Adam Bandt on Middle East: ‘Labor must do more than simply call for a ceasefire’
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, says the “dangerous escalation” in the Middle East requires “people and governments around the world to keep pushing for peace through taking action.”
In a series of posts to X, Bandt said underlying the conflict is “the state of Israel’s continued illegal occupation of Palestine” and “until this ends, there will be no just [and] lasting peace for Palestinians, Israelis and their neighbours.”
He said that Labor “must do more than simply call for a ceasefire” and should pressure the Netanyahu government “with sanctions and an end to military trade”.
This is what can help end the cycle of violence … The Greens continue to call for the release of the hostages, an end to the invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Key events
Planter boxes listed as safety concern ahead of pro-Palestine rally on Sunday
Mostafa Rachwani
A NSW police letter to organisers of a pro-Palestine rally planned for Sunday at Sydney’s Town Hall says the force has concerns for the safety of participants and the general public given the size of the expected crowd and hazards within the precinct including “the recent addition of over a dozen planter boxes” for spring.
The force also notes the potential impact of the rally on other users of the Town Hall precinct including light rail commuters and attendees at the nearby St Andrews cathedral.
The police letter to the organisers does not mention the potential presence of prohibited images such as the Hezbollah flag which was allegedly displayed at last Sunday’s protest in Sydney’s CBD.
The NSW Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said the move by NSW police to ban this weekend’s protests at Town Hall was “oppressive.”
It is a harsh and oppressive move by the NSW police force to attempt to prohibit the peaceful, uninterrupted weekly assembly where people have been expressing their collective grief and support of the Palestinian people suffering the most horrific genocide.
To learn that the reason for this undemocratic intolerance of the people’s right to protest is [partly] due to a few planter boxes on the street is cruel, callous and frankly dangerous.
After a meeting yesterday morning with organisers, NSW police said they were “not satisfied that the protest could proceed safely” and signalled they would apply to the NSW supreme court to have Sunday’s protest banned – along with another event scheduled for Monday.
Josh Taylor
Anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen says visa to Australia has not been granted
Kellie-Jay Keen, aka Posie Parker, has ditched plans to appear at the conservative talkfest CPAC Australia in Brisbane this weekend after she said her visa to Australia had not been granted.
The” gender-critical” activist from the UK, who made headlines in Australia last year when her rally outside the steps of parliament was gatecrashed by nazis, posted on X she was not flying to Australia in the morning due to a visa not being granted and she would instead be watching the live stream of the defamation trial brought by Liberal MP Moira Deeming against state Liberal leader John Pesutto over comments made about her attendance that rally.
CPAC Australia also claimed on its website the talk had been “CANCELLED VISA REFUSED” [sic]. But it is understood the Department of Home Affairs was still considering the visa application from Parker and no refusal had been issued.
CPAC Australia was approached for comment.
The headline act for CPAC Australia will be former UK prime minister Liz Truss. Other speakers include Warren Mundine, Senator Alex Antic, Senator Bridget McKenzie, Senator Matt Canavan, the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and Senator Gerard Rennick.
More from Anne Hollonds’ national press club address
Anne Hollonds is calling for the government to appoint a cabinet minister for children and to establish a ministerial council for child wellbeing that reports to national cabinet.
She said Australia ratified the convention on the rights of the child in 1990 but “unlike other countries, we have no legislation to underpin the responsibilities we have signed up to”:
There is currently noone held responsible, for example, when the conditions in detention are breaching international human rights conventions. And this was made clear at a recent inquest into the tragic death by suicide of young Cleveland Dodd.
Hollonds argued the concept that children have human rights is “not well understood” in Australia:
You never hear children’s rights talked about in question time, or on the news. But you’ll hear about workers’ rights, women’s rights, consumer rights, for example. The term children’s rights, well, it doesn’t really roll off the tongue, does it, in Australia. And that helps to explain why we continue to see breaches of human rights, and in child justice system. It’s getting worse, not better, and it has to stop.
Youth justice commissioner says some politicians told her: ‘there’s no votes in children’
Circling back to the National Press Club, where the children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, has been speaking. She said that when she has raised issues of youth justice with members of Parliament, some have said “there’s no votes in children”:
The truth is while we may all be shocked in the moment when there’s a tragedy reported in the media – and there’s just about every week – these serious failures and systemic neglect of children do not seem to affect a party’s political fortunes at elections.
