Australian

Oct. 28 (UPI) — Two people were killed and at least one was injured Tuesday in an underground blast at a silver mine in New South Wales, Australian authorities said.

NSW Police, in a news update, said the body of a man had been recovered from the mine near Cobar, 450 miles northwest of Sydney, and an injured woman who was rescued subsequently died. A second injured woman who was brought to the surface was airlifted to a hospital.

The police department said it had launched an investigation.

Superintendent Gerard Lawson said the three victims were working the night shift at the mine, which is owned by Polymetals Resources.

“It is tragic for the families and our employees and the Cobar community and the wider Polymetals family,” said executive chairman Dave Sproule, who added that about 30 people were working when the blast occurred in the early hours, local time.

The incident was the first fatal mine blast in the country in 10 years.

NSW Resources, the watchdog for the state’s mining sector, said operations had been suspended at the facility, which also mines zinc and lead, pending its own full investigation.

The state’s natural resources minister, Courtney Houssos, said the regulator had dispatched inspectors and investigators to the scene, calling it a “heartbreaking day” for Cobar and the mining industry.

“While safety protocols and procedures have greatly improved in mining, these deaths are a sobering reminder of why we need to always remain vigilant to protect workers,” she said.

Cobar Mayor Jarrod Marsden said the tragedy would impact the entire community.

“The most valuable thing to come out of a mine are the miners, and two families don’t get to see their loved ones anymore. Cobar is a small mining community. It’s very tight-knit and I’m sure everyone’s going to be thinking of their families today,” said Marsden.

Reports in Australian media said the accident was caused by explosives that had been set at the rockface detonating before they were supposed to.

Bob Timbs, president of the local branch of the Mining and Energy Union, said it was a “catastrophic failure” in the explosion system.

“In this day and age, that type of accident just should not have happened. We will do everything in our power — once we’ve dealt with and supported the families and mine workers in the community — to find out what happened and make sure that it never happens again.”

At the request of Polymetals, trading in the firm’s shares on the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney was paused and then halted through the start of Thursday’s trading session, or pending an announcement from the company, ASX said in a notice.

The Australian LGBTQIA+ nightclub that faced backlash for aiming for “90% plus” male customers despite its Chappell Roan-inspired namesake has announced a rebrand. 

Last week, Kevin Du-Val, the owner of Sydney’s Palms On Oxford, and its manager, Michael Lewis, announced they would be opening a new bar in early December called PINK PONY, which they describe as “unashamedly inspired by its namesake song that resonates so profoundly within our community.”

However, they said the club was created “specifically for 18-35 (state of mind) gay men who love to dance and get sweaty to high-powered dance music in a safe space.”

In an interview with Gay Sydney News, Lewis reiterated the demographic they are targeting, adding: “Of course, the girls will be welcome. But it would certainly be our desire that it is predominantly gay boys, and when I say predominantly, I’m sort of talking 90 percent plus.”

“Obviously, we’ve got legal hurdles,” he continued, “in terms of how much we can vet the crowd while still complying with the law.”

Shortly after the news was announced, Lewis and Du-Val faced massive backlash on social media, with many slamming the pair for being dismissive of queer women – especially since its namesake is inspired by a song written and performed by one of the biggest lesbian pop artists.

Following widespread condemnation, the owners issued a lengthy apology, with Lewis also telling The Guardian Australia that the venue’s name would be changed.

On 21 October, the club’s Instagram account announced that the venue’s new name would be TRIBE @ 231 Nightclub. 

“A bold new chapter in Sydney’s nightlife is about to begin. TRIBE @ 231 a nightclub created by members of the LGBTQI+ community for the LGBTQI+ community, is officially opening its doors in the heart of Darlinghurst — and it’s ready to electrify,” the statement revealed.

“Oxford Street has always been a cultural beacon for the LGBTQI+ community. TRIBE @ 231 is our love letter to that legacy — a place to dance, connect, and celebrate queer joy in all its forms… TRIBE @ 231 aims to energise the soul of Sydney’s queer nightlife and be loud, proud and without limits. Find Your TRIBE @ 231.” 

Shortly after announcing the news, one Instagram user inquired if it will be “welcoming to all members of the LGBTQIA+ community? Or just Gs between the ages of 18-35?”

In response, the venue affirmed that TRIBE @ 231 will welcome all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, adding that “at the end of the day, vibe of venue, the music and those it resonates with will dictate the crowd.”

As of this writing, the venue has yet to share the official date for its grand opening. However, they confirmed that it will be open for business sometime in December.

PORTLAND, Maine — Australian scientists tested the strength of bite-resistant wetsuits by allowing sharks to chomp the materials at sea and found that the suits can help keep swimmers safe.

Fatal shark bites are vanishingly rare, with less than 50 unprovoked shark bites on humans worldwide in 2024, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. But increased sightings of large sharks in some parts of the world have swimmers, surfers and divers looking for new ways to stay safe.

Scientists with Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, tested four bite-resistant materials and found they all reduced the amount of damage from shark bites. They performed the work by dragging samples of the materials behind boats and allowing white and tiger sharks to bite the samples.

The bites from such large sharks can still cause internal and crushing injuries, but the materials showed effectiveness beyond a standard neoprene wetsuit, the scientists said. The research found that the bite-resistant materials “can reduce injuries sustained from shark encounters,” said Flinders professor Charlie Huveneers, a member of the Southern Shark Ecology Group at Flinders and a study co-author.

“Bite-resistant material do not prevent shark bites, but can reduce injuries from shark bites and can be worn by surfers and divers,” Huveneers said.

There were small differences between the four tested materials, but they all “reduced the amount of substantial and critical damage, which would typically be associated with severe hemorrhaging and tissue or limb loss,” said Tom Clarke, a researcher with the science and engineering college at Flinders and a study co-author.

Chainmail suits to resist shark bites have existed for decades, but lack in flexibility for aquatic activities like surfing and diving, the scientists said in research published in the journal Wildlife Research on Thursday. Newer wetsuits can be designed to provide flexibility as well as protection.

The scientists tested the efficacy of wetsuit materials Aqua Armour, Shark Stop, ActionTX-S and Brewster. The scientists said in their paper that they found that all of the materials “offer an improved level of protection that can reduce severe wounds and blood loss, and should be considered as part of the toolbox and measures available to reduce shark-bite risk and resulting injuries.”

