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Australia news — Achol Arok and Nick Visser
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for the day.
Before we go, let’s recap the top headlines:
The total number of Australians missing in the deadly Nepal floods is now 43. The death toll from the unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris that crashed through valleys of Nepal on Wednesday last week has now risen to 903 people, with 16 more dead reported on the Tibet side of the border. More than 4,000 are missing in Nepal, with another 500 in Tibet.
Oscar Jenkins , an Australian man who was captured and sentenced to 13 years in a Russian jail after fighting for Ukraine military, has given his first interview after his conviction. The Australian government said it is working with Russian officials in a bid to secure his release.
One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce said the party wouldn’t get “carried away” after claiming a victory in the Secret Harbour state byelection in Western Australia.
According to snowfall data compiled by Snowy Hydro, 2026 is officially the worst end to a season since records began in 1954.
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says she has written to Anthony Albanese about the need to tackle violent pornography after a 16-year-old girl died from a suspected sexual strangulation incident.
Federal attorney general Michelle Rowland says the government is not immediately planning to ban imports of smartglasses.
Queensland has become the first state to make ebike and e-scooter riders hold at least a learner driver’s licence.
The New South Wales government will not appeal a supreme court judge’s ruling that rejected the state’s request for a terror order over Mohommed Farhat, who wrote “Fuk Israel” on cars and set another vehicle alight in late 2024.
New South Wales police have appealed for information to find the mother of a newborn baby boy, whose body was discovered in a rubbish bin in Auburn in Sydney’s south-west on Monday morning.
Qantas ground handling crews may soon walk off the job after overwhelmingly voting in favour of taking industrial action to demand better pay and conditions.
Thanks for sticking around, we’ll see you tomorrow morning.
Police appeal for mother to come forward after newborn’s body found in Sydney bin
NSW police have called on the mother of an abandoned newborn to come forward after the baby’s body was found in Sydney’s south-west today.
Emergency services were called to the suburb of Auburn after reports that a baby had been found in a bin. Officers attended and discovered the body of a baby boy.
It is believed the child was born within the last 36 hours.
Police have appealed for the unidentified mother to “come forward” or “go immediately to your closest hospital and seek treatment”.
Speaking on 2GB, Auburn police’s Acting Supt Darren Sly said:
Our main focus this afternoon, our priority, is to locate the mother of this child just to ensure that she receives the necessary medical assistance and any other welfare services that she may need.
And of course, we’re also calling for any members of the public who may have been in Harrow Road in the last 36 hours as well … all the small bits of information can be pieced together to hopefully track down this mother.
Qantas ground crews vote for right to strike amid pay dispute with airline
Qantas ground handling crews may soon walk off the job after overwhelmingly voting in favour of taking industrial action to demand better pay and conditions.
The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) says 97% of its members employed by Qantas Ground Services (QGS) workers voted for the right to strike in the coming weeks.
QGS is a subsidiary company owned by the airline, set up when Alan Joyce was still its CEO, which – according to the union – pays workers less than its “legacy” workforce.
Its ground crews also perform work for Qantas Freight and the company’s regional Q-Link service, the union says.
The TWU says its health and safety reps in New South Wales have served Qantas with 14 provisional improvement notices over alleged safety failings at Qantas Freight, where a labour hire worker died last year.
The workers voted to strike less than a week after Qantas reported its financial results for the last year, revealing it may hike fares after its profits dipped to a four-year low. The TWU national secretary, Michael Kaine , said:
Last week we saw Qantas crying poor over $2bn in profits, while the board awarded itself a 17% pay rise – but workers and the public see right through it.
These ground workers don’t want to go on strike, but after being sold a false promise that this airline would finally treat them with respect, they’ve got no other choice.
We remain committed to reaching an agreement with our Qantas Ground Services employees that includes annual pay rises for our people.
We have well developed contingency plans to minimise any impact on customers and our operations, should we be notified of any industrial action.
Discussions through the Fair Work Commission have been constructive and negotiations are continuing.
