David McBride appeal starts today
Sarah Basford Canales
David McBride’s appeal begins in the ACT supreme court this morning.
The former army lawyer is serving time in Canberra’s Alexander Maconochie Centre after he was sentenced to five years and eight months for pleading guilty to three charges in November 2023 of stealing commonwealth information and passing that to journalists at the ABC.
The material was used as the basis for a 2017 investigative series exposing alleged war crimes by Australian defence force personnel in Afghanistan, titled The Afghan Files.
McBride was given a non-parole period of 27 months and will remain in jail until at least August 2026 if his appeal is unsuccessful.
The Human Rights Law Centre, which has lobbied the Albanese government for years to drop the charges against McBride, said the case demonstrated how Australia’s whistleblowing laws were broken.
Kieran Pender, HRLC’s associate legal director, said:
The Albanese government needs to fix our laws and establish a whistleblower protection authority, to ensure that whistleblowers are protected, not punished and prosecuted.
Peter Greste, executive director of Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, said McBride’s case was a threat to vital journalism.
As long as he remains behind bars, journalists and their sources will get the message, and vital journalism will remain smothered.
Key events
Lisa Cox
No timeframe for delivery of NSW koala park
The NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe has refused to give a timeline for when the government will meet its commitment to deliver a great koala national park in the state’s north.
The Minns government has been under pressure to declare the boundaries for the promised park after scientific assessments were completed last year.
Asked at an estimates hearing when the government would announce its decision about the boundaries for the park, Sharpe would only say “soon” and would not elaborate on whether that meant within the next month or within the next six. Sharpe said:
Of course, it will be soon, but I’m not putting a time frame on it because we’ve got issues that we’re working through.
The Greens environment spokesperson Sue Higginson said her office was taking calls every day from members of the public concerned about the amount of time it was taking the government to declare the park. She said communities that were witnessing ongoing logging in native forests within its potential boundaries were particularly anxious.
Sharpe said the process of making a decision was not a simple one. But she said “no one should underestimate the commitment” the government had to getting the park done.
And yes, it’s taking longer than people like but we need to do it properly. It’s not as simple – people just wanted me to say, this is what we’re doing…we’re going to close the industry, and that’s it. It’s all over. That’s not how good government works.
Star shares suspended again as pressure mounts
Jonathan Barrett
The embattled casino operator Star Entertainment is one of eight listed companies to have trading in their shares suspended this morning, after failing to lodge financial accounts last week.
Star, which operates casinos in Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast, has been on the brink of collapse for weeks amid declining revenues, licensing headaches and major operational disruptions.
It told shareholders on Friday it was exploring “possible liquidity solutions” required to stay afloat. Its shares briefly traded on Friday after the update, closing down 15% to 11c.
Publicly-traded companies must lodge periodic financial reports to the ASX or risk having share trading suspended. They can also eventually be removed from the stock exchange.
Star, which was unable to lodge accounts because of concerns over its ability to remain solvent, is expected to enter into administration unless it can find a last-minute cash injection.
The other suspended companies tend to be very small, and rarely trade.
SES commissioner urges communities to prepare homes
The NSW SES commissioner Mike Wassing is also addressing the media.
He said agencies were working with Queensland to pre-position resources and personnel ahead of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Management personnel are pre-deployed into areas of risk and we also have a range of flood rescue capabilities, specialist communications equipment and a range of capabilities already in the local areas … This is all in addition to acknowledging the significant capacity we have through our local SES units and emergency services already in place and working with communities.
He encouraged the community to get prepared through cleaning loose items around the home, adding that “if you need to be doing some sandbagging, now is time to do it.”
Impact to NSW in coming days outlined
Steven Bernasconi said there were already warnings in place for strong winds from Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour, and abnormally high tides may begin to appear.
He said Lord Howe Island is expected to feel impacts tomorrow, with strong winds and damaging waves. The impact on the mainland would increase from Wednesday, he said.
