Man, 59, charged by AFP after allegedly assaulting cabin crew over bathroom dispute on Brisbane-bound plane
In a statement, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the man was charged after a response was made to the AFP for assistance on July 14.
It is alleged the man, 59, refused instructions to take his seat by the flight crew as the flight, travelling from Perth Airport to Brisbane, was preparing for departure.
The man allegedly wanted to use the bathroom and pushed a crew member.
The incident was reported to the flight captain, who requested the AFP attend the gate and remove the man from the plane.
AFP officers removed the man, who was allegedly uncooperative with police.
He has been charged with one count of assaulting a crew member, contrary to section 318A of the Criminal Code (WA), which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment if convicted.
The 59-year-old faced Perth Magistrates Court on July 29.
AFP Inspector Peter Brindal said airline crew members worked to ensure a safe journey for all travellers and any aggressive or violent behaviour towards them was unacceptable.
'The AFP has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to the assault or mistreatment of airline staff, and anyone who commits such an offence can be prosecuted,' Inspector Brindal said.
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ABC News
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Boy's suicide in residential care home should 'jolt' child safety department into action, advocates say
WARNING: This story contains distressing content. A 15-year-old Aboriginal boy, subject to a child protection order, died by suicide in a Queensland residential care home last weekend. His body was discovered by other children at the Ipswich facility, south of Brisbane. It has prompted calls from advocates for his death to be investigated by an ongoing inquiry into the state's "broken" child protection system. That 17-month commission of inquiry is reviewing the system's approach to keeping children safe. Sisters Inside chief executive Debbie Kilroy said the young people supported by the organisation were extremely "distressed" by the boy's death. "I'm confused about why these deaths of children in care continue to happen," she told the ABC. Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes said the child's "shocking death" should "jolt" the Department of Child Safety into action. "How many more lives of children will be wasted?" she questioned. Ms Hayes urged the government to "address the obvious failings in the residential care system without delay". "Everyday, children are suffering in placements that are not fit for purpose," she said. "These kids cannot wait for the outcome of the current Child Safety Commission — the government must act now." The risk of suicide is up to four times higher among children in out-of-home care than in the general population, according to research by Queensland's Child Death Review Board. The state's Family and Child Commissioner Luke Twyford said he struggled to comprehend the numbers. "Over the last five years, 29 children who were known to the child protection system have died by suicide," he said. "The death of any child is an immense loss, and it's vital we honour them by learning all we can from their life experiences." The Department of Child Safety said legislation prevented it from disclosing information about individual cases. "Keeping vulnerable children safe remains our highest priority," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Young people known to the department have often been exposed to trauma, including abuse, violence and neglect, which can negatively affect their mental health and wellbeing." The department said if a child who died had been known to child safety authorities in the 12 months before their death, a review would be undertaken by a specialist internal team. "This review is then considered by the independent Child Death Review Board located within the Queensland Family and Child Commission," the spokesperson said. Queensland Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm said the loss of any young life was a "tragedy". "The Children in Care Census 2024 details a harrowing picture of the mental health struggles of young people living in out-of-home care in this state, and that is deeply concerning to me," she said. The minister said the commission of inquiry had been called to investigate the system as a whole "through the lens of young people".
ABC News
38 minutes ago
- ABC News
For too many victims of family violence, police harm more than help, new research finds
When we think of family violence almost instinctively we think of police: they are the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system and have become key first responders in Victoria — and around Australia — to the extent that Victoria Police last year responded to 104,786 family incidents, the highest number on record. But rather than helping victims, new research has found that in too many cases police responses to family violence are harming them, replicating the power and control dynamics that underpin abuse and increasing risk, trauma and feelings of powerlessness. If you need help immediately call emergency services on triple-0 The report, Harm in the Name of Safety: Victorian Family Violence Workers' Experiences of Family Violence Policing, is brimming with disturbing accounts from the frontline: of police misjudging victims as perpetrators, downplaying and dismissing violence, deliberately targeting Aboriginal women and other minority groups (queer people, disabled people, sex workers), colluding with abusers, and even using family violence themselves. The report's authors say the evidence they've gathered is so damning — and the harm to victims so serious and widespread — that the problems cannot be fixed with more police training and education. Instead, they argue, community-based responses to family violence that don't involve police at all must urgently be expanded, including violence prevention and crisis response programs, early intervention and behaviour change programs, and accountability and restorative justice schemes. "This evidence … makes it very clear that we need to take urgent action to constrain police harms and to build and strengthen alternative survivor-led and community-based family violence responses," said report co-author Lauren Caulfield, coordinator of the Beyond Survival Project, which supports victims who have been harmed by police responses to family violence. "It's evidence that demands a fundamental rethink of the way police are positioned as a solution to family violence when for so many people, police responses actually increase risk and harm." The report's recommendations are likely to reignite debate about abolition feminism, whose proponents argue that criminal legal or "carceral" responses to domestic violence — including policing, prosecution and imprisonment — ultimately exacerbate violence and further oppress marginalised victim-survivors, especially First Nations women. In Australia, those conversations have largely been led by Aboriginal scholars and advocates and are firmly at odds with calls in the mainstream to strengthen criminal legal responses to gender-based violence. But while many baulk at the idea of abolishing police and even the laws they're supposed to enforce, academics, frontline workers and survivors are increasingly willing to consider alternative visions of justice as more of them are exposed to the flaws and dangers of the current system. For Tania Farha, chief executive of Safe and Equal, the peak body for specialist family violence services in Victoria, the report is an opportunity to do both: to improve the way police are responding to family violence and to build and strengthen alternative supports for victim-survivors who don't want to engage with police. "What it really highlights is that police and justice system responses to family violence are not for everybody, nor have they ever been," Ms Farha said. "But police are an important component of the system, particularly for those who want to engage with the justice system, and sometimes they're the only appropriate response in high-risk situations." As part of their research the Beyond Survival Project and RMIT university surveyed 225 family violence workers in Victoria about their observations and concerns about how police were responding to family violence. The workers' answers, collected in 2020 and 2021, revealed that "harmful" police responses were "routinely occurring" in interactions between officers and victims. The most common issue to emerge was victim misidentification, where police incorrectly name a victim of family violence as a perpetrator on an intervention order or charge them with criminal offences. When asked directly, 83 per cent of survey participants said they had encountered misidentification, with two-thirds (64 per cent) saying they had seen it happen five or more times over the last five years. Experts have long been reporting that female victims — First Nations and migrant women in particular — are misidentified often because they have fought back or tried to defend themself against their partner's violence, or because they've presented as angry, "hysterical" or drunk when police arrive, challenging officers' assumptions about how victims behave. Police may also fail to identify patterns of coercive control in the relationship or a perpetrator's calculated attempts to weaponise legal systems, perhaps because they have not taken statements from both parties or called in an interpreter to translate. Crucially, it can have life-altering consequences, as one survey respondent explained: "Misidentification [has] led to women losing their children, their jobs, property and assets, affected their mental health, lead to suicidal thoughts and attempts, drugs and alcohol use … and losing all their legal rights, friend and families and community." But misidentification tends to be characterised by police as a mistake — something that occurs because family violence is complex, said report co-author Peta Malins, senior lecturer in criminology and justice studies at RMIT. What the frontline workers' accounts show, she said, is that it's a product of police cultural and institutional bias. "Misidentification is not a mistake," Dr Malins said. "It's actually a targeted practice" that has serious repercussions for First Nations and migrant communities, queer and disabled people and women generally. Associate Professor Bridget Harris, director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, said family violence workers who have had negative experiences with police may have been more likely to respond to the survey, potentially shaping the results. But the report is full of valuable insights from people we don't often hear from, she said: "I think we're behind in terms of Australian research on this topic … it's an issue that needs more attention and what I would hope is that police take this as an opportunity to address things." Progress has also been made since the survey was taken