Intelligence community believes foreign spies using court proceedings as ‘collection tool’
Christopher Knaus
Australia’s intelligence community believes foreign spies are using sensitive court proceedings as an “intelligence collection tool”.
Australia’s national security law watchdog on Wednesday began public hearings examining the use of laws designed to protect sensitive information during court proceedings.
The National Security Information Act (NSI Act) is designed to guard confidential material that may harm Australia’s national security but the laws have prompted controversy in recent high-profile prosecutions involving Bernard Collaery, Witness K, and Witness J, where they have significantly hampered open justice.
Andrew Shearer, director-general of national intelligence, on Wednesday said that court proceedings were seen as a vulnerability by foreign intelligence agencies for the exposure of sensitive information.
We know that foreign intelligence services are gathering intelligence about legal proceedings and are using litigation as an intelligence collection tool. Our adversaries understand that national security information is vulnerable in legal proceedings and is at far greater risk than it might be inside an intelligence agency or a secure facility.
Key events
Adeshola Ore
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says he’s having “amicable” discussions with the Commonwealth Games organisers over the state government’s cancellation of the games.
The Commonwealth Games Federation says the state government had repeatedly assured them it could meet the costs of the decentralised event. Katie Sadleir, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation said the body was blindsided by the cost blowouts cited by the Victorian government.
Andrews said negotiations were proceeding with the body regarding the cost of the cancellation:
I’m not going to enter into a quarrel, an argument with those people.
Some of the people who have been very critical, they’re not funding it.
It is unclear what the state government’s cancellation of the games will cost Victorian taxpayers.
Intelligence community believes foreign spies using court proceedings as ‘collection tool’
Christopher Knaus
Australia’s intelligence community believes foreign spies are using sensitive court proceedings as an “intelligence collection tool”.
Australia’s national security law watchdog on Wednesday began public hearings examining the use of laws designed to protect sensitive information during court proceedings.
The National Security Information Act (NSI Act) is designed to guard confidential material that may harm Australia’s national security but the laws have prompted controversy in recent high-profile prosecutions involving Bernard Collaery, Witness K, and Witness J, where they have significantly hampered open justice.
Andrew Shearer, director-general of national intelligence, on Wednesday said that court proceedings were seen as a vulnerability by foreign intelligence agencies for the exposure of sensitive information.
We know that foreign intelligence services are gathering intelligence about legal proceedings and are using litigation as an intelligence collection tool. Our adversaries understand that national security information is vulnerable in legal proceedings and is at far greater risk than it might be inside an intelligence agency or a secure facility.
Adeshola Ore
Victoria to provide $150m to regional workers accommodation to offset games losses
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is holding a press conference in Maryborough following the state government’s shock cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games on Tuesday.
The premier says the government will deliver a $150m workers accomodation fund for regional Victorian workers as part of its investment to help offset losses caused by the cancellation of the games.
It will continue to pay dividends over a long period of time.
One of the biggest challenges of finding staff is finding them somewhere to live.
The $150m workers accommodation fund will be delivered on top of the $1bn regional housing fund announced by the government on Tuesday.
Possible Commonwealth Games 2026 hosts
Who will step up to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, and mend the monarchists’ broken hearts after the Victorian government left it in tatters?
Here is a speculative shortlist:
Scotland: The First minister Humza Yousaf has asked his staff to explore the possibility of hosting as part of a multi-country bid, because he is “desperate” for the games to ahead. “Let’s see what the art of the possible may be,” he said.
New Zealand: Mayor of Christchurch Phil Mauger says the city and New Zealand should share hosting in an interview with Chris Lynch Media – saying Christchurch has the facilities, and that the stadium and Metro Sports facility would be finished construction in three years.
Birmingham: The games were hosted in Birmingham in 2022 – and there’s talk of a return, with West Midlands mayor Andy Street saying he hasn’t written off the prospect. (But the Birmingham City Council did state that it is “now someone else’s turn to stage,” so hopes aren’t too high.)
London: Mayor Sadiq Khan says London “stands ready” to host, with its athletics, swimming and cycling venues making it the “sporting capital of the world” after the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
Alberta: Unfortunately it looks like Alberta remains focused on hosting in the future, with the government of Alberta, the City of Calgary and Edmonton pulling together a $4m feasibility study for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
Last month, the southern hemisphere was hit with temperature anomalies that exceeded warm levels from the 1998 El Niño year.
