The prime minister said he has spoken with Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, to “extend Australia’s deepest condolences” after the deadly flash floods.
In a post on social media, Albanese said Australia “stands by Nepal” and is continuing to provide humanitarian aid “where it’s needed most”.
double quotation markThe loss of life and destruction is devastating, and we will keep doing everything we can to find the Australians still unaccounted for.
Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those Australians who are still missing.
The government said 36 Australians remain missing after two more people were safely located on Friday.
Read more:
Updated at 02.23 EDT
Key events
Pocock says skilled migrants should be ‘No 1 priority’ as AI boom and housing sector face staff shortages
Senator David Pocock says skilled migrants should be the “No 1 priority” as new data shows Australia is falling short of the workers needed to power both the nation’s AI boom and housing targets.
This week, the Powering Skills Organisation, a government-established jobs and skills body, warned that Australia needs 72,000 more electricians and related tradespeople by 2030 to meet project demand.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Pocock said:
double quotation markI don’t understand why Jobs and Skills Australia doesn’t have them as the No 1 priority. When we look at the migration figures, how can we have a shortage of something so critical as tradies to build the houses we desperately need?
This is one of my huge frustrations about this immigration debate and the population debate. We have both sides of politics arguing over the number, how big it should be, what it shouldn’t be … we have no plan. Surely, that’s the starting point.
Updated at 03.06 EDT
Pocock warns Australia risks US-style AI datacentre backlash without long-term return
Independent senator David Pocock has warned Australia risks facing similar social licence issues over AI datacentres as the United States unless it puts in place “some sort of mechanism to get a long-term return”.
The comments come after the federal defence minister, Richard Marles, and industry and innovation minister, Andrew Charlton, met with major US AI companies during a trip to meet their American counterparts.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Pocock said:
double quotation markIn the US they are facing massive issues when it comes to social licence.
I’m still concerned the government isn’t answering the bigger question: what’s the long-term benefit of hosting these datacentres here? It seems to me these big multinational tech companies are expert at minimising their taxable income here in Australia, paying very little tax, and yet we’ll be hosting this supposedly gamechanging infrastructure.
So, I don’t understand why we aren’t putting in place some sort of mechanism to get a long-term return.
Independent senator David Pocock. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 03.04 EDT
Time running out to keep housing developer afloat
A deadline to secure funding to keep embattled housing developer Bathla Group afloat has been pushed out to Monday as creditors absorb a breakdown of the group’s $3.4bn debt, AAP reports.
Insolvency advisory Teneo has been scrambling to secure short-term funding for Bathla since it entered voluntary administration in late August.
A creditors’ meeting on Friday was presented details of the company’s debt picture.
Teneo will continue negotiations with lenders over the weekend to try to secure funding before a staff meeting on Monday to inform Bathla employees if a short-term package has been agreed.
Money to cover payroll had been secured through refunds of bonds held by entities such as Sydney Water, a source close to the negotiations told AAP on Friday.
“It’s a very volatile situation because there’s no money and time is running out,” said the source, who asked not to be named for commercial privacy reasons.
The worst-case scenario if no funding came through was for building operations to shut down, they said.
Figures presented to creditors showed Bathla’s total debt at $3.4bn, including $3.08bn to secured lenders, $130m to unsecured lenders, $145m to the tax office and $4m to employees.
Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Read more:
Updated at 02.40 EDT
Cyclist Rohan Dennis seeks new judge for driving breach
Former Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis has faced court after pleading guilty to driving while suspended, appearing before the same judge who warned him he would be jailed if he breached the ban, AAP reports.
Lawyers for Dennis, 36, told the Adelaide district court on Friday that they intended to lodge an application seeking the recusal of Judge Ian Press from hearing the case.
Former Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis (right) arrives at the SA district court in Adelaide on Friday. Photograph: Abe Maddison/AAP
Dennis was given a suspended 17-month jail term and banned from driving for five years in 2025 after pleading guilty to a charge over the events leading up to the death of his Olympian wife, Melissa Hoskins.
Hoskins, 32, was struck by her husband’s vehicle near their home at Medindie, in Adelaide’s inner north, on 30 December 2023.
He intended to apply for a recusal of Press, Dennis’s lawyer Craig Caldicott said.
Outside court, Caldicott declined to say whether the recusal application was connected to Press’s assertion that Dennis would be jailed for driving while disqualified.
double quotation mark“It’s appropriate in the circumstances to seek a recusal in this matter,” he said.
Asked what was wrong with this judge, he said:
double quotation markThere’s nothing wrong with this judge, he’s a very good judge.
He accepted Dennis could go to jail. He said:
double quotation markThere’s always a possibility on any matter, you should be well aware that driving while disqualified, he could go to jail.
Updated at 02.22 EDT
Total fire ban issued for greater Sydney region on Saturday
A total fire ban will be in place for the greater Sydney region after authorities issued an extreme fire danger forecast for Saturday 5 September.
