Australia news LIVE: David Van moved to crossbench after Dutton learns of further allegations; ABC to announce dozens of job cuts to news division
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Key posts
- Political editor Andrew Probyn among ABC redundancies
- Brittany Higgins is being used as a political football, says Rachelle Miller
- Nine survivors of migrant boat sinking near Greece arrested
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Political editor Andrew Probyn among ABC redundancies
In case you missed this, the ABC has announced dozens of job cuts, including the role of political editor Andrew Probyn, as it undergoes its most significant restructuring in years.
Confirming his departure, the two-time Press Gallery Journalist of the Year said he was “gobsmacked” by the decision.
Andrew Probyn: “I struggle to understand the direction the ABC is going.”Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Only the political editor at the ABC would understand the scrutiny that comes with this role,” he said.
ABC managing director David Anderson justified the changes to staff in an email on Thursday as necessary for the broadcaster’s future, “but regardless of this, I understand change can be challenging, particularly for those directly impacted”.
Get the full details on the changes at the ABC here.
Brittany Higgins is being used as a political football, says Rachelle Miller
Former Liberal media adviser Rachelle Miller has lashed the leaking of Brittany Higgins’ text messages and warned it could have a chilling effect on other women coming forward to tell their stories.
Miller, a former Liberal staffer who has been very vocal about problems with Parliament House’s workplace culture, said the texts, produced to a court under subpoena “should absolutely not have been leaked or published”.
Former Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller has slammed the publication of Brittany Higgins’ private text messages.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“It is absolutely past [the] time that this should stop, and I think the pursuing of Brittany Higgins is disgusting,” she told this masthead yesterday.
“Brittany is being used like a political football. I honestly can’t believe that the Coalition could use their own women to tear down other women.”
Read the full exclusive here.
Nine survivors of migrant boat sinking near Greece arrested
Nine survivors of a migrant boat sinking were arrested on suspicion of smuggling as hope faded for hundreds of other passengers who were missing and attention turned to Greece’s failure to act before the overcrowded ship capsized.
The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers, including women and children who were likely trapped in the hold as the vessel overturned and went down early Wednesday.
That could make the sinking one of the deadliest ever in the central Mediterranean Sea.
A huge search-and-rescue operation initially recovered 78 bodies and picked up 104 survivors — all men and boys. But no more have been found.
Survivors of a shipwreck sleep at a warehouse at the port in Kalamata, about 240 kilometres southwest of Athens.Credit: AP
Meanwhile, Greek authorities were criticised for not acting to rescue the migrants, even though a coast guard vessel escorted the trawler for hours and watched helplessly as it sank in minutes. Greek officials argued that the migrants repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing to Italy, but legal experts said that’s no excuse.
The coast guard said late Thursday that it had arrested nine survivors on suspicion of belonging to the smuggling ring that arranged the voyage.
State-run ERT TV said the suspects were all Egyptians, adding that the ship originally left an Egyptian port for the area of Tobruk in eastern Libya, where it picked up the migrants.
Relatives of the migrants — who each paid thousands of dollars for passage on the battered vessel — gathered in the southern port city of Kalamata to look for their loved ones.
Kassem Abu Zeed said he caught the first flight from Germany to Greece after realising that his wife and brother-in-law were aboard the trawler.
“The last time we spoke was eight days ago, and (my wife) told me that she was getting ready to get on the boat,” Abu Zeed told The Associated Press.
“She had paid $5,000 to smugglers. And then we all know what happened.”
AP
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for your company.
It’s Friday, June 16. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started:
- Former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker claimed her former colleague David Van inappropriately touched her three years ago.
- A former staffer says the Coalition is using “their own women to tear down other women” and warned the leaking of Brittany Higgins’ text messages could impact sexual assault victims.
- Former prime minister Scott Morrison used a speech to Britain’s Oxford Union to voice concern that digital echo chambers fuelled enthusiasm for society to disown past transgressions.
- Australia’s population swelled by a record 497,000 through 2022, driven by the nation’s single largest annual intake of migrants.
Former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker claimed her former colleague David Van inappropriately touched her.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
- The notoriety of Ben Roberts-Smith could see him spared a trial, with one of Australia’s leading defence barristers saying jurors “from outer space” would be needed to hear the case.
- In NSW, police raided the company at the centre of the Hunter Valley bus tragedy and issued notices.
- Victorian state Labor MPs are pressuring their party to contest the Warrandyte byelection, in Melbourne’s northeast, after Liberal MP Ryan Smith’s shock decision to quit politics.
- Overseas, a report has found former UK prime minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over lockdown parties.
- The head of Islamic State in South-East Asia has been killed by government forces in the Philippines in a key blow in the fight against violent extremism in the region.
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