RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
AN INFAMOUS police raid on a gay nightclub where hundreds of patrons were strip searched cost the authority millions, now they have apologised.
TODAY
• Police will reportedly claim that the farmer who allegedly murdered a state environment inspector last week ambushed the man on a public road.
• A woman living in a cave in Sydney’s leafy north shore has been found dead but police do not know who she is.
• The Australian father of baby Gammy was reportedly jailed for indecently dealing with a child under 13.
• Victoria Police have delivered a historic apology to the 463 patrons of a gay nightclub who were stripsearched.
10am
That’s it for our live #RUSHHOUR news blog. You can get across the stories you need to know today below or go to news.com.au for the latest headlines.
9.55am
A koala has been found dead outside a Victorian police station with $50 stuffed into its mouth.
A police officer in the state’s southwest made the grisly discovery when he went outside after hearing a noise on Saturday night, AAP reports.
A police spokeswoman said there was no clear motive for the $50 being left with the koala and authorities were not sure if a criminal offence had occurred.
The koala, which was found outside Heywood police station, has since been buried and the money was logged in a property book.
9.25am
A landmark audit has found the policy process for developing Labor’s National Broadband Network was “rushed, chaotic and inadequate”.
Productivity Commission head Bill Scales has found the NBN Co was given a job that only a “well-functioning, large and established” telecommunications company could do under the tight timetables for the rollout. For a start-up, it was an “impossible assignment”.
The audit contains sweeping recommendations on what future actions Canberra should take when considering major projects
9.05am
A Liberal candidate at November’s Victoria state election has quit in disgrace after party officials were told of hundreds of offensive sexist and racist posts on his Facebook page.
Jack Lyons, who was standing for the marginal seat of Bendigo West, quit two hours after the Herald Sun alerted party officials he had described the regional city as “needing an enema” and called its historical Golden Dragon Museum “ching chong gardens”.
8.45am
A baby left in a hot car for hours has died while her mother went home to go to the toilet.
April Suwyn drove to her home in the city of Hurricane in Washington County, Utah, to go to the toilet with her 11-month-old baby Skyah Suwyn in the back seat after dropping off her two young sons with a babysitter.
Skyah was the 20th child to die of heatstroke after being left in a car in the US this year.
8.30am
It is a century since the First World War began.
At the weekend and yesterday there were commemorations all over the country and overseas, marking 100 years since Britain declared war against Germany on August 4, 1914 — taking Australia and her other dominions into the maelstrom.
For the historical purists, however, today is the true centenary of Australia’s involvement. And to be precise, the moment comes at 8am AEST.
8am
Victoria Police have delivered a historic apology to the 463 patrons of a gay nightclub stripsearched almost 20 years ago.
According to the Star Observer the police raid of Tasty nightclub in Melbourne has marred relations with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.
“The events that took place that night caused distress to the people who were in attendance and had a significant impact on the relationship between the LGBTI community and Victoria Police,” Acting Chief Commissioner Lucinda Nolan reportedly told a small group of community representatives last night.
“It is therefore appropriate as we near the 20th anniversary of that event that Victoria Police extends a sincere apology to the community members that were impacted by that incident.
“We also extend a general apology to the broader LGBTI community for the impact that this event has had on our relationship over the last two decades.”
Patrons were awarded millions as part of a class action against the police. The apology was accepted by some of those impacted last night.
“So many people are so badly scarred - hopefully this apology will go some way to mending the scars,” Tasty photographer Mark Whearem told the Star Observer.
“I know one guy who can’t even really go to pubs, because if the police walk in he freaks out.”
7.50am
Israel and Hamas say they have agreed to a new 72-hour truce starting on Tuesday, after increasingly vocal world demands for a ceasefire in the bloody Gaza conflict.
The apparent breakthrough came during talks in Cairo on Monday, only days after a similar three-day truce collapsed in a wave of violence within hours.
Images of the bloodshed - which has cost more than 1800 Palestinian lives, and 64 Israeli soldiers in and near Gaza and three civilians in Israel - have sent tensions in the region soaring, earning the Jewish state strong criticism.
7.30am
Another person has died of meningococcal disease, this time at the New England hospital in NSW. It follows a death in Queensland’s southeast that may also be linked to the disease.
NSW Public Health Physician Dr Tony Merritt said the infection did not spread easily, close and prolonged contact is needed to pass it on, but people should be on the alert for symptoms.
This includes high fever, headache, neck stiffness, dislike of bright lights, nausea and vomiting, a rash of reddish-purple spots or bruises and drowsiness. Babies with the infection can be irritable, not feed properly and have an abnormal cry.
7.15am
Phone and internet records of everyday Australians will be held for two years as the federal government fights the threat of homegrown terrorism.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s National Security Committee has signed off on controversial mandatory data retention laws, which spy agencies claim are “critical” to fighting terrorism.
The Daily Telegraph has confirmed the NSC, in a marathon meeting yesterday in Canberra, approved the laws to compel telecommunications and internet companies to keep customer data — namely metadata — for at least two years.
7am
A woman living in a cave in Sydney’s leafy north shore has been found dead but police do not know who she is.
They are asking the public for help to identify the woman who was found in February in Willis Park, Middle Cove.
6.30am
The story of baby Gammy seems to be getting more complex as the days pass. Now it has emerged that the Australian father was reportedly jailed for indecently dealing with a child under 13.
Channel Nine claimed the man, who lives in Western Australia, was convicted of indecent dealing with a child under the age of 13 in 1998 and served a prison sentence.
The development came as the Thai mother of the abandoned surrogate baby boy with Down syndrome, rejected claims his Australian parents knew nothing of their son.
6.15am
Police will reportedly claim that the farmer who allegedly murdered a state environment inspector last week ambushed the man on a public road that was not part of his property.
According to Fairfax, Glen Turner was not on farmer Ian Turnbull’s Croppa Creek property at the time he was gunned down and was not served a notice for illegal land clearing, as suggested by the farmer’s family.
Police will allege that the Officer of Environment and Heritage officer was with a colleague in a car on unrelated duties when Mr Turnbull allegedly pulled up beside them, armed with a rifle and opened fire.
Mr Turnbull’s family has described him as a grandfather crumbling under pressure after more than a year of pressure from the government over the clearing of his land to plant crops.
However, it appears that Mr Turnbull had never put in a formal application for land conversion.
6am
Good morning, and welcome to our morning news coverage. We will be bringing you the best of what’s happening this morning, so you can get across the news quickly.
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