The promise of effective shark resistant wetsuits is encouraging for people who spend a lot of time in areas where there are large sharks, said Nick Whitney, a senior scientist and chair of the Fisheries Science and Emerging Technologies Program at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in Boston. That includes surfers and spearfishers, he said.

Whitney, who was not involved in the study, said it’s also encouraging that the materials are unlikely to make a person “feel invincible” and engage in risky behaviors around sharks.

“I also like it because it’s not relying on any impact on the shark’s behavior,” Whitney said. “It’s basically very, very simple. In the extremely rare event that you get bitten by a shark, this material will hopefully make you bleed less than you would if you were not wearing this.”

The researchers said the suits do not eliminate all risks from sharks, and precautions still need to be taken around the animals.

They are hopeful their research will help the public “make appropriate decisions about the suitability of using these products,” Huveneers said.

Whittle writes for the Associated Press.

Budget Brisbane’s chic and cheerful – Clare Fitzsimons gets closer to nature for way less in one of Australia’s finest cities, forking out a surprisingly small amount for her stay

Sitting on pale yellow sand decorated by imprints of dozens of tiny silver gull feet, with the Pacific Ocean lapping around my toes, the first hint of an orange and red dawn appears on the horizon.

It’s hard not to think in cliches at moments like these and while “the best things in life are free” is an overused phrase, it does sum up my surroundings pretty perfectly.

Watching a sunrise on the Australian coast is one of those priceless moments people pay a fortune for – but you don’t have to. We all know getting to Oz is never going to be cheap but there are ways to make that once in a lifetime trip Down Under cost not much more than a week in Spain.

I’ll admit the thought of doing Brisbane on a budget at first brought visions of the I’m A Celebrity camp – with all those terrifying spiders, and snakes. But I needn’t have worried as the east coast city’s plush hotels and apartments are remarkably affordable, costing from £79 per room a night.

We stayed at the Oaks Brisbane on Charlotte Suites (from £94 for a one bedroom apartment sleeping two and £141 for two bedrooms) and it was the perfect place to rest up after the 24-hour flight. I flew with Singapore Airlines, with a three-hour stopover at Changi and yes, it’s a long flight, but wasn’t as bad as I’d feared and soon the jetlag was gone.

Brisbane hosted the British & Irish Lions earlier this year and there’s an Ashes Test this December, not to mention the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, but a slew of free and cheap activities are also on your doorstep. From the botanical gardens, the famous Brisbane sign and the Wheel of Brisbane (like the London Eye but a lot faster), to miles of riverside to wander for hours – and it was all delightfully spider and snake-free.

Not a walking fan? You can jump on the CityCat, which is a boat service ferrying people along the Brown Snake, as the river is known, all for just 50 cents a trip – that’s less than 25p.

This budget friendly approach is not unique to boat services. Trains are the same price and are incredibly easy to use as I discovered when I split my trip and moved south an hour or so to the Gold Coast and the idyllically named Surfers Paradise (with that beach and sunrise).

The accommodation was very affordable there too. We had a two bed suite at The Island Gold Coast, just a few yards from the sea, and its rooms start at £91.

Food prices are similar to Britain but portion sizes are enormous and most meals easily feed two. There are plenty of bargains and special offers to be had – The Island, for instance, does a weekend bottomless grazing lunch (delicious) in its rooftop bar with all food and drink included for less than £40.

In fact, whatever and wherever you choose to eat, from bargain burgers to high-end fine dining (Donna Chang restaurant in Brisbane is a real gem if you’re splashing out), you are pretty much guaranteed to get food with a view.

One of the best was at Joeys, atop a Brisbane cliff with fabulous food you’ll have earned after the steep climb up the steps to get there.

And while that restaurant brought a smile to my face, it was real joeys that warmed my heart during a visit to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary along the Gold Coast.

Hopping excitedly over to eat from my hand, the pint-sized young kangaroos were undeniably cute and even the much larger and slightly more intimidating adults were very gentle and happy to be petted while they munched away on food pellets.

Animal interactions are a huge part of this park, and even locals will often come to the entrance for a morning coffee and to watch (and feed) the lorikeets.

Here for free, even before you go in, staff will give you a small plate of liquid nectar, to which parrots are partial. Next expect flurries of green feathers flocking over in seconds, hanging on the plate, your arms and often your head. A pair of the birds even decided to get a little amorous and start smooching while scrabbling about in my hair – a very odd experience.

But the highlight of the trip was four-year-old Kiki the koala.

Queensland is one of the only states which allows people to hold koalas and the Currumbin is one of the leading animal conservation sanctuaries with its own wildlife hospital treating 16,000 animals a year – including 500 koalas. Kiki was brought over and, while I was grinning like a child, she was placed in my arms for a cuddle and a photo, clinging to me like she was a baby – or more like I was a tree. The park is a bit of a splurge at around £35 for entrance and the koala experiences starting from £30, but it’s easily a full day out and something I’ll never forget.

Even if you don’t leave Brisbane, you can still meet a few of Kiki’s rellies on The Koala and River Cruises (costing just over £55) which takes you up the river to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This time I stroked the equally adorable five year-old Fraser, fed kangaroos and saw everything from dingoes and wombats to crocodiles and snakes.

If wildlife isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other fascinating excursions that won’t break the bank. A trip to Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre takes you back 60,000 years to learn about the ancestors of the first nation people. Going on a walkabout, the guide relates the history of the people and their connection with the land.

Jellurgal is known as the Dreaming Mountain and a Dreaming Story is a tale told through the generations as the people don’t believe in writing down their language so everything is passed on by oral tradition.

Whatever you want from a holiday you can find in Queensland. From thrill-seeking to beach-lazing – the state enjoys more than 300 days of sunshine a year. A day trip from Brisbane to Tangalooma Island Resort on nearby Moreton Island takes you to the white beaches of the third largest sand island in the world (the top two are also in Oz) where you can spend the day sunbathing and watching the enormous pelicans bob along the coastline.

Despite visiting in Australia’s winter, the temperatures were remarkably similar to a British summer, regularly in the 20s.

If views are your thing then the Story Bridge Adventure Climb is the place for you. It’s pricey at £75 but as one of remarkably few climbable cantilever bridges in the world, definitely worth it – even in the very fetching jumpsuit you have to wear.

If that’s not enough of an adrenaline rush, try a kayak trip along the Brisbane River (costing just over £35). Having read the river contains bull sharks, I was a tad nervous. It didn’t help when my brilliant guide from the Riverlife Adventure Centre showed me how to get back into the kayak if I fell out (which largely seemed to be belly-flopping onto the top and wriggling about like an eel).

Despite my fears and a few large wobbles, I managed not to fall in and the sense of achievement (and yes, relief) was palpable on returning to the pontoon 90 minutes later. Shark-infested river survived.

That’s what Australia is, a series of unforgettable moments you’ll be regaling your friends about for years.

And while not all the best things in life are as free as that sunset, they’re a lot closer than you’d think.

Book the holiday

Singapore Airlines offers return flights to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from Gatwick and Heathrow starting at £1,114 in economy; £2,884 in premium economy. singaporeair.com Rooms at the Oaks Brisbane on Charlotte Suites apartments start at around £94 a night. oakshotels.com Rooms at the ibis Styles Brisbane Elizabeth Street hotel start at around £79 a night. ibisstylesbrisbaneelizabeth.com.au Rooms at The Island Gold Coast hotel in Surfers Paradise start at around £91 a night. theislandgoldcoast.com.au

More info at queensland.com

An Australian medic working at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital says she has lost count of the number of amputations she has had to perform, as two more hospitals were shut down amid Israel’s relentless bombardment of the enclave.

“On the first day, I started off thinking I’ve never seen anything like this, and then in the following days I’ve seen … more. I’ve lost count of the number of amputations I’ve done,” Dr Saya Aziz, an anaesthesiologist, told Al Jazeera.

“The worst thing is these patients are alive … when we take them into the [operation] theatre they’re alive, they’re bleeding to death,” she said, adding how in the recess area of the hospital, dangling bits of toes and flesh and people with missing limbs have become a common sight.

Dr Aziz, who joined the barely functional medical facility about a week ago, says that as soon as hospital staff members hear a huge bomb, within minutes, the hospital fills up with mass casualties.

“You’ll hear the wailing, the screams, the chaos of family members bringing in the patients … it is a bloodbath,” she said.

The doctor added that the hospital’s operating theatre is also in a sordid state with flies everywhere, while Israel has curbed the entry of aid, including medical supplies, into Gaza.

“Everything is just filthy. I can’t even clean the patients covered in dust, gun powder, we’ve got no gauze … I wish I had a couple of towels, which I could wash the patients with. I have no fluids to clean them with. I have no pain relief to give them. My heart breaks,” Aziz said.

Healthcare crippled by Israeli attacks

Al-Shifa Hospital was once the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, but most of it now lies in ruins after several rounds of intense Israeli ground and air sieges since the start of the war in October 2023.

Gaza’s healthcare facilities have been repeatedly targeted by Israel, including with 2,000-pound bombs supplied by the United States, Israel’s closest ally.

Hundreds of medics have been killed in the 23 months of brutal war that has been dubbed a genocide by numerous rights organisations, including the United Nations.

Dr Adnan Al-Bursh, the head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa Hospital, was tortured to death in an Israeli prison months after he was arrested in December 2023. Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested last November. He still languishes in an Israeli jail.

Targeting of health facilities, medical personnel and patients is considered a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Convention.

Aziz said that on Sunday, Israel’s attacks also killed one of the hospital’s nursing staff and his wife.

“Their one surviving child, an 11-year-old, had burns on his face. I couldn’t even give him any pain relief,” she said, tearing up.

“His name is Mohammad, and he kept saying, ‘I could see my father, I never even said goodbye to him.’”

Israel has routinely justified its deadly attacks on healthcare facilities across Gaza by saying it was targeting Hamas, though it has never provided any proof for its claims.

But media reports, including from Al Jazeera, have documented evidence of Israel’s targeting of medics and hospitals during the course of the devastating war that has killed more than 65,300 Palestinians.

On Monday, the Gaza Health Ministry said two Gaza City hospitals stopped services due to the escalation of Israel’s ground offensive and damage caused by continued Israeli bombing, as tanks advanced deeper into Gaza City.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City have been forced to flee, as Israel has vowed to seize the city, which hosted more than a million people ahead of the latest Israeli offensive that began a few weeks ago.

Famine has also spread in Gaza as Israel continues to block the entry of aid. At least 440 people have died due to starvation so far.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that al-Rantissi Children’s Hospital had been badly damaged in an Israeli bombardment a few days ago. It also reported Israeli attacks in the vicinity of the nearby St John Eye Hospital, which forced the suspension of services there, too.

“The occupation deliberately and systematically targets the healthcare system in the Gaza governorate as part of its genocidal policy against the Strip,” it said.

“None of the facilities or hospitals have safe access routes that allow patients and the wounded to reach them,” the ministry added.

But despite Israel’s attacks, doctors at the major urban centre’s al-Shifa Hospital say leaving patients is not an option.

“Our medical crews are still carrying out their humanitarian mission in this hospital complex under heavy pressure,” the director of the hospital, Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, told Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili in Gaza City on Saturday.

“Their message continues: We serve patients and the injured to the best of our abilities.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Australia’s formally recognition of the State of Palestine, in a coordinated move with the UK and Canada, in an effort to revive a two-state solution. Albanese made the declaration from New York where he’ll be attending the UN General Assembly this week.

Melbourne, Australia – A far-right “anti-immigration” march escalated into a violent attack on a sacred Indigenous site in Melbourne last weekend, raising serious questions about police conduct and institutional responses to neo-Nazi groups in Australia.

The march on Sunday, which saw members of the self-described neo-Nazi National Socialist Network (NSN) lead chants of “Australia for the white man”, culminated in a group of 50 men storming Camp Sovereignty – the site of a historic Aboriginal burial ground in the city.

The attack left four people injured, with two hospitalised for severe head wounds.

The “March for Australia” protest against mass immigration came just one week after more than 350,000 people marched across Australia in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

Far-right and neo-Nazi connections were evident in the organisation of the march.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), prominent far-right figure Hugo Lennon, an associate of the neo-Nazi NSN, was listed as an original organiser before being quietly removed from the event’s Facebook page days prior.

In a statement released a day before the march, Thomas Sewell, leader of the NSN, declared, “March for Australia is about stopping immigration. No illegal actions or gestures will be performed by our members on the day.”

For some, the ensuing violence at Camp Sovereignty made clear the event’s underlying intentions.

“The rally was never about immigration but an excuse to parade white supremacist ideas in Australia,” said Ilo Diaz from the Centre Against Racial Profiling.

‘We knew they were coming back’: The assault on Camp Sovereignty

The Camp Sovereignty protest site occupies the “Kings Domain” parkland area in central Melbourne.

The camp is considered a sovereign embassy of Australia’s First Nation people and a sacred space dedicated to honouring Indigenous ancestors and healing generational trauma within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, particularly the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Established in 2006 by elders Robbie and Marg Thorpe, Camp Sovereignty marks the site of an Indigenous ceremonial place and burial ground, and has come to symbolise ongoing Indigenous resistance in Australia, advocating for an end to genocide and recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and land rights.

Nathalie Farah, who said she was kicked in the stomach during the attack on the camp, said the threat from the far right was evident hours before the violence took place.

“Earlier that morning, Tom [Sewell] and a couple of his mates walked through Camp Sovereignty,” Farah told Al Jazeera.

“They wanted to walk through the sacred fire. We knew that they were going to come back. The police knew they were coming back,” Farah said.

At approximately 5pm local time, a large group, led by Sewell, armed with poles and pipes, charged the camp.

Video footage shared on social media showed the attackers, most dressed entirely in black, charging towards the camp and assaulting anyone in their path as they tore down First Nation flags and inflicted damage to the site.

The Black Peoples Union, an Indigenous political organisation, said the attackers chanted “white power” and racial slurs while stamping on the camp’s sacred fire – which is kept burning to honour the Indigenous ancestors buried at the site – and trampling on the Aboriginal flag.

Video clips of the attack showed the men and younger youths specifically targeting women at the camp.

“I had what looked like a 15-year-old boy rip my hair, throw me to the ground and smash into my face with his fists. He did it with a smile on his face,” a 30-year-old teacher said in a witness statement to the Black Peoples Union.

Naarm Frontline Medics, a volunteer medical group, alleged police arrived at the camp only after the attackers fled, and claimed officers “came with pepper spray drawn on the victims of the assault, not the attackers”.

The medics also accused officers of having “actively obstructed the victims ‘ access to emergency medical care”.

Victoria Police confirmed they made no arrests at the site.

A ‘globally networked’ threat

Researchers note the attack on Camp Sovereignty was not an isolated incident but part of a growing, internationally connected, far-right threat.

The White Rose Society, which monitors far-right extremism, told Al Jazeera the neo-Nazi NSN group is “heavily networked with the international far right” through groups such as Terrorgram and 764/COM, with leaders “playing a prominent role in the international active club network”.

“Australian fascists and neo-Nazis have extensive reach on social media to an international audience, contributing to neo-Nazi news sites that promote anti-Semitic content,” the group said.

The NSN did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.

The group’s Telegram channel displays multiple videos showing members training in combat techniques and chanting “white men fight back”, content that is also promoted across their TikTok accounts and official website.

The camp attack has highlighted concerns among some regarding the selective condemnation of far-right violence from official institutions in Australia.

Australia’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, who was appointed to lead efforts against anti-Semitic actions in Australia, has yet to issue a statement addressing the neo-Nazi violence.

Segal also declined to address the role of neo-Nazis in the “March for Australia” protest, telling reporters at a conference: “I don’t want to comment on any particular incidents as I think this goes beyond any particular incident.”

In July, Segal said she had no involvement in a major donation by a company co-directed by her husband to Advance Australia – a conservative lobby group that rails against immigration, pro-Palestinian protests, and the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Aboriginal Senator Lidia Thorpe, a Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman, condemned what she called institutional hypocrisy in dealing with the far-right in Australia.

“Why are the authorities allowing this to happen? Why is the prime minister allowing this to happen?” Senator Thorpe said.

Thorpe has demanded a full investigation into the attack on Camp Sovereignty and has directly linked the slow police response to systemic racism in Australian society.

“We see how the Victorian Police treat Aboriginal people every day on the streets. There needs to be a full investigation on the infiltration of the neo-Nazi movement into not only the Victorian police force, but every so-called police force in this country,” Thorpe said.

“I’m sure there’s a lot more members of the NSN that wear badges amongst the police force,” she added.

The March for Australia rally proceeded with a significant police presence last weekend. Videos and witness accounts show police officers walking alongside the demonstrators.

When counter-protesters attempted to block NSN members from joining the main rally, video footage shared by the NSN and anti-fascist organisers showed police using pepper spray, but only on counter-protesters.

Political commentator Tom Tanuki said this selectivity fitted a pattern of police conduct that “invariably” sides with the far right.

“I wasn’t surprised to see them, as depicted in my video, defending NSN’s entry into the rally and pepper-spraying people out of the way,” Tanuki said.

A statement released before the march by Victoria Police declared, “Anyone thinking of coming into the city to cause trouble, display hateful behaviour, breach the peace or confront others will be met with a strong police response.”

A measure of accountability

More than 48 hours after the attack on Camp Sovereignty, NSN leader Sewell was arrested and charged. On Friday, he was denied bail by a court in Melbourne. Five other NSN members were arrested and released on bail.

Despite the arrests, authorities have not classified the attack on Camp Sovereignty as a racially motivated hate crime, which has prompted condemnation from Aboriginal leaders.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Senator Thorpe stated unequivocally: “Camp Sovereignty is our place of worship. For the authorities, even the federal parliament and the prime minister, not to see this as a hate crime, to refuse to name it and treat it as one, shows we have a serious problem in this country.

“It’s racism in itself not to call it what it is,” Thorpe said.

Thorpe connected the violence to Australia’s colonial legacy.

“The war has not ended for our people,” she added.

“We have over 600 Aboriginal deaths in custody with no one held accountable. 24,000 of our children have been taken from their mothers’ arms. They’re locking up our babies from age 10; 93 percent of the child prison population are our children. The genocide continues.”

Despite the attack, Camp Sovereignty remains, and a nationwide day of action has been called by Aboriginal resistance organisation The Blak Caucus on September 13, to show solidarity with the camp.

Sept. 2 (UPI) — Australian police said Tuesday that a 41-year-old man has been arrested for stealing more than $160,000 worth of Lego, the largest single seizure of stolen goods by the Oceanic country’s retail theft task force.

The suspect, who was not identified, was arrested following a search of an address in Royal Park, a western suburb of Adelaide, that uncovered around 2,500 stolen items, including 1,700 unopened Lego sets.

“The size of the haul is significant and indicates the depth of the alleged offending,” Acting Assistant Commissioner John De Candia of the Metropolitan Operations Service with South Australia Police said in a statement.

“This type of theft is not victimless. Those who purchase cheap goods from online sites are unwittingly facilitating this crime and we would urge them to consider this.”

The arrest was conducted as part of Operation Measure, which was launched in March 2022 to address shop theft and recidivist offenders.

According to South Australia Police, the task force has linked nearly 6,000 retail thefts to persons of interest, including 2,425 arrests.

The state has experienced eight successive declines in reported shoplifting, which the police department attributes to the operation.

“Operation Measure will continue to target recidivist offenders we believe are responsible for the majority of the offending of this nature,” De Candia said.

Melbourne, Australia – Lee Little recalls the phone call with her daughter in December 2017; it was just minutes before Alicia was killed.

“I spoke to her 15 minutes before she died,” Little told Al Jazeera.

“I asked her, was she OK? Did you want us to come up to pick you up? And she said, ‘No, I’ve got my car. I’m right, Mum, everything’s packed.’”

Alicia Little was on the verge of finally leaving an abusive four-and-a-half-year relationship.

Not only had Alicia rung her mother, but she had also called the police emergency hotline for assistance, as her fiance Charles Evans fell into a drunken rage.

Alicia knew what to expect from her partner: extreme violence.

Evans had a history of abuse towards Alicia, with her mother recounting to Al Jazeera the first time it occurred.

“The first time he actually bashed her, she was on the phone to me. And the next minute, I heard him come across and try to grab her phone,” Little said.

“I heard her say, ‘Get your hands off my throat. I can’t breathe.’ And the next minute, you hear him say, ‘You’re better off dead.’”

Little told how she had taken photos of her daughter’s terrible injuries.

“She had broken ribs. She had a broken cheekbone, broken jaw, black eyes, and where he’d had her around the throat, you could see his finger marks. It was a bruise, and where he’d give her a kick, and right down the side, you could see his foot marks.”

Like many abusive relationships, a pattern would emerge, whereby Alicia would leave temporarily, only to return after Evans promised to change his behaviour.

“This went on and off for the four and a half years,” Little said.

“He’d bash her, she’d come home, and then she’d say to me, ‘Mum, he’s told me that he’s gone and got help.’”

Yet the violence only escalated.

On the night Alicia decided to leave for good, Evans drove his four-wheel-drive at her, pinning her between the front of the vehicle and a water tank.

Alicia Little, aged 41 and a mother of two boys, died within minutes before the police she had called could arrive.

As she lay drawing her final breaths, security camera footage would later show her killer drinking beer at the local pub, where he drove to after running Alicia down.

Evans was arrested, and after initially being charged with murder, had his charges downgraded to dangerous driving causing death and failing to render assistance after a motor vehicle accident.

He would walk free from jail after only two years and eight months.

The statistics

Alicia Little is just one of the many women in Australia killed every year, in what activists such as The Red Heart Campaign’s Sherele Moody are saying is so prevalent that it amounts to a “femicide”: the targeted killing of women by men.

According to government data, one woman was killed in Australia every eight days on average between 2023-2024.

Moody, who documents the killings, contests those statistics, telling Al Jazeera they do not represent the true scale of deadly attacks on women in the country.

Government data records “domestic homicide”; women killed resulting in a conviction of murder or manslaughter.

As in the case of Alicia Little, the lesser charges her killer was convicted on related to motoring offences and do not amount to a domestic homicide under government reporting and are not reflected in the statistics.

“One of the key weapons that perpetrators use against women in Australia is vehicles,” Moody told Al Jazeera.

“They almost always get charged with dangerous driving, causing death. That is not a homicide charge. It doesn’t get counted despite it being a domestic violence act, an act of domestic violence perpetrated by a partner,” Moody said.

“The government underrepresents the epidemic of violence. And in the end, the numbers that they’re using influence their policy. It influences their funding decisions. It influences how they speak to us as a community about violence against women,” she said.

Moody said that between January 2024 and June this year, she had documented 136 killings of women; many – like Alicia Little – by their partners. “Ninety-six percent of the deaths I record are perpetrated by men.”

“Around 60 percent of the deaths are the result of domestic and family violence,” she said.

While much focus is on women’s safety in public spaces – for example, walking home alone at night – Moody said the least safe place for a woman is actually in her own home.

“The reality is that if you’re going to be killed, whether you’re a man or woman or a child, you’re going to be killed by someone you know,” she said.

Data shows that only about 10 percent of female victims are killed by strangers, deaths often sensationally covered by the media and prompting public debate about women’s safety.

“Yes, stranger killings do happen, and when they do, they get a lot of focus and a lot of attention, and it lulls people into a false sense of security about who is perpetrating the violence,” Moody said.

Male violence in Australia

Patty Kinnersly, CEO of Our Watch, a national task force to prevent violence against women, said attacks on women are the “most extreme outcome of broader patterns of gendered violence and inequality”.

“When we refer to the gendered drivers of violence, we are talking about the social conditions and power imbalances that create the environment where this violence occurs,” Kinnersly said.

“These include condoning or excusing violence against women, men’s control of decision-making, rigid gender stereotypes and dominant forms of masculinity, and male peer relations that promote aggression and disrespect towards women,” she said.

“Addressing the gendered drivers is vital because violence against women is not random; it reflects deeply entrenched inequalities and norms in society. If we do not address these root causes, we cannot achieve long-term prevention,” she added.

Patterns of male violence are deeply rooted in Australia’s colonial history, in which men are told they need to be physically and mentally tough, normalising male aggression, write authors Alana Piper and Ana Stevenson.

“For much of the 19th century, men far outnumbered women within the European population of the Australian colonies. This produced a culture that prized hyper-masculinity as a national ideal,” they write.

Colonial male aggression also resulted in extreme violence perpetrated on Indigenous women during the frontier times, through rape and massacres.

Misogyny and racism were also promoted in Australia’s parliament during the 20th century, as legislators crafted assimilationist laws aimed at controlling the lives of Indigenous women and removing their children as part of what has become known as the “Stolen Generations”.

Up to a third of Indigenous children were removed from their families as part of a suite of government policies between 1910 and 1970, resulting in widespread cultural genocide and intergenerational social, economic and health disparities.

This legacy of colonial racism and discrimination continues to play out in vast socioeconomic inequalities experienced by Indigenous people in the present day, including violence against women, activists say.

Recent government data shows that Indigenous women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised due to violence than non-Indigenous women in Australia and six times more likely to die as a result of family violence.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are among the most at-risk groups for family violence and intimate partner homicide in Australia,” First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence (FNAAFV) Chief Executive Officer Kerry Staines told Al Jazeera.

“These disproportionately high rates are the result of historical injustice and ongoing systemic failure,” Staines said, including forced displacement of Indigenous communities, child removals and the breakdown of family structures.

“Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been affected by multigenerational trauma caused by institutional abuse, incarceration and marginalisation. When trauma is left unaddressed, and support services are inadequate or culturally unsafe, the risk of violence, including within relationships, increases,” she said.

Indigenous women are also the fastest-growing prison cohort in Australia.

On any given night, four out of 10 women in prison are Indigenous women, despite making up only 2.5 per cent of the adult female population.

Staines said there is a nexus between domestic violence and incarceration.

“There is a clear and well-documented relationship between the hyper-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the high rates of family violence experienced in our communities,” she said.

“The removal of parents and caregivers from families due to imprisonment increases the likelihood of child protection involvement, housing instability and intergenerational trauma, all of which are risk factors for both perpetration and victimisation of family violence.”

‘Toxic culture’

While Australia was one of the first Western countries to grant women voting rights, deeply rooted inequalities persisted through much of the 20th century, with women being excluded from much of public and civic life, including employment in the government sector and the ability to sit on juries, until the 1970s.

This exclusion from positions of authority – including the judicial system – allowed a culture of “victim blaming” to develop, particularly in instances of domestic abuse and sexual assault, activists say.

Rather than holding male perpetrators to account and addressing violence, focus remained on the actions of female victims: what they may have been wearing, where they had been, and prior sexual histories as a basis for apportioning blame to those who had suffered the consequences of gender-based violence.

Such was the case with Isla Bell, a 19-year-old woman from Melbourne, who police allege was beaten to death in October 2024.

Media reporting on Isla’s death focused largely on her personal life and provided graphic details about her death, while little attention was given to the two men who were charged with Isla’s alleged murder.

Isla’s mother, Justine Spokes, said the reporting “felt really abusive”.

“The way in which my daughter’s murder was reported on just highlights the pervasive toxic culture that is systemic in Australia,” said Spokes, describing a “victim-blaming narrative” around the killing of her daughter.

“It was written in a really biased way that felt really disrespectful, devaluing and dehumanising,” she said, adding that society had become desensitised to male violence against women in Australia.

“It’s just become so normalised, which I think is actually a sign of trauma, that we’re numb to it. It’s been pervasive for that long. If that’s the mainstream psyche in Australia, it’s just so dangerous,” she said.

“I really think that this pervasive, toxic, misogynistic culture, it’s definitely written into our law. It’s very colonial,” she added.

The Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has committed to the ambitious task of tackling violence against women within a generation.

A spokesperson from the Department of Social Services told Al Jazeera the government has invested 4 billion Australian dollars ($2.59bn) to deliver on the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032.

“The Australian Government acknowledges the significant levels of violence against women and children including intimate partner homicides,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“Ending gender-based violence remains a national priority for the Australian Government. Our efforts to end gender based violence in one generation are not set-and-forget – we are rigorously tracking, measuring and assessing our efforts, and making change where we must,” the spokesperson added.

Yet for Lee Little, mother of Alicia Little who was killed in 2017, not enough is being done, and she does not feel justice was served in the case of her daughter, describing the killer’s light sentence as “gut-wrenching”.

Little is now petitioning for a national domestic violence database in a bid to hold perpetrators accountable and allow women to gain access to information regarding prior convictions.

“Our family would love a national database, because perpetrators, at this moment, anywhere in Australia, can do a crime in one state and move to another, and they’re not recognised” as offenders in their new location, she said.

Little said public transparency around prior convictions would protect women from entering into potentially abusive relationships in the first place.

Yet the Australian federal government has yet to implement such a database, in part due to the complexities of state jurisdictions.

The federal attorney-general’s office told Al Jazeera that “primary responsibility for family violence and criminal matters rests with the states and territories, with each managing their own law enforcement and justice systems”.

“Creation of a publicly accessible national register of perpetrators of family violence could only be implemented with the support of state and territory governments, who manage the requisite data and legislation.”

Despite the apparent intransigence in law, Little remains committed to calling out violence against women wherever she sees it.

“I’ve been to supermarkets where there’s been abuse in front of me, and I’ve stepped in,” she said.

“I will be a voice for Alicia and for a national database till my last breath,” she added.

Castleford Tigers have appointed Ryan Carr as their new head coach on a three year-deal.

The 37-year-old Australian, currently an assistant to Shane Flanagan at National Rugby League (NRL) side St George Illawarra Dragons, will take over the Super League club from the start of the 2026 season.

Cas sacked Danny McGuire as head coach in July after he won just four of his 18 games in charge.

“I feel a lot of excitement on the direction that the club is heading in the near future,” Carr told the club website., external

“It deserves to be better than where it is, and that’s where we need to take it. I feel the room for growth is really fast at the club – I’m excited to get started.”

Tigers are 10th in the Super League table after losing 17 of their 22 games this year.

Carr has previously coached in England with Featherstone Rovers and Leeds Rhinos.

He has also worked under Rhinos coach Brad Arthur during his time in charge of Parramatta Eels and had a spell as interim head coach of the Illawarra Dragons in 2023.

Tigers director of rugby Chris Chester, who is leading the team until the end of this season, added: “He’s a highly thought about coach who has a great knowledge of the game and a great work ethic.”

Israel’s prime minister accused his Australian counterpart of having “betrayed Israel” and “abandoned” Australia’s Jewish community, after days of growing strain between the two countries.

Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that history would remember Anthony Albanese “for what he is: a weak politician”.

Australia barred a far-right member of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition from entering the country on Monday, and Israel in turn revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority.

Australian Immigration Minister Tony Burke said Netanyahu was “lashing out” in response to Canberra recently announcing it would join the UK, France and Canada in recognising a Palestinian state.

“Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many people you can leave hungry,” Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday.

Israel’s opposition leader criticised Netanyahu’s remarks, branding them a “gift” to the Australian leader.

Yair Lapid wrote on X: “The thing that most strengthens a leader in the democratic world today is a confrontation with Netanyahu, the most politically toxic leader in the Western world.

“It is unclear why Bibi is rushing to give the Prime Minister of Australia this gift.”

Diplomatic tensions flared on Monday after far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman’s Australian visa was cancelled ahead of a visit to the country, where he had been due to speak at events organised by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA).

Burke told local media at the time the government took “a hard line” on people seeking to “spread division”.

“If you are coming to Australia to spread a message of hate and division, we don’t want you here,” he said.

Last year, Burke also denied a visa to Israel’s former justice minister Ayelet Shaked, a right-wing politician who left parliament in 2022.

A few hours after the revocation of Rothman’s visa was announced, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar said he had instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to “carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel”.

He added in a post on X: “While antisemitism is raging in Australia, including manifestations of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions, the Australian government is choosing to fuel it”.

In recent months, there have been a string of antisemitic attacks in Australia – which is home to one of the world’s largest populations of Holocaust survivors per capita.

On Tuesday, the AJA said Rothman would still appear at their speaking event virtually.

“The Jewish community won’t bow down to Tony Burke or [Foreign Minister] Penny Wong,” it said in a social media post.

Australia announced in early August that it would recognise a Palestinian state, with Prime Minister Albanese saying at the time that Netanyahu was “in denial” about the consequences of the war on innocent people.

“The stopping of aid that we’ve seen and then the loss of life that we’re seeing around those aid distribution points, where people queuing for food and water are losing their lives, is just completely unacceptable,” he said.

The state of Palestine is currently recognised by 147 of the UN’s 193 member states, and Australia’s announcement came about two weeks after similar moves by the UK, France and Canada.

In response, Netanyahu launched a scathing attack on the leaders of the three countries, accusing Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.

More than 62,004 people have been killed as a result of Israel’s military campaign since 7 October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel launched the offensive in response to the Hamas-led attack on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

LUKE LITTLER has learned to block out the haters and hecklers, saying: I just let my darts do the talking.

The Nuke is heading to Auckland for part two of his Down Under jaunt this summer.

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The 18-year-old banked £30,000 on Saturday when he beat Belgian thrower Mike De Decker 8-4 in the final of the Australian Darts Masters in Wollongong.

It was his fourth success on the World Series of Darts circuit and was equally impressive given that he had not practised ahead of this 21,000-mile round trip.

Every time he failed to hit a treble during the evening’s three games, a group of locals shouted out “rubbish, rubbish” and someone even bizarrely said he was “washed”.

This comment perplexed Littler but it is believed to mean he is supposed to be washed-up and not as good as he used to – which is clearly not the case.

The more he wins, the more he will be targeted by irate punters but even for someone so young, he has learned to rise above it all.

There have been times in Germany where he has been singled out and he was asked if he had gotten used to dealing with a portion of the crowd being on his back.

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Littler, in his second season as a pro, said: “For myself, the first time I hear it, I will obviously do something, but then I will let it go by.

“Just do my darts. Let the darts do the talking.

“No-one has taught me how to deal with much. I just get on with things. You are on stage alone.

“No-one else is with you. No-one else is going to help you unless it’s a few guys from the crowd. Yeah, you have just got to get on with it.”

Littler – who is on the two-week trip with new girlfriend Faith – is in good form and in a good mood, telling his rivals that his confidence is sky high.

No-one else is with you. No-one else is going to help you unless it’s a few guys from the crowd. Yeah, you have just got to get on with it.

Luke Littler on dealing hecklers while on the stage

An early-morning flight to Kiwi country means shifting his body clock by another two hours – he has already said he struggles with jetlag on the other side of the world.

Last year, the Warrington teen was defeated in a last-leg decider 7-6 by world No.1 Luke Humphries in the semi-finals at the Globox Arena in Hamilton.

Littler, the newly-crowned World Matchplay champion, says he has a policy of practising hard for the big TV events but for the smaller ones, he will simply rock up and do his thing.

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The world No.2 said: “I’m very happy. My debut last year in Australia didn’t go to plan. But second time lucky.

“I want to be winning things. We look to New Zealand next week.

“I will enjoy this. But then it’s an early flight again. An extra two hours ahead – so I will definitely be needing some sleep.

“It’s only my second time coming to New Zealand. I didn’t do much last year.

“We can make the most of four to five days and then once it comes to Friday that is when the darts starts again.

“I’m feeling confident. This is the most confident I have felt in a very long time.

“For myself I know how much I will practise, how much I have been doing.

“But yeah I practised really well for the World Matchplay and won it. I think I will practise for the big ones.

“As a player, you are on stage for a long time. You practise leading up to it and when you are on stage, you gain that confidence.

“You get warmer and you find those four or five gears.”

Damon Heta beats James Bailey 6-0

An Australian politician and convicted rapist has resigned from parliament moments before he was to be kicked out, after losing a legal challenge to remain.

Gareth Ward, 44, was last month found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men, aged 18 and 24, between 2013 and 2015, and is now in custody pending sentencing.

Earlier this week, Ward launched a legal bid to stop the New South Wales (NSW) parliament from expelling him, but it was dismissed on Thursday after the court rejected arguments that the move was an “affront” to democracy.

Plans to expel him on Friday were thwarted when, less than two hours before a vote to remove him was due, Ward quit as the independent member for Kiama.

Ward’s resignation letter was received by parliament at 09:08 local time on Friday (00:08 GMT), shortly before a vote at 10:30 was due to expel him.

His resignation – which comes years after the sexual assault accusations first emerged – means Ward will no longer receive a parliamentary salary.

It also triggers a by-election in the south-coast NSW electorate Ward has held since 2011.

In 2021, Ward quit as a state government minister and left the Liberal Party, but refused to leave parliament and was re-elected in 2023.

During his legal challenge, Ward’s lawyers argued that attempts to kick him out of parliament before the appeals process was finished was “an affront to the foundations of representative democracy”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns told the media on Friday that Ward’s resignation “should have come earlier”.

“If you are convicted of some of the most serious charges – sexual assault in NSW – you can’t sit as a serving member of parliament drawing a parliamentary salary,” the Labor leader said.

“How can you represent your community from behind bars?”

Opposition leader Mark Speakman labelled Ward’s legal bid to stay in parliament “disgraceful”, and accused the former MP of “playing games” with the public and parliament.

Ward, due to be sentenced next month, has said he intends to appeal the guilty verdict.

Commissioner’s recommendations for tech companies include measures that have been criticised on privacy grounds.

Australia’s internet watchdog has accused tech giants including Google and Apple of failing to take action against child sex abuse on their platforms.

In a report released on Wednesday, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said tech platforms were failing to implement various measures to protect children, including scanning cloud services for known abuse material and using language analysis tools to detect attempted sexual extortion in messaging services.

Grant said that Apple and YouTube, which is owned by Google, also failed to track reports of child sex abuse and could not say how long it took them to respond to the reports they received.

“It shows that when left to their own devices, these companies aren’t prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services,” Grant said in a statement.

“We need to keep the pressure on the tech industry as a whole to live up to their responsibility to protect society’s most vulnerable members from the most egregious forms of harm and that’s what these periodic notices are designed to encourage.”

Grant added that the companies had taken few steps to improve their efforts since being asked three years ago, “despite the promise of AI to tackle these harms and overwhelming evidence that online child sexual exploitation is on the rise”.

“No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services,” she said.

Google disputed the report’s findings, saying they were rooted in “reporting metrics, not online safety performance” and that more than 99 percent of abuse material on YouTube is automatically removed before being flagged.

“Child safety is critical to us,” a Google spokesperson said.

“We’ve led the industry fight against child sexual abuse material since day one, investing heavily in advanced technology to proactively find and remove this harmful content.”

Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Discord, which were also included in the report, did not respond to requests for comment.

Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said that while it was important for authorities to take action against online child abuse, some of the tools supported by the internet watchdog would raise serious civil liberties and privacy concerns.

Sulston said that scanning live calls and private messages would require platforms to abandon end-to-end encryption, which prevents communications from being viewed by anyone apart from the sender and receiver.

“That’s a gross invasion of privacy for all of the people making perfectly innocent and reasonable use of the service,” Sulston told Al Jazeera.

“It also has dangerous knock-on effects where the users of that service would be subject to surveillance from hostile actors – foreign governments, criminals, hackers. That’s a huge risk for civic society, activists, journalists and anyone who communicates on the internet.

Breaking encryption would be “disproportionate and dangerous,” Sulston added.

“We don’t expect the post office to open all letters and read them for illegal content – in fact, most countries have laws specifically against this,” he said.

Alistair Kitchen is a writer from Australia who was blocked from entering the US in June 2025.

In this Unmute, Kitchen describes how he endured hours of interrogation and had his phone confiscated and forensically downloaded by Customs agents before he was deported back to Australia. He believes it was over his writing on the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University and his views on Israel-Palestine.

July 15 (UPI) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Jinping Tuesday in Beijing as part of a nearly week-long trip intended to strengthen ties between the two nations.

“Australia’s relationship with China is important,” said Albanese in an X post Tuesday. “For our economy, our security, and the stability of our region.”

In a joint press conference, President Xi said Tuesday that “with joint efforts from both sides, the China-Australia relationship has rose from the setback and turned around, bringing tangible benefits to the Chinese and Australian peoples.”

Xi was not specific about what that “setback” was, as the two nations have had strained moments over the past several years, such as issues related to the Chinese company that operates Australia’s Port of Darwin, trade sanctions levied against Canberra starting in 2020 and a live fire exercise held by the Chinese navy off Australia’s east coast earlier this year, among others.

“The Chinese side is ready to work with the Australian side to push the bilateral relationship further and make greater progress so as to bring better benefits to our two peoples,” said Xi before ceding the floor to Albanese.

“Australia values our relationship with China and will continue to approach it in a calm and consistent manner, guided by our national interest, which we regard very much as the relationship being positive, which is just that,” Albanese said. “It is in our national interest, and indeed in the interest of the region as well.”

He also took part in a CEO roundtable Tuesday, which focused on developing business relationships and growth opportunities.

“Free and open trade is good for both the Australian and Chinese economies, businesses and people,” said Albanese in another X post Tuesday.

Albanese, along with a delegation of Australian businesspeople, first arrived in Shanghai on Saturday to firm a variety of ways the two countries can economically help each other.

“One in four of Australian jobs is dependent upon our exports and overwhelmingly by far the largest destination for Australian exports is right here in China,” he said Sunday.

Albanese is next slated to visit the city of Chengdu on Wednesday to focus on ties between Australia and China in regard to sports and medical technology and will also pay a visit to the Great Wall.

July 11 (UPI) — Missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga has been found alive after having disappeared in Western Australia’s remote outback almost two weeks ago.

The Western Australia Wheatbelt District Police announced Friday that Wilga “has been located safe and well in the Wheatbelt” by a member of the public and has since been taken to receive medical attention. Police reported she has some injuries and was heavily bitten by mosquitos.

Officials said she was found near the edge of the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve where her car was found Thursday, almost 22 miles from the main trail of the reserve, deep in an area of remote bushland where few people tend to explore. Overnight temperatures also dipped below freezing at times where and when she was lost.

Police told the press Friday just about a hour before she was found that her vehicle, a Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon, was stuck, and she was unable to free it. Wilga was discovered by someone as she was on foot along the edge of the reserve. The last time she was seen before that was on June 29 at a store in the town of Beacon.

The area in which she disappeared is described as “outback country,” with rocky outcrops and several trails. WA Police Acting Inspector Jessica Securo said Friday after Wilga was found that “it would be easy to become lost or disorientated in that area if you didn’t know it well.”