‘Socialist’ teachers target eight Victorian Labor MPs including education minister – as it happened

With that, we will wrap the blog for the afternoon. We’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning but until then, enjoy the rest of your Sundays.

Here’s a recap of the major developments of the day:

• The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told Insiders the government isn’t planning to extend the fuel excise relief, due to lapse on ۲ August, as the war in the Middle East drags on.

• Albanese also said he was a supporter of voluntary euthanasia but opposed allowing patients to use telehealth to access it, as the Greens and independent Kate Chaney plan to introduce legislation based on changes to Labor’s national platform.

• Australia is leading the top of the Commonwealth Games table at the pared-back event in Glasgow, with ۱۲ gold and ۲۳ medals overall.

• An internal police investigation has been launched after a bystander was shot during a tense standoff between officers and an armed offender in Cairns.

• And a group of self-described “rebel teachers” in Victoria are running a campaign to target eight sitting Labor MPs, including the minister for education, Ben Carroll, in November’s state election.

Ex-commandos behind army chopper crash memorial

The memorial for the four aviators who died in a helicopter crash was spearheaded by Operation Pilgrimage, an organisation of former commandos.

“The actual anniversary is only two days off. I selected this weekend for that very purpose,” the Operation Pilgrimage chair, Allan Miles, told AAP.

“It’s been a real privilege to be involved in the planning and then doing the hard yards to get it up and running.”

“I was quite lifted that there’s a sense of sadness, of course, but also acknowledgment amongst themselves that something has moved forward,” Miles said.

A Defence Flight Safety Bureau report into the Taipan tragedy found the primary cause of the crash was “spatial disorientation”, which happens when a pilot misperceives the position of an aircraft in relation to the environment.

It concluded the pilots were likely experiencing fatigue levels shown to “impede optimal performance” and increase susceptibility to spatial disorientation.

Earlier in July, a Senate inquiry examining the crash was told regulator Comcare had referred two briefs of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions relating to fatigue management and the TopOwl helmet-mounted display system worn by the pilots.

The regulator was informed by federal prosecutors a year earlier they did not intend to prosecute the defence force because they did not consider there were reasonable prospects of obtaining a conviction.

Comcare’s chief executive, Colin Radford, told the inquiry the regulator believed prosecution should proceed.

The inquiry is due to report in September.

Separate probes are being held by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force and the Queensland coroner.

Memorial unveiled for army chopper crash victims

A memorial for aviators who died in an army helicopter crash is being unveiled almost three years on from the tragedy, AAP reports.

Capt Danniel Lyon, Lt Maxwell Nugent, WO Class Two Joseph Laycock and Cpl Alexander Naggs were killed when their MRH-۹۰ Taipan chopper crashed into waters off Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands during Exercise Talisman Sabre on ۲۸ July ۲۰۲۳.

Their loved ones joined Queensland’s governor, Jeannette Young, at Airlie Beach’s Shute harbour on Sunday for the official unveiling of a memorial commemorating the men’s lives. The project was spearheaded by Operation Pilgrimage, an organisation of former commandos. Whitsundays regional council supported the initiative and successfully lobbied for a Queensland government grant.

The crew, from the Sydney-based ۶th Aviation Regiment, were flying in a helicopter given the call-sign Bushman ۸۳ when it crashed during a training exercise. Nineteen family members of the Bushman ۸۳ crew have flown in from Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and other parts of the country for the event and gathered for a group dinner on Saturday night.

It is estimated almost ۵۰ Australian Defence Force members have died in training activities in the past ۳۰ years.

The US-Israeli war with Iran will probably drive petrol prices above $ ۲ a litre in the coming weeks, but the government has no plans to extend its fuel excise relief when it ends in a week.

AAP reports:

Fuel excise relief for motorists is unlikely to be extended despite the war in the Middle East flaring up.

The Labor government halved the fuel excise for three months from April in response to rising prices as a result of the US-Israeli war with Iran, saving drivers ۳۲ cents a litre on fuel.

