Australia news live: Court rules that high-profile man charged with rape in Toowoomba may be publicly named

Key events

21h ago

What we learned today, Thursday 26 October

23h ago

Bruce Lehrmann named as high-profile man charged with Toowoomba rape

23h ago

‘Extreme fire danger’ expected in western parts of Queensland on Friday

23h ago

No plans for nuclear waste dump despite Aukus subs deal, Senate estimates hears

24h ago

Greens deputy leader says Israel committing war crimes on Palestinians

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Australian diplomats remain in Israel but many relatives have left, Dfat says

1d ago

‘A lot of anxiety’ in Western Downs as houses destroyed in fire

1d ago

Wong urges Iran to stay out of Israel-Hamas war during call with foreign minister

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Queensland Fire and Emergency issues ‘leave immediately’ warning for Halliford residents

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Farmers Federation begin public campaign against government

1d ago

Biden addresses White House dinner for Albanese

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Leading medical journals call on WHO to declare climate and nature crisis a ‘global health emergency’

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China’s property sector remains ‘a big area of risk’, Bullock says

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‘The way Israel exercises its right to defend itself matters’: Wong in Senate estimates

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‘This will need to see all sides respect the right of the other to exist’: Wong on Israel and Palestine

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‘We apologise’: Uber on Spam Act breach

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RBA’s Bullock to answer senate queries about inflation, rate rise risks

1d ago

White House state dinner special guest list an eclectic group from industry, the voice, sport

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Body of woman found in Sydney school gym, police looking for male in his early 20s

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Aukus will ‘get done’ despite jitters in Congress, Biden tells Albanese

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Extra $15m humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza

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Man sues Victoria over Lawyer X scandal, and ‘miscarriage of justice’

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Extreme fire danger continues for parts of Queensland

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‘Staggering’ number of young people at risk of serious harm from gambling – survey

1d ago

Uber fined for breaching Spam Act

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Woman’s body found at Sydney school

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Welcome

1d ago

Hundreds rally in Perth after Indigenous teenager’s death in custody

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What we learned today, Thursday 26 October

We will now wrap the blog for the evening, thanks for reading.

Here were the major developments of the day:

Communities in Cypress Gardens, Millmerran Downs and Millmerran Woods can return home with caution after the fire in the Western Downs region was downgraded.

Meteorologists are predicting rainfall from November to January to be below average across much of western, southern and north-eastern Australia, as well as two-and-a-half times the likelihood of “unusually high” temperatures.

Bruce Lehrmann has been charged with two counts of raping a woman in October 2021, with the case working its way through early committal proceedings at Toowoomba magistrates court this year.

The Greens deputy leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said the Israeli government is committing war crimes on the Palestinian people.

The young woman found dead at a school in central Sydney has been identified as water polo coach Lilie James.

The head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Jan Adams, says she is “paying very close attention” to the security of Australian diplomatic staff in Israel.

Penny Wong has criticised Iran’s “destabilising role” in the Middle East and said she used a call with that country’s foreign minister to urge it to avoid escalating the Hamas-Israel conflict.

Mike Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of Atlassian, says Australia has the existing technology to be able to achieve its renewable ambitions, speaking at a renewable energy event in Melbourne.

The US president, Joe Biden, gave an address at the official State Dinner in honour of the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, at the White House in Washington.

The Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) has joined more than 200 health journals around the world calling for the World Health Organization to declare the climate and nature crisis a global health emergency.

An Uber spokesperson said “we made a mistake” after the company received a $412,500 fine for breaching the Spam Act over one email sent to 2m customers in January this year.

RBA governor Michele Bullock said Wednesday’s September inflation figures were “a little higher” than the central bank had predicted in its August forecasts.

Civilians in the blockaded Gaza Strip will receive an extra $15m in humanitarian aid from the Australian government.

Hundreds of people have rallied in Perth to call for justice after the death of an Indigenous teenager who self-harmed in the youth wing at an adult prison.

Updated at 05.06 EDT

Queensland police say First Nations man who was shot yesterday ‘struck one of the officers with a hammer’

Queensland police have issued a further statement after the shooting of a 40-year-old First Nations man in Logan Central yesterday.

The Queensland Police Service Ethical Standards Command continues to investigate after a 40-year-old man was shot by an officer in Logan Central yesterday.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the man was wanted for a number of serious matters and police were attempting to arrest him when he struck one of the officers with a hammer and also threatened officers with a screw-driver, resulting in the man being shot.