Winds will start to be noticeable and will be becoming damaging. Waves are likely to be damaging also, and we’d expect a coastal hazard warning around this time. Tides again will be abnormally high and Wednesday is when we should start to see our rainfall increasing into the evening.
Latest updates on Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Steven Bernasconi from the Bureau of Meteorology is providing a status update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred, and said:
-
It is currently at category two, situated 410km northeast off Maroochydore and 455km northeast of Brisbane
-
It’s moving around 12km an hour, southeast, away from the Queensland
-
It is expected to slow and move west tomorrow – when there will be more certainty about its direction and location for a potential crossing
-
The timing of a crossing is “still up in the air” but is predicted to be around Thursday or Friday
-
A tropical cyclone watch for NSW will be issued later today, with gale force winds expected within the next 24 to 48 hours
-
Cyclone watches will be updated every six hours until it moves closer to the coast
He said tropical cyclones are “unusual” for NSW, the last being in 1990, and before that, 1974.
Emergency services in NSW addressing media about Tropical Cyclone Alfred
The NSW emergency services minister, Jihad Dib, is speaking to the media about Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
As we flagged earlier, the tropical cyclone is expected to cross anywhere from Bundaberg in Queensland to northern NSW on Thursday as a category 2 system, bringing up to 600mm of rain a day.
Dib said emergency services were “preparing for a nasty set of weather in the upcoming week” and were doing all they could to be “as best prepared as [they] can be”:
It’s not lost on me that the area of NSW where it will hit, potentially, will be the northern part of NSW and as we know, the Northern Rivers area suffered its own major flooding and quite a difficult situation three years ago. But we will do everything we can in working with that community in making sure our communities are well prepared, well protected and can respond to whatever comes our way. It’s really important all members of public prepare for the event.
McBride supporters gather outside ACT supreme court ahead of appeal
Supporters for whistleblower David McBride have gathered outside the ACT supreme court, ahead of his appeal.
Heatwave warning remains over WA, NT and parts of Queensland
In some other weather news, a heatwave is persisting over Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland.
In WA the warning area stretches across the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne and north interior districts, with temperatures reaching the low to mid 40s. The Bureau of Meteorology said severe heatwave conditions are expected to intensify early in the week and peak midweek.
Coral Bay is set to reach 42C from tomorrow to Thursday, and Exmouth is expected to reach 43C tomorrow.
In the Northern Territory, maximum temperatures are reaching the high to mid 40s, with conditions also set to peak midweek. Alpurrurulam could reach 45C tomorrow and Wednesday, and Timber Creek 43C tomorrow.
In Queensland, the severe heat is expected to peak earlier in the week, with temperatures also in the high to mid 40s.
Birdsville and Bedourie are forecast to reach 45C today, and Mount Isa 43C.
David McBride appeal starts today
Sarah Basford Canales
David McBride’s appeal begins in the ACT supreme court this morning.
The former army lawyer is serving time in Canberra’s Alexander Maconochie Centre after he was sentenced to five years and eight months for pleading guilty to three charges in November 2023 of stealing commonwealth information and passing that to journalists at the ABC.
The material was used as the basis for a 2017 investigative series exposing alleged war crimes by Australian defence force personnel in Afghanistan, titled The Afghan Files.
McBride was given a non-parole period of 27 months and will remain in jail until at least August 2026 if his appeal is unsuccessful.
The Human Rights Law Centre, which has lobbied the Albanese government for years to drop the charges against McBride, said the case demonstrated how Australia’s whistleblowing laws were broken.
Kieran Pender, HRLC’s associate legal director, said:
The Albanese government needs to fix our laws and establish a whistleblower protection authority, to ensure that whistleblowers are protected, not punished and prosecuted.
Peter Greste, executive director of Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, said McBride’s case was a threat to vital journalism.
As long as he remains behind bars, journalists and their sources will get the message, and vital journalism will remain smothered.
