As it happened: Fatima Payman defection fallout continues; Labour landslide in UK election

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has congratulated the UK’s new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, on his victory and made a point of singling out the British Labour Party’s nuclear policy for commendation.

“I take this opportunity to commend Sir Keir Starmer and the UK Labour Party for their goals to make Britain ‘a clean energy superpower’ and to achieve ‘energy independence’,” Dutton said in a statement.

“The new British Government’s plan includes building new nuclear power stations and small modular reactors to help the UK ‘achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.’ There is much Australia can learn from the British experience.”

The Home Affairs and Attorney-General’s departments have launched a “preliminary inquiry” into Peter Dutton overseeing the failure to disclose a key report during a terrorist court case.

In early June, this masthead revealed a Victorian Supreme Court judge referred the non-disclosure of evidence, by department officials while Dutton was home affairs minister, to the national security legislation watchdog for inquiry.

On June 19, Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Jake Blight released a statement that said the watchdog had passed on the referral because its remit only covered legislation.

“[I]t has been agreed that the Department of Home Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department will appoint an eminent person (such as a former judge) to undertake a preliminary inquiry to determine whether there should be a code of conduct or other process in relation to the non-disclosure of material by any officer in the Benbrika proceedings,” Blight said.

Today, the Australian Associated Press reported former Federal Court judge Alan Robertson has been appointed to undertake the inquiry.

Blight’s statement last month said the reviewer – appointed by the Attorney-General’s Department and Home Affairs to review the conduct of Home Affairs officials – would be independent.

In the last Coalition government, Dutton’s department oversaw the Australian Federal Police in 2020 when convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika’s prison sentence was set to finish and the Commonwealth applied to extend it, arguing he was a risk to the community.

Benbrika’s legal team did not have access to the report that poked holes in a key terrorist assessment tool underpinning the risk evaluation the court relied upon to keep the terrorist locked up. That report found the tool was as effective as flipping a coin.

The move drew scorn from Victorian Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth when the report came to light.

“What happened in this case should never have happened, and should not be repeated,” Justice Hollingworth said in her reasons to refer Dutton.

The justice branded the non-disclosure of various expert reports a “serious interference with the administration of justice”.

The buried report was kept from the Supreme Court to protect secret information criminals could take advantage of, an internal Home Affairs Department document revealed. Home Affairs said the report wasn’t made public because it contained sensitive information in talking points prepared for a subsequent minister and released under freedom of information laws.

Benbrika, an Algerian grandfather who goes by the name “Nacer”, was convicted in 2009 of directing a terrorist organisation. A jury found him guilty of being the spiritual leader of a terror cell, with members in Melbourne and Sydney, that planned attacks on Australian soil.

His group discussed carrying out attacks because it wanted the Australian government to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. No attacks were ever carried out.

Dutton’s office was contacted for comment.

AAP with David Estcourt

Australia’s domestic and family violence policies need a dramatic overhaul to tackle the femicide crisis, legal aid services say.

Australia is experiencing a spate of high-profile femicides, according to online-feminist group Destroy the Joint.

An estimated 52,000 women facing domestic violence were turned away from the Women’s Legal Services Australia, with the organisation citing resource shortfalls.

As attorneys-general from every state and territory meet in Canberra on Friday to discuss funding of legal aid services, National Legal Aid and Women’s Legal Services Australia are urging them to adopt a suite of recommendations.

A national family violence risk information sharing scheme and register should be a top priority as National Legal Aid executive director Katherine McKernan says this would protect victim-survivors from recounting their trauma.

“Make sure their safety is prioritised and limit the number of times that they need to tell their story to remain safe,” she said.

“This would help keep victim-survivors from falling through the gaps.”

AAP

Australia’s competition watchdog has given the strongest indication yet that it has the giants of the music industry in its sights, as the concentration of ownership is leading fans to pay up to 20 per cent more than they ought to for live events.

While declining to reveal details, Scott Gregson, chief executive of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said the regulator was keeping a close eye on the antitrust case launched against Live Nation, the world’s largest music promoter, by the US Department of Justice in April.

“We do see some consistency in behaviours that are part of that DOJ investigation and action with the type of things we hear in Australia,” Gregson told a parliamentary inquiry into the challenges and opportunities facing Australian live music in Canberra today.

“We don’t comment on matters that might be under investigation, but if your question is, ‘Do we receive similar issues, do we look, are we watching the DOJ action?’ yes is the answer to all of those.”

Read the full story here.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has conceded defeat, moments ago announcing he had called Labour leader Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his election victory.

“The Labour Party has won this general election,” Sunak said, conceding defeat with 237 seats still to be declared.

“Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner with goodwill on all sides.”

Sunak, who retained his seat of Richmond in North Yorkshire, said he had “given his all” to the job of prime minister.

Follow our live coverage of the UK election here.

Good afternoon.

I’m Lachlan Abbott, and I’ll be keeping you updated with the latest Australian news for the rest of the day.

Thanks so much to Josefine Ganko for her blogging efforts this morning.

Let’s look back at the news of the day so far:

• The war of words between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and ex-Labor senator Fatima Payman has continued after the West Australian quit the party to sit as an independent yesterday, citing her caucus suspension for crossing the floor to support a Greens motion to recognise Palestine for her decision. In a heated press conference this morning, Albanese said he was “disappointed” Payman didn’t raise her concerns in caucus, defended Labor’s inclusivity, warned against faith-based political parties, and disputed Payman’s suggestion his comments in question time flagging an announcement pushed her to resign.
• In an earlier interview on ABC Radio National this morning, Payman said she did not decide to leave the party until the day of her announcement, but Finance Minister Katy Gallagher disputed this claim soon afterwards in a separate interview on the station.
• Independent senator David Pocock called out the “grubby politics” of Labor figures reportedly now raising questions about Payman’s eligibility to serve given her Afghan citizenship, which the 29-year-old says she tried to renounce before the election but couldn’t formalise because of the Taliban government, which her family fled from as refugees when they first came to power.
• Meanwhile, Australian Test cricketer Usman Khawaja has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of “bigotry” and “fuelling Islamophobia” for remarks he made in a press conference on Thursday. The Liberal leader warned the election of “Muslim candidates from western Sydney” in a minority Labor government after the next election would “be a disaster”.
• In business news, the Australian sharemarket is down slightly today despite a positive lead from the European market while Wall Street takes a breather for America’s Independence Day holiday.

• In international news, UK election results show Labour, led by Keir Starmer, has swept to power in a landslide defeat for Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government. Follow our live coverage here.

A Canberra backyard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu.

ACT authorities on Friday confirmed a group of chickens kept at the home had tested positive to the virus, the territory’s second site to be affected.

The home is in a quarantine area set up after an egg facility in Canberra’s north detected the virus last week.

Along with the two sites in the ACT, eight farms in Victoria and two in NSW have been forced to close to stop the bird flu spreading.

ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti praised the home’s residents for preventing further spread of the virus to the broader bird population.

“While disappointing to have a second case, it is not unexpected. Like jurisdictions across the country this is unfortunately the reality of such a highly transmittable virus,” she said.

“Avian influenza is very easily transmitted by moving sick birds from property to property, as well as from contaminated boots, equipment and vehicles if proper biosecurity measures aren’t in place.

“Wild birds may also be carriers of the virus.”

More the one million chickens and ducks have been culled due to the outbreaks.

The spread of bird flu had prompted major supermarkets in NSW, Victoria and the ACT to introduce limits of two cartons of eggs per customer.

Fast-food chain McDonald’s had also been forced to shorten its breakfast hours due to egg supply issues.

AAP