As it happened: PM again urges Australians to leave Lebanon; Dutton clashes with ABC journalist

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• Israel said intense fighting has erupted with Hezbollah in south Lebanon after its paratroopers and commandos launched raids across the border on Tuesday, in a widely expected ground incursion and after devastating airstrikes against Hezbollah’s leadership.
• Authorities have vowed action against people flying Hezbollah and Hamas flags at protests this weekend marking the anniversary of the October 7 attacks in another flashpoint over the war in Gaza that has prompted a further split between Peter Dutton and Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community.
• Shonky therapies and lifestyle purchases have been struck out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the first official list outlining what taxpayers will and won’t fund that was released today.
• In NSW, billionaire tech founder Richard White, one of Australia’s richest men, is at the centre of a legal bid to suppress court documents in a feud with an eastern suburbs beauty entrepreneur and former Real Housewives of Sydney contender.
• In Victoria, the family of the prime suspect in the Easey Street murders, Perry Kouroumblis, says he was lured to Rome for a potential property deal before being arrested on arrival.
• In Queensland, a mayor accused of misleading voters about his army service in Australia’s biggest military city is facing a 12-month suspension.
• In Western Australia, the Greens smell blood in the water in the federal seat of Perth, with federal leader Adam Bandt arriving in Western Australia on Monday to embark on a week-long push to oust Labor’s Patrick Gorman at the next election.
• In business news, Virgin Australia today confirmed Qatar Airways intends to take a 25 per cent stake in the Australian airline, pending regulatory approvals.

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Islamic and Jewish religious leaders have called for calm before a series of demonstrations planned to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

On Tuesday the NSW Faith Affairs Council – which includes Imam Shadi Alsuleimann, president of the National Imams Council, and David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies – released a combined statement after protests in Sydney and Melbourne over the weekend at which some demonstrators waved the yellow flag of the Lebanese group, Hezbollah.

Acknowledging “the pain many in our community are feeling due to events in the Middle East”, the statement urged calm, imploring “those who are grieving to find solace in the compassion and understanding of others” and to “refrain from any words or acts which promote hate and resentment or incite violence”.

The statement was also endorsed by Dr Ali Al Samail, resident scholar and Sheikh at the Australian Ahl Al Bait Islamic Centre, as well as many religious leaders from across the various faith communities such as the Catholic Church and the Hindu Council of Australia.

The intensification of Israel’s bombing on Lebanon after a year of conflict in Gaza has sparked renewed anger at the rising civilian death toll in both countries.

But the presence of some demonstrators waving the flag of Hezbollah – a designated terror organisation – or holding portraits of its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday has also sparked outrage in the Jewish community and among political leaders.

Sunday’s protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, but with further demonstrations planned in Sydney over the weekend to mark October 7, authorities are fearful of an escalation in tensions.

The federal government’s signature deal with the states to solve the housing crisis appears in peril after fresh construction approval numbers released today showed a bleak outlook for Australia’s home-building goals.

Dwelling approvals dropped by 6.1 per cent in August, further endangering the nationally agreed goal of building 1.2 million extra homes by July 2029.

The monthly decline reversed a bullish 11 per cent increase in July, although approvals were up 3.6 per cent when compared with August 2023.

In September, Master Builders Australia (MBA) forecast just 1.03 million of the target homes would be built, finding every state was behind their targets.

The peak building and construction body said if the pace experienced over the past year continued, Australia would fall 365,000 homes short.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Tuesday, approvals for detached houses rose by a slim 0.5 per cent nationally, but other dwellings – including apartments – pulled down the overall tally with a 16.5 per cent fall.

AAP with Lachlan Abbott

The Australian sharemarket was dragged lower on Tuesday by the big miners, despite a strong showing overnight from Wall Street, which closed its latest winning month and quarter with more records on Monday.

The S&P/ASX 200 finished Tuesday 60.9 points, or 0.7 per cent, lower to 8208.9 points. Mining giants weighted on the bourse after days of successive gains following a Chinese stimulus package announcement last week.

Star Entertainment finished the day at the bottom of the index with losses of 6.8 per cent, extending its spectacular losses of 44 per cent when it resumed trading on Friday after emerging from a month-long halt and finally reporting a full-year loss of $1.7 billion.

BHP sank 2.9 per cent, while Rio Tinto shed 2.6 per cent. Fortescue declined 3.5 per cent.

REA Group stayed at the top of the bourse all day to close 4.9 per cent higher after telling the market it was walking away from its attempt to acquire UK online property group Rightmove – REA’s fourth takeover attempt was knocked back.

Read the full wrap here.

Lebanese Australians believe they are being treated as second-class citizens, with entire families killed in Lebanon as debate in Australia focuses on Hezbollah flags and visas.

Relatives of Hassan Awada, a former Liberal deputy mayor in southern Sydney, were killed in Lebanon on Monday. He told Australian Associated Press a family of nine – including babies and children – were wiped out and others are still missing.

Politicians had made members of the community feel like “second-class citizens”, “subhuman” and “animals” as they focused their anger on a small number of people waving Hezbollah flags at a rally, he said.

“Our relatives can die and get mutilated in the name of self-defence of Israel and [the federal government] support that,” Awada said.

“Our feelings don’t count. We’re subhuman as far as our government is concerned … they decide to talk about a flag and forget about my nine family members and children.

“That’s not important, but they talk about an individual [waving a flag] who might be emotional, or immature or whatever, and we get tarnished with that.”

Hundreds of people have been killed in Lebanon following a multi-day missile attack from Israel, which it said targeted the Lebanese militia group that Australia designated as a terrorist organisation in 2003.

