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Third arrest after alleged assault on police officers in Sydney – as it happened

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Tue 28 Jan 2025 02.00 ESTFirst published on Mon 27 Jan 2025 14.38 EST
Two off-duty NSW police officers were allegedly assaulted on Enmore Road in Sydney.
Two off-duty NSW police officers were allegedly assaulted on Enmore Road in Sydney. Photograph: Neve Brissenden/AAP
Two off-duty NSW police officers were allegedly assaulted on Enmore Road in Sydney. Photograph: Neve Brissenden/AAP

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What we learned; Tuesday 28 January

And that’s a wrap for today’s live news coverage. Here’s what we’ve been focused on this Tuesday:

We’ll see you again tomorrow morning. Thank you for joining us.

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Police speak to teens after Wagga Wagga fire

New South Wales Police say they have spoken with two teenagers as part of their investigations into an alleged suspicious fire in the state’s south earlier this month.

In a statement, the police said that at about 11pm on Monday 20 January, emergency services were called to a two-storey business on the corner of Fitzmaurice and Kincaid streets, Wagga Wagga, after reports of a fire.

The building sustained smoke and water damage and police established a crime scene and began investigations into the cause of the fire.

After inquiries, officers from Riverina Police District spoke to a 13-year-old girl at Wagga Wagga Police Station about 5.30pm on Friday 24 January 2025, the police said.

The teenager was dealt with under the Young Offenders Act.

A second teenager has been spoken to by police and inquiries were continuing, NSW Police said.

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Third arrest after alleged assault on police officers in Sydney

New South Wales Police have arrested a third man after the alleged assault of two off-duty police officers in Sydney’s Inner West last week.

In a statement, the police said that at about 3:30pm today, officers arrested a 22-year-old man on Edgeware Road, Enmore.

The man has been taken to Newtown Police Station where inquiries continue. He has not been charged.

Under Strike Force Rabnor, two men - aged 18 and 20 – were earlier charged and remain before the court.

NSW Police confirmed that both of the officers who were injured – one seriously - in the incident have now left hospital.

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Cool change comes to Sydney

More on today’s temperatures in Sydney, which have plummeted after a scorching morning and early afternoon.

Different parts of Sydney experienced very different versions of the temperature plunge, it appears.

Bureau of Meteorology readings show the temperature at its Holsworthy station dropped by almost 10C in just 19 minutes, from 41.1C at 3pm to 31.6C at 3:19pm. By 4:30pm, the temperature was a comfortable 23.6C.

In central Sydney, the mercury topped 35.3C at 1pm, dropping to 24C by 4:30pm.

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Queensland ban on hormone therapy for minors 'will be catastrophic', trans advocates warn

Transgender advocates have warned of the “immeasurable trauma” that may be caused by the Queensland government’s decision to block young trans people from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapies.

The Equality Australia CEO, Anna Brown, said Queensland was an outlier state.

“This will be catastrophic for young trans people and their families when the evidence on the benefits of hormone treatments is clear and well established,” she said.

This move is at odds with the current evidence base, expert consensus, health services in all other Australian states and territories and the majority of clinical guidelines around the world.

Only last year a review in Queensland found that practices in the state’s gender clinics were safe and evidence based, recommending increased funding and capacity to reach regional areas.

Governments should stay out of these deeply personal decisions and leave it to young people, their parents and the expert doctors treating them.

Eloise Brook, the CEO of AusPath, the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health, said: “Hormone treatments for the small number of young people who need them are essential health care.”

The evidence shows that denying access to this care will cause young people immeasurable trauma, contributing to depression, anxiety and in some cases self-harm.

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Clearly a role for government to help energy transition, Pocock says

David Pocock has spoken about Chris Bowen’s use of his ministerial powers to intervene in the acceleration of solar electrification projects around the country.

When asked by Patricia Karvelas on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing whether the senator would like to see Bowen making more interventions, he answered:

There’s clearly a role for the government to help bring forward this transition. It is totally inevitable. Electrification is inevitable. What we’ve seen is a pushback from the fossil fuel industry. They’re trying to buy up social license, left, right and centre, sponsoring your favourite sports team, running op-eds in newspapers. What we need is the government to say this is the direction we’re heading in. We want households to be able to save money and for no households to be left behind.

If you’re a low-income household, if you’re living in social housing, if you’re a renter, if you’re living in an apartment, all of these options should be available to you, and we have the blueprint for this. Rooftop solar is an Australian success story.

Senator David Pocock speaks to media at Parliament House. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
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Sydney temperatures drop up to 18C as southerly buster arrives

The predicted southerly buster that has rolled into Sydney has delivered a temperature drop of more than 18C in some areas.

At about 1.30pm, Sydney airport hit 42.5C – by 4pm, the temperature had dropped to 24.3C, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Badgerys Creek went from 43.3C to 34.7C.

