Closing the Gap numbers ‘aren’t up to scratch’ – PM
Anthony Albanese is speaking to reporters in Alice Springs alongside the Northern Territory chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro.
As Dan Jervis-Bardy reported earlier, a six-year, $843m agreement to deliver services in remote Indigenous communities in the NT has been inked by the commonwealth and territory governments.
Finocchiaro labelled the funding as “one of the best health funding deals we’ve ever had for the territory”.
We know that community safety is the number one priority of territorians no matter where they live, but this funding will go further than remote policing, which is critical. It will also support better health outcomes for Aboriginal people living in the bush, greater empowerment and decision making, and, of course, making sure that our remote communities are invested in.
Albanese said the six-year agreement was about “empowering those local communities to work with government to deliver real solutions”.
Australians want to Close the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and we know that we’re, frankly, not doing well enough. And no government have done well enough, which is why so many of the indices that will be released next week, simply aren’t up to scratch. So this is about doing better.
Key events
Kristian White sentencing hearing begins
Ben Doherty
The sentencing hearing for former police officer Kristian White – who fatally shot 95-year-old Clare Nowland with a Taser gun in a nursing home in 2023 – has begun in King Street courts in Sydney.
Justice Ian Harrison has noted the unique nature of the case, saying the “idiosyncratic, almost enigmatic” circumstance means there is no precedent for sentencing in a case such as this.
The court is about to hear statements from members of Nowland’s family.
PM flags Closing the Gap speeches
Anthony Albanese flagged that Closing the Gap speeches will take place in Parliament on Monday. He told reporters:
I want to make sure, though, that we were here on the ground – the commonwealth government, with the NT government, with Indigenous services here in the Northern Territory – to make a difference.
Albanese says audit programs in place to monitor funding outcomes
The prime minister said the government has a range of audit processes in place and “if things aren’t working, we’ll change them.”
We’ll intervene to make sure that the dollars go to where they are anticipated, which is improving the lives of Territorians. So we have high expectations of organisations that deliver taxpayer-funded programs.
Closing the Gap numbers ‘aren’t up to scratch’ – PM
Anthony Albanese is speaking to reporters in Alice Springs alongside the Northern Territory chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro.
As Dan Jervis-Bardy reported earlier, a six-year, $843m agreement to deliver services in remote Indigenous communities in the NT has been inked by the commonwealth and territory governments.
Finocchiaro labelled the funding as “one of the best health funding deals we’ve ever had for the territory”.
We know that community safety is the number one priority of territorians no matter where they live, but this funding will go further than remote policing, which is critical. It will also support better health outcomes for Aboriginal people living in the bush, greater empowerment and decision making, and, of course, making sure that our remote communities are invested in.
Albanese said the six-year agreement was about “empowering those local communities to work with government to deliver real solutions”.
Australians want to Close the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and we know that we’re, frankly, not doing well enough. And no government have done well enough, which is why so many of the indices that will be released next week, simply aren’t up to scratch. So this is about doing better.
Ex-police officer Kristian White faces sentence hearing
A now former police officer who fatally Tasered a 95-year-old dementia patient in New South Wales could receive a jail term when he faces a sentence hearing.
Kristian James Samuel White was found guilty of manslaughter after Tasering Clare Nowland at Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of 17 May 2023.
He will face a sentence hearing in the NSW supreme court today, during which prosecutors are expected to argue he should serve time behind bars. Read more below:
Follow live: Antoinette Lattouf v ABC hearing
Day five of the Antoinette Lattouf v ABC unlawful termination claim is under way today.
Chris Oliver-Taylor, the outgoing ABC content chief who sacked Lattouf, has begun giving evidence.
Remaining witnesses include the former ABC Radio Sydney manager Steve Ahern, the ABC Radio Sydney’s content director, Elizabeth Green, and former chair Ita Buttrose.
You can follow along live with Kate Lyons in our separate live blog here:
Domino’s to close 205 ailing stores, mainly in Japan
Jonathan Barrett
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises will close 205 stores, mostly in Japan, after prolonged struggles in its Asian expansion.
