Friday, September 18, 2026
From 1h ago Asio chief Mike Burgess says Iran may want to ‘kill prominent Jewish Australians’ Ben Doherty In the podcast with Neil Mitchell, the Asio director general, Mike Burgess , said Australia’s Jewish community also faced threats from state actors, in particular Iran. He said: double quotation mark I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Iran would want to kill prominent Jewish Australians. Asio has previously identified two attacks on Jewish properties – the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne– as being directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador and three other diplomats from the country in August 2025. Key events 42m ago Qantas ground staff prepare to strike as dispute escalates 1h ago Asio chief Mike Burgess says Iran may want to ‘kill prominent Jewish Australians’ 2h ago RBA governor paves way for rate hike in September 2h ago Labor will 'look at' idea of following Canada in seeking closer ties with EU 3h ago Microsoft, Telstra, Kmart to contribute to AI in the workplace guide 4h ago OpenAI warns Labor about global security threats 4h ago Medicinal cannabis driving laws pass in NSW 4h ago 'Sovereignty, prosperity and peace are not a given': Penny Wong 4h ago Albanese to meet Apple boss after social media reform 5h ago Britain’s Aukus chief says adversaries’ hatred of deal shows its success 5h ago Labor 'worked through all the policy issues' on immigration, Burke says Police say alleged murder of university student ‘extremely complex’ and still being investigated Abdy said a police ballistics report showed a firearm that was located at the site of the alleged murder of university student Marco Tapia was the same firearm that was used in the shooting at Hurstville and Turrell. He said the Tapia matter was still being investigated by the homicide squad. double quotation mark That investigation is extremely complex and it’s very important that all the evidence is examined before people are charged obviously with the very serious offence of murder...
We’ll work with [the Homicide Squad] in our evidence-sharing to establish the link. These people obviously are significant persons of interest. Once that evidentiary standard has been met, if it gets met, then Homicide will take carriage of the further prosecutions.
More on four arrests Abdy said it was “troubling” that one of the alleged offenders was just 16 years old: double quotation mark It’s extremely troubling. It’s been well documented, I think, and reported in the last couple of weeks about organised crime networks using young males, particularly to commit such violent acts where they prey on their risk-taking behaviour, and placing them, you know, essentially on a life that’s probably not what they thought it was going to be. Four arrested and extradited from Victoria to NSW over alleged connection to shootings Four people have been arrested and extradited from Victoria after allegedly travelling to Sydney to carry out “criminal acts linked to two shootings” in August, NSW police have said.
Speaking to the media just now, acting Det Supt Brad Abdy said a 22-year-old man was arrested in Epping, while a 23-year-old man and 26-year-old woman were arrested in Donnybrook, along with a 16-year-old boy, in connection with the shootings. He said: double quotation mark These four people were later taken to Victoria police centre where they were placed into custody and later appeared in court in Victoria for extradition proceedings. Those proceedings were later granted and they have since been extradited from Victoria to New South Wales where they will currently be charged with a variety of offences relating to the shooting at Turrella and the shooting at Hurstville.
Qantas ground staff prepare to strike as dispute escalates Jonathan Barrett Hundreds of Qantas ground crew workers are preparing for a 24-hour strike next week amid an escalating industrial dispute. The 600-plus workers on the airline’s freight and regional QantasLink service are preparing to strike in Victoria on Wednesday, and across the rest of the country on Thursday, according to the Transport Workers’ Union . The TWU says the airline’s use of subsidiaries, instituted under former Qantas management, has frustrated attempts to bring pay and job security in line with industry standards.
The union wants to replace multiple enterprise agreements for ground staff and freight handlers with one agreement. Qantas said that it has contingency plans to minimise any impact on customers and operations if the strike goes ahead. The Australian reported that Qantas is applying to the Fair Work Commission to prevent the industrial action.
Luca Ittimani Top AI developers would have to report incidents, standards say Developers of the most advanced AI, if they came to Australia, would have to report concerning events to the government. The government’s consultation paper on AI standards says frontier labs will have to meet specific, minimum-security and safety expectations, including disclosing reportable AI incidents to the government. OpenAI on Wednesday reported six new critical incidents, the latest in a string of cases in which AI agents took unexpected and unauthorised actions.
Top labs could be required to contribute to the Australian economy by reserving some computational power for Australian research, subsidising public-interest research or hiring local staff, under options proposed in the paper. The paper reads: double quotation mark Without mechanisms to encourage onshore research activity and investment in the broader research and innovation ecosystem, Australia risks hosting AI infrastructure and training activity while the associated research outputs, model development, intellectual property and commercial returns accrue offshore. The government is taking submissions from members of the public and top organisations until 9 October as Labor plans to release draft legislation by year’s end.
The paper has a curious endnote: double quotation mark We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to summarise and compare submissions to support policy work. This includes using AI tools to analyse sentiment to help us understand patterns and trends in submissions. We only use AI where it is appropriate for the task and the information involved.
