Australia news live: O’Neil says government ‘doing what it can’ to help 15,000 Australians in Lebanon as evacuation flights begin | Australia news

Anne Hollonds was asked about her proposal to build a capable and child-specialised workforce – and how this could happen amid broader workforce issues?

She said it was the “failures of support and training” for frontline personnel that “came up again and again” in submissions and roundtables and interviews while compiling the report.

We see it in the police watch houses, for example… Those police have no training to care for any children, let alone children with serious disabilities and mental health issues, and who are traumatised.

So it’s not fair on those frontline staff, by the way – it’s not fair on them to put them in those positions, but mostly I’m worried about the children, because it’s not fair on them. We can’t expect them to get the care they need if we don’t support the staff.

Q: Is there any appetite from the federal government to coordinate such an approach with the states to youth justice?

Anne Hollonds said “so far, I haven’t had that indication”, but she has had indication from the state’s they would be willing to work together on this:

I am hoping that we may have reached a tipping point whereby the horrendous failures in these systems that we’ve seen – such as the two tragic suicides of children in youth detention recently, within less than a year, and other horrific stories – I’m hoping that there is an appetite for thinking ‘well, we need to take a different approach’. We need to pivot towards the solutions that will focus on addressing the underlying causes, because just locking up these children is not a winning strategy at all for anybody.

Children’s commissioner to address National Press Club today

The children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, is due to address the National Press Club today on a new report calling for an overhaul of Australia’s approach to child justice.

The report has been developed over 12 months and contains 24 recommendations, focusing on elevating child wellbeing to a national priority, coordinating action on child justice reform across Australia’s federation, and ensuring reform is based on evidence and human rights.

She spoke with ABC RN earlier this morning ahead of the speech, and was asked about a campaign slogan from the Queensland opposition – “adult crime, adult time” – at the centre of their youth justice campaign.

Is her approach at the polar opposite of that? Hollonds responded:

Well, certainly that kind of slogan, really, is trying to show that ‘we’re really tough up here, we’re going to be tough on crime’. And what our report shows is that that approach, that traditional approach in this country, hasn’t worked and and that basically it’s evident that we’ve misunderstood the nature of the problem we’re trying to solve. We know that toughening up the justice system doesn’t actually prevent crime by children.

Hollonds argued there is currently “no accountability and no national coordination” on how the wellbeing of children is looked after in the country.

The idea that the states and territories could fix this on their own has been misguided, we need to work together on it.

‘Absolutely shocking allegations there’: O’Neil on ABC racism review

Claire O’Neil was also asked about a report commissioned and released by the ABC, which spoke to 120 current and former staff – and all but one said they had personally experienced racism at the national broadcaster.

The ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, has apologised to ABC staff who experienced racism at the public broadcaster:

O’Neil told Sunrise:

I was really surprised by this. I was really surprised. We have really high standards for our national broadcaster and that is appropriate … [The ABC] is meant to represent all Australians and to hear this I was genuinely shocked.

I am glad that they have made this report public and the CEO has made that public [apology] to all staff. Some of those things in that report was horrendous reading and not much fun for people at the end of that conduct. Great that it is public, but absolutely shocking allegations there.

Hume asked about planned pro-Palestine protests

As Mostafa Rachwani reported yesterday, the organisers behind the weekly pro-Palestine protests have criticised New South Wales police for their decision to apply to the state’s supreme court to prevent two rallies from going ahead on 6 and 7 October.

Amal Naser, spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group, said the group “unequivocally opposes this attempt to silence protests” and that the application was an “attack on fundamental democratic rights”.

The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, was also up on Sunrise this morning and commented on those protests planned for the weekend:

My biggest concern for Monday for protest – that is a very important day for many people in Australia, particularly the Jewish community who will be acknowledging the anniversary of the largest loss of Jewish people… We would expect police will be doing everything that they can to make sure that their [is] peace on our streets…

15,000 Australians still in Lebanon, minister says

Good morning

Users still frustrated despite falling telco complaints

Complaints about telcos are slowly falling, but fed-up customers still deserve better service and faster fixes, the industry watchdog says.

As AAP reports, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reported a near-15% drop in complaints in 2023/24 compared to the previous year, with more issues needing escalation settled in a timely manner.

Power players Telstra and Optus accounted for around two-thirds of all complaints, although Optus recorded the largest decrease of any of the 10 biggest providers.

Optus’s decline in complaints came despite its monstrous service outage in November 2023 that affected around 10 million people, with customers seeking remedies ranging from reconnection to a personal apology.

Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said the nature of the complaints still being received showed an unsatisfied customer base that should expect better.

A provider either delaying or failing to take action featured in 63% of all complaints, while disputes about service and equipment fees were involved in one-third. Gebert:

The data shows consumers remain frustrated by the same issues: poor customer service, delays in fixing problems, and service and equipment fees.

Can (and should) authorities take action against protesters who wave the Hezbollah flag?

Peter Dutton wants parliament urgently recalled to debate new anti-terror laws in the light of the Hezbollah flag-waving controversy at the weekend.

But is he fanning the flames of division as Labor says?

Get up to speed with our explainer:

Could supermarket superprofits be fuelling Australia’s inflation?

Retailers plead for RBA not to hike rates

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