Some of the final hearings of the disability royal commission are underway in Brisbane.
The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions gave evidence at an inquiry into how the high profile criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann was handled.
The cold snap on the east coast has brought snow to parts of NSW, Victoria and ACT.
The NSW Nationals have drawn a line under the in-fighting and elected Dugald Saunders as leader.
The Victorian chief of police has apologised to First Nations people at an inquiry.
In federal politics, the Greens have signalled their willingness to negotiate on the housing bill.

Thanks very much for joining me this afternoon. Caroline Schelle will return tomorrow morning, and I’ll see you next Monday.

5.14pm on May 8, 2023

Boral fined for failing to protect workers from silica exposure

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Construction giant Boral has been fined $180,000 for failing to ensure its workers used respiratory masks correctly while exposed to deadly silica.

The company was sentenced in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday after pleading guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment that was without risk to health and safety.

WorkSafe Victoria charged Boral after investigating work practices at its Montrose quarry in Melbourne’s east in 2018 and 2019.

Dust produced from silica has been linked to the incurable lung disease silicosis and cancer.

It is a problem not just for quarry workers but also for trades people installing kitchen benches made from engineered stone, with unions calling for a total ban regardless of the concentration of deadly silica.

David Estcourt has the full story.

4.51pm on May 8, 2023

ACT prosecutor likens advice of police to a ‘biased, stereotype opinion’ about mini-skirts

By Angus Thompson and Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Circling back to the ACT inquiry into the conduct of the Lehrmann trial, Angus Thompson has more.

He reports that ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, has likened the advice of police investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape claim to that of an officer believing that wearing a mini-skirt was relevant to consent.

Drumgold said he was providing advice to the Australian Federal Police that they should not disclose the written opinions of ACT police Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, which he said were inadmissible in the case against Lehrmann.

“It’s really like, if a police officer says X complainant was wearing a mini-skirt and thinks that that’s relevant to whether or not she consented,” Drumgold told the inquiry.

“That could not affect a fact in issue because it’s a biased, stereotype opinion.”

He said conclusions in the advice “were not being rationally drawn”.

The hearing has been adjourned for the day and will return on Tuesday morning.

4.26pm on May 8, 2023

Snow blankets parts of NSW, Victoria and ACT

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons

The wintry conditions hitting the eastern states have been obvious to anyone who has stepped outside their front door in the last 24 hours.

In many parts of NSW, Victoria and the ACT that means snow.

Snow blanketing Shooters Hill in the Central West today.Wolters Peeters

Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said widespread snow blanketed the alpine regions of NSW and Victoria including Kosciuszko National Park and Victoria’s Falls Creek, with up to 20cm in some areas.

Snow was also falling across central western NSW in the Mudgee region and just outside Orange as well as Windeyer, Bocoble, Hargraves, Ilford, Oberon, Blayney, Carcoar and Lithgow.

Snowy conditions in Black Springs in the NSW Central West today.Wolter Peeters

By the afternoon, a wintry white hue was blanketing the hills in Canberra with the suburbs only a few degrees above zero, according to ACT Weather Watch.

The nearby town of Cooma notched up its coldest May day on record, Narramore said.

In Sydney, temperatures dropped to 11 degrees on Monday with winds averaging 60 to 70 kilometres an hour, with peak gusts around 90 kilometres an hour over the Illawarra and southern Sydney metropolitan coast.

Melbourne also had a brisk start to the day with temperatures registering just 8.5 degrees.

A toadstool dusted with snow at Shooters Hill in the Central West today.Wolter Peeters

With AAP

4.05pm on May 8, 2023

ACT prosecutor testifies in Lehrmann inquiry of police ‘bias’

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons and Angus Thompson

Our reporter Angus Thompson is keeping us abreast of the inquiry into the handling of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial.

Thompson reports that ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, SC discussed the police having apparent “confirmation bias” that the alleged victim Brittany Higgins was not truthful.

In part of Drumgold’s statement to the ACT government inquiry, he said he received documentation that affirmed that as early as April 2021 “police analysis involved a significant degree of confirmation bias that Ms Higgins was not truthful, that appeared to infect their case analysis”.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Erin Longbottom, KC, previously told the inquiry the investigation into Lehrmann was from the beginning beset by tension between the DPP and ACT police.

Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to raping Higgins inside a Coalition minister’s office in Parliament House in March 2019. The trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and a retrial was discontinued due to concerns for Higgins’ mental health.

Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence.

Drumgold was also taken to a file note in the case in which he said he didn’t want to disclose internal AFP documents to the defence because they weren’t relevant.

Drumgold said those documents included a brief by investigating officer Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, which he said “contained a basic, a misguided analysis of the importance of certain evidence and opinions on credibility based on inadmissible evidence”.

“It was certainly extraordinary,” Drumgold said of the brief.

“My conclusion was there was a police officer who has misunderstood the admissibility of evidence and has drawn conclusions.”

3.46pm on May 8, 2023

Royal commission told of neglect of two brothers with disabilities

Back to Australia, where the disability royal commission is wrapping up with its final substantive hearings in Brisbane this week.

Today’s hearings centred on two brothers living with disabilities who were found malnourished and locked in a bedroom when their father died.

The royal commission heard that the Queensland government agencies were aware of risks to the two teens.

When the elder brother was born in 2000 he was identified as a child at risk of neglect and spent two years in foster care before he was returned to his family. By 2004 after the birth of his brother, their father had sole custody.

Over the years, a total of 19 Child Protection notifications were made to the Department of Child Safety, and there were three occasions when a risk evaluation deemed the family’s risk as “very high”.

Counsel assisting the Disability Royal Commission Kate Eastman told the Brisbane hearing that emergency services found the brothers, then aged 17 and 19, unclothed in a bare room with the door handles removed in May 2020.

Eastman said it would be open for commissioners to find the boys, given the pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathan, experienced violence and the deprivation of their rights while in their father’s care, and that this was preventable.

“There is nothing about Kaleb or Jonathan’s age, disability or their personal circumstances that made it inevitable that they should individually or together experience violence, abuse, neglect or a deprivation of their human rights,” she said.

A former neighbour said she sometimes cared for the boys and the living conditions were squalid. She said she tried to encourage the father to get outside support, and recalled her surprise when workers from the Department of Housing didn’t go inside during two separate inspections.

“He did tell me at one point that if Child Services came, all you had to do is fill up your fridge,” she said.

At the time of their father’s death, Kaleb was participating on the NDIS but Jonathan was not.

Their father was worried he would lose a carer’s pension if he accessed NDIS funding for Jonathan, commissioners were told.

Queensland government representatives are expected to respond on Wednesday.

AAP

3.30pm on May 8, 2023

Iran executes two men for blasphemy

To Iran now, where the state has executed two men for blasphemy.

The judiciary’s news website Mizan reported today that Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare were executed for crimes including blasphemy, insulting the religion of Islam, the prophet and other sanctities. It did not say when they were executed.

The report said the pair was running dozens of online anti-religion platforms dedicated to the hatred of Islam, the promotion of atheism and insults to sanctities.

The United Nations has called on majority Shi’ite Muslim Iran to stop persecution and harassment of religious minorities pointing out an Iranian policy of targeting dissenting beliefs or religious practices, including Christian converts and atheists.

Reuters

3.06pm on May 8, 2023

Wildfires rage in western Canada and Russia’s Ural Mountains

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Australia escaped another devastating bushfire season last summer, but spare a thought for the northern hemisphere.

Wildfires are burning in both western Canada and Russia’s Ural Mountains.

A burned section of forest in the area near Edson, Alberta smoulders.Government of Alberta Fire Service via AP

There are 108 active fires in Alberta, and the number of evacuees has grown to about 29,000. The province has declared a state of emergency.

In neighbouring British Columbia, three wildfires are out of control and people have fled their homes in the northeastern part of the state near the Alberta border. Officials warned that they expected high winds to cause these blazes to grow bigger in the next few days.

Provincial officials in Alberta said small amounts of rain and overcast conditions would help the firefighters over the next few days, but hot and dry conditions were predicted to return later in the week.

Christie Tucker from Alberta Wildfire said at a briefing it was “unprecedented in recent memory” to have so many fires so spread out.

Wildfire evacuees in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada.AP

Meanwhile, raging fires in Russia’s Urals have killed at least three people, destroyed hundreds of houses and forced evacuations.

The Kurgan region’s investigative committee opened a criminal investigation into a large-scale fire that killed three people on Sunday and destroyed a number of houses and local businesses, suggesting the fires could be caused by official negligence.

Russia’s TASS state news agency reported six of the 13 wildfires in the region were contained.

Massive fires have also engulfed the Sverdlovsk region and south of it, the Tyumen region, also in the Urals.

A gunpowder depot fire that forced the evacuation of a small village in the Sverdlovsk region was contained by Sunday evening, but officials say 53 other fires were still ongoing, engulfing more than 33,000 hectares of forests.

TASS agency reports 23 wildfires are ongoing in the Tyumen region, and more than 120 buildings were destroyed in two small villages on Sunday.

With AP, Reuters

2.00pm on May 8, 2023

This afternoon’s headlines

By Caroline Schelle

Thanks for reading our live coverage this morning.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the single parent payment will be extended until the youngest child in a family turns 14.
Albanese has also been accused of making incorrect claims about visas while spruiking the UK-Australia free trade deal on his trip.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says there will be $14.8 billion in assistance for Australians in the budget, with energy help a major component.
The opposition’s finance spokeswoman Jane Hume says the only way the budget will address cost of living is if the government reins in spending and delivers a plan to tackle inflation.
In NSW, Nationals leader Paul Toole is expected to be asked to reconsider his position when the party meets this afternoon.
Victoria’s police chief apologised to First Nations people at the Yoorrook Justice Commission truth-telling inquiry.
Overseas, seven people have been killed when a car ploughed into a crowd outside a migrant shelter in Texas.

I will return tomorrow morning, but Caitlin Fitzsimmons will keep readers updated this afternoon.

1.45pm on May 8, 2023

Conditions still good for business, but risks brewing

Economic storm clouds have the private sector nervous but conditions for doing business do not yet reflect this heightened concern.

Business conditions are still robust, as measured in NAB’s monthly survey, but are gradually losing steam.

The conditions gauge – which includes trading conditions, profitability and employment – fell two points to 14 index points in April.

NAB chief economist Alan Oster says the economy will slow over the coming months.Bohdan Warchomij

NAB chief economist Alan Oster said the survey pointed to ongoing resilience in the economy despite higher inflation and interest rates.

“Demand is still very strong, as demonstrated by elevated trading conditions, and employment is also holding up, reflecting the strength of the labour market,” Oster said.

“We continue to expect consumption growth to slow as the effect of higher rates further impacts households, but how quickly and how sharply this occurs remains uncertain.”

The survey pointed to mixed price and cost growth indicators, with purchase cost growth picking up and labour costs remaining elevated but overall price growth weakening.

Confidence among the business community, which is also measured in the survey, remains depressed but has stabilised – picking up one point to 0 index points.

“A zero reading for confidence in the survey indicates that an equal share of firms are optimistic as pessimistic, which highlights how the outlook is finely balanced,” Oster said.

AAP

As it happened: Treasurer flags $14.6 billion cost-of-living package in budget; Retiring Liberal MP faces questions about conduct

Key Posts

Today’s headlines

Boral fined for failing to protect workers from silica exposure

ACT prosecutor likens advice of police to a ‘biased, stereotype opinion’ about mini-skirts

Snow blankets parts of NSW, Victoria and ACT

ACT prosecutor testifies in Lehrmann inquiry of police ‘bias’

Royal commission told of neglect of two brothers with disabilities

Iran executes two men for blasphemy

Wildfires rage in western Canada and Russia’s Ural Mountains

This afternoon’s headlines

Conditions still good for business, but risks brewing

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