As it happened: Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris dies; India’s PM meets with Anthony Albanese in Sydney

Thanks for joining us today. Here’s a summary of some of our main headlines.

• NSW Police have charged an officer after he allegedly tasered 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland at an aged care facility in southern NSW last week. Senior Constable Kristian White was charged on Wednesday evening with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault. He was charged with a future court attendance notice, which means he will remain in the community until appearing before court on July 5.

• Treasury has confirmed it has referred the PwC tax scandal, involving former partner Peter Collins, to the Australian Federal Police for a criminal investigation.
• Liberal MP Julian Leeser has appealed to Australians to vote for the Voice to parliament, saying it will help transform remote Indigenous communities by tackling entrenched problems, as former prime minister Scott Morrison made a rare public intervention to urge a No vote.
• ABC boss David Anderson has conceded in a Senate estimates hearing the broadcaster had “fallen short” in supporting staff in the days after Stan Grant stepped down from hosting the flagship Q+A program.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s decision to light up the Sydney Opera House with the Indian flag tonigh despite paying no similar tribute during the coronation of King Charles III.
• The lead investigator in the Lehrmann case, ACT Policing Detective Inspector Scott Moller, has publicly revealed himself to be a survivor of sexual assault.
• The Prime Minister said his thoughts were with the victims of Rolf Harris, who died in the UK at the age of 93. The disgraced entertainer was jailed after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing girls.

NSW Police have charged an officer after he allegedly tasered 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland at an aged care facility in southern NSW last week.

Senior Constable Kristian White was charged on Wednesday evening with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.

He was charged with a future court attendance notice, which means he will remain in the community until appearing before court on July 5.

Clare Nowland, 95, was allegedly Tasered by police while she was reportedly holding a knife.

White, 33, allegedly tasered Nowland last Wednesday after being called to Yallambee Lodge aged care facility in Cooma.

Nowland, who suffers from dementia, was armed with a steak knife before White allegedly deployed his Taser on her once. She fell to the ground and hit her head and remains in a critical condition in Cooma Base Hospital.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb will address the media later this evening to discuss the charges.

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Treasury has confirmed it has referred the PwC tax scandal, involving former partner Peter Collins, to the Australian Federal Police for a criminal investigation.

“PwC Australia’s former head of international tax, Mr Peter Collins, improperly used confidential Commonwealth information,” Treasury secretary Dr Steven Kennedy said in a statement Wednesday evening.

“The emails that the Tax Practitioners Board tabled in Parliament on 2 May 2023 highlighted the significant extent of the unauthorised disclosure of confidential Commonwealth information and the wide range of individuals within PwC who were directly and indirectly privy to the confidential information.”

“In light of these recent revelations and the seriousness of this misconduct, the Treasury has referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police to consider commencement of a criminal investigation.”

Former PwC partner Peter Collins has been banned as a tax practitioner.

The TPB board banned Peter Collins, the former PwC partner who leaked confidential government tax plans, from acting as a tax practitioner until next year.

A 148-page document, released by senate estimates, detailed the evidence from the board’s investigation which revealed how confidential information on plans to combat multinational tax avoidance was shared widely among other staff and partners within the multinational firm, and marketed to clients.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has appealed to Australians to vote for the Voice to parliament, saying it will help transform remote Indigenous communities by tackling entrenched problems, as former prime minister Scott Morrison made a rare public intervention to urge a No vote.

In a heartfelt speech that addressed Coalition voters specifically, Leeser – the Liberal Party’s leading Voice advocate, who quit Peter Dutton’s frontbench so he could campaign for a Yes vote – said the body would eliminate the economic and social differences between Indigenous and other Australians, rather than creating two classes of Australian, as Dutton and other No advocates claim.

“The Voice will work on making our remote communities safer. It will work to rid communities of addictions from nicotine and alcohol to ice. It will work to get children in school and keep them there. It will work to address the terrible rates of infant mortality and renal failure in many Indigenous communities,” Leeser told parliament during the lengthy debate on legislation to enable the referendum.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison and former shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser both spoke up about the Voice to parliament.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“And it will work to create local jobs and industries so that we can break a culture of welfare dependency.”

“Some say the Voice will give Indigenous Australians a place of privilege. Does anyone really believe that Indigenous Australians occupy a place of privilege?”

He said most referendum debates make the “if it aint broke don’t fix it” argument.

“Normally, that is a valid and compelling argument. But the system is broken,” he said.

But Morrison, in a rare intervention in public debate over the constitutional change, warned the Voice would permanently create “different rights for one group of Australians over others, based solely on race”.

Morrison, who until Wednesday had spoken just twice in parliament since losing the prime ministership a year ago, said the “ill-defined” constitutional change would have the opposite effect of previous initiatives including the landmark 1967 referendum in which the Constitution was changed to give Indigenous Australians the same rights as all other Australians.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it’s important for Australia to diversify its business markets to include stronger ties with India.

Speaking on Radio 2GB this afternoon, he agreed it was important for Australia to not put all its eggs in one basket as it has previously done with China.

That’s why engagement with the rising economies of India and Indonesia are so important,” Albanese said. “At the moment, if you look at our exports, our exports to China are larger than the next three countries of the United States, Japan and South Korea.

So that will give you just some idea of how dependent we became on China. Now, China remains an important economic relationship, but it is important that we diversify.

Over coming years, India will be the third-largest market in the world, Indonesia will be the fourth-largest market in the world. And my government, through Penny Wong and through our economic ministers as well, is very engaged, particularly with the ASEAN countries.