The Australian-listed company, which holds the branding rights in several countries of the American pizza chain, had invested heavily in Japan but without the success of other international brands such as KFC, which has a passionate following there.
The managing director, Mark van Dyck, said Japan was still a “high potential market” and that Domino’s would adopt a more focused strategy.
We are committed to being disciplined in expansion – prioritising locations in high-density prefectures where we can drive incremental growth.
Domino’s was an early market darling of the pandemic amid a boon in takeaway food and deliveries. But its share price has crashed more than 80% since those 2021 highs, weighed down by changed buying habits and its troubled operations in Japan and France.
The pizza chain had unsuccessfully tried to reshape its menu to meet local tastes, such as introducing pizza rice bowls to drive sales in Japan.
Domino’s disclosed in a trading update today that same store sales had increased in its Australia and New Zealand reporting unit over the past six months, but fallen sharply in Asia.
All of the 205 stores that will be closed were recording losses, with 172 located in Japan.
Unions NSW calls for stronger action on short-term holiday rentals across state
Unions NSW is urging the state government must take action on short-term holiday rentals on platforms like Airbnb, saying they are worsening the housing affordability crisis and pushing essential workers out of their communities.
It has made a submission to the essential worker housing inquiry, pointing to a survey that shows 78% of frontline workers in NSW are in housing stress, spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
Unions NSW said that as of March last year, 167,955 dwellings across Australia were being used for unhosted short-term rentals – and in Sydney, Airbnb listings were occupied on average for only 71 nights a year.
Of the Airbnbs in Sydney, more than 30% are run by investors with 10 or more listings.
It said the housing affordability crisis had reached “critical levels” as low vacancy rates in Sydney couple with weekly rents rising by almost 60% since 2020, from $519 to $833.
Mark Morey, the secretary of Unions NSW, will present the evidence to the upper house inquiry today. He said in a statement:
Places like Byron Bay are taking matters into their own hands, introducing a 60-day cap on unhosted short-term rentals. The NSW government must follow suit and introduce statewide limits in high-demand areas.
Parts of remote WA forecast to reach 47C
Moving over to the west coast, Western Australians are continuing to swelter through a heatwave, with remote areas facing near 50C temperatures into the weekend.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of maximum temperatures in the low to high 40s, and overnight minimum temperatures in the mid 20s to low 30s.
Both Marble Bar and Gascoyne Junction are forecast to reach a top of 47C today and tomorrow. The latter reached 49C on Sunday, 49.2C on Monday and 48.8C on Tuesday this week, according to the bureau.
Leinster, Leonora, Paraburdoo, Wiluna and Meekatharra are all expected to reach 46C at the weekend. Laverton is expected to reach 45C at the weekend, followed by 46C on Monday.
Major flood warnings as severe weather forecast for north Queensland
Back to the weather in Queensland, here’s a look at some of the major flood warnings that remain in place, from the Bureau of Meteorology:
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Major flooding is occurring along the Murray River, based on upstream gauges, and may remain so throughout the day. Further rainfall is forecast over the next few days, which may cause renewed or prolonged flooding depending on the location of the heaviest falls.
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Minor to major flooding is occurring along the Herbert River, downstream of Nash’s Crossing. At Halifax, the river is at 4.96m and steady, near the major flood level. It is likely to remain around this level today, with further rises possible amid forecast rainfall.
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Major flooding is likely at Taemas from this afternoon, as water levels rise along the Cape River. It is currently at 6.51m and rising, expected to reach the major flood level of 8m this afternoon.
A severe weather warning remains in place for parts of the tropical north coast, Tablelands, Herbert and Lower Burdekin. The BoM warns:
Significant rainfall may develop over the weekend about the Herbert and Lower Burdekin and the Cassowary coast, with a monsoon trough in place, rich tropical moisture and onshore flow expected to strengthen.
Enhanced rainfall due to widespread showers and isolated embedded thunderstorms is possible from tonight and throughout the weekend, with extremely wet soils and river catchments leading to a higher than normal vulnerability to flash flooding.
