Australia news LIVE: PM points finger at Coalition over release of former detainee; Taylor says working smarter will make up for migration cuts

The fate of an ex-US fighter pilot and Australian citizen facing allegations of helping the Chinese military rests with the attorney-general after a court signed off on his extradition to his former home country.

Former US marine Daniel Duggan had spent 19 months in a maximum-security prison before a magistrate on Friday ruled him eligible for extradition.

Daniel Duggan with two of his children, Ginger and Hazel.

He has 15 days to apply for a review in the Federal Court, otherwise it falls to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to determine whether he should be surrendered to the US.

Duggan’s lawyer, high-profile silk Bret Walker, earlier conceded there was no legal argument to be mounted during the brief hearing in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court.

Outside court, Duggan’s wife Saffrine said Friday’s hearing was a box-ticking exercise.

“There was no opening in the local court for my husband to run his case, today was simply about ticking boxes and it’s time to move on to the next stage,” she said.

“We respectfully ask the attorney-general to take another look … and to bring my husband home.”

Asked by Magistrate Daniel Reiss if Friday’s hearing would be contested, Walker told the court: “Not really, no.”

Reiss noted the position from Duggan’s lawyers had “streamlined the considerations significantly”.

The magistrate ordered the ex-fighter pilot be held in custody to await extradition under a temporary surrender warrant.

Lawyer Bernard Collaery asked for him to be held at Lithgow to be closer to his family.

Outside court, Collaery described the court’s decision as an administrative step that would be followed by a lengthy submission to Mr Dreyfus.

“This was not an examination of the evidence, this was not a mini-trial of matters that are to be decided elsewhere,” he said.

A spokesman for the attorney-general said the government did not comment on extradition matters.

Duggan was arrested in Australia at the behest of the US after being accused of breaching arms-trafficking laws by providing military training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012.

He allegedly received about $100,000 for his services.

AAP

An Australian judge has ruled that the social media platform X is subject to a state’s anti-discrimination law even though it does not have an office in Australia.

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Judge Ann Fitzgerald said in a decision made public Friday that her court has jurisdiction over X Corp. in a hate speech complaint.

Elon Musk ’s company is also fighting in Australian Federal Court a notice by an Internet safety watchdog to take down video of a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbing an Assyrian Orthodox bishop.Credit: AP

The ruling allows the Queensland Human Rights Commission to hear an allegation that X breached Queensland anti-discrimination law by failing to remove or hide anti-Muslim hate speech.

The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network, which brought the case against Twitter in June 2022 before billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk bought and rebranded the platform last year, welcomed the decision as “precedent-setting.”

X has refused to remove material that the network alleges denigrates, dehumanises and demonises the Muslim community, portraying Muslims as an existential threat.

The complaint deals with material including video and photos that can be accessed through a link posted on X by an alleged far-right anti-Muslim conspiracy blog authored by an American citizen. The material is then commented on, copied and shared.

The tribunal has accepted the network’s request that the blog and its principal author not be identified for fear of “adverse consequences” for Muslims.

X had argued that the tribunal had no jurisdiction over the company because it had no presence in Queensland and the “impugned conduct” took place outside Queensland.

Fitzgerald disagreed, ruling X was “present in Queensland because it provides a service in Queensland and in my view carries on business in Queensland.”

Musk is also fighting in Australian Federal Court a notice by an Internet safety watchdog to take down video of a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbing an Assyrian Orthodox bishop in a Sydney church on April 15.

X agreed to geo-block from Australian users images of what Australian authorities have declared a terrorist act.

AAP

China’s “worrying” military actions in the Taiwan Strait amount to a “very coercive gesture”, the Albanese government says.

Beijing has ramped up military action following the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te.

Drills have included mock air and sea strikes around Taiwanese islands.

Footage shown on Chinese television shows Chinese ships sailing in the Taiwan Strait in 2023.Credit: CCTV

Cabinet Minister Bill Shorten labelled China’s manoeuvring “deeply concerning and worrying”.

“We all need peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

“Common sense should prevail but there’s no doubt that sending a fleet out in this way is a very coercive gesture.”

