Australia news live: Allan was subjected to ‘vile sexism’ as premier, Gillard says; former Melbourne gangster sentenced to life in prison in Iraq

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Jacinta Allan the victim of 'vile' sexism, Julia Gillard says

Kelly Burke

Former prime minister Julia Gillard says departing Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has been subjected to “vile sexism” during her term in office.

Posting on Instagram yesterday, Gillard said Allan would be remembered as a role model and trailblazer who governed for all Victorians, but particularly for the lives of women and girls.

There is no doubt that as the second woman to lead the state, she has been subjected to vile sexism.

She has been courageous in calling it out and combating this misogyny. As a result, she has made it easier for the women that follow.

Gillard herself went viral globally in 2012, after delivering her now famous misogyny speech attacking the opposition leader Tony Abbott in the Australian parliament. The 15-minute tirade against Abbott inspired a range of diverse musical adaptations of the speech from classical choral arrangements to punk anthems.

Gillard, who represented the Victorian electorate of Lalor from 1998 to 2013, now sits on the boards and trusts of a number of NGOs focusing on health and women’s rights, and works the speaking circuit.

Her post also congratulated the man who toppled Allan as premier, Ben Carroll.

I know how hard working he is and how much he cares about ensuring every child gets the best possible start in life. I wish him and his team well in the months to come.

Key events

• 44m ago

  Kazem Hamad sentenced to life in prison in Iraq

• 2h ago

  Jacinta Allan the victim of 'vile' sexism, Julia Gillard says

• 2h ago

  Welcome

Specially designed Airbus completes marathon 24-hour flight before joining Qantas fleet

A specially modified Airbus A350 plane touched down in France Tuesday after a record 24-hour test flight from Australia, ahead of it joining Qantas’s fleet next year, Agency France-Presse reports.

Its 23,076-kilometre journey – across three continents and two oceans, and through two sunsets and two dawns – was one of the most-watched flights shown on the Flightradar24 tracking site.

It was also a crucial step before Australian airline Qantas receives its first A350-1000ULR in April next year, to be followed by 11 others for services able to link Australia non-stop to destinations in the United States and Europe.

The ULR in its designation stands for “ultra long distance”, a feat made possible by an additional 20,000-litre rear centre fuel tank being fitted to Airbus’s A350-1000 model.

The flight from Australia to France took precisely 24 hours and 24 minutes.

Josh Butler

Angus Taylor’s approval rating crashes and One Nation support plateaus

One Nation’s primary vote has plateaued and Angus Taylor’s approval rating has crashed, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

But it is not all smooth sailing for Labor, with Australians rubbishing the government’s handling of the inflation and cost-of-living crisis.

Australians have also shown their reluctance to embrace new AI datacentres, with less than a third saying they’d be happy to have a facility in their local area and sharing concerns about energy demands, water supply, environmental impacts and noise.

The Guardian Essential poll, of 1,060 voters last week, found One Nation’s popularity was continuing to level off, attracting a 25% primary vote, down one point from June’s poll. Meanwhile while Labor’s indicative primary vote ticked up one point to 31%, the Coalition’s vote dropped further, down another point to 22%.

Read more here:

Kazem Hamad sentenced to life in prison in Iraq

A former Melbourne gangster believed to be a key player in the city’s tobacco wars has been sentenced to life in prison in Iraq.

Kazem Hamad was given a life sentence for “drug trafficking” by Iraq’s Karkh criminal court, according to the National Centre for International Judicial Cooperation (NCIJC).

It added that the sentence includes “the confiscation of his movable and immovable assets in accordance with the law”.

Hamad was deported from Australia to Iraq in 2023, where he was arrested in January this year “in response to an official request from Australia”, the NCIJC said.

He “is considered one of the most wanted individuals by Iraqi and international judiciaries”, the centre said, adding that Hamad smuggled “large quantities of narcotics” into Iraq and Australia.

He is also “linked to transnational organised crime gangs involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, kidnapping, extortion, and organised violence”, the NCIJC said.

Read more here:

Former Victoria premier says Ben Carroll will move to market himself as a ‘new’ type of Labor leader

Steve Bracks, a former Labor premier of Victoria, said he believes Jacinta Allan had “no option” but to resign after losing the confidence of her colleagues.

