Latest news with #AfternoonUpdate
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Afternoon Update: Liberals start soul-searching; husband's denial in mushroom trial; and a 478-hour ‘slow TV' stream ends
Good afternoon, everyone. The election wash-up continues, with the Labor party now expecting to extend their majority in the Senate. While the upper house looks like it will be awash with more red, the party will still have to work with the 11 Greens senators who have all retained their seats. There are some interesting seats in the lower house yet to be determined, with the race in both Goldstein and Kooyong too tight to call, despite both teal MPs, Zoe Daniel and Monique Ryan, declaring victory on Saturday night. As the Liberal party gears up to start looking for a new leader, there has been inevitable introspection; Senator Andrew Bragg said it was time to step back from the culture wars and Dave Sharma said the party faces an existential crisis and needs to be more representative. 'Concerns about his capability': Liberal senator launches extraordinary attack on Angus Taylor amid search for new leader Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies 'produced in foreign lands' Parents of Bondi Junction killer confiscated his 'pigging knives' year before stabbings, inquest told Alleged mushroom murders trial: husband denies asking Erin Patterson 'is that what you used to poison them?' Westpac CEO believes Australia now pulling out of cost of-living crisis Donald Trump addresses the White House press pack, saying he was 'very friendly with' Anthony Albanese, but had 'no idea' who Peter Dutton was. 'We do have to have the hard conversations now about how we become more gender-balanced [and have] a broader diversity.' Outgoing Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has blamed the male dominance of Liberals for the election failure, and thrown her support behind deputy leader Sussan Ley. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The seventh season of Den stora älgvandringen (The Great Moose Migration, also translated as The Great Elk Trek) has ended, after nearly three weeks of uninterrupted footage streamed via SVT Play, the platform of Sweden's national broadcaster. Lindor Evangelista. Shak Shookher. Paula Roid. This Facebook group about drag names became Lucinda Price's favourite place on the internet. It's both delightful and deranged, she writes. Today's starter word is: SATI . You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply. If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Woman who claims to be Gina Rinehart's niece calls on billionaire to ‘resolve any doubts' with DNA test
An Aboriginal woman who believes she is Gina Rinehart's niece is calling on Australia's richest person to take a DNA test to prove their family connection. Naydene Robinson, the daughter of Sella Robinson, who claimed she was fathered by Lang Hancock at Mulga Downs station in the 1930s, says she wants to meet Rinehart and 'resolve any doubts' about her links to the Hancock family. Sella's mother worked as a musterer and in domestic labour at Mulga Downs. Robinson says she is hopeful that if the link can be established, Rinehart would agree to an 'amicable' settlement that recognised her mother was Hancock's child and Rinehart's half-sister. She also wants Mulga Downs to be returned to the traditional owners. 'I ask [Hancock's] daughter Mrs Georgina Rinehart to respectfully consider, recognise and accept us as his descendants as well, without bias or prejudice, for us to move forward,' Robinson said in a statement provided to Guardian Australia. 'If the DNA test results are compatible with either herself or her children's and Sella's children, then I would like to work with Mrs Rinehart on amicable terms to determine what is fair and just, for all the relevant parties involved towards achieving a favourable, respectful outcome for the descendants of Sella Tucker-Robinson, without animosity, malice or discrimination,' she said. 'We ask to not be regarded or known as 'charity cases'.' Robinson is calling for Mulga Downs station to be returned to the Banjima traditional owners, who have native title over the area, saying this had also been the wish of her mother before she died. She says while the Banjima are recognised native title holders, they still face restrictions in being able to access the vast outback station that covers nearly 1m acres (400,000 hectares). 'It is rightfully [Banjima] country. It has always been their country, since time began, it's been well documented and talked about,' Robinson said. Sign up for the Afternoon Update email newsletter 'We are the oldest people still living, practising and connected to our Country. It's national and international history, our history, that for at least 60,000 years, we were here, and today, we are still here. 