Burger shop fire not religiously motivated, police say; Optus fallout continues – as it happened

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Optus dials up bid to mend frayed customer relations

Optus is picking up the shattered remains of customers’ confidence as it faces the fallout from its second major crisis in 18 months.

The telecommunications giant suffered a 12-hour outage on Wednesday that prevented 10 million customers and businesses making and receiving calls, or connecting to the internet.

Customers, politicians and business figures have unleashed a storm of criticism on the telco, with the Greens securing a Senate inquiry into the disaster and the federal government launching a review.

Optus director Matt Williams says the company knows its customers could turn to other phone service providers.

He told AAP:

We really value, very highly, the relationships we have with our customers, the loyalty they have to us, their ongoing choice of us.

We provide unique and amazing value, as well as features and experiences that our customers can’t get anywhere else.

So we’ll continue to provide all those things [and] work very hard to make sure that we rebuild those experiences with our customers and that relationship.

Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

Optus has offered extra data packages to its customers, with postpaid users eligible for 200GB of extra data and prepaid users able to access free unlimited data on weekends until the end of the year.

The Optus chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, says the offer is a way to thank customers for their patience and loyalty.

She said:

We know that there’s nothing we can do to change what happened.

We really appreciate the patience and understanding that our customers have shown.

The outage occurred as the company was starting to recover from a data breach in September 2022 that affected millions of customers and led to the theft of 10,000 passport, driver’s licence and Medicare numbers, which were leaked online.

– Australian Associated Press

Updated at 19.36 EST

SA and federal government strike deal for land exchange for submarine construction yard

The federal government and South Australian government have come to an agreement for a land exchange for a submarine construction yard, in anticipation of Australia building its nuclear powered submarines as part of the Aukus deal.

There are a lot of moving parts to Aukus and one of them was where would the conventionally armed (an important note the government has begun pushing when speaking about the nuclear powered subs, to remind everyone they won’t actually have nuclear weapons, and by everyone, we mean the region and China) nuclear-powered subs would be built.

As expected, Osborne, SA, will be the home of the building yard but a new area had to be chosen. Under this agreement announced today, Australian Navel Infrastructure will “progressively” take ownership of “key land parcels” from December. There will also be some land secured for the skills and training academy which will educate the submarine and navel workforce.

In exchange, the SA government will receive defence owned land at Keswick and Smithfield, as well as part of the Cultana training area north of Whyalla.

The Cultana site will be used to “facilitate hydrogen and renewable energy projects”, while the Keswick and Smithfield sites will “undergo master planning for proposed urban renewal, including increased housing supply or mixed-use development”.

The Keswick barracks are only 4km from the heart of Adelaide’s CBD, so it means a win-win for the SA government as it attempts to widen its affordable housing options.

Work on the Osborne submarine construction yard will begin before the year is out.

Updated at 19.12 EST

More than $2m will be spent in an attempt to protect native fish in Menindee Lakes and the Lower Darling-Baaka

Most readers would be familiar with the horrific images of the major fish kills in the area – Tanya Plibersek said the $2.3m in funding will be used to develop a business case for the construction of a permanent fish passage in the area.

A passage is needed to help fish escape poor water quality in the weir pool. As the weather heats up, and dissolved oxygen levels in the Lower Darling-Baaka and Menindee weir pool worsen, further fish deaths are expected.

The states have the main responsibility for river but the federal government has its share of responsibility too – particularly with river systems which cross state borders. Someone has to be the adjudicator and look at the big picture.

In making the announcement, Plibersek said while visiting the region last month she was told how a better fish passage would cut down on fish deaths:

That’s why we are investing in this project which will allow native fish to swim past physical barriers in the river and at Menindee Lakes, unlocking new areas for them to move, feed and seek refuge.

Measures like these fish ladders are important but alone won’t help our native fish – we need to restore flows to let the rivers run.

