Sex discrimination commissioner condemns Pauline Hanson’s DV comments
Sarah Basford Canales
The sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, has condemned Pauline Hanson’s suggestion that domestic violence is a “two-way street“, warning assigning blame to victim-survivors is “harmful, wrong, and dangerous”.
In a statement today, Cody said femicide – the intentional murder of women – is a “national crisis, and any attempt to shift the blame undermines our efforts to end it”:
Domestic violence is never the responsibility of the person experiencing it … Leaving a violent relationship is not simply a matter of walking away. For many women and children – and the evidence is clear – it can be one of the most dangerous times.
Sadly, we have seen too many examples of women who left violent relationships being killed … Violence is a choice – and blame rests entirely with the person who commits it.
Hanson told 4BC radio yesterday domestic violence was “wrong but it’s also a two-way street”.
Hanson’s comments have been heavily criticised, with the One Nation leader responding to the backlash by accusing the media and the Labor party of “twisting” her words.
The CEO of Women’s Community Shelters, Annabelle Daniel, said the evidence on domestic and family violence was “clear and settled”.
Domestic and family violence is a gendered issue. And as to the question of ‘just leave!’ – that requires somewhere safe and affordable to go, or to be able to safely and affordably stay on your own.
Key events
Origin confirms hackers accessed energy customers’ partial bank details
Luca Ittimani
The energy company Origin has confirmed customers’ addresses and partial bank account data has been accessed in a hack that was revealed yesterday.
In a statement to the ASX this afternoon, the energy company said impacted data may include: “name, address, date of birth, contact phone number and account information, as well as the last four digits of a credit card, or the last three digits of a bank account.”
Origin’s statement noted that incomplete credit card or bank account information cannot be used to make purchases or access accounts.
It said it would advise customers once it confirmed they had been impacted but was still confirming which and how many customers had been affected.
Origin has 4.8m customer accounts in Australia and provides electricity, natural gas, LPG, and internet services to homes and businesses.
Origin’s chief executive, Frank Calabria, said the company was securing its systems and ensuring there was no further unauthorised access by working with independent cyber experts and authorities. He said:
I’m sorry this has happened. Customers trust Origin with their information, and I apologise for the impact this may cause.
Origin said the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner were all engaged.
ACT education minister resigns after findings of corruption in relation to two staff in her portfolio
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry has resigned from her cabinet role after a ACT Integrity Commission report found “serious corrupt conduct by two ACT public officials”.
The commission investigated whether the process to procure a firm for the Campbell Primary School Modernisation Project was conducted with probity and whether public officials “failed to exercise their official functions honestly and or impartially”.
In a video statement posted to social media, Berry said she would take “full responsibility” for the findings relating to her staff, despite the report making no findings of corruption against her. She said:
When you are a minister, you have significant responsibilities. I have always held those responsibilities and myself to high standards.
I will take full responsibility for the findings made about my staff. You know I have never backed down from responsibility, even when it gets hard, and this is no doubt hard. I have made this decision because I don’t want a parliamentary public circus to follow this report. My family don’t deserve it and my colleagues don’t deserve it, and I have no intention of giving the Opposition and the Greens political party that satisfaction.
Berry will remain in parliament as a backbencher.
Luca Ittimani
Macquarie chair predicts fossil fuel funding will continue ‘for some time’
Macquarie’s chair has predicted fossil fuel funding will continue ‘for some time’ as the company avoided a shareholder push for climate transparency. .
At its AGM today, 17.9% of shareholders voted to force Macquarie to disclose how its fossil fuel financing aligns with its commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Glenn Stevens, Macquarie’s chair, told the AGM this morning Macquarie remains committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement through an “orderly transition” to green energy.
Ian Dunlop, a former chair of the Australian Coal Association and former executive and oil and gas company Shell, told the meeting Macquarie was backing “fossil fuel expansion” in practice. Stevens said in response:
The basis of Macquarie’s approach is our understanding that there will need to be some fossil fuel investment for quite possibly some time yet. … The [emissions] targets that we set several years ago are the same targets now.
Kyle Robertson, Research Director at Market Forces, the advocacy group that backed the resolution, said this afternoon:
Investors from across the globe have sounded the alarm on Macquarie’s fossil fuel finance, but many have let the Group off the hook for enabling massive new gas projects which are hurtling us towards climate catastrophe.