Despite the economic costs and the questionable morality of strategies contrary to the evidence, when I ask about lack of progress on reform, I’m told by some members of Parliament there’s no votes in children.
Attempts to stop pro-Palestine rallies in Sydney ‘deeply anti democractic’, Greens senator says
Greens senator David Shoebridge has labelled the move by NSW police to try to stop pro-Palestine rallies from taking place in Sydney as “deeply anti democratic”.
In a post to X, Shoebridge said the protests have been held weekly for 51 weeks and have been “overwhelmingly peaceful,” with families and the community coming together to “mourn their loved ones and call for the end of violence.”
The organisers were in discussions with police on how to hold the protest and keep the community safe but then found out via the media that police were trying to block it! It’s a deeply anti-democratic move.
Children’s commissioner ‘shocked and distressed’ after visiting youth detention centres
Continuing from our last post: Anne Hollonds said that what she saw during visits to the nation’s youth detention centres left her “shocked and distressed”.
As AAP reports, she told the audience:
What was most chilling for me was to meet children who had no one, who were completely alone, who spoke of feeling shut out and shunned by society. These children were unable to tell me about any hopes or dreams or plans for the future. All they could see in their future was more of the same but in adult prison.
Barely literate, their lack of education or training gave them no prospects for a job, and they had no one to help them. The light had gone out of their eyes.
The children’s commissioner warned unless the nation started paying attention to the evidence, the community would be having the same conversation in a decade’s time, only with a lot more tragedies along the way.
Australia can be ‘smart on crime’ by acting on the evidence, dealing with the barriers to reform, and building safe communities where children can get the best start in life.
Children’s commissioner addresses National Press Club
The national children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, has begun addressing the National Press Club in Canberra.
As AAP reports, Hollonds is making the case that Australia must abandon its tough approach to managing youth crime and start looking to evidence-based solutions – including earlier intervention to help save children from “disadvantage, despair and desperation”.
Youth detention centres are the places where the most egregious breaches of the human rights of children are happening.
Australia cannot continue with “business as usual” and should ditch its failed approach of longer sentencing, more policing and more children’s prisons, she said. Instead, it should look to change youth justice to improve child wellbeing.
After the child protection system, often the next station on the train line for them is the criminal justice system.
More activists sought over violent anti-war protests
The search for anti-war protesters wanted over clashes outside a controversial Melbourne weapons expo has stepped up, AAP reports.
Images of eight people – seven men and one woman – have been released after the unrest triggered by the Land Forces expo on 11 September.
Rocks, projectiles, liquids, horse manure and eggs were hurled at officers, horses and expo attenders, police say. Twenty-seven officers were injured and about 12 horses were exposed to various substances. Victoria police said in a statement today:
Several police horses and riders were splashed with a liquid irritant including being sprayed under face protectors, going into their mouths and nostrils, and were repeatedly pushed and hit with plastic crates.
Riot officers returned fire on the 1,500 demonstrators with rubber bullets, teargas and flashbang devices. Activity over the following two days of the expo was less volatile.
Eighty-nine people were charged or issued fines, with police setting up an investigative team to track down more offenders. They have also released an image of a man wearing a blue shirt and keffiyeh after a council bin was set alight on Spencer Street.
The chief commissioner, Shane Patton, defended his officers’ use of force against the protesters, who he called “a bunch of hypocrites”. He said at the time: “They come here to protest against anti-war, so presumably [they are] anti-violence.”
Adam Bandt on Middle East: ‘Labor must do more than simply call for a ceasefire’
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, says the “dangerous escalation” in the Middle East requires “people and governments around the world to keep pushing for peace through taking action.”
In a series of posts to X, Bandt said underlying the conflict is “the state of Israel’s continued illegal occupation of Palestine” and “until this ends, there will be no just [and] lasting peace for Palestinians, Israelis and their neighbours.”
He said that Labor “must do more than simply call for a ceasefire” and should pressure the Netanyahu government “with sanctions and an end to military trade”.
This is what can help end the cycle of violence … The Greens continue to call for the release of the hostages, an end to the invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Amy Remeikis
More on the evacuations from Lebanon
More Australians have left Lebanon after the Israeli military strikes, however, the government is continuing to warn people to move quickly.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says staff are continuing to work with allied nations, including the UK and Canada, to help Australians leave Lebanon. A Dfat spokesperson says the time to act is now:
A number of Australians were assisted onto commercial flights on Monday and overnight. Further seats have been secured on additional flights on Thursday and we are working to access more flights over the coming days.
