Australia news live: eye health warning over GLP-1 drugs; victims of clergy abuse promised ‘full’ compensation by Christian Brothers | Australia news
TGA warns of potential links between ‘rare but serious’ eye disorder and GLP-1 related drugs
Achol Arok
Australia’s peak medicines regulator has issued product warnings for several type 2 diabetes and obesity-related drugs over the potential to cause a “rare but severe” form of eye disorder.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) warning concerns the GLP-1 RA class of medicines, currently marketed in Australia as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
The TGA says the eye disorder, non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION), may result in permanent visual impairment and there are no available treatments.
The regulator says it is aware of 36 reported cases of the eye disorder associated with the drugs.
Australian product information documents have been updated to reflect the new warning and patients prescribed the drugs are urged to “seek urgent medical attention if they experience sudden vision loss, including partial loss of vision”.
Key events
Krishani Dhanji
Erickson cuts down debate time
Debate time has been cut down from three minutes to one minute for delegates, as the conference starts going overtime.
Paul Erickson, the national secretary, has moved to speed up the debate, just for the current chapter that deals with health and the NDIS to try and get back to schedule.
The conference was already running overtime this morning, spending half an hour on amendments to the environment portfolio which got cut off yesterday afternoon.
At the opening of the morning’s session, ALP vice-president Mich-Elle Myers said the consequences of going over yesterday meant that she was stuck still chairing the session after having had “too good a time with my comrades last night”.
(Last night the Left and Right factions were out having their factional dinners – the Right’s was at the SkyCity casino, while we’re told the Left had there’s in a warehouse space).
Caitlin Cassidy
Jewish community allocated $209m from Home Affairs for security since 7 October 2023, royal commission hears
The Jewish community has been allocated more than $200m since the 7 October Hamas terror attack in 2023 towards security measures, the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion has heard.
Appearing on Friday, Amy Dyde, assistant secretary in the Department of Home Affairs, said Jewish communities had experienced an increased risk environment since the attack where community centres and places of worship were increasingly targeted by antisemitic attacks.
She said five protective security grants had been delivered by Home Affairs from 2023 to 2029, totalling at just over $209m. The funding was provided to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). Asked why that was an appropriate way to allocate the grants, Dyde said:
In October 2023, there was an urgent need to roll out immediate funding to the community, noting the increased security risks. Commonwealth grants can typically take … many months to develop. And it was determined that utilising the ECAJ to administer that funding would, one, be more expeditious for the community, but two, more importantly, the ECAJ have a very important role in sitting across the Jewish community … It’s also important to give the Jewish community autonomy over where that funding is utilised within the community.
Krishani Dhanji
Delegates support voluntary assisted dying amendment
The conference is currently debating the ability to access voluntary assisted dying via telehealth – and it’s a genuine debate today.
Caitlin Tough, an ACT representative, says voluntary assisted dying is healthcare and says the current laws stop a person accessing VAD being able to have a support person on the phone or video call with them while they meet with a health professional to talk about their options.
She tells the floor:
A doctor may lawfully have a conversation across a desk, but they face criminal risk for the same communication by telephone or video.
The problem is that two Commonwealth criminal code provisions, written well before telehealth became routine, before anyone had voluntary assistant dying as we know it now, stops this from happening, and the burden is falling heavily on people who are extremely ill, who cannot readily leave their home or live a long distance from an authorized practitioner or their family does to support them.
A critic of the policy spoke said, “I think we all agree this is complex, nuanced, and shouldn’t be done over a Zoom call.”
While there were a fair few “no’s” in the room, voting against the amendment, the amendment was passed without a division.
TGA warns of potential links between ‘rare but serious’ eye disorder and GLP-1 related drugs
Achol Arok
Australia’s peak medicines regulator has issued product warnings for several type 2 diabetes and obesity-related drugs over the potential to cause a “rare but severe” form of eye disorder.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) warning concerns the GLP-1 RA class of medicines, currently marketed in Australia as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
The TGA says the eye disorder, non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION), may result in permanent visual impairment and there are no available treatments.
The regulator says it is aware of 36 reported cases of the eye disorder associated with the drugs.
Australian product information documents have been updated to reflect the new warning and patients prescribed the drugs are urged to “seek urgent medical attention if they experience sudden vision loss, including partial loss of vision”.
