Iran summons Australian ambassador in Iran over photos from LGBTQ+ celebration in embassy
Iran has summoned the Australian ambassador in Iran over photos published from a celebration in the embassy to mark Wear it Purple Day, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
As Associated Press reports, IRNA said the foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador to Tehran, Ian McConville, and condemned the publication of photos on social media, calling it insulting and contrary to Iranian and Islamic culture, as well as international norms.
In response, McConville said that his country had not insulted Iran or Iranian culture, adding there was no reference to Iran in the post on Instagram.
On Monday, the embassy published a photo of McConville and his colleagues wearing purple and saying:
Today, and every day, we’re dedicated to creating a supportive environment, where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves.
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, but under a religious decree issued 30 years ago, transgender people are allowed to seek gender transition surgery.
Key events
Independent urges government to work with crossbench to pass environment watchdog legislation
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has called on the government to work with the crossbench to pass its new environment watchdog powers, following reports it may be weakened to pass parliament. Lisa Cox has all the details below:
In a video posted to X, Wilkie said:
It is bitterly disappointing to hear that the prime minister is ready to cave in to Coalition demands to water down the new Environment Protection Agency.
Look, the Coalition is the mob who abolished the carbon price, who waged endless climate wars and who took no steps to repair our broken environmental laws in their nine years of office.
So what’s going on? Why doesn’t the Labor party just ignore the opposition and work with the crossbench? Because after all, we’re the members of the parliament that want these reforms to really work, and work well.
The Federal Government is considering watering down their environmental watchdog to appease the Coalition. This would be an egregious betrayal of trust and another backflip from the Government on important environmental reforms. #auspol #politas pic.twitter.com/e6gsXtcX9x
— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) September 4, 2024
Cash splash to boost canoe slalom world championships
Funding has been announced to help Australia host the canoe slalom world championships, AAP reports, after the success of the country’s athletes at the Paris Olympics.
The federal and NSW governments have committed $3.2m for Paddle Australia to host the championships at Penrith’s Whitewater Stadium in Sydney in October 2025.
About 300 athletes from 50 countries will compete in 10 events, including canoe and kayak singles, canoe and kayak teams and kayak cross, in front of an estimated 20,000 spectators.
Australian households are now familiar with whitewater sports after the success of sisters Jess and Noemie Fox at the Paris Olympics, who won three gold medals. The pair are scheduled to compete at the home championships next year.
In honour of their triumph at the Games, the NSW government has also announced the island in the centre of the whitewater stadium will be named Fox Island after the Fox family. Jess Fox said:
I remember being a six-year-old in the stands for Sydney 2000 and an 11-year-old in the stands when the world championships were here in 2005, so to have that legacy 20, 25 years on, for me it means so much.
Foreign minister says Russian attack on Poltava ‘horrific’
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has described Russian attacks on the Ukrainian city of Poltava as “horrific”.
In a post to X, Wong wrote:
Russia’s attacks on the Ukrainian city of Poltava are horrific. More than 50 lives have been lost and hundreds are injured. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and their loved ones. Australia continues to support Ukraine as it fights Russia’s brutal, illegal war.
Tehan claims Giles ‘put community safety at risk’ to ‘reduce his workload’
Earlier this morning, the shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, was asked about Paul Karp’s exclusive story that former immigration minister Andrew Giles raised the threshold for ministerial reconsideration of character cancellations, increasing the risk that criminals convicted of serious offences might keep their visas.
Tehan told ABC RN:
I see this report as deeply, deeply disturbing, and it puts serious question marks on Andrew Giles ability to remain a minister of the crown.
It seems to reduce his workload he put community safety at risk. Now he’s a very, very good friend of the prime minister’s, that’s why he wasn’t sacked in the first place.
The prime minister needs to look at this report. Paul Karp, the reporter from The Guardian, has done superb work when it’s come to this issue and others, and if this report is accurate – to reduce his workload he put community safety at risk – then he should not be a minister of the crown and I would hope that the prime minister will [look] very seriously at this report in The Guardian today.