Shorten said Australia backed the rule of law and freedom of navigation.

“We’ve made it very clear that we will work with China where it’s in our national interest to,” he said.

“But we’ve also made very clear our support for freedom of navigation and a stable South China Sea.”

Beijing had consistently engaged in dangerous actions toward Australia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, Taipei’s representative Douglas Hsu said.

“This is something all the like-minded countries need to pay more attention (to),” he told ABC Radio on Friday.

A Chinese jet fighter also had a close run-in with an Australian navy helicopter earlier this month, launching flares ahead of the chopper that forced it to take evasive action in a widely condemned move.

AAP

GPs should be required by law to follow real-time prescription monitoring to ensure their patients are not “doctor shopping” for medication, a coroner has recommended.

A 16-year-old Victorian boy, known as LI, died from a drug overdose after obtaining pain medication from 70 doctors in the year before his death.

Coroner Ingrid Giles was tasked with investigating the cause and circumstances surrounding his 2019 death during a four-day inquest in March.

He obtained 60 opioid tablets the day before he died after going to three different doctors and three different pharmacies, the court was told.

On the evening of January 28, 2019, LI died from a drug overdose in his own bed and his grandmother found his body the next morning.

In the year before his death, the teen had visited 70 different doctors and managed to obtain 64 prescriptions from 31 practitioners.

The 16-year-old was also admitted to hospital several times between 2015 and 2019 for drug issues and self-harm, including swallowing batteries and needles.

In findings released on Friday, Ms Giles said she was satisfied that while LI intended to ingest the medications, it was likely an impulsive act rather than a suicide attempt.

But she found the doctors who prescribed him with opioids, on a one-off or short-term basis, had missed an important opportunity to intervene in his “doctor-shopping” cycle.

“It was a cycle that ended in LI’s death,” Ms Giles said in her report.

The SafeScript system, a central database that allows a doctor to see a patient’s current prescriptions, was first introduced in Victoria in October 2018 but only became more widely used in April 2019.

The coroner found if the system was as available at the time of LI’s death as it is today, there could have been a different outcome for the 16-year-old. AAP

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Ukrainian military intelligence was directly involved in a deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow in which over 140 people were killed, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said, TASS reported on Friday.

Russia has made such allegations before. Bortnikov did not provide evidence to underpin his assertion.

Members of the Investigative Committee of Russia examine the burnt concert hall Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow.Credit: AP

“The investigation is ongoing, but it is already safe to say that Ukrainian military intelligence is directly involved in this attack,” the state news agency quoted Bortnikov as saying.

He also accused the NATO military alliance of faciliting the transfer of “mercenaries and militants of international terrorist organisations from the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan” to Ukraine so that they could fight against Russian forces there.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the concert hall massacre in March and U.S. officials said they had intelligence showing it was carried out by the network’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan. Ukraine has repeatedly denied it had anything to do with the attack.

Bortnikov was cited by TASS as saying that Islamic State Khorasan had played a role in coordinating the attackers’ actions and that Ukrainian military intelligence had also played a direct role.

Reuters

It’s Friday afternoon so let’s have a look at the latest breaking news concerning how much value you’re getting from that alcoholic beverage. As UK’s The Telegraph reports, that end-of-the week glass of wine can fall a little short sometimes. As Blathnaid Corless reports:

Pints and wines are short-measured most of the time, research has found, as drinkers have been urged to demand top-ups at the bar.

It’s time to check the size of your beer.Credit: Oscar Colman

Around 70 per cent of orders are less than the prescribed quantity required by the Weights and Measures Order for pints, half pints and 175ml glasses of wine, the study by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) suggests.

Officers for the organisation visited 77 pubs and bars and were served 96 short measures out of 137 orders.

Of the short measures, 41 were under by five per cent or more. Some 86 per cent of all beer ordered was short-measured, as was 43 per cent of wine.

The average deficit for short-measured beer was four per cent, while for wine it was five per cent.

For the average beer drinker, this equated to a loss of £1.70 per week ($3.27 AUD), or £88.40 ($169 AUD) a year, and for an average wine drinker in the UK this jumped to £2.20 ($4.23 AUD) per week or £114.40 per year ($220 AUD), the CTSI said.