Labor ‘failed’ exporters with US tariffs, Canavan claims
Nationals leader Matt Canavan has blasted the Albanese government over news that Donald Trump would level 12.5% tariffs on many Australian goods, claiming Labor had “failed” exporters.
Canavan, the shadow trade minister, was upset Australia had not received at least the lowest level of tariffs, noting the United Kingdom and Canada faced 10% trade barriers.
He said in a statement:
Seventeen countries were given a flat 10 per cent rate. Australia was not one of them.
Australia is subject to a 12.5 per cent tariff rate, the same rate as Russia, China and Venezuela.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, said many of Australia’s top exports to the US – including beef and gold – would be unaffected due to exemptions.
But Canavan said Labor should have done more, claiming the government had “failed to take meaningful action against forced labour in international supply chains, despite years of warnings.”
He called on Labor to “provide a full account of its engagement with the United States and a clear plan to have the tariffs removed.”
Labor’s failure to act has weakened our trade position which Australian farmers, exporters and manufacturers will now pay the price for.
Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia agrees to help compensate Christian Brothers abuse survivors
Christopher Knaus
The entity that holds vast property wealth gifted to it by the Christian Brothers has agreed to help compensate abuse survivors in full, in a stunning reversal following weeks of public pressure.
The Christian Brothers, a Catholic order with an appalling history of clergy abuse, last month announced it was going broke and could not afford to meet civil claims from abuse survivors, instead proposing a scheme to sell of its meagre holding of 36 properties and splitting the proceeds between a range of creditors, including survivors.
The announcement triggered significant scrutiny of property transfers worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a related entity, Edmund Rice Education Australia, which were made for amounts of $1. EREA, which now runs former Christian Brothers schools, had previously refused to sell those properties to help pay for survivors and had resisted attempts by survivors to nominate it as the defendant to their court cases, instead of the Christian Brothers.
But the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia announced today it had changed its position. They have agreed with the Christian Brothers Oceania Province to develop a revised scheme of arrangement that will “compensate victims and survivors of historical abuse claims against the Christian Brothers in full”.
Dr Stephen Brown, chair of the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia, said:
By supporting a revised scheme of arrangement we are committed to supporting those who have suffered abuse.
We support the revised scheme because it is simply the right thing to do for victims and survivors to provide them a just and sustainable pathway.
This decision will also support the long-term sustainability of the educational ministry, including more than 44,000 students entrusted to EREA’s stewardship.
Josh Taylor
Microsoft investigating Teams outage
Tech giant Microsoft has said it is investigating an outage to its Teams platform used for meetings, which is affecting users in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a post on X, the company said:
We’re investigating an issue causing impact to joining or creating Microsoft Teams meetings or calls for users in the Asia-Pacific region.
DownDetector reported outage reports for Teams began just before 10.30am AEST, peaking at 11.09am.
Microsoft was approached for comment.
Worker dead, another seriously injured after mine crash
A worker is dead and another has been seriously injured after a truck collided with a vehicle at a remote mine, AAP reports.
Emergency crews arrived at the Peak Downs coal site, operated by the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, in central Queensland near Mackay about 5am on Friday.
A worker died while another suffered “potentially life-threatening injuries” and was taken to Moranbah hospital, Queensland Ambulance Service said.
Operations at the mine located in the Bowen Basin have been suspended as investigators head to the site.
The resources health and safety Queensland CEO, Claire Cooper, said in a statement:
A worker has died and another has been injured in a serious incident that occurred at a Central Queensland coal mine earlier today.
Preliminary information indicates two vehicles collided at the site early this morning.
Caitlin Cassidy
Synagogue congregation described as ‘genocidal’ and ‘maggot rat Jews’ in unknown phone call, royal commission hears
Victoria police did not log a phone call to a synagogue where the congregation was described as “genocidal” and “maggot rat Jews” as a prejudice-motivated crime, the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion has heard.
Appearing on Friday morning, Victoria police assistant commissioner, Martin O’Brien, was asked about an incident in October 2025 where a synagogue congregation received a phone call from an unknown woman. The woman allegedly abused the caller, stating the Jewish community were “genocidal”, that their “days were numbered” and that they were “maggot rat Jews”.
