Australian news and politics live: Wells blames ‘process’ for not contacting Triple-0 outage victims’ families

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Judges grapple with the risk of a second Opera House protest
Fantasy or fact? Organisers of a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel march to the Sydney Opera House Sunday — one likely to attract global coverage — assured three of the State’s top judges on Wednesday the protest would be little more than a weekend walk in the park.
A senior police officer, tasked with convincing the court to ban the event, which is already advertised online, did not try to hide his cynicism. “It has disaster written all over it if you ask me,” Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna told the NSW Court of Appeal.
The court must balance the threat to public safety with the right to protest, which the police insist they are dedicated to protecting — as long as no lives are placed at risk.
Through detailed questions put to Mr McKenna by the protesters’ barrister, Felicity Graham, the proposed structure of the protest emerged. An expected 40,000 people would gather in Hyde Park on the edge of central Sydney. Guided by volunteer marshals, they would be ushered along Macquarie St, past Parliament House, in groups of about 5000 every ten minutes.
On reaching the Opera House’s granite-lined forecourt, they would not stop, according to the lawyer, Ms Graham. Structural engineers have said the area should not support more than 6000 people, which is why the protesters will, theoretically, walk straight out of there with barely a pause to call out “Free Palestine!”
Abbott says UK should send migrants back on ‘quiet, moonless night’
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has suggested the United Kingdom should pick up migrants trying to cross the Channel and send them back on a “quiet and moonless night”.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight at a UK Conservative Party conference, Mr Abbott was asked how the UK could deter small boat crossings.
“You could certainly pick up people in the English Channel, hold them on some kind of a mothership and send them back to the land from which they’ve come on some quiet and moonless night,” the ex-Liberal PM said.
“I think there are all sorts of things that a determined government could do to absolutely stop these boats once and for all. You’ve got to be able to implement policy.”
Mr Abbott had coined the term “stop the boats” during his successful 2013 election campaign and tackled illegal boat arrivals during his time in the nation’s top job.
Also asked if the Tory party could “turn it around” amid an electoral threat from Reform UK, Mr Abbott answered “absolutely” and described the mood at the conference as “very positive”.
“I think that the conservatives now have sufficient, strong, tough, clear policy to create a very clear contrast with a deeply underwhelming government,” he said.
Wells defends not contacting Triple-0 outage victims’ families
Communications Minister Anika Wells has been forced to defend her decision not to reach out to families of victims whose deaths have been linked to the Triple-0 outage, blaming “process”.
“With respect to the more catastrophic outage that affected 631 calls and potentially with links to three deaths, potentially four deaths, as we found out on Saturday, I inquired as to correct process about dealing with families in this situation,” Ms Wells said on Wednesday.
“I was advised that emergency services is the correct and proper agency we use to reach out, so that’s what happened.
Ms Wells said she spoke with the WA and SA premiers after the outage, as well as the NT Chief Minister.
“Of course, I would absolutely meet with affected families if that’s what they wished. I am respecting their space,” she said during Question Time.
“There are, of course, many sensitivities here and I’m not going to make their lives harder by politicising their grief in this place as you have now done two days in a row.”
Sydney Opera House pro-Palestine protest a ‘disaster’ risk
Police are sceptical that an estimated 40,000 people rallying for Palestine at the iconic Sydney Opera House can be kept safe.
The NSW Court of Appeal on Wednesday heard a last-minute police challenge to the Palestine Action Group rally on Sunday, planned to start in Sydney’s city centre and finish under the sails of the harbour-side Australian landmark.
Organisers initially suggested 10,000 people would attend before telling the hearing they now expected 40,000.
“If you’re telling me 40,000 - and I don’t think you can say it will be only 40,000,” Assistant Police Commissioner Peter McKenna said under questioning from the organisers’ barrister.
“But if you can tell me 40,000 - trying to move them into that area, that cul-de-sac, that peninsula, then I have significant concerns about that.
“It has disaster written all over it.”
Australia set to recognise Iran's military as terror organisation
Australia is introducing the means to target nations trying to sow community discord, as the government cracks down on state-sponsored terror.
The action follows allegations by spy agency ASIO that Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guard Corps orchestrated the firebombing of Jewish sites in Sydney and Melbourne in 2024, prompting the expulsion of Tehran’s ambassador.
Labor promised to list the guard as a terror organisation in response to the attacks, once it had legal powers in place, and ejected Iran’s ambassador.
The government has now introduced legislation to parliament that will allow groups backed by foreign governments to be designated state sponsors of terror.
Labor moving to pass bill on stronger Triple-0 powers
The Government’s legislation to give stronger powers to the Triple-0 custodian to demand information from telcos and recommend improvements to the system has passed the lower house.
But a bid from the Opposition to speed up that reporting and improvement timeframe failed, as did a bid to make the custodian’s reports public.
Ms McIntosh said Australians should be dismayed by the lack of transparency.
The bill can’t become law until the end of the month because the Senate isn’t sitting this week.
‘Nobody could open an email?’ Outrage over fatal Optus outage
Shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh has labelled the series of errors around Optus’ notification of the deadly Triple-0 outage being sent to the wrong email address “a disgrace”.
Emails released to Senate estimates show Optus sent its initial notice to a departmental email address and to someone in the minister’s office on Thursday, September 18, but Minister Anika Wells told Parliament on Tuesday neither she nor her office found out until the Friday.
“You’ve got the department being advised, you’ve got ACMA the regulator being advised, and you’ve got the minister’s office being advised. Yet nobody could open an email and action it,” Ms McIntosh told reporters.
“They didn’t get three email addresses wrong. So what went on? Why couldn’t anyone open this email and act on it?”
WATCH: Nat Barr takes on Albanese Government over ISIS brides
Before the Department of Home Affairs confirmed that ISIS brides were back on Australian spoil, Sunrise Host Nat Barr had taken on Housing Minister Clare O’Neil over the return to Australia, after Foreign Minister Penny Wong was accused of a “cover-up” in Senate Estimates.
News broke last week that six Australian women, all partners of members of the terrorist group Islamic State, had reportedly returned to the country after being smuggled out of northern Syria.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had earlier said reports his government was facilitating the return of ISIS brides were not accurate — a line his Government has maintained.
ISIS brides are back on Australian soil
Home Affairs has confirmed that six people linked to ISIS fighters have returned to Australia from Syria after Foreign Minister Penny Wong dodged questions on the security matter yesterday.
Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster has told a Senate Estimates hearing on Wednesday that six individuals — two women and four children — returned on September 26.
The women, known as “ISIS brides”, had returned to Australia after smuggling themselves and their children out of Syria following the Islamist group’s collapse.
Ms Foster said it had been “personally arranged travel” that Home Affairs didn’t play a role in coordinating and failed to answer questions about the government’s monitoring and management of the cohort.
Last month, Mr Albanese told Question Time that a media report about a top-secret operation to return them before Christmas was inaccurate.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has accused the Albanese Government of a “cover-up”.
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