This blog is now closedCaravan laden with explosives found in Sydney allegedly intended for antisemitic attackGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor adds homelessness focus to disability strategyAustralians with disabilities experiencing homelessness will be prioritised as the government commits to disability reforms, months after a scathing royal commission into the sector, AAP reports.For the first time, they also include a number of national actions that all governments will work on together, with the disability community, to ensure people with disability right across Australia experience the benefits.Some students, especially those in our cities, can see a career in agriculture as something that’s only for those who live in the regions or for those whose family own land that can be used to operate an agribusiness.AgConnections aims to break down these misconceptions and build on the diversity of the industry, by highlighting and encouraging women and Indigenous Australians wanting to pursue a career in agriculture. Continue reading…This blog is now closedCaravan laden with explosives found in Sydney allegedly intended for antisemitic attackGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor adds homelessness focus to disability strategyAustralians with disabilities experiencing homelessness will be prioritised as the government commits to disability reforms, months after a scathing royal commission into the sector, AAP reports.For the first time, they also include a number of national actions that all governments will work on together, with the disability community, to ensure people with disability right across Australia experience the benefits.Some students, especially those in our cities, can see a career in agriculture as something that’s only for those who live in the regions or for those whose family own land that can be used to operate an agribusiness.AgConnections aims to break down these misconceptions and build on the diversity of the industry, by highlighting and encouraging women and Indigenous Australians wanting to pursue a career in agriculture. Continue reading…
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says “massive amounts” of resources including police and counter-terrorism teams are being used to confront a “very serious threat” to the community after a caravan laden with explosives and containing antisemitic material was found in Dural.
In an ongoing press conference, the state’s deputy police commissioner David Hudson says that on 19 January“police were contacted and subsequently recovered a caravan on a residential property, rural property. That caravan contained an amount of explosives, and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack. Since that time, obviously, we have taken, as the premier indicated, the threat very seriously.”
He continues:
We’ve mobilised the joint counter-terrorism team in relation to conducting the investigation. That team is comprised of us, the NSW police, in addition the Australian federal police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission in a joint partnership investigating this matter. As such, there are over 100 officers of those agencies deployed and currently engaged in investigations in this particular matter.
Investigations over the last 10 days have progressed, however, there is a lot to do. We have made arrests on the periphery of this job, but we are still looking for assistance in relation to anyone who saw that caravan parked by the side of the road from the seventh of December to the 19th of January this year in Dural, a caravan that was parked in a hazardous position prior to it being moved by a local resident.
The premier says:
I want to make it absolutely clear, and I understand community concerns about this story and similar escalating incidents of antisemitic violence in our community, that anyone attempting terrorism, violence, hatred in our community will be met with the full force of the law, that there are massive amounts of police and government resources being devoted to this investigation, that there will be absolutely no tolerance under any circumstances for these acts of criminal violence in our community.
And anyone attempting this level of violence in NSW will be met by every resource that we have to throw at it.
Bringing the press conference to a close, the premier, Chris Minns, says:
This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There’s only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism. That’s what we’re very worried about.
This would strike terror into the community, particularly the Jewish community, and it must be met with the full resources of the government.
The deputy commissioner David Hudson says that the explosive was power gel, possibly obtained from a mining site.
Also in the caravan was a list of potential targets from within the Jewish community, he says. He adds that it is not appropriate to nominate the targets.
I can indicate that … the Jewish community will be made aware of those, and have been.
He could not say when those targets had been notified of the threat:
I don’t want to really disclose our communication pathways to that community, but we are constantly in communication with the Jewish community, and have been since, since last October, when these incidents escalated, and certainly since October the seventh, when we saw what happened at the Opera House.
The incident has not yet been declared a terrorist incident, the deputy commissioner David Hudson says.
Normally, we would declare a terrorist incident, or the commissioner would be asked to declare such, if we were in need of additional powers under the Terrorism (Police Powers) Act.
We haven’t seen fit. We’ve got sufficient powers under our current legislation at this stage, but if we require that from the commissioner to make such a declaration in conjunction with the government, we will ask for that.
We need to gather further evidence from a number of individuals that we’ve identified, and those investigations are ongoing before we would even consider asking the commissioner to make such an assessment.
He says investigators do not yet know whether the explosives were intended to be used or were intended to be found and claimed by others, “but we are working through that. But I can say the amount of explosives is very real, and we need to take every threat at its absolute highest in this current environment.”
A caravan loaded with explosives found in Dural had the potential to cause a significant amount of damage, the NSW police deputy commissioner David Hudson says.
When asked about the damage the explosives could have caused if detonated, he said:
I’m not an expert. I believe that the blast zone could have been 40 metres in diameter, which is a significant amount of damage.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says “massive amounts” of resources including police and counter-terrorism teams are being used to confront a “very serious threat” to the community after a caravan laden with explosives and containing antisemitic material was found in Dural.
In an ongoing press conference, the state’s deputy police commissioner David Hudson says that on 19 January“police were contacted and subsequently recovered a caravan on a residential property, rural property. That caravan contained an amount of explosives, and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack. Since that time, obviously, we have taken, as the premier indicated, the threat very seriously.”
