Queensland LNP candidate alleges he was physically assaulted by two people
The LNP candidate for Gregory in the upcoming Queensland election, Sean Dillon, has told 4BC radio he was assaulted and threatened near his home by two people.
He alleged he was told “shut your union bashing mouth” by two people, and thrown on the bonnet of his car.
Dillon told the station the incident was “terrifying” and “pretty horrific”, occurring 20km from his house after he pulled over to assist someone.
I was physically accosted at that point, and it was pretty explicit … the instructions about what they thought around my continued involvement in politics and what I should or shouldn’t do.
Dillon said he was in shock afterwards, because “it was the last thing that you expect as a political candidate”. He said the alleged offenders did not have their faces covered, but were not known to him.
Dillon said he has good relationships with various union members, and “there’s certainly no union bashing when it comes to me”.
Queensland police confirmed it received a complaint in relation to an alleged assault on 27 August, around 6.30pm, at the intersection of Eulimbie Road and Clermont Alpha Road in Alpha.
Police said investigations are continuing.
Key events
We mentioned earlier the independent review commissioned by Nine Entertainment was due today. That report is now out and has revealed systemic bullying and harassment – you can read the full story from Amanda Meade:
People ‘languishing’ in hospital while waiting for NDIS care
Hundreds of people with disabilities are “languishing” in public hospitals while they wait for adequate support, leaving them vulnerable to harm and infection, AAP reports.
Workforce shortages and a lack of disability accommodation in rural areas has led to an increase in NDIS participants staying in hospital, the Western NSW Local Health District chief executive, Mark Spittal, said at an inquiry today.
NSW hospitals had 294 such people yet to be discharged in early October because no NDIS supports were in place or their assessments had not been finalised.
Spittal told the federal inquiry examining the experience of rural NDIS participants in Dubbo that hospitals were the support providers of last resort for people with disabilities:
That’s certainly not the place that somebody with a significant disability should be languishing. Their risk of acquiring infection, the risk of being marginalised because the acute care needs of somebody else in the ward will take predominance and, as a result, being unintentionally harmed are very, very high.
An NDIS assessment can take several weeks involving a number of health practitioners at a time when GPs in major regional centres had closed their books, he said.
If you’re a highly complex person with highly-complex disabilities needing access to primary care and you do not already have a (GP), your chances of being able to execute that are virtually zero.
People living with disabilities in small towns were also having to move and leave their families behind to access specialised support, he said.
Rafqa Touma Debris balls getting smaller, EPA says
The size of the debris balls vary between a marble and tennis ball, Stephen Lemon from the Environment Protection Authority tells press:
We are actually seeing, as we move away from the Coogee area, the size of the balls are getting smaller.
Probably getting a lot of wave action in the surf zone, breaking that material up.
Rafqa Touma NSW EPA analysing “quite unusual” tar ball debris
The NSW Environment Protection Authority is currently analysing samples of the black ball-shaped debris.
Stephen Lemon, EPA’s executive director of operations, confirms their tests results are matching up with those of Randwick city council’s.
Speaking from Coogee, Lemon told press:
We’ve had our specialists out collecting samples and having these samples analysed by our laboratories. We’re using this information to get further detail on what the nature of the material is, so we can use that to identify the … sources of contamination.
Lemon told press the material “is quite unusual,” and that “it is quite a fibrous material”. He said it has a hydrocarbon base.
He said it is too early to predict where it has come from, and clarified that oil can come from both boats and land sources.
Natasha May Thanks Emily and good afternoon everyone!
Emily Wind Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, I’ll hand over to Natasha May who will be with you for the next little while. Take care.
Rafqa Touma Circling back to the Sydney beach debris
Reverse and drift modelling will be used to consider the currents and wind in ascertaining where the black ball-shaped debris is coming from.
David Wood from NSW Maritime has told reporters:
We are also working with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to find where these contaminants may have come from. They will do reverse modelling and drift modelling, taking into account the currents and wind, for us to be able to work out whether it comes from south, north or east of NSW, to try and give better information on the likely source.
Weather agencies warning of severe storms, unsettled weather
The Bureau of Meteorology has published a severe weather update, with severe thunderstorms possible throughout central and southern Australia today.
