Elderly man wearing MAGA hat allegedly assaulted at polling booth in PM's electorate
An elderly man who allegedly attempted to deface an Anthony Albanese corflute at a polling booth in the prime minister's Sydney electorate has been seriously injured when a 17-year-old boy allegedly assaulted him.
The man in his 80s wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat reportedly attempted to vandalise the corflute outside the Ashfield Civic Centre in the seat of Grayndler around 1pm.
Nine News reports that a political volunteer had asked the elderly man not to deface the signage when he reportedly became aggressive.
The 17-year-old, who was passing by, then allegedly approached the man and struck him, causing him to fall to the ground.
The elderly man was treated on the scene by paramedics before being rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a serious condition.
The teenager was arrested at the scene on Liverpool Road and taken to Burwood police station, where he is assisting police with their inquiries. He isn't believed to have any official political affiliation.
A number of other witnesses, including campaign volunteers, have given witness statements to the police, who established a crime scene and collected several corflutes for forensic examination.
A spokesperson for the Australian Electoral Commission said the incident 'occurred outside of our polling place and did not involve any AEC staff'.
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The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Tassie stadium plan is a lot of bread for a circus
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to Imagine you open your letter box and there are four bills inside, one for each member of your family, including the two kids who are still at school. You open them and the amount each of you owe is $1247. That's roughly what each and every Tasmanian will be up for if the lower estimate of the cost of the contentious Macquarie Point stadium - $945 million - is accurate. This takes into account the federal pledge of $240 million, announced during a disastrous visit to the site by Anthony Albanese in April 2023, which saw him beating a hasty retreat as a crowd of hecklers descended on the event demanding that money be spent on desperately needed housing. The bill for Tasmanians will be even more if the higher estimate of $1.1 billion proves correct. Of course, there'll be no bill in the mail. The cost will be borne by what's not spent in other areas like health, education, infrastructure and affordable housing and the estimated $1.86 billion in debt racked up over a decade. It's a lot of bread for a circus. The state's ballooning debt was the trigger for the Labor opposition's successful no-confidence motion in Premier Jeremy Rockliff which has put government on hold while the governor works out whether to grant the request for an early election or ask the parliament to seek an alternative leader. The no-confidence motion and its disruption to government risks the state missing the deadlines laid down in the licensing agreement with the AFL. Yet the Labor leader insists he will continue to support the stadium should he find himself at the helm. That's despite the stadium diktat imposed by the AFL being deeply unpopular across Tasmania, not least because no similar demands were made of other recent regional additions to the league. An assessment by the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission was damning. The roofed 23,000-seat structure, it said, was "disproportionate to Hobart's small scale and would be contrary to Hobart's visual values". An artist's impression of what it would look from the eastern shore of the Derwent is like a still from sci-fi movie, an alien mothership squatting under the snowy flanks of kunanyi, dwarfing the heritage buildings around it. No wonder Hobart hates the idea. What's irksome from my non-sporting mainland perspective is the power wielded by the AFL. To set such onerous conditions on a state that wants to field its own team in the national comp is bad enough. To have the federal government pitch in with a promise of millions is even worse. This is when the AFL is flush with cash from a $4.5 billion TV licensing deal with the Seven Network and Foxtel. To use the vernacular of the querulous Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, if they want a stadium with a roof, they can bloody well pay for it. HAVE YOUR SAY: Has Big Sport become too powerful in Australia? Should mainland taxpayers help pay for the Tasmanian stadium? Do both major parties in Tasmania look foolish for backing the stadium despite the opposition to it? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - The ABC has announced the end of the political panel program Q+A after 18 years on air. - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed as "predictable" criticism of Australia's move to join four other countries in hitting two right-wing Israeli ministers with sanctions over West Bank settlements, as the opposition demands a briefing on the decision. - The number of industrial disputes has fallen to a two-year low, new figures reveal, despite major work outages affecting public transport commuters. THEY SAID IT: "The state government needs to go and tell the AFL where to stick it right now and tell them it's not going to play the game." - Senator Jacqui Lambie YOU SAID IT: The shooting of an Aussie reporter with a rubber bullet during the Los Angeles unrest reinforces the feeling the US is becoming an unsafe banana republic. "How long, I wonder, before we see a travel warning issued for the US?" asks Liz. "Calling it 'law and order' while pardoning actual insurrectionists is like burning down a fire station and calling it urban