The Australian embassy in Beirut remains open and for the meantime there are still commercial options, although contingency plans are in place. However officials have warned people not to wait any longer if they want to leave.
The Australian government understands this is a distressing time for many who are being impacted by the conflict. We urge Australians in Lebanon to take the first opportunity to leave. Please do not wait for a preferred route.
There is estimated to be about 15,000 Australians in Lebanon although the government does not have exact numbers.
More than 100 airline seats secured for Australians fleeing Lebanon
AAP has reported more than 100 commercial airline seats have been secured for Australians trying to leave Lebanon as dire warnings continue for people to evacuate amid an escalation of conflict in the region.
Flights across Monday and Tuesday carried dozens of Australians out while another scheduled flight for Thursday will add to the tally.
It comes as Australians in Lebanon are urged to take any available option to get out of the country as the security situation deteriorates following an increase in missile strikes across Lebanon and Israel.
The federal government continues to work on contingencies to evacuate citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families from Lebanon should the situation deteriorate further.
But grave warnings have been issued that any effort cannot accommodate the some 15,000 Australians in the country, although exact figures are unknown.
NRMA report says one of biggest barriers to EV adoption in Australia is ‘image problem’
There’s a new report out from NRMA Insurance looking at the road ahead for electric vehicle adoption in Australia.
It says EV sales have grown in Australia, from less than 1% of new car sales in 2020 to 8.5% of light vehicle sales in 2023. Uptake has been strongest among drivers with annual household incomes over $200,000, families with children and those in capital cities.
Currently 5% of Australian drivers own an EV. The two biggest drivers for purchasing one were sustainability reasons, at 77%, and affordability, at 76%.
But one of the biggest barriers is an “image problem”, the report states, with “petrol and hybrid vehicles are seen by many purchasers as being superior vehicles to EVs.” Some of barriers to buying an EV among non-considerers were vehicle attributes (82%), infrastructure (64%), cost (63%) and safety (51%).
44% also listed the risk of battery fires as a concern, even though research shows road registered EVs do not present a greater risk of fire than internal combustion vehicles.
NRMA CEO Julie Batch says the report highlights the work needed to bust the myths about range anxiety, safety and cost. The report is based on research involving 2,079 interviews conducted in February.
Adeshola Ore
Victorian minister says protesters should ‘think twice’ about holding rallies on 7 October
Victoria’s assistant treasurer and minister for transport, Danny Pearson, says pro-Palestine protesters should “think twice” about holding rallies on the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.
Speaking to reporters, Pearson said 7 October will be an “incredibly challenging and difficult day for many members of our community.”
I would really encourage people to really think twice about whether that’s a day where these sorts of activities should be occurring.
This is a day of immense trauma and grief for many in our community … I don’t think a protest is an appropriate way to mark a day of grief and trauma.
In Melbourne, a pro-Palestine rally is planned for Sunday, the day before the anniversary.
For more on this topic, our reporter Tory Shepherd has put together an explainer on what Australian law says about the display of hate symbols, and if we need any new legislation – as Peter Dutton has been calling for.
Mostafa Rachwani
More information on arrest of woman in Sydney
NSW Police have made their first arrest as part of their investigations into people allegedly holding Hezbollah imagery at the pro-Palestine protest last Sunday.
At around 10am this morning, a 19-year-old woman presented herself to Kogarah Police Station following a public appeal for her to come forward.
Police said in a statement she was arrested and is currently assisting police with inquiries.
The Guardian understands she has been arrested for the alleged display of Hezbollah imagery, which the police have described as “prohibited symbols”.
She was arrested as part of Operation Shelter’s investigation into the protest, with the taskforce established to “ensure community safety in response to protest activity.”
Investigations continue.
Victoria police say they have no powers to halt pro-Palestine rally
Adeshola Ore
Victoria police say they have no powers to halt a pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne this weekend, ahead of the anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel.
A spokesperson says the police will have a presence at the Melbourne rally on Sunday, a day before the anniversary. The spokesperson says the focus will be on ensuring the safety of those attending and the broader community:
Victoria Police respects the right for peaceful protest, however any unlawful behaviour will not be tolerated.
Victoria Police does not have the power to deny a protest from occurring, so long as it is lawful. There is no permit system for protests in Victoria.
