Australia news live: Australia sends firefighters to France as blazes rage; leaders gather for Garma festival | Australia news
Australia sends France 24 firefighters and two aircraft to tackle wildfires
Australia is sending firefighting teams to support rescue efforts in France, amid raging wildfires in Europe.
The government said a Chinook helicopter equipped with a 11,300-litre water tank and a support aircraft would be deployed, alongside 24 skilled aerial and ground crew from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
Officials said in a statement:
Together, they will support around-the-clock firefighting operations, providing much-needed relief to emergency services responding on the ground.
The wildfires in France are among the worst the country has experienced in decades, driven by multiple active fire fronts and a prolonged summer heatwave.
The NSW RFS is internationally recognised as an expert in bushfire management and represents the very best of Australian emergency management capability.
Key events
Jack Snape
Rose Davies makes history in Australian 5,000m one-two at Commonwealth Games
In the fading Glasgow light, the two fluorescent yellow figures powered around the final bend of the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games, leaving the rest of the field behind.
Megan Keith, the young Scot who had broken the field apart with a mile to go, could not keep up. Behind her was Kenya’s last hope of making it six 5,000m women’s golds in a row, Caroline Nyaga, as well as Ugandan Esther Chebet and England’s Hannah Nuttall. All of them, now irrelevant.
Australian Rose Davies had stayed within this leading group for the entire race, before surging past Keith with 200m to go. History was in her grasp: a woman had never done the 10,000m-5,000m double at the Commonwealth Games.
Read more here:
Parents of Australian facing possible death penalty in Syria disappointed with government action so far
The parents of an Australian man facing the possible death penalty in Syria spoke to the ABC last night, saying diplomatic efforts to aid their son had not been fruitful.
Patrick Stevenson, 20, has been detained for seven months over the alleged shooting death of another Australian, Abdullah Glen Charles Burgess in December.
Angela Bell, Stevenson’s mother, told the ABC she was disappointed in her dealings with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) so far.
Bell told ABC’s 7.30 program:
They say … that their policy is that he shouldn’t have been travelling to Syria … and that’s where the conversation gets stuck. They use the word ‘limited’ a lot. They don’t use the word failure, but basically the sense is they … have limited capacity to help in this situation.
Bell said she hadn’t seen a “single document” detailing the charges against her son, and there was “no access” to him.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said yesterday while legal processes would “take their course overseas”, the government was providing support for Stevenson’s family.
Australia has no embassy or consulate in Syria.
eSafety commissioner says court action against Telegram ‘very significant’
Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety commissioner, spoke to the ABC this morning after yesterday’s court action against Telegram over its alleged failure to detect and remove pro-terror material from its platform.
Inman Grant said she believes the effort is “very significant” and comes amid a “heightened moment in terms of our security”. She told RN Breakfast:
The scars are still very raw around Bondi. … These are platforms – and they may be doing more content moderation and we would encourage that – but not to the degree that Australian law requires them to.
The eSafety commissioner added the government had engaged with Telegram for two years, the first six months of which “they refused to engage with us at all”.
This is just upping the ante and it’s much more serious. And if they don’t comply when the court finds, or if the court finds against them, then they’ll be in contempt.
Telegram has rejected the allegations and says it will contest them in court. Inman Grant said the government is ready for that effort, saying the case had been made to make it “very difficult for them to challenge”.
Governor general warns of ‘growing catastrophe’ that threatens to undermine democracy in Australia
Tom McIlroy
Australia faces a “growing catastrophe” from poor understanding of the country’s constitutional foundation, the governor general, Sam Mostyn, has warned as attacks on institutions and threats against elected officials undermine democratic participation.
Two years after her appointment as King Charles’s representative in Canberra, and as she brings a modern touch to the role of vice regal, Mostyn said that knowledge of how the country’s system of government operates was in steady decline and better civics education was needed.
“Where I see the most woeful lack of understanding … the basic understanding of the tenets of our democracy, is in the adult population,” Mostyn said.
Read more here:
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Icac revelations have left Angus Taylor’s colleagues anxious – and his factional enemies angry
After the opening days of an inquiry exposing a dark underbelly of the New South Wales Liberals, the prevailing mood among Angus Taylor’s colleagues is one of apprehension.
The federal opposition leader is not a specific target of Operation Rosny, which is investigating allegations of corruption against people associated with the NSW branch. He is not accused of wrongdoing.
But Taylor is the highest-profile person mentioned so far – and the political figure with the most to lose.
Read more here:
Australia sends France 24 firefighters and two aircraft to tackle wildfires
Australia is sending firefighting teams to support rescue efforts in France, amid raging wildfires in Europe.
The government said a Chinook helicopter equipped with a 11,300-litre water tank and a support aircraft would be deployed, alongside 24 skilled aerial and ground crew from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
Officials said in a statement:
Together, they will support around-the-clock firefighting operations, providing much-needed relief to emergency services responding on the ground.
The wildfires in France are among the worst the country has experienced in decades, driven by multiple active fire fronts and a prolonged summer heatwave.
The NSW RFS is internationally recognised as an expert in bushfire management and represents the very best of Australian emergency management capability.
Leaders gather for Garma festival
A children’s TV megastar, foreign dignitaries and thousands of visitors will converge on remote north-east Arnhem Land for the Garma festival, which carries the Yolŋu theme “Bukmak” – all of us, everyone, together.
The four-day celebration of Yolŋu life and culture kicks off on Friday at the Gulkula ceremonial site, about 40km from Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, with organisers expecting between 5,500 and 6,000 people through the gates.
Foreign minister Penny Wong, education minister Jason Clare and Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy will be among those attending the gathering, which has become one of Australia’s most important forums for Indigenous policy and cultural exchange.
The political heavyweights will share the spotlight with Australia’s most famous blue heeler, with Bluey going bush for a special visit to Yolŋu country on Friday so families and djamarrkuli (children) can say yukurr (hello) and grab a selfie.
After dark, all five Bluey episodes translated into Yolŋu Matha by the ARDS team will roll out on the big screen, with the crew behind the dubs on hand to share the moment.
Garma is Australia’s largest Indigenous gathering, a four-day celebration of Yolŋu life and culture in remote north-east Arnhem Land.
Garma runs from Friday to Monday.
Most Australians say they face barriers accessing dental care, survey finds
Three-quarters of the 25,000 Australians surveyed in the Australian Dental Association’s 2025 consumer survey said they faced barriers to accessing dental care, which could be forcing them to delay or avoid it.
The survey found cost was the biggest obstacle to regular dental care for young adults, but a lack of free time and reduced access to support were also factors.
Cost pressures outlined in the survey support a decades-long push to improve affordability of dental care by adding dental to Medicare.
The average cost of a dental check-up and clean in Australia last year was just below $240, according to Cleanbill’s 2025 National Dental Listings Report.
The association also says social media is driving a surge in cosmetic dental procedures.
Indigenous community rejects $150m Fortescue payout
A legal battle involving Indigenous land rights is set to return to court after native title holders rejected a court-ordered $150m compensation payout, Australian Associated Press reports.
The federal court ordered in May that Andrew Forrest’s company Fortescue pay the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation the sum in compensation for mining on its land without an agreement and destroying cultural sites.
Yesterday a meeting of Yindjibarndi native title body members voted unanimously to appeal the decision, in order to seek more from the miner.
Yindjibarndi Group chief executive, Michael Woodley, said:
It was a long, emotional day, which resulted in a decision by all attendees to put family and Ngurra [Country] first.
The decision represents the strong connection between Yindjibarndi People and our Ngurra, and what we hold as the key value of our community – that is, a successful future for the next generations.
Good morning, blog readers. Nick Visser here to take the reins and guide us through Friday. Let’s get to it.
Federal, state and territories meet over reform of working with children checks
Krishani Dhanji
Attorneys general are meeting in Darwin on Friday to work on nationalising the working with children check – sparked by serious allegations of safety breaches and child abuse in the childcare sector.
But a fully nationalised system will only be in place under current timelines from mid-2028 – two years from now.
The Coalition in recent days has put pressure on the government’s timeline and accused it of delaying the national system.
The federal attorney general, Michelle Rowland, says today the AGs will seek agreement on a baseline of criminal offences which will automatically bar a person from being granted or hold a working with children check (WWCC), and discuss minimum standards for WWCC risk assessment processes.
Rowland says:
All governments have made significant progress towards delivering a national approach to Working with Children Checks … I am confident my state and territory colleagues will take the next big step today and agree on nationally consistent minimum standards and information sharing.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
State, territory and federal attorneys general are meeting today to discuss reform on working with children checks. The meeting has been sparked by serious allegations of safety breaches and child abuse in the childcare sector.
A farewell will be held for Layla Jeffery, 13, in Donald today. Layla went missing in July and a 16-year-old boy has been charged over her alleged murder.
And a legal battle involving Indigenous land rights is set to return to court after native title holders rejected a court-ordered $150m compensation payout.
Thanks for joining us.