WA supreme court dismisses Woodside case against activists
Petra Stock
The supreme court of Western Australia has dismissed in full a case brought by Woodside Energy against three activists.
The case relates to a protest on 1 June 2023, in which Kristen Morrissey caused approximately 2,500 Woodside employees to be evacuated by a hoax “gas leak” using “stench gas”.
The oil and gas company alleged that other people were involved in the protest and asked the court to order Emil Davey, Joana Partyka and Kristen Morrissey to reveal the identities of any other such people.
The three anti-Woodside campaigners had already been charged and convicted in relation to the protest.
In 2025, Morrisey was charged with doing an act with intent to annoy and doing an act to create false belief. Partyka and Davey, who were not present at the protest but were arrested in WA counter-terror police raids weeks later, were charged with doing an act to create false belief.
All activists pleaded guilty to the charges and were convicted in the district court of Western Australia.
Woodside’s legal action sought access to information about other people involved. But in a decision on Thursday, Justice Matthew Howard said the evidence and submissions presented by Woodside did not “rise above mere conjecture or speculation”.
Joana Partyka, a ceramic artist and campaigner represented by Climate Defenders Australia, said:
After three long years of Woodside’s legal threat hanging over our heads, we stand vindicated in the eyes of history – Woodside is completely humiliated.
The case was the first time since the “Gunns 20” in Tasmania in 2005 that a large resources company had sought to target an activist campaign using Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (known as a SLAPP suit).
Labor environment group passes amendment paring back fuel tax credits
Krishani Dhanji
The amendment is adopted unanimously and without any drama (none of the delegates vote against), which gets a huge round of applause from the spectator benches.
The room is divided by the 400 delegates on the floor and then spectator benches which includes media, lobbyists, and other observers.
There’s a contingent of around a dozen LEAN supporters in green T-shirts sitting in the room, who erupt in cheers as the amendment is supported.
But as we noted a little earlier, this doesn’t doesn’t mean that the fuel tax credits will necessarily be wound back by the government, even though there’s plenty of appetite for it within the caucus – and the rank and file.
A few MPs around the conference today say they’re hopeful the changes will be made at some point, but don’t think it’ll be done very soon as the globe continues to grapple with fuel insecurity due to the war in the Middle East.
New South Wales firefighters to help battle Californian wildfires
Two dozen New South Wales firefighters will be deployed to the United States to assist with ongoing wildfires hitting California, the state’s Royal Fire Service has confirmed.
The NSW contingent includes 26 incident management and specialist firefighters, part of a contingent of 74 people across Australia that were formally requested by the National Interagency Fire Centre in the US.
The group will help battle more than 72 large wildfires which have burnt millions of hectares across the United States.
The NSW contingent will head off on Friday morning.
Last month, three firefighters were killed and two others were hurt while responding to wildfires along the Colorado-Utah border. And a fortnight ago, a pilot who was helping to fight a wildfire in Colorado has died after the aviator’s aircraft crashed into a reservoir
‘Send a message to the haters’: Labor’s environment network pushes for action on generous fuel tax credits
Krishani Dhanji
We’ve arrived at one of the policy sticking points of the day – fuel tax credits.
The Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) has put forward an amendment to the platform to “remove disincentives for orderly decarbonisation” – ie wind back the generous fuel tax credits that go to miners, farmers and other industries.
The group says 355 branches have supported the motion around the country.
Federal MPs including Sally Sitou, Jerome Laxale, and assistant minister Ged Kearney speak on the amendment.
Laxale says that Labor’s platform should “scream” that the party is serious about the climate.
This amendment and our platform should send a message to the haters that Labor can and Labor will double down on decarbonisation. Our new platform, our new platform, should scream that Labor are serious about climate action, and no one who reads it should be surprised when we use our time in government to deliver it. Our job is not done. There are new policies that we need to reach our climate goals and targets.
The amendment is quickly adopted unanimously (none of the delegates vote against) – which gets a huge round of applause from the spectator benches.
The room is divided by the 400 delegates on the floor and then spectator benches which includes media, lobbyists, and other observers.
There’s a contingent of around a dozen LEAN supporters in green T-shirts who erupt in cheers as the amendment is supported.
With that, I will hand the reigns over to Achol Arok who will be with you for the rest of the afternoon. Happy reading!
‘Millionaires’ factory’: Macquarie accused of dodging climate risk
Australia’s leading investment bank has been accused of ignoring the “absolutely catastrophic” risk climate change poses to human civilisation, Australian Associated Press reports.
