Jefferson Lewis was unconscious when apprehended, police say
Jefferson Lewis was unconscious and being treated by St John Ambulance when he was apprehended by police but has since been cleared fit for custody, the NT police commissioner has confirmed.
Martin Dole said:
double quotation markMr Lewis was subject to a sustained attack. He did receive treatment at the Alice Springs hospital. At the time of his apprehension by us, he was unconscious and in the process of being treated by St John’s Ambulance when they were set upon, as were the police.
He has been given a “fit for custody” and has been released from Northern Territory Health and he is now with NT police in our custody. His injuries are not significant enough to keep him in hospital.
The NT police commissioner, Martin Dole. Photograph: Em Jensen/The GuardianShare
Updated at 21.18 EDT
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Patrick Commins
The Albanese government is widely expected to scale back tax breaks for investors in its May budget, under the banner of fighting intergenerational inequity.
Investors, including landlords, only pay tax on 50% of their capital gains on investments held for at least 12 months.
Experts say the concession, alongside rampant negative gearing, has helped fuel soaring home prices, locking many young Australians out of the property market.
Treasury has reportedly modelled cutting the discount to 33%, or returning to the pre-1999 regime where the capital gains were adjusted by inflation.
Just under two weeks out from the 12 May budget, bets have firmed that the Albanese government will opt for the second of these options.
With an eye to lifting housing supply – and to fend off opposition attacks about housing supply – the budget could include more generous tax breaks for investment in new builds.
There could also be changes to negative gearing – where landlords claim rental losses against their taxable income – which could involve limiting the number of negatively geared properties, or abolishing it all together.
Will these things actually make homes cheaper?
Read the full story here:
ShareCaitlin Cassidy
Israel says six detained Australians being moved to Crete
Six Australians that were detained by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) while attempting to transport aid to Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla are being transported to Crete, Israel’s foreign minister says.
Twenty-two ships were intercepted on Wednesday evening off the coast of Greece, containing about 175 activists, including the Australians. More than 40 are continuing to attempt to sail to Gaza.
Posting to X, Gideon Sa’ar said the IDF had “successfully blocked attempts to breach the lawful naval blockade on Gaza and the arrival of vessels from the provocative flotilla”:
double quotation markAll participants in the provocative flotilla who were taken off the vessels were taken off unharmed. In coordination with the Greek government, the individuals transferred from the flotilla vessels to the Israeli vessel will be disembarked on a Greek beach in the coming hours. We thank the Greek government for its willingness to receive the flotilla participants.
The Global Sumud Flotilla say the IDF’s actions were unlawful as the boats were intercepted in international waters hundreds of kilometres from Israel.
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Updated at 23.57 EDT
Coles suppliers requesting supermarket put up prices amid Iran war, executive says
Catie McLeod
Coles says it is receiving at least as many supplier requests to increase product shelf prices, due to the flow-on effects from the war in the Middle East, as it did during the pandemic.
In a call with investors this morning announcing Coles’s financial results for the third quarter of this financial year, Anna Croft, the supermarket’s chief commercial and sustainability officer, said fresh groceries had already become more expensive to reflect high fuel costs.
Croft said:
double quotation markWe are starting to see that come through in some of the other categories, but really the vast majority at this time is fresh, which would be kind of bakery, produce, meat, dairy, as you would expect.
[It’s] starting to come through in some of the grocery categories, but not to the scale at which we’ve seen on fresh.
We are seeing [supplier requests for price increases] at Covid levels and in some cases in certain categories more elevated than Covid.
Coles recorded a 3.1% rise in its quarterly revenue to $10.7bn, with strong supermarket sales offsetting a pullback in liquor purchases.
The release of Coles’ quarterly results comes two days after the government’s latest inflation data was released, showing the cost of living had jumped to 4.6% in the year to March.
A Coles supermarket in Alice Springs. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 23.22 EDT
Man charged four decades after woman’s alleged rape and abduction in Melbourne
A man has been charged over the alleged abduction and rape of a young mother after she left a suburban milk bar more than four decades ago, AAP reports.
The woman, then aged in her 30s, was returning from a university lecture on 24 June 1985, when she stopped at a milk bar on Colby Drive at Belgrave Heights in Melbourne’s outer south-east.
When she returned to her unlocked car, it is alleged a man armed with a knife appeared from the back seat, threatened her and directed her to drive. She drove for about one to two kilometres, before the man ordered her to pull into a secluded bush area on Courtney’s Road in Belgrave South.
Police allege the man forced the woman out of the car and raped her while obscuring the victim’s vision, placing items over her head and face in a bid to conceal his identity.
She was left tied up and partially clothed in the rain as the man fled in the vehicle, where it was abandoned about 100m from where she was allegedly abducted.
The woman ran several hundred metres to the nearest house where she sought refuge and emergency services were called.
At the time, the offender was described as in his 20s, about 183cm tall, with short hair, a deep voice and wearing a dark military-type overcoat.
The cold case was reviewed by Sexual Crimes Squad detectives in 2023.
On Thursday afternoon, a 65-year-old Bendigo man was taken into custody and later charged with abduction, common law assault, attempted aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, aggravated rape, common law assault, theft and theft of motor vehicle.