This warmth was affecting Australia, Antarctica, some islands in the Asia-Pacific, most of South America and some of Africa.
Distraught monarchists suspect ‘deeper motives’ behind Commonwealth Games cancellation
The monarchists are distraught after the cancellation of the 2026 Victorian Commonwealth Games.
“It is truly a sad day for this country,” the Australian Monarchist League say in a statement.
It says the “hopes of boys and girls dreaming of a chance to compete” have been “dashed,” alongside Australia’s international reputation – which “lies today in tatters”.
“Just because the Victorian government got it wrong,” the league says “is no excuse to let the entire Commonwealth of Nations down”.
From now on Australia – and not just Victoria, will be known as a country that does not keep its word, a nation that breaks its agreements, a country never to be trusted ever again.
People are now asking “was it the cost, or are there deeper motives behind this fiasco?” Was it because the King may attend his first Commonwealth Games? Would this have happened had it been the Chinese Games, if there was such a thing? These are all questions that must be asked and must be answered.
Alleged organised crime syndicate trafficking methylamphetamine and heroin across Melbourne
Here is more on the investigation alleging an Asian organised crime syndicate had been trafficking large commercial quantities of methylamphetamine and heroin across Melbourne, courtesy of a Victoria Police statement.
Over a five-day period in July, search warrants were executed at properties in Albion, Braybrook and Kalkallo, where police seized a loaded handgun, ammunition, an imitation handgun, quantities of what appear to be heroin and methylamphetamine, six Samurai swords, luxury bags and cigarette lighters.
Approximately $50,000 cash was seized from the St Albans address.
Quantities of what appear to be methylamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ketamine and MDMA, approximately $50,000 cash, an imitation firearm as well as cannabis plants being cultivated were seized from a Braybrook address.
Also in Braybrook, at a storage facility, investigators seized quantities of what appear to be methylamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA.
What is believed to be heroin (in both rock form and raw production form), ammunition and approximately $70,000 cash were seized from a Braybrook address.
This Monday, warrants were executed at two Southbank properties – where the alleged leader of the syndicate was charged. Luxury bags and jewellery believed to be valued at over $100,000 were seized at one address, while a 2018 Porsche Macan and a small heroin press inside it were seized from the other.
All up, nine people have been charged. The investigation remains ongoing.
Nine people charged, drugs, firearms, over $750K seized by Major Drug Squad
Major Drug Squad detectives have charged nine people and seized firearms, swords, luxury handbags, over $750K in cash and what appear to be drugs, according to a Victoria police statement.
An investigation, which commenced in September last year, will allege an Asian organised crime syndicate had been trafficking large commercial quantities of methylamphetamine and heroin across Melbourne.
Here is the long list of findings, outlined in the police statement.
In February this year, search warrants were executed at properties in Southbank, Deer Park, St Albans and Braybrook. Police seized a commercial quantity of what appears to be methylamphetamine, articles used in the preparation of drugs of dependence for sale and approximately $400,000 in cash – believed to be the proceeds of crime.
In June, searches were conducted at residential properties in Sunshine and Sunshine North. A clandestine laboratory was located at the Sunshine North address, and a commercial quantity of what is believed to be methylamphetamine, precursor chemicals, approximately $100,000 cash and a 2020 Mercedes Benz GLC63 were also seized.
Keep an eye out for the next blog post, which will continue outlining these findings.
Lorena Allam
Voice debate: Linda Burney unlikely to face opposition Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney is not likely to debate her opposition counterpart, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, anytime soon.
Defending the no pamphlet on Wednesday – which has been heavily criticised for errors and misquoting legal expert, Greg Craven, the Opposition spokesperson on Indigenous Australians and prominent no campaigner – Nampijinpa Price said she wants to debate Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney on the voice.
But a spokesperson for Burney said
The minister is focused on getting out and having conversations with people across the country about why the voice is needed and how it will help improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Last week she was in Launceston, Albany, Port Hedland, Kununurra and Broome. Next week she’ll be in Wodonga and Adelaide.
