Australia news live: Attorney general warns women and children at risk of ‘harmful conduct’ from smartglasses users; major delays at Sydney airport

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Attorney general writes to privacy commissioner about smartglasses concerns

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has written to the privacy commissioner over potential concerns surrounding smartglasses.

Rowland said the products, which are growing in popularity, had significant implications, especially for women and children who could be disproportionately affected by “inappropriate recording, harassment, surveillance or other harmful conduct”.

Rowland said in a statement:

double quotation markPrivacy is an essential part of all our lives; it allows us to be who we are with dignity and without fear. Unlike other forms of technology, smart glasses may be used more discreetly, making it harder to know when you are being recorded. The government is continuing to work on the next phase of privacy reforms to ensure our privacy laws are fit for purpose in the digital age.

Michelle Rowland. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The federal inquiry into racism, hatred and violence directed at Indigenous peoples is continuing in Melbourne, with unions and national education and training organisations giving evidence.

The committee heard evidence about the lack of cultural safety in Australian schools and universities for First Nations educators and students. Research indicated that at least 20% of Indigenous teachers who left the profession did so because of racism and discrimination.

Witnesses giving evidence raised concerns about a chilling impact on reporting racist incidents at universities, citing fears about speaking out, harmful or inappropriate curricula in schools and the over representation of Indigenous students excluded from educational settings.

The committee heard evidence of targeted racist graffiti against an Indigenous teacher and emails from educators questioning the existence or impact of Stolen Generations policies, which forcibly removed tens of thousands of Aboriginal children from their families until the 1970s.

Back in the Alan Jones trial, complainant J has told the court he stayed at the broadcaster’s farm at Fitzroy Falls on two occasions.

Under cross-examination by defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC, J told the court he remembered a well-known tennis player being a fellow guest but not another athlete.

Bashir asked during cross-examination: “Were you ever at a barbecue with [them]?”

J replied: “No.”

J told the court he did remember the tennis player being a guest, although he didn’t know who they were at the time.\n Bashir is challenging J’s memory of his visits to the southern highlands property, suggesting in court he had mixed up the occasions and the dates.

J agreed his family was invited to visit the property and that he accompanied them. Bashir is challenging him about how many nights he stayed at the property and which vehicle he was driving.

The court is now in recess for lunch. The trial continues.

Travellers on domestic and international flights at Sydney airport have faced major delays and cancellations after Airservices Australia reported “operational restrictions to safely manage projected airborne and departure demands”.

Delays of up to 120 minutes were recorded across 75 Qantas and Jetstar flights, as well as four cancellations. Virgin Australia saw delays across 50 flights, while Rex was forced to off-load passengers after delays of up to an hour on the tarmac.

Airlines were advised the disruption was caused by staffing shortages at Airservices Australia.

The Airlines for Australia and New Zealand chief executive, Stephen Beckett, said the disruptions are unacceptable and “enough is enough”.

\n We need Airservices Australia to step up and support their traffic controllers to make sure there are enough of them, and their rosters are robust enough to make sure that this type of delay and disruption stops occurring.\n The national network cannot grind to a halt because two or three people call in sick.\n

Airservices said the air traffic flow management measures had since been removed and “no further significant delays are anticipated”.

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has written to the privacy commissioner over potential concerns surrounding smartglasses.

Rowland said the products, which are growing in popularity, had significant implications, especially for women and children who could be disproportionately affected by “inappropriate recording, harassment, surveillance or other harmful conduct”.

Rowland said in a statement:

\n Privacy is an essential part of all our lives; it allows us to be who we are with dignity and without fear.\n Unlike other forms of technology, smart glasses may be used more discreetly, making it harder to know when you are being recorded.\n The government is continuing to work on the next phase of privacy reforms to ensure our privacy laws are fit for purpose in the digital age.\n

South Australia’s Royal Adelaide Show, planned from 5 to 13 September, has cancelled all bird shows and exhibits as H5 bird flu numbers continue to rise. The state has recorded 119 out of 155 cases nationally.