He is expected to appear at Bendigo Magistrates Court on Friday.
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Updated at 23.14 EDT
Tory Shepherd
Locusts on move in South Australia
Plague locusts are on the march in South Australia – but it’s not yet an official outbreak.
The Australian plague locust is a significant agricultural pest that can devastate crops.
In SA there have been multiple reports of swarms in recently sown paddocks, after rain in February and warm days created favourable conditions.
The SA plague locust commissioner, Michael McManus, from the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (Pirsa), said they had not yet reached outbreak levels. Pirsa is sending out survey teams to assess the locusts’ movement, numbers and distribution.
Immature locusts (nymphs) form bands that move over pastures, while adult locusts create swarms which can cover several square kilometres.
According to the federal agriculture department, an outbreak is when there are multiple bands or swarms in one region, a major outbreak is when there are many bands or swarms in several regions. A plague is when several hundred thousand hectares are infested in several regions, and a major plague is when more than 500,000 hectares are infested.
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Updated at 23.13 EDT
The poliovirus has been detected in a wastewater sample taken from a catchment in Perth in mid-April this year.
The wastewater detection demonstrated evidence of a vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 2 strain, similar to what has been detected in the wastewater of various countries globally in recent years, including in Africa, Europe and Papua New Guinea.
Western Australia’s Chief Health Officer Clare Huppatz said it was low risk to the population.
Huppatz said:
double quotation markThe potential for this strain to circulate in a highly vaccinated population is very low, and the poliovirus vaccination coverage in WA children is 92%.
This finding is most likely from someone who has travelled overseas and is shedding this virus strain.
Fortunately, Australia has an excellent vaccination program against poliovirus which will protect the community against this strain.
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Updated at 22.51 EDT
Former NSW Liberal MP continues fight against child sex charges
A former NSW state Liberal MP will face a retrial over child abuse charges after continuing to deny allegations he sexually assaulted a teenage boy in a communal toilet, AAP reports.
Rory Amon, 36, has consistently argued he thought a 13-year-old boy was of legal age before meeting him at the youth’s apartment block in 2017.
After a NSW Supreme Court trial, jurors were discharged in March having failed to reach a verdict over separate counts of indecent assault and the rape of a child.
Amon again pleaded not guilty these two charges as he was arraigned on Friday.
An estimated two-week retrial will commence on 9 November.
In March, the jury acquitted Amon of four counts of child rape, two counts of attempted child rape and two counts of indecent assault of a child.
These charges related to an alleged second meeting with the teen which Amon denied occurred. He was 27 years old at the time and aspiring for a life in politics. He would go on to serve two terms on Northern Beaches Council before being elected as the Liberal MP for the state seat of Pittwater in 2023.
The charges killed Amon’s fledgling career in state politics, forcing his expulsion from the Liberal party and his resignation after his election in March 2023.
His exit had implications for the state Liberals, who lost the formerly safe seat to a teal independent at the subsequent by-election.
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Updated at 23.14 EDT
Liddle also discussed the consequences of last night’s violence. He said:
double quotation markAmbulances were taken off the road last night, and the ambulance workers went on lockdown for five hours, so if you had a bleed out or you had a heart attack at that time, you couldn’t call the ambulances.
Now these are these consequences from the bad choices that were made for going to act out.
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Losing Kumanjayi Little Baby ‘really appalling’, elder says
Elder Warren Williams said the community was in grief:
double quotation markI feel devastated by what happened all this week and losing our grandchild was enormous, really appalling.
People are very emotional about what happened there.
It’s something that we’ve never seen before,
He said what happened at the hospital last night was “very severe”.
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Updated at 22.48 EDT
Elders speak in Alice Springs
Authorities and elders are addressing the media in Alice Springs.
Elders have acknowledged the loss of the family and called for calm. Michael Liddle said:
double quotation markAll week, the community of Alice Springs come together, service providers, business-owners, searching for a little baby … and that hard work was undone last night by some people who are very angry with the systems, the same systems that create safety and less harm, keeping people safe in Alice Springs.
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Updated at 22.34 EDT
Krishani Dhanji
Farley defends previous attempts to join Labor and become an independent
The One Nation candidate for Farrer, David Farley, has defended previously trying to join the Labor party and donating to his rival and independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe at the last election.
Nine newspapers also reported Farley called Milthorpe a “straight shooter” and a “good woman” in social media posts uncovered in recent weeks.
At a candidates’ debate last night for Farrer, hosted by veteran political journalist Barrie Cassidy, Farley said he explored the pathway to joining Labor, because “you don’t get those answers unless you get in the door”.
He said:
double quotation markWhen I got in the door, it was obvious that, culturally, I didn’t fit. My comments on Gillard don’t fit them, and I got out of the door. So I said, that is a closed door.
I explored the path of independence down there. And looked at can you go into Canberra as an independent without the machinery behind you? And said, no.
He said ultimately One Nation was the “only one party” that had tenacity and courage and that aligned with his views.