Elevated fire dangers come as the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecast unseasonably warm conditions and a potential top of 31C.
The BoM has also issued a severe weather warning for Saturday and anticipates strong winds for large parts of the state.
NSW rural fire services have urged residents to “take action now. Know your fire risk and what you will do if fire threatens.”
Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAPShare
Updated at 02.23 EDT
Albanese extends condolences to Nepal PM
The prime minister said he has spoken with Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, to “extend Australia’s deepest condolences” after the deadly flash floods.
In a post on social media, Albanese said Australia “stands by Nepal” and is continuing to provide humanitarian aid “where it’s needed most”.
double quotation markThe loss of life and destruction is devastating, and we will keep doing everything we can to find the Australians still unaccounted for.
Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those Australians who are still missing.
The government said 36 Australians remain missing after two more people were safely located on Friday.
Read more:
Updated at 02.23 EDT
Five people hospitalised after forklift fire in Brisbane
Five people have been hospitalised after a forklift fire at a commercial site in Brisbane.
Emergency services responded to reports of a fire just before 11am this morning on Anton Road in Hemmant.
Seven trucks were deployed to the scene where fire fighters battled a blaze that had spread to neighbouring containers in the immediate area. The fire was extinguished at 2.15pm.
An official with Queensland’s fire service told reporters earlier:
double quotation markAn industrial forklift contains a lot of lubricants … and oils.
The containers that were on fire were refrigerated shipping containers so they are insulated with insulation foam. That would have attributed to a lot of the smoke we saw.
Queensland Ambulance Service said two women were taken to hospital in life-threatening conditions and three men were transported for smoke inhalation.
Updated at 01.33 EDT
Nick Visser
That’s all for me. Achol Arok will guide you into the weekend. Take care.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s premier says public official found to have engaged in ‘serious and concerning conduct’ no longer serving in his role
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, has confirmed that a public servant who was found last month to have engaged in “serious and concerning conduct” after a corruption investigation has left his role.
Carroll told reporters earlier today that Tony Bates was no longer secretary of the Department of Education and would be leaving the public service. A search for his replacement is under way.
Bates took a leave of absence after an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac), released last month, found he was part of a group of government officials who engaged in “serious and concerning” conduct while negotiating firefighter pay deals with Peter Marshall – the secretary of the United Firefighters Union (UFU).
The inquiry found Bates was involved in the negotiations, which occurred without the knowledge of the emergency services minister.
On Friday, Carroll said:
double quotation markI read the Ibac Operation Richmond back to front, and I made it very clear that integrity is non-negotiable and a deal essentially was done behind a minister’s back.
Bates is the third public servant head to depart since Carroll took over from Jacinta Allan in late July. The head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Jeremi Moule was replaced by Treasury secretary, Chris Barrett, days after Carroll became premier and last week transport head Jeroen Weimar announced he would also leave his position.
More on the Ibac report here:
Updated at 01.21 EDT
Ima Caldwell
Second cyclist dies following Canberra crash
A second person has died after a crash in Canberra’s north last week, ACT police confirmed.
The 39-year-old man died in hospital yesterday evening, one week after a car ploughed into a group of five cyclists on Gungahlin Drive in Palmerston, between Wells Station Drive and Kosciusko Ave.
A 32-year-old female rider died at the scene, while a 39-year-old man was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Police confirmed his death this morning, increasing the number of deaths on ACT roads this year to 11.
ShareEx-rail boss in Victoria jailed over corrupt contracts
The masterminds behind a major corruption scheme over cleaning contracts for a state rail network have been jailed over their “corrosive” offending, AAP reports.
Former V/Line chief executive James Pinder was jailed for two years and eight months with a non-parole period of one year and nine months for misconduct of public office in the Victorian county court on Thursday.
Transclean co-director George Haritos was handed a term of two years and three months with a minimum of one year and five months for conspiracy to give a secret commission and two counts of giving secret commissions.
Photograph: Jay Kogler/Reuters
The company’s other co-director Alex Kyritsis and employees Steven Kyritsis and Maria Tsakopoulos were each given community corrections orders and ordered to do unpaid community service.
All five pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Victorian corruption watchdog following its Operation Esperance investigation into serious corrupt conduct in the state’s V/Line and Metro’s tendering and procurement processes.
The offending occurred between April 2018 to August 2020, when Pinder, as V/Line boss, participated in awarding a large-scale cleaning contract to Transclean worth more than $54m.
Updated at 02.24 EDT
Andrew Messenger
Queensland ambulance bug in triple-zero system resolved
A computer bug which forced the Queensland ambulance service to use a backup dispatch system to answer triple-zero calls has been resolved.
The service switched on a new computer aided dispatch system on Wednesday. The Guardian understands users had latency issues – computer lag – on Thursday, forcing the ambulance service to use a planned manual backup.