Former Royal Dutch Shell senior executive Ian Dunlop told Macquarie Group’s annual general meeting on Thursday the bank’s financing activities had prioritised energy security and fossil fuel expansion at the expense of human security:
If you keep doing things in the way we’ve been doing it, and they lead to the potential temperature increase that have been mentioned at two and a half, three degrees … they’re not livable worlds. These will be catastrophic, absolutely catastrophic.
Dunlop also chaired the Australian Coal Association in the late 1980s.
Macquarie’s board has recommended shareholders reject a resolution co-filed by activist group Market Forces and super fund provider Australian Ethical asking the bank to disclose whether it is still committed to aligning its lending with the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Market Forces says Macquarie has become Australia’s most aggressive fossil fuel financier, tripling its oil and gas financing over the past three years.
The chair, Glenn Stevens, said climate change was a “wicked problem”, but Macquarie could not set global policy or do things that really addressed the problem for the world.
But we’re seeking to play our part in a way that we think makes sense, is tractable, practical and is in the interests of shareholders.
Another shareholder, Helen Scotts, commended Macquarie for investing in fossil fuels and said she hoped the investment bank would invest in nuclear energy next.
Earlier we brought you the news that before the meeting, Macquarie announced it had tapped the head of its retail bank, Greg Ward, as its next chief executive. Ward will replace Shemara Wikramanayake, who will retire in November after eight years as chief executive and managing director.
Ima Caldwell
Government security grants for Jewish community fall short of costs, ECAJ chief says
Government grants for Jewish community security have saved places of worship from severe damage, but funding still falls short of annual protection costs, the antisemitism royal commission has heard.
Peter Wertheim AM, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), said that grant-funded fireproof doors prevented major damage during a July 2025 arson attack on an East Melbourne synagogue. The attack followed a December 2024 firebombing at Melbourne’s Adass synagogue, which prompted a $32.5m round of federal funding.
While commonwealth funding expanded to a three-year, $124m agreement in May 2026, Wertheim said a substantial financial shortfall remains. He said annual community security spending is still “more than double” the grant funding provided by the government, which ECAJ believes should fully and directly fund protection.
The funds are managed by the National Council for Jewish Community Security under the ECAJ, with state-based security groups evaluating risk criteria and assisting smaller interstate communities with applications.
Wertheim told the inquiry the community’s primary goal remains unchanged:
We would prefer to live without antisemitism and without the security funding that it’s necessitated.
Sex discrimination commissioner condemns Pauline Hanson’s DV comments
Sarah Basford Canales
The sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, has condemned Pauline Hanson’s suggestion that domestic violence is a “two-way street“, warning assigning blame to victim-survivors is “harmful, wrong, and dangerous”.
In a statement today, Cody said femicide – the intentional murder of women – is a “national crisis, and any attempt to shift the blame undermines our efforts to end it”:
Domestic violence is never the responsibility of the person experiencing it … Leaving a violent relationship is not simply a matter of walking away. For many women and children – and the evidence is clear – it can be one of the most dangerous times.
Sadly, we have seen too many examples of women who left violent relationships being killed … Violence is a choice – and blame rests entirely with the person who commits it.
Hanson told 4BC radio yesterday domestic violence was “wrong but it’s also a two-way street”.
Hanson’s comments have been heavily criticised, with the One Nation leader responding to the backlash by accusing the media and the Labor party of “twisting” her words.
The CEO of Women’s Community Shelters, Annabelle Daniel, said the evidence on domestic and family violence was “clear and settled”.
Domestic and family violence is a gendered issue. And as to the question of ‘just leave!’ – that requires somewhere safe and affordable to go, or to be able to safely and affordably stay on your own.
Krishani Dhanji
Conference adopts support for fair AI taskforce as MP points finger at tech bros
Labor has supported the adoption of a fair AI taskforce in its national platform, after a speech from NSW Labor right senator, Tony Sheldon, who put the “tech bros” on notice.
There were two amendments – one calling for the creation of the taskforce that would build awareness of the risks and opportunities of AI, and another that Labor would establish a set of Australian standards for AI and increase equitable education and use of AI.
Sheldon said:
We’ve got to be the people to say that human intelligence and creativity is the priority. We’re the ones to say that those tech bros that say to us that they’re going to replace everything you, you, and you do and make the decisions for you is the reality of the future – well, that is not true.