Liberal shadow minister calls Hanson hypocritical over accusations Labor is inflaming political discourse
The assistant shadow minister for energy, Garth Hamilton, has called One Nation leader Pauline Hanson ’s accusation – that the government was “pouring petrol” on inflamed political discourse – hypocritical.
It comes after the One Nation leader accused the prime minister and the treasurer of being “dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest”.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Hamilton said:
Senator Hanson has made a career going on Sky News after dark saying much worse things. I’m sure there’s a Labor strategist trawling through the comments she’s made that’s been more strongly worded than ‘dangerous, divisive’ and whatever else it was.
I think there’s a bit of hypocrisy at play. This constant game of I’m the victim. I would remind everybody this is a party that by its own admission is currently infiltrated by extremists.
This is absolutely nonsense, it’s not right. Hypocrisy should be called hypocrisy, and that’s what this is.
That’s all for me! Achol Arok will take things from here.
NSW may not be able to prosecute large-scale water theft
The New South Wales water regulator has cast doubt over its ability to prosecute potential water theft due to uncertainty about the validity of licences governing billions of litres of water entitlements in the state’s north.
It follows a successful legal challenge brought by a group of irrigators in the state’s north-west which found 11 floodplain harvesting licences issued by the former Coalition government were invalid.
The NSW land and environment court found the government had failed to follow correct procedures related to fair consultation with landholders. The case, known as Emu Rider , has raised questions about the validity of the process used to issue hundreds of floodplain harvesting licences.
Related: NSW may not be able to prosecute large-scale water theft due to doubts about licences for billions of litres
NSW police appeal for information after body of newborn found in Sydney
NSW police are appealing for information after the body of a newborn baby was found in Sydney’s south-west today.
Officials said emergency services were called to the suburb of Auburn amid reports the baby had been found in a bin. Officers attended and discovered the body of a baby boy.
Police have established a crime scene and commenced an investigation.
They hold serious concerns for the welfare of the baby’s mother and are urging her to attend the nearest hospital to receive urgent care. Police are also asking for anyone with information about the incident, or who was in the area at the time with any relevant footage, to contact police.
Kids leaning into AI as literacy levels decline
A majority of Australian youth lack confidence distinguishing news fact from fiction as they increasingly source information from artificial intelligence, AAP reports.
The 2026 News and Young Australians Report, released on Monday, found just 47% of children aged between 10 and 17 felt confident they could spot disinformation online.
A third of the 1,027 kids surveyed had shared a news story on social media to later find it was false.
Data showed youths were less likely to take steps to verify news content than in 2023’s study. Those steps included discussing items, checking multiple stories and changing news sources to more trustworthy outlets.
Declining literacy coincided with increased use of artificial intelligence, the survey also found.
Hanson says Albanese and Chalmers ‘crossed a line’ over criticisms of One Nation
One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, said Anthony Albanese and treasurer Jim Chalmers had “crossed a line” after the prime minister said the party was “peddling politics” that are “dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest” during Queensland’s Labor conference.
Hanson took to social media, writing today:
No matter how worried Jim and Albanese are about losing their jobs, telling Australians that their democratically elected opponents are “dangerous” and a “threat to our country” invites people to treat them as a threat.
Words have consequences. That is how political violence is incited.
The One Nation leader went on to say the pair were “pouring petrol” over inflamed political discourse, warning:
The real danger to Jim and Albanese is that the people of Australia are coming for their government … at the ballot box.
Related: ‘Orange elephant in the room’: Pauline Hanson’s political rise is inspiring racism, inquiry hears
The judge criticised the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as “detached from the reality of the common usage and understanding of antisemitism in this country”.
Australia’s peak Jewish group labelled Fagan’s ruling dangerous judicial “activism” that should be reviewed.
It was bewildering to see the Minns Labor government signalling they would appeal this decision.
The government’s own legal experts have clearly seen the writing on the wall and told the attorney general that any appeal of this decision would fail.