Ocean rower caught in cyclone Alfred safely rescued
A Lithuanian rower has been rescued off the Queensland coast after he was caught in a tropical cyclone’s 130km/h winds and monster waves.
AAP reports that rower Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.
HMAS Choules, a 16,000-tonne Royal Australian Navy landing ship, rescued Mockus this morning.
He is now on his way back to Australian shores after a two-day wait in the turbulent ocean waters due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.
Queensland premier says it will be matter for football codes on whether this week’s games go ahead
Let’s circle back to the Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, who also spoke with ABC News Breakfast about Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
He said the warning area was a heavily populated area and one that doesn’t usually experience cyclones:
It has happened before, though, and I know this part of the state might be not as prone to these kinds of events, but they are resilient and they’ve proven with the way that they’ve handled flooding in recent years, how well-prepared it can be.
As we flagged earlier, the tropical cyclone is expected to cross anywhere from Bundaberg in Queensland and northern NSW on Thursday as a category two system, bringing up to 600mm of rain a day.
Asked when he would make a call about whether or not a number of football games scheduled for this week would go ahead, Crisafulli said it would be a matter for the codes, and he had begun conversations with them.
I spoke with the Lions CEO yesterday. They’re looking at what that might mean for them. You know, it’s early days, they have a little bit of time to make that decision. But, look, we will give them the information as honestly and as openly and as timely as we have it, and then they’ll make that call.
Coleman asked about prospect of Australian troops in Ukraine, Five Eyes intelligence sharing
Asked if Australia should have boots on the ground in Ukraine to help with a security guarantee, David Coleman said Australia’s support was best provided through “defence, material and humanitarian aid and other forms of support”.
There isn’t a request for Australia to provide support beyond that, and I would think that the form of support that we’ve provided to date will continue to be the right form of support.
He was also asked if Australia should reconsider its intelligence sharing with Five Eyes partners, given its support of Ukraine and the US’s move to “essentially [align] itself with the views and demands of Russia on this issue”.
But Coleman said: “Absolutely not.”
The Five Eyes intelligence partnership is extremely important to Australia and has helped to underpin our security for a very long period of time.
He cautioned against “jumping to conclusions based on a press conference” and again stated that “what matters here is the substance”.
‘Premature’ to speculate on US involvement in Ukraine’s future as negotiations ongoing, Coleman says
Asked if he regards the United States as a reliable ally, David Coleman said it is “our most important ally” and “has been for many decades and will continue to be”.
That’s, of course, been underpinned by Anzus for about 70 years, and now by Aukus, which takes our relationship to the next level. So absolutely, I think the US, of course, is our most significant ally and will continue to be.
How does the US saying it won’t provide further weapon support to Ukraine show its reliability? The shadow minister said it was “premature to ascribe a particular outcome to negotiations that are ongoing”.
The United States has provided enormous support to Ukraine and has provided some of its most advanced weapons systems to Ukraine – without which Ukraine would not have been able to do such a tremendous job as it has in fighting back against Russia.
We have to focus on the actual outcome, not on the steps along the way, so to speak. And I think that we obviously want to see the US involved in that outcome, we want to see the US with a strong role in the future of Ukraine – but it’s premature to speculate on that, as further negotiations continue.
Trump-Zelenskyy presser ‘colourful’ but what matters is ‘substance’ of meeting, Coleman says
The shadow foreign minister, David Coleman, has also weighed in on that explosive clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Speaking to ABC RN earlier, he described the press conference as “colourful” but said what matters is the “substance” – and ensuring any peace agreement in Ukraine “respects sovereignty, respects its security, and frankly, honours the sacrifices that the people of Ukraine have made.”
They have fought courageously against a murderous dictator in Putin, and it is crucial that any peace respects them, respects their sovereignty. And in that context, it was pleasing to see the announcements coming out of London this morning, in terms of European support for Ukraine …
There will always be different ups and downs in negotiations and different discussions, but what matters is the outcome.
