Melbourne: Lovitt Technologies new video emerges from arson attack
The same social media page that anonymously posted a video from a person claiming credit for the attack on Monday posted the new footage.
'STOP ARMING 'ISRAEL' OR ELSE,' the caption on the new post reads.
'Footage from the cell that hit imperialist weapons firm Lovitt Technologies in Greensborough on the 5th of July.'
The video appears to have been filmed from a body-worn camera and shows a fire being lit under the front wheel of a car.
The person in the footage then spray-paints a message on a car before running away.
At least two other people also run away.
The first-person video shows a car being spray-painted. Picture: Instagram
Throughout the new clip the contentious protest chant 'Death, death to the IDF' is played.
The previous video, still unverified, shows a person speaking with a digitally altered voice and dressed head-to-toe in black.
It was posted by the same account as the new video as a 'Communique from torching of three vehicles at Lovitt technologies'.
CCTV of the incident shows five people entering the businesses just before 4am on July 5 and setting fire to three cars.
It also shows a fire being lit underneath the front wheel of a car. Picture: Instagram
'This is a clear and serious threat,' the person said in the previous video.
'If you continue making weapons or components of any kind there will be consequences. Consider this a warning.'
The person then said their motives were anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-Australian sentiment.
A still from a video allegedly produced by a group that claims to be behind the attack on Lovitt Technologies in Greensborough. Picture: Supplied
'After 21 months of an accelerated genocide against the Palestinian people by the illegitimate Zionist entity, eight decades of American warmongering and imperialism, 2½ centuries of the most violent colonial oppression, ethnic cleansing and murder of Aboriginal peoples across so-called Australia, Lovitt Technologies has chosen its place at the intersection of these catastrophes,' the person said.
The group claimed they were targeting Lovitt because it supplies components to weapons companies including Lockheed Martin, BAE and Boeing.
People flee the scene in the newly released video. Picture: Instagram
The company previously received a grant for work on the supply chain for F-35 fighter jets, a version of which is used by Israel.
The video threatened the workers at the Melbourne office and said the group had been 'watching' them.
'Every worker in this supply chain is complicit,' the person said.
Police confirmed on Monday that they were investigating the previously released video and the incident.
'The matter is now being investigated by the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which includes personnel from Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation,' a Victoria Police spokeswoman told NewsWire on Monday.
'Investigators are aware of a video which has been circulating where a group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
'This video is being reviewed as part of the ongoing investigation.
'Police have already released CCTV of five people they would like to speak to in relation to the incident. Each person was dressed in black hooded jumpers, backpacks and gloves.'
Read related topics: Israel
Brendan Kearns
Cadet Journalist
Brendan Kearns is a cadet journalist with News Corp Australia. He has written for The Australian, the Herald Sun, the Geelong Advertiser, CHOICE, Cosmos, and The Citizen. He won Democracy's Watchdogs' Student Award for Investigative Journalism 2024 and hosted the third season of award-winning podcast Uncurated. He studied as Master of Journalism at The University of Melbourne, before that he worked as a video producer and disability worker.
