Alleged fry pan-wielding uni stabber pleads not guilty
The man accused of stabbing two students at a university and injuring others with a frying pan has pleaded not guilty by virtue of mental impairment.
Alex Ophel has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of common assault and one count of possessing an object with the intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.
His lawyer entered the plea in the ACT magistrates court on Thursday. The case will return to court on 23 May.
He is accused of repeatedly stabbing two women and bashing other students over the head with a frying pan at the Australian National University in September 2023.
Two 20-year-old women were taken to hospital and a third man was treated at the scene following the incident.
Key events
Melbourne street the world’s coolest, according to Time Out
Time Out has released a definitive ranking of the 30 coolest streets in the world, with High Street in Melbourne taking out first place.
High Street, weaving through the suburbs of Northcote, Thornbury and Preston, has beat Hollywood Road in Hong Kong, East Eleventh in Austin, Guatemala Street in Buenos Aires and Commercial Drive in Vancouver – which rounded out the top five.
But in humble 23rd place sits Sydney’s Foster Street, home to our Guardian Australia office.
We are 100% taking credit for this ranking, and for bringing a certain cool factor to the street. It’s definitely not related to the fact Taylor Swift dined here just a few weeks ago.
No, it’s definitely us.
Alleged fry pan-wielding uni stabber pleads not guilty
The man accused of stabbing two students at a university and injuring others with a frying pan has pleaded not guilty by virtue of mental impairment.
Alex Ophel has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of common assault and one count of possessing an object with the intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.
His lawyer entered the plea in the ACT magistrates court on Thursday. The case will return to court on 23 May.
He is accused of repeatedly stabbing two women and bashing other students over the head with a frying pan at the Australian National University in September 2023.
Two 20-year-old women were taken to hospital and a third man was treated at the scene following the incident.
Australia has no plans to ban TikTok, despite US moves
TikTok’s future is in peril as the US threatens to implement a nationwide ban, but Australia has “no plans” to follow its ally’s footsteps, despite national security concerns, AAP reports.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would give ByteDance six months to divest from the app and sell to a company that is not based in China.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Thursday the Australian government was not expected to emulate the US. Here’s what he told WSFM Sydney:
You’ve always got to have national security concerns, front and centre, but you also need to acknowledge that for a whole lot of people, this provides a way of them communicating.
In Australia, TikTok is only banned on government devices, which prevents public servants from downloading the app on work-issued phones.
For further background on this story:
Littering, asbestos fines to double in major crackdown
Penalties for the most serious environmental crimes would double and the New South Wales environmental watchdog would have powers to recall potentially contaminated products from consumers under major changes to environmental protection laws proposed by the Minns government.
The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the government was proposing the largest set of amendments to the Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA’s) powers since the regulator was established in 1991.
The legislation, to be introduced to the parliament on Thursday, follows a crisis triggered after asbestos was found in mulch at the Rozelle parklands in January.
Sharpe said:
The events of the past two months have shown the urgent need to reform environment protection laws and increase penalties.
These sweeping reforms will directly improve the protection of human health, the environment and the community.
US requests Australian help to set up Gaza aid port
America has asked Australia to chip in for more humanitarian aid in the war torn Gaza as Washington moves ahead with plans to bring in relief by sea, AAP reports.
The United States is setting up a port in Gaza so more humanitarian aid can flow through as the international community raises concerns about dwindling supplies reaching civilians in the besieged strip and starvation.
A request has been made to partner nations, including Australia, for help setting up the port while further aid to flow through would be welcomed, AAP understands.
The US is working with Israel to establish the aid corridor, according to the the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. The corridor would distribute up to 2m meals a day on top of medicine, water and other supplies. Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada are also supporting this effort.
But overland routes remained the most viable option to deliver aid, Blinken said amid a push to open further aid corridors. He told reporters in Washington:
This will help close the gap. It’s part of our all-of-the-above strategy to make sure we’re doing everything possible by every means possible to surge support to those who need it by land, by sea, by air.