Will Rayner, the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society SA chief executive, said:

\n Animal welfare and biosecurity is something that we take very seriously, we have for more than 186 years. And while we think the risk is very low, we took the decision now out of the abundance of caution and to make sure that our volunteers and those exhibitors had as much time to prepare as possible.\n

The decision would affect about 150 exhibitors, volunteers and stewards in the poultry and bird section.

An additional 32 cases of H5N1 bird flu were confirmed in South Australia on Friday. Testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness confirmed positive detections in 25 greater crested terns on the Limestone Coast, three silver gulls on the Limestone Coast at Southend, three greater crested terns at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island and one greater crested tern at Port Elliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

The SA environment minister, Emily Bourke, said the state government supported the show’s decision:

\n Making this decision now is providing certainty and confidence, to not only exhibitors, but also to show goers.\n

Read more about what’s unfolding on the Limestone Coast:

Atlassian’s share price has surged after the Sydney-founded software giant beat investor expectations with stronger-than-predicted financial results.

Shares in the tech company, which is listed on the New York stock exchange’s Nasdaq index, were up by more than 35% in extended trading on Thursday night, US time, or this morning in Australia, after it released its results for the 2025-2026 financial year and the last quarter.

The company’s revenue for the fourth quarter of the 2025-2026 financial year grew to almost $US1.8bn (AUS $2.4bn), a 28% increase compared with the three months to 30 June 2025.

Its strong quarterly results come right after it laid off 1,600 workers, or about 10% of its total workforce, including nearly 500 Australian staff, in March.

The company is also forecasting it will earn more in the first quarter of this financial year than analysts were expecting.

Atlassian, whose software tools such as ⁠Jira Service Management and Rovo are designed to help clients manage teams, track ‌work and analyse ‌data, has benefited from companies incorporating machine learning and adopting AI to automate tasks.

In a note to investors, Atlassian’s CEO and co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, said the company’s long-term strategy was paying off and it was finding its “edge” with new products such as its Teamwork Graph, a background system that collates work data and apps into a map.

He said:

\n In the AI era, context is the edge but it’s hard to build and can’t be hired.\n Thanks to 25 years of connecting teams, customers get one of the best context graphs for orchestrating agentic workflows. Simply put, the Teamwork Graph helps every customer get better, faster, and cheaper results with AI.\n

The cross-examination of the first alleged victim to give evidence in Alan Jones’s indecent assault trial continues in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court.

Complainant J, aged in his 40s, is one of six alleged victims of the former broadcaster, who has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching.\n J has been giving evidence for five days.\n The court has heard that Jones’s Fitzroy Falls farm was staffed by a butler, a cleaner and a maintenance man, with the latter living on the property with his family.\n Jones’s defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC has put to complainant J that he fabricated his evidence that Jones kissed him at a pigsty on the farm.\n Bashir said during cross-examination on Friday: “There was no kiss at the pigsty. It was a fabrication.”\n J replied: “No it wasn’t.”

The trial continues.

Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman, the president of the Australian National Imams Council, has been giving evidence to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.

The commission scheduled the sheikh to give evidence on a Friday, overlooking the fact that the sheikh is required to offer Friday prayers at his mosque.

“My apologies,” commissioner Virginia Bell told Alsuleiman, “in planning we overlooked that consideration.”

Alsuleiman told the commission he was placed on a “kill list” by the so-called Islamic State because of his efforts to promote social cohesion and harmony across faiths.

\n I was added to an Isis ‘kill-list’ of 30 religious leaders around the entire world.\n

Alsuleiman told the commission:

\n My personal opinion – which is the opinion of the Australian National Imams Council, and which we have been very public about – is that Isis is a terrorist, dangerous organisation that has no links to Islam.\n We’ve made that statement publicly in the past, and we reiterated this, that they are the enemy of the entire humanity, including Muslims.\n

Federal parliament is returning from winter break next week.

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Guardian Australia’s team of political reporters in Canberra? Our political editor, Tom McIlroy, and the team will be answering readers’ questions on the Australian Politics podcast.