NSW will not appeal ruling that found anti-Israel vandalism was not antisemitic
The New South Wales government will not appeal a supreme court judge’s ruling that rejected the state’s request for a terror order over Mohommed Farhat, who wrote “Fuk Israel” on cars and set another vehicle alight in late 2024.
Last week, Guardian Australia reported that the government was “seeking urgent advice” on the prospects of any appeal after Justice Desmond Fagan had found that disparaging Israel was “political comment” , not antisemitism.
On Monday, the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley , told a budget estimates hearing “we won’t be appealing that decision”.
“Having considered the advice from the crown solicitor, senior and junior counsel, I have reached the conclusion that an appeal would have no reasonable prospects and would fail,” Daley said.
The individual is serving a 20-month sentence in relation to his prior offending and remains in custody.
In his ruling earlier this month , Fagan ruled that police, lower courts and various state agencies all incorrectly labelled Farhat’s actions antisemitic, meaning he was treated more harshly.
Queensland becomes first state to mandate licence requirements for ebikes and e-scooters
From Monday, Queensland has become the first state to make ebike and e-scooter riders hold at least a learner driver’s licence, with new rules kicking in on top of age limits and a statewide police blitz seizing hundreds of non-compliant devices, AAP reports.
Riders must now have a valid learner’s licence to use electric-powered cycles and e-scooters on Queensland roads and paths, with limited exemptions for supervised 12 to 17-year-olds, medically exempt riders and people in designated off-road recreation areas.
“We always said we would make the tough decisions to keep the community safe; our laws get the balance right between cracking down on those who do the wrong thing, while backing those Queenslanders who do the right thing and delivering sensible exemptions,” the state transport minister, Brent Mickelberg, said.
Police have already issued more than 1,700 fines and seized almost 400 illegal devices since 1 July under Operation Yankee Surety, and will now start checking licences during street intercepts.
It is now almost certain the world will warm past 1.5C. But ‘net-negative’ emissions are still possible
Wesley Morgan for the Conversation has written about the greatest threat to the Pacific: climate change.
Anthony Albanese is in Palau this week for the annual Pacific Islands Forum and regional security is expected to top the agenda.
China is testing nuclear-capable missiles in the Pacific, prompting talk of a new regional agreement. The United States-Iran war has exposed a reliance on costly fossil fuels that is undermining Pacific economies.
And as the world comes perilously close to the Paris agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal, a record-breaking El Niño looms in the Pacific Ocean.
Pacific nations will want Albanese to address the world’s key security threat – climate change. As president of negotiations of the Cop31 climate talks in November, Australia can work with the Pacific to keep 1.5C within reach and secure much-needed finance for island nations at the climate frontline.
Related: It is now almost certain the world will warm past 1.5C. But ‘net-negative’ emissions are still possible | Wesley Morgan for the Conversation
Government not planning to ban import of smartglasses, says Rowland
Michelle Rowland says the government is not immediately planning to ban imports of smartglasses.
The Greens and others have called for the camera-enabled wearable technology to locked out of the country.
The attorney general has told reporters the calls to limit the technology were “valid”. She said:
Firstly, I want to acknowledge the very deep concerns. We are not specifically in this consultation consulting on an import ban. … that would have consequences across government, including across trade, foreign affairs, and other potential legal obligations that can apply internationally.
She said the government’s reforms today would still impact on the smartglasses, with digital platforms prevented from storing recordings and data from the glasses if it was not “fair and reasonable” to do so.
Rowland said she commended local governments who were blocking the glasses’ use, for example at public pools, and said the federal government needed to use the powers that it had.
Let’s be clear, we’re talking about the harmful behaviours and regulating the harms. That’s what governments seek to do. In terms of an import ban, as I said, we are not ruling anything out, but we are utilising what we have at our disposal right now.
Attorney general outlines planned privacy reforms including 'right to erasure'
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, is announcing planned new privacy reforms at a Canberra press conference. She has told reporters:
We know that Australians are increasingly concerned about how their data is being collected, used, and shared, particularly as AI and other emerging technologies such as smart glasses become more accessible. People should not have to choose between protecting their privacy and participating in the digital economy.