The man remains in hospital in a stable condition.

Queensland police say all body worn camera footage available will be reviewed and form part of the investigation.

This investigation into the incident is subject to oversight of the Crime and Corruption Commission.

The QPS including senior officers from Logan District, First Nations and Ethical Standards Command have met with family and Elders today.

The man is expected to be charged with one count each of serious assault police officer, obstruct police, and acts intended to resist/prevent lawful arrest, as well as a series of other charges, among them unlawful use of a motor vehicle, enter premises to commit indictable offence, threatening violence and assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed.

Updated at 04.03 EDT

Tertiary education sector crucial in creating workforce for US-Australia cooperation, Universities Australia CEO says

The peak body for Australia’s universities says the sector will be central to the delivery of the new Australia-United States innovation alliance announced today by prime minister Albanese and president Biden.

In a statement today, the White House announced the pursuit of “new areas of cooperation” on science and critical and emerging technologies to build on its economic, security and trade relationships.

Universities Australia chief executive, Catriona Jackson, said universities had a “key role to play in this new era of strategic cooperation between Australia and the United States”.

Universities in Australia and the United States are connected by more than 1,000 formal partnerships, and we welcome the commitment to build on this.

Our institutions educate the skilled workforce and undertake the research and development needed to support all three pillars – defence, economic and clean energy cooperation.

We can’t rise to these global challenges without university-educated workers and researchers.

Updated at 04.00 EDT

Queensland fires: Cypress Gardens, Millmerran Woods and Millmerran Downs residents told to return with caution

Some better news in Queensland.

Communities in Cypress Gardens, Millmerran Downs and Millmerran Woods can return home with caution after the fire in the area was downgraded.

Residents in Kogan, though, have been told to prepare to leave, while Tara is still not safe to return to.

As reported here earlier, there are emergency warnings in place for Mutchilba and Undullah.

The situation is moving quickly, you can keep abreast of emergency warnings on Queensland Fire and Emergency’s website.

Updated at 03.40 EDT

BoM predicts below-average rainfall and unusually high temperatures for summer

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued its latest climate outlook and unsurprisingly, it’s going to be very hot and dry.

Meteorologists are predicting rainfall from November to January to be below average across much of western, southern and north-eastern Australia, as well as two-and-a-half times the likelihood of “unusually high” temperatures.

November to January maximum and minimum temperatures are very likely to be above average for most of Australia.

November to January maximum and minimum temperatures are at least 2.5 times more likely than normal to be unusually high for most of Australia. Unusually high temperatures equate to the warmest 20% of November to January periods from 1981 to 2018.

The long-range forecast is influenced by several factors, including the El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole events currently underway, and record warm oceans globally.

Updated at 03.37 EDT

Labor putting extra money into program that will give ‘super profitable’ miners extra funds, Pocock says

After the revelations in Senate estimates about where the $2bn investment in critical minerals could go, and that it would be the government making those investment decisions, we asked the independent senator David Pocock what he thought about the announcement.

Pocock:

I’m increasingly very concerned the government’s response to the Inflation Reduction Act is too slow and woefully inadequate. We are risking vital clean energy value-add and manufacturing opportunities being lost overseas.

While the Albanese government has made announcements about wanting to get critical minerals processing up and running in Australia, they’ve just put extra money into a Morrison government program that can give taxpayer dollars to super profitable mining companies simply for digging up critical minerals.

If the intention is to develop sovereign critical mineral processing there should be a formal requirement that public finance is only provided to those facilities.

Watch this space – because it won’t be the last you hear about it.

Updated at 03.24 EDT

No place for harassment in any sector, says skills minister after Faruqi brings up damning energy sector survey results

The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi had raised the survey results reporting 71% of women working in the energy sector had experienced harassment in the last five years during Senate estimates.

Brendan O’Connor told Guardian Australia that yes, things needed to change:

These figures are very concerning and something the energy sector needs to address.

If we’re to overcome skills shortages in energy as our economy transforms to net zero, the sector needs to ensure it’s safe and inclusive for all parts of the workforce, especially women. There should be no place for harassment in workplaces in any sector of the economy in this country.

As a government, we will work with employers, unions and others to change the culture and improve the standing of the sector.

