Only four of those spears remain and they have been kept at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge in the UK since the early 20th century.
The spears were handed back to their owners, the Aboriginal community of La Perouse, during a ceremony at Trinity College at Cambridge on Tuesday.
The people who took the spears back included direct descendants of the Gweagal people who crafted them.
Noeleen Timbery, the chairperson of the local La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council said the Gweagal spears were an important connection to their people’s past, traditions, cultural practices and ancestors.
Our Elders have worked for many years to see their ownership transferred to the traditional owners of Botany Bay.
The spears were ultimately set to be displayed at a visitor centre at Kurnell in Botany Bay, known as Kamay in the local Indigenous language.
Assistant treasurer adds to Senator Babet backlash, accusing him of ‘reprehensible’ behaviour by sharing Wakeley church stabbing video
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has accused UAP senator Ralph Babet of “reprehensible” behaviour after he posted video of the Wakeley church stabbing on his social media platforms.
Babet, a Victorian senator, has been branded as “foolish” by the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young, who called his actions a “pathetic stunt”. As we reported earlier, Babet tweeted video of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel being stabbed on a livestream – the video that X has been ordered to take down by the eSafety Commission, and which is at the centre of an ongoing federal court case.
Babet posted alongside the video:
To the Australian government and the eSafety commissioner go fuck yourselves.
Earlier, communications minister Michelle Rowland called it “appalling behaviour”.
In an interview with ABC TV on Tuesday afternoon, Jones claimed Babet had “let himself down” with the social media activity.
Jones said:
Putting his own political thoughts and interest ahead of the concerns and feelings and anguish and trauma that the victims, the witnesses and the families are going through after these horrific events over the last week.
I think the senator should reflect upon his own behaviour. He is out of touch of where mainstream Australia is at.
Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones has accused UAP senator Ralph Babet of ‘putting his own political thoughts and interest’ before victims and their families. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
In a statement, Hanson-Young claimed Babet was “an attention seeker suffering from relevance deprivation”. She said:
He has no respect for the victims of violence and clearly no care for law enforcement. His pathetic stunt is foolish, and irresponsible. The public will rightly ask if he’s up for the job of being a responsible member of parliament.
Babet has further tweeted: “I will not remove it [the video].”
The local share market has finished higher for a second day as gains by the financial and tech sectors outweighed a big sell-off among goldminers, and smaller losses for coalminers and uranium companies, AAP has reported.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday finished 34.3 points higher at 7,683.5, a gain of 0.45%, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 35.9 points, or 0.45%, to 7,937.9.
The Australian dollar was buying 64.53 US cents, from 64.33 US cents at Monday’s ASX close.
Share prices on display. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images
Double demerit points from Wednesday to Sunday in NSW and ACT
Motorists in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory will face double demerit points from tomorrow until Sunday, due to the Anzac Day public holiday on Thursday and looming end of the school holiday period.
Amid a rising road toll, authorities are keen to stop any would be drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel over the busy period.
The double demerit window comes amid a peculiar story out of Belgium, where a man was acquitted of drunk-driving because he has auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), an extremely rare condition whereby the body produces alcohol, his lawyer has said.
Anse Ghesquiere said on Monday that in “another unfortunate coincidence” her client worked at a brewery, but three doctors who independently examined him had confirmed he had ABS.
Belgian media said in the verdict the judge emphasised that the defendant, who was not named in line with local judicial custom, did not experience symptoms of intoxication.
NT government deal to buy fracked gas from Beetaloo basin is ‘insult to Traditional Owners’, GetUp says
GetUp has lashed the Northern Territory government for signing a major deal to buy fracked gas from the Beetaloo basin, south of Katherine.
On Tuesday, the NT chief minister, Eva Lawler, said the government was “backing the growth of the territory’s onshore gas industry” and had signed a nine-year gas sales agreement with the US company Tamboran Resources.
GetUp’s chief campaigns officer, Amy Gordon said the deal was “an insult to Traditional Owners across the Northern Territory who have said no to fracking for over a decade”.