The federal member for Ballarat, Catherine King, says her thoughts are with everyone affected by the Ballarat gold mine tragedy.
In a post to X, she wrote:
My thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy at the Ballarat gold mine, and in particular the families and workmates of the deceased man and the injured man in hospital. I know that the community will step up to support each other throughout this difficult time.
My thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy at the Ballarat Gold Mine, and in particular the families and workmates of the deceased man and the injured man in hospital.
I know that the community will step up to support each other throughout this difficult time.
— Catherine King MP (@CatherineKingMP) March 14, 2024
Proposed Coalition bill would criminalise posting offences for notoriety and ban offenders from using social media
Here is what the Coalition’s private members bill will include, according to the statement:
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Introduce a new commonwealth offence to deal with the increasing use of social media to promote or publicise criminal activity. In particular, the bill will make it an offence to post material depicting violence, drug offences or property offences for the purpose of increasing a person’s notoriety (or that of the persons shown in the material), punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.
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Include a sentencing measure in the Crimes Act to ensure that as part of the sentencing process, courts are able to prohibit persons who have been convicted of the new offence from using social media for up to two years.
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Amend the Online Safety Act to specifically empower the eSafety Commissioner to order the removal of such videos from social media and other digital platforms. Currently, the eSafety commissioner has to rely on the cooperation of social media companies to achieve this. The changes proposed would make it explicit that the commissioner has a mandate to deal with complaints on this issue, in a similar way that the office responds to reports of cyber-bullying and cyber-abuse.
Opposition outlines proposal to ‘crack down on youth crime’
As Paul Karp flagged earlier, the Coalition has announced a private member’s bill proposing to ban the posting videos of violent crime online. A joint statement from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, the shadow attorney-general, Michaelia Cash, and the shadow communications minister, David Coleman has just dropped, with more detail on the proposal.
The statement says youth crime is “out of control in many parts of the country” and “more needs to be done to combat it”.
It says the Coalition would seek to make it illegal to post social media material that “glamorises violence and criminal activity”.The Coalition would also “provide the eSafety Commissioner with specific powers to require such videos and material to be taken down”, it said.
The statement reads:
It is time to get serious on young criminals who seek to highlight their criminal activity on social media. Sadly, the problem is getting worse.
The federal government has a role to play here and it is incumbent on the government to show some leadership and play its part in cracking down on this behaviour which glamorises violence and keeps the cycle of crime going.
We are putting forward a proposal today to deal with this scourge.
We need to do all we can to keep our community safe and deter young criminals from doing the wrong thing. We call on the government to support us in this regard.
National Archives releases previously secret tranche of documents
Daniel Hurst
The National Archives of Australia has released a previously secret tranche of documents surrounding the Howard government’s decision making to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The documents show that, two weeks before the war began, the cabinet’s national security committee was informed the US was likely to press ahead even if the UN security council did not pass a new resolution specifically authorising military action.
(Such a resolution never passed. The lack of a specific mandate was a significant point of contention, with the UN’s then secretary general, Kofi Annan, later describing the US-led war on Iraq as “not in conformity with the UN charter” and “illegal” under international law.)
On 5 March 2003 the national security committee received oral briefings from the then foreign minister, Alexander Downer, and the heads of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Office of National Assessments on the efforts to adopt a draft new resolution on Iraq. The committee was told the “prospects for adoption of the draft resolution remain uncertain, especially France’s position”. But the document added:
Whatever the outcome in the UN Security Council on the draft resolution, the United States is likely to press forward with plans to lead a coalition in enforcement action against Iraq, given that country’s failure to comply fully with UN Security Council obligations.
Cabinet documents from 20 years ago are normally released on 1 January each year, but this year’s release hit a snag when it was revealed 82 cabinet records from 2003 had not been handed to the NAA in 2020. These included 14 that related – at least in part – to the Iraq war.
