NSW to hold inquiry into ‘harmful’ pornography
Catie McLeod
New South Wales will become the first state in the country to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of “harmful” pornography as part of the government’s bid to address domestic violence.
The Minns government announced the inquiry today after what it said was growing community concern about the exposure of children to violence and extreme pornography.
The attorney general, Michael Daley, has requested a parliamentary committee examine impacts of harmful pornography – including pornography that is violent and misogynistic – on mental, emotional and physical health.
The inquiry will also report on the production and dissemination of deepfake or AI-generated pornography, the effects on minority groups, and the effectiveness of current restrictions on access to pornography and where they should be changed.
The acting minister for the prevention of domestic violence, Rose Jackson, said:
We must address the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault from every angle, and importantly that includes the normalisation of misogyny and violence online. The ease at which children and young people are able to access this content is extremely concerning.
Key events
Honorary consul addresses direction for Australians to leave Lebanon
The honorary consul to Lebanon in Tasmania, Faddy Zouky, spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning, following news that Australians have been asked to leave Lebanon.
Foreign minister Penny Wong had warned there is a “real risk that the conflict in the region escalates seriously” and the security situation could deteriorate quickly and with little notice.
Zouky said he was in Lebanon two weeks ago and “a lot of Australians were there”, and that loved ones here in Australia “are concerned”.
Some are, of course, adhering [with directions to leave]. You’ll see some of the airports getting busier and people departing. But there are some people who remain, and the reason being, they’re just used to the conflict – they were born into it, and it’s nothing new to them.
Here’s what you missed overnight from the Olympics, thanks to our sports editor Mike Hytner in Paris:
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has congratulated the 4×200 relay champions Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Bri Throssell and Ariarne Titmus on social media earlier this morning:
Gold! Congratulations to our 4x200m freestyle Olympic champions Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus 🥇🇦🇺🏊♀️ pic.twitter.com/4lLKW5Mzki
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) August 1, 2024
Daniel Hurst
Richard Boyle crowdfund hits target in less than eight hours
A crowdfunding campaign to help the former tax office employee Richard Boyle pay for a high court appeal has hit its $23,000 target in less than eight hours, according to his supporters.
Boyle accused the Australian Taxation Office of aggressively pursuing debts from taxpayers and had fought to be protected from prosecution under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, but this argument was rejected by South Australia’s district court in March 2023. An appeal court also rejected this argument in June 2024, prompting Boyle to pursue an appeal to the high court.
The charges against Boyle include allegations he taped taping private conversations without consent and took photos of taxpayer information.
Rex Patrick, a former senator who founded the Whistleblower Justice Fund, said the federal government had “totally underestimated the support for Richard Boyle in the community”. Patrick said Boyle’s “last hope is for the high court to re-interpret our current whistleblower protection laws with greater regard to the objects of the legislation as set by the parliament”.
Karen Middleton
Four-day Garma festival to begin today
Continuing from our last post: Prime minister Anthony Albanese will join new minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy and her retiring predecessor, Linda Burney, for the opening of the four-day Garma festival today.
Reflection on the referendum result and pathways to change will feature heavily in the festival’s program, in the wake of the latest Productivity Commission findings on Closing the Gap targets, which showed a lack of progress in key socio-economic determinants.
Megan Davis hailed the determination of members of the Uluru Youth Dialogue who gathered on Kabi Kabi land on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast last weekend to analyse the result and consider next steps.
Uluru Youth Dialogue co-chair and Wiradjuri woman Bridget Cama said the 2024 youth summit had been a time of “deep reflection” on last year’s vote.
The path to meaningful constitutional recognition for First Nations People has been long, and now that path has become a little longer. We wanted to gather as youth again to not only yarn and grieve the result together in person, but to learn from the last couple of years and refocus our attention on what’s next.
Recognition and representation still ‘urgent’ as Garma begins
Karen Middleton
One of the co-chairs of the Uluru Dialogues that led to last year’s referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament has declared the need for First Nations recognition and representation to be as urgent as it ever was, as the first annual Garma festival begins in north-east Arnhem Land since the bid to amend the constitution failed
As hundreds gathered for the festival at Gulkula on the Gove peninsula, University of New South Wales constitutional law professor and Cobble Cobble woman Megan Davis said data from the referendum showed that most Indigenous Australians had voted “yes” for a constitutionally enshrined voice.
More and more Australians are saying the referendum was a missed opportunity. Our research shows that many Australians voted ‘no’ because they thought First Nations people didn’t want this change. The polling results show that the majority did. We must move forward on fact … not opinions. The need for First Nations recognition and representation was urgent then, and it’s urgent now.