She said the government was planning to introduce:
A “fair and reasonable” test to limit companies to collecting and using only the personal information they need;
A right to erasure, so people can ask digital platforms to destroy their stores of personal information;
Stronger standards for consent and clearer information when people agree to share personal details;
Limits on businesses buying and selling personal information without clear permission;
And a new ID Lock service through MyGov, designed to let Australians block, unblock, and monitor the use of their eligible identity documents for verification.
Victorian prisoners to be sent out to repair roads under Labor’s pothole plan
Victorian prisoners will be put to work on road maintenance as part of Labor’s plan to fix the state’s potholes if re-elected.
The state’s premier, Ben Carroll , will outline the plan on Monday off the back of an announcement on Sunday that the government would be increasing the road maintenance budget by $352m to fix 500,000 potholes by the end of January.
Carroll will declare that if Labor wins the November election, it would work with Corrections Victoria to develop a pilot program to put supervised, minimum-security prisoners to work performing roadside maintenance.
The plan would include having inmates take over “basic” duties such as mowing lawns, controlling weeds, removing graffiti and picking up rubbish, allowing more skilled crews to focus on fixing potholes.
The government said the work of prisoners “will not replace paid jobs” but instead “supplement the workforce where there are skill and capacity shortages”.
Related: Victorian prisoners to be sent out to repair roads under Labor’s pothole plan
Home lending to owner-occupiers growing faster than investors
Owner-occupier home lending grew faster than property investor lending in July, for the first time since 2024.
Statistics from the Reserve Bank show investor credit grew by 0.462% in the month, its slowest growth rate since October 2024. It had risen by at least 0.7% every month in the year prior.
The significant slowdown appears to reflect the drop in new loan commitments to investors since the budget’s tax reforms.
Owner-occupier lending data shows no such slowdown. It rose by 0.463% in July, very slightly faster than the investor measure. It has grown by an average of 0.48% a month in 2026 so far.
Mortgage broker data had already indicated owner-occupier and first home buyer demand had been more resilient than investor demand .
Other personal credit grew by 0.3% in the month, leaving the annual rate of growth steady at 4.7% as consumers keep borrowing and spending.
Albanese heading to Palau for Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting
Anthony Albanese will travel to Palau today and stay on the island nation until 3 September for the 55th Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting.
It will be the prime minister’s first official visit to Palau, which will come as the meeting focuses on the theme “Building Economies: Life. Action. Unity”.
Australia is a proud member of the Pacific family, and investing in the security and prosperity of our Pacific neighbours makes our region safer and our economy stronger.
Our engagement in the Pacific Islands Forum and our contributions to the infrastructure, regional security and climate action of the region matter more than ever before.
The forum has faced some turmoil after several leaders pulled out at the last minute. Read more here:
Related: Pacific Islands Forum meeting in turmoil after several leaders pull out of Palau summit
Richard Marles , the defence minister, is headed to the US and UK this week for talks with technology companies and partners in Washington and Westminster.
Marles’ trip coincides with commemorations in Australia and the United States to mark the 75th anniversary of the Anzus Treaty. He will meet members of the Trump administration to talk about the Aukus nuclear deal, as well as US military rotations to Australia.
The trip will also include meetings on AI, including with tech company Anthropic . The government signed a memorandum of understanding with the company in April. The assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy, Andrew Charlton , will also attend the San Francisco leg of the trip, part of efforts to woo Anthropic to invest in Australia.
In London, Marles will meet with the new secretary of state for defence, Wes Streeting .
“On the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty between Australia and the US we celebrate the enduring foundation of trust, cooperation, and shared purpose that underpins our Alliance today,” Marles said.
NSW opposition leader says ‘let’s not wait’ to take action on violent pornography
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says she has written to Anthony Albanese after a 16-year-old girl died from a suspected sexual strangulation incident.
Sloane said the reports were shocking and had “rocked everyone to their core”, saying she had written to the prime minister about the need to tackle violent pornography.