We need to have the strength, the capability, and the purpose to make sure that our human creativity, ambition, integrity, and intelligence is at the forefront of every decision that’s made in every industry we work in.
Sheldon also pushed for workers to have a stronger voice in the use of AI in workplaces at the NSW Labor conference earlier this month.
Ima Caldwell
Aged care security funding ‘a matter government would consider’
The inquiry also examined portfolio gaps regarding protective security for Jewish aged care facilities following a rejected application by Jewish Care Victoria.
Internal DPC correspondence showed the application was turned down because aged care falls under health and commonwealth portfolios, rather than state security grants.
Moule confirmed aged care primarily sits under federal jurisdiction, stating he was unaware of a specific Victorian funding program for aged care security. But he clarified that facilities are not entirely shut out from future state assistance if significant needs are raised:
If representations were made to the government in relation to security funding for aged care facilities in Victoria, then that is certainly a matter the government would consider.
Ima Caldwell
Victorian government shifted focus to operational security post-Bondi attack, inquiry hears
The Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet’s (DPC) secretary, Jeremi Moule, has detailed state government security funding during his appearance at the antisemitism royal commission.
Moule said the DPC distributed $3.7m across 22 Jewish community projects since the 2023-24 state budget. While funding previously targeted physical infrastructure, the Bondi attack prompted a pivot toward operational costs such as funding security guards for summer youth camps.
The rise in antisemitism in Australia and in Victoria is an issue to which the government has needed to be responsive … [leading to] the adaptation of grant programs to be more responsive to community needs.
Operational security is now an “active conversation” within government, Moule said. He also advocated for official state and federal alignment to streamline future security funding.
Macquarie CEO announces retirement after eight years at the helm
Achol Arok
Macquarie Group’s chief executive, Shemara Wikramanayake, has announced she will retire in an ASX update on Thursday.
Wikramanayake will step down in November this year after eight years in the top job and almost four decades with the company.
The company’s current head of banking and financial services, Greg Ward, has been appointed as her successor.
Wikramanayake described the role as a “great privilege” and said she had confidence in Ward’s appointment.
Looking forward, I take confidence in the strength of the team, and particularly in Greg’s ability to build on the legacy of our six decades of history. We have worked together for 30 years, and his track record, leadership and integrity make him an excellent candidate to be Macquarie’s next Ceo.
From 2021 to 2022, Wikramanayake was the highest-paid chief executive in Australia after receiving $23.7m in compensation.
Krishani Dhanji
Push to wind back fuel tax credits
A little later today, the Labor conference will debate winding back generous fuel tax credits for miners.
There has been a push inside and outside of Labor – from the rank and file, to the unions – to cap the scheme, which refunds miners, farmers and other industries the 52.6c a litre excise applied to petrol and diesel.
Whispers had spread across the caucus that Labor would wind back some of the tax credits in the most recent budget, but that was before war broke out in the Middle East and the focus moved to securing domestic fuel supply.
The Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) has put forward an amendment to the conference to, “remove disincentives for orderly decarbonisation” – ie wind back the credits.
We’ll see what happens on the floor when the 400 delegates vote whether to include it.
But it’s also worth noting that just because it’s included in the national platform, doesn’t mean the government will have to act on it.
Sarah Collard
Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service CEO resigns from Child and Families partnership forum citing concerns over NT Government
The Ceo of Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service, Rob McPhee has resigned from his role as the Independent Aboriginal Chair of the Northern Territory Children and Families Tripartite Forum.
His resignation follows the NT government’s passage of controversial child protection laws on Wednesday, which weaken the Aboriginal child placement principle in child safety decision-making.
In a statement, McPhee said he accepted the role in 2023 as a “genuine partnership” between the Northern Territory, the federal government, and the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector but he can no longer continue in the role due to a lack of “respectful and transparent collaboration”. McPhee said:
Over the past two years, it has become increasingly evident that the Northern Territory Government is not committed to genuine partnership with the Forum on significant policy and legislative reform.
He cited further concerns that the NT government’s child safety planning and governance strategies lacked meaningful consultation with the Forum.
The decision by the Northern Territory government in 2025 to discontinue the Strategy without replacing it with an alternative long-term strategy or governance framework removed the Territory’s primary mechanism for shared accountability, long-term planning and collaborative governance for children and families.
Since then, significant policy and legislative reforms have continued to be developed without meaningful engagement through the Tripartite Forum.
McPhee’s resignation follows the NT Children Commissioner quitting in protest of the child protection reforms.