'This is our country, It is in our song-lines, and stories.' As part of the podcast series Gina, Guardian Australia has revealed that Lang Hancock sought ministerial intervention when Sella Robinson was removed from Mulga Downs station in the Pilbara in 1940. While there is no direct evidence that Hancock was her father, the concerns expressed by him lend weight to claims that Rinehart has Aboriginal half-sisters. Another woman, Minnit Doris, who claimed to be Lang Hancock's half-sister born to his father, George, was also abducted at the same time. The girls were removed from the station under government policies that created the Stolen Generations. A trove of previously unreported government documents, obtained from the State Records Office of Western Australia, show that Hancock requested the children be returned to the station. In a letter to the WA minister for the north-west, he suggested that they be swapped for other 'starving' Aboriginal children. 'In the absence of the manager of this station the local police officer and Inspector … ran down and captured two half-caste children who were decently clothed and fed, and cruelly took them from their mothers, to be a burden on the State, despite the fact that they and their parents were fed, clothed and insured by us,' the October 1940 letter said. 'We would suggest that the two children be returned to us and two of the starving mites substituted.' Hancock's request was denied and Sella was taken to one of the largest Aboriginal missions in Western Australia, Moore River Native Settlement, where children from all around the state were incarcerated in poor conditions and often abused. Rinehart has never publicly acknowledged the Robinson family, nor another woman, Hilda Kickett, as relatives. At the time the women made the claims in 1992, a Hancock family lawyer denied them, saying it 'was not Lang's style'. 'That wasn't the kind of thing Lang Hancock would do,' he said. 'I have spoken to young men who worked around Mulga Downs with Lang and I have spoken to confidants who say nothing like this was ever mentioned or rumoured,' the lawyer said after Hancock's death. Robinson said that she is asking with 'sincere respect' for Rinehart to acknowledge the history of her mother's removal from the station and Hancock's attempted intervention, saying the letter showed how 'furious' he was. 'As descendants … knowing she was removed from her homelands and her families by force, we often wonder what the outcome would have been like if Sella had not been 'kidnapped' and had grown up and lived on Mulga Downs Station,' she said. 'Maybe, just maybe, her and her aunty Minnit Doris would have had shares, and rights in inheriting the property, and any other shares/stakes left to George Hancock and his son Langley.' She speculates that the children might have received a mention in Hancock's will, 'if not for their cruel abduction, on that sad, mournful day from Mulga Downs Station'. Robinson, who now lives in Perth, said that if Rinehart decided not to have a DNA test, she would 'respect her decision'. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'However, for me to get peace of mind, and to carry out my late mother's wishes, I invite any one of the Hancock/Rinehart children to come forward with compassion for one human being to another, and give their DNA for comparison,' she said. 'To determine if we are connected by blood. 'I understand all the legal work regarding Lang Hancock's estate has been finalised through the legal system years ago. However I have hope.' A spokesperson for Rinehart's company, Hancock Prospecting, said it had an agreement in place with the Banjima people covering Mulga Downs and 'complies fully with its obligations'. He said the company, under Rinehart's leadership, had given a large section of Mulga Downs to the Banjima for the Youngaleena community. 'And further, at the request of a non-Banjima community, similarly claiming long ties in the Mulga Downs area, [Rinehart] gave a further section of Mulga Downs to that community. 'We value our long-term relationship with the Banjima people and remain committed to working collaboratively in addition to positively for the Banjima people and their future generations, and in accordance with all legal and cultural obligations,' he said. The spokesperson said most of the station now housed mineral tenements of various mining companies, together with related infrastructure. The trove of documents also reveals government concerns about alleged sexual relationships between white men and Aboriginal women at Mulga Downs in the early 20th century and into the 1940s. Under section 46 of the state's Native Administration Act, it was illegal for a 'non-native' to have 'sexual intercourse with any native who is not his wife or her husband'. The correspondence claims the women, who mostly worked as domestic labour and lived in camps on the property, 'must have been used by white men for the satisfaction of their sexual desires'. The exploitation of Aboriginal women by white station workers was 'rampant' across remote areas of Australia at the time, according to the University of Newcastle's Prof Victoria Haskins, who has written extensively on Aboriginal women in domestic service and cross-cultural relationships. 