Top-up ‘is your right’

Nik Antona, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), said consumers were “well within their rights” to ask for a top-up at the bar.

He said: “Consumers shouldn’t have to feel short-changed when they support their favourite pubs, social clubs and taprooms.

“The idea that 70 per cent of all beer bought at the bar is being short-measured in the UK is extremely concerning.

“For anything that is short-measured, and particularly anything more than five per cent short, you should ask the bar staff for an immediate top-up.

“You are well within your rights to do this, and the staff should comply and fulfil this request.

“If you get a negative reaction when you do this, you can get in contact with Trading Standards to report the incident.”

The Telegraph

An inquest into the death of a man after taking poison and hallucinogens has been suspended after a coroner found there could be enough evidence for charges to be laid.

Jarrad Antonovich died of a perforated oesophagus after consuming the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca and frog-based poison kambo at the Dreaming Arts Festival at Arcoora retreat in northern NSW on October 16, 2021.

Jarrad Antonovich, 46, died after taking the powerful psychedelic plant brew ayahuasca and “kambo” frog poison during the week-long Dreaming Arts Festival north of Kyogle.Credit: Facebook

State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan suspended the inquest into his death on Friday after forming the opinion that the case could be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Details of the reasoning behind the suspension and referral cannot be reported for legal reasons.

O’Sullivan noted her appreciation of Antonovich’s family attending the inquest, listing them individually.

“It hasn’t been easy for anyone,” she said.

“I thank you for your patience, and thank everyone (involved) for their co-operation.”

The leader of the health retreat and the ceremony “shaman” had been due to give evidence to the inquest, which earlier heard there had been attempts to conceal details of the events that led up to the 46-year-old’s death.

Retreat organiser Soulore Solaris asked one ceremony participant to visit Antonovich’s flatmate and tell him not to reveal to police that an ayahuasca ceremony had taken place, the coroner heard.

The witness, Lurelle Alefounder, said Solaris apologised the next day and told her he had been trying to protect those involved.

“I told him, ‘no, I’m not doing that’,” she said.

The inquest reconvened in Byron Bay on Wednesday after publicity surrounding it in 2023 led to people coming forward with additional information.

Ceremony conductor Cameron Kite had been due to recount his version of the events leading up to Antonovich’s death after witnesses recalled the so-called shaman assuring them the increasingly ill man was being looked after.

Kite’s former partner, Chelsea Hope, said she feared people might shift any potential blame towards him.

Hope also remembered hearing Solaris tell certain people to visit Antonovich’s flatmate and tell him to not mention the ceremony he had participated in.

Kambo is typically scraped off the back of a live frog with a stick before its application.

The use of ayahuasca and kambo is based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous South American communities, with adherents believing the substances can clean the body of impurities.

Medical experts, however, say there is no proof the substances do more than make people extremely ill.

AAP

Yesterday, we brought you news that pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Melbourne were expected to pack up their long-running encampments after the university publicly committed to disclosing more details about academic research funding – a key demand of activists.

The encampment at the University of Melbourne.Credit: Penny Stephens

Instead, last night, the student demonstrators remained, posting on social media that they wanted the university’s commitment to be in the form of an all-staff, all-student email before they would disband.

That email, an update from Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell, was sent at 11.40am this morning.

Now, the pack-up has begun.

The Age photographer Penny Stephens captured these images from the scene.

The pack up began soon after the email to all staff and students was sent.Credit: Penny Stephens

Student demonstrators occupied the university’s Arts West building last week and established a camp on its south lawn last month, vowing to stay put until the university disclosed and divested its ties with weapons manufacturers, which they say allow the university to profit from Israel’s war in Gaza.

A protester takes down a poster on Friday.Credit: Penny Stephens

The protests were a flashpoint for domestic tensions over the conflict, drawing the ire of several politicians and Jewish groups.

Melbourne University said the sit-in raised safety concerns, but the staff union disputed this.

University management had previously threatened to send in law enforcement to remove protesters, but Victoria Police said no formal complaint of trespass – required for them to go in and remove the protesters – was made.