Labor urges ‘unity’ from Ley after hate speech backdown
Tom McIlroy
Labor has urged the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, to follow through on her commitments after the Bondi terror attack and support legislation dealing with guns and hate groups in parliament this week.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, agreed to split his controversial bill in order to win support from the Greens on Saturday, putting aside hate speech provisions designed to protect Jewish Australians from antisemitic hate and vilification.
But Labor is demanding the Coalition support the remaining elements of the legislation, creating tougher laws around gun ownership and banning extremist groups through new legal designation.
Labor’s Senate manager, Katy Gallagher, said on Sunday that Ley needs to follow through when the legislation is debated on Tuesday.
“This is a day where she needs to unite her party and put Australians first. That is what we need from the opposition,” Gallagher said.
The PM has been clear about this from the get go, that we need to get something from the opposition. We haven’t had anything to date, and we need to make sure that the parliament does deal with this legislation in a way that ensures Australians are safer.
Australians want to see unity. They want to see agreement. They want to see the parliament working together, and that’s the approach we’re taking to the sitting.
Key events
Banning hate groups more complicated than anticipated, Burke says
Banning groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir for engaging in antisemitic hate speech is unlikely to work as many of those involved are Australian citizens, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has said.
The concession comes as the government has moved to ban specific hate groups, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network, under controversial hate-speech legislation.
Burke previously said that the move would push these groups to the fringes and force them “underground” where they would struggle to recruit even if their views remain unchanged.
Burke told The Daily Telegraph:
Pushing them to the fringes doesn’t eliminate the fact that there are hateful views from individuals, and when those individuals are on visas, I’ve been cancelling them and kicking them out, but for most of these people, they’re Australian citizens.
The minister’s office confirmed 20-year-old Ukrainian national and neo-Nazi Yan Zakharin, who is facing charges over his involvement in an attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne last August, had his visa cancelled on Christmas Eve.
Zakharin is being held in immigration detention, and was allegedly one of 15 members of the National Socialist Network who attacked the First Nations camp.
In response to questions about the incident, Burke said:
Our government has zero tolerance for bigotry and hate. If you don’t like Australia you can leave.
Man arrested over pipe bombs found in suburban parkland
A man accused of making pipe bombs has been arrested after almost a dozen explosives were found strewn along footpaths in the nation’s capital.
The 41-year-old has been accused of stealing and purchasing items needed to create the bombs from a store in Belconnen, in Canberra’s northwest.
Police searched his house in the same suburb on Saturday where they allegedly found items used to assemble pipe bombs.
The man was arrested at a unit at Gungahlin, in the city’s north, late last night and will appear in ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.
He has been charged with unauthorised manufacture of a prohibited dangerous substance, possessing a prohibited weapon, and theft.
As of Thursday, at least 11 pipe bombs had been found along a one-kilometre stretch of footpath near Lake Ginninderra, a popular parkland area for runners and dog walkers.
Some of the explosives appeared to have gone off before being found, while others were discovered intact.
Police do not believe anyone was hurt when the explosives detonated.
– AAP
Tom McIlroy
Labor does not ‘share the concerns of the Greens’ on hate speech laws: Gallagher
Speaking at Parliament House in Canberra, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says she has spoken with the Coalition and the Greens Senate managers ahead of this week’s special sittings.
Labor has done a deal with the Greens to pass legislation establishing a gun buyback scheme and creating a legal framework to officially designated hate groups operating in the community.
But Labor is keeping the pressure on the Coalition, who look set to oppose the bill drafted in the wake of the 14 December terror attack at Bondi.
Gallagher said she did not share concerns put forward by the Greens on freedom of political expression and protest, including by pro-Palestinian activists in Australia. The minor party said last week it couldn’t support Labor’s plans, forcing the government to split its legislation.
We don’t share the concerns of the Greens on that one, and we’ve made that clear to them in the last week.
