28-07-2025
Call to criminalise AI technology used for child abuse
Bill introduced to parliament to criminalise the generative A-I tools used to create child exploitation material
Report makes recommendations to minimise harm from strip searches
Alex de Minaur claims victory at the Washington Open Independent politicians are pushing for artificial intelligence technology that is used to create child abuse material, to be outlawed. Kate Chaney, the Member for Curtin, introduced a private members bill to criminalise downloading software that allows users to insert a person's photos and use generative AI to sexualise them. The legislation follows a roundtable on AI-facilitated child exploitation, which called for urgent action. Dannielle Kelly from the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children welcomed the move.
"We will always say that a child is always being injured or abused in the beginning of any process of AI. So there is always a real child that has gone through the system, and then it it becomes further and further away from that real child. However, if if you have a child, and if you are a parent, as Ali said, you are going to have that worry that your child is on the internet somewhere, and that this is a continuation."
Labor backbencher Ed Husic says the government should be prepared to increase pressure on Israel to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said Israel's actions are completely indefensible and are clearly in breach of international law. The coalition has blamed Hamas for the lack of aid reaching Gaza. Israel's deputy chief of mission to Australia has also said they don't recognize any famine or starvation in the Gaza Strip. Mr Husic says Australia should consider stronger sanctions.
"I believe that we should be prepared to do that. The government has taken some action recently, which was important. I think the combination of the statement last week, some of the images that came out last week that attracted international attention, plus the decision of the French government to recognise Palestine, those things alone, I would argue, in just the week, would have prompted the Netanyahu government to acknowledge the tenor of international concern and start allowing more aid to go in."
A new report has warned of the trauma caused by a controversial strip search policy in New South Wales and the disproportionate impact on First Nations Australians. A report from Harm Reduction Australia and Redfern Legal Centre has analysed previously unreleased police data, showing more than 85 per cent of over 80,000 strip searches conducted in the past 10 years have found no drugs. Tobias Elliott-Orr, the First Nations Legal Officer at the Redfern Legal Centre, says young Indigenous people have been especially targeted with strip searches. "The big takeaway from the recommendations is the negative effect searches are having on anyone being searched but especially young people and young First Nations people. We're finding that First Nations people are obviously over-targeted and over-policed with these strip searches and normal searches. They've been akin to the level of trauma of something similar to a sexual assault. It can have long-lasting effects on not only their trust and relations with police but also on a psychological level, the harm that it's causing." The report recommends the end of strip searches targeted at children under 18 and those suspected of minor drug possession and calls for the end of drug dogs at festivals and events.
The authors have also called for evidence-based drug reforms and the expansion of harm reduction programs.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has introduced a private members bill to dump Australia's net zero climate emissions target. It marks an escalation in the group of Coalition backbenchers who are fighting against net zero, with Nationals including Matt Canavan, Colin Boyce, and Michael McCormack as well as Liberal MP Garth Hamilton pushing for the commitment to be scrapped. They say the plan is driving up power costs, hurting regional industries including mining, metals, and manufacturing, and hurting the communities in regional areas. The Opposition is currently reviewing all policies it took to the May election after their significant defeat. Nationals leader David Littleproud says he supports Mr Joyce's ability to table a bill. "We've got a process, a unanimous process, agreed to by a party room, to review this, to get the economic analysis to come back with solutions and alternatives. That's not going to be forever. That's a process that will only take a couple of months. We've got back benches that have every right to bring forward private member but members bills, you should never discourage that."
The bill is expected to fail with no support from Labor or much of the crossbench.
In tennis, Alex de Minaur has survived three nail-biting championship points and fought back to win the Washington Open title and re-enter the top-ten players in the world. The Australian men's number-one fought off fellow 26-year-old Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7 6-1 7-6 in the final to claim his first title of the year and the 10th of his career. The hard-fought tiebreaker capped off a week full of positives for de Minaur ahead of next month's US Open in New York, while Spaniard Davidovich Fokina fell just short of claiming his first ATP Tour title. As seen on the Tennis Channel, De Minaur stayed humble after the win, saying he got lucky against his opponent.
"You're way too good to not have one of these, it's coming for sure. You deserved it today, I just got lucky. You are a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player. No one on the tour wants to play you and this is not the end, this is only going up for you."