Giles has been contacted for comment.
Christopher Knaus
Regulator considering action after three energy retailers allegedly took welfare money from former customers
The national energy regulator is weighing up whether to take new action against three retailers for their alleged use of Centrelink’s Centrepay system after a landmark court win against AGL.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) won a major case in the federal court against AGL in August after alleging the energy giant used the government-run payment system to wrongly take welfare money from almost 500 customers for years after they ceased being customers.
A Guardian Australia investigation into the Centrepay system has revealed two other major energy retailers, Origin and the Queensland-based Ergon Energy, have also allegedly used the system to deduct welfare payments of former customers.
The government services minister, Bill Shorten, has since referred three energy retailers to the AER for potential investigation. It is understood the AER, having won in the federal court, is now weighing up whether to take enforcement action against the three retailers.
Speakman defends Liberal party and says challenges of last few weeks will be ‘overcome’
Mark Speakman defended the Liberal party and said its fundamentals “remain sound”, telling reporters:
We are a party that is committed to the basic values of individual freedoms, standing up for families and small business, strong economic management. We are the party that for most of the century has delivered in Australia. Those fundamentals remain sound.
Here on Macquarie Street, I lead a united team … full of talented individuals, whether they are longer-serving members or newbies …
Those fundamentals are there and of course there have been challenges in the last few weeks, but they are challenges we must overcome. We will overcome and we will unite and take the fight up to Labor.
Mark Speakman stands by decision not to call for Don Harwin’s resignation
Q: Do you regret not having sacked Don Harwin, which could have potentially avoided this federal intervention?
Mark Speakman responded that “I don’t have the power to sack anyone on state executive”
The federal executive, however, have the power to intervene if they believe there are appropriate circumstances… Federal executive has the power to intervene if they think there is a risk to campaign readiness and that’s obviously what the federal executive has decided.
And what is more important than the internal make up of the Liberal Party administration committee, be it state executive or a smaller committee, is making sure we give the people of South Wales outgrew best chance of defeating these terrible Labor governments and that is what matters…
But no, I don’t regret not calling for Mr Harwin’s resignation… It is nothing to do with faction or mates. I have formed a good-faith opinion that the stuff up down on Macquarie Street was at the feet of the state director.
NSW opposition leader speaking in Sydney following federal takeover
The NSW opposition leader, Mark Speakman, is speaking to reporters in Sydney.
Yesterday, the federal Liberal executive intervened in the NSW party, demanding it appoint a temporary committee of three to run the troubled division after the failure to nominate candidates for some council seats.
Speakman has told reporters:
I don’t know what is in that report that has led federal executives to form the view that intervention was appropriate. My views about culpability for the nominations debacle remain the same. They remain unchanged.
Asked about Rob Stokes’ announcement that he wouldn’t be involved in the administrative committee (see earlier post), Speakman said:
There will be plenty of excellent people who can serve on any administrative committee set up and I’m sure we will find good people to serve on that committee.
Josh Taylor
Photos of Australian children included in AI dataset removed
Photos of Australian children that were included in the data set used by several AI image-generating tools have been removed following a report by Guardian Australia in July.
An analysis by Human Rights Watch of less than 0.0001% of the 5.85bn images contained in the Laion-5B dataset, used by services such as Stable Diffusion creator Stability AI and Midjourney, found 362 photos of Australian children scraped from the internet.
Germany-based Laion does not keep a repository of all of the images it scrapes from the internet, but it contains a list of URLs to the original images, along with the alternate text included on those linked images.
HRW reported yesterday that it had confirmed Laion had removed the images identified, and those identified of Brazilian children, but warned that given they had only analysed a fraction of the dataset, more images of identifiable children likely remain in the dataset.
Two men charged for allegedly possessing 11okg of cocaine in Far North Queensland
Two men have been charged after 110kg of cocaine was seized after an investigation in Far North Queensland.
The men, both 39, were arrested on the Cape York Peninsula yesterday afternoon. It will be alleged they travelled to Seisia to collect a commercial quantity of cocaine from a small boat in the Torres Strait.
