Australia news live: candlelight vigil for Bondi Junction victims announced; French ambassador praises citizens who assisted during attack | Australia news

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today. Cait Kelly will be here to take you through the remainder of our rolling coverage today. Take care.

Speaking to the media, Anthony Albanese said he would travel back to Canberra this afternoon for a face-to-face national security meeting after the stabbing attack in western Sydney on Monday night.

As for what has occurred in Sydney on Monday night, violent extremism has no place in this country. Violence has no place in this country, our police need to be respected at all times, and people should allow them to go about their job. These are men and women who put themselves at risk in order to keep us safe, and we should respect them.

The prime minister said he was “very concerned about the lack of respect that we saw on Monday night in Sydney” and would continue to monitor and receive reports from police.

At a time like this my job as prime minister is to try to do my best to bring the nation together, to make sure that we concentrate on what unites us, not what divides us. Every person should be able to go about their shopping, or express their faith, without any risk being involved with that.

Albanese outlines $400m in loans for industry projects in Queensland

The prime minister has been speaking to the media from Gladstone in Queensland alongside the state’s premier, Steven Miles, about $400m in loans for industry projects.

For all of our non-early risers, Josh Butler covered the specifics of the deal earlier in the blog here.

Continued from last post:

James Trezise, director of the Biodiversity Council, countered Graeme Samuel’s position with a “dose of reality”, pointing to one example of a critically endangered fish in the Snowy River system, the yalmy Galaxias.

The species was thought to have about 2,500 individuals left before the 2019-20 bushfires. A post-fire survey detected only two individuals, one male and one female:

We don’t know if that species is still there. We don’t know if that species has gone extinct or not. It was listed as critically endangered last year.

Trezise said, theoretically, an improved set of nature laws would mean there was a threat abatement and recovery planning system “that tells us in real time and immediately what we need to be doing to stop that species disappearing off the brink”.

We don’t have that. And we don’t know when that system is going to be fixed. And that is deeply problematic.

At the hearing of the Senate’s extinctions inquiry, environment groups have responded to earlier statements by the former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel, who said they should “take a chill pill” about the pace of the government’s changes to nature laws.

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Brendan Sydes reminded the hearing that groups had been consulting with governments about the state of Australia’s environmental protections since 2019.

We’ve got a state of the environment report, we’ve got a nature positive plan – promise, after promise, after promise … about the urgent need for these reforms.

And yet, here we are, being told that it needs to be delayed, or it’s not happening now or in one chunk like was originally promised, it will come at some stage as part of ‘stage three’.

I think it’s completely understandable why we’d be frustrated and disappointed with the progress.

More details on vigil for Bondi Junction victims this Sunday

Local politicians are now speaking to the media from Bondi, after the announcement that a candlelight vigil will be held this Sunday.

Queen Elizabeth Drive will be closed from the Saturday night before, Waverley mayor Paula Masselos said, and there will be “quite a lot” of security:

Because we could have two or three thousand people to 20,000 people, we just don’t know how many people will want to come. But we are planning for a large number of people, and I can assure people we are working to make it as safe as possible.

All tiers of government are working together on the event, with NSW police working alongside Waverley council to ensure the event will run safely and smoothly.

A candlelight vigil will be held to pay tribute to the victims of last weekend’s stabbing attack in Sydney’s Bondi Junction.

Six people died and many more were injured when 40-year-old Joel Cauchi went on an unprovoked stabbing rampage through the busy Westfield shopping centre.

Waverley council and the New South Wales government have arranged a vigil to honour the victims, at 5.30pm this Sunday at the Dolphin Court at Bondi beach.

There will be a minute’s silence in honour of those whose lives were lost. Attenders are asked to bring their own candle to take part in the vigil and take candles home at the end of the event.

The government says it will work with families affected by the tragedy at a later date regarding a formal memorial service and a permanent memorial site.

The premier, Chris Minns, announced plans for the vigil this afternoon. In a statement, he said:

This has been a devastating attack that’s touched everybody in the state, whether you knew one of the victims or not.

This vigil will be an opportunity for the community to stand together to support and honour the victims and survivors of this horrific tragedy.

I hope they can draw some strength from the fact that there’s many people that are standing with them during this time.

James Cook University identifies historical compliance concerns around payments to casual staff

James Cook University is conducting a payroll review after identifying “historical compliance concerns” with payments of casual staff.

The review follows an assessment of the university’s payroll systems and processes which found JCU had not upheld its enterprise agreement for minimum hours worked by staff.

In a statement, the university acknowledged “some employees may not have been paid correctly”, while not disclosing specific amounts.

The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Simon Biggs, said the university was committed to resolving the issue and had self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman:

As the review is in its initial stages, further details including the number of staff members affected are still to be determined. I can confirm that unfortunately, some historical issues have been identified and we deeply regret these. I’d like to assure impacted staff that any required remediation is considered a matter of urgency by the university.

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Climate council calls for ‘climate trigger’ to be embedded in Australia’s nature laws

The climate council’s head of policy and advocacy, Jennifer Rayner, has criticised the Albanese government’s decision to delay large parts of its promised environment legislation, telling the Senate inquiry into the extinction crisis that “glaciers are literally melting while this reform moves forward at a glacial pace”.

Rayner reiterated earlier calls from the conservation movement, as well as the Greens and crossbench, for climate change to be embedded in Australia’s nature laws through mechanisms such as a climate trigger:

The biggest gap in these reforms at the moment is that there is no substantive proposal to deal with climate change.

The existing laws fail to adequately address the climate effects of developments.

Rayner said this meant the creation of a new agency to enforce compliance with the law, as the government has proposed, “doesn’t help the climate when there’s nothing in the law that companies would be complying with”.