Tonight Burney will be on a sold-out panel at Sydney Town Hall with speakers including Noel Pearson, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Thomas Mayo, Kerry O’Brien and Prof Anne Twomey.
Rio Tinto flags China economic worries
Jonathan Barrett
Rio Tinto has raised concerns over the global economic outlook which includes a faltering Chinese recovery after reporting a slight pullback in iron ore shipments from the Pilbara.
Rio said in a quarterly production report on Wednesday:
China’s economic recovery has fallen short of initial market expectations, as the property market downturn continues to weigh on the economy and consumers remain cautious despite monetary policy easing.
Manufacturing data in advanced economies showed a further slowdown and recessionary risks remain.
Iron ore prices have eased from elevated levels struck mid last year amid a mixed outlook for the steel-making commodity.
An anticipated major ramp-up in global steel manufacturing has failed to materialise as surging youth unemployment and a weak property sector hamper the Chinese economy.
While Rio mines several types of resources, iron ore is by far its biggest revenue earner.
The company said that iron ore production had increased during the June quarter compared to the previous corresponding period, even though shipments fell.
Barbie movie gets three stars
Beamingly affectionate, deliriously pink-themed and fantasy comedy-adventure is how Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw describes Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. (He also uses “bubblegum-fun-cum-feminist” which I rather enjoy.)
Bradshaw gives the film three stars – citing comedy rooted in self-consciousness that is sometimes inhibited by satire, and wary of what is “perhaps a giant two-hour commercial for a product”.
So we’ve all had our eyeballs seared pink for the last 3 months for the sake of… a solid three star comedy… https://t.co/EGd2LCWp5f
— NickdMiller ❔ (@NickdMiller) July 18, 2023
The film comes out in Australia tomorrow – I shall be in attendance, wearing all pink, ready to draw my own conclusions.
In the meantime, you can read Bradshaw’s full review here:
Christopher Knaus
Public hearing into Australia’s secrecy laws underway
Australia’s watchdog for national security laws has begun a public hearing into secrecy laws used in the high-profile criminal prosecutions of Bernard Collaery, Witness K, and Witness J.
The National Security Information Act (NSI Act) is designed to protect sensitive information during criminal prosecutions. The aim is to stop confidential material, which threatens to harm Australia’s national security, from being made public.
The law’s use in recent prosecutions – most notably the case of former spy Witness J, who was prosecuted and imprisoned completely in secret – has prompted concern that it is improperly obscuring open justice.
The Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Grant Donaldson is currently probing the effectiveness of the NSI Act and is considering whether it should be subject to significant reform or scrapped altogether.
A two-day public hearing began in Canberra on Wednesday morning, which will hear from government, the intelligence community, academics, prosecutors and a former judge, Anthony Whealy, who has sat on NSI Act cases.
Attorney-general department deputy secretary Sarah Chidgey gave evidence that the NSI Act had only been used sparingly – three times out of the more than 2,000 federal criminal prosecutions in 2021-2022.
She said it provided an “essential framework” for promoting the administration of justice in an evolving security environment.
Donaldson said it appeared that the NSI Act works “generally quite well” in terrorism cases. But he said:
Where the issues have arisen – and Alan Johns and Witness K and Collaery are perfect examples of this – are where the prosecutions have related to secrecy offences.
Noel Pearson calls out scaremongering directed at voice
“All kinds of scaremongering have been directed as to what this voice is,” Noel Pearson said at the Clean Energy Council Summit’s gala dinner in Sydney, AAP reports.
Some people have suggested that Indigenous people would be making representations about everything from nuclear submarines to parking tickets, the Indigenous lawyer said.
The voice to parliament, if successful, will make representations on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
That’s the function of the voice. That’s the purpose of the voice.
It is solely the parliament’s job after the referendum to supply the details and they will do that through the normal process of lawmaking.
Paul Karp
‘Athletes will be hurt by this’: Albanese on Commonwealth Games cancellation
Anthony Albanese also spoke on 2GB radio about the surprise decision by the Victorian government to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Asked if he was shocked by the move, Albanese replied:
I was. We did get a very short heads up that the announcement was coming but obviously, it’s not something that we were anticipating given that it’s been in the wind for some time … I think the regret is for the athletes who will be hurt by this, the idea of competing at your own games is always a positive thing. I attended the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games just a few years ago and I attended Melbourne many years ago now, and of course, the Sydney Olympics was where this great city really shone.
