Labor councillor stands by vote to ban same-sex parenting books in Sydney council libraries – as it happened

Closing summary

Thank you for joining us on the blog – here is a wrap of the day’s headlines:

• The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has responded to China’s foreign ministry accusing an Australian navy helicopter of deliberately flying “within close range” of Chinese airspace in a “provocative move” in the latest military altercation between the two nations.

• Half of the threatened plant and animal species in New South Wales are on course to be extinct within a century, according to a new report released by the Minns government, which finds the decline of the state’s environment has accelerated.

• Debra and Martin Robinson are preparing to bring home the remains of their sons Callum, 33, and Jake, 30, to “the ocean waves of Australia” after travelling to Mexico to confirm the identities of their bodies.

• Greens senator and foreign affairs spokesperson, Jordon Steele-John, says Australia should not abstain or delay voting to recognise Palestinian statehood, and “just vote yes”.

• Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, has called the inequality between generations a “national tragedy” and requires urgent action.

• The decision to ban books on same-sex parenting from local libraries has placed one western Sydney council’s funding under threat, AAP reports, as the NSW government investigates the action.

• The federal court has confirmed that Elon Musk’s X will be represented by the high-profile Australian barrister Bret Walker SC in the company’s legal battle against the eSafety commissioner over the removal of 65 tweets containing video of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at his Wakeley church.

• The number of tourists on K’gari national park could soon be capped on the busiest days of the year, amid a wave of dingo attacks.

• Save the Children Australia is today launching an appeal in the federal court in Melbourne, seeking to compel the government to repatriate a group of Australian children and their mothers from north-east Syria.

• The former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will become an international ambassador for the Smart Energy Council, the Courier Mail is reporting.

China spin on warplane flare-up rejected by Australia

Australia has rejected China’s account of an incident between a Chinese warplane and a Royal Australian Navy helicopter, with the prime minister saying there was “no question” defence personnel were in the right.

The helicopter was forced to take evasive action after a Chinese air force plane launched flares closely ahead of it over the Yellow Sea on Saturday.

Australia and the US have branded the incident as unsafe and unprofessional, with Canberra raising its objections through diplomatic channels.

China dismissed the concerns, with foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, asserting “the Australian military aircraft flew near China airspace in a threatening way”.

The flares were a warning to the Australians, he said.

Albanese said Beijing’s explanation wasn’t satisfactory. He told reporters in Perth on Wednesday:

There’s no question that the Australian Defence Force personnel were both in international waters and in international airspace.

Albanese said Australia conveyed its concerns to China’s ambassador.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director, Justin Bassi, said without unconditional condemnation, this kind of behaviour would be incentivised:

While shouting rarely gets you anywhere, the idea that our response needs to be tempered so as not to upset Beijing into giving us the silent treatment or some other form of punishment unfortunately already means that their coercion against us is working.

- Australian Associated Press

Local shares creep higher, winning streak hits five

The domestic stock market has extended its winning streak to five days with shares finishing marginally higher as traders continued to digest Tuesday’s Reserve Bank messaging on interest rates.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index today rose 11.2 points, or 0.14%, to 7,804.5, while the broader All Ordinaries was also up 11.2 points to 8,076.7.

The Australian dollar was buying 65.79 US cents, from 65.91 at Tuesday’s ASX close.

- Australian Associated Press

Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, has said the alleged stabbing of a 39-year-old woman in Alexandria, Sydney, is “horrific news”.

“Violence against women is a national crisis.”

International students will soon need close to $30,000 in savings to get a visa to study in Australia

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced that from Friday, international students must show proof of savings worth $29,710.

Last year, the government increased the threshold from $21,041 to $24,505.

The move follows a crackdown on dodgy education providers and efforts to lower Australia’s migration levels.

O’Neil said her department had sent the first tranche of warning letters to 34 education providers for “non-genuine or exploitative recruitment practices”.

They have been given six months to improve their behaviour or risk being issued with suspensions from recruiting further students.

English language requirements for students from overseas have also been strengthened.

O’Neil said the measures would help weed out the “bottom feeders” in the international education sector:

The migration system we inherited was completely broken, and our goal is to build a smaller, better planned, more strategic migration system that works for Australia.

We are significantly reducing migration levels – we are in the middle of the biggest drop in migration numbers in Australia’s history, outside of war or pandemic.

- Australian Associated Press

8 May 202402.41 EDT

Luca Ittimani

Accountants warn of lax regulation in industry

A peak accountant body says shoddy operators have flooded the industry, as the government looks to tighten regulation of consulting and accounting industries.

Andrew Conway, CEO of the Institute of Public Accountants, said the industry was suffering “people who are masquerading as professionals” because the term accountant isn’t tightly defined. He told a parliamentary inquiry:

There’s a large number of people who call themselves accountants that are not members of one of the three [representative] bodies

Our members who do the right thing … have had a gutful of the brand damage to them as individuals, as practitioners, to our profession.

The loose definition of “accountant” has meant lawyers, consultants and other non-specialists can provide audit and accounting services, IPA group executive Vicki Stylianou said.

The government is considering new regulations for accounting, auditing, consulting and tax advice in response to last year’s PWC tax leaks scandal. Treasury discussion papers released on Friday floated a cap on the number of high-paid partner positions a company can have, something the IPA endorsed.

8 May 202402.31 EDT

Labor councillor stands by vote to ban same-sex parenting books in Sydney council libraries

Caitlin Cassidy

Labor councillor Mohamad Hussein who voted in favour of banning same-sex parenting books from Cumberland libraries has said:

I stand by my decision … It was not targeted at anyone or groups.

This decision was made in line with my religious beliefs and I will not be comprising those beliefs.

The statement comes after Labor MPs condemned his decision – which you can read about here.

The 39-year-old woman allegedly stabbed in Alexandria, Sydney, sustained multiple wounds to the neck and back of the neck, NSW Ambulance have said.

She was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a stable condition.

Here are the parents of brothers Callum and Jake Robinson speaking after the Australian surfers were allegedly murdered while on a trip in Mexico:

Central and eastern parts of the country can expect rain for the rest of the week, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of a wet weekend for eastern parts of NSW:

Debra and Martin Robinson are preparing to bring home the remains of their sons Callum, 33, and Jake, 30, to “the ocean waves of Australia” after travelling across the world to confirm the identities of their bodies.

Originally from Perth, the brothers were travelling with their American friend Carter Rhoad, 30, in the state of Baja California when they failed to check into their accommodation.

A few days later Mexican police arrived at their last known whereabouts and found a campsite covered in blood.

The three bodies were discovered in a well soon after.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Callum and Jake Robinson have been murdered,” Mrs Robinson told reporters after travelling to Mexico from San Diego, California, where Callum lived.

Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us.

Martin Robinson thanked everyone involved in the effort to find out what happened to his sons and for their support, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, foreign minister Penny Wong, Australia’s ambassador to Mexico and the Australian federal police.

Debra Robinson said her sons and their friend Rhoad were “young men enjoying their passion of surfing together”.

We have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of emotions and support that we have received.

We know they were truly loved and impacted many lives.

Callum was a loveable, larger-than-life character who considered the US his second home, his mother said.

Jake was a “happy, gentle and compassionate soul” who was pursuing a career in medicine.

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- Australian Associated Press

Hundreds of millions of dollars in budget to incentivise clean energy future

As Australia transitions to net zero carbon emissions, a continent-wide map of the nation’s rare earth deposits will help attract clean energy investment as a top priority in the move away from fossil fuels.

In 2022, 68% of total electricity generation came from fossil fuels, with 47% produced from burning coal.

But to reach its climate goals the federal government must reduce greenhouse emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade before completely negating them by 2050.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has made a plethora of commitments to critical minerals, clean energy and renewables manufacturing.

But today he revealed a landmark $566m, 10-year plan to provide a subterranean “soil and seabed” map to pinpoint where critical materials needed for the construction of clean energy infrastructure lie. The money will be allocated in next week’s budget.

- Australian Associated Press

Read more from Paul Karp’s earlier report in the blog.

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