Tanya Plibersek says more than $2m will be spent to try to protect native fish in Menindee Lakes and the Lower Darling-Baaka. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated at 19.12 EST

Coalition calls on Murray Watt to correct Senate answer about detention

The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, has called on the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, to correct an answer to the Senate about the government response to a high court ruling on indefinite detention.

In Senate question time on Thursday, Watt said although the plaintiff in that case had been released, the government “cannot act on that decision until the reasons of the court are received and we receive legal advice as to how that decision relates to the other people involved”.

But as the Australian Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Law Centre – the two bodies that intervened in the case– and advocates for some long-term detainees have noted: this is not correct. The government is obliged to release all people who have “no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future”.

The government now appears to accept that, and is preparing to release detainees that clearly meet that condition.

Murray Watt during Senate estimates at Parliament House in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Paterson said that Watt should have “already come into the Senate chamber and corrected the record and admitted he misled the Senate”.

Paterson told reporters in Canberra that the government’s response to the NZYQ case has gone from “bad to worse” and it is preparing to release “all 92 people” identified by the solicitor general has affected by the case. This overstates it, only some of those are clear cases, others will likely have to wait for the court’s reasons and further legal advice.

Paterson said the government should respect the high court decision, but also called for “measures to to manage these people in the community, like an extended supervision order, or a control order” or in high risk cases a continuing detention order. It is unlikely the latter would be legal. The government says it has put conditions on the release of NZYQ and will do for others it releases.

Updated at 18.48 EST

Australia’s triple-A credit rating affirmed

Australia’s triple-A rating has been affirmed by global credit rating agency Fitch, Australian Associated Press reports.

Fitch Ratings affirmed the top-level rating today, nodding to the nation’s sound outlook for economic growth, strong institutions and high incomes per person. The agency also expects the central bank has found the peak of its interest rate increases at 4.35%.

While services inflation is proving sticky, Fitch analysts believe the tightening so far will be enough to bring inflation back to the 2-3% target range over the next two years.

The federal government’s decision to bank revenue upgrades was highlighted as “a desire to maintain a fiscal stance supportive of reducing inflation and pursue prudent fiscal policies”. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said his government’s budget strategy was “right for the times”.

The Albanese government’s combination of budget restraint, investments to lift the capacity of the economy, and targeted cost-of-living relief is all helping ease inflation in our economy.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers addresses the media. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Updated at 18.09 EST

Coalition targets Labor over indefinite detention releases

This morning Guardian Australia revealed that the Albanese government will immediately begin releasing people from indefinite detention after receiving a flurry of demands from long-term detainees to be set free due to Wednesday’s landmark high court ruling.

In question time on Thursday the government confirmed it had released the plaintiff in that case, a stateless Rohingya man known as NZYQ who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old, but claimed it needed to wait for the court’s full reasons and legal advice before making a call on others.

The government now concedes that for some detainees it is clear they must be released because it is not possible to deport them.

On Friday the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, said “other impacted individuals will be released and any visas granted to those individuals will be subject to appropriate conditions”.

The Coalition isn’t happy. Its home affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, said:

Yesterday the government assured the Senate they would not be releasing any other detainees before the court published its reasoning. The fact they are doing so less than 24 hours later shows how unprepared they were for this case. Sadly the Australian people cannot rely on their assurances about community safety if they are not even across fundamental legal questions like this.

Updated at 16.39 EST

Bipartisan support from US politicians to bring Assange home

The push for the US to drop its extradition attempts of Australian journalist Julian Assange has received bipartisan support from US politicians as the campaign to bring him home intensifies.

In a letter first reported by Nine newspapers and also seen by Guardian Australia, 16 members of congress, from both the Democratic and Republican parties, urge the US president Joe Biden to drop the extradition request and halt all prosecutorial proceedings against him immediately.

The group, which includes Maga Republican and Trump ally Majorie Taylor-Greene and member of the leftwing “squad” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, write that the pursuit of Assange goes against enshrined freedom of speech rights in America:

It is the duty of journalists to seek out sources, including documentary evidence, in order to report to the public on the activities of the government. The United States must not pursue an unnecessary prosecution that risks criminalising common journalistic practices and thus chilling the work of the free press. We urge you to ensure that this case be brought to a close in as timely a manner as possible.

