Australia news LIVE: Iran’s President, foreign minister killed in helicopter crash; voters favour migration cuts

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister died when their helicopter crashed as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official said.

Rescuers earlier spotted the helicopter that was carrying Raisi and other officials that crashed in the mountainous north-west reaches of Iran but “no sign of life” was detected from two kilometres away, state media reported.

Early on Monday, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter”. The co-ordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometres south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.

For more on the latest developments, click here.

AP

A man who accused his stepfather of murdering Sharron Phillips more than three decades ago had a commercial motive to lie to benefit his podcast about the notorious Queensland cold case, the state’s coroner has found.

Sharron Phillips, 20, vanished on May 8, 1986, while waiting for her boyfriend after running out of petrol in Wacol, in south-west Brisbane.

State Coroner Terry Ryan reopened the inquest into her disappearance after taxi driver Raymond Peter Mulvihill was identified as the main suspect by police.

Mulvihill’s stepson, Ian Seeley, told a former detective in 2016 that his father was responsible for abducting and killing her.

However, Ryan found Seeley had a commercial motive to lie to benefit his podcast about the case and had made unsupported claims, such as his stepfather having murdered at least 10 other women and hidden the bodies in a drain alongside Phillips.

“It is possible that both Mr Mulvihill and Mr Seeley had some involvement in Sharron’s disappearance,” Ryan said today.

Ryan said Seeley was an unreliable witness and his evidence was not enough to support his allegations against his stepfather.

AAP

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has released a statement calling on Australian radio stations to stop playing the music of Sean “Diddy” Combs, after the rapper admitted to abusing his former girlfriend, singer Cassie.

In a post to X, Ley said that “Australians have an opportunity to take action on this issue” before asking “businesses to reconsider any activities they may be taking that may be financially benefiting Mr Combs”.

Ley called on radio stations to “take any of his music off their channels”.

She also commented the video that shows Combs attacking Cassie in a hotel corridor in 2016.

“While this matter is occurring in the United States the vision that is circulating on media and online will affect many thousands of Australian women who will be reliving their own traumatic experiences …”

Good afternoon, blog readers.

I took over the reins of the blog from my colleague Jessica McSweeney a couple of hours ago, but just wanted to jump in at this midway point to provide a recap of what we’ve covered today.

Here’s what’s made news so far today:

• A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountainous terrain in heavy fog on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan.
• Politicians could be fined up to $3 million or jailed for up to 15 years if they don’t report worker’s complaints to a powerful new body being created to investigate misconduct allegations.
• Struggling casino giant The Star briefly entered a trading halt amid speculation it is ripe for a takeover and is being watched by a number of local and US parties since it was disgraced by two state inquiries into its operations in 2022.
• In state news, NSW Police have arrested 554 people in a huge statewide crack down on domestic violence offenders.
• In Victoria, an extraordinary $75.7 billion war chest has been squirrelled away by Labor in the state budget for as-yet-unannounced spending promises as it gears up to fight the 2026 election.
• Australians have backed the case for lower migration after a bruising political fight over housing and congestion, with 66 per cent of surveyed voters saying last year’s intake was too high.

The University of Melbourne has warned pro-Palestine protesters they will call the police and possibly expel student protesters if they do not pack up their encampment.

Pro-Palestine protesters at Melbourne universities continue to defy orders to shut down their camps, with protesters at La Trobe University vowing to rally this afternoon to “demand an era to war in Gaza”.

More than 15,000 students across 474 classes have been affected, and alternative arrangements were being made for today and tomorrow, the university said.

The building was closed on Friday following a safety inspection which found damage and obstructions to emergency exits, fire panel access and firefighting equipment.

Vice chancellor Duncan Maskell today issued a notice to protesters saying the demonstration had become “increasingly disruptive and unsafe”.

“Camping is not allowed on university premises. Occupation of buildings is not permitted,” he said.

Click here to read more on the situation in Melbourne.

With AAP

Rescuers have found a helicopter that was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials that had apparently crashed in the mountainous north-west reaches of Iran the day before.

As the sun rose in Iran on Monday (noon AEST), rescuers saw the helicopter from about two kilometres away, Iranian Red Crescent Society president Pir Hossein Kolivand told state media.

Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, about 600 kilometres north-west of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, state TV put it further east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.

The incident comes after Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel on April 13 in response to an earlier Israeli attack on an Iranian consulate in the Syrian city of Damascus.

There was immediate speculation from international commentators and online conspiracy theorists that the helicopter incident would be blamed on Israel, further inflaming relations in the Middle East.

However, Iranian state TV blamed the crash on adverse weather conditions.

Read the full story here.