@brendandkearns
Brendan Kearns
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
30 minutes ago
- ABC News
Port Adelaide condemns 'vile' sexual violence threat contained in racist messages to Jase Burgoyne
The threat of sexual violence contained in a racist message sent to Port Adelaide player Jase Burgoyne has taken toxic trolling to "another level", according to the club's general manager, who has also expressed concern that sports betting is exacerbating the vitriol. On the weekend, Burgoyne and St Kilda star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera became the latest AFL players to highlight racist abuse they had received from online trolls. The Power and the Saints today said Burgoyne and Wanganeen-Milera were considering possible next steps, and that both clubs would support any decision by their players to raise the matters with police. The clubs and the AFL yesterday condemned the abuse, with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon lambasting "cowardly" trolls who "hide behind" fake social media accounts. The messages to Burgoyne, which the ABC has decided not to detail, contained explicit and sexual references about a member of the young Power player's family, and were riddled with racial abuse. Power general manager of football Chris Davies described the messages as "disgusting" and "vile", and said the club would support Burgoyne in "whatever he wants to do" — including potentially reporting the matter to police. "We've got to respect our players enough to make it a little bit easier for them to be able to report these types of things, and maybe, into the future, some laws will have to change as well." The messages received by Burgoyne and Wanganeen-Milera contained references to their disposal tallies, and Davies was today asked whether gambling was fanning the flames of toxic trolling. He acknowledged the impact of sports betting on the level of anonymous aggression towards players. He recounted an instance in which he had been talking to former Power players Trent McKenzie and Charlie Dixon after a game. "They were reading me the stuff that they'd got from a couple of people who had clearly bet on the outcome of a game," Davies said. "It was just phenomenal listening to it. On Monday, Andrew Dillon had an unequivocal message for trolls who target players: "Our game does not want you." "Real fans don't racially abuse players," the league's chief executive said. "We have been clear that there is absolutely no place for this behaviour in our sport and in society. "Racism is never acceptable, and these incidents demonstrate there is so much more work to be done." Asked whether the AFL needed to respond with greater vigour, Davies said he thought "we can all do more". "Into the future, the AFL will be doing more than what they are right now, but that's not to say they're not dealing with the current situation," he said. "The AFL have got a responsibility here to help the clubs to make these issues easier for the players involved, if we're really keen to try and stamp it out. "We're having that conversation with the AFL, we're having that conversation with South Australian police. I know the AFL are having it with the respective police units in each state." The ABC has contacted the AFL for further comment.
ABC News
43 minutes ago
- ABC News
Court finds no duty of care owed to Torres Strait Islanders over climate change
The Federal Court has found the Commonwealth does not owe a duty of care to Torres Strait Islander peoples to protect them from the impacts of climate change or fund adaptation measures. Judge Michael Wigney ruled Australia's greenhouse gas emissions targets are matters of "core government policy" which should be decided by the parliament, not the courts. "My heart is broken for my families and my community," Guda Maluyligal traditional owner Uncle Pabai Pabai said after the decision was handed down. The judge also rejected the Torres Strait Islanders' claims that their cultural loss should be compensated under negligence law. Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai — from the islands of Saibai and Boigu — brought the case and travelled almost 900 kilometres from their ancestral homes to the Federal Court in Cairns to hear the outcome. Despite the finding, the judge also said the Uncles had proven many of the factual elements of their case, including that Australia's emissions targets between 2015 and 2021 were not consistent with the best available science to hold global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. He found the Commonwealth "did not engage with or give real or genuine consideration to the best available science" when setting those targets. The judge said the Torres Strait Islander peoples' case did not fail because there was no merit in their allegations, but rather because negligence law does not allow compensation for matters of government policy. Supporters wearing colourful dresses gathered in a separate room in the courthouse to watch the judgement, singing songs from their homeland, and waving Torres Strait Islander flags. Judge Wigney acknowledged the Torres Strait Islands "have in recent years been ravaged by the impacts of human-induced climate change … rising sea levels, storm surges and other extreme water level events". "The Torres Strait Islands and their inhabitants are, however, undoubtedly far more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than other communities in Australia," he said. "There could be little, if any, doubt that the Torres Strait Islands and their traditional inhabitants will face a bleak future if urgent action is not taken to address climate change and its impacts." This is the first time an Australian court has ruled on whether the Commonwealth has a legal duty of care to protect their citizens from the impacts of climate change, and whether cultural loss from climate change should be compensated. The landmark litigation has been financed through the NGO the Grata Fund, and modelled on a successful case from the Netherlands. As part of the case the Federal Court visited the islands of Boigu and Saibai, about 6 kilometres from the shores of Papua New Guinea, and Badu. Evidence of coastal erosion, destruction of ancestral graves and soil salinity that prevents crops from growing was presented to the court. It also heard of extreme weather events, including storms that cause intense flooding and inundate the islands, which lie at just 1.6 metres above sea level. The court heard sea levels in the Torres Strait were rising at double the rate of the rest of the world and that inaction on climate change may cause irreversible impacts for First Nations people in the Torres Strait. The plantiffs' legal team argued the Guda Maluyligal people risked losing their culture if rising sea levels, caused by climate change, forced them to leave their homes. The court heard breaching the 1.5 degrees global emissions limit would cause irreversible damage to small and low-lying islands, including those in the Torres Strait. Judge Wigney said today's findings "should not be construed as somehow sanctioning or justifying being the unquestionably modest and unambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets that were set by the Commonwealth in 2015, 2020 and 2021". "Unless something is done to arrest global warming and the resulting escalating impacts of climate change, there is a very real risk that the applicant's worst fears will be realised and they will lose their islands, their culture and their way of life, and will become, as it were, climate refugees," he said. This is not the first time Torres Strait Islanders have taken the federal government to court over their long connection to Country. The decade-long Mabo case led by Meriam man Eddie Koiki Mabo dispelled the legal notion of terra nullius — land belonging to no-one and recognised the land of his people. It also led to the development of the Native Title Act.