I’m saying, you know, after the shock of the last week, that let’s act now, let’s not wait any longer.
The opposition leader said certain types of pornography should be placed into the most restricted category and pressure should be applied on porn companies and social media giants to “just make sure wherever we’re at, we can block it”.
It has the ability to program the young, vulnerable minds of a generation of people whose first sexual experiences are being distorted because of this. Kids at 16, this is shocking. And it’s becoming normalised.
Sloane went on to say education about consent was also a critical prong, even if it’s a “very tough” conversation between parents and teenagers.
It’s a hard conversation to have with your kids. But around consent, we need to model that behaviour as well.
Sloane added that she told Albanese the NSW Liberals were “very supportive” of Chanel Contos’ campaign, Fix Our Feeds , which urges an opt-in mechanism for algorithms.
These algorithms prey on people, whether it’s young boys feeding them increasingly misogynistic content online, whether it’s girls preying on their vulnerabilities about their looks and their self-worth.
Related: Australia could make social media algorithms optional and follow UK ban on pornography depicting strangulation
Warning : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this post contains images and names of Indigenous Australians who have died.
McCarthy calls Mundine a ‘trailblazer’ for Indigenous Australians in sport
NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy paid tribute to Mundine this morning, calling him a “a trailblazer for Indigenous Australians in sport”.
He was a proud father, grandfather and mentor whose legacy will live on through the generations he inspired, both in and out of the ring.
My thoughts are with the Mundine family, as well as all those who knew and loved Tony.
Some Nepal flood victims had minutes of notice. Others had seconds
Guardian Australia’s Cait Kelly has a dispatch from the recovery effort in Kathmandu, Nepal. She writes:
On Sunday the combined toll in Nepal and Tibet climbed to 781 dead and more than 3,000 people missing. Forty-three of them are Australians. The humanitarian crisis on the ground is huge – but aid, a large amount of it from Australia, has started to arrive.
An additional $3m, on top of $5m already announced, was confirmed on Monday morning.
The army barracks have become the heartbeat of the crisis – bringing survivors in, taking supplies out and trying to place the dead with their families, so they can be laid properly to rest.
“With every helicopter there are mixed feelings,” says Plan International’s Unni Krishnan, who is on the ground in the Nuwkot district to oversee the response.
“It’s a scene of hope and despair – there are families here who have been waiting for three days to hear about their loved ones … Some of them will arrive and some of them will not.”
Related: ‘The house got carried 100 metres away’: some Nepal flood victims had minutes of notice. Others had seconds
Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this post contains images and names of Indigenous Australians who have died.
Australian boxing great Tony Mundine dies aged 75
Indigenous Australian boxing great Tony Mundine has died, aged 75.
AAP reports the father of former boxer and NRL star Anthony Mundine had a heart attack on Sunday.
Born in Baryulgil, near Grafton in northern New South Wales, Tony Mundine was the first Australian to fight in four different weight divisions, challenging for the world middleweight title against Argentina’s Carlos Monzón in 1974, in a bout stopped in the seventh round.
Mundine leaves a significant boxing legacy. Anthony was an IBO middleweight and WBA super-middleweight world champion, whose son Rahim won his fourth career fight from as many professional bouts on the Gold Coast only last week.
Related: Australian boxing great Tony Mundine dies aged 75
Watt says government thinks there are ‘real privacy risks’ with smart glasses
Ahead of attorney general Michelle Rowland releasing a discussion paper about privacy reforms on Monday, Labor MP Murray Watt has weighed in on smart glasses.
We think that there are real privacy risks with people having photos of themselves, images of themselves taken by these glasses without their consent and when they don’t even know it’s happening …
However, Watt says some people were using smart glasses for reading and other accessibility reasons.
I think we’re really quick to demonise something like this because it seems out of hand, like it’s dodgy or somehow it could be used for the worst. You’re playing catchup.