Asked whether it did not matter how Zelenskyy was treated, Coleman reiterated that “what really matters is securing a peace that both ends the killing of innocent Ukrainians and respects the sovereignty of Ukraine in the future”.
Butler on government pledge to fund 50 more urgent care clinincs
Mark Butler was also asked about the government’s commitment to fund 50 more urgent care clinics, and whether these will actually take the pressure off hospitals, and said:
We know from the 87 already operating, they are working in two really important ways.
This was by “giving patients access to high-quality urgent care in their own community when they need it, seven days a week, [at] extended hours and completely free of charge”. But also by relieving pressure on the hospital from non-urgent presentations, which “account for about half of all emergency department presentations”.
Getting into the nitty-gritty of the policy while speaking on ABC RN, Butler was also asked if he was confident the clinics are in the places of greatest need, rather than greatest political need? He responded: “Absolutely.”
These are subject to an evaluation that I promised at the last election, that is ongoing and will deliver a report to government in 2026. I’m very confident about these locations, the ones that are operating already are delivering an incredible service.
And on the Today Show, Butler said the government would be rolling the clinics out “over the course of the next financial year if we’re elected”.
Butler backs Ukraine and says Australia providing ‘whatever assistance we can’
The health minister, Mark Butler, has been making the rounds on breakfast television this morning.
Asked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and whether Australia would play any role with European nations in putting forward a ceasefire proposal to the US, he told ABC News Breakfast:
Australia, right through this awful war and the more than three years since Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion, has been working very closely with allies in Europe and working directly with the government in Ukraine to ensure that whatever assistance we can provide to the Ukrainian people, we are providing it.
We’ve provided an enormous amount by comparison to other countries not in the European region. And the prime minister said again yesterday we are forthrightly alongside the Ukrainian people’s very courageous resistance against this awful invasion.
Queensland premier says authorities doing ‘everything we can’ to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Alfred
The Queensland premier David Crisafulli has spoken with the Today Show amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred (see our earlier post). He said it had intensified overnight, with the warning area a “heavily populated area”.
I think it’s just important that we let Queenslanders know that we’re doing everything we can to prepare … We’re doing things like pre-positioning generators on some of those island communities, we’re talking with the telco providers to make sure that there’s bandwidth there … But we need individuals to do the same, and we need people to take precautions around your home.
Sarah Scully, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, provided an update on the tropical cyclone to ABC News Breakfast earlier.
At this stage, our most likely track or scenario is for a coastal crossing somewhere between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast overnight Thursday into Friday morning as either a category one or a category two system.
She said that regardless of the category at the time of crossing, “there’s going to be big impacts”.
There’s the potential for 300-400mm each day with the passage of the system, and even into the weekend – but we can’t rule out daily rainfall totals of 600mm.
Housing downturn over as rate cut boosts sentiment
Australia’s short-lived housing downturn is already over, AAP reports, with the shallow three-month dip almost wiped out by a single month of growth.
Property values rose 0.3% across the country in February, bringing prices back near record highs following a 0.4% drop over the previous three months, CoreLogic’s monthly Home Value Index has shown.
CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said he wasn’t expecting prices to pick up again so soon, with interest rates still well above historical averages and price-to-income ratios near record highs.
He reckons the market is unlikely to return to the same astronomical levels of growth seen in the last few years, with economists predicting interest rates to remain elevated for a while yet.
A 0.6% pickup in rents was down from the 0.9% rise the year previously, with the broader trend showing the rental market continued to ease.
Lawless said affordability challenges would persist as long as supply remained constrained and neither major party’s election promises looked likely to make much of a difference.
Regardless of any sort of initiatives aimed at getting more supply into the marketplace, it’s going to be a slow burn. One of the biggest challenges of getting more supply into the market comes back to availability of trades.
That can’t be fixed anytime soon, especially with the competition against big infrastructure. Then you’ve also got the ongoing feasibility challenges of getting supply into the marketplace, especially medium-to-high density supply.