Albanese defends voice in fiery radio encounter with Ben Fordham over referendum
Paul Karp
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has just spoken to Ben Fordham on 2GB Radio about the Indigenous voice referendum.
Fordham repeatedly asked about why the government is not proposing constitutional recognition and legislating the voice.
Albanese said that he’s a “pragmatic guy” but noted that in the Uluru Statement from the Heart Indigenous Australians asked for the voice to go into the constitution. Nobody attempted to amend the constitutional alteration bill to shift towards recognition without voice, he said.
The interview got a bit heated, as Albanese said that discussion of Indigenous Australians getting special rights “ignores that this is the most disadvantaged group”.
Fordham quoted architects of the voice including Megan Davis, prompting Albanese to observe that the quotes were “from the No pamphlet”. Fordham rejected this characterisation – saying they were his own questions, and he was referring to written material to get the quotes right.
Albanese ruled out compensation for Indigenous Australians, moving the date of Australia Day and the voice making representations to the Reserve Bank.
Albanese said:
You have a responsibility as well … You need to not raise red herrings.
Fordham urged Albanese not to “risk it”.
He replied:
I’m not risking it. What I’m doing is supporting recognition, supporting recognition in a way that will make a practical difference. We need better outcomes. We can’t just be doing things the same way and expect different results. That’s the definition of being … dumb. If we just keep doing things the same way, we need to do things better, we need to listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them.
‘Cruelty must end’: Asylum Seeker Resource Centre releases new offshore detention report
Marking ten years since former prime minister Kevin Rudd sent 3,000 men, women and children seeking asylum in Australia by sea to offshore detention centre, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has released a new report, ‘Finish this Crisis’: Stories exposing the horrors of offshore detention.
It shares stories of seven people subjected to offshore detention since 19 July 2013. They call for the immediate evacuation of the 80 people remaining in PNG, permanent resettlement for all and a royal commission into offshore detention.
In a statement, it said:
The Albanese Government evacuated refugees from Nauru, however, people are still trapped in PNG and thousands have been denied the ability to rebuild their lives in Australia.
The cruelty must end.
Abdi Adan Muse, a human rights advocate held in PNG, said:
When I wake up, I try and keep myself busy.
It has an impact on you psychologically – always thinking and constantly worrying. When you don’t have a family with you, it is difficult to keep yourself busy.
And Abdul Aziz Adam, human rights advocate formerly held in offshore detention said:
I think the world needs to know the reality, the truth about offshore detention … I mean they designed a system based on torturing and destroying psychologically people like us. The world needs to know the reality.
You can read the full report here.
Switching to electric reduces household energy costs by 75%, new report finds
Switching from gas to electric can reduce household energy bills by 75%, new data from Environment Victoria reveals.
An average home in Melbourne’s south-east could expect to pay $716 using gas heating in an uninsulated space throughout the winter months.
The cost for the same space using efficient reverse cycle electric appliances reduces to just $169.
Sarah Rogan, Environment Victoria climate campaign manager, urges the government to “make it easier for all households to electrify”:
Victorian households are struggling under devastating cost of living increases – while massive, polluting gas companies continue to reap record profits.
Household electrification is key to reducing Victoria’s carbon emissions and household energy bills. We urge the Victorian government to set a target in this year’s updated Gas Substitution Roadmap.
The Victorian government needs to step up now with incentives for households to switch off their polluting and expensive gas heaters and switch on efficient electric heat pumps.
University support must include city suburbs not just remote areas, Clare says
More from education minister Jason Clare on ABC RN this morning, who says the funded university support skew towards remote areas needs to be realigned to include city suburbs “if we really want to close that gap in opportunity”.
Almost one in two Australians have a university degree, but that’s not the case everywhere, it’s not the case in the western suburbs or in the regions.
It’s not the case for poor families and it’s a magnitude lower for Indigenous students – only 7% of young Indigenous people in their 20s have a university degree.
Clare points to the discrepancy of funded spots across area, saying young Indigenous people are only guaranteed a funding spot at university if they live regionally, not in a big city.
If we really want to close that gap in opportunity this is the way to do it.
The evidence is if we do this we could double the number of Indigenous students at university in a decade.
