Australia news live: royal commission hears NSW health system ‘not safe’ for Jewish people; beehives worth $150,000 allegedly stolen from rural property

Queensland premier David Crisafulli has ruled out a cabinet reshuffle during a 22 minute grilling by the state press gallery over allegations of an undisclosed affair between two of his ministers.

Crisafulli and deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie invited the media pack to a location overlooking an island of inner city green – Victoria Park – slated to become an Olympic precinct on Thursday, a day after the federal environmental department gave a green light to a proposed 63,000 seat stadium.

But after only one question about Victoria Park the premier was asked about “more pressing matters”: the relationship between Olympic minister Tim Mander and child safety minister Amanda Camm.

Allegations that Bleijie described as “salacious” have swirled since the weekend around the status of their on again off again relationship – which began as an extramarital affair– and their adherence to the ministerial code of conduct, which obliges them to declare conflicts of interests such as personal ties, after the emergence of a letter from Mander’s sister-in-law that contradicted the couple’s timeline.

Both have said they were “categorically not in a relationship” when sworn in as ministers after the LNP was voted into government in late 2024, and made it known to the integrity watchdog when they rekindled their romance last June.

Crisafulli repeatedly said his ministers had assured him they had abided by that code.

He said:

But I’ll say it again … if you believe that isn’t the case: come forward to the authorities, or to me personally, and I assure you I will act on it.

Asked if the affair was damaging his leadership, Crisafulli replied that he was “pretty confident that what we’re doing in Queensland at the moment is showing we’re heading in the right direction” – and pointed to an upcoming byelection which would prove “a test of both my leadership and the opposition’s leadership”.

Lack of agreement in Senate inquiry into new gas exports tax

A Senate inquiry into a new gas tax has failed to land a set of recommendations despite mounting support for a new 25% export levy.

But the government has indicated it is open to changes in the future, with Labor senators calling for a review of various options once the Middle East conflict subsides.

The inquiry’s final report was tabled on Thursday afternoon without any formal recommendations due to a lack of agreement from committee members.

In additional comments to the report, the Greens – whose resources spokesperson Steph Hodgins-May chaired the inquiry – reiterated their support for a 25% tax on export revenue to replace the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT). The independent senator David Pocock also backed a 25% export tax.

Hodgins-May wrote:

The time is now. The experts say we need it. The public wants it. The government should cut the crap and just do it.

In its response to the inquiry, the Labor committee members said issues with the PRRT and the “relatively low” levels of tax collected from the resources warranted further examination.

The Labor senators Varun Ghosh and Lisa Darmanin recommended that once the international oil crisis has passed, the Treasury and the Productivity Commission should examine the various tax proposals raised in the inquiry – presumably including the 25% export tax.

They wrote:

The current global energy supply crisis, and the heightened importance of regional energy partnerships, make this an inopportune time for precipitate or sudden changes in Australia’s tax regime on gas resources. Nevertheless, the situation does not prevent the consideration of questions of tax policy or possible future areas for reform once the exigencies of the current crisis have passed.

Psychologist tells inquiry of Jewish patients facing harassment and children asking ‘why do they hate us?’

“So many” Jewish Australians are seeking psychological help for harassment and exclusion, the antisemitism royal commission has heard.

Sarah, a clinical psychologist who declined to share her surname, said she had heard “frightening” incidents of harassment and psychological harm as she sees patients. She said:

Now, I have so many people that I’m seeing currently that are not welcome anymore in academic spaces or in places of profession. … I’m one of those people people go see. And part of it is because it’s a really hard time at the moment to function and there’s a lot to unpack that we don’t understand.

Sarah said Jewish children who were her patients had asked her “Why do they hate us?”:

When a nine year old comes and asks: ‘Why do they hate us? Why do I have to hide my uniform? What is it about me that they don’t like, what have I done?’ … the only thing that you can do is, ‘there isn’t a good enough reason,’ but when they then go, ‘but why doesn’t anybody stand up for us?’

She said she had also been in a Facebook group of about 2,500 clinical psychologists, which had been mostly apolitical for a decade until 7 October 2023. Members calling for support for Palestine clashed with Jewish colleagues and accused them of taking “the side of the oppressor”, Sarah said.

I left the group and a number of other clinicians have as well. That no longer became a safe place for us.

Hello, I’ll now be with you for the next little while.

That’s all for me. Jordyn Beazley will take things from here. Take care!

Publisher Allen & Unwin exploring ways to cut ties with Craig Silvey

The curriculum bans come as publisher Allen & Unwin released a statement on Wednesday afternoon announcing it is reviewing ways to sever its relationship with the author:

While legal proceedings were underway, Allen & Unwin paused the sale, distribution and promotion of Mr Silvey’s work.

Following Mr Silvey’s plea, Allen & Unwin will review all available steps it can take to end its relationship with the author.

Major Australian bookstores, including Dymocks, QBD, and Readings, have also pulled his books from their shelves.

Craig Silvey’s books permanently removed from public school curriculums across Australia

State education departments across Australia have moved to permanently remove disgraced author Craig Silvey’s books from public school curriculums following his admission to child exploitation charges.

In Western Australia the education minister, Sabine Winton, confirmed on Wednesday that Silvey’s work would be permanently struck from the state’s curriculum, upgrading a temporary removal enacted when the author was first charged in January.

The New South Wales department of education said its public schools stopped using Silvey’s texts and removed his titles from both their library collections and the Premier’s Reading Challenge list when the allegations first came to light. A spokesperson confirmed the state has “no plans to reinstate any texts”.

In Victoria, a state education department spokesperson said that teaching resources for Silvey’s book Runt were “immediately removed” from circulation when he was charged, adding that his texts were not on VCE literature lists. “Our thoughts are with the alleged victims,” they said.

Meanwhile, a Queensland department of education spokesperson confirmed that no Silvey books are on the state’s prescribed text list.

Jewish group never needed to run community support campaign until 7 October, organiser says

Jewish Australians had never needed broad community support campaigns until 7 October 2023, a community organiser has said.

Lynda Ben-Menashe has told the antisemitism royal commission she had been working with the NSW Jewish board of deputies in education and building Australia’s social cohesion but had had to put that work aside after antisemitism surged in 2023.
She said:

Our ability to do that work to build Australia was curtailed to a huge extent because we had to look after our Jewish community …

That was really important work for me and for them, building a network of Australian leaders who knew each other, understood each other, wanted to contribute to the country, and so on. And that’s the sort of work we can’t do right now. We can’t focus on domestic violence right now because we’ve got to work out how to deal with the hate speech and violence being directed to us right now.

Ben-Menashe said she had never had to dedicate resources to supporting the Jewish community until 7 October 2023, when she began organising workshops in community members’ homes which have continued to this day.

We literally had never been in this position before. So we didn’t know what to do. And I just made it up really as we went along … I mean, yesterday, I had three calls from Jewish women asking about how to navigate something that was happening in their life right now. It was about 5,000 people over 103 sessions since October 7 that we’ve done so far.

NSW police are appealing for information after dozens of beehives were allegedly stolen from a property in the state’s Northern Tablelands.

Officials said the beehives – 80 boxes in total, worth about $150,000 – were taken some time between 31 March and 6 May from a rural property about 15km west of Bonshaw village, 100km from Glen Innes.

The boxes are described as cream in colour with blue baseboards, blue and white lids and red, clear boards. They were full of bee colonies.

Police have begun an investigation into the alleged theft and are asking for anyone with footage or information of the incident to contact them.

NSW premier denies making phone call at centre of alleged donations scandal

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has denied making a secret phone call about what to do with undeclared donations amid reports the state’s election watchdog has reopened an investigation into the decade-old incident.

Last year, a former NSW Labor staffer gave secret evidence to an upper house parliamentary committee claiming that he was phoned in 2014 by Minns, then a candidate for the seat of Kogarah, asking what to do with thousands of dollars from a fundraiser at the Sunny Harbour Seafood restaurant in Hurstville after he and his campaign allegedly staff failed to keep a record of the sources.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that the NSW Electoral Commission (EC) had reopened its investigation, closed in 2023, and was conducting interviews about the donations.

Asked today if he or his staff were being interviewed as part of a potential investigation, Minns said:

Look, I’m in a difficult position, I can’t comment about ongoing investigations, whether they’re taking place or not, so, but I would say that I absolutely reject any suggestions I’ve committed any offence in relation to this or any other electoral matter.

… More specifically, I specifically reject any suggestion of a phone conversation with an individual suggesting that I was part of some conspiracy relating to donations and having them apply or sneak through the Electoral Commission.

The NSW EC declined to comment or confirm whether it was conducting an investigation, as per its compliance and enforcement publication policy.

Former Age editor says it’s a ‘failure of journalism’ that Jewish stories were not heard until royal commission

Michael Gawenda, the former editor-in-chief of the Age newspaper, has said surprise at the Jewish people’s testimony to the royal commission showed the Australian media had failed to cover antisemitism.

Gawenda said, as he had entered the royal commission today to give evidence, a reporter told him they had not until this week’s testimony been aware of Jewish people’s experiences of abuse. Gawenda said:

This is a failure of journalism. Why weren’t these stories told before? Why was there a need to have a royal commission to tell these stories? … The excuse cannot be that they didn’t have the journalists to do it.

He went on:

How is it possible that a journalist [didn’t know]? … I know how it’s possible: because the media didn’t cover these issues.

Gawenda said he believed the Australian media had minimised antisemitism and could start to deny opportunities to reporters who did not oppose Israel.

My concern is that there’ll be this bar, that if you’re a journalist, Jewish or not Jewish, who supports the state of Israel or is not an anti-Zionist, you’re unlikely to get a job.

Israeli musician had to stop performing after cancellation campaign, royal commission hears

An Israeli musician in Australia had to stop performing after facing efforts to cancel his shows and being told he was a “baby killer”, the royal commission into antisemitism has heard.

The man, who spoke under the pseudonym ABK, moved to Australia in 2020 after completing his compulsory military service in the Israeli Defence Force. He said:

I’m very proud of my service. Back in my service, I saved a lot of innocent lives, Palestinians and a lot of other innocent lives of different countries that I’m not allowed to say.

He is a multi-instrumentalist who collaborated with other musicians in Australia and sings in different languages including Hebrew and English, he said. He was in Israel on 7 October 2023 while visiting family. He said:

I lost full trust. My first anger was towards the Israeli government, as that was my absolutely personal feelings, and since then it’s obviously a much more complicated matter.

When he returned to Australia, he played a show in Melbourne, where he said a few attenders began shouting “free Palestine” at him. He said:

We didn’t expect to have something like that, obviously, after what happened.

His efforts to arrange an Israeli-themed night he had previously run in Australia were rejected, he said. He was told people were contacting venues to cancel his shows and he began receiving online messages describing him and his band as “genocide supporters” and “baby killers”. Photos of him in his Israeli Defence Force uniform were posted online, which he said he believed were hacked from his personal social media.

ASX continues upswing as Iran mulls US peace proposal

The Australian share market is on track for a second straight session of gains, as oil prices eased on hopes of a potential peace deal between the United States and Iran, AAP reports.

The S&P/ASX200 gained 0.85% by noon as the broader All Ordinaries gained 0.89%. The continued upswing followed a positive session on Wall Street, following reports that the US had proposed a memorandum of understanding to Iran to end the war.

Energy stocks tumbled 3.1% as Brent crude fell to US$101.50 a barrel, dropping more than 10% since Tuesday and weighing on oil and gas giants Woodside and Santos.

The Australian dollar was buying US72.47 cents, up slightly from US72.30 cents on Wednesday at 5pm, buoyed by improving risk sentiment and a weaker greenback.

Gas companies will be forced to set aside 20% of export volumes for domestic use under a reservation scheme designed to shore up supplies and bring down prices for households and businesses on the east coast.

The federal government announced the final design of the gas reservation on Thursday after consultation with industry and other stakeholders.

More frosty scenes this morning, this time from Falls Creek, Victoria. A light dusting of snow fell over the village this morning, with local temperatures dipping as low as -5.6C overnight.

A nurse manager for a New South Wales health district has said her department has left the healthcare system “not safe for Jewish people”.

The Sydney resident and dual Australian-Israeli citizen, under the pseudonym “AAV”, told the antisemitism royal commission her cousin was killed and was the last hostage to be returned to Israel after being taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

AAV said she put posters of the hostages on the wall in her office space in the hospital, and wore a necklace and yellow ribbon in memory of the hostages in the weeks after the attack. She said her manager told her to remove them “because of the likelihood of them upsetting or offending other people”.

As recently as December 2025, her request to share a “happy Hanukah” message was rejected by her hospital’s media team over sensitivities about the Gaza war, she said, adding:

NSW Health …. having tolerated this behaviour, it means that the health care system is not only not safe for Jewish people. It’s potentially not safe for anyone that comes from some sort of diverse background.”

AAV said some of her colleagues in NSW Health had made offensive comments to her:

They’ll pass me in a corridor and just sort of say, ‘Oh shame on you’ or ‘you must be really ashamed to belong to a group of child killers’. I’ve also been called Zionist scum. I’ve had staff pass me and try to justify the response of Hamas on Israel. … It made me feel very targeted, at times very disempowered.

Jewish climate justice director was encouraged to resign, royal commission hears

Stephanie Cunio, a Sephardi and Mizrahi Jew, has told the antisemitism royal commission she felt she had to step down from her role in a climate group after 7 October 2023.

Cunio said she had been a board member on an environmental non-government organisation, which she chose not to name. After Hamas’ attack, younger and migrant members of the climate movement argued with leaders and older members to advocate for Palestine, while the board began meeting without her, she said. Cunio said:

I got called up by a board member and the board member said: ‘I know this is getting very difficult for you, um, you know, maybe you should consider leaving.’

She compared her reaction to a previous experience of sexual harassment:

You know what to say but the words don’t come out. The words are: ‘Actually, you need to keep me safe. I’m a board member and I deserve safety’ … It all really got too much so I did what I was advised and it was very liberating.

Cunio said she had also founded a chat group to organise climate activists of diverse backgrounds but felt she had to leave the chat after 7 October when the members began speaking about Israel’s response with no acknowledgment of the 1,200 people killed.

She said Jewish people were seen as “white” and separate to multicultural Australia:

I really enjoyed being in solidarity with these people … it was really heartbreaking.

No timeline on fixing controversial job ready graduates scheme, Labor says

The education minister, Jason Clare, says he has no timeline on fixing the job ready graduates program, despite repeatedly calling the controversial Morrison-era scheme a “failure” in its attempt to discourage students from undertaking humanities degrees.

The scheme was introduced in 2021 to incentivise students to take degrees such as science, nursing, education and IT, and disincentivise humanities, law and creative arts degrees by significantly increasing fees. It’s been in place longer under the Albanese government than under the Liberals.

Clare, speaking to reporters in Sydney this morning, said it was expensive and complex to fix, but that the new Australian Tertiary Education Commission, established under legislation earlier this year, would be able to look at it. When it will do that, is still unclear.

I’ve said that JRG is a failure if the purpose of the former government was to get people to not study the things that they are passionate about.

I’ve also said that it is expensive and complex to fix. The Atec, the Australian Tertiary Education Commission has got the ability now to be able to look at the costs across the whole system. And I said that this is unfinished business and that there is more work to do, but I won’t set a timeline on that today.

Treasury modelling revealed earlier this week found it will take one quarter of humanities students more than 25 years to repay their degrees.

Owners of closed kosher kitchen tell royal commission of ‘devastating’ blaze

The owners of a kosher restaurant in Bondi that burnt down in 2024 have spoken at the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion as it begins its fourth day of hearings.

Judith Lewis told the commission she was the managing director of Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, formerly on Bondi’s busy Curlewis Street, and a great-grandmother in a large Jewish family. She, her husband and her parents established the kosher caterer in 1970, before it became a restaurant.

Karyn Lewis, Judith’s daughter, said she had worked at Lewis’ for close to 40 years, joined by her cousins and her children over the years. It had been the first kosher takeaway restaurant in Sydney before catering for airlines, hospitals, jails and offering fine dining, she said.

The restaurant burnt down in October 2024 and has not reopened. Judith Lewis said:

A lot of people came and met there, and were able to sit and eat and then see other people there. It was a communal centre … For us it’s devastating because we’re not seeing all our friends, because the customers very much became our friends.

The commission then moved into a closed session to hear the Lewises’ evidence without prejudicing criminal proceedings over the attack on the restaurant.