Please send us your questions to australianpolitics@theguardian.com.

We’d love to hear from you.

Marles was asked about home affairs minister Tony Burke’s delayed speech before the National Press Club about migration policies.

The deputy prime minister said the decision was merely a move of date, not a cancellation. Marles said:

\n It’s not unusual for dates to be moved around in people’s diaries and in terms of presenting speeches of that kind. I think what’s important here in terms of migration policy is complex. It’s one that we’ve been working on since we’ve come to government.\n Tony Burke will be talking about that and he’ll be talking about that at the National Press Club at the earliest opportunity.\n

He went on:

\n Moving around dates in a diary for senior members of government is very routine. It happens literally all the time. The speech hasn’t been called off. A date has been changed. That literally happens every week. And there’s nothing more to it than that.\n

Key events

• 2h agoRacism inquiry hears evidence of violence and abuse targeting Indigenous students and teachers
• 3h agoComplainant J cross-examined about stays at Jones’s Fitzroy Falls farm
• 4h agoMajor delays and cancellations across Sydney airport due to air traffic control staff issues
• 4h agoAttorney general writes to privacy commissioner about smartglasses concerns
• 5h agoRoyal Adelaide Show cancels poultry and bird exhibits as H5 bird flu cases rise
• 5h agoAtlassian share price surges
• 5h agoAlan Jones trial continues
• 6h agoAustralian National Imams Council president says he was placed on ‘kill list’ by Islamic State
• 7h agoHave a question for our politics team?
• 9h agoMarles says Tony Burke’s speech was moved, not cancelled

Petra Stock

Victoria requires poultry farms to house chickens as bird flu cases rise

The Victorian government has introduced a temporary housing order for chicken and egg producers with 50 or more birds, in a precautionary step to protect the poultry industry from H5 bird flu.

The measure, which will apply for an initial 14 days, will affect hundreds of businesses in Melbourne and along coastal areas.

The state’s agriculture minister, Michaela Settle said the proactive approach was introduced to ensure that eggs and chicken remained affordable for consumers.

double quotation markWe’re working proactively to ensure that eggs and poultry are protected, and that Victorians can continue to afford and find them on the shelves.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has assured free range farmers that they would be able to continue to use the free range label.

Victoria has recorded 47 positive cases in wild birds, with new detections at Yambuk, Apollo Bay and Clyde, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne.

There is currently no detection of H5N1 bird flu in poultry in Victoria or in Australia.

Andrew Messenger

Second-year constable praised as “hero” cop for rescuing toddler from Charleville siege

A second-year constable who rescued a toddler from a siege in Charleville while in “grave danger” has been praised as a hero cop.

The 18-month-old child’s mother died at a house in the regional town, after police arrived to reports of a serious assault on Wednesday evening.

The southern region assistant commissioner, Matthew Vanderbyl, said police were confronted by Michael Waltke, who they believed to be armed, and were in grave danger.

Vanderbyl said the child appeared in a doorway covered in someone else’s blood. She was “scooped up” by a male officer who took her to safety, he said.

“That police officer took that distressed child and did what anybody who has young children or knows young children would do, and just held that child close to his chest, and turned himself away from the scene of danger,” Vanderbyl said.

The officers then “quite rightly” withdrew to a safe distance, Vanderbyl said.

“You have to feel for a child who has potentially seen what I … suspect that she has seen in that scene,” he said.

Expert forensic police are still at the scene, and the investigation continues.

Andrew Leigh backs ACCC inquiry into alleged food mislabelling allegations

The assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, a has welcomed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) confirmation that it will investigate allegations of food mislabelling raised by an ABC Four Corners report.

In statement on Friday, the ACCC said it had “initiated inquiries” into the claims. The ACCC Commissioner, Luke Woodward, said:

double quotation markIt is important that consumers can be confident that any claims made on food labelling, packaging and in advertisements are truthful, accurate and not misleading. We know that consumers may be guided by non-price factors, including claims about the country of origin or supply chain, when choosing which food products to buy.