He continues:
We’ve mobilised the joint counter-terrorism team in relation to conducting the investigation. That team is comprised of us, the NSW police, in addition the Australian federal police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission in a joint partnership investigating this matter. As such, there are over 100 officers of those agencies deployed and currently engaged in investigations in this particular matter.
Investigations over the last 10 days have progressed, however, there is a lot to do. We have made arrests on the periphery of this job, but we are still looking for assistance in relation to anyone who saw that caravan parked by the side of the road from the seventh of December to the 19th of January this year in Dural, a caravan that was parked in a hazardous position prior to it being moved by a local resident.
The premier says:
I want to make it absolutely clear, and I understand community concerns about this story and similar escalating incidents of antisemitic violence in our community, that anyone attempting terrorism, violence, hatred in our community will be met with the full force of the law, that there are massive amounts of police and government resources being devoted to this investigation, that there will be absolutely no tolerance under any circumstances for these acts of criminal violence in our community.
And anyone attempting this level of violence in NSW will be met by every resource that we have to throw at it.
NSW police are investigating incident at Dural working with AFP and Asio
The New South Wales deputy police commissioner David Hudson has released a statement from Dural, where investigations into an incident are under way.
The NSW Police Force is working with the Australian Federal Police, NSW Crime Commission, ASIO, Victoria Police and the Queensland Police Service.
This is an ongoing investigation and is being taken seriously with all lines of inquiry being pursued.
There is no ongoing threat to the community.
Hudson and the premier, Chris Minns, will address the media about the incident shortly – we’ll bring you more as soon as we can.
Teenage boy arrested after death of man on NSW south coast
A teenage boy has been arrested after the death of a man on the New South Wales south coast yesterday.
Police said emergency services were called to Dunmore, near Shellharbour, on Tuesday afternoon after a 25-year-old man was found critically injured.
Paramedics treated the man for a stab wound to his abdomen but he died at the scene.
In a statement, police said that a 15-year-old boy had been arrested at a home in Horsley this afternoon.
He was taken to Lake Illawarra police station, where inquiries were ongoing. He has not been charged.
A 35-year-old woman was earlier charged and remains before the court. Investigations continue.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts widespread heatwaves across Australia this weekend, bringing hot days with temperatures from 6C to 12C warmer than average.
In its latest heatwave update, the bureau says extreme to severe heatwave conditions are expected through parts of the north interior and north-western Western Australia from Friday to Sunday.
Severe to low intensity heatwave conditions are expected through parts of central and western Northern Territory, southern parts of the Kimberley, much of southern and inland WA, and parts of the Furneaux Islands and eastern Tasmania.
The bureau predicts low intensity heatwave conditions through parts of the ACT and much of western, northern and southern New South Wales, parts of the Cape York peninsula and southern and western Queensland, parts of the Tiwi Islands and much of southern and eastern Northern Territory, much of South Australia including Adelaide, much of Victoria including Melbourne and much of Tasmania including Hobart.
In breaking news, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, says the government “has received confirmation from Russia that Oscar Jenkins is alive and in custody” – weeks after the Australian man was reported to have been killed after being captured fighting in Ukraine.
Wong said in a statement that the government was calling on Russia to release the man.
The Australian Government has received confirmation from Russia that Oscar Jenkins is alive and in custody. We still hold serious concerns for Mr Jenkins as a prisoner of war.
We have made clear to Russia in Canberra and in Moscow that Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war and Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international humanitarian law, including humane treatment.
Wong said she had spoken with the Ukrainian foreign minister and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who she thanked for their advocacy.
“The Government calls on Russia to release Mr Jenkins,” Wong continued.
If Russia does not provide Mr Jenkins the protections he is entitled to under international humanitarian law, our response will be unequivocal. DFAT continues to provide consular support to the family.
‘No sign of prices coming down,’ shadow treasurer Angus Taylor says
Despite positive-looking inflation figures, Angus Taylor has repeated his line that core inflation remains stubbornly above target.
Speaking with the ABC just now, the shadow treasurer told Patricia Karvelas:
Sadly, we have seen a crash in Australia’s standard of living, PK. Since Labor came to power, we have seen the biggest [decline] in Australian household standard of living in our history, the biggest of any of our peer countries, and we know right at the heart of it is a big increase in the price of everything, over 10% increase in prices for Australian families.
… We have core inflation stubbornly above target, services inflation that is above 4%, and there is no sign of prices coming down, that’s not going to happen. We’re going to continue to see price increases and, worst of all, we’ve not got a restoration of our standard of living back to where it was when Labor came to power until beyond or 2030 or beyond.
… This is a situation that is worse than Canada, worse than the UK, worse than the United States, worse than our peer countries across Europe. It is a diabolical situation and the treasurer is out today congratulating himself and telling Australians that this is a soft landing.
A little earlier, Anthony Albanese told the same program:
Getting inflation down without having people cast aside as some of the commentators would have had us do, is like landing a 747 on a helicopter pad. It has been a difficult thing to navigate, but we have been determined to make sure no one is left behind and also no one is held back.