The NSW SES has also shared an update, urging people in western parts of the state to prepare for unsettled weather in the coming few days.
Rafqa Touma NSW Maritime says they can’t see any more tar balls drifting towards Sydney beaches
NSW Maritime said they have seen no more sheen or balls drifting towards Sydney beaches, after black debris forced the closure of seven beaches.
Speaking to reporters from Coogee, David Wood from NSW Maritime said:
We’ve been working over the last two days with Port Authority of NSW.
We’ve had vessels out on our water. We can ensure that we can’t see any more sheen on that water. We also can’t see any more balls that are drifting in towards the beaches of the city, which is a good sign at the moment.
Rafqa Touma NSW Maritime coordinating response to debris on Sydney beaches
Daren Wood, director of NSW Maritime, and Stephen Lemon, executive director of operations for the NSW EPA, have addressed press a short while ago on the thousands of small black balls that have washed up on beaches in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Speaking from Coogee, Wood said NSW Maritime is taking coordination of the incident.
They will be coordinating with Randwick City Council, EPA, the Port Authority and Australian Maritime Safety.
Josh Taylor Cyber firm says it had to publicly ‘shame’ X into taking action on China-linked bot network
Cybersecurity firm CyberCX has told the Australian parliament it was forced to brief the government and media about a China-linked bot network of 5,000 accounts on X because the company was unable to report it to X directly.
The firm announced in August it had identified a network of at least 5,000 inauthentic X accounts almost certainly controlled by an AI large-language model-based system which the firm termed the Green Cicada Network.
They assessed that the system was designed, at least in part, to ‘launder’ politically divisive narratives by rewording organic content as new posts and replies and to amplify organic divisive content on X through engagement. It was primarily focused on US politics and culture but had also amplified hot-button political issues in Australia, the UK and other countries.
Speaking before a parliamentary inquiry on the Albanese government’s misinformation and disinformation bill, CyberCX’s executive director of corporate affairs, Jordan Newnham, said CyberCX it was difficult to report all 5,000 accounts to X, and CyberCX had been “banging our head against the wall” trying to contact X on it, so CyberCX reported the findings to government and then to media “basically just to shame X into taking action, which it looks like they have.”
Newnham said X had suspended some of the accounts, but the so-called “puppet master” account for the bot network had appeared to delete its own account. He said CyberCX had still yet to hear from X on the matter.
Josh Butler Hearing into government’s misinformation bill
International bodies voicing concern about issues and developments in Australia could fall afoul of the government’s misinformation bill, the Human Rights Commission has claimed, saying the controversial legislation created “doubt” over public debates.
A hearing into the bill, which is on its second run-through after being introduced then pulled and rewritten following strong public criticism, is being held today in Canberra. Lorraine Finlay, the Human Rights Commissioner, said the AHRC had concerns about how the bill would work.
The Coalition has said it will oppose the government’s bill. The Liberal senator Dave Sharma asked Finlay about whether she thought a body like the United Nations or the OECD voicing concerns about economic conditions in Australia, or bleaching of the coral reef, could fall foul of the misinformation laws – insofar as such claims could cause harm to public confidence in financial markets or have consequences for the Australian community, which are stipulations in the legislation.
“Potentially,” Findlay replied.
She said there was “doubt” about how comments from such international bodies would be treated – “and that doubt is really at the heart of the concerns we have about this legislation, that there isn’t a precision in the definitions that allow for clarity about who is in and who is out.”
The idea you’re even creating tiers of speech rights, is problematic from our perspective.
Finlay said the AHRC had concerns about the bill creating “uncertainty” over how various institutions could participate in public debate.
That uncertainty in our view, the real harm of it, it leads to the potential of over-censorship. Whether that’s by the platforms or indeed by individuals or organisations who might choose not to engage in speech that they otherwise would, because of a concern of whether they would be protected under the legislation or not.
Finlay raised concern over the breadth of the definitions in the bill, and what she called “vagueness” of the definitions.
Traffic banked up towards Sydney Harbour Bridge
Here is a look at the traffic banked up at the Sydney Harbour Bridge. According to Tripview, a route 207 bus is stuck in the traffic.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is closed in both directions following a multi-vehicle, fatal collision this afternoon.