Asio chief Mike Burgess says Iran may want to ‘kill prominent Jewish Australians’ Ben Doherty In the podcast with Neil Mitchell, the Asio director general, Mike Burgess , said Australia’s Jewish community also faced threats from state actors, in particular Iran. He said: double quotation mark I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Iran would want to kill prominent Jewish Australians. Asio has previously identified two attacks on Jewish properties – the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne– as being directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador and three other diplomats from the country in August 2025. Patrick Commins Expect fuel prices to be ‘much higher for longer’, RBA boss says Australians should brace for “much higher for longer” oil prices and fuel costs, according to Michele Bullock, the RBA governor. Bullock told an parliamentary economics committee hearing that when the US-Israel war on Iran started there was a “baseline assumption, certainly on our part and amongst many other countries, that it would be short-lived, and that the rise in oil prices and associated fuel prices and other energy prices would be short-lived, and they would ultimately come back down”.
While the worst-case scenarios may not have come about, “certainly scenarios where we’re seeing much higher for longer oil prices, fuel prices , those sorts of things, that’s sort of more in the world we’re in now”. Michele Bullock. Photograph: Sarah Wilson/AAP As the war rumbles on into its eighth month with little sign of resolution, Bullock said there had been a “realisation” among central bankers that they would need to act. double quotation mark There was a tendency to wait and see, but now that fuel prices have been much higher for longer, and you are seeing that reflected in inflation overseas, central banks are responding .
And you’ve seen that in the responses ... particularly in the US and Europe, and some other countries being on high alert. The US Fed lifted rates this week, the first hike since 2023. Luca Ittimani Big datacentres will have to bring renewables unless alternatives have ‘clear benefits’ The Albanese government has detailed the core parts of its AI standards as it consults on the new rules to be brought in early next year.
Large datacentres will be forced to offset their energy usage with new renewable projects, unless using state-owned infrastructure would have “clear benefit” keeping the grid more stable and prices lower. That is the compromise reached with the Northern Territory and Queensland governments, which run parts of their energy systems. Projects will also be required to manage their energy use during peak periods and cover their own energy and water network costs so households don’t face higher prices.
Developers will be required to engage “meaningfully” with communities and First Nations peoples, draw on local suppliers “where possible”, and build away from “sensitive community areas”, such as schools and homes. The projects will have to support training of construction and operational workers to ensure they don’t worsen Australia’s skills shortages. Efficiency standards for water and energy use are also under consideration.
The government is considering applying those to datacentres with 30-100MW capacity, excluding smaller builds. Datacentres with even higher usage could face “more substantial requirements”. Ben Doherty Spy chief Mike Burgess says there has been a widespread failure to tackle antisemitism Australia’s spy chief has said Australia’s politicians, community leaders and media have not done enough to keep Australia’s Jewish community safe from antisemitism.
The director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess , spoke at length on a podcast hosted by broadcaster Neil Mitchell. “We still have antisemitism as a problem and that does concern me,” he said: double quotation mark It’s got to a pretty high, disturbing level. It raised its ugly head after the 7th of October.
It started with threatening, intimidating behaviour and then, a year later, it transitioned to direct targeting of people, places of worship and businesses. And then we saw the death of 15 people. I reckon that’s a bad place for us to be.
Burgess said more needed to be done to prevent conflation of the state of Israel with Jewish people in public and private rhetoric. double quotation mark It’s OK to be angry at the state of Israel. But how you deal with that anger, it really does matter. I’d like to think there are people who are kind of passionate and they’ve got a right to have that strong view.
Are they deliberately wanting to be antisemitic? No, I don’t believe they are, but their actions may well be. Burgess said there was a widespread failure to counter growing antisemitism. double quotation mark All of us should have stood up more.
Maybe I could have shouted more. Political leaders could have said ‘this is not right’. I mean, a couple of them did do that, but not many of them did.
The media should have probably watched how it was reporting. By all means be critical of the state of Israel but actually say, ‘but we’re not talking about Australians or people of Jewish faith’. Mike Burgess.
Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP RBA governor paves way for rate hike in September Patrick Commins Michele Bullock , the Reserve Bank governor, says “upside risks to inflation appear to be materialising”, setting the central bank on course to deliver a fourth interest rate hike later this month. Bullock told a parliamentary economics committee: double quotation mark Inflation is too high. We are focused on getting it back down and making sure that it does not become embedded into price and wage-setting decisions.
The governor said at the RBA board’s last meeting they were worried that inflation would come in hotter than hoped, and it looked like that was happening, despite the slowing economy. She said: double quotation mark Global cost pressures have increased – the Middle East conflict, the AI boom and extreme weather events are contributing to upward pressure on a range of energy, agricultural and technology-related prices. There is little sign of resolution of the Middle East conflict.
Oil and related prices have increased sharply again and will add directly to inflation. Through our liaison program, we are hearing that many firms are passing on higher input costs. The RBA board will meet on 28-29 September, where the “key question” will be whether the three rate hikes earlier this year will be enough to bring inflation back to the 2.5% target “in a reasonable time”.
