ADF faces new class action over allegations of widespread sexual abuse
Women alleging widespread and systemic sexual abuse, harassment, discrimination and victimisation during their employment within the Australian defence force (ADF) have launched a class action in an unprecedented legal step against the commonwealth, AAP reports.
There are four applicants in the class action, whose names are withheld for legal reasons, but any woman subjected to sexual violence, sexual harassment or discrimination while working in the ADF between 12 November 2003 and 25 May 2025 is eligible to participate.
The first applicant from the air force was the only woman on her training course with eight to 12 men and one of two women in a building of about 200 people. She alleges comments from her sergeant during her training included “women shouldn’t be paid as much as men because they are not as strong” and “women aren’t pulling their weight in the air force”.
She also alleges several sexist and hostile comments along with number of inappropriate conversations, as well as being shown unsolicited photos of pornography.
An Australian air force aircraft Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
In a statement, a Defence spokesperson said the ADF was developing a comprehensive sexual misconduct prevention strategy. The spokesperson said:
Defence acknowledges there is work to be done and that is why the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide which relate to sexual violence are being implemented as a priority.
All Defence personnel have a right to be respected and deserve to have a positive workplace experience in the ADF.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, was contacted by the AAP for comment.
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Updated at 22.30 EDT
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Woman charged with murder after Queensland house fire killed three
A woman has been charged with murder and arson after a devastating house fire that killed a woman and two boys, AAP reports.
Jordana Johnson, 36, her 12-year-old son, Jordan Norris, and his friend Chazz Mather, also 12, were killed in the 15 October blaze that destroyed a two-storey home at Gladstone in central Queensland.
After a week-long investigation, police said they believed the blaze was deliberately lit, charging a 37-year-old Toolooa woman with three counts of murder and two counts of arson. She is expected to face a bedside hearing in hospital on Friday.
The devastated family spoke publicly for the first time earlier in the week as the Gladstone community planned to remember the trio at a beachside gathering.
“Three beautiful souls were tragically taken from us,” they said in a statement posted on social media, writing:
The impact of this horrific event is being deeply felt not only by our family but by the Gladstone community and across the nation.
Our lives, and all those that loved and knew Jordana, Jordan and Chazz are forever changed.
Police are expected to provide a further update on the investigation on Friday afternoon.
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Updated at 22.53 EDT
Air New Zealand flight met by emergency services after landing at Sydney airport
An Air New Zealand plane was met by emergency services this morning after the plane reported a technical issue while in flight.
NZ221 was travelling from Christchurch to Sydney, and landed safely just before 8.20am.
Nathan McGraw, the chief safety and risk officer for the airline, said in a statement:
NZ221 from Christchurch to Sydney reported a technical issue while in flight. Emergency services met the aircraft on arrival as a precaution.
The aircraft landed safely, and our engineering team will now carry out inspections to ensure the aircraft is safe to return to service.
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ADF faces new class action over allegations of widespread sexual abuse
Women alleging widespread and systemic sexual abuse, harassment, discrimination and victimisation during their employment within the Australian defence force (ADF) have launched a class action in an unprecedented legal step against the commonwealth, AAP reports.
There are four applicants in the class action, whose names are withheld for legal reasons, but any woman subjected to sexual violence, sexual harassment or discrimination while working in the ADF between 12 November 2003 and 25 May 2025 is eligible to participate.
The first applicant from the air force was the only woman on her training course with eight to 12 men and one of two women in a building of about 200 people. She alleges comments from her sergeant during her training included “women shouldn’t be paid as much as men because they are not as strong” and “women aren’t pulling their weight in the air force”.
She also alleges several sexist and hostile comments along with number of inappropriate conversations, as well as being shown unsolicited photos of pornography.
An Australian air force aircraft Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
In a statement, a Defence spokesperson said the ADF was developing a comprehensive sexual misconduct prevention strategy. The spokesperson said:
Defence acknowledges there is work to be done and that is why the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide which relate to sexual violence are being implemented as a priority.