Assange remains in Belmarsh prison in London as he fights a US attempt to extradite him to face charges – including under the Espionage Act. The charges are in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011.

Julian Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Updated at 16.38 EST

Albanese’s final day in Pacific

Good morning from Aitutaki Island in the Cook Islands, where Anthony Albanese is set to wrap up a final day of talks with Pacific leaders.

The prime minister and the other leaders from the Pacific Islands Forum are heading out from the island on a boat, Vaka Teariki Moana, for intimate talks without officials out on the lagoon. They are due to plant a tree on One Foot Island before holding wrap-up press conferences later in the day.

The climate crisis is repeatedly cited by the Pacific as its top security challenge, and Albanese is expected to announce details of further climate-related funding.

The talks come at a time when there is growing contest for influence in the Pacific between the US and China, and leaders have repeatedly stressed the need for forum members to stay “united” in the face of a raft of challenges.

But last night there seems to be a wrinkle in that plan, with the president of Nauru, David Adeang, skipping the leaders’ retreat. That seems to have been triggered by a suggestion yesterday that the leaders could revisit – or at least talk about – the process that led to plans for former Nauru president Baron Waqa to take over as next Pacific Islands Forum secretary general next year.

There is a whole backstory here, with a peace deal reached with Micronesian members in recent years. Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, told reporters in Aitutaki last night that Nauru should have been at the leaders’ retreat. Asked whether he felt everyone was “back at square one” regarding the internal tensions, Rabuka replied: “sort of”.

Albanese, who did a little dance last night, is due to fly back to Australia tonight.

Updated at 16.17 EST

‘Impacted individuals’ held in indefinite immigration detention ‘will be released’ after high court ruling: Giles

Immigration minister Andrew Giles says the government is “carefully” considering the implications of the high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful:

We are considering the implications of the judgment carefully and will continue to work with authorities to ensure community safety is upheld.

The plaintiff in “NZYQ v Minister for Immigration” has been released – “as ordered by the High Court”, the minister’s statement says.

Other impacted individuals will be released and any visas granted to those individuals will be subject to appropriate conditions.

Minister for immigration Andrew Giles. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated at 15.45 EST

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you our best overnight stories before handing the reins to my colleague Rafqa Touma.

When a Rohingya man sought asylum in 2012 it began a long legal saga that has now come to a head. Our exclusive lead story looks at how the case of the man known by the acronym NZYQ could result in dozens of people being released from Australia’s detention system because there is no prospect of them being deported. Lawyers for the refugees have begun asking the Albanese government to set their clients free after Wednesday’s landmark high court ruling. They also warned that ministers could face compensation claims if they don’t immediately release people who it is not possible to deport. Immigration minister Andrew Giles says the government is “considering the implications carefully” of the ruling.

Telcos could be forced by the government to allow customers to roam rival networks in the event of outages in line with a similar contingency introduced in Canada. Federal ministers tasked officials last month with drawing up the plans and the ACCC found it was technically feasible for the companies to implement. Optus and Telstra argued against emergency roaming, arguing that it would cost too much. But, as another of our stories shows today, outages pose a serious risk to people living with disabilities.

Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents such as spitting at women, threats of violence, graffiti and property damage have risen substantially since Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October sparked the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry says there have been about 50 incidents a week since 8 October but in the week up to the attack there was just one. Similarly there were 133 reported Islamophobic incidents between 7 October and 6 November, according to Islamophobia Register Australia. Before 7 October, the average number of weekly incidents was 2.5.

Anthony Albanese wraps up a week of intense diplomacy today when he and other Pacific leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum go out on a boat to hold intimate talks without most of their officials. The prime minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, promised his counterparts that they would be going to “the most beautiful lagoon in the Pacific”. But they will do so without Nauru’s president, David Adeang, who walked out of the summit yesterday over who should be the next PIF secretary general.

With all that, let’s get going …

Updated at 15.27 EST