We’ll bring more detail on the speed of those temperature changes as soon as we have updates from the bureau.

Shortly before 4pm, the bureau released a severe thunderstorm warning for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall in parts of the Sydney area.

A storms rolls in at Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches. Photograph: Wendy Frew/The Guardian
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Man arrested under ‘anti-Nazi’ laws on Australia Day released on bail

Over to South Australia, where a man charged under the state’s new “anti-Nazi” laws has been released on bail, as 14 men arrested at a march in Adelaide on Australia Day have begun appearing in court, AAP reports.

Fifteen men and one youth whom police allege are members of the National Socialist Network were arrested on Sunday and charged with various street offences including failing to cease loitering, possessing articles of disguise, and hindering and resisting arrest.

A police prosecutor told Adelaide magistrates court on Tuesday that at 11am on Sunday, 40 NSN members from around the country dressed in black assembled at the South Australian War Memorial.

“That’s the context of the entire group that we’ve got (appearing in court) today,” she said.

The National Socialist Network is a rightwing extremist group with national socialist ideology.

The group aims at preparing for a race war which it believes will usher in a white separatist ethno state.

Social media posts instructed members to wear black clothing and black face masks “because it erases our individual identity and absorbs it into a collectivity of the nation”, the prosecutor said.

A media interview with the National Socialist Network further stated that if they don’t cover up their identities, they lose their jobs.

Mason James Robbins, 30, from Perth was the first man to appear in court, charged with carrying an offensive weapon or article of disguise and using a Nazi symbol.

Adelaide magistrates court. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/The Guardian

Under tough new laws introduced in South Australia last year, people found displaying swastikas or Nazi symbols in public or performing a Nazi salute could be fined up to $20,000 or face a year in jail.

There would be an issue “lurking in the background” about “the constitutional protection of the implied freedom of political communication”, Robbins’ lawyer said.

“It gives rise to questions about the validity of any law that seeks to prevent contact and communication between members of, if you like, a political party,” the lawyer said.

But the prosecutor said the groups were “not a political party” and had taken part in a “coordinated incident resulting in criminal offences”.

Magistrate Luke David released Robbins on $600 bail, with strict conditions, including an exclusion from the Adelaide city area, a ban on wearing disguises in public, a ban on possessing firearms and a ban on associating with 30 named people and members of the NSN and European Australian Movement.

He returns to court on 11 March.

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Southerly buster brings cool change after Sydney’s hottest day of the year

The hottest day of the year so far in the Sydney region is giving way to a cool change, bringing relief from temperatures as high as 42.1C, as recorded in Penrith this afternoon.

As predicted, a southerly buster is fast approaching and thunder can be heard over parts of the city.

Earlier, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast that a “southerly buster is likely to produce damaging winds along central parts of the coast, including Sydney, this afternoon”.

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Ben Smee
Ben Smee

Health minister announces Cairns gender clinic investigation

Staying with Tim Nicholls in Queensland, where the state’s health minister has also announced the launch of a separate investigation into allegations related to a Cairns gender clinic.

He says a preliminary review into the Cairns Sexual Health Service has found the use of puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones are being delivered in a way that “may not have” aligned with clinical guidelines or standards for clinical documentation.

“The Cairns Sexual Health Service delivered an apparently unauthorised paediatric gender service without an agreed model of care,” Nicholls says.

Queensland health minister Tim Nicholls. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Last year, an independent review of the state’s gender clinics found “no evidence” to support claims children were hurried or coerced into decisions, and recommended an increase in staff levels to meet demand.

The Greens MP Michael Berkman says the LNP “thinks that 10 years is old enough to go to prison, but that a 17-year-old and their family can’t decide what health care they need.

This is essential treatment for people born intersex and for young people experiencing gender dysphoria. Hormone therapy and puberty blockers save lives.

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Queensland suspends puberty blockers and hormone therapies for minors seeking gender-affirming care

Ben Smee
Ben Smee

Over to Queensland, where the government says it will immediately suspend the provision of puberty blockers and hormone therapies to minors seeking gender-affirming care at state health facilities, citing “contested evidence” about their use.

Before the 2024 state election, Guardian Australia repeatedly sought comment from David Crisafulli – now the state premier – about his party’s positions on the use of puberty blockers and the state’s healthcare policies for young people with gender dysphoria.

His office did not acknowledge or respond to those questions.

These included questions about a rightwing-controlled LNP branch that had sent an election-eve email claiming the state had been “captured by transgender ideology”.

Now, the health minister, Tim Nicholls, says the state will hold a review – lasting at least until 2026 – about the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies at gender clinics.

The state will “pause” the intake of new patients under the age of 18 years for hormone therapies in Queensland health facilities.

“There is a need to maintain confidence in public health services, particularly those delivered by Queensland Health for children,” Nicholls says.