The elements of the bill that exist without the racial vilification still have very strong purpose around combating antisemitism, and that is why many of these groups, including neo-Nazis, have foreshadowed they are going disband, once they saw this exposure draft bill.
That shows you how serious these laws are. Those elements are just as important.
Labor urges ‘unity’ from Ley after hate speech backdown
Tom McIlroy
Labor has urged the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, to follow through on her commitments after the Bondi terror attack and support legislation dealing with guns and hate groups in parliament this week.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, agreed to split his controversial bill in order to win support from the Greens on Saturday, putting aside hate speech provisions designed to protect Jewish Australians from antisemitic hate and vilification.
But Labor is demanding the Coalition support the remaining elements of the legislation, creating tougher laws around gun ownership and banning extremist groups through new legal designation.
Labor’s Senate manager, Katy Gallagher, said on Sunday that Ley needs to follow through when the legislation is debated on Tuesday.
“This is a day where she needs to unite her party and put Australians first. That is what we need from the opposition,” Gallagher said.
The PM has been clear about this from the get go, that we need to get something from the opposition. We haven’t had anything to date, and we need to make sure that the parliament does deal with this legislation in a way that ensures Australians are safer.
Australians want to see unity. They want to see agreement. They want to see the parliament working together, and that’s the approach we’re taking to the sitting.
Venus Williams says she has ‘nothing to prove’ in Australian Open return
The Australian Open starts on Sunday with two-time finalist Venus Williams breaking new ground as the tournament’s oldest female singles player when she returns after five years away.
Williams, a seven-time grand slam winner, has not played at Melbourne Park since her tearful second-round exit in 2021.
Granted a wildcard, the 45-year-old will become the oldest player ever to compete in the women’s singles draw when she faces Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in the first round at John Cain Arena on Sunday.
A possible all-American clash with third seed Coco Gauff looms in the second round.
“This is the greatest place on earth to play,” Williams said.
I have had amazing memories here. I love challenges, so I’m up for the challenge.
Williams made her first appearance at Melbourne Park as a 17-year-old in 1998, reaching the quarter-finals in her fourth major tournament after a remarkable run to the US Open final the previous year.
– AAP
Family court judge criticised over ‘brazen’ family violence comments
Legal experts have criticised the handling of abuse cases in family court, after a woman and alleged survivor of domestic abuse alleged a judge suggested she be taken to a park to “fight it out” with her former partner.
The woman, who agreed to speak to AAP anonymously as legal proceedings remain ongoing, filed a complaint against the judge after the comments were made public on social media.
Swinburne University senior law lecturer Rachael Burgin said the comments were inappropriate given the circumstances of the case.
The judge has evidence before them of family violence, which by definition is a pattern of violence, control and abuse of power, and yet has opted to collude with the alleged perpetrator, emboldening this person to continue his offences.
The fact that these attitudes permeate the justice system does not surprise me but it is shocking how brazen (these comments) are.”
Dr Burgin specialises in criminal justice and criminology as well as legal responses to rape, sexual assault and gendered violence.
A complaint has been filed over the comments and the judge is no longer overseeing hearings related to the matter.
– AAP
Jail time for leaving dogs in cars under new NSW animal welfare laws
New South Wales will crack down on people who leave their dogs in cars and use painful collars in proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Owners who leave dogs in hot cars or use painful prong collars on their pets could face jail time under proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Under the proposals, offenders in NSW could be fined a maximum of $44,000 and sentenced to a year in prison in line with other animal cruelty offences.
The changes would bring the state more into line with laws in Western Australia and South Australia.
The NSW changes would also remove barriers for animal welfare inspectors to offer pain relief, allow authorised personnel to euthanise animals in emergencies, and make it an offence to posses illegal glue traps – which can ensnare native animals and cause slow protracted deaths.
The proposals are expected to be introduced to state parliament in the first half of 2026 after discussions with key stakeholders.
“Leaving dogs in locked cars on hot days is not acceptable, and neither is the use of collars with prongs that spike into the necks of puppies and dogs,” the NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said.
