Australia news as it happened: More aid for Gaza announced after Harbour Bridge protest; Chinese woman charged with foreign interference; New AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett

Thanks for joining us on the live blog on your Monday. We will be back tomorrow with more live coverage. Here’s a wrap of today’s headlines:

• A woman allegedly tasked by China’s Public Security Bureau with spying on a Buddhist organisation in Canberra has been charged with reckless foreign interference. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says it is the first time a foreign interference charge has been laid against a person allegedly targeting members of the Australian community. The woman, a Chinese national and Australian permanent resident, faces up to 15 years in jail if found guilty.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seeking a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as pressure builds within the Labor Party to recognise Palestine. Albanese says he will continue to advocate for a two-state solution.
• Meanwhile, Labor MP and staunch pro-Palestine advocate Ed Husic says yesterday’s demonstrations across the country are a “wake-up call” for Australian politicians.
• In related news, NSW Premier Chris Minns has declared that it is not “open season” on the Harbour Bridge, as he refused to rule out new legislation to safeguard against a potential precedent established by yesterday’s protest. Minns says he will now inspect the court decision that allowed the march, attended by about 90,000 pro-Palestine protesters, to go ahead.
• Albanese has announced that Krissy Barrett will be the next AFP commissioner, the first woman appointed to the role. Reece Kershaw will step down on October 3.

Melbourne Storm have apologised to First Nations communities over the events of Anzac Day when the NRL club’s Welcome to Country ceremony was cancelled at the last minute.

The Storm said they had been in ongoing communication with members of the Wurundjeri community since April 25, when the ceremony that had been slated to take place before the match against the South Sydney Rabbitohs was cancelled, causing distress among Indigenous communities.

In the days that followed, the Storm took responsibility for what they said was an internal miscommunication that meant the Welcome to Country ceremony at AAMI Park was cancelled at the last minute.

The Storm said on Monday they will have an Acknowledgement of Country before Thursday night’s clash against the Brisbane Broncos.

To read more from sport reporter Scott Spits, click here.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw is retiring a year early to spend more time with his grandchildren, and will be replaced by the first woman to head the nation’s police force.

Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett, who recently oversaw the AFP national security portfolio, will replace Kershaw in October.

Kershaw’s early retirement comes after the police chief faced scrutiny over his handling of the Dural caravan plot in Sydney, which was first described as a terrorist act but was later revealed to be a fake plot.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced Kershaw’s departure at a press conference in Canberra on Monday, saying the police commissioner would leave his role on good terms with the government after his six-year tenure.

Read more from federal politics reporter Olivia Ireland here.

Critical evidence used to prosecute mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson has been made public for the first time.

The two video clips, released on Monday by the Supreme Court of Victoria, show Patterson disposing of a food dehydrator and an interaction she had with police as they raided her Leongatha home in their hunt for clues about the beef Wellington lunch that killed three people.

The release of exhibits comes a month after a jury, sitting at Morwell, found her guilty of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, after feeding them a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms on July 29, 2023.

Read the article by The Age court reporter Erin Pearson here.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said it was the first time federal police had charged a person with foreign interference allegedly targeting members of the Australian community.

“The activity was to support intelligence objectives of China’s Public Security Bureau,” he said. “The information was that there was covert and deceptive conduct about collecting information on the Buddhist group.

“Foreign interference is a serious crime that undermines democracy and social cohesion … however, it is important to note that one of the best defences to foreign interference is increased community awareness to the threat and reporting of suspicious activity to authorities.”

Nutt said the investigation did not include dealings with the Chinese embassy, but declined to give further details including information that could lead to the identification of the woman because the ACT Magistrates Court had issued a suppression order.

The woman was in court today and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars.

A woman who was allegedly tasked by the Chinese Public Security Bureau with spying on a Buddhist organisation in Canberra has been charged with reckless foreign interference.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt told reporters the woman, who is both a Chinese national and an Australian permanent resident, was charged following the execution of search warrants in Canberra on August 2.

“The AFP has alleged the woman … was tasked by China’s Public Security Bureau to covertly gather information about the Canberra branch of the Guan Yin Citta, a Buddhist association.”

The woman’s identity has been suppressed by the ACT Magistrates Court. The foreign interference charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years.

There is something Orwellian about Donald Trump’s decision to fire the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday because the bureau produced unemployment numbers the president didn’t like.

The bureau’s announcement, in the same week that Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day 2.0″ tariff regime, was always going to infuriate Trump because it casts a shadow over his claim that the US economy is booming and entering a “golden age”.

The “immediate” sacking of the head of one of the world’s most important – and respected – statistical agencies ignited a storm of criticism from economists concerned that Trump’s politicisation of the data and her position could undermine the integrity of data that is fundamental to understanding what’s occurring within the economy.

Read the analysis by business columnist Stephen Bartholomeusz.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he will continue to advocate for a two-state solution to Israeli Prime counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in a private call his office is pursuing.

“I have said to Prime Minister Netanyahu before, as I’ve said publicly for a long period of time that I’m a supporter of a two-state solution, and that there can’t be peace and security in the Middle East, without there being an advance on that two-state solution,” Albanese said.

Albanese also said he was not intending to apply further sanctions to Israeli figures.