As it happened: Man charged over missing campers; Nation deploys AFP officers to assist with civil unrest in Solomon Islands; Scott Morrison brands NSW ICAC a ‘kangaroo court’

• High-profile former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel has rebuffed accusations from Liberal MP Tim Wilson that she is “a Labor and Greens puppet”, as she announced she will run as an independent candidate for his blue-ribbon Victorian seat of Goldstein at next year’s federal election. Read more on the announcement here from Miki Perkins.

• Federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer backed a crossbench push today to debate a bill from Independent MP Helen Haines to create a federal anti-corruption commission akin to NSW’s ICAC. As Katina Curtis and Nick Bonyhady reported earlier in the day, the Morrison government relied on a technicality to block the debate despite a majority of MPs voting in favour of it.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison deflected questions about his government’s commitment to a federal integrity agency in Question Time today and instead took aim at the ICAC over its inquiry into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. The ICAC has yet to release any findings in that inquiry and Ms Berejiklian denies all wrongdoing. Dr Haines told ABC News 24 this afternoon that “we have been waiting for the government for three years to implement [a federal integrity commission] ... and today felt like the day to call for a debate. We’ve only got a few days of left of sitting before we rise for Christmas and I felt strongly that the nation needs this. They’re calling for it. I have a bill in the house and I felt it was time to call for that debate again.”

• Victoria recorded 1254 new cases of COVID-19 today and five deaths as it reached its 90 per cent vaccination target for residents aged 12 and up. There are 310 coronavirus patients in Victorian hospitals. Of those, 48 active cases are in intensive care.

• NSW has recorded 276 new COVID-19 cases and no deaths. There are 191 people with the virus in hospital, 31 of whom are in intensive care. Mary Ward reports that after weeks of Sydney’s south-west and western health districts being home to the bulk of the city’s COVID-19 infections, today the most cases were recorded in South Eastern Local Health District. The district – which stretches from the eastern suburbs down to the Sutherland Shire – reported 69 new cases, a quarter of the state’s 276 cases.

• Queensland recorded three new COVID-19 cases in hotel quarantine among unvaccinated travellers from Victoria, Matt Dennien reports. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the cases provided a “clear example” of the risk posed from interstate arrivals. “They were unvaccinated and they have the virus detected in hotel quarantine. So it’s absolutely imperative that we continue to drive this vaccination program,” she said. The state is on track to open its road borders to vaccinated domestic travellers from hotspot areas, without quarantine, before December 17. Vaccinated travellers from such areas are currently able to undertake home quarantine if they have access to suitable accommodation.

• There are eight new cases of COVID-19 in the ACT and seven people are in hospital with the virus. Of the patients in hospital, three are in intensive care and on a ventilator. The ACT continues to lead the nation when it comes to vaccination rates: 97.5 per cent of residents aged 12 and up are fully vaccinated against the virus.

• The Northern Territory has recorded one new case of COVID-19, in a teenager who is a close contact of an existing case. That teen, from the locked-down community of Binjari, is in quarantine at the Centre for National Resilience in Howard Springs. NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said it was unlikely he was infectious in the community.

• Lisa Visentin reports that Prime Minister Scott Morrison today introduced the contentious Religious Discrimination Bill into the lower house, describing it as a “sensible and balanced bill”. “This bill is a protection from the few who seek to marginalise and coerce and silence people of faith because they do not share the same view of the world,” Mr Morrison said. Mr Morrison said the bill would not enable discrimination against school students because they are gay. LGBTI groups say the bill enables schools to sack teachers who do not conform to religious tenets, including beliefs around same-sex attraction and gender identity, and that students could be forced to learn in classrooms where same-sex attraction is denounced.

As reported earlier this evening, Mr Lynn has been charged with two counts of murder over the disappearance of the pair. He will face Sale Magistrates Court on Friday morning.

Police still want to talk to any campers, four-wheel-drive daytrippers, hunters, fishermen and trail bike riders who were in the area between March and July 2020, regardless of whether they heard anything.

Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit the information online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

The last contact the pair had with the outside world was through Mr Hill’s high-frequency radio as they set up their campsite, which had no mobile phone reception.

Mr Lynn, whose posts on social media suggest he returned to Victoria’s high country at least once since the pair vanished in March last year, has been described as an avid camper and a recreational shooter by neighbours and friends.

Earlier today, Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said the probe had been one of the most complex and challenging investigations he’d ever been briefed on.