'There was an understanding that Aboriginal women [on the stations] were just sexually available. It was a real sexual frontier.' She said Aboriginal women in these situations had 'no power to say no'. 'The power dynamic between white men and Aboriginal women was extremely uneven. ''Going up to the boss' was probably well understood to be part of the work that was expected of you [as a domestic worker]. Robinson said she believes the history of Mulga Downs needs to be acknowledged as part of the truth-telling required for Australia to 'grow and move forward.' 'We all should have an obligation to revisit our past history, and accept our past for what it is, in order to focus on reconciliation,' she said. 'It is a shared history. Australian History with two sides of the story, and then the facts, and finally the truth,' she said. 'It's been a long time coming, and it's long overdue. 'What is needed now is the due diligence, justice and empathy of all Australians to realise and come together and work together as a nation.' Listen to the update Gina: The DNA request Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Greens blame poor election showing on Liberal vote collapse and targeted attack from right-wing groups
The Greens are blaming the dramatic collapse in the Liberal vote in Queensland and targeted attacks from right-wing lobby groups for an election result that cost the party's housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, his seat. Adam Bandt was also given a major fright on Saturday night but is now expected to retain his seat of Melbourne as counting continues. Bandt had high hopes of playing kingmaker in the next parliament, banking on Labor falling in minority to give the Greens leverage to push for action on policies such as dental into Medicare and winding back negative gearing and capital gains tax. But a very different scenario has eventuated after Labor significantly increased its majority, aided by winning two of the three Brisbane seats the Greens won in 2022. Chandler-Mather lost Griffith to Labor's Renee Coffey while Stephen Bates succumbed to Madonna Jarrett in Brisbane. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter The Greens failed to pick up Macnamara and are in a knife-edge contest in their main target seat of Wills. The ABC has called the Labor-held seat of Richmond for the government, but the Greens are not giving up hope of snatching it. The minor party is confident about holding Ryan in Brisbane, meaning the Greens are likely to have at least two MPs in parliament. But that is well short of the ambitious nine-seat goal Bandt held at the start of the campaign. Chandler-Mather's defeat is a blow for the Greens, with the 33-year-old touted as a future leader after becoming the face of its rebrand as the 'party for renters'. The rookie MP was a polarising figure, with Labor framing his hardline approach to housing negotiations and appearance at a pro-CFMEU rally as a turn-off for some progressive voters. Chandler-Mather suffered a swing of just under 2%, though Greens and Labor sources agreed that was not an indication of a major backlash from voters in the south Brisbane seat. Sources in both camps says the major reason for Chandler-Mather's defeat was instead the collapse in the Liberal vote, which occurred across Brisbane – including in Peter Dutton's own electorate of Dickson. Labor sources also confirmed cases of some Liberal supporters voting for Labor as a protest against the Greens MP. The Greens MP and candidates faced a barrage of negative ads from right-wing campaigners Advance and other conservative lobby groups such as the Australian Institute for Progress. Advance was crowing about the Greens' election result on Sunday afternoon, with the group's executive director, Matthew Sheahan, congratulating supporters for helping to 'stop the Greens in their tracks'. 'The Greens have been belted. And for that, I thank you,' Sheahan wrote in an email seen by Guardian Australia. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The Greens' poor lower house result has prompted questions about Bandt's future as party leader. Guardian Australia understands Bandt – who did not speak to the media on Sunday – has given no indication he intends to step down. The Greens' leadership positions are vacated after each election. The Greens' environment spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, described Bandt as an 'incredible leader' when asked on Sunday if his position was now 'untenable'. 'He deserves a sleep-in and and breakfast in bed, and then I'm sure he'll be back up and ready to go,' she said. The Greens were taking heart from the Senate results, where the party was on track to retain all six seats that were up for re-election with a higher national vote. Labor could potentially hold 30 upper house seats in the next parliament, meaning it would only require the Greens' votes to pass legislation that the Coalition opposes. Hanson-Young said the next parliament would be the most progressive in history. 'We now have the most progressive parliament Australia has ever made, and there's an opportunity for genuine progressive reform,' she said.
