National news LIVE: US could demand AUKUS changes; World first surgery in Aus; How TikTokers threatened mushroom trial
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Latest posts
7.00am
The night Sussan Ley pulled a gun on a menacing man
By Olivia Ireland
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has revealed she pulled out a semi-automatic rifle as a man threatened her while she was camping on a dark country road years ago.
In a glossy magazine profile in The Australian Women's Weekly the Leader of the Opposition opened-up about the incident which occurred on a country road in central NSW, when she was moving to become an aerial stock musterer.
'The gun was literally lying down the side of the sleeping bag, so I was able to pick it up and wave it in the general direction of this individual. I think my hands were shaking so badly,' she said.
Read what happened here.
6.54am
How US could demand Australia pay more for AUKUS
By Paul Sakkal and Michael Koziol
Remember that $368 billion nuclear submarine deal? It could soon cost us a lot more.
Australia facing the prospect of a Trump administration review demanding it pay more for submarines under the $368 billion AUKUS pact and guarantee the boats support the US in a conflict over Taiwan.
Sources familiar with the review by Trump's Undersecretary of Defence, Elbridge Colby, believe he intends to urge major changes to the program before Australia can get the nuclear submarines it has been promised.
Interviews with three Australian sources with direct knowledge of the AUKUS review and American defence experts who worked on the submarine project believe the probe will recommend amending rather than scrapping the deal brokered by former leaders Joe Biden, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson.
6.47am
Australian doctors just pulled off a 'world-first' heart surgery
By Angus Thomson
An Australian man has become the first in the world to be implanted with a next-generation device that mimics the heart's pulse, in what doctors have described as a quantum leap for technology that has saved thousands of lives from heart failure.
The globally renowned cardiac surgical team at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital were chosen to perform the first in-human implant of their new left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which uses a wave-generating membrane – rather than a rotating pump – to push blood around the body.
The team, led by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Paul Jansz, performed the surgery in May on Michael Smith, a grandfather and former meatworker from Leeton in the NSW Riverina.
On Tuesday, Smith left hospital for the first time in three months, saying he felt better than he had in more than a decade.
Read why this surgery will change lives in Angus Thomson's story.
6.40am
What's making news today
By Emily Kowal
Good morning and welcome to our national news blog. My name is Emily Kowal, and I will be bringing you the top stories of today.
It's Thursday, July 10.
Here's what is making headlines.
Australia is facing the prospect of a Trump administration review demanding it pay more for submarines under the $368 billion AUKUS pact and guarantee the boats support the US in a conflict over Taiwan.
An Australian man has become the first in the world to be implanted with a next-generation device that mimics the heart's pulse, in what doctors have described as a quantum leap for technology that has saved thousands of lives from heart failure.
In motorsport news; After a 20-year stint that included eight drivers' titles, Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner has been dumped from the same team he helped turn into a powerhouse.
Overseas, the European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that Russia and its agents engaged in 'manifestly unlawful' conduct when it shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in a missile attack, killing 298 passengers and crew.
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Sky News AU
25 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
‘Terrible lapse of judgement': John Howard blasts PM for not having yet visited US President Donald Trump in Washington
Former prime minister John Howard has called out Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over not having yet visited US President Donald Trump in Washington, labelling it 'terrible lapse of judgement' on Mr Albanese's behalf. Mr Albanese begins a six-day trip to China on Saturday at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang, with talks during the bilateral meeting set to cover trade, tourism, and global and regional issues. The trip, which marks the prime minister's fourth official visit to China, comes amid ongoing criticism directed towards Mr Albanese for not having met with Mr Trump since he was sworn in as the 47th US President in January. Speaking with Sky News, Mr Howard has described the current geopolitical environment as 'unstable' and insisted questions need to be asked about the state of the Australia-United States relationship. In light of Mr Albanese's China visit, Mr Howard said it is 'very important' for Australia to maintain relations with both China and the US, adding that he thought the prime minister's trip to Beijing was 'a good thing'. 'But I think that it's very bad thing, very bad thing, that he's still not had a face-to-face meeting with the new American president. Now that is a terrible lapse of judgement and a bad ordering of priorities,' Mr Howard said. 'I'm not saying that he should insult or ignore the Chinese, far from it... but heavens above. Trump has been the President of the United States since the 20th of January this year, and our prime minister hasn't had a meeting with him.' In light of the cancelled meeting between Mr Albanese and Mr Trump that had been set to go ahead at G7 Summit last month before the US President left the event early, Mr Howard outlined what he said he would do if he was in Mr Albanese's position. 'You just ring up and say, 'I want to come and see you in Washington',' Mr Howard said. '... I used to go to see President Bush, and before that President Clinton, I had good relations with both of them, and I just think it's poor form (from Mr Albanese) to say the least.' The former prime minister then questioned whether Mr Albanese was possibly 'scared of meeting' the US President. 'Is he scared of meeting him? I don't know,' Mr Howard said. Mr Howards comments come after more details were revealed this week about a meeting between Mr Trump and Australia's ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd that took place at the Trump International Golf Course in Florida on January 11. The 'brief' face-to-face encounter occurred just days before Mr Tump's Presidential Inauguration, and answers released on notice from Senate Estimates said a diplomatic cable was sent to Canberra after the meeting. The scrapped talks at the G7 summit, which had been expected to cover key issues including AUKUS and US tariffs on Australian exports, involved months of work for Mr Rudd in securing the meeting.
ABC News
28 minutes ago
- ABC News
One California worker dead and hundreds arrested after cannabis farm raid
A California farm worker has died from injuries sustained a day earlier when US immigration agents raided a cannabis operation, according to a farm worker advocacy group. The raid took place on Thursday, local time, and resulted in the arrest of hundreds of workers, the group said. Separately, a federal judge in California has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt some of its most aggressive tactics in rounding up undocumented immigrants. Dozens of migrant-rights activists faced off with federal agents in rural southern California on Thursday. It was the latest escalation of President Donald Trump's campaign for mass deportations of immigrants in the US illegally. His administration has made conflicting statements about whether immigration agents will target the farm labour workforce, about half of which is unauthorised to work in the US, according to government estimates. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said approximately 200 people in the country illegally were arrested in the raid, which targeted two locations of the cannabis operation Glass House Farms. Agents also found 10 migrant minors at the farm, the department said in an emailed statement. The facility is under investigation for child labour violations, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott posted on X. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The scene at the farm on Thursday was chaotic, with federal agents in helmets and face masks using tear gas and smoke canisters on angry protesters, according to photos and videos of the scene. Several farm workers were injured and one died on Friday from injuries sustained after a 9-metre fall from a building during the raid, said Elizabeth Strater, national vice-president of the United Farm Workers (UFW). The worker who died was identified as Jaime Alanis on a verified GoFundMe page created by his family, who said they were raising money to support themselves and to cover his burial in Mexico. "He was his family's provider. They took one of our family members. We need justice," Alanis's family wrote on the GoFundMe page. US citizens were detained during the raid, and some are still unaccounted-for, Ms Strater said. DHS said its agents were not responsible for the man's death, saying that "although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet". Agents immediately called for a medical evacuation, DHS said. California Rural Legal Assistance, which provides legal services and other support to farm workers, is working on picking up checks for detained Glass House workers, said lawyer Angelica Preciado. Some Glass House workers detained during the raid were only able to call family members after they signed voluntary deportation orders, and were told they could be jailed for life because they worked at a cannabis facility, Ms Preciado said. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin rejected those allegations, saying in an emailed statement that "allegations that ICE or CBP agents denied detainees from calling legal assistance are unequivocally false". Some citizen workers who were detained reported only being released from custody after deleting photos and videos of the raid from their phones, UFW president Teresa Romero said in a statement. Farm groups have warned that mass deportation of farm workers would cripple the country's food supply chain. In her most recent comments, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there would be "no amnesty" for farm workers from deportation. Mr Trump, though, has said migrant workers should be permitted to stay on farms. US District Court Judge Maame Frimpong granted two temporary restraining orders blocking the administration from detaining immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally based on racial profiling and from denying detained people the right to speak with a lawyer. The ruling says the administration is violating the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution by conducting "roving patrols" to sweep up suspected undocumented immigrants based on their being Latinos, and then denying them access to lawyers. "What the federal government would have this Court believe — in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case — is that none of this is actually happening," Judge Frimpong wrote in her ruling. Reuters
The Age
40 minutes ago
- The Age
In relation to the war in Gaza, inaction is consent
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. Inaction is consent On reading the article on East Jerusalem ' There's nothing the world can do about it ' (12/7) I couldn't stop thinking about the words of the man who watched his home be flattened: 'They are trying to break people, they want us to be nothing.' It stayed with me, not just because of its heartbreak, but of how those words contrasted with the voices of those working to make that outcome a reality. Australian-Israeli settler Daniel Luria, who proudly leads Ateret Cohanim's efforts to evict Palestinians and 'reclaim' homes, denies that Palestinians even exist as a people. They are 'illegal squatters'; he praises the use of courts to transfer land, and describes his mission as one of national rebirth. This is a slow-motion war, and it is being waged with bulldozers and land deeds instead of bombs. Australia recognises these settlements as illegal. So why is our outrage so well-mannered? I don't know what the world will do. But I know inaction is a form of consent. Fernanda Trecenti, Fitzroy Treading carefully Our leaders will have to tread carefully in considering any implementation of the points raised in Jillian Segal's antisemitism plan (Editorial, 12/7). The risk here is that a misjudged implementation of such strong measures carries a strong risk of hindering rather than enhancing our quest for continued cultural unity and understanding, which is one of the successful hallmarks of Australian society. Perhaps most difficult of all will be our achieving a better national understanding of the appallingly tragic Gazan situation beginning with an acceptance of the fact that it is this which in large measure lies at the heart of our destabilising antisemitism and Islamophobia. What is needed now is a better understanding of extremism and moderation on all sides in the Middle East – and the problematic role of the West in the Middle East so ably written about by highly regarded British journalist, the late Robert Fisk. So, we must tread carefully here, favouring educative understanding over punitive coercion lest the cure prove to be as bad – or worse – than the complaint. Terry Hewton, Henley Beach South, SA Violence no answer The treatment of non-Jewish residents in East Jerusalem is one ongoing issue within an intractable problem of history, religion and politics. Leaders of Israel and many other countries, plus organisations like Hamas and the PLO, have not done all they could to reach a compromise solution. Jerusalem, a Holy City for Jews, Muslims and Christians, should be under international governance, protecting access for all. A vote on this special status for Jerusalem, was passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947, within a two-state solution. It might not be accepted by the extremists on either side, but there is no realistic alternative. Neither side can ″win″ this forever war with more violence. John Hughes, Mentone Gift status at risk Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal has recommended to the government that deductible gift status should be removed from charitable organisations that promote antisemitism. Amnesty International Medecins Sans Frontieres, and Human Rights Watch have all published lengthy reports finding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Given Segal's adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism that conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the deductible gift status of these independent organisations would be at risk if the government adopted Segal's recommendation.
