Latest news with #DFAT
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Prime suspect in horrific cold case murder of 23-year-old woman is mysteriously found dead in Thailand
The suspected killer of a young woman whose partially burned body was found in bushland in NSW more than 20 years ago has been found dead in Thailand. Accused serial rapist and murderer Kevin Steven Correll, 69, died while on holiday in the South East Asian country last week. Correll was identified by police as the most likely to have killed 23-year-old car saleswoman Rachelle Childs on June 8 in 2001. Police did not charge anyone over her murder after the early investigation was repeatedly botched. Ms Child's body was found dumped in bushland in Gerroa, south of Sydney, about 100km away from her home. Unleaded petrol had been poured over her face and other parts of her body in what had been an apparent attempt to hide DNA evidence. She was found partially undressed and was likely either smothered or strangled to death. Authorities in Thailand have said the details surrounding the death of Correll remain a mystery. A member of Correll's family said police turned up to his son Mitchell's house to inform them an autopsy that was already underway. 'Not sorry he's gone just sorry that Rachelle's family aren't going to get the justice that they so deserve,' they told the Daily Telegraph. His estranged daughter, Jazz, found out her father was dead after speaking to her brother on the phone Saturday. 'I feel sad for his many victims,' she told the publication. Consular assistance is being provided to Correll's family in Australia, a DFAT spokesman confirmed. Many believe the initial police investigation into Ms Child's death had been thoroughly mishandled by local police before they handed it off to homicide detectives. Local police lost a crucial piece of CCTV footage which showed Ms Childs with what could have been her murderer at a petrol station on the night of her death. Other mistakes by the police unit included one officer who contaminated DNA found on a bedsheet in her car and others who did not collect her phone records properly. Correll was Ms Child's boss at the used car dealership, Camden Holden, where they both worked when she died. He was voluntarily questioned on three occasions by police regarding her death but detectives were unable to gather enough evidence to convict him. This is despite the fact that his alibi for the night of Ms Child's death could not be corroborated. Correll had previously been in court accused of rape. In once incident in the 1980s a woman's screams attracted police, who found him with his pants down, and she told them she was being assaulted. Correll was charged but a jury found him not guilty later in court. He had three other women also accused him of rape in separate incidents but was found not guilty in court. In the 1980s personal attacks against alleged victims in the witness box over their clothing or dating history was common. Another of his accusers said he had threatened her with a knife and threatened to kill her children. Correll was one of the last people to see Ms Childs alive when she left work the day before her death. Other employees recalled her telling them she was going to meet up with someone at the Bargo Hotel that evening but she did not say who it was. There was no CCTV inside the hotel and police did not manage to question everyone who was there on that night. After the meet Ms Childs rang her sister for a brief chat which was the last anybody ever heard from her. A motorist who was driving along the road where Ms Childs was found recalled to police having seen a 1978 Holden Commodore matching the description of the one she owned. The car was parked off the highway about 200m away from where Ms Childs was found the following day around 10.20pm on June 7. Another witness recalled seeing the car later with its boot open in the same location at 11pm. They told police there had been one person standing up next to the car while a second person was lying on the ground. Correll's alibi was that he drove from Camden to Campbelltown to meet his partner on June 7. He had been in a three-month long-distance relationship with a Thai woman when he died.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Australia's reckoning with Indigenous people takes one cultural glide forward, two political steps back
For several decades First Nations artists have done much of the heavy lifting in Australian cultural diplomacy. And now Wesley Enoch as chair of Creative Australia has to fix a damaged sector. Archie Moore, Tracey Moffatt, Warwick Thornton, Deborah Mailman, William Barton, Tony Albert, Judy Watson, David Gulpilil, Christian Thompson, Ivan Sen, Emily Kam Kngwarray, to name just some of the many who have won accolades for their stunning, original work and taken their place at the peaks of cultural power and influence. Winning hearts and changing minds as they went. Not so long ago this suggested a long overdue reckoning with the First Peoples; a reckoning that the rest of the world was watching in the detached way that those who can be bothered note what is happening elsewhere. Australia is diffident about cultural diplomacy, reluctant to exercise its soft power (in anything other than sport), as the abandonment of ABC Asia Pacific TV demonstrated – although the ABC has since revamped its international service. The global celebration of First Nations artists was a powerful way of showing that modern Australia had thrown off its colonial legacy, had grown into a truly mature and reconciled nation and come to terms with the ancient human heritage that makes it truly unique. Creative Australia put First Nations stories first in its strategic priorities, Dfat's cultural grants emphasised the persuasive power of 65,000 years of unique civilisation, and Australia lobbied hard for Unesco recognition of cultural heritage at Gunditjmara and now Murujuga. Yet as we approach the second anniversary of the decision by most Australians to reject meaningful recognition of First Peoples, the tension at the heart of this international celebration of the talent, stories and unique ways of seeing, being and doing comes clearly into focus. Is it simple hypocrisy or the old Australian way – one glide forward, two quick steps back? There are markers. The silence about discussing the referendum or to even consider national truth-telling. The ratty politics rejecting welcomes to country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. The patchy reporting of the coronial findings of institutional racism in the NT Police and the Yoorrook inquiry's findings of historic genocide. The federal court's hand-wringing decision that accepted government policies caused wilful destruction of culture and environment in the Torres Strait Islands but that it was unable to do anything about it. These recent events suggest that coming to terms with the enduring impact of the past is at best the latter, two quick steps back. At worst, to me, it suggests further signs of what Jeremy Bentham once called an 'incurable flaw'. All this came to mind as I stood outside Tate Modern waiting in line under an unusually hot summer sun for my bag to be checked. My English friend and I were on our way to the third floor of the vast former turbine to see the Emily Kam Kngwarray exhibition. 