Gordon said:
Tamboran has shown again and again that they cannot be trusted to protect water, which is life for remote First Nations communities. By committing to buying fracked gas before they’ve given Tamboran environmental approval, the NT Government has proven they cannot be trusted to protect water.
Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek must use her new national water trigger powers to protect water from fracking. This means calling in Tamboran and Empire Energy’s fracking proposals for rigorous national assessment over their significant risk to water.
X has until tonight to comply with blocking video of alleged stabbing attack at Wakeley church globally, eSafety commissioner says
The office of the eSafety commissioner has said X will be needing to comply with the court’s order that the video of alleged stabbing attack at the Wakeley church last week be hidden globally by tonight - 24 hours after the court issued its interim injunction.
As of Tuesday afternoon, it is unclear whether X has complied with the order - it had already blocked access to the tweets flagged by eSafety in Australia pending a legal challenge.
X has not responded to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for eSafety said the regulator expects a further hearing will take place “in the coming days” to determine whether to extend the injunction - due to expire at 5pm AEST on Wednesday - before a final hearing.
The office of the eSafety commissioner said it will seek a permanent injunction and civil penalties against X. Photograph: Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images
The spokesperson said eSafety will seek a permanent injunction and civil penalties against X.
No hearing dates have yet been listed.
The spokesperson acknowledged it was not possible to remove all content of the attack:
While it may be difficult to eradicate damaging content from the internet entirely, particularly as users continue to repost it, eSafety requires platforms to do everything practical and reasonable to minimise the harm it may cause to Australians and the Australian community.
Hogan claimed that during a radio interview last year, trade minister Don Farrell said he was “very confident” remaining bans on rock lobster and seven beef processors would be removed by Christmas.
We are now near the end of April and these trade bans remain in place.
We are glad action has been taken on tariffs imposed on Australian wine and barley, however the government must ensure China removes all trade bans, as a matter of priority.
Shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
For those who have been following along with the Elon Musk vs Australian online safety regulator saga, my colleague Josh Taylor has published this fantastic explainer with everything you need to know:
Busy street in Brisbane to be shut down for fatal bus crash re-enactment
A bus crash that killed an 18-year-old woman will be re-enacted in Brisbane’s CBD to investigate the cause, AAP reports.
Edward Street will be shut down on Sunday to carry out the bus crash re-enactment and help understand exactly what transpired, despite extensive video and CCTV footage being reviewed.
Tia Cameron died after a bus mounted a kerb and pinned her against a wall in Brisbane’s city centre during peak hour on 8 March. Lord mayor Adrian Schrinner told ABC Radio the bus had been thoroughly tested and investigations so far determined there was no mechanical fault.
It was not a mechanical failure, there was no technical failure.
Following the accident, Transport for Brisbane confirmed the bus’s brakes had been tested a month before the incident.
Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner. Photograph: Darren England/AAP
The re-enactment may be re-traumatising for loved ones of Cameron but it is important in order to gain answers, Schrinner said:
Obviously it opens this wound for the community but we have to get to the bottom of it. Tia’s family deserves to know what happened and there’s justice that’s required.
Number of Australians in prison on the rise, according to new ABS data
Rafqa Touma
Australian prisoners increased by 3% from 30 June 2022 to 30 June 2023 – up 1,338 to 41,929, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Here are some key figures:
Female prisoners increased by 6% to 3,168. The biggest changes, by most serious offence, were acts intended to cause injury up by 13% (94), robbery/extortion up by 30% (52), and illicit drug offences down by 11% (67).
Male prisoners increased at half the rate, by 3%, taking their count to 38,757. Acts intended to cause injury were up 6% (624), sexual assault and related offences were up 6% (375), unlawful entry with intent was up 8% (233), while illicit drug offences were down 5% (233).
36.2 was the median age for all prisoners, as of 30 June 2023. Around four in every five prisoners were born in Australia. Of prisoners born overseas, New Zealand, Vietnam and the United Kingdom were the most common countries of birth.
After accounting for population growth, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rate increased by 5% (from 2,330 to 2,442 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults). At 30 June 2023, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners accounted for 33% of all prisoners.
