Key events
Police have located the van that was being driven by German backpacker Carolina Wilga when she went missing.
Western Australian police said they located the 26-year-old’s Mitsubishi Delica van at about 1.10pm today.
The van was found abandoned in the Karroun Hill area, in the north-east Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, and is believed to have suffered mechanical issues, police said.
Wilga was not at the scene and the search to find her was continuing, with additional resources being deployed to the area, police said.
Wilga was in the Beacon area of the Wheatbelt region at the time of her last contact with friends on Sunday 29 June, police said. They believe she visited a convenience store on Stirling Terrace, near the intersection of Goomalling-Toodyay Road in Toodyay on 28 June.
Wilga had been backpacking in Australia for the last two years and lived mainly in hostels, police said. She is described as having a slim build, frizzy or curly long dark blond hair and brown eyes. She has several tattoos, including one which depicts symbols on her left arm.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Wilga is urged to contact police immediately.
True crime trio unites to write book on Erin Patterson trial
Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein are coming together to write a book about the murder trial of Erin Patterson.
The true crime trio will launch the Mushroom Tapes: Conversations about a Triple Murder Trial in November.
“For this extraordinary book, the lone wolves became a team. Garner, Hooper and Krasnostein tracked Erin Patterson’s preliminary hearings and trial, joined the media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts, slept over in Morwell and spent countless hours in fervent discussion of the case and the themes it raises: love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder”, Text Publishing said in a statement.
The renowned authors’ project is based around their private conversations about their impressions from inside the courtroom over the course of the ten-week trial.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Mick Gooda says he would not want his children joining the Northern Territory police force because it is “not safe”.
Speaking about the findings from the coronial inquest into the 2019 death of Kumanjayi Walker, Gooda told the ABC a short time ago the report made for “appalling reading” and that the coroner had a “made a strong case” racism in the NT police was “systemic”.
“Those things we’ve heard from the coroner’s report … I wouldn’t want any of my kids going to work on the police force at the moment,” he said.
It’s not safe for them. We had a lot of contact with police officers, Aboriginal police officers, Torres Strait Islander police officers and when they start telling their stories, they come out … traumatised. These people are traumatised from working in the police force from the racism they cop internally.
If one of my kids said, ‘I’m thinking about joining the territory police force,’ I’d try my hardest to talk them out of it.
Jewish Labor MP says expressing anti-Israel views is ‘absolutely not’ antisemitic
Speaking with the ABC just now, Josh Burns, the envoy for social housing and homelessness said protests in Israel take place “almost daily” and that “groups from right across the political Israeli spectrum” are “constantly critical” of the government.
But, he said:
There are some clear red lines that have been crossed in Australia and I think those are important to point out. At no point should anyone feel like they cannot be critical of a democracy.
If you are, for example, targeting a Jewish person in Australia on the street, a Jewish business, a Jewish institution, Jewish school, because those sorts of things are not activism, they’re antisemitism.
He said “too many times” people had used the Israel-Gaza conflict “to say, well, I oppose this particular policy and therefore I am allowed to go and harass or … use some form of violence. That is not acceptable.”
You need to be able to know you can voice concern for the Palestinian people and for … the devastation that has occurred. I feel it while also having a sense of duty as Australians to want to protect minorities including the Jewish community here in Australia.
Jonathon Duniam says the Morrison government is as culpable as the Albanese government when it comes to failing to protect the safety of young children.
The shadow education and early learning minister told the ABC a short time ago:
The fact that this has happened demonstrates, as community leaders, we have dropped the ball. I cannot deny that and I never would. We all have a responsibility to these parents who have had their children affected in the way they have.
The fact that this has happened over a period of time, it is not the first time it has happened … this is not a political issue, this is not about this Labor government or the former Liberal government, this is about as leaders doing everything we can because that is what we are paid to do to prevent this from happening ever again.
Federal shadow education minister eager to see new child protection legislation
Jonathon Duniam says he was given a high level briefing after allegations of child sexual abuse emerged from Melbourne childcare centres – but is yet to see new legislation designed to ramp up protection for young children.
“I will give credit to Jason Clare … who when I reached out to him and requested a high level briefing, his department secretary provided us one,” the senator told the ABC just now.
“But I am a little concerned that we haven’t been given a copy of the legislation which, as minister Walsh said yesterday, is ready to be introduced. I don’t want to get to the day before parliament having extended the hand of bipartisanship … to be told: ‘Here is the legislation take it or leave it’”, he said.
We’ve been engaging with stakeholders who want to see meaningful change and we have some suggestions we would like to make to government and we are in the process of pulling those together. So I hope we do get to see a copy of the legislation very soon and we can make those recommendations.
Antisemitism envoy says ‘Jews are not safe to go and pray in their synagogue’
Jillian Segal says her plan to combat antisemitism is targeted at “how it is manifested in Australia and how we need to stamp out the hatred, the expression and violence against Jewish people.”
When asked about the definition of antisemitism and whether potential support for options other than a two-state solution regarding Israel and Palestine constituted antisemitism, she told the ABC much depended on context.
“If you wish to criticise the government of Israel and the policies of Israel in the same way you would criticise the policies of Australia or Russia or any other country, you are absolutely free to do that. That is our democracy and people must have that right”, she said.
“But basically saying Israel has no right to exist and that all the Jews in Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, that is antisemitic”, she said.
The issue today is about stamping out antisemitism that has infiltrated our society where Jews do not feel safe to walk down the street, the kids do not feel safe in school uniforms, Jews are not safe to go and pray in their synagogue, they [feel] unsafe to go and eat in their restaurants.
Antisemitism envoy says stripping universities of funding a ‘last resort’
Jillian Segal says universities will only be stripped of funding for failing to stamp out antisemitism as a “last resort”.
Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing just now, the antisemitism envoy said:
The issue about stripping funding, that is only a last resort. That is not the essence of the plan.
The plan is to educate and bring people into an understanding of what is antisemitism and understand it should not be part of normal society and should be pushed to the fringes. Then there are penalties if we cannot get to a situation where they are not working successfully on it.
She said her plan to combat antisemitism first focuses on putting in place new policies, a definition of antisemitism, a complaint scheme and education before any funding changes.
Australian Jews launch petition against Victoria’s proposed anti-protest laws
“We are Australian Jews who say: our safety is not protected by silencing peaceful protest”, the petition’s organisers, the Jewish Council of Australia, write at Change.org.
Addressing the premier, Jacinta Allan, the organisers write:
We call on you to stop exploiting antisemitic incidents experienced by our communities, including the horrific arson attack on East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, and the firebombing of Adass Israel Synagogue, to push anti-democratic laws.
These laws would ban face coverings at peaceful protests, give police more powers to intimidate and use violence against protesters, and ban peaceful protests outside places of worship. None of these measures will do anything to stop racist violence.
Protests in support of Palestine and against Israel’s war crimes are not antisemitic.
The “Jews say no to anti-protest laws: Jacinta Allan stop exploiting antisemitism” petition now has 916 signatures.
The petitioners are calling on the Allan government to protect democratic rights for all, drop anti-protest laws, stop equating protest with antisemitism and engage with Jewish voices who support Palestinian rights.
Caitlin Cassidy
Jewish Council of Australia rejects envoy’s plan on antisemitism
The group is warning the proposals risk undermining Australia’s democratic freedoms, could inflame community divisions and entrench “selective approaches” to racism.
Among recommendations in the report are to withhold funding to universities, artists and charities if they failed to act against antisemitism and provide the government with new grounds to deport visitors.
The executive officer of the council, Dr Max Kaiser, said the document read “more like a blueprint for silencing dissent rather than a strategy to build inclusion”.
He added:
The report’s vague language around ‘antisemitic narratives’ or ‘affiliations’ … make the actions recommended dangerously unclear. Antisemitism is real and must be taken seriously. But it does not exist in a vacuum. Any response that treats antisemitism as exceptional, while ignoring Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and other forms of hate, is doomed to fail.
Read more here:
South Australia Police investigating discovery of body at Adelaide beach
Police and paramedics were called to the O’Sullivan beach boat ramp after a body was seen floating in the water just before 10.30am this morning, police said.
The 29-year-old man from Christie Downs was brought to shore but could not be revived.
The death is not being treated as suspicious and police are preparing a report for the Coroner, police said.
Man rescued from Kosciuszko national park after becoming unwell
Specialist Alpine Operations police were involved in the multi-agency rescue overnight, New South Wales Police said.
Facing snow and high winds, 10 police, paramedics and SES search and rescue members went to the aid of the group of 11 hikers who called for assistance about 9.30am yesterday, police said in a statement.
On arrival near the Illawong Hut within the national park, a 20-year-old man was assessed and evacuated from the location using a specialist alpine sled. A second hiker also suffered a shoulder injury.
The rest of the group returned to Guthega, near Perisher resort.
Police reminded Kosciuszko park visitors to prepare and monitor weather forecasts closely. They also advised using online national parks and Wildlife Services Trip Intention Forms and personal locator beacons.
Penny Wong welcomes European court of human rights’ ruling on Russia’s responsibility for downing of Flight MH17
Writing on X today, the foreign minister said it was “another historic moment for the 298 victims and their loved ones, including the 38 victims who called Australia home.”
She added:
This ruling follows the ICAO Council’s decision in May that Russia is responsible and must negotiate with Australia and the Netherlands on full reparations. We again call upon Russia to face up to its responsibility and make reparations for this horrific act.
Read more here:
