Pro-Palestine activists plan to go ahead on Harbour Bridge protest
NSW Premier Chris Minns banned the demonstrations, claiming the government cannot support a protest of such scale and nature taking place at short notice.
Protestors have hinted at delaying the march by a week to obtain approval from the authorities.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
21 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Prime Minster Anthony Albanese's Palestine call with French President Emmanuel Macron branded 'performative politics'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of "performative politics" over a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Mr Albanese spoke with the French leader following a huge protest in Sydney, which saw about 90,000 people march across the Harbour Bridge in support of Palestine. The French President is set to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September and will be joined in the gesture by United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Commenting on the call, The Australian's Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan said the Albanese government was demonstrating "really low-grade stuff" in relation to Palestine and the Middle East conflict. "They are not making any contribution to the Middle East at all. This is all about gesture and performative politics for their base in Australia and for managing the politics of the left in Australia," he told Sky News host Steve Price. "To recognise a Palestinian state without substantial negotiation with Israel, to recognise the Palestinian state as a direct result of the barbaric, unbelievable, epoch-marking, savage terrorism of October 7, is just futile and counterproductive. "It's a great reward for Hamas." Sheridan said he had been "quite critical" about Israel's conduct in Gaza in recent months, describing it as "futile" and having cost a "great deal internationally", but continued his rebuke of Mr Albanese for making "no useful contribution" to solving the humanitarian crisis. The journalist, though, said Mr Albanese had a "spasm of common sense" several weeks ago when he assigned conditions to any recognition of Palestine. "If those conditions are met, that's great, but if those conditions are not met the Albanese government says it's still going to recognise a Palestinian state anyway, because it says it is 'when, not if,'and its obviously doing it in concert with these other nations," Sheridan said, referring to remarks from Treasurer Jim Chlamers last week. "Now those conditions won't be met. The terrorist groups will still be attacking Israel, there won't an eradication of Hamas and all the rest of it. There won't be democratic reform... you can just bank on that. "This is all about gesture politics and the management of the left in Marrickville and Glebe and Richmond and what have you. It's got nothing at all to do with making any positive contribution in the Middle East and it is morally vacuous." Mr Chalmers' remarks came after Canada joined France and the UK in declaring their intention to recognise a Palestinian state, provided key conditions are met, including the exclusion of Hamas from any future leadership and the release of Israeli hostages. Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed Canada would proceed with recognition by September, conditional on agreements from the West Bank's governing authority. Mr Chalmers welcomed the international developments and said the Albanese government was in ongoing talks with global counterparts to chart Australia's next steps. 'The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister will respond in due course, but I welcome this momentum and this progress in the international community,' Mr Chalmers told Sky News. 'From an Australian point of view the recognition of the state of Palestine is a matter of when not if."
Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
Nationalist Nawrocki sworn in as Polish president
Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian and supporter of Donald Trump's MAGA movement, has been sworn in as Poland's president, setting the stage for conflict with the centrist government and potentially cooler relations with Ukraine. Nawrocki took the presidential oath in a ceremony in the Polish parliament on Wednesday. The election victory of Nawrocki, who was backed by the nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), dealt a blow to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's hopes of cementing the pro-European Union course he has set for the bloc's largest eastern member and left his government floundering in the polls. Poland is now bracing for a continuation of the deadlock seen under nationalist outgoing President Andrzej Duda, with Nawrocki able to use his veto powers to stymie a government agenda that includes rolling back judicial reforms implemented by PiS, which critics said undermined the independence of the courts. Nawrocki also looks set to pose a headache for the government by proposing measures such as tax cuts that are likely to be popular with many voters but hard to implement for an administration with a stretched budget. "As prime minister, I have so far worked with three presidents," Tusk, who was also prime minister from 2007 to 2014, wrote in a post on X. "What will it be like with the fourth? We'll manage." The incoming president has said he does not currently see a place for Ukraine in NATO or the EU, a marked shift in tone compared to Duda. As president, Nawrocki would be required to sign off on Poland's ratification of a new member joining NATO. While Tusk has said that the European Union should play a bigger role in defence matters alongside NATO, PiS and Nawrocki have argued this would undermine Poland's alliance with the United States. "The United States is undoubtedly our priority partner," said Nawrocki's spokesman Rafal Leskiewicz. However, the fact he is a political newcomer who was little known to the public before PiS threw its weight behind him means there is much uncertainty about how his presidency will pan out, political observers say. "I don't know if he will, in short, fully implement the policies of Law and Justice ... or if he will try to come up with his own initiatives," said Andrzej Rychard, a sociologist from the Polish Academy of Science. Nawrocki emerged victorious from a tumultuous campaign in which allegations regarding his past, including that he acquired a second property from an elderly man in return for a promise of care that he did not provide, frequently dominated the headlines. Nawrocki denied accusations of wrongdoing, although he admitted to taking part in an organised fight between football hooligans, adding to the tough-guy image the amateur boxer had already sought to cultivate. After the election, supporters of defeated liberal candidate Rafal Trzaskowski filed thousands of protests to the Supreme Court over irregularities at some polling stations. However, the irregularities were not enough to materially alter the result.
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
The woman with $2m cash in her boot and the violent trade as ‘lucrative as drugs'
Much of the illicit loose tobacco in Australia is home-grown, while most illegal cigarettes come from China. Those cigarettes are either counterfeits of cigarettes sold here or brands not available in Australia. Because they are smuggled in through Australia's porous border, importers do not pay the tobacco excise – currently $1.40 per cigarette – and lack the barcode, plain packaging and health messaging on their legal counterparts. Loading They are also significantly cheaper, sold through the convenience stores that have become ubiquitous in Sydney. Estimates have the cost price of a packet of illegal smokes as low as $2, providing both a significant profit for the importers and a cheaper product for the consumer. 'Organised crime are filling some of that void. They're able to provide cigarettes between $10 and $25 a packet rather than between $40 and $65 a packet,' Bennett said. NSW Premier Chris Minns in June came out swinging at the Commonwealth tobacco excise – which is indexed and also being increased by 5 per cent each year for a three-year period starting in 2023 – saying it should be reconsidered. On Wednesday, the state government introduced what it describes as 'tough new laws' to parliament. The sweeping new legislation is designed to penalise selling illegal tobacco, and would allow evictions of retailers selling illegal tobacco, business shutdowns and fines of up to $1.5 million. 'As lucrative as illegal drugs' Sydney's criminal milieu has long been keen to meet the city's ravenous appetite for illicit drugs; anecdotal evidence suggests that major players such as the Alameddine crime family can earn up to $1 million a week in profit. Despite these eye-watering profits, criminal groups are increasingly looking to illegal tobacco, says Bennett. A briefing to Police Minister Yasmin Catley, seen by this masthead, suggests players 'responsible for violence in Victoria' have moved into NSW and aligned themselves with 'known actors'. Asian and Middle Eastern organised crime groups have also become involved in the illicit tobacco trade, the briefing says. There are two reasons for this – illegal tobacco has a much larger potential market than illicit drugs, and the penalties for importing or selling illicit smokes are considerably lighter than for drugs. 'Large organised crime groups that have traditionally been involved in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and ransom, they've all got an offshoot in illegal tobacco,' Bennett said. 'From what I can see, it's easily as lucrative as illegal drugs. 'We're certainly seeing that sort of traditional organised crime tactics around eliminating competition and establishing an area where you can do business.' Loading Arson attacks, which have authorities particularly concerned because of the proximity of many tobacconists to residential dwellings, have been used in NSW, says the briefing to the police minister. Legitimate retailers have also been targeted by organised crime, who are forced to sell illicit products on behalf of the crime group then are extorted for protection money. In a matter before the courts, a man allegedly planned to steal almost $1 million in cash from the home of a NSW tobacconist in November last year. Documents seen by the Herald allege the man used a device to track multiple cars and was heard on a phone tap discussing kidnapping people, dressing up as a police officer to orchestrate a vehicle stop or breaking into storage sheds. Police tracking the man and his co-accused stymied the alleged plot before the money – which police say is profits from illegal tobacco – could be stolen. He cannot be identified for legal reasons. In a separate case, an alleged tobacco runner had his big toe partially severed; in another instance last year, a tobacconist business was burnt to the ground. Bennett said it could be difficult to discern if this extreme violence was born of illegal drugs or tobacco, but 'more frequently we're finding from our intelligence base and from talking to the police, and talking to victims and talking to offenders, that the motivation is illegal tobacco'. The business of illicit tobacco has ensnared a huge number of seemingly everyday people – such as the Sydney woman with $2 million in the boot, now before the courts on two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime – whose alleged role is to move huge volumes of cash, cigarettes and tobacco up and down the eastern seaboard. Loading In January, a truck driver was caught in one of the north shore's most moneyed suburbs, allegedly with $1 million in the back of his truck. The money was seized by the Crime Commission and he remains before the courts on proceeds of crime offences. That man, too, cannot be identified. Bennett said the NSW Police have been 'very active, very busy' both in vehicle stops of the type that allegedly both foiled the truck driver and the Sydney woman, and in their ongoing fight against organised crime. 'On a local [police station] level is where you get that short-term information based around storage sheds or vehicle movements,' which have led to 'quite a few' seizures north of $1 million, Bennett said. Police are heavily involved in stopping illegal tobacco, but debate has raged over exactly who should regulate it. While NSW Health is the lead agency, it is ill equipped to take on the underworld. Minns has said he doesn't want police taken away from the fight against domestic violence and organised crime. Commercial implications Then there is the question of the place of illegal tobacconists in the commercial landscape. On Penrith's main street, there are four within a 50-metre radius. Dozens more feature along the suburb's main strip. On the other side of the city, tourists alighting from the famous Manly ferry pass three as they walk the 450 metres down the Corso to the beach. 'There's a massive capital investment going into illegal tobacco sales,' Bennett said, something that has alarmed many communities. Independent MP for Pittwater Jacqui Scruby has been agitating for more action on illegal tobacconists, and says there is 'real fear' in the community because of tobacconists' links to organised crime. She says legitimate businesses are being pushed out, neighbouring business owners have seen an increase in insurance premiums because of the risk of firebombs, and people living near or above those shops are concerned about being caught in the crossfire. Scruby has made a number of submissions to a parliamentary inquiry, including buffer zones to prohibit businesses around schools and playgrounds, tougher penalties and moving the responsibility for enforcement to a 'better resourced' interagency taskforce. But with illegal tobacco being sold in plain sight, issues with regulation and the sheer volume of illicit smokes for sale, the problem for government remains diabolical. 'Everyone's got a stake in stopping this and that's got to start with people not buying it,' Bennett says firmly. 'But whether Joe Average is willing to pay double or triple what they can pay to mitigate the organised crime aspect of it remains to be seen.'