There was no incident fact sheet (IFS) recorded in the police report, which is required for any prejudice-motivated crime that relates to racial, political or ideological circumstances, O’Brien confirmed.
Another incident, where a 5.5m swastika was graffitied on to a construction site, was similarly not recorded as an IFS.
Assistant commissioner of the Australian federal police, Stephen Nutt, is next to appear before the commission but will give evidence in closed hearings due to the sensitive nature of his testimony.
Krishani Dhanji
Labor to debate allowing access to voluntary assisted dying via telehealth
Day two of the ALP national conference is under way, with the health portfolio now under debate.
This will include debate on an amendment to allow access to voluntary assisted dying via telehealth.
The amendment reads:
Labor will remove barriers that exist in federal law to the provision of end-of-life care (including via telehealth) as part of lawful access to voluntary assisted dying in the states and territories, while maintaining appropriate clinical safeguards.
Later on, the conference will also debate enshrining a conscience vote on issues involving voluntary assisted dying in Labor’s constitution. The other issue that Labor members get a conscience vote on is abortion.
ABC ombudsman to review deleted Four Corners episodes by former bikie turned reporter
Amanda Meade
The ABC 0mbudsman is reviewing two episodes of Four Corners by former reporter Mahmood Fazal following concerns about the veracity of sources.
Fazal’s employment was terminated by the ABC in May after he appeared on an unauthorised external podcast in 2025, the managing director, Hugh Marks, told Senate estimates.
The ABC announced today it has removed from its digital platforms the Four Corners programs reported by Fazal: Meth Highway (2024) and Cocaine Nation (2023) and associated content.
This action has been taken following concerns identified about the veracity of certain sources used in both programs.
The matter has been referred to the ABC Ombudsman for an independent review of whether the programs complied with the relevant editorial standards as set out in the Editorial Policies. The ABC will consider whether any further action will be required once that review is complete.
The ABC is committed to the highest standards of editorial integrity. Maintaining the trust of Australians depends on upholding those standards, and we take any concerns about our journalism seriously.
The ABC said the decision to remove the content is separate to the internal investigation which led to Fazal leaving the ABC earlier this year.
Goldminer shrugs off earthquake’s impact on production
Two earthquakes in central western NSW have weighed on the output of the world’s biggest goldminer, as it continues to keep an eye on costs after a sharp rise in the oil price, AAP reports.
Dual-listed Newmont Corporation holds the Boddington and Tanami goldmines in Western Australia, along with the Cadia mine in NSW.
At dawn on 19 June, a magnitude-3.4 underground quake was recorded at its Cadia site, about 25km south of Orange.
The jolt came just two months after underground operations at the site were suspended for five weeks following a magnitude-4.5 earthquake that trapped employees in underground refuge chambers for more than 10 hours.
Both quakes resulted in halts to production and Newmont chief executive, Natascha Viljoen, told an earnings call on Friday that the company was still learning from the events, although it was pleased its emergency procedures worked and there were no injuries.
Attributable gold production at Cadia fell to 34,000 ounces in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, down from 94,000 ounces in the first quarter. It was also sharply down from 104,000 ounces in the second quarter of 2025.
While Newmont mined plenty of gold from its other mines across the world, including in the US, Canada and Mexico, overall fourth-quarter production slipped 1% to 1.29m ounces from the previous quarter.
Krishani Dhanji
Protecting children from inducements in games and social media part of gambling amendments
Labor will adopt amendments into its platform calling for stronger action on gambling inducements in games and social media, and to ensure relevant national regulators report back to parliament yearly to show their action on minimising gambling harm.
We can now see the amendments agreed to by the minister (which avoids a fight on the floor of the conference) ahead of them being debated a little later today.
The amendments state that the government has a “responsibility to prevent harm, intervene early when harm is occurring and to support individuals experiencing harm”.
The amendments also include:
Labor will explore how to better prevent online gaming and social media platforms from offering children and young people embedded inducements within games and social media that incentivise and normalise gambling.
To support the effectiveness and impact of this work, we will endeavour to strengthen the powers of the relevant national regulators, who will report to parliament annually on their actions. Labor will continue to monitor the success of these actions to ensure the correct regulatory settings are in place.