That meant some calls were completed over the radio with information entered manually, rather than using a computer aided dispatch system.
The problem has been resolved and the new computer aided system turned back on.
A spokesperson for the Queensland ambulance service said “all triple-zero calls are being answered and resources are being dispatched in a timely manner, with the most urgent cases prioritised”.
The Guardian understands that the service believes no high-priority patient was delayed treatment, though some less urgent cases may have had delays. The ambulance service has a service staffed by paramedics, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals which keeps in touch with low-triage patients waiting for an ambulance.
“As is best practice, business continuity processes were enacted during the transition to the new CAD system to maintain operational oversight and call-taking and dispatch services,” the spokesperson said.
double quotation markThere was no impact to triple-zero calls to the QAS while business continuity processes were in place. Any reporting to the contrary is false.
Updated at 00.09 EDT
Molly Ticehurst’s killer called woman he had met on Tinder after stabbing, court hears
Two hours after Daniel Billings murdered his ex-girlfriend Molly Ticehurst in a frenzied stabbing he spoke to a woman he had met on Tinder, AAP reports.
“I’m sorry I murdered her,” Billings told the woman during a phone call at 2.02am on 22 April 2024.
The woman, who Billings met on the dating app in early 2022, told police she was shocked as he described the murder during their brief conversation.
He made the phone call from a mutual friend’s property, where Billings had fled in his bloodied clothes, according to a statement of facts.
The friend soon alerted police, the court heard.
Read more here:
Updated at 02.25 EDT
Andrew Messenger
Former Queensland police commissioner Steve Gollschewski dies
The former Queensland police commissioner Steve Gollschewski has died from cancer.
The 46-year veteran retired from the QPS in February. He was the state’s longest-serving cop.
He was appointed commissioner in 2024, before being diagnosed with cancer in 2025 and stepping down. He briefly returned to the force six months later.
Former Queensland police commissioner Steve Gollschewski. Photograph: Darren England/AAP
Acting commissioner Brett Pointing said Gollschewski “will be remembered as an exceptional leader who used insight and innovation to strengthen the organisation and help keep the community safe”.
“Throughout his distinguished career, Steve was a remarkable strategist and contemporary leader, disciplined in his thinking, measured in his decisions and guided by deeply held personal values,” Pointing said.
The police minister, Dan Purdie, said Gollschewski wass the third-longest serving officer in the history of the service.
“My thoughts are with the loved ones of former Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski AO APM following the news of his tragic passing,” he said.
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said Gollschewski had “devoted his life to the Queensland Police Service, upholding our laws and making our state a safer place”.
Updated at 23.35 EDT
Big tech ‘making money’ from harming children, Plibersek says
Tanya Plibersek, the federal minister for social services, spoke a few moments ago about the additional ways Australia needs to strengthen the regulation potential for algorithms.
She said:
double quotation markPeople should be able to opt out of getting violent and degrading stuff online. We know that an account set up by a teenage boy takes an average of 23 minutes to be fed misogynistic content online. That is a deliberate decision of Big Tech to do that.
They are making money out of harming our children. We need to look at what additional powers we need to deal with that.
Updated at 23.37 EDT
Petra Stock
Victoria records state’s first H5 bird flu cases in mammals
Victoria has recorded its first cases of deadly H5 bird flu in mammals, including a confirmed case in red fox at Torquay, and a suspected positive case in a dolphin at Lorne, the state’s acting chief veterinary officer, Dr Cameron Bell, said.
Since 20 June, the state has confirmed 212 positive cases from 892 investigations.
The chief biodiversity officer, James Todd, said heading into the spring breeding season surveillance efforts would be focused on high-risk areas, including the Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip Bay, Western Port Bay and the Gippsland lakes, places that were important breeding grounds for waterbirds and marine mammals and near poultry facilities. He said further mortality events and spread into other species was expected. He said:
double quotation markWe’re at the beginning of a virus, which will continue to impact on Victoria’s wildlife.
We know that people care deeply about wildlife, and the impacts that the community may be observing, in terms of dying and dead wildlife, is really confronting and distressing.
Updated at 23.03 EDT
Tory Shepherd
A renowned forensic scientist on Nepal’s ‘extreme challenges’
The bodies of some of those killed in the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster may never be found, and some of those that are may never be identified, a world-renowned forensic scientist says.
Prof Richard Bassed, the head of forensic medicine at Melbourne’s Monash University, spent three months in Thailand after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and also helped to identify victims of Victoria’s catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.
Now he has watched as authorities in Nepal and Tibet struggle to find and identify the dead amid the agonies of the living after last week’s devastating flash flood. More than 1,250 people have been confirmed dead, with more than 5,000 missing.
Read more here:
An aerial view shows houses damaged in Nepal. Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty ImagesShare