Updated at 03.21 EDT

Combating workplace sexual harassment in energy sector an economic imperative as well as social good: O’Conner

In order to achieve the energy sector of the future, O’Connor said, the work needed to start now. And that included making sure it was open to everyone.

If we’re going to make sure we deliver the skills, the labour required to this remarkable sector that’s under enormous transformation, we have to open those doors.

I mean, what sort of business model in 2023 would start it from the presumption that you can ignore almost half the population and say they need not apply?

This is not just a social good, this is an economic imperative. To open up opportunities for cohorts who have not been encouraged and unfortunately, often are not being supported and not been necessarily safe in workplaces.

That has to change if we’re going to succeed in this area. And as a government, we will be engaging fully with the energy sector, employers and unions and others, about the best possible ways we can mitigate and end, wherever possible, that behaviour and that culture, that needs to quite frankly, disappear, because there should be no place for harassment in workplaces, in any sector of the economy in this country.

Updated at 03.16 EDT

Energy sector must get its act together on workplace culture, skills and training minister says

The minister for skills and training, Brendan O’Connor, has given a speech at the inaugural careers for net zero fair, where he has told the industry it is time to get its act together when it comes to workplace culture.

O’Connor spoke about a survey which found 71% of women working in the energy sector had experienced harassment in the past five years.

O’Connor said the government had made a commitment in dealing with the current skills crisis to “create opportunities for people who have missed out in the past” and no industry could afford to be exclusionary. Why? Because of the sheer number of people needed:

For example, as part of achieving net zero by 2050, we need an estimated 32,000 more electricians over the next seven years.

Thirty-two thousand more electricians over the next seven years. And this demand for electricians only tells part of the story. Preliminary modelling suggests that we need close to 2 million workers in building and engineering trades by 2050.

That meant, O’Connor said, broadening “our view of what our new energy worker looks like”.

We’re not going to pull any punches here. We have to be, I think, candid and frank about some of the challenges that we have in certain sectors of our economy, including the energy sector.

The sector has the third highest incidence of workplace sexual harassment economy-wide, with 71% of women experiencing harassment in the last five years.

That’s more than two in every three women. If the sector is to grow at the scale required, it needs safe participation of all parts of Australia’s population.

There needs to be a change of culture, a change of mindset and shift away from an insular past to support a more diverse workforce of the future; women, First Nations people, people with disability, people shifting from one part of the economy to the other, people changing careers, who maybe haven’t thought of the energy sector.

Updated at 03.00 EDT

Biffo at Commonwealth Games inquiry

There’s been a very fiery back and forth between the former Commonwealth Games legacy minister Harriet Shing and Liberal MP David Davis at the parliamentary inquiry into the event’s cancellation.

Davis is seemingly suggesting that Shing’s relationship with her partner, former premier Daniel Andrews’ then chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliff, meant she would have been aware of the games being cancelled earlier than 22 June, which is the date given in evidence she’s provided to the inquiry.

Davis: As I understand it, what you’re saying is that you were advised on the 22nd of June that the cancellation of the games was under consideration.

Shing: Yes.

Davis: And you expect us to believe that Daniel Andrews knew, Jacinta Allan knew, the secretaries of [the department of premier and cabinet and of the department of jobs, skills, industry and regions] knew, Daniel Andrews’ private office knew that cancellation was on the cards by the 19th of June – but you, as minister responsible, and the partner of Daniel Andrews’ chief of staff Lissie Ratcliffe, did not know? You knew nothing?

Shing: I’ve given my answer to this question. I’ve got to say, Mr Davis, I’m getting a bit sick and tired of the constant inference of impropriety in relation to me and [how] I undertake my work. Mr. Davis, my relationship has been a matter of public record for years. It has been a matter of utmost importance to me in the context of conflict management frameworks, that I have not … in relation to any of the portfolios that I have held, had dealings with the former premier’s former chief of staff. Mr Davis, if you’ve got an allegation, then put it.

Davis: My allegation is simply that you’re not being direct and honest with the committee and I don’t believe the secretary of [the department of jobs, skills, industry and regions] did not tell you. The idea that your secretary in your department would not tell you that … the games that you are managing, that you were one of the key ministers for, was about to be cancelled. It’s just not credible. It’s cloud cuckoo land stuff.

Shing: What – I want to be really careful that you don’t verbal me here, because on the 22nd of June, I was advised that cancellation was under consideration. It wasn’t a decision taken to cancel the games until the 17th of July.

Davis: I’m putting on record, I don’t believe you.

