaigners and others involved in the process – a delay of a further three hours is highly impractical.“
You can read more about it here.
Vic tourism agency defends 600k spent on Games promo
Victoria’s government-owned tourism agency has defended pumping almost $600,000 into a 2026 Commonwealth Games promotion and denied the event’s cancellation is a reputational setback.
The Games were suddenly canned in July over cost concerns, with the decision sparking fears Victoria would suffer long-term reputational damage.
But Visit Victoria chief executive Brendan McClements insists it has not generated any issues in its discussions with major event rights holders.
“Having had extensive conversations since July the 18th, my professional advice is, no, it hasn’t,” he told a parliamentary inquiry into the Games bid on Friday.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said the axing had jeopardised Melbourne and Victoria’s standing as a sports capital, while former Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates called it a terrible embarrassment for Australian sport.
Liberal MP and committee member David Davis put their statements to Mr McClements but he stood firm.
“If anything, it’s actually increased the interest in people coming to Melbourne and Victoria,” Mr McClements said.
The idea of Victoria looking into hosting the 2026 Games was conceived by the agency in March 2021.
An ill-fated original business case submitted to the Victorian government in January 2022 initially put the cost of hosting the event across regional hubs between $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
But the estimated cost was revised to between $6 billion to $7 billion and used by then-premier Daniel Andrews to justify cancelling the Games on July 18.
Documents submitted to the inquiry show Visit Victoria spent $1.9 million of its $26 million marketing budget.
The agency’s A Games Like No Other promotional campaign, featuring a video broadcast at the 2022 Birmingham Games closing ceremony, cost almost $590,000 to develop.
The inquiry will resume public hearings on October 23.
AAP
Senate tells NSW, federal government to act now on feral horses
A controversial report on the management of feral horses in the fragile alpine environment Kosciuszko National Park has been tabled by the Senate Environment Committee in Canberra this afternoon, ramping up pressure on NSW and federal governments.
The Senate report, endorsed by Labor senators, urges the federal government to trigger its powers under national laws to force state governments to dramatically reduce feral horses in Kosciuszko – something that hasn’t been done before. It also called for the Albanese government to boost funding to states for the management of the area.
Significantly, the report called on the NSW government to remove its self-imposed ban on aerial shooting in a bid to reduce the swiftly growing horse population.
Feral horses at Long Plain earlier this week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen.
It also called on the federal government to take a leadership role to help NSW, Victorian and ACT governments cooperate on improving the degraded ecosystems of the Australian Alps.
“The heritage-listed Australian Alps are under pressure from significant threats. Key among these is the threat posed by feral horses,” the report said.
Ecologists state that hungry herds of horses, with their damaging hooves, must be reduced as quickly to prevent the extinction of threatened native species including the stocky galaxias fish and the corroboree frog, and to halt escalating damage to the fragile ecosystem. They advocate for aerial culling with trained shooters in helicopters.
Advocates for the horses champion the history and romance of the brumbies are bitterly opposed to their removal, argue against culling on animal welfare grounds and are calling for the horses to retain a presence in Kosciuszko.
Experts say aerial culling is needed to rapidly reduce growing mobs of feral horses. The control method is banned in NSW, under the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Bill that outlawed the practice under a peace deal brokered between former NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean and former Nationals Leader John Barilaro – to settle tensions amid an internal war over the issue within the NSW Coalition.
There are 18,800 horses in Kosciuszko National Park, NSW’s portion of the Alps, and the population has increased about 30 per cent in the past two years.
There is no ban in Victoria, but aerial culling has never been undertaken. An estimated 2500 horses are in Victoria’s portion of the Alps.
Three men arrested in Sydney over Nazi salute
Three men have been arrested after allegedly performing Nazi salutes outside the Sydney Jewish Museum on Friday afternoon.
Police from the Kings Cross Police Area Command were called to the museum on Darlinghurst Road in Darlinghurst just after 12pm.
The Sydney Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst. Credit: Oscar Colman
They were taken to Kings Cross Police Station where they are now assisting police.
Police said while there is no ongoing risk to the public, Darlinghurst Road remains closed while an investigation into the incident continues.
This afternoon’s headlines at a glance
Thank you for following our Australian news live coverage today.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led the Yes campaign’s final push ahead of the Voice to parliament referendum voting day tomorrow. In a flurry of media appearances this morning, Albanese dismissed polling which showed the Voice would be defeated, declared the No camp had become slightly arrogant, and called for Australians to help reduce Indigenous disadvantage by voting Yes.
- Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has countered the prime minister’s call for a Yes vote, instead declaring Albanese “wrote a cheque that he couldn’t cash” by failing to provide detail on the Voice.
- In business news, the local sharemarket is down slightly today, but looks like it will finish above 7000 points to close positive for the week after bond yields had sent jitters through markets globally over the past month.
- In state news, NSW Police have invoked extraordinary powers first granted during the 2005 Cronulla race riots ahead of an unauthorised pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney on Sunday.
- In international news, the Israel-Hamas conflict continues to inflict devastation upon civilians. A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the Gaza Strip as Israel cut off food, water and power. The first repatriation flight for Australians is leaving today. Follow our live coverage here.
My colleague Sarah Keoghan will be helming the blog for the rest of the afternoon.
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