Australia news live: pressure on Melbourne university as students front misconduct hearings over pro-Palestine sit-in | Australia news

Benita Kolovos

A key focus of Jaclyn Symes’ is also aggravated burglaries committed by youth offenders.

She told reporters that she understands community concern about this type of offending:

Police are on the beat trying to prevent and deter this type of crime. But of course, people are scared [of] someone entering your home regardless of their age and regardless of the fact that, more often than not, [they are] just trying to get car keys.

Massive invasion of your personal space … creates fear, and it means that you feel unsafe and I want to send a strong message to the community that we want to ensure that the justice system is able to respond to, particularly that offence. That offence [is one] that most people are worried about.

Benita Kolovos

Circling back to Victorian attorney general Jaclyn Symes’ press conference on youth crime

Jaclyn Symes was asked if the state is in a “youth crime crisis” or if it’s just a matter of perception. She responded:

As I’ve said, the stats have remained reasonably static in relation to the numbers of criminal offences committed by youth in Victoria. What we’re seeing is an increasing number of crimes committed by the same cohort. That’s the cohort I’m most concerned about.

As I’ve said, many of the programs, diversions, police programs are working for the vast majority of your average, naughty kid … I am very concerned, and the community is very concerned, about the group of repeat offenders where these programs haven’t worked.

Symes said most of these repeat offenders are known to police and child protection workers, and have very complex backgrounds:

Of course they have vulnerabilities that are not unique. They have come from trauma backgrounds, a lot of out-of-home care kids, [suffer] family violence, they have been victims themselves. There are a lot of characteristics that are common in this cohort, which in a sense, makes it very difficult to respond to. It makes it challenging.

These are kids that ordinarily, you put them in front of a police officer and they respond with respect … They don’t necessarily have people that care about them, and what happens to them, which is again, one of the issues that I’ve been asking the courts about having the same magistrate [for offenders]. If you’re a repeat offender, having someone tell you, ‘I don’t want to see you here again, I really want you to do well’.

Benita Kolovos

Symes says youth justice bill will address fears about youth crime, including recidivism

Victoria’s attorney-general, Jaclyn Symes, is holding a press conference amid debate about youth crime in the state. She says:

We know that the community is extremely concerned about youth crime. We know that a lot of our programs and diversionary efforts, police efforts go a long way to diverting many young people away from the justice system and a lot of those programs are very, very successful. However, we do have a cohort of young offenders, repeat offenders that are causing a lot of damage, a lot of concern and we know that there’s fear and we want to send a very strong message that the government is focused on this.

Symes said the youth justice bill she introduced to parliament before the winter break, which is yet to pass, addresses many concerns around youth recidivism.

We haven’t been sitting on our hands. We have been developing legislation that is targeted to responding to all levels of youth crime.

She says included in the bill is an additional magistrate for the children’s courts dedicated to repeat offenders, and a trial of electronic monitoring for youth on bail. Symes however reiterates:

Unfortunately, custodial settings and remand evidence does not necessarily support an outcome of community safety. It’s an appropriate response to serious offending and we have seen an uptick in the number of young people that are currently in our custodial settings. We know that that’s an appropriate mechanism or response in many situations but having a child on bail, ensuring that their family support their ability to connect with programs if they stay on bail … They’re more likely to not become an adult offender as opposed to short stints on remand, not meeting new people, recognising the kids that know how to be hardened criminals creates the effect that you create an unsafe community.

‘We will not stop’: Melbourne uni students attend misconduct hearings over pro-Palestine sit-in

Caitlin Cassidy

Students at the University of Melbourne facing misconduct hearings today over a pro-Palestine sit-in have vowed they “will not stop” as pressure mounts on the university over the use of surveillance footage in mounting its cases.

About 20 students have been issued with misconduct notices from the university for their part in the sit-in, which included CCTV footage and wifi location data.

The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (Oviv) confirmed it had made preliminary inquiries with the university to determine whether an investigation proceeded over the use of tracking technology.

This morning, a crowd gathered on campus to demand the disciplinary action were dropped. In attendance was branch president of the university’s National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), David Gonzalez.

He has sent correspondence to management raising a number of concerns about the misconduct allegations, and seeking urgent clarification on current data collection practices and a lack of informed consent of student and staff.

