Australia coronavirus live news: Victoria records no new Covid cases as Melbourne lockdown ends




Labor’s industry spokesman, Ed Husic, has responded to the attorney general’s department saying it has asked former foreign minister Julie Bishop to clarify her role at Greensill Capital, the collapsed finance group.
As we reported this morning, Bishop approached the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, for a meeting with Treasury before she signed the lobbyist register.

Husic said:


We need further clarification around what Julie Bishop did on behalf of Greensill.

We do know that Julie Bishop used her government contacts to introduce Greensill to some of the highest political offices in Australia and there should be transparency around these meetings.

There have been parliamentary inquiries in the UK into the dealings of former prime minister David Cameron on behalf of Greensill. The Coalition should be asking similar questions.




NSW animal abusers to face lifetime pet ownership ban

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It should be easier for Australians to get their smartphones, tablets and other devices repaired or replaced, the Productivity Commission has found.

The commission reviewed the so-called right to repair in Australia and received more than 300 submissions and comments. Many consumers complained that companies were making it harder and more expensive to get devices fixed by anyone other than the manufacturer.

The most common issues with phones, for example, are smashed screens or the need to replace the battery, but increasingly companies like Apple and Samsung are making it harder for consumers to repair it themselves, or get it repaired by anyone but Apple or Samsung.

You can read the full report below:

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No Covid-19 cases in Queensland

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The Victorian Royal Commission into Crown will be extended by two and a half months due to the “seriousness of evidence produced through hearings and submissions to date”, the inquiry says.

Commissioner Ray Finkelstein was due to report by 1 August, but this has now been pushed back to 15 October. His budget has also been pumped up from $10 million to $19.75 million.

Victoria’s acting premier James Merlino said:


We established this royal commission to get the answers we need about Crown – and this extension will ensure the scope of evidence provided so far is able to be thoroughly considered.

The minister for consumer affairs, gaming and liquor regulation, Melissa Horne, said the evidence heard at the commission so far was “significant”.


We’ll provide the commissioner with the resources and time required to complete this important work as requested.

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Amnesty International has collected new evidence of human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, which it says has become a “dystopian hellscape” for hundreds of thousands of Muslims subjected to mass internment and torture.

The human rights organisation has collected more than 50 new accounts from Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities who claim to have been subjected to mass internment and torture in police stations and camps in the region.

Testimonies from former detainees included in a new report launched on Thursday allege the use of “tiger chairs” – steel chairs with leg irons and handcuffs that restrain the body in painful positions – on detainees during police interrogations.

You can read the full report below:

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Star swimmer Maddie Groves has pulled out of the Australian Olympic swimming trials just days before the event begins in Adelaide, saying her last-minute withdrawal should be a lesson to “all misogynistic perverts in sport”.

Groves, who won two silver medals at the Rio Games five years ago, was aiming to reach her second Olympics at the national trials, which start this weekend and run for six days. But the 26-year-old butterfly specialist, also a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, announced her decision not to compete in a social media post on Wednesday night.

In a separate message posted on Thursday “for emphasis” and to “make them pervs quake in fear from the number of people supporting a statement that threatens their existence”, she made allegations about her treatment by an unnamed individual involved in the sport.

Groves wrote:


“Let this be a lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers. You can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight them and then expect them to represent you so you can earn your annual bonus. Time’s up.”

You can read the full report below:

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