The measure was extended for a further month in July, but at a reduced rate of ۱۶ cents per litre.

The extension is due to lapse on ۲ August.

Fresh tensions between the US and Iran have caused Brent crude oil prices to rise to more than $US۱۰۰ a barrel, but Anthony Albanese has indicated continued excise relief is not on the cards.

“That’s not in our planning at this point in time,” the prime minister told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

“(Fuel) usage has come down and is indeed lower than it was a year ago as well, but importantly as well, we have kept supply going.”

Albanese indicated some fuel-related measures were in the pipeline.

“We’ll have some more announcements about fuel in the coming days and weeks as well,” he said.

“We’ll continue to examine things that were in that process in the budget.”

Drivers have been warned petrol prices could reach more than $۲ a litre as the excise discount is wound back.

Average prices for unleaded petrol have climbed to more than $۱.۸۰ per litre in all state capitals in recent days, up from about $۱.۵۰ at the end of June.

The jump in oil prices comes as Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations on the coast of the Red Sea and Tehran attempted to shut down shipments through the strait of Hormuz again.

US strikes have recommenced in response to Iranian attacks on vessels travelling through the strait, a key oil transit route.

Albanese said a continuation of the conflict would lead to economic pressure.

“The war is having an impact here in Australia and the longer it goes, the bigger the impact will be,” he said.

“This is a war on the other side of the world.

“We are not protagonists in it, but we are impacted by it, and we’ve consistently called for a de-escalation.”

‘Awkward’ selection drama won’t derail Aussie sprinters

Rohan Browning has put the Commonwealth Games track selection drama in the rear vision mirror as he seeks to spearhead Australia’s sprint charge in Glasgow.

The ۲۸-year-old former national champion was picked alongside the current title holder, Lachie Kennedy, and Kiwi defector Eddie Nketia in a three-pronged ۱۰۰m assault.

It begins on Monday at Scotstoun Stadium, with the men’s ۱۰۰m heats among the first events on the Games athletics program before nine finals are contested in the evening session. Australia’s ۱۰۰m selection call sparked a challenge from Josh Azzopardi, whose appeal, heard by the National Sports Tribunal, was ultimately unsuccessful.

Azzopardi said he felt “absolutely robbed” by the decision, but hoped it wouldn’t dent the mood in an Australian camp eyeing unprecedented track success at the Games. It appears there are no hard feelings from Browning, who is adamant the saga hasn’t dampened his relationship with Azzopardi.

The pair are both part of Australia’s five-man ۴x۱۰۰m relay squad in Glasgow, and worked together at training camps in Italy and Spain in the lead-up to the Games. “The nature of going through an appeal process can make this feel a little personal, but ultimately it’s not,” Browning told AAP.

-AAP

Tom McIlroy

Labor under pressure to allow telehealth for euthanasia but PM opposed

Labor will come under pressure to implement changes to its national policy platform and allow Australians to access voluntary assisted dying through telehealth services, with the Greens and independent MP Kate Chaney to introduce legislation.

This week’s Labor national conference in Adelaide changed the party’s platform and committed to overturn a Howard-era law banning people from having medical appointments regarding euthanasia via telehealth services.

New language added to the platform suggests Labor MPs would have a conscience vote on the issue, but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Sunday the government might not progress laws through parliament.

Read the story here:

Rate watchers eye inflation data and RBA chief’s speech

Economists are awaiting key quarterly inflation data but expect the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates despite renewed fighting in the Middle East sending oil prices up again. The Australian Bureau of Statistics will publish the consumer price index’s second quarter on Wednesday, which shows household inflation.

The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, will also speak in Sydney on Tuesday, with her speech to be closely watched for indicators on how the central bank intends to approach inflation risks.

Taylor Nugent, a NAB senior economist, says the bank does not believe another rate rise is likely in ۲۰۲۶ despite oil prices rising again due to tensions between the US and Iran.

Our position is there will be enough confidence in growth slowing in the labour market so that rates don’t need to be tightened further.

That’s despite risks such as elevated inflation, renewed cost pressures and new oil price levels. The Reserve Bank’s board will next meet in more than two weeks, with the Commonwealth Bank noting the “backdrop shifting rapidly”.

The housing market has deteriorated, household spending is slowing from the elevated pace seen earlier this year and businesses’ capacity to pass on higher costs is likely weaker following three interest rate hikes.

The Reserve Bank was expected to keep rates on hold for the remainder of ۲۰۲۶, the CBA said.

-AAP

An internal police investigation has been launched after a bystander was allegedly shot during a tense standoff between officers and an armed offender, AAP reports.

The woman was one of two people allegedly shot by police in Cairns, in north Queensland, on Saturday night. Ethical standards are investigating the incident after a woman was allegedly hit by a stray bullet when officers opened fire on an armed offender.

Police had been called to Benjamina Street in the southern Cairns suburb of Mount Sheridan, about ۵.۱۰pm on Saturday after reports of a man armed with knives and an attempted armed robbery. They found the ۲۸-year-old man at a roundabout and shot him.

The state’s police minister, Dan Purdie, was reluctant to comment in detail on the shooting as it was under investigation, but said he had seen footage. He told reporters on Sunday:

They are highly trained. They do have equipment, and I’m sure some of those operational matters have probably all been answered by the police this morning. I acknowledge the situations, the dangerous situations, police have put themselves in.

It’s the second high-profile Queensland police shooting in three days. It follows the shooting of a police officer and the death of a man after a domestic dispute at Yengarie, near Maryborough, on the state’s Fraser Coast, on Friday evening.

The ethical standards command is investigating the incident, with oversight from the Crime and Corruption Commission, and it will be reported to the coroner.

Homicide police investigating after woman found dead in Melbourne home

In Victoria, homicide squad detectives are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found at a home in Melbourne yesterday.

In a statement, Victoria police said the ۷۳-year-old woman was found dead inside a Fitzroy North home about ۱am.

The cause of death is yet to be determined. An investigation into the suspicious death is ongoing.

Why are Labor women overlooked as Albanese’s potential successor?

On Thursday, Kate Ellis was elevated to become Labor’s national president, leading for the first time an all-female team at the top of the party’s organisational wing, with two female vice-presidents.

The former Rudd and Gillard government minister joins the Australian Council of Trade Unions president, Sally McManus, and its secretary, Michele O’Neill, as some of the most powerful members of the labour movement.

But as the federal caucus, again for the first time, has more women than men, they barely get a mention in discussions about who will succeed Anthony Albanese.

Read the piece from Krishani Dhanji here:

Tom McIlroy

Albanese dodges questions on Point Piper dinner with donors hosted by billionaire’s son

Anthony Albanese has tried to avoid answering questions about a Labor fundraising dinner hosted by the son of a Chinese billionaire under scrutiny from the tax office.

Felix Lee, the son of Chinese billionaire high roller Phillip Dong Fang Lee, hosted the prime minister at a dinner at a Sydney mansion, reportedly attended by the Commonwealth Bank boss, Matt Comyn, the former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, the former Asic chair James Shipton and former Future Fund boss David Murray.

Asked directly by the ABC’s David Speers if he attended the Point Piper event, Albanese said: “I attend lots of functions.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week that Phillip Lee had been investigated by the ATO over large sums of money coming from China to Australia.

Speers eventually asked the PM: “Why don’t you want to answer that?”

Albanese, talking in Adelaide on Saturday night, replied: “Well, I do, you just said that that occurred. You know, that’s fine. I attend lots of dinners, in lots of places, and I don’t talk about private dinners. I have held a number this week here in Adelaide as well.”

Asked whether it was appropriate for Labor to fundraise from families under scrutiny by authorities, Albanese said he was “not aware of those issues”.

I attend a lot of meetings, functions, with lots of people. I mean, talking about people’s relatives, even removed from that.