The men were arrested after they were allegedly seen removing several polystyrene boxes from the small boat and loading them into a car at Seisia Wharf.
Police intercepted the car and searched the boxes, allegedly finding 110 packages containing a white substance, which returned a positive result for cocaine.
The men were taken into custody and to Bamaga police station, before being flown to Cairns. Both men are due to appear in Cairns magistrates court today.
The men, one each from Yorke and Moa islands, have both been charged with possessing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs (cocaine). The AFP acting commander, Adrian Telfer, said the cocaine had an estimated street value of $44m.
Catie McLeod
Rob Stokes won’t serve on NSW Liberal division administration committee
The federal takeover of the New South Wales Liberal division has hit an early hurdle after former state MP Rob Stokes refused to serve on the administration committee.
The party’s federal executive launched an intervention into the NSW branch of the party yesterday, demanding it appoint a committee of three “eminent Australians” for 10 months to run the division after its council nominations disaster.
It recommended the appointment of former party president Alan Stockdale, former Howard-era communications minister Richard Alston and former NSW planning minister Stokes.
But Stokes told the federal executive he was not in a position to accept a role he hadn’t applied for. Guardian Australia understands Stokes was not aware of the committee, its composition or its terms of reference.
The NSW division has until next Thursday to comply with the federal executive’s request.
Murray Watt ‘concerned’ at Iranian government reaction to social media post
Circling back to Murray Watt’s interview on ABC News Breakfast earlier:
The minister was asked about reports that Australia’s ambassador in Iran had been summoned for an Instagram post celebrating Wear it Purple Day (as we flagged earlier in the blog).
What does the Australian government think about this? Watt responded:
Certainly the Albanese government’s views and our values are that we support all Australians, regardless of their sexual orientation, their gender, their race. And I am concerned to see this reaction from the Iranian government to the activities of the Australian Embassy.
We’re very proud about the fact that our embassies promote Australian values internationally, and I’m very concerned to see an overseas government seemingly take action against an Australian Embassy that is upholding Australian values.
Will there be any counter-reaction here in Australia? Watt said the news had only just broken this morning, and “it’s probably a little bit early for me to be predicting that.”
But I’m sure these are things that Penny Wong and others will be taking into account.
Tech giants must reveal children’s social media habits: online safety watchdog
Social media companies are facing pressure to reveal how many Australian children are using their platforms, AAP reports.
Google, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta, TikTok, Reddit, Discord, Twitch and Snap must answer a series of questions from the online safety watchdog about the number of children on their platforms and the age assurance measures used to prevent access by under aged kids.
Most of these sites have age limits to prevent children under 13 from using social media. But one-in-four children aged eight to 10 used social media at least one a week and almost half of all 11 to 13-year-olds accessed the sites at the same rate, according to eSafety research.
The commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said legally-imposed age limits were on the table, but noted the online sphere offered some benefits to teenagers and said more must be understood about the potential effectiveness and unintended consequences of any restrictions.
To ensure the safety of young Australians, we need to provide them – and their parents, carers and educators – with effective education and prevention strategies. It cannot all fall on the shoulders of kids, parents and teachers – industry need to play their part too.
The eight social media companies will have 30 days to respond to the eSafety Commissioner.
Murray Watt predicts subdued growth ahead of GDP figures
The workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, has been speaking with ABC News Breakfast before the June quarter GDP figures release at 11.30am today.
Asked if the government is bracing for a dismal economic report card, he said global pressures on the Australian economy and “the fact that rising interest rates have been smashing our economy” meant it would be “no real surprise” to see soft growth in this coming quarter.
We’ve obviously forecast that the economy that the would be softening in our budget, and there are immense pressures on the Australian economy at the moment. We’ll wait and see what the national accounts have got to say, but we are expecting pretty subdued growth.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, made headlines at the weekend for saying that rate rises were “smashing the economy”, and Watt continued this, saying it is “self-evident” that rising interest rates were “having a big impact on household spending and on our economy”.