The reforms will also crack down on animal fighting, by addressing potential loopholes and supporting police to address links to organised crime.
– AAP
The road to Trish’s Queensland farm was blown up for a coalmine – now flood waters have left her ‘stuck in a hole’
Cattlewoman Trish Goodwin should be celebrating.
Last Friday, her parched property off the Capricorn Highway near the tiny town of Bluff in the central highlands of Queensland received “very good soaking rain” – nearly 200mm would fall in a few days.
It was proper wet season rain. And we needed it. We needed it badly.
Instead, Goodwin finds herself “stuck in a hole”, stranded and alone in the humble tin and timber home in which she was raised, carefully rationing her instant coffee and milk – worried her health could give out again, that she should need an ambulance.
For if the 62-year-old does require urgent medical attention, she says, paramedics would need a helicopter to pick her up.
Goodwin attributes her predicament to a coalmine mothballed for the second time in late 2023, whose current owner, Bowen Coking Coal, went into receivership in July. Because between Goodwin and the highway, where a crushed blue metal road once ran through pastured land and timber, there is now a blasted and gaping hole in the earth: an open cut mine called Bluff.
For more on this story, read the full report from Guardian Australia’s Joe Hinchliffe:
More than 1,400 calls to emergency services amid NSW storms, authorities say
The NSW State Emergency Service has received more than 1,400 calls for help and 20 requests for flood rescues after Sydney was lashed with torrential rain.
SES assistant commissioner Sonya Alston, speaking to ABC News, says the main areas affected by flash flooding and storm-related incidents are the Illawarra, Sydney and Hunter areas.
We did have an evacuation at Narrabeen overnight due to the rapid rising waters there and the localised heavy rainfall, so that continues around that. Those particular areas with the weather also moving up north, we’ll see around north-eastern New South Wales experiencing some of that heavy winds, heavy rain and large wind gusts.
Residents of the area are advised to monitor the BoM app and the Hazards Near Me app as there are warnings in place. They are also warned not to enter flood waters.
Alston says similar conditions are expected throughout Saturday and into early next week as the storm system heads north.
We’re hoping to see a little bit of relief for the Illawarra area today. But still in that Sydney northern area. So again urging everyone to keep safe, keep inside if you can.
One dead after tree branch falls on car in Illawarra region
A woman died during the storms on Saturday afternoon when a tree branch fell on her car on Macquarie Pass, south of Wollongong.
NSW police said:
The woman was a driver in the vehicle when the incident happened.
A man in the front seat passenger suffered minor injuries, and two passengers in the rear seats were not physically harmed.
Evacuation order on Sydney’s northern beaches as Australia’s east coast smashed by stormy weather
Australia’s east coast is being smashed by summer storms as residents are told to evacuate.
An emergency warning was in place for Sydney’s northern beaches on Sunday morning, with residents at Narrabeen Lagoon and surrounds told to leave.
More than a dozen people have been rescued across Sydney, with cars submerged and homes flooded.
At Great Mackerel beach, in the northern beaches, a landslide damaged numerous homes with at least one woman injured.
The storm system also claimed the life of a woman on Saturday after a tree branch fell on her car and State Emergency Service crews received more than 800 calls for help after heavy rain lashed New South Wales.
Senior meteorologist Edward Townsend-Medlock said more heavy rainfall was expected from Sydney’s northern suburbs through to the Hunter coast on Sunday morning.
Within that concentrated area is where you could get some of those more severe thunderstorm cells that we saw, for example, on the Central Coast.
For more on this story, read our full report:
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Powerful storms have lashed Sydney, with some residents of the northern beaches told to evacuate. More than a dozen people have been rescued across the city, as a landslide injured a woman and damaged multiple homes.
A woman was killed in the storms on Saturday when a tree branch fell her car at Macquarie Pass and a man in the front passenger seat suffered minor injuries. The New South Wales SES recorded more than 800 calls for help.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