Bullock said: double quotation mark I recognise that higher interest rates are difficult for Australians with mortgages who are also facing cost-of-living pressures. But reducing inflation is essential. High inflation hurts all Australians and is especially tough on people with lower incomes and those in vulnerable financial positions.
Labor already ‘removing people’ who overstay visas: Thistlethwaite Matt Thistlethwaite says the Labor government has already been “removing people” who overstay their visas. Still on that News24 interview, he said: double quotation mark I know that because I sign off on the removals. We do remove people.
But what we’re committing to here is additional resources. There’ll be an additional 100 officers that will work and there’ll be an additional 250 beds in detention centres for those people who overstayed. In 2015, the previous government changed the system so that mainly people that were detained were those that had committed crimes.
Now, anyone that overstays their visa, if you overstay a tourist visa, you overstay a student visa, you’ll be picked up and you’ll spend a few nights in a detention centre , and we think that that will deter a lot of people from overstaying. Labor’s migration policy ‘completely different’ from One Nation’s Matt Thistlethwaite has insisted Labor’s migration policy is “completely different” from One Nation’s, but that deporting people who overstay their visas has “always been our plan”. Thistlethwaite made the comments while speaking to Peter Stefanovic on News24, with the latter suggesting to the assistant minister for migration that Labor’s policy had been “partly borrowed from One Nation and then rushed once you didn’t get Coalition support”.
Thistlethwaite responded: double quotation mark No, it’s completely different. If you look at the changes that we’ve made, it’s all about ensuring that we deliver the numbers for migration that we’ve budgeted for in the budget that we put out in May. And secondly, that we’re strengthening the integrity of the system by removing people who don’t have the right to remain in Australia because they’ve overstayed their visa.
So, they’re the two major elements. When it was suggested that “that’s One Nation’s plan”, the assistant minister said: double quotation mark Well, it’s always been our plan as well. Matt Thistlethwaite.
Photograph: Brendon Thorne/AAP Labor will 'look at' idea of following Canada in seeking closer ties with EU Federal Labor will “look at the issue” of Australia possibly following Canada’s lead in seeking closer ties with the European Union, assuming it was in Australia’s national interest, the assistant foreign affairs minister, Matt Thistlethwaite , has said. Thistlethwaite’s comments come after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen , said that Canada should become the EU’s first associate member, to which the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney , responded: “Canada welcomes this idea.” You can read more about that here: Speaking to News24, Thistlethwaite said: double quotation mark We will look at that issue, but I mean, obviously, I think it needs to be in Australia’s national interest. ... We recently signed a free-trade agreement with the European Union.
Both of our parliaments are in the process of ratifying that. That will deliver substantial increases and boosts to exports of Australian products into one of the largest consumer markets in the world. So, we made that decision because it was in Australia’s national interest.
And we’ll consider this proposal on the same vein. The woman believed to be the mother of a newborn baby found dead in a bin last month has been arrested, Australian Associated Press reports. The boy was found naked inside a rubbish bag in an apartment block bin on Harrow Road in Auburn on 31 August.
NSW police issued a plea to find the baby’s mother, saying their main priority was getting her medical care. More than three weeks later, police said a 24-year-old woman believed to be the infant’s mother had been identified. She was taken to hospital for assessment and then arrested upon her release last night and taken to Auburn police station.
The woman remains in custody and is expected to be charged, police said. Auburn Police Area Acting Commander Darren Sly said it was believed the baby had been in the bin for up to 36 hours. “It’s sad and a horrific set of circumstances,” he told reporters on the day the boy was found.
Luca Ittimani The Albanese government is considering a “world-leading” ban on smart glasses in its offices and service centres as councils around Australia push the technology out of public spaces over privacy fears. The government has avoided a sweeping ban on the import of the camera-equipped technology and encouraged individual workplaces to set their own rules. Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher has flagged a smart glasses ban for the APS.
Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP The public service minister, Katy Gallagher , said on Thursday she had asked the Australian public service for advice on whether the glasses should be prohibited. Gallagher said: double quotation mark We need clear and consistent guidance for public servants. Smart glasses can raise legitimate privacy and security concerns, particularly because of their ability to record and capture information.
Commonwealth-run workplaces range from bureaucrats’ offices to Centrelink service centres and CSIRO laboratories. Read the full story here: Microsoft, Telstra, Kmart to contribute to AI in the workplace guide Labor will meet with executives from Microsoft, Telstra, Kmart and more to develop what the government is calling a “best practice guidance for AI in the workplace”. The employment and workplace relations minister, Amanda Rishworth , will host an “AI employer roundtable” in Canberra, including executives from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Microsoft, AGL, Telstra, Kmart, Blackmores Group and Ramsay Health Care.
Labor said the roundtable would “draw on the experience” of companies that had already introduced AI into their businesses “with a focus on how businesses can realise the productivity benefits of AI while supporting workers through technological change”.
Source: The Guardian