Mandatory minimum sentence for displaying Nazi symbol ‘problematic’ – barrister
Circling back to barrister Bret Walker SC’s interview on ABC RN this morning on the government’s hate crime legislation: he spoke about the one-year mandatory minimum sentence for displaying a Nazi symbol and said this was “perhaps the easiest to use as an example of the really problematic nature of this kind of law”.
He said this was a “complete reversal” of the usual approach of “tailoring sentences so they comply with the message sent by the maximum, and then they meet the position of the individual offender and the particular offence.”
Asked if he could understand some of the public desire for mandatory minimums, and also the political pressure surrounding this issue, Walker said he didn’t
But I am, I suppose, like really everybody, completely sympathetic with and join in the extreme distaste, the disgust with people who think it appropriate – or perhaps knowing it is inappropriate and intending to be offensive – display these symbols or say these things about groups who are all entitled to equal protection of the law.
Josh Butler analysis on hate crimes legislation
Our own Josh Butler spoke with ABC RN earlier about the government’s amendment to the hate crimes bill, which passed the Senate yesterday afternoon.
He drew a comparison between the government’s existing rhetoric, painting themselves as being in contrast to Peter Dutton, with their apparent decision to follow his lead on mandatory minimum sentences:
Labor’s entire election campaign, and what they’ve sort of revealed so far in the PM’s speech at the press club the other week, was all about drawing that contrast of Peter Dutton – they’re the past, we’re the future. Dutton’s this, we’re that … On so many national security and social cohesion issues now, they have followed Peter Dutton’s lead. And I think the government would protest and say, ‘well, it’s our legislation … we’re the ones who passed it’, that sort of thing …
We look at the NZYQ immigration cohort, we look at some of the other social cohesion measures, the government has said from the start, we’re not going to do what Peter Dutton says, you know, terrible idea, and then they gradually, gradually, gradually, at the last minute, 8pm in the federation chamber on Wednesday night, fold, and do exactly what Peter Dutton said at the start.
So I think there is this case to be made – and the opposition is very gleefully making it – that they are leading the conversation on national security, on social cohesion, on antisemitism, and the government is not really doing much to push back on that.
You can read his full analysis in this piece below:
More on the tropical low forecast off Queensland
Circling back to earlier news that a tropical low is expected to develop in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast on Saturday:
The Bureau of Meteorology says the tropical low may form in the Coral Sea at the weekend before moving east, away from the Queensland coast.
It said an active monsoon trough might persist across north Queensland during the week.
The risk of the tropical low developing into a tropical cyclone increases to “low” on Sunday, moving eastward once it forms, away from the Queensland coast.
It is likely to move to the east of the Australian region on Monday or Tuesday.
The week that was in politics
Parliament resumed this week for the first time in 2025 – and it was certainly back with a bang. Here’s a recap of some of the key moments from the past few days, in case you missed it:
For more, you can have a listen to today’s Full Story podcast – looking at why politicians often find it so hard to pass the pub test:
Tropical cyclone threat renewed off Queensland
A flood emergency is not over yet, AAP reports, with more significant wet weather forecast for northern Australia and the possibility of a tropical cyclone.
North Queensland is preparing for a new wave of monsoonal rains to hit the flood-ravaged region in the coming days.
Ingham has been one of the worst hit with floodwaters cutting power, disrupting telecommunications and affecting food supply. Power was finally restored and a temporary crossing built on a damaged bridge for emergency services to transport much needed supplies late yesterday.
But the sodden town is again on alert with Bowen also at risk of more flooding from further rainfall, premier David Crisafulli warned.
The double whammy is that you have conditions where everything is so waterlogged, it’s got nowhere to go. So if you have heavy rainfall in a short period of time, there is the real risk of flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology said a severe weather warning was likely to be issued today for heavy rainfall that might lead to “life-threatening” flash flooding.
The flood risk has been increased due to catchments that have been saturated by heavy rainfall over the past week.
A tropical low is expected to develop in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast on Saturday and the bureau warned it had a low chance of becoming a cyclone. However, it was expected to move east from the mainland over the weekend.
