The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Mike Kelly joins call for Iraq war inquiry
There are fresh calls today for an inquiry into Australia’s decision to join the US coalition invasion of Iraq 13 years ago.
Federal Labor MP and former Army lawyer Mike Kelly, who’s served in Somalia, East Timor and Iraq and as a minister in the Rudd government, believes there is merit in Australia holding an inquiry, in the wake of the British one completed this year.
Mr Kelly told ABC television yesterday the distance from the Iraq war meant Australia might gain better perspective if an inquiry were held now.
Great Britain has held an extensive inquiry into its involvement in the Iraq war, with the final report scathing of the Blair Government.
Police cars rammed in Melbourne
The driver of a stolen car has rammed two police vehicles and another car while trying to avoid arrest in suburban Melbourne.
Two officers who tried to intercept the Holden Colorado were slightly injured when their unmarked police vehicle was rammed in the incident in Smith St, Thornbury at 1am this morning.
The Colorado reversed and rammed into both police vehicles, pushing them several metres before driving away.
The car was found dumped in nearby Reservoir about 4.30am, and the driver has yet to be caught.
Crown urges life for killer NSW ex-cops
Former NSW detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara should spend the rest of their lives in jail for executing a young drug dealer for financial gain, a judge has been told.
They applied their police experience, training and cunning to achieve “two crimes right at the top of the criminal calendar,” said crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC.
A NSW Supreme Court jury found Rogerson, 75, and McNamara, 57, guilty in June of murdering university student and dealer Jamie Gao, 20, and stealing 2.7kg of the drug ice in May 2014.
At their sentence hearing yesterday, Mr Maxwell called for the pair to be given a life term, noting contract killings were one category attracting that sentence.
The pair will be sentenced on September 2.
Vic bros discussed hurting witness: court
Two Melbourne brothers charged over an armed robbery where a passerby was shot, discussed cutting the head off a witness, a court has heard.
Wayne Vitale, 25, applied for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
He and Craig Vitale, 27, were recorded by police in June, allegedly talking about harming witnesses following a bottle shop armed robbery they’re accused of committing in Kingsville in 2011, the court heard.
Both brothers were also recorded allegedly commentating on CCTV footage aired on the TV news about the robbery, where they discuss the shooting in detail.
NT children need tough decisions: Giles
Successive governments had shied away from removing indigenous children from their families for fear of being accused of launching a new stolen generation, the Northern Territory’s chief minister says.
The Northern Territory’s leaders have gone head-to-head at the final of four debates ahead of tomorrow’s election, with 50 undecided voters asking them a range of questions about special education, land release, affordable housing and the environment.
When questioned about neglected and abused children in the wake of the Don Dale juvenile justice scandal, Mr Giles there are many families who are broken but children need to be prioritised.
Shark capture gear set at Perth beach
Shark capture gear has been set offshore from a Perth beach after an unprecedented 61 sightings in just over two months.
White sharks and bronze whalers are among the species spotted since June 6, mostly over a two-kilometre distance from Mettams Pool to Watermans Bay.
The department said there was no evidence of obvious or continuing environmental factors that could explain the large number of sightings or what might have attracted sharks to the area.
Beaches one kilometre either side of Bennion Beach have been closed, including the popular Trigg beach, until 7.30am on Friday.