renewal," writes Mike. "The republic doesn't just smell like banana - it's practically slipping on the peel in front of the whole world." "I am a resident of Minnesota, a democratic state in the USA, and am appalled at the whole Trump situation over here, but especially when the Australian reporter was purposely shot with the rubber bullet," writes Carolyn. "I encourage people to stay away from my country for the foreseeable future which makes me sad because I have had wonderful visits from friends from your beautiful country." Allan, who lived in Los Angeles for six years in the 1980s, writes: "We've visited the USA numerous times since, but never again. Our initial concerns as we've grown older were with their health system, where serious illness could literally cost millions. Now the political situation is what worries us. I wouldn't rule out something akin to civil war the way things are escalating. But no, I don't think Albanese should raise the Tomasi shooting with Trump personally, it would achieve nothing and detract from other more important discussions." "Civil war was averted when Trump won the election," writes Arthur. "It now looks as though it was only a temporary reprieve." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to Imagine you open your letter box and there are four bills inside, one for each member of your family, including the two kids who are still at school. You open them and the amount each of you owe is $1247. That's roughly what each and every Tasmanian will be up for if the lower estimate of the cost of the contentious Macquarie Point stadium - $945 million - is accurate. This takes into account the federal pledge of $240 million, announced during a disastrous visit to the site by Anthony Albanese in April 2023, which saw him beating a hasty retreat as a crowd of hecklers descended on the event demanding that money be spent on desperately needed housing. The bill for Tasmanians will be even more if the higher estimate of $1.1 billion proves correct. Of course, there'll be no bill in the mail. The cost will be borne by what's not spent in other areas like health, education, infrastructure and affordable housing and the estimated $1.86 billion in debt racked up over a decade. It's a lot of bread for a circus. The state's ballooning debt was the trigger for the Labor opposition's successful no-confidence motion in Premier Jeremy Rockliff which has put government on hold while the governor works out whether to grant the request for an early election or ask the parliament to seek an alternative leader. The no-confidence motion and its disruption to government risks the state missing the deadlines laid down in the licensing agreement with the AFL. Yet the Labor leader insists he will continue to support the stadium should he find himself at the helm. That's despite the stadium diktat imposed by the AFL being deeply unpopular across Tasmania, not least because no similar demands were made of other recent regional additions to the league. An assessment by the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission was damning. The roofed 23,000-seat structure, it said, was "disproportionate to Hobart's small scale and would be contrary to Hobart's visual values". An artist's impression of what it would look from the eastern shore of the Derwent is like a still from sci-fi movie, an alien mothership squatting under the snowy flanks of kunanyi, dwarfing the heritage buildings around it. No wonder Hobart hates the idea. What's irksome from my non-sporting mainland perspective is the power wielded by the AFL. To set such onerous conditions on a state that wants to field its own team in the national comp is bad enough. To have the federal government pitch in with a promise of millions is even worse. This is when the AFL is flush with cash from a $4.5 billion TV licensing deal with the Seven Network and Foxtel. To use the vernacular of the querulous Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, if they want a stadium with a roof, they can bloody well pay for it. HAVE YOUR SAY: Has Big Sport become too powerful in Australia? Should mainland taxpayers help pay for the Tasmanian stadium? Do both major parties in Tasmania look foolish for backing the stadium despite the opposition to it? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - The ABC has announced the end of the political panel program Q+A after 18 years on air. - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed as "predictable" criticism of Australia's move to join four other countries in hitting two right-wing Israeli ministers with sanctions over West Bank settlements, as the opposition demands a briefing on the decision. - The number of industrial disputes has fallen to a two-year low, new figures reveal, despite major work outages affecting public transport commuters. THEY SAID IT: "The state government needs to go and tell the AFL where to stick it right now and tell them it's not going to play the game." - Senator Jacqui Lambie YOU SAID IT: The shooting of an Aussie reporter with a rubber bullet during the Los Angeles unrest reinforces the feeling the US is becoming an unsafe banana republic. "How long, I wonder, before we see a travel warning issued for the US?" asks Liz. "Calling it 'law and order' while pardoning actual insurrectionists is like burning down a fire station and calling it urban renewal," writes Mike. "The republic doesn't just smell like banana - it's practically slipping on the peel in front of the whole world." "I am a resident of Minnesota, a democratic state in the USA, and am appalled at the whole Trump situation over here, but especially when the Australian reporter was purposely shot with the rubber bullet," writes Carolyn. "I encourage people to stay away from my country for the foreseeable future which makes me sad because I have had wonderful visits from friends from your beautiful country." Allan, who lived in Los Angeles for six years in the 1980s, writes: "We've visited the USA numerous times since, but never again. Our initial concerns as we've grown older were with their health system, where serious illness could literally cost millions. Now the political situation is what worries us. I wouldn't rule out something akin to civil war the way things are escalating. But no, I don't think Albanese should raise the Tomasi shooting with Trump personally, it would achieve nothing and detract from other more important discussions." "Civil war was averted when Trump won the election," writes Arthur. "It now looks as though it was only a temporary reprieve." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to Imagine you open your letter box and there are four bills inside, one for each member of your family, including the two kids who are still at school. You open them and the amount each of you owe is $1247. That's roughly what each and every Tasmanian will be up for if the lower estimate of the cost of the contentious Macquarie Point stadium - $945 million - is accurate. This takes into account the federal pledge of $240 million, announced during a disastrous visit to the site by Anthony Albanese in April 2023, which saw him beating a hasty retreat as a crowd of hecklers descended on the event demanding that money be spent on desperately needed housing. The bill for Tasmanians will be even more if the higher estimate of $1.1 billion proves correct. Of course, there'll be no bill in the mail. The cost will be borne by what's not spent in other areas like health, education, infrastructure and affordable housing and the estimated $1.86 billion in debt racked up over a decade. It's a lot of bread for a circus. The state's ballooning debt was the trigger for the Labor opposition's successful no-confidence motion in Premier Jeremy Rockliff which has put government on hold while the governor works out whether to grant the request for an early election or ask the parliament to seek an alternative leader. The no-confidence motion and its disruption to government risks the state missing the deadlines laid down in the licensing agreement with the AFL. Yet the Labor leader insists he will continue to support the stadium should he find himself at the helm. That's despite the stadium diktat imposed by the AFL being deeply unpopular across Tasmania, not least because no similar demands were made of other recent regional additions to the league. An assessment by the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission was damning. The roofed 23,000-seat structure, it said, was "disproportionate to Hobart's small scale and would be contrary to Hobart's visual values". An artist's impression of what it would look from the eastern shore of the Derwent is like a still from sci-fi movie, an alien mothership squatting under the snowy flanks of kunanyi, dwarfing the heritage buildings around it. No wonder Hobart hates the idea. What's irksome from my non-sporting mainland perspective is the power wielded by the AFL. To set such onerous conditions on a state that wants to field its own team in the national comp is bad enough. To have the federal government pitch in with a promise of millions is even worse. This is when the AFL is flush with cash from a $4.5 billion TV licensing deal with the Seven Network and Foxtel. To use the vernacular of the querulous Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, if they want a stadium with a roof, they can bloody well pay for it. HAVE YOUR SAY: Has Big Sport become too powerful in Australia? Should mainland taxpayers help pay for the Tasmanian stadium? Do both major parties in Tasmania look foolish for backing the stadium despite the opposition to it? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - The ABC has announced the end of the political panel program Q+A after 18 years on air. - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed as "predictable" criticism of Australia's move to join four other countries in hitting two right-wing Israeli ministers with sanctions over West Bank settlements, as the opposition demands a briefing on the decision. - The number of industrial disputes has fallen to a two-year low, new figures reveal, despite major work outages affecting public transport commuters. THEY SAID IT: "The state government needs to go and tell the AFL where to stick it right now and tell them it's not going to play the game." - Senator Jacqui Lambie YOU SAID IT: The shooting of an Aussie reporter with a rubber bullet during the Los Angeles unrest reinforces the feeling the US is becoming an unsafe banana republic. "How long, I wonder, before we see a travel warning issued for the US?" asks Liz. "Calling it 'law and order' while pardoning actual insurrectionists is like burning down a fire station and calling it urban renewal," writes Mike. "The republic doesn't just smell like banana - it's practically slipping on the peel in front of the whole world." "I am a resident of Minnesota, a democratic state in the USA, and am appalled at the whole Trump situation over here, but especially when the Australian reporter was purposely shot with the rubber bullet," writes Carolyn. "I encourage people to stay away from my country for the foreseeable future which makes me sad because I have had wonderful visits from friends from your beautiful country." Allan, who lived in Los Angeles for six years in the 1980s, writes: "We've visited the USA numerous times since, but never again. Our initial concerns as we've grown older were with their health system, where serious illness could literally cost millions. Now the political situation is what worries us. I wouldn't rule out something akin to civil war the way things are escalating. But no, I don't think Albanese should raise the Tomasi shooting with Trump personally, it would achieve nothing and detract from other more important discussions." "Civil war was averted when Trump won the election," writes Arthur. "It now looks as though it was only a temporary reprieve." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to Imagine you open your letter box and there are four bills inside, one for each member of your family, including the two kids who are still at school. You open them and the amount each of you owe is $1247. That's roughly what each and every Tasmanian will be up for if the lower estimate of the cost of the contentious Macquarie Point stadium - $945 million - is accurate. This takes into account the federal pledge of $240 million, announced during a disastrous visit to the site by Anthony Albanese in April 2023, which saw him beating a hasty retreat as a crowd of hecklers descended on the event demanding that money be spent on desperately needed housing. The bill for Tasmanians will be even more if the higher estimate of $1.1 billion proves correct. Of course, there'll be no bill in the mail. The cost will be borne by what's not spent in other areas like health, education, infrastructure and affordable housing and the estimated $1.86 billion in debt racked up over a decade. It's a lot of bread for a circus. The state's ballooning debt was the trigger for the Labor opposition's successful no-confidence motion in Premier Jeremy Rockliff which has put government on hold while the governor works out whether to grant the request for an early election or ask the parliament to seek an alternative leader. The no-confidence motion and its disruption to government risks the state missing the deadlines laid down in the licensing agreement with the AFL. Yet the Labor leader insists he will continue to support the stadium should he find himself at the helm. That's despite the stadium diktat imposed by the AFL being deeply unpopular across Tasmania, not least because no similar demands were made of other recent regional additions to the league. An assessment by the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission was damning. The roofed 23,000-seat structure, it said, was "disproportionate to Hobart's small scale and would be contrary to Hobart's visual values". An artist's impression of what it would look from the eastern shore of the Derwent is like a still from sci-fi movie, an alien mothership squatting under the snowy flanks of kunanyi, dwarfing the heritage buildings around it. No wonder Hobart hates the idea. What's irksome from my non-sporting mainland perspective is the power wielded by the AFL. To set such onerous conditions on a state that wants to field its own team in the national comp is bad enough. To have the federal government pitch in with a promise of millions is even worse. This is when the AFL is flush with cash from a $4.5 billion TV licensing deal with the Seven Network and Foxtel. To use the vernacular of the querulous Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, if they want a stadium with a roof, they can bloody well pay for it. HAVE YOUR SAY: Has Big Sport become too powerful in Australia? Should mainland taxpayers help pay for the Tasmanian stadium? Do both major parties in Tasmania look foolish for backing the stadium despite the opposition to it? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - The ABC has announced the end of the political panel program Q+A after 18 years on air. - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed as "predictable" criticism of Australia's move to join four other countries in hitting two right-wing Israeli ministers with sanctions over West Bank settlements, as the opposition demands a briefing on the decision. - The number of industrial disputes has fallen to a two-year low, new figures reveal, despite major work outages affecting public transport commuters. THEY SAID IT: "The state government needs to go and tell the AFL where to stick it right now and tell them it's not going to play the game." - Senator Jacqui Lambie YOU SAID IT: The shooting of an Aussie reporter with a rubber bullet during the Los Angeles unrest reinforces the feeling the US is becoming an unsafe banana republic. "How long, I wonder, before we see a travel warning issued for the US?" asks Liz. "Calling it 'law and order' while pardoning actual insurrectionists is like burning down a fire station and calling it urban renewal," writes Mike. "The republic doesn't just smell like banana - it's practically slipping on the peel in front of the whole world." "I am a resident of Minnesota, a democratic state in the USA, and am appalled at the whole Trump situation over here, but especially when the Australian reporter was purposely shot with the rubber bullet," writes Carolyn. "I encourage people to stay away from my country for the foreseeable future which makes me sad because I have had wonderful visits from friends from your beautiful country." Allan, who lived in Los Angeles for six years in the 1980s, writes: "We've visited the USA numerous times since, but never again. Our initial concerns as we've grown older were with their health system, where serious illness could literally cost millions. Now the political situation is what worries us. I wouldn't rule out something akin to civil war the way things are escalating. But no, I don't think Albanese should raise the Tomasi shooting with Trump personally, it would achieve nothing and detract from other more important discussions." "Civil war was averted when Trump won the election," writes Arthur. "It now looks as though it was only a temporary reprieve."
