Thanks for joining us on the blog today, here’s our top stories from today:
Today was the first day of the unlawful dismissal case brought by journalist Antoinette Lattouf against the ABC, which allegedly unlawfully dismissed her from a casual Sydney radio job in December 2023 three days into a five-day contract.
NAB has become the first big bank to cut fixed-interest mortgage rates, after challenger Macquarie, as expectations of an impending Reserve Bank rate cut grow
A young homeless man who was living in Jewish-run crisis accommodation will remain behind bars after allegedly yelling out antisemitic abuse at a woman while he was on bail.
The Greens will support the Albanese government’s hate crimes bill if amendments are made to include additional protection – including for people with disabilities.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says her party will bring on debate on a bill to ban gambling advertisements, after Anthony Albanesesaid his government never had any legislation to deal with that issue.
A car belonging to a CFMEU official was torched overnight in a suburb on the south-west fringe of Sydney
New South Wales premier Chris Minns has conceded two of his senior ministers made a “massive error of judgment” in calling on a taxpayer-funded driver to transport them to a private lunch, but has shot down calls to sack them.
Senior meteorologist at the BoM, Dean Narramore, says major flood levels are likely to remain for several days in northern Queensland as the state continues to grapple with wild weather.
84,000 hectares has burned in the Little Desert fire, and two properties are believed to have been lost near Hattah in the Mallee, while 46,000 hectares have burned in the Grampians fire.
The first day of Antoinette Lattouf v the ABC has wrapped up without the journalist finishing her cross-examination.
She will return to the witness box on Tuesday morning; and a cross-examination of her psychiatrist, Dr Nigel Strauss, will follow.
Also scheduled for Tuesday is outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson.
Steve Ahern, who hired Lattouf for the casual role when he was acting head of capital city networks, will appear on Thursday after a full-day of evidence on Wednesday from content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor.
Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose will give evidence on Friday morning.
Among the evidence heard on Monday was that advice from the ABC’s acting editorial director Simon Melkman was sought by the executive after the ABC received a large number of complaints about its decision to appoint Lattouf as a casual radio host.
Embattled New South Wales transport minister Jo Haylen has disappeared from the lineup of a key planning summit in Sydney on Tuesday, as criticism mounts over her use of a taxpayer-funded ministerial driver for a private trip.
Scrutiny of Haylen’s activity has been building after the Daily Telegraph reported that she had summoned a taxpayer-funded ministerial driver from Sydney to near Newcastle on the Australia Day long weekend, to chauffeur her and friends – including housing minister Rose Jackson – to and from a long lunch at a Hunter Valley winery.
Using a ministerial driver for private travel is permitted as a benefit ministers are entitled to, but while Haylen did not break any rules in summoning the driver for what turned out to be a 446km round trip, premier Chris Minns on Monday said it was a bad look for his government.
While Minns has stopped short of sacking Haylen from her portfolio, he has vowed to tighten the rules to ban purely private travel. Haylen has also apologised for the trip and promised to repay the costs.
Meanwhile, on Monday afternoon, the Committee for Sydney released an updated speaker lineup for its annual Sydney Summit.
Haylen, who had been included on earlier versions of the lineup, was absent from the finalised running order.
Guardian Australia has contacted Haylen for comment.
Magistrate Alexander Mijovich rejected the bail application, saying the man had a history of breaching court orders and not showing up when required to.
Mumbulla had faced 32 charges in the state and had received two community corrections orders and one conditional release order as sentences, the court was told.
He pleaded not guilty to the intimidation charge and that case was adjourned to Waverley local court on 11 February.
He is due to be sentenced at Newtown later in the month for a separate property damage offence.
Appearing in the court via a video link from the neighbouring police station, Mumbulla yelled expletives at the magistrate after being refused bail.
Alleged antisemite lived in Jewish-run council home
A young homeless man who was living in Jewish-run crisis accommodation will remain behind bars after allegedly yelling out antisemitic abuse at a woman while he was on bail, AAP reports.
Wendell Mumbulla was arrested at Jewish House in Bondi just after midday on Sunday after a woman flagged down patrolling police attached to a strike force set up after a spate of antisemitic incidents.
The 21-year-old, who was a resident in the short-term housing in Sydney’s east, allegedly yelled the intimidating slurs at the woman just before 8am.
He was arrested and taken to Newtown police station, where he was charged with stalking and intimidation with the intent of physical or mental harm.
Mumbulla was also charged with property damage over an unrelated incident and breach of bail.
Prosecutor Alexandra Tomasetti opposed his application for bail on Monday, saying the rise in antisemitic incidents had raised community expectations for tough penalties.
She told Newtown local court:
[There is] significant concern to the community.
There’s certainly discussion around expectations in how these matters are to be dealt with (and) a custodial sentence is likely.
Defence lawyer Matthew Allen said the young man was on the verge of finding suitable housing after being homeless for some time.
Mumbulla’s father died at a young age and his mother was an alcoholic, Allen added:
The instructions I’ve gathered reveal a long history of disadvantage.
[Bail would] allow him to continue to work on himself as he is on the cusp of being able to achieve something for himself.
Allen agreed he did not have a bail address for the man as he “could not return to the accommodation where the alleged offences occurred”.
Extremist groups tipped to sidestep terror sanctions
Neo-nazi and white supremacist groups are likely to quickly shift their approach in the face of counter-terrorism sanctions aimed at curbing radicalisation and cracking down on hate, an expert has said.