A spokesperson for the university said it was currently progressing a range of student conduct matters and would not be commenting on individual cases, adding it had been in communication with Ovic.

Josh Taylor

Circling back to the parliamentary inquiry on social media

City guide publisher Broadsheet has said Google offered just $60,000 for a year’s worth of content, arguing it did not have to offer more because they were not required under the news media bargaining code.

Broadsheet founder Nick Shelton told a parliamentary inquiry on social media that during the 2021 negotiation process between Google, Meta and news publishers over payment for news, both tech companies were less interested in dealing with independent publishers. He said Meta refused to engage entirely, while Google offered “an uncommercial deal we would have lost money on” and told the company to take it or leave it.

I’m happy to share that the example in Broadsheet’s perspective was they offered us $60,000 for 12 months, and with that, we had to create an enormous amount of content on their behalf.

We said we’d have to hire someone to do that – [it would] cost us more than $60,000 to hire that person. They said ‘well, that’s our offer. If you don’t want to deal with it, then tough. We’re not designated, so we don’t have to do anything’.

Comment has been sought from Google.

Broadsheet has estimated it would lose 52% of its revenue should Meta block news if forced to negotiate with publishers for payment for news. Shelton said much of that money was in advertising for videos that are published on Facebook and Instagram to the organisation’s 1.5m followers.

Mamamia’s CEO, Natalie Harvey, said if Meta does block news, state and federal governments should reduce or pull their advertising from the platforms and redirect the funding to local sources.

A crocodile that snatched a child swimming in a creek in the Northern Territory has been destroyed, AAP reports.

The 12-year-old went missing on the evening of 2 July near the community of Palumpa, about 360km south-west of Darwin. The child was last seen swimming at Mango Creek.

A 4.2m crocodile was shot by local rangers on Sunday and resurfaced yesterday. Police have confirmed it was the reptile that attacked the child and have notified family.

Senior Sgt Erica Gibson said the family has requested privacy as they grieve:

The events of last week have had a huge impact on the family and local police are continuing to provide support to everyone impacted.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Josh Taylor

Age assurance tech has not proven it can solve issues with young people online, says Digital Rights Watch chair

Digital Rights Watch chair, Lizzie O’Shea, has told the parliamentary inquiry on social media that age verification or assurance technology has not proven it can be a solution to issues with young people on social media, risks making the internet worse for everyone, or harming young people.

I’m not sure it’s entirely clear that age verification can deliver on the promise that’s been made, let alone not be a harmful intervention for many young people who use online spaces to find friends, solace, express themselves, all sorts of things. So I would caution about seeing this too simplistically.

Liberal MP Andrew Wallace, who has been seeking age verification online since 2020, asked O’Shea how young people under 18 could be protected from accessing adult material.

O’Shea said there is complex and contradictory research about the link between the proposed initiatives on age assurance and the impact on things like gendered violence.

What I think is it’s a more complicated topic than is proposed by people who are treating age verification as the solution to the problem, I absolutely think online spaces are unsafe for young people in a variety of different ways, and that there’s a huge amount that can be done, both by regulators and in respect of platform design, which requires regulation in order for the best design to come to the fore to address some of those harms.

And I think on age verification, age assurance is a not solution to these problems … the promise will not be delivered upon, and it can’t be taken in isolation, because there are very serious impacts for everybody else who uses the internet.

Wong declares Australia’s ongoing commitment to nuclear non-proliferation

Karen Middleton

Foreign minister Penny Wong has issued a statement marking 50 years since the creation of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (Asno) and declaring Australia’s ongoing commitment to nuclear non-proliferation.

Wong says Asno is now working with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Aukus partners the US and the UK to develop a safeguards system for the nuclear-powered – but conventionally armed – submarines Australia will acquire under the tri-nation defence agreement.

Asno was established under the Whitlam government with the aim of working to prevent nuclear war and stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Albanese government has been keen to emphasise that the Aukus submarines will not carry nuclear weapons, insisting that Aukus does not breach the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty amid fears among some critics that other countries may seek to leverage it as a precedent to try to circumvent proliferation restrictions.

