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‘Wrong morally’: Official photo of Ben Roberts-Smith was altered to hide Crusader’s cross
By Anthony Galloway
Former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith displayed a contentious Crusader’s cross on his uniform while on duty in Afghanistan, with the symbol later digitally removed by the Department of Defence in a widely distributed photo of the decorated war veteran.
Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James said displaying the symbol was “wrong morally” and “counterproductive”.
The original photo (left) of Ben Roberts-Smith displaying a Crusader’s cross on his uniform while on duty in Afghanistan. The evidence was later edited out (right) in the official photo released by Defence.Credit:ADF
The Australian Federal Police is currently investigating Mr Roberts-Smith over allegations he committed war crimes and intimidated war crimes witnesses. Mr Roberts-Smith has denied all wrongdoing and launched a defamation action against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald over reports that he allegedly committed murder on deployments to Afghanistan.
Read the full story here.
JobKeeper not returning because ‘we’re trying to evolve’, Agriculture Minister says
By Broede Carmody
Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud was speaking on the Today show just moments ago.
He was asked why the Morrison government isn’t bringing back last year’s JobKeeper program, which unions and small businesses say is a better model than the current emergency payments scheme.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s what Mr Littleproud had to say:
“If you bring in JobKeeper, there will be a whole lot of people that won’t be eligible for it. We’re trying to evolve with the crisis as it comes.
“You can’t set in stone one program and say, ‘That’s the holy grail’ because it may not be.”
Yesterday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg defended the current emergency payments model, arguing that some national businesses wouldn’t meet JobKeeper’s threshold for lost income (because they might have a certain number of stores in states that aren’t in lockdown).
Alert for shopping centre in Sydney’s south-west
By Broede Carmody
NSW Health authorities listed just over 20 new exposure sites late last night.
Anyone who visited the Campsie Centre Shopping mall in Sydney’s south-west from Wednesday, July 14 to Saturday, July 24 is considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
Other high-risk venues include:
- The Campsie Growers Market;
- The World of Fruit in Campsie;
- Man Hing Chinese Takeaway in the same suburb;
- Produce Pet and Garden Supplies in Enfield in Sydney’s inner west; and
- The Triple 333 Medical Centre in Merrylands in Sydney’s west.
For the exposure windows and a full list of venues, visit the NSW Health website.
Catholic school boss calls for traditional HSC exams to be cancelled
By Jordan Baker
The head of Sydney Catholic Schools has called for formal year 12 examinations to be abandoned and HSC results to be based on school assessments instead, saying remote learning is disadvantaging the city’s worst-off students.
The call has been backed by the head of Catholic Education Parramatta, Greg Whitby, who says authorities must make a decision on formal exams and a mark based on assessment was a “practical, sensible alternative”.
The head of Sydney Catholic Schools says traditional HSC exams should be abandoned this year.Credit:Janie Barrett
However, assessment experts say formal exams should be kept alive as long as possible and the examining authority says they will “go ahead”.
Read the full story here.
Victoria to tighten NSW border controls as 5km limit scrapped
By Paul Sakkal
The Andrews government will tighten border controls as the state prepares to slowly ease out of its fifth lockdown and scrap the five-kilometre restriction on movement.
With Victorians in NSW to be locked out for weeks, the public health team is focused on ensuring the thousands of workers who cross the border each day pose minimal risk of spawning another COVID-19 outbreak and further lockdowns.
A Victoria Police checkpoint at Chiltern on the Hume Highway earlier this month.Credit:Jason Robins
A government source, speaking anonymously to detail the plans, said the government would tighten the rules around border crossing for permitted workers and establish additional testing requirements in coming days. “It’s all about protecting [against] further incursions,” the source said.
Meanwhile, there are no new exposure sites overnight in Victoria for the third day in a row.
More on this story here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
By Broede Carmody
Good morning and thanks for your company. It’s Tuesday, July 27. I’m Broede Carmody.
Here’s everything you need to know before we start our rolling coverage.
- Sydney is set to give the green light to walk-in AstraZeneca appointments at mass vaccination clinics. It comes after NSW recorded 145 new, locally acquired cases of coronavirus yesterday. At least 76 were infectious in the community. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says that number needs to be close to zero before NSW can come out of lockdown. Sadly, two more people have died. In total, 10 people have died as a result of NSW’s current outbreak.
- Victorians are set to learn if they’ll come out of lockdown today. The five kilometre restriction on movement is set to go, schools and gyms are likely to reopen and hospitality businesses are expected open back up but with strict density limits. However, masks will remain in place and home visits are set to remain off the table for some time. Yesterday, Victoria recorded 11 locally acquired cases. However, authorities say they were all linked to existing outbreaks and in isolation for their infectious periods.
- There are now just over 50 exposure sites labelled as high risk in Queensland. It comes after state health authorities revealed a fully-vaccinated man who recently returned from China tested positive to the virus. The source of transmission remains under investigation (it’s not yet known if the man acquired the virus in China, in hotel quarantine or in the Queensland community). Authorities are also trying to track the movements of a man who illegally drove from NSW into the Sunshine State.
- And Adelaide is on track to come out of lockdown tonight. But some restrictions remain in place. Masks will remain in settings such as shopping centres, home visits will be capped at 10 and there is a one person per four square metres rule for hospitality and one person per eight square metres for gyms. Yesterday, South Australia recorded just one new case of COVID-19.
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2021-07-26 20:59:32Z
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