Woman arrested outside Albanese’s electorate office ordered to keep distance from itJordyn BeazleyThe Palestinian-Australian constituent of Anthony Albanese who was charged with trespassing after she sought visa help has been ordered to not go within 100m of the prime minister’s electorate office, according to her lawyer.Yesterday, Sarah Shaweesh was arrested after she allegedly refused to leave Albanese’s electorate office in the Sydney seat of Grayndler. Shaweesh, who has been involved in the five-month long, 24/7 picket outside the Marrickville office, said she went inside the office to ask about the declined visa applications for five of her family members who live in Gaza.Shaweesh, who will appear before court on 10 September, was given bail conditions by New South Wales police that included not being allowed within 100m of the Marrickville electorate office and a list of names of the office’s staff who she is not allowed to contact or “harrass”, according to Shaweesh’s lawyer.Amnesty International called the arrest a “grave escalation of the criminalisation of protest in Australia”.A spokesperson for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mohamed Duar, said:
It is extremely concerning that Ms Shaweesh may have been arrested and denied access to support that she was entitled to seek as a constituent because of her participation in peaceful protest outside this office. This looks like a grave escalation of the criminalisation of protest in Australia.
Palestinian Australians are distressed and terrified for their family members in Gaza, with every day bringing more news of Israeli bombardment on civilian ‘safe zones’. Ms Shaweesh has expressed this anguish through lawful, peaceful protest and sought to help her family members. There is no justification for criminal charges for exercising her human rights.
ShareUpdated at 06.26 CESTKey eventsLooks like it’s not just media either.Reports of Windows computers showing BSOD errors across a lot of different sectors: supermarkets, banks, broadcasters, etc. Downdetector, which shows crowdsourced reports of outages, going crazy rn pic.twitter.com/Xi2RzMY1Jw— cameron wilson (@cameronwilson) July 19, 2024

A reader has also been in contact to say they were unable to contact the Bendigo Bank via phone just now.ShareIt appears other media outlets are affected too by this outage. We’ll bring you more when we have it.ShareUpdated at 07.32 CESTThe ABC is reporting widespread outages. This from Sydney radio presenter Andy Park.ShareUpdated at 07.29 CESTAmex fined $8m over unsuitable David Jones credit cardsAmerican Express has been hit with an $8m fine after admitting it did not properly assess whether customers were suitable for two co-branded David Jones credit cards, AAP reports.The development is a landmark win for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) in the first case of its kind over what are known as design and distribution obligations (DDO).The American Express co-branded David Jones credit cards were offered from August 2008 until July 2022, when the firm pulled these financial products. While the cards could be sourced online, 80-90% of all cards issued were handed out by retail staff in person at David Jones premises.In its federal court lawsuit, Asic said high cancellation rates of the David Jones cards showed the firm had not met its obligations to ensure they were appropriate for consumers. ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said on Friday:
This is an important decision, because it highlights the requirement for issuers and distributors of financial products to customers to have in place adequate systems to monitor events and circumstances that suggest a target market determination is no longer appropriate.
Initially contesting the allegations, in March American Express admitted contravening the Corporations Act and agreed to a proposed $8m penalty. On Friday, Justice Ian Jackman approved this amount.The judge found that by May 2022 American Express ought to have known the documents describing the target market appropriate for the David Jones cards were insufficient.ShareUpdated at 07.20 CESTEmily WindMany thanks for being with me on today’s blog, Nino Bucci will see you through the remainder of Friday’s news. Take care, and enjoy your weekend.ShareOrdering protesters outside PM’s office to leave is ‘cruel’, liberties council saysThe NSW Council for Civil Liberties says protesters who have gathered outside Anthony Albanese’s electoral office for nearly six months have been issued a letter to leave, after a woman was arrested outside his office yesterday.The council’s president, Lydia Shelley, said Albanese had shown “a tremendous lack of empathy towards his constituents by not granting them a simple meeting”, which they had been requesting.Earlier today, the PM told a press conference in Cairns that there had been “issues at [his office] of disruption”.
Not aimed at getting assistance, aimed at securing – I’m not quite sure what the aims are.
Shelley argued that since the picket launched outside Albanese’s office, it had “not intimidated anyone or prevented access”, and the “only goal of the peaceful protesters has been to communicate directly with their MP, as their electoral representative, their views in relation to the events in Gaza and how they affect people in Australia”.She said the direction to leave and “attitude towards the protesters is undemocratic and, frankly, cruel”.
We urge Mr Albanese to remember the winter of 1983 when he was amongst a group of protesters who occupied the clocktower in the Sydney University quadrangle in a protest action against the economics department … [Albanese] joined his fellow protesters to occupy the clocktower and to disrupt faculty meetings. He was subject to disciplinary proceedings from the university as a result…
In refusing to meet with his constituents, who are feeling anguish, grief and helplessness, many Australians are left to ask what is left worth fighting for?
ShareUpdated at 07.18 CESTRights watchdog has ‘grave’ concerns over Queensland watch house footageThe Australian Human Rights Commission has expressed “grave concern” over footage, released as part of a Guardian Australia and SBS The Feed investigation, depicting a 13-year-old First Nations child being forcibly restrained and kept in an isolation cell inside a Queensland police watch house.National children’s commissioner Anne Hollonds alleged that this treatment of a young child with a disability was an “egregious breach” of human rights and said in a statement:
Police watch houses are no place for children. I have witnessed myself that there are no windows, no natural light or fresh air. No education, rehabilitation or recreation is provided. The police officers had no training to care for children, most of whom come in with pre-existing disability, trauma and mental distress.
Hollonds said the footage emphasised a need for the safety and wellbeing of children to be made a national priority for Australia through the national cabinet.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice commissioner Katie Kiss said that current approaches to children’s detention “disproportionately affect children who have not received the necessary social and community supports – and too often these are First Nations children.”Disability discrimination commissioner Rosemary Kayess said the over-representation of children with disability – in particular First Nations children with disability – in the justice system “reflects an experience of cumulative disadvantage”.ShareUpdated at 06.58 CESTRates uncertainty takes wind out of home price growthThe prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates has sapped some heat from the property market, AAP reports, as growth in house prices slows in the winter months.National home values rose half a per cent over the four weeks to 18 July, according to CoreLogic’s daily index, down from a 0.7% increase logged in the same period last month.The property data company’s economist, Kaytlin Ezzy, said easing growth likely stemmed from stubbornly low consumer sentiment knocked around by still-elevated inflation. A rise in advertised stock levels in some markets was also playing a role, she said.
With many household budgets already stretched by the high cost of living and increased debt-servicing costs, it’s likely some potential buyers are holding off and delaying purchasing decisions until the outlook for interest rates becomes clearer.
This had likely reduced demand and taken some heat out of the real estate market, the economist explained.New houses being built at Menangle Park on the outskirts of Sydney. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The GuardianThe slowdown in dwelling values was most pronounced across houses, with units less sensitive to market conditions. Compared to mid-sized capitals, which have been growing strongly for some time, prices in Sydney were cooling faster.Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth did see the pace of home price growth tick a little lower through early July, hinting at the first signs of easing demand. Renters are also seeing light at the end of the tunnel, with the number of vacant rental properties rising nationwide.ShareUpdated at 06.47 CESTGreens MP decries woman’s arrest outside PM’s officeThe NSW MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, has labelled the arrest of a woman outside Anthony Albanese’s electorate office in Grayndler as a “disgrace”.Sarah Shaweesh says she entered the PM’s office as a constituent seeking information about her family’s declined visa application. Police said she was asked to leave Albanese’s office but didn’t, and was arrested for trespass.In a post to X, Leong called on Albanese to apologise to Shaweesh, plus “intervene to have any charges against her dropped and set up an urgent constituent meeting with her so his office can assist with the family visa issue”.Leong wrote:
Reports that following Sarah’s arrest the PM issued a notice to the protesters outside and that the peaceful demonstration was then shut down by police are deeply concerning.
Again and again, the NSW and federal Labor government are using the police to silence dissent and act as enforcers of their anti-protest, anti-Palestine agenda.
The right to peaceful protest and non-violent civil disobedience is a fundamental human right and critical to a strong democracy.
ShareUpdated at 06.43 CESTWoman arrested outside Albanese’s electorate office ordered to keep distance from itJordyn BeazleyThe Palestinian-Australian constituent of Anthony Albanese who was charged with trespassing after she sought visa help has been ordered to not go within 100m of the prime minister’s electorate office, according to her lawyer.Yesterday, Sarah Shaweesh was arrested after she allegedly refused to leave Albanese’s electorate office in the Sydney seat of Grayndler. Shaweesh, who has been involved in the five-month long, 24/7 picket outside the Marrickville office, said she went inside the office to ask about the declined visa applications for five of her family members who live in Gaza.Shaweesh, who will appear before court on 10 September, was given bail conditions by New South Wales police that included not being allowed within 100m of the Marrickville electorate office and a list of names of the office’s staff who she is not allowed to contact or “harrass”, according to Shaweesh’s lawyer.Amnesty International called the arrest a “grave escalation of the criminalisation of protest in Australia”.A spokesperson for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mohamed Duar, said:
It is extremely concerning that Ms Shaweesh may have been arrested and denied access to support that she was entitled to seek as a constituent because of her participation in peaceful protest outside this office. This looks like a grave escalation of the criminalisation of protest in Australia.
Palestinian Australians are distressed and terrified for their family members in Gaza, with every day bringing more news of Israeli bombardment on civilian ‘safe zones’. Ms Shaweesh has expressed this anguish through lawful, peaceful protest and sought to help her family members. There is no justification for criminal charges for exercising her human rights.
ShareUpdated at 06.26 CESTAustralia to simulate arrival of deadly bird fluAustralia will wargame the arrival of a bird flu strain that’s ravaging wildlife overseas, AAP reports, but some say it’s about a year too late.Agriculture ministers from around the country have agreed to hold a national preparedness exercise amid fears the deadly H5 strain could reach Australia within months.Australia is the last continent to be free of the strain, which has caused mass deaths worldwide in poultry, wild birds and other wildlife including seals and sea lions. Scientists have warned it is most likely to arrive with migratory birds that will be heading for the nation’s shores this spring.There’s no date yet for the exercise and few details about what it will involve but ministers who met this week say it will promote better collaboration between agriculture, environment and health agencies.Scientists say a deadly bird flu strain is likely to arrive via migratory birds this spring. Photograph: Supplied by Department of EnergyThe Invasive Species Council has long been calling for scenario planning to get all relevant agencies and stakeholders ready and it’s happy that will finally happen. Campaigner Jack Gough told AAP:
This is something that should have happened a year ago, when the government got a risk assessment saying the impacts of this disease on our wild birds would be catastrophic.
It should have been a priority then. It means we are behind the eight ball but it’s good that this has happened.
ShareUpdated at 06.02 CESTIn case you missed it, Josh Taylor reported earlier that abortion providers in Australia are now required to register with a US-based certifications company to advertise on Google:The Greens leader in the Senate, Larissa Waters, reacted to the story on X and said:
Access to safe, legal abortion remains a postcode lottery in Australia, with different rules, costs and availability depending on where you live. The last thing we need in Australia is a US-based company regulating our access to information about reproductive healthcare…
Abortion and contraception are legal, basic healthcare services. They should be safe, accessible and freely available everywhere in Australia, including on Google.
ShareUpdated at 05.36 CESTGet stuck into the latest Weekly Beast from Amanda Meade:ShareBasketball star named as Labor pick for Queensland seatFormer NBL professional basketballer Matt Smith has been named as Labor’s candidate for the seat of Leichhardt at the next federal election.As AAP reports, the seat takes in Cairns, Port Douglas and the Cape York Peninsula, including the entire Torres Strait up to Boigu, Dauan and Saibai islands. The seat is among targets for the Labor government as it looks to increase its electoral fortunes in Queensland.It is held by the coalition’s Warren Entsch, who has been the sitting MP since 1996, with the exception of one term between 2007 and 2010.Entsch, who is retiring from politics at the next election, won Leichhardt with a 3.4% margin, despite suffering a slight swing of 0.7% away from him in 2022.Anthony Albanese said that after several seasons with the Cairns Taipans, Smith was already a community champion on and off the court.The prime minister said:
He’s a voice which is well known to people in this community, and I think following on from [Entsch] who’s been a long-term servant of this community.
Labor holds just five of the 30 electorates in the Sunshine State. The Coalition is yet to pre-select its candidate for Leichhardt.Nothing but net. Matt Smith was an asset to the Cairns Taipans and I’m pleased he will be Labor’s candidate for Leichhardt at the next election. Matt’s raising his two daughters here with his partner Renee. pic.twitter.com/aeJrtGyz7t— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 19, 2024ShareUpdated at 05.32 CEST‘A lasting legacy’: tributes flow for PerrottetReactions are flowing after former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet announced his retirement from politics this afternoon.The Liberal MP for Manly, James Griffin, said Perrottet had been an “outstanding leader for NSW”. He wrote in a post to X:
His vision, passion and dedication to NSW will be missed as he retires from parliament. Dom never wasted a day as premier and I wish he had more time in the role. Wishing you well!
Stu Cameron, CEO of Wesley Mission – a Christian non-profit focusing on gambling, housing and mental health reform – said:
For the first time in six decades NSW is having a serious conversation about reforming a rampant and destructive pokies industry, a conversation happening because [Perrottet] took a courageous and principled lead. It will be a lasting legacy.
ShareUpdated at 05.18 CESTAlbanese dismisses return of construction watchdogThe prime minister says reviving a construction sector watchdog to address alleged illegality in the CFMEU would do little to fix the problems at the embattled union, AAP reports.As we flagged earlier, opposition leader Peter Dutton says laws to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) will be brought to parliament when it next meets in August. But Anthony Albanese said it would not be effective.The prime minister said the regulator failed to address issues to do with controversial CFMEU Victorian branch head John Setka, who resigned following the allegations against the union. Albanese told reporters in Cairns earlier:
The ABCC was put in place by the coalition, and during the entire time they were in government, John Setka increased his influence, not just in Victoria, but took over the South Australian branch.
Overwhelmingly, what unions do is they represent their members to improve wages and conditions each and every day. That should be what they do.
Albanese says reviving the construction sector watchdog wouldn’t fix the CFMEU’s problems. Photograph: Darren England/AAPShareUpdated at 05.08 CESTAndrew MessengerWaiting lists average up to 577 days at Queensland gender clinicThe independent evaluation also looked at waiting lists at Queensland’s gender clinic.As of June 2024, when it was completed, the service has 547 children actively receiving care, with another 491 waiting for care. The report reads:
The median wait time for an initial appointment with the QCGS in June 2024 for category 1 referrals is 25 days, category 2 referrals is 434 days and category 3 referrals is 577 days.
It notes that “it is distressing for families being on a long waitlist in the context of their own distress as well as the current societal pressure and debate” and recommends an immediate increase in staffing.About a third of patients are discharged after an assessment without any prescription for puberty blockers, about a third undertake further clinical assessment, and a third are prescribed gender affirming hormones. The report reads:
Despite these challenges, the panel observed a commendable level of dedication within the service, evident in the staff’s unwavering focus and commitment to patient outcomes.
However, the combination of this dedication, high workloads and external pressures have created feelings of isolation amongst clinic staff, compounded by concerns regarding personal safety.
ShareUpdated at 05.02 CESTAndrew MessengerQueensland gender clinic staff under stress due to public debate over care – reportThe evaluation of Queensland’s gender clinic has partially blamed escalating “ethical debate” about gender dysphoria treatment for worsening staff morale.A report into the Queensland children’s hospital’s gender service has been handed down – you can read more on this earlier in the blog.Clinicians have invested time into educating the broader medical community, in order to address external criticism and offer accurate information, it found. But “the increasing number of critics and misinformation presents growing pressure for the service to continuously address and manage”, it reads.Growing public debate has also “compelled” staff to feel protective of their clinical practice and the children and adolescents they are caring for, “as they are constantly under scrutiny and criticism”, the report reads.The clinic, Queensland’s first, was opened in 2017. An evaluation was due to be completed in 2021 but was delayed by the Covid pandemic.ShareUpdated at 05.03 CEST