Tag: australia

Australia’s “eSafety” Commissioner Threatens App Stores Over AI Age Verification Deadline

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant is threatening to go after app stores and search engines unless they block AI services that haven’t verified their users’ ages by March 9, 2026.

The ultimatum landed after a Reuters took it upon itself to survey 50 leading text-based AI platforms, and found that 30 of them had taken no visible steps toward compliance with the country’s controversial censorship and surveillance ideas.

“eSafety will use the full range of our powers where there is non-compliance,” a spokesperson said, spelling out that this extends to “action in respect of gatekeeper services such as search engines and app stores that provide key points of access to particular services.”

What’s actually being built here is bigger than age verification. Five industry codes taking effect March 9 under Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021 impose age-gating requirements across a wide range of services: AI platforms, app distribution services, social media, gaming, dating apps, and any website deemed high-risk for pornography, extreme violence, or self-harm content.

Every category gets its own code. Each non-compliance carries fines of up to A$49.5 million (around US$35 million). The system isn’t aimed at one corner of the internet. It covers most of it.

The age verification requirement doesn’t stand alone. Under a separate amendment to the Online Safety Act passed last year, social media platforms must already ban users under 16 entirely.

The March 9 codes extend that logic further, requiring services to verify the identity of users and filter what they can see based on age. The infrastructure being assembled connects age to identity to content access across the internet as Australians currently use it.

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Former Australian Member of Parliament Says Pfizer and AstraZeneca Paid Lobbyists to Direct Australia’s Leaders to Push Vaccine Mandates

A former Australian member of Parliament came out and said Pfizer and AstraZeneca are paying lobbyists to direct Australia’s leaders to push vaccine mandates.Clive Palmer, leader of the United Australia Party claimed ousted New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian was told she wouldn’t be charged in a corruption probe if she imposed a vaccine mandate.Palmer made these statements a couple weeks ago but it has garnered a lot of attention this weekend after Berejiklian resigned in disgrace following a corruption probe.Two weeks ago, Palmer said Pfizer and AstraZeneca were paying lobbyists tens of millions of dollars to direct Australia’s liberal leaders to push the double jab.According to Palmer, Berejiklian, who was under a corruption probe by the ICAC at the time, was told if she imposed strict lockdowns and vaccine mandates, she wouldn’t be charged.Shortly before Berejiklian resigned, she told Sydney residents that if they don’t take the Covid jab, they face total social isolation indefinitely after the stay-at-home order ends in December.Berejiklian made history for overseeing one of the most fascistic regimes in modern history like nothing we have witnessed in the Western world.It appears she was bowing to Big Pharma lobbyists and special interest groups once again proving Covid mandates have NOTHING to do with science or saving lives.Clive Palmer told reporters of Berejiklian: “The only way she gets out of the inquiry is if she pushes the double jab.”A lefty reporter pushed back on Clive Palmer: “You think the premier of New South Wales is trying to destroy businesses?”“I do,” Palmer replied. “She’s being directed by lobbyists in Sydney, who is being paid by AstraZeneca and by Pfizer tens of millions of dollars to get these policies through, to make sure the vaccines get pushed…that’s my personal knowledge and I’m happy to make a statement here, to police, to anyone.”

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New hate laws have passed parliament. What do they actually do?

Parliament has just passed the toughest federal hate speech laws in Australia’s history.

Labor has been open that the legislation, introduced in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, is primarily aimed at tackling “hate groups” that promote antisemitism — and that revisiting the laws to include other minority groups is not a priority.

The legislation passed with Liberal Party support, though the Nationals, Greens and One Nation voted against it, citing various concerns around free speech.

Where did the laws land?

Labor’s draft legislation included a provision to criminalise the promotion or incitement of racial hatred, which was a recommendation of antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and broadly supported by Jewish groups.

Despite calling for Ms Segal’s report to be implemented in full, various Coalition members raised concerns the draft bill would excessively impinge on free speech — a position shared by the Greens, constitutional lawyers and various faith leaders.

After both the Coalition and Greens rejected the new offence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dumped it.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke this week said the government “would have liked the laws to be even stronger” but what has passed represented “the strongest hate laws Australia’s ever had”.

The laws grant powers for the government to list so-called hate groups, more easily deport or cancel the visas of individuals associated with hate groups, increase penalties for hate crime offences, and create new aggravated penalties for hate preachers and leaders who advocate violence.

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Pioneering Aboriginal children’s advocate sensationally quits her role claiming that she was sexually assaulted by a Canberra bureaucrat

The ACT’s first Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People has stepped down from her ‘dream role’ after an alleged assault.

Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts was appointed to the position in 2024 but has been on extended approved leave since July 2025.

She officially resigned from the role at the end of 2025 following months of questions about her absence in Canberra. 

However, Turnbull-Roberts on Tuesday morning alleged she had left her office after being subjected to ‘sexual harassment and sexual assault in Canberra by a public servant’.

She cited concern for her ‘physical and psychological safety’ as reasons why she left the role and added she needed to act in the ‘best interests of my family’.

‘This conduct has no place in any workplace,’ she said.

‘Appropriate reports have been made, including to police, and these matters are now with the relevant authorities. This experience has impacted me in ways too shattering for language to fully hold.’

Several ministers had previously voiced their concerns about Turnbull-Roberts’ ‘persistent absenteeism’, reported the Canberra Times last month.

Turnbull-Roberts shot down those report as ‘incorrect and harmful’.

‘It misrepresented the reality of my decision and caused me further harm. Taking steps to protect one’s health and safety should never be distorted or weaponised,’ she said.

‘No one leaves work of this significance without reason. As a survivor, a mother, and a proud Bundjalung woman, I know what it means to be unprotected in systems meant to provide care. I also know what it means to choose safety when it is not adequately provided.

‘I escaped the child ‘protection’ system at 18, after being forcibly removed from my family and communities at 10 because of racism. I have lived what children and families endure inside these systems. 

‘My focus since has never wavered: human rights, Indigenous rights, children’s safety, and defending mothers and families.’

The Canberra Times claimed that Turnbull-Roberts had a ‘part-time presence’ in the nation’s capital, writing: ‘There has been growing disquiet in the ACT First Nations community about the effectiveness of the [Commissioner and her office].’

Turnbull-Roberts on Tuesday said she valued her time as Commissioner, writing that she ‘witnessed extraordinary courage’ during her tenure. 

‘I sat with children and young people so often dismissed or silenced and watched them speak with clarity, strength, and spirit. 

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Australia seeking criminal charges over aid workers slain by IDF in Gaza

Canberra is demanding criminal charges over an Israeli drone attack on Gaza that left aid workers dead, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.

Seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed in a 2024 Israeli airstrike, which the NGO has described as “targeted.” The victims included Australian Zomi Frankcom, three British nationals, a Polish national, a dual US-Canadian citizen, and a Palestinian.

The issue was raised this week as Israeli President Isaac Herzog is visiting Australia to express solidarity with the country’s Jewish community in the wake of a deadly mass shooting which took place in December.

Albanese told Australia’s parliament on Wednesday that he had confronted Israel regarding the slain aid workers, calling it “a tragedy and an outrage” and saying Canberra had made clear its “expectation that there be transparency about Israel’s ongoing investigation” into the incident.

“We continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate criminal charges,” he said, noting that Herzog had agreed to “engage.”

The aid workers were traveling through a de-conflicted zone in central Gaza in two armored cars with the WCK logo on them as well as a soft-skin vehicle when struck, despite the WCK coordinating its movements with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to the NGO.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that the IDF was behind the airstrike but is insisting that it was an accident.

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Top barrister Mark Dennis accused of possessing child abuse material is found dead

A prominent criminal barrister who was allegedly caught with child abuse material has reportedly been found dead.

Mark Dennis SC, 65, stepped off a flight from South-East Asia at Sydney Airport in January and was stopped by Australian Border Force officers, who pored through his phone, tablet, laptop, and a USB.

They allegedly found child abuse material and sexualised conversations with and about minors, and he was subsequently charged with possessing, distributing and importing child abuse material. 

On Monday after 7.30pm, police were called to his Inner West home where the barrister’s body was found, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The Daily Mail has contacted NSW Police for comment. 

Australian Border Force officials intercepted Dennis at the airport in January and searched his luggage following ‘intelligence led screening’.

‘The matter was reported to the AFP for further investigation,’ the Australian Federal Police said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘AFP members attended and on further examination of the device, identified alleged child abuse material and sexualised conversations with and about minors.’

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Shocking new details emerge about Australia’s alleged satanic paedophile ring – after police arrested one of their own and a top swimming coach

As heavily armed police swooped in for their sixth arrest in an alleged satanic paedophile ring, disturbing new details have emerged about the alleged actions of three men, including a swimming coach.

A dozen Riot Squad officers, along with Child Exploitation Strike Force detectives, entered the Woollahra home of 62-year-old Colin Milne in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs early on Tuesday and charged him with 18 alleged offences.

Some of the charges against Milne, who is due to face a bail court on Wednesday, allegedly involve bestiality and ‘animal crush’ material, in which animals are subjected to extreme torture for the entertainment or sexual gratification of viewers.

NSW State Crime Command now believes it has tracked down a further 145 alleged predators across the world related to what is described as an alleged ‘international satanic child sex abuse material ring’.

The Daily Mail can exclusively reveal that three of the men already charged were living in a squalid prison house and were allegedly actively involved in possessing or distributing child abuse material, with two also facing drug possession charges and one accused of associating with other child sex offenders.

Police said at the time the men, who include former swimming coach Mark Andrew Sendecky, were arrested at a unit block in Malabar, but in fact they were living at Nunyara Community Offender Support Program.

A halfway house in the former periodic detention centre, which backs onto Long Bay jail, Nunyara COSP accommodates men who are subject to community supervision orders, including convicted paedophiles and child killers on release from prison.

Sendecky’s co-accused, Benjamin Raymond Drysdale and Stuart Woods Riches, were both allegedly in possession of methamphetamine at the location.

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Google agrees to $68m settlement over claims it recorded private conversations

Google is facing a class action after its users claimed the company was spying on them.

The company has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a lawsuit as users accuse the company of violating their personal privacy.

Google’s virtual assistant, an AI powered software available on android phones and tablets, has been accused of recording private conversations.

The software activates when users use “wake words”, a verbal cue prompting the device to actively listen to commands, like “Hey Google” or “Okay Google”.

The assistant is designed to only switch from passive monitoring to active listening when it hears wake words.

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Australia Passes New Bills For Tougher Gun Control And Anti-Hate Speech Laws

The Australian Parliament has passed two new bills that will set up a national gun buyback scheme, and attempt to combat anti-Semitism and hate speech in response to the Bondi terror attack.

In Australia’s lower house, the gun buyback bill passed 96 to 45 with the Liberal-National Coalition opposing, while the hate and extremism-focused bill passed with amendments, securing 116 votes to just seven.

Later on the evening of Jan. 20, both bills made it through the Senate.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote on X that the government was “standing against hate and strengthening” national security.

New Gun Buyback Passes Lower House After 3 Hours

The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026 introduces not only the national gun buyback scheme, but new restrictions around background checks, the sale of firearm types, and new offences relating to accessing information online about firearms, ammunition, and accessories.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told parliament that had such measures been in place earlier, the Bondi Beach attackers would not have been able to legally obtain weapons.

The father of the terrorist duo, Sajid Akram, owned six firearms, despite his son being interviewed and cleared by intelligence agencies over concerns of radicalisation.

The bill was debated for close to three hours, with several MPs proposing amendments.

Independent MP Zali Steggall sought to ensure firearms background checks explicitly included “criminal history or proceedings relating to domestic violence or AVOs issued in local courts.”

Bob Katter, the federal MP of Kennedy, moved an amendment that would automatically revoke a firearm licence for anyone placed on an ASIO watchlist. That amendment was defeated, 88 votes to 13.

Katter, who opposed the broader reforms, blamed the Bondi attack on failures in the immigration system and argued the legislation undermined gun ownership.

“If they get their way, then the only people that will have guns are the people in uniforms. And we know what sort of society that is, that the only people that have guns are the people in uniforms,” he said.

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Australia’s proposed “hate crime” bill is not only an attack on free speech; it opens the door to belief-based punishment

The “hate crime” bill that is being rushed through by the Australian government is officially called the ‘Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill’.  It is a sweeping piece of legislation introduced in response to the December Bondi Beach attack, so it is claimed.  

The Bill aims to crack down on “hate speech,” particularly from religious or spiritual leaders (“hate preachers”), with a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison for inciting violence or promoting racial hatred.  

“The ban on hate symbols will be strengthened, including by requiring a person caught displaying a symbol to prove that it was legitimate – a reversal of the burden of proof requiring prosecutors to prove a crime occurred,” The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Adding, “Changes to migration law will allow the immigration minister to refuse or cancel visas if a person has associated with hate groups or made hateful comments, including online.”

It also introduces a new federal offence for inciting racial hatred or disseminating “ideas of racial superiority,” which carries a potential five-year prison sentence, and grants the Home Affairs Minister power to ban “hate groups” in the same way as terrorist organisations.

“The home affairs minister flagged the National Socialist Network and Hizb-ut-Tahrir as two possible targets of the law, but we don’t yet know which organisations might qualify as hate groups and be listed down the track,” an article in The Conversation pointed out.

Critics, including legal experts, civil liberties groups and opposition figures, have raised serious concerns about the speed and lack of scrutiny of the Bill.  The government released the draft bill with only three days for public submissions and held a snap parliamentary inquiry with limited participation.  

Experts warn the legislation may undermine free speech, fail constitutional tests and risk unintended consequences due to vague language and rushed drafting.  

The Guardian pointed out yesterday that as Members of Parliament (“MPs”) prepare for an early return to Canberra to consider Labor’s draft bill, the bill looks friendless as criticism and opposition to it are coming from all quarters. 

“The Greens represent the only viable pathway for the legislation in the Senate,” The Guardian said.  “[Greens] Leader Larissa Waters said on Friday that negotiations would continue but the risk that the legislation could criminalise legitimate political expression was too great based on the current draft.”

“That is a dangerous path,” Waters said, asking why legal protections would be extended to one vulnerable group in the community but not others.  Labor says it is open to passing new laws to include protections for LGBTQ+ Australians and people with disabilities in the future.

In the following, Nation First looks into how the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 criminalises belief, punishes influence and puts ordinary Australians at risk for speaking their minds.

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