All Defence personnel have a right to be respected and deserve to have a positive workplace experience in the ADF.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, was contacted by the AAP for comment.
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Updated at 22.30 EDT
Natasha May
GPs vow to fight Melbourne clinic closures and protect vulnerable patients
The peak body for GPs is vowing to ramp up the pressure on government to save the cohealth clinics set to close, leaving some of Melbourne’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged patients without care.
The Collingwood service will close its doors entirely, while the Fitzroy and Kensington services will close their general practice services and maintain some of their allied health offerings.
This afternoon, the Royal Australian College of GPs Victoria chair, Dr Anita Muñoz, will attend an emergency meeting at Fitzroy Town Hall. She urged citizens to attend or consider writing to their local MPs.
Muñoz said:
We won’t give up on this cause. Mark my words – we’ll fight these closures every step of the way.
It’s unconscionable to leave these patients behind. We need cohealth patients to have timely access to a GP they know and trust. Otherwise, they’re more likely to end up in hospital with a serious condition, or come in to contact with law enforcement, particularly for those seeking care for conditions such as schizophrenia.
At a time of high cost of living pressures, I fear many patients will delay or avoid care.
You can read more about the situation in the story we wrote when the news broke last week:
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Updated at 22.13 EDT
Penry Buckley
Map shows just how far avian flu would need to travel from sub-Antarctic islands to Australia
Earlier, we reported that Australian scientists have recently observed signs consistent with H5 avian influenza, or bird flu, in elephant seals during a voyage to Heard Island in the sub-Antarctic.
Experts have expressed concern that the virus, which has already spread over thousands of kilometres to reach the French sub-Antarctic islands of Kerguelen and Crozet earlier this year, could spread to islands closer to Australia, including Macquarie Island.
This map shows just how far that would be. Heard Island, more than 4,000km south-west of Perth, is about 500km away from Kerguelen. Macquarie Island, about 1,500km south-east of Tasmania, is about 5,300km from Heard Island.
A map showing the position of the sub-Antarctic islands of Kerguelen, Heard and MacquarieShare
Updated at 22.03 EDT
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Bowen challenges ‘true’ conservatives to back net zero
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, says “true” conservatives would favour science over “ideological zealotry” in a pointed message to his political adversaries to back action to tackle global heating.
As the debate over net zero threatens to tear the Liberals and Nationals apart, Bowen ventured into somewhat hostile territory on Friday to argue the case for why conservatives should “care deeply” about climate change.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images
In a speech to the Centre for Independent Studies, a conservative thinktank, Bowen said a “true” conservative would not ignore the settled science of human-induced climate change and would fight to protect the planet from its worst impacts.
He said:
A conservative conserves. And there is nothing more important than conserving our environmental balance.
And so, should a conservative who accepts the science of climate change accept net zero by 2050? Well, yes, because one flows from the other.
Net zero emissions is not an amorphous concept dreamed up by politicians.
It is the bare minimum action to avoid the impacts of the world warming by more than 2C as found by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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Updated at 21.40 EDT
Nick Miller
Is it a critical mineral or a Tolkien invention? Take the quiz
Do you know your ores from your orcs? Are you more familiar with rare earths or with Middle-earth?
When it comes to critical mineral deposits, do you know what everybody is Tolkien about? Photograph: New Line/Sportsphoto/Allstar
We’re hearing a lot about critical minerals at the moment but their names all sound as though they were made up by Tolkien.
With this in mind, we recommend you take what is probably Guardian Australia’s nerdiest refresher quiz yet.
But be warned – as Gandalf once said, You Shall Not Pass! Take the quiz here:
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New taskforce takes over control of search for Dezi Freeman
A new taskforce will take over control of the search for wanted fugitive Dezi Freeman, police say.
In a statement today, Victoria police said Taskforce Summit, to be based in the Greater Alpine Region, would “officially take primacy” for the search. The taskforce will be led by a detective inspector from Victoria police’s anti-gangs division.
