ABC not banned from Trump press conferences, managing director says – as it happened

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What we learned, Wednesday 8 October

That’s all for today, thanks for joining us. Here’s the day’s main news stories:

The deputy secretary of the Department of Communications, James Chisholm, has told Senate estimates that Optus officials sent two emails about the triple zero outage to an incorrect email address last month, where the information sat undetected for more than a day.

The federal Greens are calling for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, to intervene after Israel intercepted a new Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The industry minister, Tim Ayres, announced a joint federal and state bailout for the Glencore Mount Isa copper smelter.

The new AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, says hate crime laws introduced earlier this year following a spate of antisemitic attacks may need to be strengthened.

Victorians will get free public transport on weekends for two months, in a move the premier, Jacinta Allan, has described as a “thank you” to passengers for putting up with years of travel disruptions due to Metro Tunnel works.

The former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested the UK could place migrants attempting to enter the country in a “mothership on the English Channel” before sending them back to France at the UK Conservative party conference overnight.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she has written to Sussan Ley demanding she intervene to put a stop to the leaks and backgrounding against their own side, which she claims is feeding perceptions that the Liberal party is turning into a “clown show. Coalition frontbencher Alex Hawke says the Liberals must prioritise “being honest with each other”.

Rent hikes are back on the rise after a decline in new listings brought vacant rental rates to a record low – despite a boom in housing investor activity.

George Williams, the vice-chancellor and president of Western Sydney University, apologised to current and former students this afternoon, a day after many reported receiving scam emails that said their degrees had been “revoked” by the institution.

We’ll be back tomorrow with more news.

Updated at 09.30 CEST

Business as usual for ABC’s Washington bureau after Trump clashes, MD says

Amanda Meade

The ABC has not been banned from Donald Trump’s press conferences after John Lyons’ run-in with the US president, the broadcaster’s managing director, Hugh Marks, has told Senate estimates.

Marks said it was business as usual for the ABC’s Washington bureau since the incident last month.

In his first appearance at estimates since taking up the role in March, Marks said:

We took steps to ensure that [Lyons] was in a safe position, that he felt OK … [he] is a very experienced journalist over many years, and I think he’s a big boy and handled the situation particularly well.

In an opening statement tabled by the committee Marks said the ABC’s latest corporate tracker survey saw the broadcaster score 80% for “tend to trust/trust a great deal” which is the highest rating since October 2024:

This result mirrors the finding by Roy Morgan research recently which found that the ABC was the most trusted media organisation in Australia.

ABC managing director Hugh Marks. Photograph: ABCShare

Updated at 09.22 CEST

Optus says it is committed to ‘full transparency’ after revelations it sent outage alerts to wrong email address during triple-zero crisis

Tom McIlroy

Optus has released a statement in response to revelations from Senate estimates hearings on Wednesday about the company’s efforts to notify the government about triple-zero outages.

Optus officials sent two emails about the outages to the wrong department of communications email address last month, where the information sat undetected for more than a day.

The emails showed 10 callers had been unable to reach triple zero in emergencies, but it would later emerge that 600 calls had been affected and three people had died.

A spokesperson said the company took the matter seriously and remained committed “to full transparency and accountability”:

The independent review led by Dr Kerry Schott is examining all the relevant correspondence, timelines, and processes.

Dr Schott’s report is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

In the interests of respecting the integrity of the independent review process and the [Australian Communications and Media Authority investigation, we will not pre-empt the findings.”

Photograph: Hollie Adams/ReutersShare

Updated at 09.29 CEST

Sarah Basford Canales

More than 800 refugees and asylum seekers in limbo, home affairs official says

Over in Senate estimates this afternoon, home affairs officials have revealed more than 800 refugees and asylum seekers in Australia remain in limbo with no clear pathway to resettlement.

The department deputy secretary for immigration compliance, Michael Thomas, confirmed there were 807 “transitory people” awaiting resettlement in a third country and remaining on temporary visas.

Australia has struck deals with the US and New Zealand to resettle those who came to Australia by sea and have since been found to be refugees due to a hardline bipartisan policy against ever allowing them to settle in Australia.

The US program offered 1,200 spots while the New Zealand program offered 450. Thomas said 1,115 spots have been taken up in the US program – which has been paused under US president Donald Trump – for refugees who came to Australia.