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The post-Howard identity of the Liberal party has failed to gel into a contemporary form. Now is the time for reflection
It was a tall order for Peter Dutton to topple a first-term government – and so it proved. But first-term governments have often gone backwards. The scale of the Labor victory highlights structural problems with the Liberals that have been papered over for years. Dutton lost because of mixed messaging and not the medium. Labor had done its best to lose the election over the last three years but came good at the right time when people were switched on and thinking about the election. Labor was well organised and coherent, their presentation firmly grounded in Labor values and appealed across various demographics. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter There was a clear choice and Australia opted for a version of relaxed and comfortable over a leap into the unknown. The risk of a prime minister Dutton was leveraged with none too subtle references to the 'Americanisation' of policies. Just as in Canada, the Trump factor played to the incumbent's strengths. All politics is local. The danger for Labor now is hubris and overreach. In no small measure, this victory is thanks to their opponents' fumbles. If they think this victory is an endorsement of the status quo they are setting themselves up for a mighty fall. Labor does not have a proper mandate to grapple with the tough questions of economic reform and grand strategy in a world order that is changing rapidly. Australia cannot stand still. Grievance politics was not enough to win. An opposition must have a clear and coherent plan that demonstrates they are ready to govern. The polls over the preceding few years were a false dawn for Liberals. They were not an indicator of final voting intention but a snapshot of voter frustrations. Dutton amplified those frustrations and acted as if the deal was sealed before the campaign started. As the election came into view, the scrutiny of the opposition increased, and things fell apart. Matching your opponent's policies only works if you then move the agenda on to your preferred areas of battle, for the Liberals this has always been the economy and national security. They fluffed both. Too little too late on defence and mixed messages on the economy (higher deficits in the next two years and then budget improvement). Now is the time for serious reflection. When the Liberals lost in 2022 it was easy to pin it all on Scott Morrison who ran a very centralised operation. The Abbot-Turnbull rivalry pitted the broad church of liberals and conservatives against itself. Longstanding differences over climate crippled the government. The Morrison era moved somewhat on issues like net zero but was consumed by the urgency of dealing with a once-in-a-century pandemic. Necessary deficit spending in that era played into a public insouciance about debt and deficits. The Coalition franchise has been very successful in winning elections but in a world of AI, changing geopolitical circumstances and wall-to-wall social media, there is room for adaptation. This can be done without abrogating long-held values and principles that can help us navigate the current trends. Liberals preserve the best of the past while adapting to the future. The decision to target outer suburban and regional seats made sense, given Dutton's persona – but it conceded inner-city seats to the teals and other minor parties. A broad church has an all-of-the-above seat strategy. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The Menzies Liberals were not populists and would be bemused by the so-called culture wars. Menzian Liberals do not divide the electorate into us and them. No snide references to the elites v 'the real people'. We value education and science, and meritocracy based on having a fair go. Pragmatism and practicality are preferred to social experimentation and ideology. Liberals eschew identity politics, considering people on their own merits rather than as part of a group, and upholding the rights of the individual in the face of the collective. Economic populism or business bashing is also at odds with traditional Liberal equities around smaller government and lower taxes. The argument for these traditional policies is economic efficiency (a bigger pie that makes more fairness possible) and restraining the power of government over people. Effective competition policies are the best way to restrain the power of big business. A further round of economic reforms in the Hawke-Keating and Howard-Costello mould has become increasingly urgent. Along with smart industrial policies to leverage sovereign capabilities in critical and emerging tech. But advocates need to stand up and explain why and how. It won't happen by itself. Rational economic policies are entirely compatible with a strong social safety net that balances protection with incentives to self-improvement. Strong families and communities are part of that safety net. The social role of housing is an important priority given the fracturing between generations that we are witnessing in Australia. On social cohesion, the Liberal creed used to be that the things that unite us are greater than those that divide. Social cohesion is not a function of enforcing conformity to a predetermined set of national characteristics. In liberal democratic Australia, freedom to celebrate one's heritage, religion or beliefs is baked into our values. The only caveat is an overriding loyalty to Australian institutions like democracy and the rule of law that make this freedom possible. Rights and responsibilities in equal measure. This second-term opposition should go back to first principles and build policy on those foundations, in tandem with keeping the government of the day accountable. Listening to our fellow Australians, grappling with the complexity of demographic and social change in a way consistent with Menzian values will succeed if we do the hard work. The countdown to the next election has begun. Arthur Sinodinos is a former Australian ambassador to the US. He is the partner and chair of the Asia Group's Australia practice and was a former minister for industry, innovation and science