Shing: If you’ve got an insinuation or an allegation, then put that to me.

Updated at 02.51 EDT

Senate estimates: government has power over where $2bn critical minerals funds would go

Back to Senate estimates, and in the resources sphere, senator David Pocock has asked a few pointed questions about the government’s $2bn critical minerals announcement, particularly where that money would be going, and who decides who it goes to.

The short answer? The government will decide.

The money could go to a company which is simply extracting the minerals, but sending the product for China for example.

“Wow,” Pocock said. Are there guardrails around that happening?

The hearing is told that the government has an eye to “value add to the critical minerals processing”, but it will be cabinet deciding where those funds go.

Updated at 02.46 EDT

PwC Australia spin-off Scyne Advisory cuts staff numbers by 78

Almost 80 staff at PwC Australia who were due to move to the firm’s new spin-off Syne Advisory have been told they no longer have a role with the organisation.

PwC Australia divested its entire government services division to private equity firm Allegro Funds earlier this year which has set up the new spin-off. The divestment was designed to save PwC Australia jobs after a reputation crisis triggered by the misuse of confidential government information.

In a statement, a PwC Australia spokesperson said “a number of PwC partners opted not to move to Scyne Advisory, which resulted in Scyne reducing the amount of employment offers to staff”.

The PwC building in Sydney. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Here’s more of the statement:

Consequently, 78 staff have been informed they no longer have a role with Scyne Advisory. PwC Australia is working with these individuals to determine the impact on their employment with PwC. Impacted individuals are being offered approved paid leave and encouraged to look at our internal jobs board.

The government consulting firm has offered graduates who were expected to start in early 2024 the chance to defer their employment for 12 months in return for $10,000 with their positions secured. All 388 graduate offers in the assurance and financial advisory business remain unaffected.

Here’s the statement from PwC Australia chief executive, Kevin Burrowes:

Throughout this process, our priority has been to protect as many jobs as possible for our people in the government business.

PwC will do everything in its power to help support these individuals. This is a challenging time for these people, and our value of care will continue to be at the centre of our approach as we work through this over the coming days.

Updated at 02.33 EDT

Queensland authorities warn of ‘active fire season this year’

Back to the press conference in Queensland, and the reprieve from forecast rain is only likely to be a limited one.

It will be quite an active fire season this year, particularly in the grassland area, however … the eastern coast is just as dry.

Whilst we’re looking forward to some storm rain this afternoon, that’ll ease the conditions only for a very short period of time … with increase of temperatures, the risk will escalate again.

There are currently warnings stretching from Cairns to Brisbane, including four evacuation alerts.

Updated at 02.26 EDT

Bruce Lehrmann named as high-profile man charged with Toowoomba rape

With that court ruling, we can confirm Bruce Lehrmann has been charged with two counts of raping a woman in October 2021, with the case working its way through early committal proceedings at Toowoomba magistrates court this year.

Read the story here:

Updated at 02.21 EDT

Court rules high-profile man accused of Toowoomba rape can be named

A Queensland judge has dismissed a judicial review from a high-profile man charged with rape seeking to protect his anonymity, paving the way for him to be named.

Today’s court proceeding is ongoing, and the man may flag another appeal.

The man is charged with two counts of raping a woman in October 2021, with the case working its way through early committal proceedings at Toowoomba magistrates court this year.

At the supreme court in Brisbane on Thursday, lawyers for the man were unsuccessful in overturning an earlier decision by a Toowoomba magistrate to deny him a non-publication order to prevent his name being published. The judicial review and order were opposed by numerous media companies, including Guardian Australia, the ABC, Nine, News Corp publications and Network Ten.

Until this month, the man’s name had been protected under Queensland law, which prohibited the naming of accused sex offenders until they were committed to stand trial.

However, Queensland introduced new laws in September to allow the naming of accused sex offenders after they are charged. The change, which brings the state into line with most other states and territories, took affect earlier this month.

The man sought a non-publication order to avoid being named, which was denied by a Toowoomba magistrate on 13 October.

Today, the supreme court has upheld that judgment, meaning he will be named unless there is another appeal.

Updated at 02.21 EDT

At least 16 houses are confirmed to have been lost in the Tara fire, as was reported this morning, but it has been difficult to access the area due to fallen trees and power lines.

I’m hoping tomorrow we’ll have a fresh update in relation to the total number.

Updated at 02.09 EDT