Wong said in a statement:

Australia has a proud history of advocating for non-proliferation and disarmament – and the Albanese Government is continuing this legacy.

Given that it is nuclear weapons that most risk catastrophe, we must work harder to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. We will continue to work with others to strengthen the NPT and urge progress on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty.

Josh Butler

Marles says Australia will ‘work with whoever the American people choose to lead it’

Continuing from our last post: asked about perceptions of strong leadership from America, Richard Marles said he was pleased to have met his American counterpart Lloyd Austin many times, saying that said “a lot about the way in which the Biden Administration has been engaging with the world, about the way in which the US and that Joe Biden has been managing its relationships with the world, and we could not be more pleased with that.”

We’re certainly very pleased about the focus that the Biden Administration has placed on the Indo-Pacific, on the issues which are front and centre for Australia.

Asked about Biden’s debate performance, where he appeared uncomfortable and lost at times, Marles said he wouldn’t provide commentary on American political affairs.

Asked whether the “instability” could lead to another Trump presidency, Marles responded:

America’s got a right to go through its political processes in an election year, and I’m going to let America do that themselves without providing a commentary on it. It’s part of the democratic process.

We will work with whoever the American people choose to lead it after the first Tuesday in November. Right now, we are working very closely with the Biden Administration and we’re very happy with the role that the Biden Administration is playing in terms of providing American leadership in a troubled world.

Josh Butler

Marles dodges questions about Biden and Trump during press conference in Washington

Deputy prime minister Richard Marles has dutifully dodged a number of questions about US president Joe Biden and Republican hopeful Donald Trump in a press conference in Washington DC this morning, saying “America has been providing strong leadership” and declining to weigh into the storm over Biden’s political future.

Marles is representing Australia at the Nato summit this week. The defence minister is fronting the conference after prime minister Anthony Albanese was criticised by some conservative voices for not attending himself.

In a doorstop interview, Marles was asked seven questions in a row about Biden, Trump and the looming US election – to which he played a dead bat to nearly all.

Asked if world leaders were looking at Biden’s performance at Nato, Marles said:

I think people are focused on the 75th anniversary of Nato and the challenges that are facing Nato and its allies in the contemporary world.

The Albanese government is set to establish 12 new Indigenous protected areas (IPAs) following a $14.6m investment.

IPAs are areas of land and sea country managed by First Nations groups. A statement from environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney said that combined, the new projects will protect 7.5m hectares of land and 450,000 hectares of sea country – bigger than the size of Tasmania.

The new IPAs go towards the government’s commitment to protect 30% of land by 2030. Plibersek said:

Our investment to establish 12 new IPAs will not only protect our biodiversity and rehabilitate areas in need, but it will produce more local jobs and opportunities for regional and remote areas.

Burney said that “no one knows this country better than First Nations people who for time immemorial have cared for our land and sea.”

The new IPAs include:

• Mount Willoughby IPA in South Australia

• Yanyuwa Sea Country IPA in the Northern Territory

• Bellinger Valley IPA consultation project in NSW

• Bringing Jagun Together in NSW

• Muunthiwarra, Alka Bawa and Kalpowar (MAK) IPA in Queensland

• Wadja IPA consultation project in Queensland

• Pormpuraaw Aboriginal Lands and Waters IPA in Queensland

• Western Miyarrka IPA consultation project in the Northern Territory

• Simpson Desert IPA in the Northern Territory

• Nyamal IPA in Western Australia

• Wudjari IPA in Western Australia

• Yindjibarndi IPA in Western Australia

Just circling back to news that the boss of NSW’s greyhound racing industry has quit:

Racing minister David Harris has been speaking with ABC News Breakfast following the announcement, and was asked whether the resignation offers any solution to the industry’s problems?

He responded:

I have been working with Greyhound Racing NSW since becoming minister, making sure that they understand they have to operate at the very highest standards. It’s a matter for the board about the CEO, but certainly I have put to them a number of issues which need resolution and we will continue to work with them to solve those particular issues.

We are also about to announce an inquiry looking into some of the claims that have been made in the most recent reports, and also covering other allegations that have been made since we came to government …

I think it’s important for the public to know that we take these claims seriously and that we are acting to refer them to the appropriate body or, in this case, having an independent inquiry look at some of those issues.