Amy Remeikis
Greens call on new housing minister to negotiate on shared equity scheme
Sticking with the housing theme, Daniel Hurst has introduced with Liberal senator Andrew Bragg’s PBO research, the Greens have wasted no time in challenging new housing minister Clare O’Neil to return to the negotiating table.
The Coalition said no to working with the government to pass its shared equity scheme, help to buy and the build-to-rent legislation, leaving the Greens and crossbench the only option to passing the housing bills.
Negotiations stalled under former minister Julie Collins, with the Greens starting demands of tax reform including a phase out of negative gearing and a coordinated national phase in of a two-year rent freeze a bridge too far for the government.
The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, has written to O’Neil, inviting her to speak with them over the government’s legislation – as long as she promised to come in good faith. He said:
Minister, your appointment in the middle of this crisis represents a historic opportunity to take bold action.
There is broad popular support for phasing out tax handouts for investors, rent caps, and mass investment in public housing. I urge you to seize this opportunity to reopen negotiations with the Greens and work towards solutions that will give some hope to the millions doing it tough.
Coalition trumpets super-for-housing savings but fine print is more complicated
Daniel Hurst
The Coalition is promoting its super-for-housing policy with new figures suggesting it could reduce federal government spending on rent assistance by $1.8bn over 10 years.
But the parliamentary budget office (PBO) – which prepared the analysis to Coalition specifications – cautioned that the policy was “unlikely to benefit a large number of individuals” on commonwealth rent assistance and “the precise number of affected persons is subject to a high level of uncertainty”.
The Coalition asked the PBO to analyse its policy of allowing individuals to withdraw up to $50,000 from their superannuation (up to a maximum 40% of their superannuation balance) to purchase their first home.
It specifically asked the PBO to quantify the savings to commonwealth rent assistance, focusing on people aged 35 to 45, but not the impact on the federal budget overall. The PBO was asked to “assume that 20% of renters would purchase a home due to the scheme”.
The PBO responded that for this cohort of individuals aged 35 to 45, the proposal was expected to reduce the cost of commonwealth rent assistance by $689m over the four-year budget period from 2024-25. The total expected savings generated from reduced rent assistance over the decade to 2034-35 would be $1.81bn.
But the PBO pointed out that individuals receiving commonwealth rent assistance “typically have low superannuation balances and therefore uptake from this cohort is expected to be limited”. It also warned:
The proposed policy would have additional implications for government taxation revenue, particularly for superannuation tax, which were not included in this analysis.
The Coalition’s shadow assistant minister for home ownership, Andrew Bragg, said the PBO data he commissioned “shows taxpayers are now paying a heavy price for Labor’s busted housing policies”.
Bragg alleged that Labor’s housing policy was “based around a ‘rent forever’ model where super funds and foreign fund managers are encouraged to construct ‘build to rent’ houses”.
NSW to hold inquiry into ‘harmful’ pornography
Catie McLeod
New South Wales will become the first state in the country to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of “harmful” pornography as part of the government’s bid to address domestic violence.
The Minns government announced the inquiry today after what it said was growing community concern about the exposure of children to violence and extreme pornography.
The attorney general, Michael Daley, has requested a parliamentary committee examine impacts of harmful pornography – including pornography that is violent and misogynistic – on mental, emotional and physical health.
The inquiry will also report on the production and dissemination of deepfake or AI-generated pornography, the effects on minority groups, and the effectiveness of current restrictions on access to pornography and where they should be changed.
The acting minister for the prevention of domestic violence, Rose Jackson, said:
We must address the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault from every angle, and importantly that includes the normalisation of misogyny and violence online. The ease at which children and young people are able to access this content is extremely concerning.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and welcome back to the Australia news live blog this Friday – I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
As AAP reports, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds and her former staffer Brittany Higgins are set to return to court today. The former defence minister is suing Higgins over a series of social media posts she says damaged her reputation. Mediation has failed to resolve the case, which is listed in the Western Australian supreme court today for opening submissions. It’s set down for four-to-five weeks and the witnesses could include former prime minister Scott Morrison.
The Coalition is promoting its super-for-housing policy today, but the parliamentary budget office has cautioned the policy was “unlikely to benefit a large number of individuals” on commonwealth rent assistance and “the precise number of affected persons is subject to a high level of uncertainty”. We’ll bring you the full analysis from Daniel Hurst shortly.
In New South Wales, the state will become the first in the country to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of “harmful” pornography as part of the government’s bid to address domestic violence. Catie McLeod will bring us more details in a moment.
As always, you can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or email, emily.wind@theguardian.com. with any thoughts, tips or questions. Let’s get started.