Freeman’s partner was arrested overnight, Bush confirms
Mike Bush confirms Dezi Freeman’s partner was arrested overnight.
She was interviewed and released pending further inquiries. Bush said today:
People were interviewed totally and specifically in relation to the homicide investigation. Those searches have been completed. The interviews have been conducted. Those people have been released. There may or may not be charges that follow.
Key events
Bradman’s baggy green snapped up by museum
A historic baggy green cap worn by Sir Donald Bradman has found a new home at one Australia’s most prominent museums, AAP reports.
The cap, worn during the 1946-47 Ashes series, has been bought by the National Museum of Australia for $438,500, with the federal government contributing half the cost.
Bradman wore the cap when he captained Australia in the series, the first to be played against England after the second world war.
The cap is just one of 11 of Bradman’s baggy greens known to exist. A second is located in the Australian Sports Museum, while the locations of the other nine remain private.
The cap sits alongside other Bradman memorabilia in the museum’s most recently opened Landmarks gallery, which features pieces from defining moments in our nation’s history.
Stephanie Convery
Blizzards and ‘destruction’ forecast for Victoria’s weekend weather
Blizzards have been forecast for parts of Victoria, and residents have been warned to prepare for power outages and “destruction” as damaging winds are expected to lash the south-eastern states into the weekend.
Destructive winds, with gusts reaching up to 130km/h, are expected to push further into the eastern states on Saturday, bringing showers, hail and isolated thunderstorms.
Snowfall as low as 600-metre elevation is expected in the state on Saturday, along with strong winds. Meanwhile, blizzard conditions have been forecast for the alpine areas above 1,200 metres.
Snow showers and possible small hail was forecast for Friday and early Saturday morning at Mount Hotham. It comes after a week of severe weather in Victoria’s high country that has added complications to the ongoing search for suspected gunman Dezi Freeman in Porepunkah.
Winds of up to 113km/h had already been recorded at Mount Hotham on Friday. Read more here:
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Labor defends axing Indigenous affairs hearing with extra estimates days
Just circling back to an earlier post about the axing of a stand-alone Indigenous affairs hearing from the upcoming block of Senate estimates hearings.
A stand-alone hearing earmarked for 13 October has been wiped from the schedule, with scrutiny of Indigenous matters to instead occur over the other days of hearings from 7-10 October.
The opposition claims the change means there will be less clear air to grill the government’s record on Indigenous affairs, including the Closing the Gap targets.
While defending the decision, a government spokesperson pointed out it had agreed to an extra three days of senate estimates hearings later this year to allow for more scrutiny of its entire agenda.
The hearings are scheduled for the first week of December. Here’s the government’s statement in full:
The Government has agreed to add three extra days of Senate estimates at the end of the year, to allow for additional scrutiny.
In this round of supplementary budget estimates, Indigenous issues will be a part of every day of estimates.
Closing the Gap is a whole of government responsibility.
It’s the responsibility of every Secretary and Minister to improve outcomes for First Nations Australians.
Parliament will ‘obviously’ consider censuring Katter: government minister
Albanese government minister Murray Watt says Bob Katter could still face a formal censure in parliament next week after the independent MP threatened to punch a journalist.
Watt did not commit the government to pursuing a censure motion against Katter but said he personally condemned the veteran Queensland politician’s outburst. He told the ABC:
I’m not going to pre-empt the parliamentary processes, [censure] will obviously be considered, but Bob Katter has prided himself on being a colourful character, you can be a colourful character without threatening people …
It is completely unacceptable for any human being, let alone a politician, who should be setting a higher standard.
Allegra Spender, the independent Sydney MP, said her focus was more on public statements of condemnation, and she hadn’t considered censuring Katter, speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
Katter’s son, Robbie Katter, appeared on the ABC earlier, where he defended his father and said a censure motion would be celebrated by north Queenslanders. He said:
Most people in regional and North Queensland would see that as an endorsement. A lot of things that come out of Canberra and Brisbane we are not a big fan of, so personally I would see it as an endorsement.
Watt rejects criticism of Tasmania windfarm approval
The environment minister has dismissed Bob Brown’s warnings of major protests over the approval of a large windfarm project on Robbins Island in north-west Tasmania.
Environmental advocates have warned the project could threaten local native wildlife, including the orange-bellied parrot, the Tasmanian devil and the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle. You can read about the decision here:
The environment minister, Murray Watt, said the conditions attached to the development would safeguard against those “unacceptable impacts”.
He told the ABC:
The surest way to ensure we end up with a more critically endangered species in this country is if we fail to deliver the renewable energy and emissions reductions needed …
If we take a really hardline view about this we will not have renewable projects anywhere in the country.
Among the project’s critics is former Greens leader Bob Brown, who has warned of major protests against the development. Watt dismissed suggestions of public uprising:
We often see predictions from the Greens and their supporters like Bob Brown that don’t turn out to be truthful … and Brown has a history of opposing major economic development across the country.
Bob Katter’s son defends ‘deeply personal’ outburst
The Queensland state politician Robbie Katter has defended his father for threatening to punch a journalist, saying the reporter “did not get the signals”.