The search for the suspected Porepunkah police killer, also known as Desmond Filby, is about to hit the two-month mark. He has been on the run since 26 August after he allegedly shot and killed two officers who were part of a group executing a search warrant at his residence in Victoria’s north-east.
Victoria police said the homicide squad will continue to lead the investigation into the alleged murders of detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson and senior constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart.
Victoria police assistant commissioner Martin O’Brien said the investigation was “far from over”.
However, we do believe it will only be brought to resolution through assistance from members of the public. I strongly urge anyone with any information at all, no matter how small you think it may be, to come forward and contact Crime Stoppers.
This could be sightings of Freeman, information you’re hearing in your local communities, even suspicious activity on your property – whatever it is, we want to hear from you. As always, this can be done anonymously.
A reward of up to $1m remains for information leading to Freeman’s arrest. Mount Buffalo national park, where much of the search has focused, will fully reopen to the public today, police said.
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Updated at 21.39 EDT
Jack Snape
No time for sleep or a shower: endurance runner covers 764km over five gruelling days to win world title
Over nearly five days, with little time for sleep let alone his personal hygiene, Phil Gore, a West Australian endurance runner, proved himself a class above the rest of the field in one of the world’s premier endurance running competitions.
Gore ran 764km to win the Backyard Ultra World Championship in Tennessee, completing 114 laps of a 6.7km course.
Phil Gore. Photograph: Backyard Ultra Channel/Youtube
At the finish line was his wife Gemma, who met him with tears and a kiss – and told him he stank. “You’re done, that’s it,” she said.
“Forever,” Gore replied, adding:
I’m just tired, I just want to sleep. There’s been a lot of time throughout this event where I’ve been really confused, like I was out running on the road by myself and I was like ‘how did I get here, what am I doing?’
Read more here:
SharePetra Stock
Expert says H5N1 virus ‘catastrophic for wildlife’ around the world
Dr Michelle Wille, an expert in avian influenza viruses at the University of Melbourne, said the H5N1 virus was “catastrophic for wildlife – it is killing animals in droves”.
The virus was causing a global animal animal pandemic, she said, and had spread to all corners of the globe except Oceania. Australian scientists now suspect its presence in elephant seals on Heard Island, an Australian territory about 4,000km west of Perth in the Southern Ocean.
Wille said the virus entered the Antarctic in the 2023-24 season, with the first detections in South Georgia and then the Antarctic peninsula.
King penguins standing on the shores of Corinthian Bay in the Australian territory of Heard Island. Photograph: Matt Curnock/AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP/Getty Images
A “massive global expansion” followed the next year, she said, with the virus spreading to Marion Island and the French Kerguelen and Crozet sub-Antarctic islands, located about 500km from Heard and McDonald Islands. Wille said:
The virus spread thousands of kilometres over the ocean to get to these islands. So it is very conceivable that the virus could theoretically spread from where it is now, into Australian [and] New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands like Macquarie Island. And from there it’s not very far to get to Australia itself.
If it enters Australia proper, it could similarly be catastrophic for our wildlife, as well as our industry – the poultry and potentially even the dairy cow industry.
Spring was a high risk period, when thousands of seabirds, like shearwaters, migrate thousands of kilometres from the northern to the southern hemisphere and the Antarctic to forage.
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Updated at 20.20 EDT
Krishani Dhanji
Which departments are the most and least trustworthy according to the public?
Just 71% of Australians who voted on election day had trust in the processes of the Australian Electoral Commission, according to the government’s yearly scorecard of trust and satisfaction in the Australian public service.
Despite record levels of voter enrolment, overall trust and satisfaction of the AEC is 75% – lower than at the last election where it was 86% (however, the report notes the two figures aren’t directly comparable due to recent methodology changes).
An AEC worker counts votes during the recent election. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/EPA
Australians trust the Department of Foreign Affairs, Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme the most (each scoring over 80% in trust and satisfaction), while the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS), Centrelink and child support services had the lowest trust scores of 66%, 65% and 62% respectively.