Terrorgram, an online network for neo-Nazis that advocates acts of violence, has been hit with counter-terrorism sanctions by the federal government in response to escalating anti-Semitic attacks in Australia.
The sanctions make it a criminal offence to use or deal with Terrorgram’s assets, under the threat of up to 10 years in jail and hefty fines. It is the first time Australia has imposed counter-terrorism financing sanctions on an online entity.
Michael Zekulin, who researches terrorism and counter-terrorism at the Australian National University, said the situation wasn’t static and groups were constantly evolving.
Dr Zekulin said:
Anytime you look to nullify or sort of constrain the use of one system, they simply find ways to bypass that, that’s the challenge.
You’re continuously chasing these groups as they move around from place to place and they learn and they sort of understand what’s coming and they try to react to that.
The Greens will support the Albanese government’s hate crimes bill if amendments are made to include additional protection – including for people with disabilities.
The bill, which was introduced by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, last September, expands the existing offence of urging violence and establishes new offences of threatening to use force or violence against groups or individual members of a group.
The party will move amendments – in line with recommendations under the bill’s Senate inquiry report – to include disability as a protected attribute in hate symbols offences, extend protection to associates of protected groups, and update language around gender and sexuality.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, deputy leader of the Greens and spokesperson for anti-racism, said:
The Greens will support Labor’s Hate Crimes Bill as it ensures stronger protections for vulnerable and targeted groups. It is a considered piece of legislation which is a step towards combating hate.
The Greens will continue to call for a national Human Rights Act, for the government to urgently and fully fund the implementation of the National Anti-Racism Framework to tackle all forms of racism, and for investment in responses to hate that are grassroots and community-led.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi. Photograph: James Ross/AAP
Lattouf questioned on ‘controversy’ of social media posts
Amanda Meade
Antoinette Lattouf has been asked a number of questions by the ABC’s barrister Ian Neil SC about whether she was aware that her public social media posts about the Israel Gaza war would be considered controversial.
The posts were put online by Lattouf before she was employed as a casual presenter by the ABC’s local radio division in December 2023.
Did you know that the reports and opinions of Human Rights Watch are controversial among those sections of the Australian community who do not share the view that the State of Israel is guilty of apartheid?
Lattouf said it “may be” controversial.
Neil quoted an article Lattouf had written in 2022 for the Sydney Morning Herald in which she said “journalists should avoid anything that cast doubt on impartiality”.
Lattouf said that article was in reference to an ABC news presenter who had a different standard impartiality because she was hosting an ABC news program whereas she was on ABC local radio.
I was on ABC local [radio] in a Christmas festive program talking about cats on the Sydney to Hobart and Michael Bublé music.
So I don’t think the two are comparable, that is why I say it depends on the context.
A car belonging to a CFMEU official was torched overnight in a suburb on the south-west fringe of Sydney, the construction union has confirmed.
The New South Wales police said it is investigating the incident after emergency services were called to Appin at around 1am after reports of a fire.
“Officers attached to Campbelltown City Police Area Command arrived to find a boat and Ford utility alight,” police said.
“The fire was extinguished by Fire and Rescue NSW and no injuries were reported.” Mark Irving SC, who the federal government appointed as administrator to the construction union last year after a media investigation uncovered alleged links to organised crime figures, said:
“We are taking the matter very seriously and the administration has referred this crime to the NSW Police.
The administration will do everything in its power to ensure all lines of inquiry are explored by responsible authorities.
All worker in the construction industry, including CFMEU organisers, should be safe at work and no one should be exposed to criminal violence.
Rick Nugent, Victoria’s state’s emergency management commissioner, says there is one ongoing fire in the Little Desert national park and two in the Grampians national park.
There are four new fires in the Great Otway national park, Nugent says:
In terms of the high risk season, it is far from over. If you live in a bush fire prone area, please stay informed.
Nugent says around lunchtime today a vehicle carrying firefighters from New South Wales caught fire in the Little Desert national park and was destroyed but no one was injured:
Thankfully, the firefighters managed to escape the vehicle before it was fully engulfed.
Australia facing heatwave conditions in several states
Some places in the south-east of the country are already heading into the mid 30s and even above 40C amid heatwave conditions.
Here were some of the temperatures from the Bureau of Meteorology, when last checked:
Temperatures in Melbourne were still climbing at 2pm, when the city recorded 35.5C. Meanwhile, the hottest town in the state was currently Walpeup, which recorded 39.9C at 1:50pm.
In South Australia, Adelaide had reached 40.1C by 12:56. While farther west, Wudinna, a town of about 500 people on the Eyre Peninsula, had hit 43.6C.
In Tasmania, temperatures were well above average for February. On the west coast, Strahan had recorded the highest temperature so far in Tasmania at 35.6C at 2pm. Hobart reached 31.6 at 1:02pm.
As February got off to a hot start in Australia’s south east, a new update from the Bureau of Meteorology showed January 2025 was more than 2C above the long term average for the month, and the second-warmest January on record.
Townsville ‘black zone’ residents warned to stay away
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has urged residents in Townsville’s “black zone” - Hermit Park, Railway Estate, Rosslea, Idalia, Oonoonba and Cluden - who were advised to leave yesterday, to stay away until given the all clear.
Crisafulli told reporters more rainfall, high tides and dam releases meant those areas were still at risk of more flooding.
Queensland floods: authorities ready for ‘likelihood of more flooding’ – video
