NSW psychiatry patients moved to private facilities – as it happened
Key events
What we learned today, Thursday 30 January
Thanks for joining us on the blog today, here’s a wrap of what’s been keeping us busy:
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News of a caravan found 10 days ago laden with explosives at a residential property in Dural, Sydney has been unfolding, with Anthony Albanese labelling it an act of terrorism and confirming the National Security Committee has met over the incident.
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Asio has stated it’s investigating multiple antisemitic incidents, but doesn’t believe Australia’s threat level should be raised from “probable” as yet.
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Separately, overnight, a school in Maroubra, Sydney was also targeted in an antisemitic attack.
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Fire Rescue Victoria crews responded to a factory fire in Cheltenham this morning, where it was reported that lithium-ion batteries had caught alight. The Environment Protection Agency Victoria was also called to the scene.
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And the assistant treasurer Stephen Jones is retiring at the next election, making the announcement this morning, after 15 years in parliament.
We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.
Man charged after allegedly stalking young girls in Sydney
A man has been charged after he allegedly stalked a group of four 12-year-old girls in Bondi in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Police were told the man allegedly followed the young girls through a shopping centre, before the girls ran away on Friday 24 January.
Police allege at 6pm that day the man also blocked the girls from walking across a pedestrian crossing with a vehicle at North Bondi, before allegedly yelling at the girls and driving away.
Police were also told the girls allegedly saw the man watching them at Bondi beach the following Monday 27 January.
The girls left the scene after the man allegedly entered the water and began to swim towards the group.
After receiving the report on Monday, police say they immediately commenced an investigation into the incident and arrested a 62-year-old man today.
The man was taken to Waverley police station where he was charged with four counts of stalk/intimidate intending fear or physical harm. He was refused bail to appear before Waverley local court today.
NSW psychiatry patients moved to private facilities
Natasha May
NSW public psychiatry patients have started to be moved into private hospitals today as a result of the mass resignation of the state’s psychiatrists.
Guardian Australia earlier this month revealed the NSW government was considering moving public patients to private settings, despite concerns from psychiatrists that private hospitals were not appropriate settings for high-risk patients and not legally able to take involuntary patients.
The NSW Health secretary, Susan Pearce, said at a press conference held today: “I am advised some patients from western Sydney hospitals were moving into some of those private beds today.”
Pearce said patients were being moved “where appropriate” with the decision made by clinicians – not management. Involuntary orders were lifted “all the time” and there was no suggestion a patient’s care plan would be amended for the purpose of transferring them, she said.
Pearce said while there were no provisions “yet” in place yet for private hospitals in NSW to be able to admit involuntary patients, discussions have been had with private hospital providers about the possibility which occurs in other states.
The state’s chief psychiatrist, Murray Wright, said patients who are admitted to the hospital in a crisis under the status of an involuntary patient but then stabilise so that the order can be lifted is a principle of least restrictive care under which the Mental Health Act operates.
We are exploring the opportunity with some private providers to have facilities declared – as they have been done in other states – so that we can widen the range of individuals who might get appropriate care in a public facility. I personally think that’s a useful development so private and public sectors can work better together in the longer term.
You can read further details here:
Karen Webb has clarified there was “no detonator” in the caravan with the explosives when it was seized by police.
She says:
There was no immediate threat to the community, but certainly we’re relieved to have it off the streets and it’s in our custody.
Asked about what impact the investigation being made public by the media has, she says police have had to “rethink” their strategy.
Certainly I’m concerned about where a leak might have come from, those people that have had access to this material. And it’s, it’s not just NSW, it’s much broader than that, and that will, you know, hopefully be revealed in time.
… It’s started with someone with access to the information, who’s leaked it to the media, and the media [are] simply doing their job. They’ve got a job to do, and I understand that.
Webb says police have made more than 10 arrests and “there will be more arrests”.
She says she intends to call an urgent meeting with Jewish leaders, to “work through a strategy moving forward to make sure we’ve got the right resources at the right time so people do feel safe”.
Owner of caravan found with explosives is in police custody, commissioner confirms
The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, is speaking to ABC Sydney, and has confirmed the man who owned the caravan found with explosives is in police custody on “matters unrelated”.
Webb says police are exploring all theories on how the explosives, which are generally used in certain areas of mining, were found in that van.
We need to explore all possibilities how it might have been taken from a legitimate purpose into the hands of these people. So much more work to be done in that area yet. And we don’t know whether it’s been taken from a mine in New South Wales or some other jurisdiction.