Emergency services and Transport for NSW are attending the scene, and a helicopter.
Heavy traffic conditions are being reported, with motorists told to expect significant delays, avoid the area and use an alternative route.
Motorists can consider using the Sydney Harbour Tunnel in both directions.
As we just reported, one person has died at the scene and a second is in a critical condition after the collision, which involved a bus that had no passengers on board at the time.
Emergency services are responding to a multi-vehicle collision on Sydney Harbour Bridge.
NSW Police said the incident involved three cars and a bus, around 1.40pm, and one person has died at the scene.
A second is in a critical condition, police said, with paramedics assessing a number of other patients.
The bus driver is uninjured, police said, and no passengers were on board at the time.
Eight ambulance resources responded, including a helicopter. Emergency services are still on the scene responding.
Luca Ittimani The NSW Environment Protection Authority has inspected three beaches riddled with black balls and has observed balls at a further eight, taking the total number of affected beaches to 11.
EPA officers inspected Coogee Beach, Gordons Bay and Maroubra Beach this morning, all of which are fully or partially closed to the public.
Balls were also observed at Bondi, Bronte, Clovelly and Tamarama, which were closed earlier today, as well as Congong, Frenchmans, Little Bay and Malabar.
While Randwick council tests suggested the balls contained hydrocarbon, consistent with the makeup of tar balls, the EPA were yet to confirm the balls’ origins and potential risks to the community.
In a statement, the agency advised against swimming or touching any balls that may have washed ashore until clean-ups were complete.
The EPA encouraged the community to report further ball sitings to the NSW Environment Line on 131 555 or email info@epa.nsw.gov.au.
Randwick mayor provides update on beach closures, cannot confirm if they will reopen by weekend
The mayor of Randwick council, Dylan Parker, is providing an update on the beach closures, after tar balls washed ashore.
As we flagged just earlier, seven beaches across Sydney have now closed as a result. Parker said council was liaising with NSW Maritime and the NSW government.
There’ll be more from them later on to say … but our beaches will remain closed and we’re investigating other beaches along the Randwick local government area …
We had clean-up crews working at Coogee Beach. [It] looks pretty good but we’re still waiting on the tides to come in in order to investigate. It remains under investigation as to what the source of the contaminant is but we’ll update the community as things come to light.
He said the “approximately golf-sized black balls” have been washing up onto the shore at Coogee Beach “as recently as this morning”.
We don’t currently know what the situation will be on the weekend, but we’re having ongoing conversations … We’d love to be open, but we’re not in a position to say that just yet. What we like to do is thank the community for their patience while we go through this situation.
Shadow workplace relations minister on latest job figures
The shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, was speaking to reporters from Melbourne just earlier about the latest job figures.
She said the 4.1% unemployment rate was “welcomed by the Coalition” but argued “when you look behind the figures, we are now seeing what are incredibly concerning trends.”
She said the growth was occurring in the public sector, not the private sector, and that the hours worked was also increased in the public sector but not the private.
The public sector jobs growth is now outpacing the private sector and that is because the Albanese government [is] great at creating public sector jobs, but not so good [at] motivating the private sector to create jobs.
Amanda Meade Nine to hold all staff meeting at 4pm to outline culture review findings
All staff from Nine Entertainment’s television and newspaper divisions have been invited to an online briefing at 4pm today at which management will outline the findings of an independent cultural review.
It was commissioned after allegations of inappropriate behaviour and broader cultural issues in the television newsrooms were uncovered earlier this year.
The majority of the problems have occurred within the Channel Nine newsrooms and not the newsrooms of the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Acting chief executive officer Matt Stanton told staff the review by Intersection may be a challenging time for employees and confidential support is available. After staff have been briefed the findings will be made public.
Stanton replaced Nine’s former chief executive Mike Sneesby who commissioned the review in May. Former television news boss Darren Wick left the business earlier this year after allegations of inappropriate conduct.
Sydney Harbour Bridge closed in both directions after crash
One person killed in multi-vehicle crash on Sydney Harbour Bridge
Tar balls now sighted at 11 Sydney beaches