in 2021, Dr Harris said — for instance, more police attention to and training on the issue of victim misidentification in Victoria, several domestic violence inquiries and, through her own team's work with the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, a new training and education package for police around the country. But frontline services are still waiting for change. Djirra, which supports Aboriginal women experiencing family violence, recently assisted five women who they say were "racially targeted and misidentified" by police to have intervention order applications struck out in court. "We have not seen any reduction in misidentification," said Djirra chief executive Antoinette Braybrook. "Rather, we have seen an increase." Another significant issue to emerge in the survey was perpetrators of family violence in police ranks. More than half the frontline workers (51 per cent) said they had encountered cases of family violence involving a serving police officer, with many describing the violence as more coercive and more covert because of the officer's authority, training and access to weapons and systems. Many workers also raised concerns that the lack of independent oversight of police complaints in Victoria was deterring victims from reporting violence and abuse. "I have represented several women whose partners have been police officers and all have threatened their partner with their status as a police officer to gaslight … and convince them that no one would believe [them] and if she did report it, he would ensure the police would retaliate against her," one survey respondent said. "One client had her house raided with six police officers, all friends of her partner." Victoria Police in 2021 set up a dedicated unit to investigate such complaints, but an ABC News investigation recently revealed women have continued to face insensitive treatment, stressful delays and even criminal charges themselves after reporting family violence allegations against police, some of whom still seem to be evading accountability. In response, experts and advocates have been calling on the government to overhaul police oversight by ensuring all complaints about police are investigated by a properly resourced independent body. The new report makes a similar recommendation, finding that the extent and impact of the police-perpetrated family violence described by workers "directly challenges the notion of police representing safety" and "demands an urgent reconsideration of the powers, resources and social license" police are afforded as first responders. It also makes several other recommendations for expanding community-based family violence programs that do not rely on police or the criminal legal system, as well as investing in affordable housing and strengthening prevention and accountability initiatives. Notably, more than half of the frontline workers surveyed (54 per cent) made specific suggestions to improve police responses to family violence, including improving police feedback and complaint processes (21 per cent), enhanced training (16 per cent) and finding ways to ensure officers collaborate better with family violence workers (12 per cent). Ultimately, though, the research team warned against further investing in police. Often when policing harms are exposed there are calls for more training for officers, Ms Caulfield said, and more resources for police forces generally. "But these reforms inevitably function to entrench … the role of police in family violence responses rather than actually addressing or constraining the harm." The report flags that there are already several programs in Australia and overseas that aim to help victims without relying on police that could be embraced in Victoria. For example, Aboriginal-led healing centres such as Waminda on the NSW south coast. Or the White Bird Clinic's CAHOOTS program in Oregon in the United States, where teams of medics and mental health specialists respond to 911 calls about mental health crises to achieve non-violent resolutions — and especially to avoid the fatalities which have occurred as a result of police involvement. In Victoria, Djirra has long advocated against investing in policing as a solution to family violence. "Our advocacy comes from many years of witnessing the poor, unsafe and often non-existent responses from police for Aboriginal women's and children's safety," Ms Braybrook said. "Women are not believed, they are punished, criminalised and incarcerated." The answer, she added, is to invest in specialist organisations like Djirra, which runs early intervention and prevention programs that ensure women understand their rights and can navigate systems that are often "racist and violent". Safe and Equal has also developed a resource to help family violence practitioners support victims who don't want to engage with police and who may become isolated from services as a result. "I think it's really important that alternative options are [available]," Ms Farha said. "This is the very reason why we need a properly and sustainably funded specialist family violence sector, because … they are the emergency response for survivors who don't want to call the police." Dr Harris agrees. Some people want assistance from police and the criminal justice process they initiate, she said; others want support only from community based services; while others want something in between — for example, police who work closely with social workers or specialist domestic violence workers in a so-called "co-responder" model. "For some people, the justice system protects and empowers them — they see it positively," Dr Harris said. "For others, it replicates the violence they've experienced — it replicates trauma — and it is not a positive experience. So we need to be really conscious of that when we're looking at different ways forward." In a statement, a Victoria Police spokesperson said the force works closely with family violence professionals and support groups to "hear their insights and strengthen our response". "The safety of victims is at the forefront of everything we do," the spokesperson said. "All police receive extensive family violence training which includes how to accurately identify predominant aggressors", while "more than 90 per cent of police have undergone Aboriginal cultural awareness training". They added: "We know it's especially difficult for victim-survivors to come forward when their perpetrator is a police officer. That's why we created a team specifically tasked with tackling this issue, skilled in supporting victims and understanding the tactics police perpetrators use."
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
The alleged Chinese spy found in Canberra
Sam Hawley: This week, a Chinese woman was charged with foreign interference, in this case, accused of spying on Buddhists in Canberra. Today, foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic on the details of the case and the growing cost of foreign espionage. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. News report: Australian Federal Police have charged a Chinese national with foreign interference, alleging she was trying to collect information on a Canberra-based Buddhist group for China's security agencies. News report: The Australian Federal Police alleges the woman, an Australian permanent resident, was tasked with collecting information about the Canberra branch of Guan Yin Citta. She's been charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years. Stephen Nutt, AFP Assistant Commissioner: We allege the activity was to support intelligence objectives of the China's Public Security Bureau. This is the first time the AFP has charged a person with foreign interference that allegedly involves targeting members of the Australian community. Sam Hawley: Stephen, the AFP allege they have caught a spy amongst us. Now, this is a Chinese woman. What do we know so far? What are police saying? Stephen Dziedzic: Well, Sam, police are alleging that this woman is responsible for conducting, essentially what they're saying, an act of foreign interference, that she's covertly gathering information about a Canberra branch of a Buddhist association. It's not a well-known one. It's called Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door. And they say that she's been doing this since 2022, and that she's been trying to harvest information about this religious group. She's also accused of working with others to do this. So, essentially, police are saying that she's recruited other people or worked with other people who are also trying to collect information for the Chinese government in support of their intelligence activities to try and get information about this group. Now, we cannot name this woman because there's a temporary suppression order in place. But police say that she was essentially behind what was a fairly sophisticated operation to try and closely monitor this group in Canberra. Stephen Nutt, AFP Assistant Commissioner: Foreign interference is a serious crime that undermines democracy and social cohesion. It is a crime carried out by a foreign principle that involves covert and deceptive conduct or threats of serious harm or menacing demands. Sam Hawley: Mm. Alright. So, the matter has been before the court, and an Australian Federal Police informant alleged the woman was actually communicating with a Chinese security bureau. Stephen Dziedzic: That's right. So, this security bureau isn't named, but presumably it's essentially a branch of the Ministry of State Security that's responsible for both external and internal security matters in the PRC. Now, they believe that this woman's been receiving what they've called taskings or orders from this public security bureau office through an encrypted app, and that was allegedly found on the woman's phone during a raid of her house last week. Sam Hawley: Right. OK. But what else have police said about the woman's links to China? Stephen Dziedzic: Well, this woman is still a Chinese national. She's a permanent resident in Australia, but at least according to the police, she's not a citizen of Australia. There's another very interesting link that police have put out as well. They've said in court that this woman's husband, who is apparently still in China, holds a position of what they've called a vice captain in a public security ministry in a Chinese province. They haven't named that province, and they haven't named the husband either. But there's more evidence there, according to the police, of fairly deep and personal links into China's vast security apparatus. Sam Hawley: Mm. Alright. So, Stephen, she's accused of being tasked to gather information about a Buddhist association in Canberra, Guan Yin Sitta. What exactly is that, and why would China be interested in it? Stephen Dziedzic: Yeah, this is a slightly confusing question to people, perhaps, who are outside the China-watching space. But, of course, you've got to remember the broader context here. China's government's an atheistic one. It's, in some ways, quite hostile to religion. It's certainly hostile, or at least wary, of religious groups that are operating within China. This group is one that Beijing considers a cult. It's effectively, according to various sources, either banned or outlawed in China. Sam Hawley: Well, what happens in the courts now, then? Because there was some discussion, wasn't there, about whether or not she was a flight risk or not? Stephen Dziedzic: Yeah, that's right. The woman's lawyer said she should be granted bail. We also heard, incidentally, that she visited the Chinese consulate in Canberra not long after her property was raided. So, China is very well aware of this case and is presumably watching it very closely. Presumably, the consulate and the embassy would be able to get her travel documents very quickly, if she wanted them, and if the embassy wanted to help her to leave. And so, the magistrate, for a range of reasons, basically refused bail, agreeing that she could be a flight risk. And, of course, the magistrate also said that if that did happen, if she managed to leave, then there was very little chance that she would probably come back, particularly given the fact there's no bilateral extradition treaty between Australia and China. Sam Hawley: OK, so let's just leave that case there for the moment. But let's speak more broadly about the threats now against Australia that really have our agencies deeply worried, I think it's safe to say. We've had an update this week, haven't we, from Mike Burgess. He's the Director-General of ASIO. So, what's he been telling us? Stephen Dziedzic: Look, Mike Burgess has been sounding the alarm on foreign interference for a number of years, but I think his tone was even more urgent in this speech. Mike Burgess, ASIO Director-General: I believe that we as a nation need to wake up to the cost of espionage, which is more than just financial. We need to understand espionage is not some quaint romantic fiction. It's a real, present and costly danger. Stephen Dziedzic: Mr Burgess said that China, Iran and Russia are three of the countries that are behind espionage, but he also said that Australians would be, quote, shocked by the number and also the names of the other countries that were also employing similar tactics. Mike Burgess, ASIO Director-General: The obvious candidates are very active. I've previously named China, Russia and Iran, but many other countries are also targeting anyone and anything that could give them strategic or tactical advantage. These countries want to covertly comprehend our political decision-making and policy priorities, including our alliances and partnerships. Stephen Dziedzic: Mr Burgess said there'd been 24 significant espionage and foreign interference operations that have been disrupted in the past three years alone. He said that was more than the previous eight. And he said that nation-states are spying at what he called unprecedented levels with unprecedented sophistication. Mike Burgess, ASIO Director-General: ASIO estimates the threat from espionage will only intensify. It is already more serious and sophisticated than ever before. So our response must also be more serious and sophisticated than ever before. Sam Hawley: And he obviously didn't name those other nations that we'd be shocked about. Stephen Dziedzic: He didn't, no. I mean, it is worth noting... Sam Hawley: Intriguing. Stephen Dziedzic: ...There has been public reporting about other countries engaging in espionage in Australia, including countries very friendly with Australia, including India. So it's not surprising, in a sense, that countries that are friendly to Australia, even close partners, might engage in espionage. But Mr Burgess is obviously convinced the problem's getting worse. Sam Hawley: Sure. And not only that, it's costing us a huge amount of money, isn't it? Stephen Dziedzic: Yeah, $12.5 billion, according to Mr Burgess. Sam Hawley: That's a year. Stephen Dziedzic: That's in the 2023-24 financial year alone. Not only that, he said that was probably an underestimate, probably a huge underestimate, because it's not capturing all of the espionage that's gone undeclared, undiscovered, and is largely unwatched. So he says that the true bill could be even higher. Of course, it's worth remembering this bill is not just, for example, information stolen. It's also the money that the federal government has to plough into organisations like ASIO in order to ward off foreign interference and espionage. But it is, yes, an eye-watering figure, even if it is a conservative estimate. Sam Hawley: And he did give some rather fascinating details, Stephen, about how far spies have actually gone to try to steal classified and commercially sensitive information. Just tell me about that. Stephen Dziedzic: Yeah, there was one fascinating little anecdote he told. He mentioned what he called a sensitive horticultural research facility in Australia that was not that long ago, apparently, paid a visit by a foreign delegation from an unnamed country. And apparently, one of the members of this delegation was caught trying to take photos of