Our job as a federal government is to use the levers at our hands and our disposal to bring down inflation, but to do it in a way that isn’t going to plunge the economy into an even worse situation. That’s the fine balancing act that we’re walking by providing that cost-of-living relief to Australians, but also doing everything we can to keep inflation coming down …
Closing arguments in Higgins-Reynolds defamation trial to resume today
Sarah Basford Canales
Closing arguments in the defamation trial against Brittany Higgins by former defence minister Linda Reynolds will resume today from 9.30am Perth time.
It’s expected the five-week trial, which began at the start of August, will conclude by the end of today, with Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, delivering his concluding remarks.
Yesterday, Bennett began his closing arguments, claiming Higgins had a “visceral hatred” of Reynolds, her former boss, and conspired with her now-husband, David Sharaz, to harm her reputation and bring down the Morrison government.
Bennett also dismissed the defence’s claims that the hurt and distress the Liberal senator experienced was a result of public scrutiny of her actions.
Bennett said Higgins had “arrogantly”, and from the “sanctity of France”, trivialised Reynolds’ claims of poor mental and physical health, resulting from her decision to go public in 2021 about her alleged rape two years earlier in Reynolds’ ministerial office.
Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, earlier said the then 24-year-old staffer had little or “no agency” in handling the incident in the months afterwards but had reclaimed that agency by coming forward in February 2021 as part of efforts to “achieve reform” in the parliamentary workplace.
Young said Higgins “felt a moral responsibility” to others in the building. Young concluded:
That’s why she spoke up, that’s what she is being sued about, and that’s why we say this action should be wholly dismissed.
We’ll update you shortly once the trial begins.
Credlin responds to court docs showing she helped draft Higgins’ statement
Sarah Basford Canales
Sky News host Peta Credlin has responded to claims revealed in the Western Australian supreme court that she helped draft Brittany Higgins’ media statement in 2021.
Yesterday afternoon, Linda Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, showed the court an email thread revealing Credlin, a former chief of staff to Tony Abbott, had assisted with a draft media statement.
Reynolds is suing Higgins for defamation over a series of social media posts published in 2023. As part of his argument, Bennett alleges Higgins conspired in 2021 to damage Reynolds’ reputation. The email showed Higgins had said to Credlin in February 2021:
Hi Peta, Thank-you again for your help. Please see below the initial draft – feel free to completely rework wherever you see fit.
On her late-night opinion show yesterday, Credlin confirmed the series of events but insisted she had never met Higgins in person. Credlin said “contacts of Higgins” had reached out to her in the days after the story’s publication and asked if she would take a call from Higgins as a “former Liberal chief of staff and a woman”.
Credlin said she also helped craft the initial terms of reference for the Setting the Standard report, later conducted by former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jekins.
She asked me if I would help her draft the terms of reference for a review into the treatment of female staff in federal politics. I said to her that I would, I said, after 16 years as a staffer myself, I believed reform was needed. And I then did two things with her permission. I called the then prime minister Scott Morrison’s office to tell them ‘this is exactly what I was doing’, to which his chief of staff said, ‘I fully support it’. And then I advised my direct manager here at Sky News as I helped draft the terms of reference, which later became the Jenkins review.
NSW Police confirm investigation into alleged sexual assault at Merivale venue
NSW Police have confirmed it is investigating an alleged sexual assault at a Sydney bar after an ABC report on hospitality group Merivale.
The ABC reported allegations from a former Merivale staff member that she was raped by a colleague then rostered to continue working with him.
The ABC also spoke with two female patrons who alleged they were put in a dangerous position after being mistaken for sex workers at the Ivy nightclub in Sydney’s CBD. ABC reported an internal Merivale investigation into that case found that CCTV vision “does not show any untoward or inappropriate behaviour” but had “encouraged the patron to report the matter to police”.
In a statement, police said officers were “conducting inquiries regarding an incident” alleged to have occurred at a licensed premises on George Street on 9 March this year.
As investigations continue, anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.