'Why is it on now?' he asked. He knows Australia, has spent time in central Australia and understood how the voice referendum hung heavily there. It's a reasonable question. And there are many answers. Some practical, others freighted with meaning. The director of the Tate told the press it was part of her plan to celebrate older female artists who should be considered great masters (mistresses?). The art press buzzed that this was one of three major exhibitions of Indigenous artists in London this summer – the others from Canada and Peru. Indigeneity is 'a thing'. The collaboration to celebrate the 'old lady's' work between the Tate, National Gallery of Australia and the women of Alhalker country began not long after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, declared there would be a referendum to secure meaningful recognition of First Peoples in the Australian constitution. These big retrospective shows are years in the making, especially ones that require the active involvement of local communities as well as major galleries and high-profile owners around the world. When the extraordinary show first opened in Canberra just months after the vote, there was sadness about what might have been, about how the exhibition might have celebrated a new beginning. In London two years later, this is a barely acknowledged backdrop. Those seeing her work for the first time grapple with what it represents, how someone who only started painting in her 70s produced work as fresh and innovative as any major 20th-century artist – but how it grew out of her knowledge, skill and dreaming. Like all great artists the work is truly hers, grounded in her unique perspective. What comes as a surprise, to those who have only seen her images in books and posters, is their three-dimensional quality. Kngwarray layered paint to evoke stories of such extraordinary depth that they carry a fourth dimension of infinite time, 'everywhen'. It invites the viewer into a unique way of seeing and being. Another Australian artist is also celebrated on level 3 of the Tate. Leigh Bowery, who in his short life became a London gay style icon. Both Emily and Leigh speak to a distinctive Australian sensibility and energy. They prove that from an unlikely starting point anything is possible. Answering my friend's question, I said I wished the curators had projected The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, where flamboyant gay culture meets the outback, on the wall between the two iconoclastic Australians, to help viewers literally join the dots between the two exhibitions. Culture is complicated, cultural diplomacy can take time, but culture might still lead politics. Julianne Schultz an emeritus professor at Griffith University and the author of The Idea of Australia
The Age
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Four in five Tuvaluans apply to move to Australia. Frayzel is among them
The great climate migration of the 21st century has begun, with 80 per cent of the population of tiny Tuvalu entering a lottery to migrate to Australia. Midnight on Friday was the deadline for the Pacific island nation's 10,643 citizens to enter a ballot for a permanent residency visa. As of Friday afternoon, 8074 people in 2278 family groups had applied, in what the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade called 'an incredibly positive uptake'. Just 280 places are available in the first year. The Tuvalu figures are on top of the 56,000 people from other Pacific nations who applied for 3000 places in the broader ballot for the Pacific engagement visa last year. The next round is due to open soon. One of the applicants in the Tuvaluan lottery is Frayzel Uale, 18, who moved to Melbourne four years ago with his family when his mother came on a student visa. Uale, who is working a packing job while studying information technology, remembers his homeland as 'peaceful and joyful' and still feels connected to his culture, but he doesn't see a future for himself in Tuvalu. 'There are more opportunities here,' Uale said. 'I hear stories from Tuvalu about how the weather's been changing a lot lately, with king tides going up, the streets are sometimes covered in water, and erosion is happening everywhere. Tuvalu has contributed so little to climate change, but we are one of the most affected countries.' Tuvalu is a low-lying atoll nation, like Kiribati and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, facing an imminent existential threat as sea levels rise. Loading The visa is part of the Falepili Union Treaty, which also includes a security pact and climate mitigation to support Tuvaluans to stay in their homeland. DFAT says that in 2025-26, an estimated $47 million in development support will contribute to important climate adaptation, telecommunications, infrastructure, health and education projects in Tuvalu.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Four in five Tuvaluans apply to move to Australia. Frayzel is among them
The great climate migration of the 21st century has begun, with 80 per cent of the population of tiny Tuvalu entering a lottery to migrate to Australia. Midnight on Friday was the deadline for the Pacific island nation's 10,643 citizens to enter a ballot for a permanent residency visa. As of Friday afternoon, 8074 people in 2278 family groups had applied, in what the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade called 'an incredibly positive uptake'. Just 280 places are available in the first year. The Tuvalu figures are on top of the 56,000 people from other Pacific nations who applied for 3000 places in the broader ballot for the Pacific engagement visa last year. The next round is due to open soon. One of the applicants in the Tuvaluan lottery is Frayzel Uale, 18, who moved to Melbourne four years ago with his family when his mother came on a student visa. Uale, who is working a packing job while studying information technology, remembers his homeland as 'peaceful and joyful' and still feels connected to his culture, but he doesn't see a future for himself in Tuvalu. 'There are more opportunities here,' Uale said. 'I hear stories from Tuvalu about how the weather's been changing a lot lately, with king tides going up, the streets are sometimes covered in water, and erosion is happening everywhere. Tuvalu has contributed so little to climate change, but we are one of the most affected countries.' Tuvalu is a low-lying atoll nation, like Kiribati and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, facing an imminent existential threat as sea levels rise. Loading The visa is part of the Falepili Union Treaty, which also includes a security pact and climate mitigation to support Tuvaluans to stay in their homeland. DFAT says that in 2025-26, an estimated $47 million in development support will contribute to important climate adaptation, telecommunications, infrastructure, health and education projects in Tuvalu.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Australian aid projects in limbo after Trump administration scrapped USAID, FOI reveals
Two Australian-backed aid projects were left in limbo when the United States government cut USAID funding, slashing billions of dollars of aid worldwide. Freedom of Information (FOI) documents obtained by the ABC show Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials sought details on what projects would be affected by Donald Trump's decision to close USAID. The documents show USAID was "holding funds" paid by Australia for two separate aid projects. A total of $1.5 million given to USAID to help deliver a clean drinking water project in Indonesia was returned to DFAT on June 12 this year. Details of the other project were redacted from the documents obtained by the ABC due to including "material in the nature of opinions and recommendations in relation to the department's deliberative processes", DFAT said. Former World Vision Australia CEO Reverend Tim Costello said he was "so glad that Australian taxpayers' money came back" but said the situation had been a close call for DFAT. "[Donald] Trump and [Elon] Musk destroyed USAID and it is going to cost 15 million lives by 2030. Having Australian taxpayers' dollars lost in that would have been an insult to injury," he said. The ABC's FOI request to DFAT specifically asked for: "All documents relating to the transfer of DFAT funds to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)." The Indonesia water project was set up as a Delegated Cooperation Arrangement, DFAT said. These arrangements allow governments "to delegate support to another donor partner", while "the lead donor holds the contractual relationship with the implementing partner for the program, and funds them directly", DFAT added. In this Indonesia project, Australia contributed more money but USAID took the lead on the ground, the FOI documents show. DFAT told the ABC that such arrangements were "common practice". But Rev Costello said he wasn't aware that direct funding being made to USAID was common practice. "I was surprised by that," he said, but added "there is a lot of cooperation between them [DFAT and USAID]". "I didn't know that we directly funded USAID but I assume it's joint projects and I know that the humanitarian sector see many donor governments working in cooperation," he added. Rev Costello said it would have been a "sobering lesson" for DFAT to have to ask for the money to be returned. Research Associate at the Lowy Institute's Indo-Pacific Development Centre, Grace Stanhope, said financial cooperation with other bilateral government agencies was "really quite rare". "I suspect we do cooperate fairly often with the US but it just happens through a third-party," she added. Ms Stanhope said $1.5m was a small amount of money in the context of Australia's total aid spending. But she said it was important it was returned. DFAT acted as co-donor for the Indonesia Urban Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Activity, which was also known as IUWASH Tangguh. The project aimed to increase access to "poor-inclusive, climate-resilient, safely managed drinking water and sanitation services" in Indonesia. USAID was the lead donor, which meant it took the lead in implementing the project and agreed to "administer and manage the contribution of DFAT", according to the signed arrangement document. As seen in the plans in the FOI documents, Australia agreed to commit a total of $2.9 million ($US1.9 million) while USAID agreed to pay $US408,861.96. Only $1.5 million was ever actually sent to USAID from DFAT. The second payment of $1.4 million was cancelled following USAID's shutdown. USAID made the privately held development company Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) the implementing partner for the project. A spokesperson from DAI confirmed to the ABC that the "IUWASH Tangguh was among those DAI projects terminated". The spokesperson added the project was scheduled to run until March 2027, but was unable to comment on the amount of funds unspent. This program was one of "many programs in the region that have been impacted by USAID cuts", chief of policy and advocacy at Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), Jessica Mackenzie, said. ACFID is an Australian non-government organisation involved in international development and aid. "Water, sanitation and hygiene programs are core to development programming and help change lives," Ms Mackenzie added. Ms Mackenzie added that Australia often worked with like-minded partners on development programs and "Australia has jointly funded numerous development projects with USAID, especially in the Pacific". She added that there has been a shift away from joint funding in recent years as countries are "driven by a desire for more direct control over aid delivery". "Though with decreasing humanitarian funding in 2025, after significant donor cuts, we may see more pooled funds emerging soon," Ms Mackenzie added. Ms Stanhope said that while this incident would likely make DFAT "pause before doing joint projects bilaterally" going forward, she "wouldn't want this to become a reason for DFAT to do less co-financing". "I think the bigger picture is that especially in Asia and the Pacific, lots of donors doing lots of small projects leads to aid fragmentation and inefficiencies and duplication of projects," she said. "Something that we should be doing more of is co-financing with other implementing agencies and only when it's sensible."