Environment groups have called on the Albanese government to announce a timeline for when it will finalise and introduce legislation to overhaul Australia’s failing national environmental laws and ensure it will happen in this term of government.

It follows the government’s announcement yesterday it was carving up its planned legislation and would introduce laws to establish two new bodies – an environment protection agency and an environment information agency – in coming weeks. A broader package of reforms, including national environment standards, has been delayed.

The groups told a Senate inquiry that the government’s plan to introduce legislation for the new agencies would, on its own, not deliver on the government’s commitment to zero new extinctions.

Brendan Sydes from the Australian Conservation Foundation said:

We need the comprehensive reforms that have been promised and they need to be progressed urgently … because we know that things change after elections.

Alexia Wellbelove from the Australian Marine Conservation Society said the two new bodies would represent a “good start” but on their own they “are not what nature needs” and “will not enable the government to meet its commitments to protect the reef or prevent the extinction of species like the Maugean skate”.

Returning to Victoria’s Indigenous truth-telling inquiry

Going back to Victoria’s treaty discussions at the Indigenous truth-telling inquiry, co-chair Rueben Berg is outlining future negotiations for a statewide treaty agreement.

Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly is expected to begin negotiating a statewide treaty with the state government in the coming months.

Asked about how the state government could deal with potential redress, Berg says a position has not been determined but it is an “ongoing part of considerations”.

Berg says the state’s treaty process will create a “path forward”:

There is a path forward through treaty and that will lead us to that treaty future that I aspire to, which is where our community and our culture is at the heart of our daily lives.

Indigenous businesses worth $16bn to Australian economy, new research shows

A new report shows that revenue from the Indigenous business ecosystem is worth at least $16bn, equivalent to the national timber industry.

The Indigenous Business and Corporation Snapshot 3.0 was released today and said the Indigenous business sector employs 116,795 people (as many as the Coles group) with a wage bill of $4.2bn.

A statement from the University of Melbourne said the report was the “most comprehensive longitudinal research project to date exploring the breadth and impact of Indigenous entrepreneurial activity”. The latest report is based on data collected in 2022.

The report authors say despite the large sample size of almost 14,000 businesses, there are still many enterprises that have not been captured in this latest report, and the research reveals the enormous potential of the Indigenous business sector.

Associate professor Michelle Evans, lead researcher and director of the Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, said:

… The contribution of Indigenous businesses is not just the monetary amount – there is also the story of Indigenous self-determination through the vehicle of business, the local benefits of businesses especially in regional Australia such as employment and contribution to infrastructure, and the sharing of cultural knowledge which is crucial to the world’s oldest continuing culture.

France’s ambassador to Australia, Pierre-André Imbert, has released a statement following the mass stabbing at Bondi Junction at the weekend.

He expressed his condolences to the victims, their families and friends and commended the two French citizens who stepped up to protect shoppers:

The horrific events that took place in a Sydney shopping centre on Saturday, claiming the lives of six people and injuring a dozen more in Westfield Bondi Junction, were a senseless act of violence.

Our thoughts, compassion and solidarity are with the victims, their families and friends.

That two French citizens, Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux, attempted to prevent the assailant from approaching shoppers during the attack is commendable.

I praise both men for showing courage in the face of violence and have personally conveyed my gratitude for their bravery to them.

Australia’s race discrimination commissioner has urged communities to embrace compassion and reject division following the two stabbing attacks in Sydney this week.

​Giridharan Sivaraman said, like the rest of the country, he has been “left numb and broken by the tragic events that have occurred” and extended his condolences to all impacted.

Sivaraman also expressed concern over reports of racism, divisive rhetoric, and mis- and dis-information around the attacks:

With incidents of the nature that we have seen, there is a heightened risk of racism. Following the Bondi tragedy, I was very concerned by the antisemitic and Islamophobic commentary that flooded parts of social media – as some, ignorantly or even malevolently, attempted to wrongly apportion blame for the attacks.

Communities shouldn’t be tarred by the actions of individuals. There is no place in our country, or anywhere, for racism of any kind. I urge all Australians to reject those who try to divide us and find ways, in our common humanity, to rise above.

Lifeblood sees increase in appointments across NSW following tragedy at weekend

New South Wales health minister Ryan Park said teams at Lifeblood have seen a large influx of appointments across the state since the Bondi Junction mass stabbing on Saturday.

In a post to Instagram, Park said:

Over the last few days, I’ve been touched by the remarkable outreach of warmth and connection within our community, with many people coming together asking how they can help.

Donating blood is always an easy, free and constructive way to lend a hand to our frontline workers and provides a lifesaving resource for those impacted by incidents like these.

I met with the wonderful team at Lifeblood on Monday who have already seen a large influx of appointments in NSW as people respond to the weekend’s tragedy.

Marles points to previous governments when questioned on timeline for ADF improvements and acquisitions

Another reporter has honed in on Richard Marles’s 10-year window comment, and pointed out that 90% of the funding outlined today doesn’t come in for half a decade.

Ben Westcott from Bloomberg asked:

The Aukus subs don’t get here until the 2030s, neither do the six large optimally crewed surface vessels … Only in 2031 and beyond do we find the delivery of an ADF that’s fit for purpose across all domains. How can we afford to wait so long?

Marles points to former governments and responds with: “The best time to have acted on all this would have been 10, 20 years ago, but the second best time to act on it is now.”

That’s the reality of what we face.

He says the best people to answer this question were previous governments and says, “we inherited the circumstances that we found and we are dealing with them now”.

Too often what we’ve seen in the past is procurements where people seek to have all the bells and whistles put on top, and that’s a recipe for ensuring we go beyond budget and beyond time, and we don’t have a capability at all. So we’re doing minimum viable capability. There’s no waiting. We are getting this done as quickly as humanly possible, given the mess we inherited.