Rainfall totals until Sunday could reach up to 300mm for the north.
Walker rejects notion there was legislative urgency for mandatory minimum sentences
Asked if there was a legislative urgency for the government to impose mandatory minimum sentences, Bret Walker SC said no – and that the urgency is to investigate the alleged offences “under laws that already exist”.
There’s an urgency in the proper prosecution of them. There’s certainly an urgency, in the event that any sentences appear to be unduly lenient, to have them reviewed by the pre-existing and perfectly robust processes for a review and appeal.
But there’s no urgency in putting in laws to create offences which really are just doubling up, in the classic Australian way, for laws we already have … in our law books.
Walker said an unintended consequence was that the laws appeared to be “singling out particular aspects of social dysfunction for particular attention”. He pointed to 9/11 and said that “the notion of terrorism was very heavily emphasised in many statute books around the world, including ours” in the aftermath.
I’m not at all sure, however, that any of that was warranted to the degree it occurred, bearing in mind [the] death of human beings … that is at the bottom of all the really important crimes that we deal within our statutes, and the idea of singling out some as being somehow worse is, I think, really dangerous.
A moment’s thought about sexual offences being inspired by really vicious misogyny, a moment’s thought about the the nature of murders inspired by homophobia, for example. All of that rather suggests that we don’t need special laws for lesser outcomes …
He said laws existed as an “aspect” of social cohesion but can’t “compel people to be pleasant” or civil.
Barrister says government should have resisted mandatory minimum sentences from ‘legal and social’ perspective
Barrister Bret Walker SC spoke with ABC RN just earlier about the government’s hate crimes legislation – which adds mandatory minimum sentences for some terrorism offences and the display of hate symbols.
The legislation passed the Senate yesterday afternoon, introducing mandatory minimum sentences of six years for terror offences, three years for financing terrorism and one year for displaying hate symbols.
Asked if the government should have resisted these changes, amid a push from the Coalition, Walker said “of course they should have”, from a legal and social perspective.
The questions of politics, I’m afraid, don’t always align with those of principle.
He said a mandatory minimum sentence “sends a message about a particular class of case, and sometimes, therefore, about a particular class of accused person or victim person, that they stand apart from the usual run”.
The whole point about a mandatory minimum is that it requires a sentence to be imposed from time to time that would be more harsh than the merits of the case would deserve. There is no other reason for the minimum to be mandatory. It is the parliament telling the courts, even though everything else about the case would combine to produce a particular result, I insist you must impose a sentence which is more harsh.
Now that is obviously a complete reversal of the usual approach we take to the usual run of crime, where we don’t have mandatory minimums for obvious reasons. Every offence is individual to the particular offender.
Israel welcomes move on hate-crime sentences
Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs has welcomed the Australian government’s move to impose mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes.
In a post to X, the foreign ministry wrote:
We welcome Australia’s decision to pass legislation against hate crimes in response to the alarming rise in antisemitism. No Jew in Australia – or anywhere in the world – should have to live in fear.
O’Neil questioned over Dutton’s ‘big thinker’ remark on Trump
Clare O’Neil was asked about Peter Dutton’s description of Donald Trump as a “big thinker” amid his plans to take over Gaza – how would she describe him?
The housing minister responded that she wasn’t going to “get into making descriptions of president Trump today” – similar to Anthony Albanese’s repeated statement he would not give a daily “running commentary” on all of the president’s remarks.
O’Neil continued that she was “respectful of [Trump’s] position as president of a very important partner and friend of Australia”.
What I would say about the foreign policy aspects of this is very simple – we’re the Australian government and we make Australia’s foreign policy. We have a really clear approach to the issue in the Middle East and that is we support a two-state solution. We’ll keep pursuing that through international forums.
Is it a good thing for the opposition leader to praise the president in this space? O’Neil said she would leave Dutton’s “actions and approaches to him”.
There’s a lot more work to do and all of it is at risk if Peter Dutton is elected prime minister. That’s going to be our big focus over the coming months.
Article by:Source: Emily Wind