Bracks spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying Allan had been in office for decades and would leave a lasting legacy in the state:

Look, Jacinta Allen has been a great contributor to public life in Victoria over a long period of time. She was first elected in 1999. … She’s achieved so much over such a long period of time, and she’ll go down as one of the great contributors to public life in Victoria.

Bracks said he thinks Ben Carroll, who was chosen as the new premier yesterday, will bring a “fresh approach” to government:

He’ll market himself as not a fourth-term Labor leader, but as a new Labor leader, a new Labor leader in a new term with a new set of policies and programs. And that’s really what he’s going to set out to do. I know it’s a very short time between now and November to get that across, but he’ll do everything he can to do that.

Tom McIlroy

Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke with his new UK counterpart, Chancellor John Healey, by phone last night

It’s the first conversation since the new UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, took over and since Healey replaced Rachel Reeves in 11 Downing Street.

“Really appreciated the chance to touch base with John so soon after he was appointed Chancellor,” Chalmers said.

He’d have a lot on his mind and the briefing would be really intensive so it’s good of him to make time. Our first conversation augurs well for a really beneficial working relationship.

I’ve been fortunate with the chancellors I’ve worked with on both sides of politics.

The pair discussed global challenges and plans to meet in person in the months ahead.

“At a time of great uncertainty there’s no shortage of challenges in the global economy and we are more likely to rise to the occasion when friends like Australia and the UK work together,” Chalmers said.

CSIRO head to defend agency – and job cuts – in press club address

The head of Australia’s national science agency will defend planned job cuts, warning without a refocus the organisation risks doing nothing at scale in the future, AAP reports.

In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, the CSIRO’s chief executive, Doug Hilton, is expected to address the agency’s choice to cut jobs from key areas in the face of funding pressures.

He is expected to say the organisations faced a sobering backlog of essential repairs and renewal at the end of 2025. More than 80% of CSIRO’s 800 buildings were no longer fit for purpose, he will say.

Hilton is expected to say the leadership team chose to exit some areas of science and narrow its focus rather than run the risk of doing nothing at scale.

Last November, the science agency said up to 350 research positions would be slashed as the “cost of doing science has gone up”.

Good morning, Nick Visser here to guide you through the day’s news. Let’s get to it.

Kelly Burke

Bill Shorten backs royal commission into the construction sector

Former union boss and former leader of the Labor party Bill Shorten has leant his support behind newly crowned Victorian premier Ben Carroll’s announcement he will call a royal commission into the construction sector.

Shorten told 7.30 last night:

He wants to act with integrity, and he wants to act in everyone’s interests.

I think he understands [what] people will be assessing: is he serving the people or is he just playing politics? So I thought he was very straight. He’s in there for Victorians, not trying to just tick the box and get particular interest groups on side.

Shorten, former national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union before entering parliament in 2007, said Carroll’s call yesterday to set up a royal commission was timely.

I think the national mood or the state mood was there for it. I just think that the costs of construction … there may be exaggerations, but there is something rotten going on in construction, and people want to see it can be dealt with. This is public infrastructure, so it’s taxpayer money.

You can read more about Carroll’s announcement here:

Jacinta Allan the victim of 'vile' sexism, Julia Gillard says

Kelly Burke

Former prime minister Julia Gillard says departing Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has been subjected to “vile sexism” during her term in office.

Posting on Instagram yesterday, Gillard said Allan would be remembered as a role model and trailblazer who governed for all Victorians, but particularly for the lives of women and girls.

There is no doubt that as the second woman to lead the state, she has been subjected to vile sexism.

She has been courageous in calling it out and combating this misogyny. As a result, she has made it easier for the women that follow.

Gillard herself went viral globally in 2012, after delivering her now famous misogyny speech attacking the opposition leader Tony Abbott in the Australian parliament. The 15-minute tirade against Abbott inspired a range of diverse musical adaptations of the speech from classical choral arrangements to punk anthems.

Gillard, who represented the Victorian electorate of Lalor from 1998 to 2013, now sits on the boards and trusts of a number of NGOs focusing on health and women’s rights, and works the speaking circuit.

Her post also congratulated the man who toppled Allan as premier, Ben Carroll.

I know how hard working he is and how much he cares about ensuring every child gets the best possible start in life. I wish him and his team well in the months to come.

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.