In the New Zealand program, 324 spots have been filled with an extra 63 approved to take up a spot but yet to depart Australia.

Thomas said there had been a further 108 refugees and asylum seekers who had been resettled in other countries, including Canada, since the policy was introduced in 2013.

The Greens senator, David Shoebridge, asked officials and the minister sitting alongside them, Murray Watt, if any other resettlement programs were being arranged given there were not enough spots for the remaining cohort.

Thomas said “the government is continuing to engage with partner countries to determine other potential options” but declined to name any specific countries.

Updated at 08.34 CEST

Stephanie Convery

Vision Australia appoints first blind or vision-impaired CEO

Vision Australia has appointed its first vision-impaired chief executive, after more than a year of searching and a community campaign urging it to prioritise a candidate with lived experience.

On Tuesday, Vision Australia announced the appointment of David Williamson, who has spent the past decade in executive roles at Catholic disability and aged care provider, VMCH. Williamson identifies as having low vision.

The recruitment process was initially limited to internal expressions of interest, but later broadened to what Vision Australia called “a wide search”, which yielded more than 500 applications and focused on candidates with lived experience.

Vision Australia chair, Bill Jolley, said in a statement on Tuesday:

Lived experience of blindness or low vision was included as a desirable attribute in the selection criteria, which David possesses. In balancing that with David’s professional skills and experience, the Board strongly believes David is the correct choice.

United Blind Leaders – an advocacy group launched by blind or vision-impaired community leaders, including Vision Australia’s founding chair, former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes – has taken credit for Vision Australia’s change of approach and the appointment of someone with lived experience, after it launched a campaign in August last year pushing for both these things.

United Blind Leaders said the appointment of a vision-impaired CEO was “an important win”.

Updated at 08.31 CEST

Penry Buckley

Decision on Sydney Opera House protest to come tomorrow

The NSW court of appeal has heard the final arguments from lawyers representing the NSW police and Palestine Action Group (PAG) about the group’s proposed march to the Sydney Opera House on Sunday.

Under questioning from the NSW chief justice, Andrew Bell, about the possibility of a crowd crush, PAG’s barrister, Felicity Graham, said there had been no tragedies of that kind in Australia to date, but “no major event is risk free”.

She asked the court to “weigh all the factors, including the overwhelming factor of trying to stop a genocide”:

This particular type of major event is critical to our democracy and … should be given maximum facilitation by the court.

In his closing remarks, the barrister for the NSW police, James Emmett, referred back largely to evidence from the NSW police and the Opera House, which we reported earlier.

The court of appeal has reserved its decision, and will hand down its judgment at 9.30am tomorrow.

Updated at 08.50 CEST

Dan Jervis-Bardy

US would deliver submarines to Australia within a decade – as long as they build enough for themselves first

Under the original Aukus timeline, the US would start delivering Virginia-class submarines to Australia from the early 2030s, provided it has built enough vessels to meet the needs of its own navy.

In his evidence to the committee, Noh noted the US needed to build 2.33 submarines each year to meet its obligations under Aukus, up from a current rate of 1.2 each year.

The Australian government has already handed over $1.6bn to help the US ramp up production to meet the targets.

Noh said:

I believe that admiral [Daryl] Caudle, who testified before this committee several weeks ago and is now chief of naval operations, said that our submarine industrial base will need to go through a transformational improvement in production capacity. Not a 10% [improvement], not a 20% [improvement] but a 100% improvement in production capacity.

These are the issues that we are looking into as part of the Aukus review, as well as whether it’s properly funded.

The Pentagon review will be wrapped up before Albanese’s first scheduled face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in the US on 20 October, Nikkei Asia reported last week.

Updated at 08.22 CEST

Dan Jervis-Bardy

Trump’s pick for top Pacific role hints at findings of Aukus review

The US review of the Aukus submarine pact is set to recommend measures to make the deal more “sustainable”, Donald Trump’s pick to oversee defence strategy in the Indo-Pacific has hinted.

At a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning in the US, John Noh was asked about his view of the $368bn agreement to equip Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, which is currently under review by the Pentagon.