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Updated at 22.31 EDT
Australia up for ‘anything that can assist’ in Hormuz reopening
Josh Butler
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has confirmed Australia is in discussions about an operation to reopen the strait of Hormuz but was keeping his cards close to his chest about what the government would offer.
Albanese said at a press conference today:
double quotation markWe’ll have those discussions privately. We’ll engage in anything that can assist.
We’re engaged with the United States but we’ve also been participating in meetings that have been convened in London as well. We want to see the strait of Hormuz open. We want to see international trade resume because this is having a devastating impact on the global economy. It’s impacting inflation here, as it is right around the world.
Asked what Australia specifically would contribute, Albanese said:
double quotation markThere hasn’t been that determination.
We’ll discuss those things respectfully. What we want to see, though, is for a de-escalation. We want to see peace in the region.
Anthony Albanese delivers a speech in western Sydney today. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAPShare
Updated at 23.18 EDT
Josh Taylor
Stopping Australian datacentres won’t stop AI, peak body says
The peak body for the datacentre industry in Australia has told a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the sector that preventing new datacentres being built in Australia will just mean AI will be imported from overseas, rather than developed here.
The Data Centres Australia chief executive, Belinda Dennett, told the inquiry in its first hearing on Friday morning that community anxiety about AI is being conflated with datacentre builds happening across the country:
double quotation markWe get that there is a real concern in the community about artificial intelligence and what that means for society. But we won’t stop that coming. So we either become an importer of someone else’s technology, that has no Australian culture, values or laws built into that, or we build that here and we have some say, control, over what that looks like.
The Greens chair of the committee, Abigail Boyd, revealed that individual datacentre operators were due to make submissions to the inquiry but withdrew, leaving the peak body as the sole participant. Dennett said Data Centres Australia did not stop them from making submissions, and it was a decision for each individual company.
Dennett’s appearance came after a number of Sydney councils made submissions raising concerns about the high number of new datacentre projects planned in NSW.
Dennett said most of her role is “mythbusting” about the datacentre industry. She said datacentre investment in Australia is important to reduce latency – the amount of time data takes to travel – and also the increasing requirement from governments in Australia to keep sensitive data onshore:
double quotation markAustralia is such a attractive market for datacentre investment … because we’re a strong, politically stable, law-abiding country where people feel safe about data and applications.
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Updated at 21.42 EDT
PM: death of Kumanjayi Little Baby ‘breaks your heart’
Josh Butler
Anthony Albanese said the federal government understands the “anger and frustration” in Alice Springs at the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby but called for the community there to come together.
“It breaks your heart,” the prime minister said this morning when asked about the incident at a Sydney press conference.
Albanese continued:
double quotation markThis is a community that are hurting. One of the things that [Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy] said to me, though, was that we must remember that literally hundreds and hundreds of people came together to search for this young girl before the tragic result where she was found.
Albanese added:
double quotation markWe want to see the community come together but we certainly understand people’s anger and frustration and that that was expressed.
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Updated at 21.30 EDT
Ima Caldwell
Whale carcass to be towed from NSW beach
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has provided an update on its endeavour to remove a sperm whale carcass from the rocks of Era beach.
The carcass washed up last Saturday. You can read more about it here:
NPWS coordinated with other agencies all week to devise a removal plan for the whale, which they now estimate is 8m long and weighs 20 tonnes. A NPWS spokesperson said:
double quotation markThe location of the carcass is proving to be very difficult for removal.
NPWS has engaged a contractor to tow the carcass … to a suitable loading point for retrieval.
The carcass will be disposed of in a licensed waste facility.
The date of removal, the loading point for retrieval, and the licensed waste facility were not named.
Beaches at Sydney’s Royal National Park, including Era, Wattamolla, Garie and Burning Palms, remain closed due to reports of sharks in the area. NPWS and Surf Life Saving NSW continue to advise people to stay out of the water until the beaches reopen.
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Updated at 21.31 EDT
NT chief minister calls for calm in Alice Springs
The NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, has called for calm in Alice Springs today. She said:
double quotation markAttacks on frontline workers are never acceptable and while we appreciate and understand that people are very angry and grieving, there is never an excuse or acceptability of violence as a response. Now, police and our emergency services have a very important job to do and we have to let them do that job. And so we are very hopeful that isolated incident. It should not define what has been an incredible community effort this week.
Finocchiaro said the alcohol sales restrictions have been made to free up police resources from bottle-shop monitoring, not because they had made links between alcohol sales and the unrest on Thursday night.
Finocchiaro said:
double quotation markI do not know that we are necessarily making links around the events last night with shops being open, but today it is very important that things do not escalate and that we have an important reprieve.
Here in Alice Springs and in the Northern Territory – for people who are not from the Northern Territory, you might not be aware – but we have police standing on bottle shops as part of our precautionary measures. So when we have that it is resource-intensive drain. So today we need boots on the ground where they are needed – we need our community supported – and not standing in front of bottle shops.
Our licensees have completely shown leadership in this space recognising that they want police where community want police, and that’s not standing outside bottle shops.
The NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro. Photograph: (a)manda Parkinson/AAPShare
Updated at 21.26 EDT