ABC News
43 minutes ago
- ABC News
Mark Latham denies ex-partner's allegations of domestic abuse and 'degrading' sex acts
New South Wales MP Mark Latham has emphatically denied a former partner's allegations of a "sustained pattern" of domestic abuse and pressuring her to engage in "degrading sex acts". The allegations are detailed by Nathalie Matthews in an apprehended violence order (AVO) application filed in a NSW local court against the former leader of both federal Labor and NSW One Nation, first reported by The Australian newspaper this week. The matter, which does not involve criminal charges, will be heard in the Downing Centre Local Court on July 30. The Australian reports Ms Matthews has accused Mr Latham, in court documents, of pressuring her to participate in "degrading sexual acts", throwing dinner plates at her and driving his car at her. She is seeking orders preventing him from coming with 100 metres of her, The Australian reported. Mr Latham has labelled the allegations as "comically false and ridiculous" in a post on his X social media account. "As the old saying goes, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," the post said. "The story says that Ms Matthews went to the police and they did not do anything. They certainly haven't contacted me. In the current environment, that says a lot. "She told me in April she had been to police seeking an AVO against another man and they complained that they did nothing." NSW Police did not lodge the AVO on behalf of Ms Matthews. Mr Latham said he had "scores of documents" that he would rely upon to defend himself against the accusations. Mr Latham is an independent member in the NSW Upper House and Ms Matthews is the managing director of a logistics company and previous Liberal candidate for Sutherland Shire Council. The leader of the government in the Upper House, Penny Sharpe, said the allegations against Mr Latham were "very disturbing and frankly disgusting", while cautioning that they remained simply allegations. Ms Sharpe said when parliament resumes, she would move a motion to refer Mr Latham to the privileges committee for allegedly "disclosing authorised information" after he used parliamentary privilege to reveal confidential information from a psychologist's report prepared for NCAT in proceedings brought by MP Alex Greenwich. She said the government had previously been calling out Mr Latham "on a whole range of different things". "I do not want to get ahead of the current allegations as revolting as they are," she said. While cautioning that the current allegations are before the courts, Ms Sharpe said on Tuesday that the Liberals and Greens should reconsider working closely with Mr Latham in the Upper House. The allegations are the latest in a series of controversies involving Mr Latham. Mr Latham was last year ordered to pay $140,000 in a defamation suit after making graphic, homophobic comments in a tweet about Independent MP Alex Greenwich. Separate vilification proceedings relating to the same tweet is ongoing in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). In June, Mr Latham used parliamentary privilege to reveal confidential information from a psychologist's report about Mr Greenwich that was prepared for NCAT. Later that week, NSW Premier Chris Minns labelled Mr Latham "one of Australia's biggest bigots", citing his comments about Mr Greenwich and on domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty. In a podcast interview in 2016, Mr Latham accused Ms Batty — who was at the time Australian of the Year — of "demonising men" making those who hit women "feel worse about themselves".