At a press conference, Leigh echoed his comments on the inquiry’s importance:

double quotation markAustralians shouldn’t be duped by misleading labels. Australians should be able to walk into a store and know that what it says on the tin is accurate.

Andrew Leigh. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

VIC Liberal party endorses Roshena Campbell to replace Moira Deeming ahead of election

The Victorian Liberal Party has endorsed Roshena Campbell as its Upper House candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region.

Campbell replaces Moira Deeming, who was removed as a candidate after a state party vote following a legal saga stemming from an assault allegation she made against former leader Matthew Guy.

Campbell, who now serves as Melbourne’s current deputy lord mayor, will appear on the top spot on the Liberals’ upper house ticket this November. She said in a statement:

double quotation markThis State is broken. And I want to be part of the team with the experience and the Plan to fix it. The West is the heart of multicultural Victoria, and I am passionate about ensuring our multicultural communities are heard and supported. I’m proud to join Jess Wilson’s new Liberal Team in the West, to finally deliver the West’s fair share.

Roshena Campbell. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP

Penry Buckley

NSW opposition leader will ‘let privileges committee do its work’ after two Liberals referred over Reformers allegations

The NSW Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, has again backed Damien Tudehope after he became one of two Liberals referred to the parliamentary privileges committee following allegations they aided a factional group under investigation by the corruption watchdog.

Yesterday afternoon, the NSW upper house voted to refer Liberal MLCs Damien Tudehope and Chris Rath to the privileges committee, in a motion unopposed by the opposition, after allegations they aided members of conservative factional group the Reformers during a parliamentary inquiry in 2023.

Damien Tudehope (right) arrives to give evidence at Icac on Tuesday. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) is investigating whether members of the Reformers allegedly solicited or accepted illegal donations in order to recruit or renew members to the Liberal party, a practice known as “branch stacking”, which is not illegal.

Tudehope, who has stepped aside from his roles as shadow attorney general and Liberal leader in the upper house after being called as a witness in Icac’s inquiry, on Tuesday admitted to the watchdog he leaked a confidential draft parliamentary inquiry report on the allegations to a member of the Reformers in 2023.

Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rath helped members of the Reformers evade summons during the parliamentary inquiry that preceded Icac’s investigation. He received a caution from the privileges committee at the time, but yesterday marks his second referral over the same issue. Following yesterday’s vote, Rath, who is not named in Icac’s allegations, apologised again for the incident. Tudehope, who has not been named in Icac’s allegations, was absent from the chamber.

Asked if she would take action following Tudehope’s referral at a press conference today, Sloane said:

double quotation markI’ll wait for the finding of that, and I don’t have that yet. Damien is on the backbench for the duration of the ICAC inquiry, and I’m not going to run parallel inquiries; I’ll let the privileges committee do its work and we’ll see what they say.

Sarah Collard

Continuing from last post …

Frank Gaffer, a First Nations organiser with the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union, said that before 2026 there was no way for teachers in public schools to report racist incidents.

double quotation markPrior to this year, if you were to report racism as a staff member of a school, you had to report it under the option of other or psychosocial safety, but there was no actual data collection of racism for educators within public schools.

But current reporting mechanisms can also be unsafe, said Kimberley Reed, also from the Australian Education Union, who told the committee that lodging a complaint or an incident could lead to further harm.

double quotation markReporting it can actually lead to further incidences of racism because often Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the only staff member in their school, so if someone has made a report of racism and it’s addressed with the person, whether they’re named or not, people know exactly where it came from.

Racism inquiry hears evidence of violence and abuse targeting Indigenous students and teachers

Sarah Collard

The federal inquiry into racism, hatred and violence directed at Indigenous peoples is continuing in Melbourne, with unions and national education and training organisations giving evidence.

The committee heard evidence about the lack of cultural safety in Australian schools and universities for First Nations educators and students. Research indicated that at least 20% of Indigenous teachers who left the profession did so because of racism and discrimination.