Noh said the evaluation was yet to be finalised, confirming a US Department of Defense statement last week in response to reports the review had greenlit the original Aukus plan.

But Noh hinted at what the review – led by Aukus sceptic Elbridge Colby – might recommend.

He told the committee:

My personal view is that there are things that I believe, common sense things that we can do to strengthen Aukus, to strengthen pillar one, to ensure that it is more sustainable. As the findings of the review come out, I believe undersecretary and secretary [of defence] Pete Hegseth, will have an opportunity to discuss specific recommendations as to how to strengthen pillar one and make it more sustainable.

Updated at 08.14 CEST

Coalition frontbencher says Liberals need to stop leaking

The shadow industry and innovation minister, Alex Hawke, appeared on the ABC a little earlier. Asked if leaking within the Liberal party needed to stop, Hawke said: “I think it should”:

One of the criticisms of the previous term was we didn’t actually have the real discussions with each other … We did prioritise unity but now we have to prioritise being honest with each other so will have those conversations.

Asked about the Glencore bailout, Hawke backed the federal government’s decision but said it had made it too expensive to do business in Australia.

Updated at 08.30 CEST

Donna Lu

Australia’s marine conservation approach setting ‘dangerous precedent’, researchers warn

Australia must expand its network of marine protected areas and implement policies for sustainable seafood consumption, new research recommends.

In a paper led by the University of Queensland, scientists argue that claims made by successive state and federal governments about Australia’s marine conservation track record have largely gone unchallenged. They write:

Claims might be an exercise in smoke and mirrors, made to mask other decisions that are not consistent with marine conservation leadership.

As an example, they cite remarks delivered by the then environment minister Tanya Plibersek last October, in which she praised Australia for being a “global leader in marine conservation”:

The minister’s marine leadership claim was made less than two weeks after she approved the expansion of three coalmines.

The authors recommend including at least 30% of marine bioregions in no-take marine sanctuaries by 2030, accelerating net-zero commitments and phasing out coalmining, and reforming fisheries to ensure sustainable consumption.

They conclude:

If Australia continues with its ‘business as usual’ approach to marine conservation, we are setting a dangerous precedent and risk other nations following our example.

The research will be published today in the journal Conservation Letters.

Updated at 08.00 CEST

Waters responds to criticism about her Manchester synagogue attack comments

Waters was also asked a little earlier about criticism from Labor and the Coalition after she made comments saying the Manchester synagogue attack showed why Australia needed to impose sanctions on Israel.

Anthony Albanese on Monday said Waters’ comments were “undignified” and “not worthy of a senator”.

Waters told the ABC she is focused on the genocide in Palestine:

The violence we saw in Manchester was totally unacceptable, it was awful … This government should do everything it can to end the genocide and it’s not and it should.

Waters said it was “not her intent to sound insensitive”.

Greens senator Larissa Waters. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 07.48 CEST

Greens leader says Glencore bailout should include clean energy conditions

Greens leader, Larissa Waters, has labelled the taxpayer-funded bailout of the Glencore smelter a “big wad of free cash with no strings attached.”

Earlier today, the industry minister, Tim Ayres, announced a joint federal and state bail out for the Glencore Mount Isa copper smelter in Queensland. The federal and Queensland governments will go 50/50 on a $600m bail out, which will keep the plant open and save about 600 jobs.

Speaking to the ABC earlier, Waters welcomed the securing of jobs but said the bailout should include clean energy conditions:

We would have liked to have seen, and perhaps the government have does this and they just haven’t told anyone yet … perhaps … conditions for clean energy usage and underwriting of the cost of that if needed.

Glencore’s Mount Isa Mines. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAPShare

Updated at 07.39 CEST

Benita Kolovos

CFMEU walks off Victorian government’s West Gate Tunnel project

Members of the construction union have walked off the state government’s West Gate Tunnel project amid a stoush with one of its developers in another state.

Government sources not authorised to speak publicly say the action is targeted at John Holland, which is building the tunnel in partnership with CPB Contractors.

They say John Holland has entered an agreement with the CFMEU’s main construction rival union, the Australian Workers Union, for works on another tunnel in South Australia.