Patients who are already on a treatment plan … would be exempt, similar to the steps implemented in the UK.

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Rafqa Touma
Rafqa Touma

Thank you for joining us on the blog today. Handing over now to Daisy Dumas who will take you through the afternoon’s news.

Daisy Dumas
Daisy Dumas

Dutton says two shadow ministers focused on government efficiency ‘entirely appropriate’

Looping back to Peter Dutton’s comments to media in WA a short time ago, when he answered a question about having not one but two shadow ministers focused on government efficiency.

Justifying Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s new role alongside that of James Stevens, he said:

Frankly, it’s an extension of what happened in the Howard years after they came in when Paul Keating and Bob Hawke had destroyed the economy then as well.

… You’ve got a foreign affairs minister and a shadow and a junior foreign affairs minister as well, you’ve got a finance minister and you’ve got a treasurer and an assistant treasurer.

There are many roles within government where there’s more than one person doing that task, and I think that’s entirely appropriate.

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Cait Kelly
Cait Kelly

Other countries are better at protecting people from scams, senators told

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network CEO, Carol Bennett, says other countries have far better regulations protecting consumers from scams and ensuring they get reimbursed for money lost.

Bennett:

Banks in the UK have been voluntarily reimbursing scam victims and an average rate of 67% since 2019, and that’s increasing to 100% in October, when new mandatory reinforcement laws come into force.

Making the companies looking after our money and our transactions accountable for losing our money is the best way to reduce scams.

[This] has been shown in other countries, including the UK, where 95% of scammed money is now returned to the customer by banks and other companies, and the number of reported scams is decreasing.

In Australia, less than 10% of scammed or fraudulently obtained funds are returned to consumers.

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Cait Kelly
Cait Kelly

Labor’s proposed scam bill puts onus on consumers, Senate hearing told

The Consumer Action Law Centre CEO, Stephanie Tonkin, is speaking to a Senate hearing into Labor’s proposed scam bill.

She says Labor’s bill will result in compensation being denied, as the onus is put on consumers to prove multiple companies did not do their due diligence.

Tonkin:

The assistant treasurer has repeatedly stated the business will compensate complainants when they fail to meet their high bar obligations.

Under the framework, the bill specifically lays out the opposite, that a consumer must prove that multiple corporations didn’t meet their obligations under the framework and that the various breaches of various corporations have caused the loss.

This bill should not pass without clearly setting out liability for compensation. That is, specifying that if a regulated entity fails to meet an obligation under the framework, the consequence is a presumption of compensation for the victim’s loss.

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Footage shows man climbing from balcony to escape e-scooter battery fire

We have footage of a dramatic escape from a fire in Queensland, where a resident was reportedly attempting to cool an overheating e-scooter battery in the freezer when the Gold Coast unit erupted into flames on Tuesday morning.

All inhabitants escaped the blaze, including a man who climbed off the balcony:

Footage shows man climbing from balcony to escape e-scooter battery fire – video

Six Queensland fire department crews arrived at the incident in Worendo Street, Southport, at 5.40am. The fire had engulfed the unit. All residents were accounted for by 6.20am.

The cause of fire is still under investigation, the department says.

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Man extradited to Perth on 53 sexually related offences

A 49-year-old man has been extradited to Perth on 53 sexually related offences.

Detectives from the sex assault squad travelled to Brisbane after an investigation to extradite the man back to Perth. He was arrested without incident at Brisbane airport, WA police said in a statement.

It will be alleged the man sexually assaulted three male victims between 1997 and 2007 in the Perth metropolitan area.

He is due to appear before the Perth magistrates court today, charged with 48 counts of child sex offence, two counts of stupefying in order to commit an indictable offence, two counts of sexual penetration without consent, and one count of supplying a prohibited drug (cannabis), the statement said.

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Cait Kelly
Cait Kelly

Tech companies are not profiting from scams, industry group tells senators

Digital Industry Group Inc says media companies such as Meta are not making money from scams.

In the Senate hearing into the Scams Prevention Framework Bill, Senator David Pocock has questioned if social media companies don’t want to stop scams because they make money from it.

Pocock said:

They say it’s an ongoing issue, where every time [a scam] gets shut down, another one pops up … it just seems pretty outrageous that Meta can’t find a workaround, and my concern is that no one’s forcing them to.

These fraudsters, these scammers, are actually paying Meta advertising revenue.

The Digital Industry Group Inc managing director, Sunita Bose, said:

Well, I don’t necessarily accept the premise that they are profiting from scam advertising, because my view, you may disagree, is that the investments that ensure a strong sector in terms of major engineering teams, technology tools, far outweigh that. But certainly take your moral point and I agree that what we want to see is continued improvements from the sector.

Senator David Pocock arrives at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra today. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
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