Israel and Hezbollah had been trading cross-border rocket attacks for months before a significant escalation in recent weeks. Israeli ground troops began a ground invasion of Lebanon earlier today.

AAP

Labor MP Julian Hill has slammed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as “the most divisive and negative opposition leader in Australian history” after the Liberal leader called for protesters who displayed Hezbollah symbols to be arrested and deported.

Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing moments ago, Hill said he had no information that any protesters on Sunday who displayed Hezbollah flags or held portraits of Hassan Nasrallah – the slain leader of the Lebanese militia that Australia designated as a terrorist group in 2003 – were on visas.

Labor MP Julian Hill.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Yesterday, Dutton said it was “unacceptable that the government wouldn’t be arresting people already or cancelling visas of people who are glorifying Hezbollah” after the rally.

He then spoke directly of the protesters who held photos of Hezbollah’s slain leader, comparing the act to glorifying Adolf Hitler or Osama bin Laden.

Hill, the assistant minister for multicultural affairs, said Dutton had a history of “20 years, frankly, of race-baiting politics”.

Specifically, Hill said shortly before 4.30pm:

At every turn, Peter Dutton is obsessed with the Middle East, not middle Australia.

On any day – on every day – that he can pour petrol on the fire and disrupt community harmony and profit from international conflicts, he seeks to do so.

He doesn’t want to talk about cost of living, doesn’t want to recall parliament to deal with the housing bill stuck in the Senate.

When we recalled parliament to deal with gas prices and electricity prices, he voted against it. But now, it’s always about the Middle East.

On the substance of the matter, Minister Tony Burke, who is the cabinet minister who I work to, he has made it very clear that if Peter Dutton or anyone has evidence of people on visas inciting discord or breaking the law, then we’ll consider cancelling those visas. We couldn’t be clearer. If people have that evidence, they should present it to us.

Hill also criticised the Greens, claiming they added to social division by “spreading disinformation and misinformation”.

“Australia is not selling weapons or ammunition to Israel, yet they keep repeating the lie,” he said.

Banning children from social media wouldn’t remove risks to their mental health and could rob them of an important social and emotional lifeline, experts have told a federal inquiry.

Representatives from six health organisations including ReachOut, Headspace and Beyond Blue rejected proposals to raise age limits for social networks, telling politicians on Tuesday the move would cause greater harm to children and give parents a false sense of security.

Their testimony comes a day after parent groups appeared before the Social Media and Australian Society inquiry and urged the government to impose a ban on all children accessing social media.

ReachOut government relations director Ben Bartlett said he recognised parents were struggling to find ways to approach the technology and protect their children, but a blanket ban would not address the risks.

“A ban would expose young people to new harms,” he said. “It may leave some young people without any mental health support options, it may make them less likely to seek help when they need it and be less likely to tell an adult when things go wrong online.”

The House of Representatives and Senate will be back sitting next Tuesday.

AAP with Lachlan Abbott

Warmer-than-average weather and Father’s Day sales spurred an early shopping blitz to boost retail figures.

Earlier today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data showing retail spending grew 0.7 per cent in August and increased 3.1 per cent in the past year.

With higher temperatures prompting people to spend more time outdoors, the bureau’s head of business statistics Robert Ewing said it also led a rise in discretionary spending.

“This year was the warmest August on record since 1910, which saw more spending on items typically purchased in spring,” he said.

“This included summer clothing, liquor, outdoor dining, hardware, gardening items, camping goods and outdoor equipment. The lift in turnover from the warmer weather was also boosted by higher discretionary spending as consumers took advantage of Father’s Day sales events during the month.”

Department stores had the largest increase in retail trade outside of food off the back of Father’s Day sales, growing 1.6 per cent in the month. Spending on clothing, footwear and personal accessories grew 1.5 per cent in the same time, while other retail grew by 1.3 per cent.

Households goods was the only sector that dropped in August, falling 0.3 per cent.

The warmer weather also resulted in a surge in people eating out.

Outgoing ABC boss David Anderson has told current and former staff he is “truly sorry” to those who have experienced racist behaviour and past harms, after a long-awaited review found overwhelming evidence of racism at the public broadcaster.

This afternoon, the Listen Loudly, Act Strongly review, led by Dr Terri Janke, was published and made 15 recommendations to improve the ABC’s systems, processes and support for First Nations and culturally diverse staff.

The ABC released the long-awaited Janke Review on Tuesday into experiences of racism at the broadcaster.

Among the recommendations, the review said the ABC must improve its responses to public attacks on staff, diverse representation in its leadership and management, recruitment processes and pathways, and conduct regular pay audits.

Read the full story here.

In a brief doorstop interview this afternoon, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged any Australian citizens in Lebanon to pay for a commercial flight and get out as conflict escalates in the Middle East.

Earlier today, the prime minister appeared alongside Aston MP Mary Doyle in Melbourne’s east to spruik the federal government measures to “crack down” on supermarkets amid cost-of-living pressures in Australia.

In a short interview after the event, Albanese said it was “unacceptable” that some protesters at rallies in Australia on Sunday waved Hezbollah flags and held images of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese militia that was designated a terrorist group in 2003.

The Middle East is now waking up after the Israeli military began a “limited, localised” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon last night. It is now 8.15am in Beirut.

Albanese was asked if the Australian government would arrange charter flights to evacuate Australians still stuck in Lebanon. The prime minister responded:

What we’re doing is looking at all the measures that are available at our disposal. But we say this as well: We repeat the call for Australians who are in Lebanon to come home. There are still commercial opportunities available. We’ve been saying for months that it is time to leave. It is certainly time to leave now when those opportunities are available, and at the moment, there are some commercial opportunities available, and we want Australians to take up that opportunity to come home to safety.