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- The Guardian
Cassius Turvey: fate of four murder accused may hinge on CCTV footage
Hours of video footage captured before and after an Indigenous teenager was fatally bashed have been instrumental in framing the prosecution's case against his four accused murderers. Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, died 10 days after he was allegedly chased, knocked to the ground and 'deliberately struck to the head' with a metal pole in Perth's eastern suburbs on October 13, 2022. Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 23, her then boyfriend Jack Steven James Brearley, 24, and his friends, Brodie Lee Palmer, 29, and Mitchell Colin Forth, 27, are on trial in the West Australian supreme court for Cassius' murder. Prosecutor Ben Stanwix says Brearley delivered the fatal blows while 'hunting for kids' after his car windows were smashed, and alleges Forth and Palmer aided him and, along with Gilmore, shared a common purpose. Sign up for the Afternoon Update Brearley denies wielding the pole, saying he only punched Cassius after the teen knifed him. He says it was Palmer who bashed Cassius with it, which Palmer denies. Dozens of CCTV video clips were played for the jury during the mammoth 12-week trial, including hours of footage recorded by a motion-activated camera at the home Gilmore shared with Brearley and her family. The prosecution alleges some footage shows the group with weapons, including knuckle dusters, a baseball bat, an axe and shopping trolley parts. 'Somebody smashed my car and they're about to die,' Brearley is accused of saying in one video. The same camera also captured Gilmore's mother discussing by phone the attack on Cassius in the hours afterwards. Prosecutors say Brearley was bragging on the other end of the call, with a voice heard saying, 'He was lying in a field and I was smacking him with a trolley pole so hard.' Brearley denied it. He also insisted it wasn't him mocking Cassius when the voice mimics the teen saying, 'I'm so sorry, don't hurt me.' Yet he agreed during his week in the witness box that he and Palmer re-enacted the bashing, which was also recorded on CCTV, and blamed each other for the murder. Palmer told the jury he was 'full of piss' the day Cassius was targeted and waited in his ute near when Brearley ran into bushland with a pole after a group of teens including Cassius. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion He said Brearley yelled for help and said he'd been stabbed, and that when he walked into the scrub, he found Brearley standing over a blood-covered Cassius. Brearley's version is that he chased Cassius towards a creek, and after the teen slowed and tripped on a piece of wire, the pair ended up in the dirt. He told the jury Cassius stabbed him in the leg with a steak knife, and he tried to flee, but the teen held on to him, so he punched him. He said he landed two blows on Cassius's face and called out to Palmer because he had been stabbed. Brearley, who is also accused of trying to frame another man for the alleged murder, said Palmer, whom he allegedly sold drugs for, appeared on the scene with a shopping trolley handle and was the one who hit Cassius. But a murder weapon has not been found. In one police interview, Brearley told detectives there were 20 armed 'kids' mouthing off at him, and he ran at them. He said he chased 'the fat one' and that after he punched him three times, Cassius cried and pleaded with him to stop and apologised over the alleged knifing, but his version of events changed during the interview. Prosecutors say it was another teen who slashed Brearley's leg, and his attack on Cassius was a fury-filled, vengeful act of vigilante violence. CCTV recorded outside Palmer's house in the hours before Cassius was bashed shows the accused murderers drinking alcohol before climbing into Palmer's 'monster' ute and leaving. The court was told they drove to Gilmore's home after her younger brothers messaged her about social media threats they received about a potential home invasion, with calls for them to meet in a nearby park for a fight. Palmer, Brearley, Forth and Gilmore later drove to a train and bus station to look for the teens Brearley believed were behind the threats and damage to his car. About the same time, Cassius and a large group of fellow students were on a bus to a field near Gilmore's home to watch a fight being talked about on social media. CCTV on the bus showed him dressed in a green school uniform t-shirt, dark shorts and a black backpack. He's tall and calm and stands quietly near the rear doors, with his right hand wrapped around a yellow pole to steady himself. He appears deep in thought as the students chat with each other around him. Cameras on buildings and in the bus recorded Cassius and the group stepping off at a stop about the same time Palmer allegedly drives his ute with his co-accused past. In the minutes that follow, as the students walk down a street, Gilmore leaves Brearley, Palmer and Forth after an argument. Prosecutors say the three men then confronted Cassius' group before he was attacked. A witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury he was among the teens. Then 13, he said he ran into bushland in fear of the men and that, after crossing a creek, he looked back and spotted his 'close mate' Cassius get hit by a man with a description matching Brearley. The teen said Cassius, who suffered brain bleeds consistent with blunt force trauma, was bleeding from the side of his head and crying in pain. Dashcam footage taken in a nearby car park later showed him lying on the ground near an ambulance stretcher with a security guard helping him. Cassius was laid to rest just over a month later by hundreds of mourners who celebrated his life. The trial continues with chief justice Peter Quinlan giving the jury directions on Friday before it retired.