Witnesses giving evidence raised concerns about a chilling impact on reporting racist incidents at universities, citing fears about speaking out, harmful or inappropriate curricula in schools and the over representation of Indigenous students excluded from educational settings.

The committee heard evidence of targeted racist graffiti against an Indigenous teacher and emails from educators questioning the existence or impact of Stolen Generations policies, which forcibly removed tens of thousands of Aboriginal children from their families until the 1970s.

Nick Visser

That’s all from me! Achol Arok will be your guide into the weekend. Take care.

Three people charged, six in custody after alleged assault of Townsville boy

Three people have been charged and six others arrested after an alleged serious assault of a boy in Townsville last month.

Queensland police said the 17-year-old boy was found with serious injuries on 18 July in bushland after he was allegedly assaulted and tied to a tree. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

After investigations, officers charged three people, including a boy, 13, a woman, 35, and a girl, 14. They face charges including unlawfully detaining or confining, assault occasioning bodily harm and torture.

On Friday morning, six other people were taken into custody in relation to the investigation. They have not been charged.

Kat Wong

‘Overjoyed’: Police drop charges against protesters arrested at 2024 coal port blockade

More than 100 protesters who were arrested after blockading the world’s largest coal port in 2024 have had their charges dropped.

NSW police on Friday confirmed charges relating to Rising Tide’s 2024 demonstration at Newcastle port had been withdrawn.

Imala Cush, who had just finished high school when she was arrested at the protest, celebrated the result.

double quotation markI’m overjoyed. This has been a weight for the past two years and to finally have them dropped gives me hope for the climate movement and the strength of protests as a whole in this country. The government cannot scare us away from fighting for a future.

The 2024 blockade at Newcastle port. Photograph: Dean Sewell/Oculi/The Guardian

Others who were arrested at the blockade said police should have withdrawn the charges earlier. Ecologist Susan Duncan said it would have “saved a lot of people time and heartaches”.

Almost 200 people were arrested as they paddled into the shipping channel in kayaks to prevent vessels from travelling through the Port of Newcastle.

Most of the arrested protesters were charged with operating a vessel to interfere with others’ use of waters and causing obstruction to a major facility, which could result in up to two years in prison.

A NSW police spokesperson said the decision to withdraw the charges followed a “review of the outstanding matters, taking into account the outcomes of cases already determined by the court and the available evidence in the remaining prosecutions”.

Matters from the 2025 Rising Tide event remain before the courts.

Petra Stock

Melbourne Royal Show monitoring bird flu situation before September event

Organisers of the Melbourne Royal Show say they are monitoring the evolving H5 bird flu situation before the event, planned for 24 September to 4 October.

The show’s general manager, Hannah von Bibra, said organisers would take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and well being of animals, exhibitors and visitors.

double quotation markWe are monitoring the H5N1 avian influenza situation, and are working closely with Agriculture Victoria, the Melbourne Royal Poultry Committee and veterinary advisers to assess the potential risks as it unfolds in Victoria. We recognise this is an evolving situation and will continue to work closely with Agriculture Victoria and industry experts to ensure any decisions prioritise animal welfare and the safety of all involved.

The comments followed an announcement that South Australia’s Royal Adelaide Show had cancelled all bird shows and exhibits as H5 bird flu numbers continued to rise.

Adeshola Ore

Australia’s $50,000 parent visa takes so long to process that applicants die waiting

Wait times for visas to bring parents to Australia are so long that more than 1,500 applicants died before receiving their visa over a 21-month period to 31 March, new Department of Home Affairs data shows.

Reports of an upcoming overhaul of the nation’s migration system, including tougher rules for family visas, has intensified worry among Australians whose parents are waiting for their visas to be processed.

For applicants of non-contributory parent visas, which provide permanent residency for a fee of just under $9,000, the wait times are now an estimated 33 years.

Contributory parent visas have waiting times of about 15 years but cost almost $50,000 each.