We have to our north the fastest growing economies of the world in human history. That presents an enormous opportunity for Australia if we get it right.

Coalition frontbencher David Coleman says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave an incorrect answer in question time when asked about restrictions on gambling advertising.

Coleman - the Coalition’s spokesman on communications, which includes gambling regulation - asked Albanese whether he would support the Coalition’s policy to ban gambling promotions around sporting events.

Albanese responded by saying the previous Coalition government had nine years to take action to limit gambling ads but failed to do so.

“The only reason there are any restrictions on gambling ads during live sport is because of actions that Labor has taken,” Albanese said in parliament.

David Coleman.Credit: Louie Douvis

Coleman raised his voice in the chamber to tell Albanese his answer was incorrect. In a written statement after question time, Coleman sought to correct the record by pointing out that the Turnbull government enacted the existing laws that stop gambling ads during live matches before 8.30pm.

“The prime minister was completely wrong when he said that Labor was the reason for previous restrictions on gambling advertising,” Coleman said.

Albanese walked across the government benches to ask Communications Minister Michelle Rowland a question after Coleman’s interjection.

It is unclear what Albanese asked the minister who is partly responsible for gambling policy.

In his answer to Coleman, Albanese said his government was waiting for the outcomes of a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling before it announced any reforms.“We are concerned about gambling ads … I find them frankly annoying,” he said.

ABC boss David Anderson has conceded in a Senate estimates hearing the broadcaster had “fallen short” in supporting staff in the days after Stan Grant stepped down from hosting the flagship Q+A program.

Grant, a Wiradjuri man and one of the ABC’s stars, quit as host of the political panel show last week, citing the need for a break from the media after enduring a storm of negative coverage and racially fuelled abuse on social media that intensified following his involvement in ABC TV’s King Charles III coronation coverage.

Stan Grant makes an emotional speech after stepping down as host of Q+A.Credit: ABC

Grant’s exit has sparked a broader debate about the culture within the ABC after he said he felt abandoned by the broadcaster’s management, noting in a column that no one had “uttered one word of public support”.

Anderson subsequently apologised to Grant and said there would be a review into how the ABC responds to racism, while ABC journalists and staff rallied across the country with placards saying “I stand with Stan”.

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New York: Donald Trump threw up his hands in frustration as a judge scheduled his New York criminal trial for March 25, putting the former US president and current candidate in a Manhattan courtroom in the heat of next year’s presidential primary season.

Trump, appearing by video conference at a pretrial hearing in the hush-money case, glowered at the camera as Judge Juan Manuel Merchan advised him to cancel all other obligations for the duration of the trial, which could last several weeks.

Donald Trump and his lawyer Todd Blanche (right) appear by video before a hearing began in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday.Credit: AP

Trump, wearing a blue suit against a backdrop of American flags at his Florida estate, then turned to a lawyer by his side – their brief discussion inaudible on the video feed – before sitting with his arms folded for the remainder of the hearing.

Trump said little during the hearing, but lashed out afterwards on social media, writing: “Just had New York County Supreme Court hearing where I believe my First Amendment Rights, ‘Freedom of Speech’, have been violated, and they forced upon us a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of Primary season.”

“Very unfair, but this is exactly what the Radical Left Democrats wanted,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It’s called ELECTION INTERFERENCE, and nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before!!!”

Trump pleaded not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing.

AP

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A school in Perth’s north is in lockdown after a teenage boy allegedly fired a gun in the car park on Wednesday morning.

Around 11.50am, police allege the 15-year-old boy carried a gun into the car park of Atlantis Beach Baptist College, located along Breakwater Drive in Two Rocks, before discharging the weapon.

The boy has since been arrested by police.Credit: Facebook

Police were called and arrested the boy. Officers are currently at the scene and will continue to liaise with the school over the incident. All students and staff have been accounted for.

Inspector Geoff Desanges said he wanted to reassure the parents and community that there were a significant number of police resources on site.

“We do not have any reports ... of anyone being injured,” he said.

“We ask that parents and members of the public give us some distance to complete our duties. We will come back to you with further updates as soon as we have information.”

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s decision to light up the Sydney Opera House with the Indian flag despite paying no similar tribute during the coronation of King Charles III.

Speaking to 2GB Radio’s Chris O’Keefe this afternoon, Albanese confirmed his government had paid for the India flag to light up the Opera House tonight.

How the Sydney Opera House has been illuminated in the past.Credit: Wolter Peeters / Supplied

Asked if this was appropriate given that the King Charles’ coronation was not recognised in the same way, he said it was not his government’s decision. He said his government had decided to light up the Opera House with the Indian flag partly because it would help boost the Australian economy.

“We have a decision to make about this. It wasn’t our decision about the King’s coronation,” he said.

“State governments took various decisions around the country.

“The federal government certainly acknowledged the King’s coronation on all of our federal buildings in Canberra there were displays that were appropriate, I believe. I had the great honour of representing Australia along with the Governor General at the King’s coronation and I regarded it as an honour for me to do so.”

Asked if he would have liked the Opera House sails to have been lit up for the coronation in the same way they will be for the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi tonight, Albanese said: “I was in the UK when that occurred so I wasn’t a party to any of those decisions”.

“One of the things about lighting up the Opera House is that it projects our image to the world and they get to see it.

“There are 1.4 billion reasons why we want the Indian flag on the Opera House - because it is the largest population in the world. Two thirds of those 1.4 billion people are under the age of 35. We want a relationship with them. We want them to come to Australia, bring their dollars, create jobs and create that economic activity in the tourism sector.”