Bruce Lehrmann outside the federal court in Sydney last month after losing his defamation action against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. Photograph: Don Arnold/Getty Images
Bruce Lehrmann outside the federal court in Sydney last month after losing his defamation action against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. Photograph: Don Arnold/Getty Images
Queensland vows‘clear and enforceable limits on separations’ for children behind bars
The government has promised to establish “clear and enforceable limits on separations” for kids behind bars.
“Separations” are akin to solitary confinement, where a child is locked in a room alone.
Some particularly troubled kids can find themselves placed into a “separation” for weeks on end, dozens of hours a day.
The Child Death Review board last month reported the death of two children who had been held in solitary for an extended period of time.
The state government committed to changing the practice, in response to a recommendation it do so by a bipartisan parliamentary committee.
“The Queensland government commits to setting clear and enforceable limits on separations. Separations are subject to strict approvals, supervision protocols, time limits and record keeping, ensuring they are reasonable and justified, in keeping with the legislative requirements of the Youth Justice Regulation 2016,” the response reads.
It also promised to “consider ... workforce planning” in response to a recommendation that it work to to clear a staff shortage at the state’s youth detention centre system.
Queensland releases response to youth justice inquiry report
Queensland’s Labor government has not promised to keep mentally ill or disabled children accused of a crime out of police watch houses.
A bipartisan inquiry last month expressed “significant concerns” about the use of the adults-only facilities to detain children and young people, and made several recommendations about their operation. The government released its response to the report today, shortly after it tabled legislation to eliminate the principle that children only be sentenced to jail as a last resort.
The committee recommended the government “immediately investigate and implement alternative options to watch houses and detention centres for children and young people with significant mental health conditions and/or disabilities so they can be appropriately diagnosed, treated and to ensure justice outcomes are effective.”
The government promises to “further explore alternative options” for kids with a significant mental health issue, problematic substance use and/or disability.
“As part of the community safety plan for Queensland, an additional $7.1 million will be provided to expand physical and mental health screening and cognitive disability screening in youth detention centres.”
Last month was Australia’s coolest April since 2015,BoM says
April was unusually cool for Australia in a month that was among the hottest globally.
With May under way, we can get a snapshot of Australia’s weather in the month that’s just past.
Perhaps surprisingly, last month was Australia’s coolest April since 2015 on a couple of measures, including for maximum temperatures, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Australia in April was relatively cool, thanks to a lot of rain and cloud over inland regions. It came in the coolest April for maximums since April 2015. (Via @bom_au) pic.twitter.com/UZC8gDuUKG
It was a similar tale of overnight temperatures too, with last month actually the coolest April for minimums since 2011. For South Australia, it was the coolest for minimums since 1999.
For minimum temperatures, it was a similar story, with Australia posting its coolest April since 2011. pic.twitter.com/bqebaUAFSX
For the mean temperatures - that average out the minimums and maximums - Australia recorded its coolest April since 2015.
For mean temperatures (that average out mins and maxs), Australia had its coolest April since 2015. Parts of the west and north had their warmest April on record. pic.twitter.com/W4gqVkstZ8
Rainfall was about a quarter below the 1961-90 average for April, the bureau said. The east and the north were among the areas with above-average rain.
The reason why Australia’s relatively cool month is a bit surprising is that the globe has lately been baking. March was the 10th month in a row of record global temperatures, and April might make it 11 or come very close.
Australia is famously/gratingly girt by sea, and as BoM noted yesterday, “global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have been the warmest on record for each month between April 2023 and March 2024, with April 2024 SSTs currently tracking warmer than April 2023.”
The cool Australian April is a reminder that not everywhere is going to set records for warmth all the time. The trend, though, is no friend, and it probably won’t be long before Australia returns to warmer-than-average conditions.
Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt is almost through the summation of the case.
There is a little bit of confusion over the “damages” Faruqi is claiming – because Faruqi is not claiming damages for herself. Instead, she wants a $150,000 donation to the Sweatshop Literacy Movement (as well as an apology) which federal court justice Angus Stewart was not aware of.
Holt said that Faruqi wishes for that form of damages because of the meaningful nature of the penalty, if of course one is delivered by the justice.
Stewart said that if he had grasped earlier that Faruqi was wanting a donation rather than damages in the usual sense (monies paid to the applicant, which in this case is Faruqi) he would have handled the cross examination of Faruqi differently, as much of it seems “irrelevant”, in the sense that he believed it was going to the impact Faruqi felt. But as she is not claiming traditional damages, then that wasn’t necessarily needed.
Holt moves on and when it comes to the figure he says he is not going to pretend that there is any maths which is involved, and it will be up to Stewart to decide whether or not any damages are awarded, and if so, what amount that would be.
The submission ends with a nod towards the question of whether this case lends itself to a challenge of section 18C and 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act, which has been part of Pauline Hanson’s defence. Holt said that it is Faruqi’s team’s view that they agree with the position of the commonwealth solicitor (who is intervening in this case on the 18C and 18D points) and there is no burden on the implied freedom of speech.
All parties have agreed that Justice Stewart shouldn’t trouble himself with any constitutional questions, unless he sees it as necessary.