Read more here:

Complainant J cross-examined about stays at Jones’s Fitzroy Falls farm

Amanda Meade

Back in the Alan Jones trial, complainant J has told the court he stayed at the broadcaster’s farm at Fitzroy Falls on two occasions.

Under cross-examination by defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC, J told the court he remembered a well-known tennis player being a fellow guest but not another athlete.

Bashir asked during cross-examination: “Were you ever at a barbecue with [them]?”

J replied: “No.”

J told the court he did remember the tennis player being a guest, although he didn’t know who they were at the time.

Bashir is challenging J’s memory of his visits to the southern highlands property, suggesting in court he had mixed up the occasions and the dates.

J agreed his family was invited to visit the property and that he accompanied them. Bashir is challenging him about how many nights he stayed at the property and which vehicle he was driving.

The court is now in recess for lunch. The trial continues.

Amanda Meade

Back to the Alan Jones trial

The cross-examination of complainant J in Alan Jones’s indecent assault trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court is continuing.

Jones’s barrister, Gabrielle Bahsir SC, is putting to J that the defendant did not sit on a couch in the lounge room of his Fitzroy Falls property wearing a bathrobe, and Jones didn’t enter J’s guest bedroom, as the complainant alleged in court earlier this week.

Bashir said during cross-examination: “He wasn’t in your bedroom, was he?”

“Yes, he was,” J replied.

J struggled to recall parts of the evidence he gave earlier this week about the alleged indecent assaults at Fitzroy Falls, which he says took place on the couch, in the bedroom and at a pigsty.

Bashir said in court: “Are you prepared to accept you had no basis to give that evidence that Mr Jones spoke to you in a ‘passionate voice’ and pulled you in for a cuddle?”

J replied: “No, I just don’t remember it right now.”

Bashir put it to J that none of his accounts, including the alleged kissing and “penis wiggle”, ever happened. The complainant insisted in court that it all happened as he’d described.

J agreed with Bashir that he did not protect himself by barricading himself in his room or pushing Jones off him.

J told the court during cross-examination: “I didn’t [push him off] … I was very scared. In that room I was as scared as I’ve ever been. It’s like you don’t have control of your body. I was very scared.”

Jones has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching involving six men.

Alan Jones arrives at the Downing Centre local court this morning. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Major delays and cancellations across Sydney airport due to air traffic control staff issues

Achol Arok

Travellers on domestic and international flights at Sydney airport have faced major delays and cancellations after Airservices Australia reported “operational restrictions to safely manage projected airborne and departure demands”.

Delays of up to 120 minutes were recorded across 75 Qantas and Jetstar flights, as well as four cancellations. Virgin Australia saw delays across 50 flights, while Rex was forced to off-load passengers after delays of up to an hour on the tarmac.

A Qantas plane prepares to land at Sydney international airport. Photograph: Izhar Khan/Reuters

Airlines were advised the disruption was caused by staffing shortages at Airservices Australia.

The Airlines for Australia and New Zealand chief executive, Stephen Beckett, said the disruptions are unacceptable and “enough is enough”.

double quotation markWe need Airservices Australia to step up and support their traffic controllers to make sure there are enough of them, and their rosters are robust enough to make sure that this type of delay and disruption stops occurring. The national network cannot grind to a halt because two or three people call in sick.

Airservices said the air traffic flow management measures had since been removed and “no further significant delays are anticipated”.

Attorney general writes to privacy commissioner about smartglasses concerns

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has written to the privacy commissioner over potential concerns surrounding smartglasses.

Rowland said the products, which are growing in popularity, had significant implications, especially for women and children who could be disproportionately affected by “inappropriate recording, harassment, surveillance or other harmful conduct”.

Rowland said in a statement:

double quotation markPrivacy is an essential part of all our lives; it allows us to be who we are with dignity and without fear. Unlike other forms of technology, smart glasses may be used more discreetly, making it harder to know when you are being recorded. The government is continuing to work on the next phase of privacy reforms to ensure our privacy laws are fit for purpose in the digital age.

Michelle Rowland. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP