Dennis Richardson says his decision to resign from the royal commission into antisemitism<\/a> had nothing to do with the government, but says he came to the decision that he was \u201csurplus\u201d to the needs of the body.<\/p>\n Increasingly ugly abuse in federal parliament <\/a>has prompted a group of independents and the Greens to call for an urgent intervention from Labor to change the rules<\/p>\n The sealed section of the robodebt royal commission<\/a> report has been made public almost three years after the final report was handed down.<\/p>\n Australian shares suffered heavy losses<\/a> today over concerns the oil market turmoil caused by the Middle East conflict could get worse.<\/p>\n Software provider Atlassian said on Wednesday it would lay off around 10% of its workforce<\/a>, or roughly 1,600 positions, as part of a restructuring plan to push into artificial intelligence and enterprise sales, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n Foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said most of the Australians<\/a> who were caught in transit in airline hubs in the Middle East have now returned home on several dozen flights that have made it out in recent days.<\/p>\n A Liberal candidate in South Australia\u2019s upcoming<\/a> state election has dropped out of the race after his \u201cshocking and extreme\u201d views on abortion, same-sex marriage, gender transitioning and feminism were aired by his Labor rival.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.32 EDT<\/p>\n SA candidate who made \u2018shocking and extreme\u2019 comments on podcast no longer running for Liberals A Liberal candidate in South Australia\u2019s upcoming state election has dropped out of the race after \u201cshocking and extreme\u201d comments on abortion, same-sex marriage, gender transitioning and feminism were aired by his Labor rival.<\/p>\n The leader of the SA Liberals, Ashton Hurn, yesterday stood by Carston Woodhouse, running for the seat of Wright in Adelaide\u2019s north, after his appearances on the evangelical Christian podcast ElijahFire surfaced.<\/p>\n Today, Hurn said Woodhouse \u201cwill no longer be the candidate\u201d:<\/p>\n double quotation markI stood here yesterday, and I made myself clear that I did not support the comments made by a particular candidate. That remains true today, and that person is no longer a candidate for the Liberal Party at this state election.<\/p>\n I still maintain very strongly that people are entitled to have their view.<\/p>\n In videos of the podcast conversations, Woodhouse describes feminism as \u201cdemonic\u201d, says there is \u201cthis illusion that you can somehow change your sex\u201d and adds \u201cwho knows what demonic realms we\u2019ve opened up to the world \u2026 by accepting homosexuality\u201d.<\/p>\n Carston Woodhouse speaking on the ElijahFire podcast in 2022. Photograph: Youtube\/ElijahClips<\/p>\n Hurn originally stood by Woodhouse, saying she did not hold the same views, but that she was \u201cnot going to stop someone from having an opinion\u201d.<\/p>\n Today, she would not say whether Woodhouse was disendorsed or had resigned, adding he remained under contract with the SA Liberal party<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.23 EDT<\/p>\n Why did the 2022 Optus hacker never release all the data? Singtel doesn\u2019t know<\/p>\n While the alleged Optus hacker in 2022 had access to the personal information of nearly 10 million customers, it only released 10,200 records as part of ransom demands, and then apologised<\/a> and deleted their posts. No further records have been released since.<\/p>\n The West Australian reported today that Optus\u2019s parent company, Singtel, was suspected to have paid another ransom since the 2022 hack.<\/p>\n It was an allegation Singtel\u2019s board members John Arthur and Gail Kelly strongly denied had occurred when asked during a Senate inquiry on Thursday.<\/p>\n Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young asked the pair about the West Australian report, and then asked why when the Optus hack occurred, the alleged hacker suddenly had a change of heart and didn\u2019t post the data when the ransom wasn\u2019t paid.<\/p>\n Kelly said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe just don\u2019t know. It\u2019s clearly a question we asked ourselves \u2026 We don\u2019t know who that was, whether the person who asked for the ransom was the same person who was the hacker \u2026 No ransom was paid. No ransom was contemplated being paid.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.03 EDT<\/p>\n Dennis Richardson says interest in his resignation from royal commission will be \u2018one or two-day wonder\u2019<\/p>\n The former spy chief Dennis Richardson is appearing on ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing after his surprise resignation from the antisemitism royal commission.<\/p>\n Richardson says he doesn\u2019t think anyone \u201cin their right mind\u201d would attempt to convince him to return to the role and you can\u2019t unscramble an egg that has been scrambled.<\/p>\n Dennis Richardson speaks to the media during a doorstop interview at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, 12 March, 2026. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAP<\/p>\n He says he didn\u2019t advise the federal government about his exit in advance because a royal commission sits outside government and it would have been improper to tell them.<\/p>\n Asked why he would quit when the report was \u201chalf done\u201d, Richardson says that would be an \u201cexaggeration\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markMy resignation, I understand the interest it arouses, but at the end of the day and in the bigger scheme of things it will be a one or two day wonder. The royal commission will move on as it should \u2026 I have no doubt they will produce a report on intelligence and law enforcement matters which go to the heart of the issue \u2026<\/p>\n Once the royal commission was formed and my report was rolled in to the royal commission, it became the royal commission\u2019s report and became a matter for the royal commissioner, advised mainly by her senior counsel, and as time went on, I felt the value I could add to all of that was fairly limited.<\/p>\n Asked who should replace him, Richardson raises independent national security consultant Tony Sheehan and Peter Baxter, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Defence, as top candidates.<\/p>\n Read more here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.50 EDT<\/p>\n ASX suffers heavy losses as Middle East worries intensify Australian shares suffered heavy losses today over concerns the oil market turmoil caused by the Middle East conflict could get worse.<\/p>\n The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 fell 1.3% to close the day at 8629 points, wiping about $43bn in value from the market. Brent crude prices surged again today to tip over the US$100 per barrel mark.<\/p>\n The ASX has been pulled around by sharp moves in the oil price, with rising energy prices fuelling global inflation, which drags down equity markets.<\/p>\n Investor hopes of a quick resolution to the Iran conflict have evaporated in recent days amid ongoing disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, a key transit passage for the global oil trade.<\/p>\n Senior Iranian officials have warned of a long \u201cwar of attrition\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n The National Australia Bank\u2019s markets research team said today a \u201ctense reality\u201d had taken hold in the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US-Israel Iran conflict remains tense with a low probability for a resumption of vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz any time soon,\u201d NAB said.<\/p>\n A growing number of economists expect the Reserve Bank will increase the cash rate to 4.1% next week<\/a>. Rate hikes, used to tame inflation, tend to weigh on stock markets.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.35 EDT<\/p>\n Bowen says he is \u2018considering\u2019 voluntary call from IEA for oil reserve release<\/p>\n Bowen was also asked about the federal government\u2019s response to the International Energy<\/a> Agency\u2019s decision to release oil from global energy reserves.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s energy watchdog said its 32 members had agreed unanimously to release about 400m barrels of emergency crude, a third of the group\u2019s total government stockpiles and more than double the IEA\u2019s previous biggest release.<\/p>\n Bowen said it was \u201cappropriate\u201d the government took some time to \u201cthink this through\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markIt is a voluntary call, and my focus and my response will be focused on Australia\u2019s best interests \u2026 We are good members of the IEA, we are good citizens, we are taking the voluntary call very seriously but I am considering it.<\/p>\n Read more about the decision here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.30 EDT<\/p>\n Bowen: \u2018get as much fuel as you need but not less or more\u2019<\/p>\n The energy minister, Chris Bowen, is fresh out of question time and over to ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing.<\/p>\n He told the program there was \u201cno doubt\u201d Australians road-tripping over Easter would be affected by the \u201cinternational crisis\u201d on petrol prices but that didn\u2019t mean they should panic-buy now.<\/p>\n double quotation markIt is important \u2026 that we say to people [to] get as much fuel as you need but not less or more because we are seeing a doubling of demand for fuel since the bombing of Iran and that has caused real, unacceptable supply chain pressure in Australia.<\/p>\n Bowen said the government wasn\u2019t considering a temporary change to the fuel excise and measures announced today should help with supply measures.<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralia\u2019s supplies are good and secure and at this point all the ships we were expecting have arrived, our strategic reserve is in place. When we say our fuel supply is secure, we mean it because it is true.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.25 EDT<\/p>\n Elizabeth Struhs inquest hears eight-year-old\u2019s return home against objection of doctors<\/p>\n A coronial inquest has heard eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs, who was killed by family in 2022, was released back to them over the objection of her paediatricians.<\/p>\n The court is holding a pre-inquest hearing into the case today. Struhs, a type 1 diabetic, died as a result of being denied insulin by her family, who believed that God would intervene to save her.<\/p>\n She was hospitalised in 2019 as a result of her illness before being returned to her family. Her mother, Kerrie, openly refused to provide her medical care.<\/p>\n Counsel assisting Simon Hamlyn-Harris told the court:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe decision in August 2019 to return Elizabeth to her family home was in the face of strongly expressed opposition from the consultant paediatrician at the Children\u2019s hospital, the child protection and forensic medical service at the Queensland Children\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n He read out a contemporaneous email: \u201cIt is the opinion of the CPFMS – that is the child protection and forensic medical service – and the endocrine team at QCH that Elizabeth cannot safely be cared for in a home where her mother resides, due to the strong beliefs that she\u2019s expressing\u201d.<\/p>\n Hamlyn-Harris said child safety clearly did not agree with that assessment, perhaps because her father, Jason Struhs, committed to provide her the insulin she needed to live. He did so for two years.<\/p>\n The inquest continues.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.22 EDT<\/p>\n Police discover bodies of mother and baby after man hit by car in Queensland\u2019s south-east<\/p>\n A mother and her baby daughter have been found dead, while a man covered in blood was hit by a car close to the grisly crime scene.<\/p>\n The tragedy was discovered after reports of the injured man being struck by a vehicle near a supermarket in Queensland\u2019s south-east. The man with neck wounds was hit in Logan, about 30km south of Brisbane, on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n Police were trying to reach the man\u2019s next of kin when officers discovered the bodies of a 38-year-old woman and her one-year-old daughter in the family\u2019s nearby home.<\/p>\n Both died from critical injuries from an edged weapon, Detective Superintendent Chris Ahearn said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe believe the three of these people live in a family unit at that house – child, mother and father. Our investigations are focusing heavily on the nature of their relationship and living arrangements at that house.<\/p>\n Witnesses raised the alarm after seeing a man covered in blood running along a footpath before he was hit by a black utility about 300m from the family home. Evidence markers have been placed along the footpath, marking a trail of blood leading from the house.<\/p>\n The man remains in a serious condition and is under police guard in hospital. There were no domestic violence orders involving the couple, police said, adding there was no further threat to the community. The home remains a crime scene as detectives appeal for anyone with information or dashcam footage to contact police.<\/p>\n -Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.33 EDT<\/p>\n Singtel not considering divesting from Optus after triple zero outage<\/p>\n The Senate inquiry examining September\u2019s Optus triple zero outage has brought before it this afternoon Singtel board members John Arthur and Gail Kelly to answer questions about its support for its Australian company, Optus.<\/p>\n Liberal senator Sarah Henderson asked the board members about whether Singtel remains committed to Optus, or whether it has considered divesting after the ongoing issues with the telco.<\/p>\n Kelly said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe, Singtel, want Optus to thrive. We want Optus to fulfill its obligations to its customers and fulfill its obligations to the Australian people more broadly.<\/p>\n Arthur, who is also the chair of Optus, said \u201cOptus will continue to be a significant part of the Singtel group\u201d and Singtel is \u201ccommitted to Australia\u201d through continued heavy investment in Optus.<\/p>\n Kelly said foreign-owned companies, when there is an issue, tend to reign back in control to the parent company, but in Singtel\u2019s case, the company has invested more in Optus and worked to strengthen the board and the company in the wake of the outage.<\/p>\n Arthur said Optus had changed the way it had worked in the past, trying to be as transparent as possible, noting the Dr Kerry Schott report on the outage was released \u201cwithout a word redacted\u201d.<\/p>\n Following Optus\u2019s 2022 cyberattack, the company fought to keep the report on the hack a secret<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.54 EDT<\/p>\n Circling back to question time, and there were a number of personal explanations after formalities wrapped up.<\/p>\n The member for Warringah, Zali Steggall, refuted an allegation made by the prime minister in his response to a question from Sophie Scamps that double quotation markThat is incorrect.<\/p>\n The prime minister\u2019s words were: \u2018Not only did the Morrison government not report that or come to the dispatch box, they were pretty quiet about that in that corner about it too, Mr Speaker.\u2019 Those figures are reported at Senate estimates every time. There was no non-disclosure.<\/p>\n The prime minister stated: \u2018The greatest number of representations that I had from crossbenchers in the House and in the Senate isn\u2019t about health policy, isn\u2019t about education policy or housing \u2014 it\u2019s about their staff.\u2019 \u2026 Again, that is not correct. The largest number of representations that I have made to the prime minister and the government is to accelerate climate action and truth in political advertising.<\/p>\n![\"Daisy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Daisy_Dumas.png\")
Daisy Dumas<\/p>\n![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Josh_Taylor.png\")
Josh Taylor<\/p>\n![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jonathan_Barrett.png\")
Jonathan Barrett<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Andrew_Messenger.png\")
Andrew Messenger<\/p>\nJosh Taylor<\/p>\n
there was no reporting of personal staff allocations to crossbenchers in the Morrison government.<\/p>\n