Cell corridors at the Borallon correctional centre in Brisbane. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
The total amount of prisoners increased in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory, but decreased in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
Government restrictions implemented due to Covid-19 from 2020 to 2022 “may be continuing to have an impact on criminal activity and the justice system,” as put in the ABS findings.
Victorian anti-corruption watchdog found police used OC spray without verbal warning or care afterwards
The Victorian anti-corruption watchdog has found the state’s police officers used OC spray without providing a verbal warning and without providing care afterwards to those affected.
Oleoresin capsicum aerosols, also commonly known as pepper or capsicum spray, can cause temporary blindness or a burning sensation when sprayed in someone’s eyes.
The independent broad-based anti-corruption commission (Ibac) released a “thematic review” today which outlined its assessment of 15 investigations conducted by Victoria police involving the use of OC spray between January 2020 and March 2022.
It said it examined police interactions involving OC spray, the standard of aftercare provided following its use and the quality of internal Victoria police investigations into the use of the spray.
There were issues with all 15 investigations and nine were not of the expected standard, Ibac found, with these investigations “not rigorous”. It found Victoria police did not impose serious disciplinary action when allegations of misuse were substantiated. Ibac said:
The reviews indicated that some Victoria Police officers consider OC spray to be a low-level use of force, despite the advice in the Victoria police manual that says it should only be used where there are reasonable grounds to believe it is necessary and proportionate. The manual contains clear instructions that the spray should not be used when a person is only passively resisting.
It found that in many cases the decisions and actions of police escalated incidents or increased the risk to those involved, and in some cases police did not provide a verbal warning before using OC spray where it was possible to do so.
Human rights were not considered in some cases, and police did not consider the potential physical and psychological harm caused by OC spray nor offer proper aftercare, Ibac found.
It made recommendations including regular refresher training, updating its policies, and developing a guide for administering OC spray aftercare.
PM shares first images from Kokoda Track as he embarks on two-day walk
The prime minister has shared his first photos from the Kokoda track, which he will be walking over two days alongside Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape.
Anthony Albanese said:
We can walk the Kokoda track today in freedom because of those who fought to keep it free. The bravery of those who made the ultimate sacrifice here lives in our nation’s memory.
Australians, Papuans and New Guineans, fought alongside one another across this landscape. Together, we honour them.
We can walk the Kokoda Track today in freedom because of those who fought to keep it free.
The bravery of those who made the ultimate sacrifice here lives in our nation’s memory. pic.twitter.com/NF1ZUzEGL6
As we reported earlier, Albanese will walk the trail for two days – having started this morning – along with Marape. The walk will culminate with a dawn service for Anzac Day on Thursday.
Rowland accuses UAP senator of ‘appalling behaviour’ after he reposted Wakeley church stabbing video
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has accused the UAP senator Ralph Babet of “appalling behaviour” after he posted video of the Wakeley church stabbing in a tweet telling the government and eSafety commissioner to “go fuck yourselves.”
Babet, elected under Clive Palmer’s party banner at the 2022 election, has been a longtime vocal fan of X boss Elon Musk. This morning the Victorian senator tweeted the video of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel being stabbed on a livestream – a video that X has been ordered to take down by the eSafety commission and which is at the centre of an ongoing federal court case.
“To the Australian government and the eSafety commissioner go fuck yourselves,” Babet posted alongside the video.
Minutes ago, he posted the video clip again, included inside a 6-minute video monologue criticising the government’s response to the stabbing. Babet said:
This opinion piece contains the video that the Australian government has gone to the federal court to have removed. I WILL NOT REMOVE IT. Without free speech our nation will fall. The Liberal party, The Labor party and the eSafety commissioner are a threat to democracy.
UAP senator Ralph Babet. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
The eSafety Commission has been contacted for comment. But in a statement to Guardian Australia, Rowland slammed Babet’s response:
The Albanese government supports efforts by the eSafety commissioner to have this content removed from digital platforms in Australia. This is appalling behaviour by a serving senator and he needs to explain why he’s sharing this harmful content.
