The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Man yells ‘She’s dead’ in press conference
Dramatic scenes unfolded at a police press conference in Townsville yesterday over a multiple stabbing in an outlying suburb, with a man interrupting proceedings to alert police to the discovery of a third victim, who had died.
Detective Inspector Kelly Harvey was speaking about the alleged double stabbing of a man and woman at Wulguru, a suburb of Townsville, on Wednesday morning when a man appeared and yelled out “She’s dead”.
The man had discovered the body of the 80-year-old when he decided to check on her because her newspaper hadn’t been collected. She had suffered stab wounds to her chest.
Police say they received about 15 calls for help from residents about a man who was damaging fences and cars in the street.
A 32-year-old man was arrested after being subdued with a Taser. Police say all three stabbings are connected. The two original victims survived the attack.
Cabinet to consider royal commission terms
Malcolm Turnbull’s cabinet is expected to decide today on the terms of a royal commission into Northern Territory youth detention at its first meeting since the federal election.
Attorney-General George Brandis will present his draft terms of reference for the commission, sparked by footage from ABC’s Four Corners program of brutal abuse of young Aboriginal boys in NT youth centres.
The prime minister has confirmed the royal commission will be restricted to the NT, saying a broader focus could cause the inquiry to lose its way. But the opposition says the royal commission should be extended to other states if a case is made for a broader inquiry.
Cardinal Pell denies abuse allegations
The Catholic Church’s most senior official, Cardinal George Pell has strongly denied groping allegations against him, and says he is the victim of a “scandalous smear campaign” championed by the ABC.
Two men have told Victoria Police they were abused as children by the cardinal when he was a priest in Ballarat in the 1970s. They have gone public with their stories on ABC’s 7:30 program overnight, saying he groped them while they swam at Ballarat’s Eureka Pool during the summer of 1978-79.
But in a response from Rome, the cardinal said he’d done nothing wrong. He called for an investigation into alleged leaks of information from Victoria Police to the ABC and whether there was a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The two accusers, now in their 40s, gave statements to Victoria Police’s special child exploitation task force Sano last year.
Woman critical after Qld stabbing
A woman is in a critical condition in hospital after being stabbed in the face, chest and legs in Queensland’s Moreton Bay region.
Emergency services were called to a home in Kallangur around 7pm last night to find the injured woman who was taken to Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Police have established a crime scene.
Vic food warehouse picket to stop: court
Workers picketing at a cold storage warehouse that supplies Coles have been ordered to stop by a Melbourne court.
More than 600 Polar Fresh workers are striking, as employees, who say they have struggled with insecure work for years, negotiate a new agreement.
Coles and Polar Fresh on Tuesday applied for court orders against the National Union of Workers over picketing activity at a Truganina warehouse.
Polar Fresh runs the warehouse and supplies to Coles.
Brett Whiteley forgers back in Vic court
Two Melbourne men who faked paintings by artist Brett Whiteley and sold them for millions are due to appear in court later today.
Art restorer Mohamed Aman Siddique (SEE-DEEK) and dealer Peter Gant were found guilty in May on charges of obtaining and attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception over the fakes.
Siddique created the fake paintings at a studio in Collingwood. Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham bought one of them for $2.5 million, while another sold for $1.1 million.
Gant and Siddique have been on bail since they were charged in 2014.