‘Horrific images’ from US plane crash, shadow foreign minister says
David Coleman, who has recently replaced Simon Birmingham as the shadow foreign minister, told ABC TV his “heart goes out” to those involved in the plane crash in Washington DC.
No doubt our consular officials in the United States will be seeking advice on were there any Australians have been involved in this.
Patricia Karvelas then moves to the recent antisemitism attacks and Coleman says the government hasn’t been doing enough to stop them.
I think it is self-evident that there has been a lack of national leadership on this issue. This is not a day-to-day crime that can be dealt with in the usual way just by the local police. This is a form of terror.
Australian shares hit high as interest rate cut hopes grow
The local share market has hit a new intraday record before moderating its gains to come within a whisper of its best-ever finish, amid the growing near certainty that the Reserve Bank will cut rates, AAP reports.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday finished up 46.7 points, or 0.55%, to 8,493.7, just 1.5 points from its best-ever finish set on 3 December.
The index climbed as high as 8,515.7 in early afternoon trading, beating by 1.2 points its previous intraday high, also set on 3 December.
The Australian dollar was buying 62.22 US cents, from 62.44 US cents at close of business yesterday.
Daisy Dumas
‘We don’t take anything we hear off the Putin regime at face value,’ PM says
Looping back to Anthony Albanese’s appearance in Melbourne, where the prime minister answered questions about Oscar Jenkins.
The Australian has been found alive and is being held as a Russian prisoner of war after fears he had died after joining Ukrainian forces.
The prime minister said:
We continue to request the Russian authorities to provide more information. They have provided information at this point, but we don’t take anything we hear off the Putin regime at face value. So we have made it very clear that we think Mr Jenkins should be released.
We don’t think that he should suffer from ongoing incarceration and will continue to make representation but we will also continue to work with Ukraine as well on ascertaining further information. What we want is for Mr Jenkins to be able to return home.
Speaking directly to Jenkins’ family, the PM said:
My heart goes out to you. This is a really difficult time for you and the fact that some information has been made available will be a difficult time. We stand with you and we continue to offer every assistance that we can to these families.
Jones says departure from Labor party ‘absolutely not’ due to lack of confidence in leadership
This morning the Labor minister Stephen Jones announced he is quitting politics at the next election.
He’s also on the ABC, and is asked about the sudden move, saying he “wants to move on to the next phase” of his life.
Asked whether his decision, which follows several other retirements from the Albanese frontbench, shows a lack of confidence in Albanese’s leadership, he says:
Absolutely not. I’m confident the prime minister will lead Labor to victory later this year. If you look at the ministers who have stepped down, all of them, how can I put this as kindly as possible, we are not in the first semester of our lives.
Jones has been an advocate for transgender people during his career in politics, and is asked about whether he’s concerned about a growing backlash to the trans community:
I worry the pathway to government and the obsession of some in this place, not the majority, not all, but some, seems to be around culture war issues which are not central to everyday Australians’ needs and concerns.
Labor MP urges unity ‘against hatred’ as antisemitic incidents escalate
The Labor minister Anne Aly is also on Afternoon Briefing, and is asked about the escalation of antisemitic incidents across Australia.
Aly points to certain hate groups such as “white supremacist groups” being more coordinated than they have in the past, but says there’s no evidence she knows of that they’ve been involved in recent attacks.
She also says the fear expressed to her by her local community is “palpable”:
We need to be on a unity ticket, every single Australian, every single leader, regardless of your political stripes, needs to be coming out and unequivocally condemning these acts.
She’s also asked about whether politicians have been politicising the issue:
It is no secret that I absolutely abhor the politics of division and when I see it playing out in this way, it really does make me quite upset because we need to, all of us, be united against hatred.
‘People have a right to know’ about antisemitic investigations, shadow minister says
Patricia Karvelas has spoken to the Labor MP Josh Burns and Liberal MP Julian Leeser who are both Jewish.
Burns said he understands people want to know information “as quickly as possible” while police officers need to conduct their work as “thoroughly as possible”.
He said while greater support and security for Jewish communities was being rolled out, more needs to be done.
Clearly more needs to be done and the security situation of our Jewish community but more broadly our Australian community is one where we cannot stop and rest on it.
Leeser, who is also shadow assistant foreign minister, says “people have a right to know” about police operations.
I represent the area with a caravan was found in northern Sydney. To ensure the local community is safe I think people have a right to know, but the judgment as to the timeliness of that is an operational matter for police.