Domestic violence measures ‘good first steps’, advocacy group says
Prime minister Anthony Albanese’s announcements following the national cabinet on men’s violence are “good first steps,” Full Stop Australia CEO Karen Bevan says. “We encourage the government to go much further.”
“We will always support reform that increases safety and agency for victim-survivors ... although we would like to see the government go further.
“Full Stop Australia is ready to work alongside government to scale up response and healing initiatives, in support of ending gender-based violence.”
Bevan welcomes the ongoing funding for the Leaving Violence Program, which helps resource women and children and supports healing and recovery as victim-survivors re-establish their independence.
She also welcomes announcements that aim to increase protections against “the rise of AI-generated deepfakes and the ease with which violent and harmful material can be accessed”.
“It is important that government act to protect young people, through robust classification and age verification technology.
“Sharing data and information across jurisdictions is a key part of managing risk, given how mobile we are as a nation,” Bevan says. “Monitoring high risk offenders must be at the forefront of this effort.”
Lehrmann defamation case costs hearing: Justice Lee criticises Ten lawyer
Amanda Meade
Justice Michael Lee has told the federal court he is concerned a lawyer for Network Ten, Justin Quill, “immediately after the judgement and without even reading the judgement” made comments critical of his decision.
In a ten-minute speech outside the federal court last month Quill was critical of the summary judgement delivered by Lee, prompting Lee to request a transcript of Quill’s comments as well as copies of articles he wrote for News Corp newspapers.
Lee has broken his silence on the matter, telling the costs hearing it was disrespectful and wrong for Quill to say that his judgement was “divorced from reality”.
Ten silk Dr Matt Collins KC is now arguing it is not relevant to the issue of costs how the network conducted itself outside court.
Collins said the statements “could not have a rational bearing upon the proper disposition of costs”.
Lee has also been critical of Ten’s final submissions, prompting Collins to say the criticism was “unfair”.
Faruqi’s lawyer says Hanson’s tweet was ‘playing the person and not the ball’
The federal court hearing Mehreen Faruqi’s case against Pauline Hanson has resumed and Faruqi’s counsel is continuing to sum up Faruqi’s case.
Faruqi is suing Hanson alleging she was racially discriminated against and vilified by Hanson, who tweeted for Farqui to “piss off back to Pakistan” in response to Faruqi critiquing colonisation on the day the Queen died.
This case has had two parts: one, the impact on Faruqi’s health and wellbeing from what she says is racist speech, and the protections she is owed under 18C and 18D under the Racial Discrimination Act; and two, which is part of Hanson’s defence, that 18C and 18D may impede on the implied right to freedom of speech.
Australia doesn’t have a bill of rights so there is no officially enshrined “freedom of speech” but the high court has previously found there is an “implied” right to freedom of speech – which pretty much amounts to we all expect to have freedom of speech, and that expectation has given us a small level of protection.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson outside the court yesterday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA
Faruqi’s counsel, Saul Holt, is now coming to that part of Hanson’s defence. He says that Hanson would need to prove that her tweet in response to Faruqi was “fair comment” and he says that she did not meet that bar. Holt:
It’s incumbent on Senator Hanson to prove that is fair comment. There are aspects of hurtful things in this tweet that by this stage of the analysis have already passed through the section 18 C hurdle, where a comment is on a matter of public interest. And it’s not good enough to say, ‘well, I was commenting on a person who had said something which was a matter of public interest’.
That’s the distinction, which is important in this context. It was playing, as we said at the outset, the person and not the ball and that distinction between abusing a person versus taking on an idea is in fact one that sits very essentially at the heart of that which is protected by section 18 C and Section 18 D.
Police view more than 500 videos from alleged bestiality offender
Detective superintendent Jayne Doherty has provided more details around the arrest of a 38-year-old man, known as “Beast Boy” online, who police will allege is one of the largest producers of online bestiality content in Australia.
Doherty said police are reviewing the electronic content that was seized, and so far investigations show the alleged bestiality has been “going on for a number of years”. She could not give an exact date, because police are still reviewing the material.
Doherty said police have viewed “in excess of 500 videos” so far across multiple devices, but his online presence suggests there is “a lot more [content] than we have so far viewed”.
Police will allege the motive was sexual gratification and financial advantage.
NSW police badge. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
Acting inspector Lachlan King from the RSPCA provided more details about the dog seized by police, which was allegedly the victim of sexual abuse by the man. King said:
The seized Jack Russel terrier cross dog, which has been named Lachie whilst in our care, was examined by our chief veterinarian on admission. Samples were taken for analysis and we can confirm that she is safe and doing well. Lachie will remain in our care under protective custody while the investigation continues.
Lehrmann lost the case when Lee found he raped Brittany Higgins on the balance of probabilities.
Ten is arguing that Lehrmann should pay Ten’s entire legal bill after he made the “deliberately wicked” decision to sue.
Justice Lee said he will consider whether to grant Ten a costs order, and if so how much; whether Wilkinson should obtain a costs order and if so what should it be; and whether a witness, Taylor Auerbach, should obtain a costs order.
In Lehrmann’s written submission he asked Lee to consider whether he should be compensated for the failure of Ten’s qualified privilege defence.