A government spokesperson said “industrial relations are a matter for our contractors”. They said it will not affect the overall time frame for the delivery of the project

The spokesperson said:

Safety remains our highest priority, and we expect contractors and unions to work together to resolve these matters as efficiently as possible.

Updated at 07.52 CEST

Weather hampers search for missing bushwalker in Tasmania

The search for missing bushwalker in Tasmania’s north-east has continued into a fourth day, with weather conditions hindering the operation. Peter Willoughby, 76, was last seen in Hollybank on Sunday afternoon.

In a statement, Tasmania police said helicopter resources could not be deployed today due to poor weather and low visibility. Search efforts will continue into the evening and tomorrow, police say.

Tasmania police northern district inspector Nick Clark said the search teams had worked hard to try to find Mr Willoughby:

Given the period of time he has been missing and the challenging weather in the area, there are obvious concerns for Mr Willoughby’s welfare.

But we always remain hopeful that we may find him.

Updated at 07.21 CEST

Western Sydney University apologises after some students received scam emails saying degrees had been ‘revoked’

Nick Visser

Williams said there had been no demand for payment or any links that could entrap people, adding the scam emails appeared intended to “harm our students and alumni”:

I know how distressing this has been for our students, alumni and broader community. People have told me this directly, and I can understand why people were so shocked and upset. …

In this case, no data was stolen and there is no perpetrator within our system. Instead, an unauthorised person accessed an automatic email generator and populated it with previously stolen information to send out the emails.

He said the school was working with police to discover the source of the breaches, as well as working “night and day to improve our cyber security”:

Even the most secure defence and government institutions remain aware of the ongoing possibility of cyber attack, including as new AI and other hacking tools em

Western Sydney University’s Parramatta campus Photograph: Carly Earl/The GuardianShare

Updated at 08.04 CEST

Greens call for Wong to intervene after Israel intercepts another Gaza-bound flotilla

The federal Greens are calling for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, to intervene after Israel intercepted a new Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The Greens say at least one Australian, Madeleine Habib, is onboard.

The party’s deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, said:

We should have never come to this. Western governments have utterly failed to stop Israel’s genocide, starvation, and devastation in Gaza, and it has fallen to ordinary citizens to take it upon themselves to attempt to stop Israel’s war crimes and deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza.

It is disgraceful that the brave Australians aboard these flotillas have been abandoned by their government. Prime minister Albanese and foreign minister Wong need to publicly stand up for their citizens and stand up against Israel breaking international law after international law.

A group of Australians who were detained in an Israeli prison after being arrested as part of a separate pro-Palestinian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza have been deported to Jordan.

Mehreen Faruqi in Senate estimates today. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesShare

Updated at 07.22 CEST

Jordyn Beazley

Lawyer for protesters tells court holding attenders in contempt if ban upheld would ‘undermine purpose’ of form 1 process

Felicity Graham pointed out that despite what the terminology “prohibition” suggests, the court has consistently understood it to merely mean people are not afforded immunity from being charged under the Summary Offences Act.

Graham argued that if it were to be viewed as being in contempt of court it would deter organisers from completing the form.

They might make their chances that people have the power to assemble in a public place.

It would undermine the purpose of the regime which would be to have activists provide notice to police and cooperate with them to facilitate this performance of democracy.

The chief justice, Andrew Bell, asked Graham if there was a suggestion the protest would go ahead regardless irrespective of the court’s finding.

Graham responded: “It’s unpredictable”.

Updated at 07.00 CEST

Jordyn Beazley

Court hearing to decide on Opera House pro-Palestine protest continues

Returning to the Palestine Action Group’s bid to march to the Sydney Opera House this Sunday, which is before the court of appeal today:

The chief justice of NSW has questioned why protest organisers who ignore a court order to “prohibit” a rally should not then be found in contempt of court given that is the “historical consequences of disobeying the court”.

But Felicity Graham, who is acting on behalf of the Palestine Action Group, has disputed this, saying it would be a “radical departure” from consistent findings on what exactly a court order to “prohibit” a protest means.

Under a regime that was introduced to NSW in 1979, protest organisers can apply to police ahead of time using a notice of intention to hold a public assembly – commonly known as the “form 1” process. If police oppose the form 1, a court has the final say over whether the protest will be “authorised” or “prohibited”.

Updated at 07.01 CEST

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