I’m working my way through the Iraq-related documents. More details soon.
Paul Karp
Prime minister ‘needs to show leadership’ on TikTok: Dutton
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has called on Anthony Albanese to “show leadership” on the issue of risks posed to privacy and security from social media platforms.
Asked about the potential for a ban on TikTok in the US and whether Australia should follow suit, Dutton told reporters in Melbourne:
The prime minister needs to show leadership here. If young people using TikTok are having their images collected, their intimate discussions, when that’s collected by a country or third party the prime minister has to act … [He] doesn’t need to be weak, needs to be strong.
The information is being hoovered up. Young people don’t have a safe presence online. It’s up to the prime minister to respond in an appropriate way.
Dutton stopped short of endorsing a ban, but said “if the intelligences agencies” are telling the government to take action then the “prime minister must explain how he proposes to keep people safe online”.
Josh Taylor
Finder wins lawsuit over now-defunct cryptocurrency product
Finder has won a lawsuit brought on by the investment regulator over its now defunct Finder Earn cryptocurrency product, with the federal court ruling that the product did not offer debentures for funds invested in the platform.
The price comparison website offered a product called Finder Earn in customer’s on-platform wallets between February and November 2022 which allowed customers to deposit Australian dollars into their account. The money was converted into an Australian dollar-tied stablecoin – a digital currency – called TAUD, for which Finder paid customers in Australian dollars an annual compounding return of 4.01% per annum or 6.01% for some early customers.
The Australian Securities Investment Commission (Asic) argued this product was a debenture – that is, a security comprised of a promise made by a company to pay back funds provided to that company. That is because customers deposited money with Finder Wallet on the understanding that their money would ultimately be repaid, together with a return, in exchange allowing Finder Wallet to use their capital right now.
In a ruling today, Justice Brigitte Markovic dismissed Asic’s case, stating there were no moneys deposited or lent by customers to Finder as part of this process, and no undertaking from Finder Wallet to repay any moneys as a debt.
There was a only contractual promise to return to the customer the TAUD allocated by the customer to Finder Wallet together with the return earned over the earn term, she said.
The court dismissed the other claims from Asic, including that Finder Wallet required an Australian financial services licence, and ordered Asic to pay costs.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria police clarify 29 people rescued after Ballarat gold mine collapse
MacDougall said the 21-year-old Ballarat man that was taken to Alfred Hospital has “lower body injuries”.
She also clarified that 29 people – not 28 – were rescued from a safety pod from within the mine. Previously police said it was 28 workers.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria police say rescue of trapped miners was multi-phase
MacDougall described the rescue as “complex” and said there were “a few phases”.
Obviously yesterday evening, we had the initial patient transferred to the Alfred hospital in Melbourne via air ambulance. He was in a critical and life-threatening position at that point …
The other phase of that was extracting the other workers that were inside the refuge areas of the mine and then accessing the second patient … there had to be significant efforts by rescue teams to make access to that person safe for those rescue teams.
Benita Kolovos
MacDougall says delay in death confirmation due to ensuring safety of attending medics
MacDougall explained why it took some time for authorities to confirm whether the man had died:
Ambulance Victoria are required to assess a patient to be able to declare their health status… the scene needed to be made safe before they were able to access that patient safely.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria police confirm victim of fatal mine collapse was located deceased at 5.20am
Victoria police’s Ballarat acting inspector Lisa MacDougall is holding a press conference regarding the Mount Clear mine collapse that left a man dead and another fighting for life. She says:
At 5.20am this morning tragically the remaining patient that rescue teams were working to access was located and he was located deceased.
She thanked the emergency agencies that worked with police on the rescue efforts:
The update from now, from a Victoria police perspective, is we will conduct an investigation on behalf of the coroner and we’ll be working with WorkSafe Victoria to conduct that investigation.
We want to thank the agencies that worked with us tirelessly, through the night, to assist us with their specialist knowledge and expertise to undertake those rescue efforts.