AFP charge Victorian man after alleged antisemitic phone calls to political organisation in Canberra – as it happened​on February 5, 2025 at 7:19 am

And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:

• Overnight Anthony Albanese spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy posted to X following the meeting, saying he was working to expedite defence aid, and that “we must establish all the circumstances surrounding the case of Australian citizen Oscar Jenkins”.

• Victoria’s police minister is considering reintroducing bail offences the government scrapped in 2023 following the coronial inquest into the death of First Nations woman Veronica Nelson, denying the coroner’s finding they had a role to play in her death.

• Independent senator Lidia Thorpe heckled a press conference from the pro-nuclear energy group Nuclear for Australia featuring a former Miss America, yelling that they had “no consent” for the power source.

• Labor’s promised federal environment protection agency was officially killed off today, with the motion to formally “discharge” the bill from the Senate notice paper. As we reported on Sunday, Anthony Albanese intervened to shelve the EPA indefinitely.

• Julian Leeser, the opposition’s assistant foreign affairs spokesperson, said the party’s policy on Gaza hasn’t changed after US president Donald Trump announced the US will “take over” the Gaza Strip and “level” it.

• The prime minister said the $1.7bn Medicare boost will increase federal funding to 12% – a record.

• The PM was asked about Trump’s new plan for Gaza. He said he continues to support a two-state solution in the Middle East.

• The PM was asked repeatedly by Dutton in question time about when he first knew about the planned terror attack in Sydney. He shot back – accusing the opposition leader of playing politics over antisemitic attacks.

• Tasmania’s famous overland bushwalking track has been closed and walkers have been evacuated as a large bushfire burns in the area.

Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow to do it all again.

Australians hold the first Extreme Heat Awareness Day

Today more than 100 organisations and hundreds more individual community members around the country participated in the first-ever Extreme Heat Awareness Day, launched by the Australian Red Cross and Sweltering Cities.

The initiative aims to raise awareness of heatwaves – Australia’s deadliest natural hazard – provide essential resources, and promote community safety in the face of extreme heat.

In recent weeks, most capital cities have experienced extreme heat events. With 2024 recorded as Australia’s second hottest year, research shows 65% of Australians find heatwaves increasingly disruptive, while 26% feel unprepared for weather-related emergencies.

Sweltering Cities’ executive director, Emma Bacon, said:

This is the first Extreme Heat Awareness Day, but not the last. We know that climate change is driving higher dangerous temperatures, but that heatwaves are preventable disasters.

Extreme Heat Awareness Day is a chance for everyone – individuals, organisations, and communities – to take action. Reach out, share advice, and help create safer, cooler spaces for all.

Telstra blocks its staff from using DeepSeek AI app

Telstra has blocked staff from using the Chinese AI app DeepSeek after the federal government banned it from government devices.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for Australia’s largest telecommunications company told Guardian Australia the app was not approved, but not banned for staff, but on Wednesday, after the government ban was announced, Telstra had changed its mind and the app was now restricted.

A spokesperson said:

Microsoft Copilot is our chosen AI tool for our people.

There are privacy and security risks associated with any new AI tool and we have made the decision to limit access to DeepSeek.

The government’s ban has been welcomed by the opposition and cybersecurity firm CyberCX.

The AFP has charged a Victorian man after he allegedly called a political organisation and made antisemitic comments.

The Toorloo Arm man, 64, was charged today with one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

The man allegedly called the Canberra office of a political organisation on two occasions on 21 January, making antisemitic and abusive statements both times.

AFP Special Operation Avalite investigators, with the assistance of Victoria police, arrested the man after a vehicle stop in Lakes Entrance this morning.

He was granted conditional bail and is expected to appear before Bairnsdale magistrates court on 26 March. The offence has a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

The AFP’s counter-terrorism and special investigations command assistant commissioner Stephen Nutt said:

It is abhorrent that parliamentarians and members of our community are being targeted and threatened because of their race or religious views.

If you engage in antisemitic conduct, you will be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Insurers start taking claims from flood-hit residents in north Queensland

Insurers have begun taking claims from affected residents in parts of north Queensland, AAP has reported.

Flood waters are beginning to recede in some areas with residents now taking stock of the damage to their properties and homes.

Insurance Australia Group had received 192 claims since 26 January, while Suncorp registered 665 claims from customers, with almost 500 homes affected up to 8am today, mostly in the Townsville suburbs of Garbutt, Kirwan and Burdell.

Suncorp’s executive general manager of home claims and customers, Alli Smith, says:

Our assessing teams are already deployed and ready to start the rebuild in those communities.

School students grill PM in special press conference for ABC show

Anthony Albanese has held a nearly 40-minute-long press conference with students from a Canberra primary school, as part of a special event for the ABC children’s show Behind the News.

We won’t bust BTN’s scoop by revealing all the details of the questions and answers, as we understand the program will air before too long. But the PM was peppered with questions about the environment, the Middle East, Donald Trump, education, and even his hobbies.

It was Albanese’s second press conference of the day, and it lasted a bit longer than the one he did around lunchtime with the federal press gallery.

The BTN event was revealed when Albanese spoke at the end of parliament’s question time, in remarks which were televised nationally, about the “major press conference I’m about to have with probably future budding journalists with Behind the News” – inviting members of the press gallery to come and watch.

Albanese’s office let journalists into the back of the room to listen in.

It was a lighter little moment amid some other heavy news coming today, but it does speak to a wider trend being seen across world politics, with politicians seeking non-conventional ways of getting their messages out at election time.

It’s been well covered that Albanese and Peter Dutton are leaning heavily into podcasts and podcasters at the moment, and we’re expecting to see some social media influencers tapped as well by the major parties; Albanese has made appearances on lighter entertainment programs such as Spicks and Specks, and a lighter moment with children on Behind the News seems to fit neatly into this strategy.

And we now have video of the fire that has closed Tasmania’s overland bushwalking track.

Here is Anthony Albanese responding to Peter Dutton on antisemitism:

And here is the Australian Council of Social Service CEO, Cassandra Goldie, calling on the government to raise the rate:

More than one million people in Australia are trapped in poverty by these woefully inadequate payments. It is unacceptable that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, people are skipping meals, sleeping in cars, or going without medicine because jobseeker and related payments are so far below the poverty line.

Australia has the lowest unemployment payment among wealthy nations. We can and must do better.

Acoss is calling for jobseeker and related payments to be lifted to at least the pension rate of $82 a day without further delay.

MPs call for urgent boost to welfare payments amid cost-of-living pressure

Earlier today, MPs from across the political divide and community sector leaders came together to call for an increase in the rate of payments.

MPs Bridget Archer, Kate Chaney, Helen Haines, Monique Ryan, Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink and Andrew Wilkie and senators Penny Allman-Payne and David Pocock called for the parliament to ease cost-of-living pressure.

Currently, jobseeker is just $56 a day and youth allowance just $47 a day. Both rates are less than half the minimum wage.

Archer said:

There’s no doubt that many people in our community are being left behind by this government. My office is repeatedly contacted by constituents experiencing severe disadvantage and it has only continued to increase.

It’s not acceptable in a country like Australia. More urgently needs to be done to support the most vulnerable in our society.