sensitive research. That was stopped, and apparently, the images were deleted. But then that same official then apparently snapped branches off what Mr Burgess calls a rare and valuable variety of fruit tree in order to steal them. Mike Burgess, ASIO Director-General: The delegate had snapped them off and smuggled them out of Australia. Almost certainly, the stolen plant material allowed scientists in the other country to reverse engineer and replicate two decades of Australian research and development. Stephen Dziedzic: So, horticultural spying is probably... You know, it's a long way from a James Bond film, but Mr Burgess is saying this is a real example of what people are getting up to. Sam Hawley: The Chinese woman we spoke about previously, she was arrested under these foreign interference laws. Now, they haven't been in place for that long, have they? But it's the third time that they've actually been used. Just tell me about that. Stephen Dziedzic: That's right. 2018, they were introduced into law, and this is only the third time they've been used. The other two cases that we've seen before, a Victorian man who was charged in November 2020 and then subsequently found guilty, a New South Wales man charged in April 2023, they were facing very different allegations. In the case of the Victorian man, it was essentially political interference, trying to build up links with political figures in Australia that could be then exploited by the Chinese government. In the other case, the allegation is that information was being collected to feed back again to the Chinese government. This is different. This is about... This is actually a woman who's facing a charge of directly spying on and trying to gather information about Australians in Australia. Not only that, she's also a foreign national. The other two people who've been charged previously were both Australian citizens. So, in that sense, this is a bit of a landmark case. And unsurprisingly, the government has been keen to pounce on it. Tony Burke, the Home Affairs Minister, said immediately afterward that the government's message to people who were trying to threaten or interfere with the Australian community was very clear, quote, "'Our law enforcement and intelligence agencies will find you.'" Sam Hawley: Yeah, our spies will find your spies. Right. OK. So, from your reporting, Stephen, is it clear whether or not the threat from China is actually getting worse at this point? Do we know? Stephen Dziedzic: We don't know for sure, but all of the anecdotal evidence points to the fact it is getting worse. That is reflected not just in the language of people like Mike Burgess, but also, I think, in the language that the government uses, including privately when it discusses the scale of the threat. China has many reasons to spy on Australia. Of course, and as we know, it's not just China. It's broader than that. But as the sort of most well-resourced and high-profile country, it's worth zeroing in. There are many reasons for China to target Australia. And as it finds itself under increasingly acute pressure from the Trump administration, there are more incentives for China to look to gain what advantage it can from other Western nations. So, if you look at both the international dynamics driving this, the geostrategic dynamics, as well as the increasingly authoritarian internal dynamics within China, there are an awful lot of reasons to think that this might continue to get worse before it gets any better. Sam Hawley: And none of that really bodes well, does it, for the relationship with China, which had seemed to be improving after Anthony Albanese's trip there. Stephen Dziedzic: Yeah, that's true. But the government seems confident that it can balance these two things quite deftly. I mean, at some point, you're right. The gap between rhetoric and reality becomes unbridgeable and things may well start to break down. But I'm stealing a phrase here from Richard McGregor from the Lowy Institute, but it's a good one. Australia and China are basically embracing whilst fighting at the moment. On the one hand, you've got a roaring commercial relationship. On the other hand, you've also got this shadowy contest in the foreign interference space with both China and Australia pouring more and more resources into their intelligence agencies behind the scenes. But Australia remains comfortable that it can walk this very fine line with China, which is, of course, both our largest trading partner and our largest source of security anxiety. And this case, as well as what we've heard from Mike Burgess over recent days, illustrates that very, very powerfully. Sam Hawley: Stephen Dziedzic is the ABC's foreign affairs reporter. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