Back to the One Nation victory in a WA byelection this weekend
Earlier, the assistant minister for foreign affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite , said One Nation’s success in Secret Harbour was indicative of the “challenge” Labor has faced in communicating its cost-of-living relief policies.
“I know that people are looking at One Nation,” he told ABC’s Radio National.
We would say that they don’t offer the solutions that people are seeking, particularly around cost of living when One Nation’s voting record in the federal parliament is to vote against improving rights for workers and ensuring that they take home more money in their pay packets.
Joyce says he has not heard from David Farley about any plans to leave One Nation
Barnaby Joyce weighed in earlier on a report in the Saturday Paper this weekend that new party MP David Farley is mulling quitting One Nation to sit as an independent.
The Saturday Paper reported some of Farley’s colleagues worry his relationship with the party has broken down amid tension over One Nation’s migration target numbers.
Related: One Nation described as ‘all over the shop’ with migration targets as Joyce says MP made rookie mistake
Joyce told RN this morning he was unaware of any plan for Farley to leave the party, saying his new colleague had “broad shoulders” and could handle difficult moments:
I had a conversation with him nearly a day or so ago, and that was completely the opposite of what he said to me. I mean, this is in every party, you have to go through the discussion, the process, and you know, and David is an incredibly important part of that.
He’s incredibly competent, and you know … an asset to the party. And we want to make sure that we can we continue on with that.
Of course the media have a lot of fun with people if they can smell blood on the water.
Australian government working on release of Oscar Jenkins, assistant minister says
The Australian government is working with Russian officials in a bid to secure the release of Australian Oscar Jenkins , Matt Thistlethwaite says.
Speaking to ABC news breakfast, the assistant minister for foreign affairs declined to answer whether a prisoner swap was on the table.
Obviously, we try and negotiate as best we can on behalf of all Australians who find themselves in difficulties such as this. We obviously have to abide by international laws and we always uphold them. But the Australian officials on the ground will work with their counterparts to ensure that, hopefully he’s returned to Australia safely.
Thistlethwaite said the case highlights the danger of Australians travelling to Ukraine.
Record low snow marks harsh reality for ski sector
Winter is coming to an end, but for many the ski season finished much earlier, AAP reports.
According to snowfall data compiled by Snowy Hydro, 2026 is officially the worst end to a season since records began in 1954.
The natural snow depth on Friday at Spencers Creek between Perisher and Charlotte’s Pass in the NSW alps was 56cm, the lowest for the end of August.
While forecasts offer hope of light falls in the coming weeks, high temperatures and more rain on the outlook mean the snowpack will only shrink.
Usually, late August is peak season. But as global warming continues, early ends to winter are likely to become more common.
Perisher hit a balmy 14.4C on Saturday, while the mercury showed 11.1C in Mt Hotham, both breaking records for their highest August temperatures.
Government announces ID protection service and privacy reforms
The government says it will develop a digital identity service that will allow Australians to block or monitor the use of their ID documents that are used for verification through its document verification service.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland , says IDLock, which will be rolled out in 2027, will help protect people from identity crimes and scams.
Whether their driver licence details have been exposed in a data breach or they are concerned about scams and identity theft, IDLock will give Australians an accessible and simple way to have greater visibility, control and confidence in how their identity documents are used.
Rowland has also announced today a second round of privacy reforms that will allow individuals to request their personal information be destroyed from social media and search platforms.
Joyce says people are entitled to their own views after Malcolm Roberts says he’s in ‘two minds’ about gay people
Joyce was also asked about One Nations’ Malcolm Roberts , who told a conference earlier this year that he was in “two minds” about whether gay people should have equal rights.
Related: One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts ‘in two minds’ about whether gay people should be equal
Joyce told RN it was a “trope that we are somehow we’re racist, we’re homophobes, we’re this, we’re that”.
All these things stand in proxy for actually a relevant argument against One Nation. We’re not homophobes, we’re not racist …
Of course there are gay people in One Nation, but it just seems really awkward having to say it.
Joyce went on to say that people, Roberts included, were “entitled” to have their own views, and while they may not be his, different ones could lead to “respectful” debate.