AP

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb confirmed “more than 550 offenders have been charged and arrested and put before the court” during a four-day domestic violence blitz.

Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell, who oversaw the raids under Operation Amarok, rattled off a number of stats during a press conference.

During the four-day crackdown there were:

• 3735 Apprehended Domestic Violence Order compliance checks conducted.
• 554 offenders arrested and charged.
• 1070 charges laid in total.
• 200 offenders arrested with outstanding warrants.
• Nearly 1300 bail compliance checks conducted.

“These offenders have got to get the message that abuse of females is not acceptable. Domestic violence is not acceptable, and we will not stop in our operation,” Thurtell said.

Thurtell also welcomed the coercive control legislation that comes in to force on July 1.

“Our victims will be able to record information about what goes on in their family, what goes on in their life, the coercive control they are under, and the NSW police force will have yet another tool to address domestic violence offenders and those that exercise coercive control and intimidation against their partners,” he said.

Victoria will spend $16.8 million to find out if ultraviolet light can be used in aged care facilities to kill airborne viruses before they infect residents, the state’s minister for ageing has announced.

The trial, which is part of a study steered by the Burnet Institute, will result in the “germicidal” lights being installed in the ceilings of common areas at 30 aged care facilities across Melbourne and Geelong. Another 30 facilities will act as control sites.

Researchers say the lights, which look like projectors, emit ultraviolet light at a certain wavelength so that it can damage the genetic material of a virus, meaning the virus cannot replicate. The light is not visible to residents.

Minister Ingrid Stitt, speaking from one of the pilot sites in Brunswick earlier this morning, said she hoped the technology could reduce the levels of COVID-19 and flu in the air and – in doing so – protect residents and visitors from future pandemics.

“This particular study has the potential to be a real game changer,” Stitt said.

“This is a wonderful example of innovation and the fact that Victoria leads the way with this sort of medical research.”

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Police Commissioner Karen Webb addressed the media after a four-day blitz under Operation Amarok VI led to hundreds of arrests of domestic violence offenders.

Watch the presser here

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the only way to bring inflation down is to elect a Coalition government, and that he does not sign up to what he calls Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ “voodoo economics”.

Speaking from Logan in Queensland, Dutton said last week’s budget would put pressure on inflation.

“Unless the Reserve Bank governor [Michele Bullock] … can get inflation back into that bandwidth, she’s not going to reduce interest rates any time soon,” he said.

“I want rates to come down as quickly as possible, which is why you need to elect a Coalition government at the next election.”

Chalmers said yesterday that the Coalition’s plan to cut migration to 140,000 a year would cost the economy billions of dollars as it would hurt the skills base of Australia.

Asked about these comments, Dutton said it was concerning if the Australian economy could only function with high migration numbers.

“I don’t sign up to Jim Chalmers’ form of voodoo economics … I believe very strongly that there is enormous economic growth in what we’ve proposed because Australians are much wealthier if they’re able to buy their own home and see the price of that home appreciate over time,” he said.

“I believe very strongly that we’ve got a policy which is well calibrated, and you’ll see growth continue, but you’ve got a treasurer at the moment who’s willing to sacrifice homes for Australians because he’s got a migration program to prop up a failed budget.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister died when their helicopter crashed as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official said.

Rescuers earlier spotted the helicopter that was carrying Raisi and other officials that crashed in the mountainous north-west reaches of Iran but “no sign of life” was detected from two kilometres away, state media reported.

Early on Monday, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter”. The co-ordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometres south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.

For more on the latest developments, click here.

AP

A man who accused his stepfather of murdering Sharron Phillips more than three decades ago had a commercial motive to lie to benefit his podcast about the notorious Queensland cold case, the state’s coroner has found.

Sharron Phillips, 20, vanished on May 8, 1986, while waiting for her boyfriend after running out of petrol in Wacol, in south-west Brisbane.

State Coroner Terry Ryan reopened the inquest into her disappearance after taxi driver Raymond Peter Mulvihill was identified as the main suspect by police.

Mulvihill’s stepson, Ian Seeley, told a former detective in 2016 that his father was responsible for abducting and killing her.

However, Ryan found Seeley had a commercial motive to lie to benefit his podcast about the case and had made unsupported claims, such as his stepfather having murdered at least 10 other women and hidden the bodies in a drain alongside Phillips.

“It is possible that both Mr Mulvihill and Mr Seeley had some involvement in Sharron’s disappearance,” Ryan said today.

Ryan said Seeley was an unreliable witness and his evidence was not enough to support his allegations against his stepfather.

AAP

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has released a statement calling on Australian radio stations to stop playing the music of Sean “Diddy” Combs, after the rapper admitted to abusing his former girlfriend, singer Cassie.

In a post to X, