As it happened: Truth-telling set to fill Voice gap; Gladys Berejiklian loses ICAC court challenge

US Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.

“It is time for this war to end,” Harris said in a televised statement after she held face-to-face talks with Netanyahu.

Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the election race on Sunday, did not mince words about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza after nine months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.

Harris’ remarks were sharp and serious in tone and raised the question of whether she would be more aggressive in dealing with Netanyahu if elected president on Nov. 5. But analysts do not expect there would be a major shift in U.S. policy toward Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East.

The conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliatory attack in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people and caused a humanitarian calamity with most of the coastal enclave levelled, people displaced from their homes, famine and a shortage of emergency relief.

Biden met with Netanyahu but did not make substantive remarks. Aides said he pressed for a ceasefire in his first face-to-face talks with the Israeli leader since Biden travelled to Tel Aviv in the days after October 7.

Netanyahu will meet Harris’ Republican rival, Donald Trump, on Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Reuters

US Vice President Kamala Harris officially joined TikTok with her first personal account on the viral video-sharing site, capping a surge in popularity of posts with her image following the announcement of her candidacy for president.

Harris unveiled her TikTok account, @kamalaharris, in a post on social media platform X.

Since Harris launched her presidential campaign four days ago, TikTok and other social media platforms have seen a groundswell of viral memes, images and videos featuring the vice president. Harris already had a TikTok account run by her campaign.

“Thought it was about time to join!” Harris’ caption on her first TikTok post reads.

“I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page,” she says in the accompanying video, referring to the site’s home for recommendations to users.

Harris had more than 149,000 followers about 50 minutes after her first post, which had been viewed more than 500,000 times.

Bloomberg

Acclaimed investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has lauded his colleagues at The Age as the “best journalists in the country” as they, along with staff from The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review, prepare to strike over collapsed EBA negotiations with Nine’s management.

“They see themselves as public servants. They believe in journalism. They believe in the power of journalism. It’s a tough job, a difficult job. And what they’re asking for is some support from management … to keep doing the journalism they’re proud of,” McKenzie told ABC Radio Melbourne.

“So what does that look like on the ground? Well, pay rates that reflect or keep up with rising inflation, rather than effectively suffering pay cuts because of the great inflation of late. The pay offers on the table don’t go far enough to make sure that these journalists who give their heart and soul to the Victorian public can just keep up with inflation.”

McKenzie said the breakdown in negotiations meant a strike was necessary to communicate the journalists’ message.

“I’ve not seen journalists in all my time work as hard as they do at The Age, and that’s all they’re after is a fair go from management,” he said.

“The journalists that I worked with bleed for the newspaper, they care about journalism, they care about democracy, they care about serving our subscribers and the greater public.”

The World Heritage Committee has placed the Australian and Queensland governments on probation for their management of the Great Barrier Reef for the third year in a row.

But the committee held off on listing the reef as “In Danger” on the advice of UNESCO.

UNESCO will continue to review coral mortality data to inform future decisions.

Australia’s obligations to UNESCO include reporting on the condition of coral, including mass bleaching and other updates on progress to protect the reef.

The Committee recommended the Australian and Queensland governments do more to stop the clearing of high-quality vegetation in reef catchments.

Australian Marine Conservation Society spokesperson Dr Lissa Schindle says the WHC has been “clear” on what Australia needs to do to better protect the Reef and avoid an ‘In Danger’ listing.

“Australia still needs to do more to tackle climate change, protect native vegetation and cut water pollution in Reef waters. Requesting a report back next year highlights UNESCO’s concern on these matters,” Schindle said in a statement.

Class-action lawyers are considering whether to appeal a Federal Court finding that popular herbicide Roundup cannot be proven to cause cancer.

Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough current evidence to say glyphosate - the active ingredient in Roundup - was capable of causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans.

That was the allegation of the class action, led by Maurice Blackburn and including more than 800 Australian cancer patients.

One of the firm’s lawyers Lee Taylor said they would review Justice Lee’s Thursday decision before deciding on their next steps.

Bayer, which acquired Roundup’s producer Monsanto in 2018, welcomed the ruling and described it as a win for farmers.

“These products support farmers in doing what they do best - putting food on the tables of Australians,” managing director Warren Inwood said.

Justice Lee only needed to consider the question of general causation - not the specific claims of lead applicant Kelvin McNickle or the other class action group members.

The judge said the science was “not all one way” and some of the expert witnesses conceded there were possible links between glyphosate and cancer in humans.

But he ruled on the state of the evidence, and on the balance of probabilities, he could not determine there was a causal link between Roundup and cancer.

AAP

Violence against women has declined significantly in the past three decades, but experts warn there is still a long way to go.

The latest report card from Our Watch, a leading national organisation in the prevention of violence against women, showed there had been a 66 per cent drop in the number of women killed by men in the past 30 years.

The number of young men supporting harmful ideas of masculinity had fallen by 13 per cent since 2018. But the trends came against the backdrop of an increase in the number of women killed by men in 2024.

While the findings were welcome, more work needed to be done, the organisation’s chief executive Patty Kinnersly said.

“In a year where 42 women have been killed by men’s violence, it’s difficult to reconcile we are making progress in ending this national crisis,” she said.

“But when we look at the longer-term picture, we can see significant reductions in the number of women killed by men’s violence, reductions in women experiencing violence and improvements in community attitudes that reject and challenge this violence.”

Findings showed a drop from 49 per cent to 37 per cent in the number of men aged 18 to 30 who felt pressure to conform to rigid ideals of masculinity.

While the report showed there had been an increase in sexual violence carried out between 2012 and 2017, the figure had plateaued in the years since.

AAP

Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney says she still thinks progress came from the national debate around the Voice referendum despite its resounding defeat.

Reflecting on her career as she announces her retirement from politics, Burney told ABC’s RN Breakfast that she always tried to keep her cool amid the heated debate.

“What stopped me from firing back was I didn’t see the sense in it, the fact that we were having the referendum discussion, I didn’t want it to just descend into he said, she said, and it was not about me.”

“It was about moving our nation forward. And I think despite the fact that the referendum was lost, we did move forward with the public discussion that we had,” Burney said.

Asked about the personal attacks levelled against her, Burney said she avoided them and focused on the “greater good”.

“In relation to the hurtful things that were said about me. I just didn’t engage in it,” Burney said.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt, but the greater objective and the greater good was what drove me.”