They are not my views … but he is entitled to his views. And I think it’s kind of limiting to say, ‘No, you must completely comply and without question.’
Barnaby Joyce says One Nation victory at WA byelection ‘humbling’ and ‘decisive’
One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce said the party wouldn’t get “carried away” after claiming a victory in the Secret Harbour state byelection in Western Australia.
Related: One Nation claims victory in Secret Harbour byelection in Western Australia
He declared yesterday that “politics has changed” after One Nation’s Luke Herdegen defeated Labor’s Georgia Tree . Joyce spoke to Radio National Breakfast this morning, saying:
It’s incredibly humbling. It’s obviously decisive. It’s just more that if people are giving us a chance, and if we respect it and don’t get carried away with it, then that’s how you deal with it.
Joyce went on to say that Labor can spend as much as they want on elections, but “people still don’t care” and are disillusioned with traditional political parties.
There’s a sense that the Labor party is lacking a very important thing in a mining state such as Western Australia … With Luke, they saw a small businessperson, a person who they could look at them and see a reflection of themselves.
Australian convicted in Russia after fighting for Ukraine gives first interview
Oscar Jenkins , an Australian man who was captured and sentenced to 13 years in a Russian jail after fighting for Ukraine military, has given his first interview after his conviction.
Jenkins joined Ukraine’s fighters in 2024. He was interviewed by another Australian man, Mark Lowe , who has been living in Russia for four years, the ABC reports.
Jenkins told the ABC he wanted to help Ukraine and “be a soldier”:
It felt like the right thing to do; if a country invades another country, why? … I’m a young guy. It’s not that my life doesn’t mean anything to me, but sacrifices might need to be made.
People didn’t like what Russia was doing; they felt Russia was being a bully, and all that while I was prepping for my own position as a machine gunner.
Jenkins was ultimately captured and sentenced last May for his participation as a “mercenary in an armed conflict”. His conviction has been called a “sham trial” by the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong .
Wong said Jenkins was a prisoner of war, so he must be given “the protections afforded to him”.
Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international humanitarian law, including humane treatment.
Jenkins said in the interview he has written to Russian authorities saying he would be “happy to fight as a soldier for Russia” as well.
Australian personnel still unable to access Nepal flood zone
Australian personnel has not been able to get access to the Nepal flood zone yet, the assistant minister for foreign affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite , confirmed.
Speaking on ABC’s Radio National, Thistlethwaite said roads remained cut off in the disaster and most of the telecommunication infrastructure was down.
There has been about eight power stations that have been affected as well, so it’s very difficult to get into the area.
He said the Australian government had “offered support” to the Chinese government, with six Australians missing on the Chinese side of the border.
They’ve said at this stage they don’t require that support.
Australia to send $3m in additional aid to Nepal
The government will send $3m in additional aid to Nepal, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong , has announced, bringing the total package to $8m.
Of this additional aid, the Australian defence force will coordinate $2m worth of hygiene kits, solar lighting and other emergency supplies following a request from Nepal’s government.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will transport the first of these supplies from Queensland in the coming days.
In addition, the government will donate $1m to the Emergency Action Alliance appeal, which has reached $1.4m in donations from the public.
There is now 14 Australian personnel on the ground in Kathmandu – including crisis response, consular officers and Australian federal police – to assist staff in the humanitarian disaster. Two more will be deployed this week.
Number of Australians missing in Nepal rises to 43
The total number of Australians missing in the deadly Nepal floods is now 43.
The department of foreign affairs has received more than 650 calls in relation to the disaster.
Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday.
More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border.
Hello and welcome to Guardian Australia’s live coverage.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong , has confirmed Australia will send an additional $3m in aid to Nepal after $5m was announced last week.
The number of Australians missing in the disaster is now 42, as loved ones await information in the flooding disaster.
Before we go, let’s recap the top headlines:
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Achol Arok and Nick Visser. Published 31 Aug 2026, 07:48 am.
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