Bob Katter has attracted criticism from across the political spectrum for his behaviour, but his son Robbie said there were personal reasons for his father getting upset. He told the ABC:
I know for a fact there are some deeply personal, deep personal dimension to that line of questioning that goes back to his family. I’ve known that since a kid. … There is a deeply personal dimension that I won’t share on national TV.
The younger Katter said it had been clear his father was growing agitated and suggested the reporter, Nine’s Josh Bavas, was being “provocative”:
There are personal touch points that [we] usually agree on that we don’t go there. Perhaps the journalist in question did not get the signals. … We should be able to stand up for ourselves and say at some point that is not acceptable.
At what point is that person responsible for their actions? They have to take some cues as well.
Pushing back at suggestions Bob Katter was too old for parliament, Robbie said some serving politicians were “too young” and had a “deficit of life experience”.
Severe thunderstorm warning for Porepunkah as 450 police officers hunt alleged cop killer
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an emergency warning for severe thunderstorms in Victoria’s northeast, including the town of Porepunkah, where the manhunt for Dezi Freeman continues.
Damaging and destructive winds are expected to batter the north-east and east Gippsland, with the worst of the storms expected to hit Falls Creek and Mount Hotham, just south of the locked-down town.
Winds and storms will last for the next several hours across the state’s north-east, the bureau said, after previously warning snow showers could hit the region. The search for Freeman now involves 450 police officers, as temperatures begin to fall and the sun sets.
Lending rises at the fastest rate in three years
Private credit growth surged by nearly $20bn in July, or 0.7% in the previous month, the fastest pace of increase since 2022.
New Reserve Bank data shows lending has accelerated since the RBA cut interest rates a second time, with the annual pace of increase climbing to 7.2%, well above the last decade’s average.
UBS analysis indicated business lending saw the biggest increase, while personal credit picked up, and housing credit maintained its faster growth of recent months.
Private deposits have also increased 7.2% annually, including a 9.4% increase in household savings, while spending has picked up at the same time, which UBS analysts said was a sign of “solid” household income growth.
They warned that rising borrowing for house prices and personal spending could put upward pressure on inflation as construction resources become stretched and homeowners cash in on their rising wealth, writing in a note:
We see an increasing likelihood that the strength in asset prices, especially housing, and borrowing (also personal credit is picking up to fund consumption), will probably result in inflation facing upward pressure.
Natasha May
And that’s it from me, the wonderful Luca Ittimani is here to take you through the rest of the afternoon’s news!
Andrew Messenger
Pill testing clinic to reopen in Queensland
Queensland’s pill testing clinic is to reopen next month, thanks to private funding.
In April 2024, the former Labor government opened the first of two clinics at Bowen Hills. A second was later opened on the Gold Coast. A year later, the new LNP government closed both, against the advice of health bodies, including the Australian Medical Association. It has subsequently refused to release a report on the trial service.
Former operator The Loop Australia announced on Friday morning that it will reopen its doors from Friday, 5 September, and continue to operate every Friday from 2-6pm.
The Greens MP Michael Berkman said the return of pill testing was “a massive win for common sense and for our health professionals”.
You can’t stop people taking drugs just by saying no, by locking up kids or slapping them with huge fines.
In their first year, these clinics identified 120 lethal substances and kickstarted hundreds of conversations and referrals with health professionals.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Opposition says Indigenous hearings could have examined why four Closing the Gap targets going backwards
Continuing on from that last post: in the Senate on Thursday, the opposition attempted to reinstate the separate hearings only for Labor and the Greens to vote it down.
The manager of opposition business in the senate, Jonno Duniam, accused Labor and the Greens of breaking a 17-year-old convention in order to avoid scrutiny.
Senate estimates hearings are a critical forum for senators to question the spending of taxpayer funds and hold the government to account. Yet, rather than opening themselves to that accountability, Labor and the Greens have conspired to shut them down.
The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Kerrynne Liddle, said the opposition would have used the hearings to examine why four of the Closing the Gap targets were going backwards.
In a statement, a government spokesperson said under the new format, Indigenous affairs would be examined on each day of hearings, rather than just one.
They said:
Closing the Gap is a whole of government responsibility. It’s the responsibility of every Secretary and Minister to improve outcomes for First Nations Australians.
The next round of estimates will be on 7-10 October.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Labor accused of avoiding scrutiny on Indigenous affairs after stand-alone hearing axed
The opposition has accused the Albanese government of avoiding scrutiny of its Indigenous affairs agenda after axing a traditional stand-alone estimates hearing on the topic.
Hearings on Indigenous matters have typically been held in a stand-alone spot in each Senate estimates block, providing a window of clear air for opposition and crossbenchers to grill government ministers and senior public servants on issues such as Closing the Gap targets.
On the other days of an estimates week, the eight committees run hearings at the same time, generating a flood of evidence that can be difficult for even the most diligent politician, staffer (or journalist) to keep across.
But in a surprise move, Labor this week won support for a condensed schedule for October’s rounds of estimates, which involves folding Indigenous affairs into the other packed days of hearings.
A stand-alone hearing on the Murray Darling-Basin plan – which is also typically allocated its own window – has also been absorbed into the new schedule.
Nick Visser
That’s all from me, thanks for sticking with us. Natasha May will be your guide for the rest of today’s news. Take care, and have a good weekend.