Overall trust in the public sector is 62%, and improvement from last year’s score of 58%. The report also found more men (66%) trust public services over women (59%) and more Australians living in metropolitan areas (65%) trust public services than Australians living in regional areas (56%).
The minister for the public service, Katy Gallagher, said there have been steady improvements in the public service:
These results show we’re making progress, and we’ll keep working to maintain and strengthen that trust.
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Updated at 20.01 EDT
NSW government will move to lift cap on major events at Royal Randwick Racecourse
The NSW government will move to allow up to 10 major cultural events at Royal Randwick Racecourse every year, in addition to race days, in what it says will be a “major boost” to the economy and city vibrancy.
The Minns government said the events, which will host between 5,000 and 15,000 people, are expected to inject more than $19m into the state economy and “transform the iconic venue into a year-round destination for concerts, cultural festivals, exhibitions, and community gatherings – giving locals and visitors more reasons to enjoy world-class entertainment in the city”.
The racecourse had previously been limited to a single culture event of more than 5,000 people.
Crowds at Royal Randwick Racecourse during a race day. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The NSW government has also lifted concert caps at the Sydney Cricket Ground and in Centennial Park.
The first events at the Randwick site are expected from late 2026.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said in a statement:
Sydney is a global city – it should be buzzing not just on our premier race days, but all year round. By unlocking this iconic venue to host more events, Royal Randwick is helping drive new life back into our city, supporting jobs, local businesses, and fun.
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Updated at 20.14 EDT
Victoria police investigating burglary at home of Gold Walkley-winning journalist Nick McKenzie
Police are investigating a burglary at the home of Nick McKenzie, a prominent investigative journalist who has won 20 Walkley awards.
The Age, where McKenzie works, said it was working closely with authorities in an effort to respond to the “concerning incident”. Patrick Elligett, the editor of the Age, said in a statement to the paper:
Any effort to silence or intimidate a reporter is an outrageous attack on the freedom of the press, and we condemn it in the strongest terms.
Journalist Nick McKenzie. Photograph: Bianca De Marchi/AAP
Victoria police said detectives, with assistance from Taskforce Hawk, are “investigating a burglary at a residential address in the northern suburbs” of Melbourne that took place last week. The force added:
It is believed an offender gained access to the roof of the residential property, tampering with the CCTV cables some time on Wednesday 15 October.
Nobody was home at the time of the incident.
Police have appealed to the public for information.
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Updated at 19.00 EDT
Defamation case involving Rebel Wilson to get first mention
A defamation case involving Rebel Wilson is expected to get its first mention in court today with the Australian actor and comedian accused of defaming an up-and-coming actor, Australian Associated Press reports.
The actor Charlotte MacInnes appeared in Wilson’s directorial debut, The Deb, a musical about a country town debutante ball, which was screened at the Toronto International Film festival in September 2024 but which has not been seen since.
Rebel Wilson. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for AFI
MacInnes is suing Wilson for defamation over comments made on social media in July 2024. Wilson claimed on Instagram that MacInnes had told her she had been subjected to inappropriate conduct by a producer who asked to bathe with her.
MacInnes has denied the allegations. MacInnes also claims Wilson said that MacInnes had been given a job by the producer and secured a record deal.
The defamation case is set to hit the federal court for the first time today, a month after MacInnes lodged proceedings. Wilson is defending the case.
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Updated at 18.41 EDT
Three men in alleged ‘kill crew’ charged with kidnap and murder of Sydney mother
Three men accused of being part of a “kill crew” have been charged after a mother was brutally kidnapped and murdered, AAP reports.
The body of Thi Kim Tran, 45, was found in a burned-out car in Beverly Hills in Sydney’s south-west on 17 April.
The men – aged 20, 21 and 32 – have each been charged with murder and other offences, including conspire and agree to murder any person.
A fourth man, 29, was charged in August with murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm over the attack police and remains before the court.
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Updated at 21.39 EDT