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Albanese-Trump G7 meeting in limbo as Israeli cabinet sanctions trigger US rebuke
Anthony Albanese may not meet with Donald Trump next week in Canada as relations with the US administration sour over Australia's decision to sanction two Israeli cabinet members, plus recent disagreement over defence spending. While a potential in-person meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders gathering in Alberta is still anticipated, senior sources told the ABC it was too soon to be "definitive" and that there were "lots of moving parts". The prime minister departs for North America on Friday morning for the June 15-17 summit amid expectations he will sit down with Mr Trump to discuss US trade tariffs on Australian steel and other goods, and defence cooperation. But there is also an awareness inside the Australian and US governments that Australia's decision to slap sanctions on two hard-right Israeli ministers — Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich — could trigger the "mercurial" Trump's ire. The sanctions, which were mirrored by the UK, Canada, Norway and New Zealand, triggered an exchange of words on Wednesday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who described them as counterproductive to peace in the region — and Mr Albanese, who dismissed the US charge as "predictable, frankly". While Mr Albanese downplayed potential fallout from the sanctions, saying the matter wasn't a priority, he insisted the Israeli government "does need to uphold its obligations under international law". The clash with the US over the sanctions comes hot on the heels of disagreement with the Trump administration over defence spending levels. Mr Albanese this month rebuffed US Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth's call on Australia to increase "as soon as possible" its military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP from the current level of just over 2 per cent. While there is uncertainty about Mr Trump's willingness to meet with Mr Albanese, there is also a sense the US president is enduring his own disagreements with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Gaza. Labor's decision to impose sanctions on the Israeli cabinet members was criticised by the Greens as "extremely late" while the opposition warned the government had "made a mistake". Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said the use of "Magnitsky-style" sanctions on democratically elected ministers of state was inappropriate. The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) slammed the government's "unprecedented" sanctions as a major escalation, while acknowledging the two ministers were controversial. "AIJAC finds many statements by Smotrich and especially Ben-Gvir insupportable and we share the government's concern about settler violence against West Bank Palestinians and call on Israeli authorities to do more to stop them," said the group's executive director, Colin Rubenstein. "However, there are many leaders of the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Turkey, and Qatar who are saying things at least as inflammatory, if not more so. "Yet, there is no discussion of sanctioning any of them."
West Australian
3 hours ago
- West Australian
Editorial: Pressure grows on Albanese over defence spending
If Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needed any more reminding about the likely high priority the Group of Seven summit is likely to attach to defence at its looming summit, it came yesterday. Firstly there was the news that the Chinese Navy has sent its two aircraft carriers into the Pacific for the first time, demonstrating to the world its ability as a naval power to threaten America's dominance of the world's biggest ocean. Two carrier battle groups led by the Liaoning and the Shandong operated near the Japanese island of Iwo Jima over the weekend, the Japanese Government reported. And then came a warning flag hoisted by European Union Ambassador Gabriele Visentin. The European Union's top diplomat to Australia described China's military expansion as a 'worrying sign' and signalled the EU's growing ambition to become 'a strong security actor' in the Indo-Pacific. 'We have seen maybe some worrying signs of military scaling up of China,' he said. '(There's) a clear link between the Chinese and the Russian visions of what the new international rules-based order should be.' Mr Visentin said Europe's security was 'completely intertwined' with that of the Indo-Pacific. 'The security for Europe depends also on what is happening in (the) Indo-Pacific, and vice versa,' he said. The warning came against a backdrop of ongoing pressure from the US for its allies to boost defence spending. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has floated Washington's demand for Australia to hike its defence budget to 3.5 per cent of GDP, far beyond the projected 2.3 per cent by 2033. The US challenge has helped spark NATO into responding. The alliance's Secretary-General Mark Rutte has warned that 'wishful thinking will not keep us safe' and has set out a plan for NATO members to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence. He said Russia could be ready to use force against NATO in five years and that a 'quantum leap' in collective defence was required following the Russian President Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine. But the Albanese Government is seemingly not for turning from its announced strategy. This week Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Government would determine its defence budget based on strategic needs rather than meeting any benchmark. Mr Albanese largely batted it away too at his National Press Club address on Tuesday. 'Arbitrary figures, you know, lead to a cul-de-sac. And we want to make sure as well that every single dollar that Defence spends results in actual assets,' Mr Albanese said. But the pressure is set to go up again at the G7 summit getting under way in Canada this weekend. Should the expected meeting between Mr Albanese and US President Donald Trump go ahead on the sidelines of the meeting, it is a fair bet that Mr Trump will not be shy of personally pressuring Mr Albanese to do more on defence too.
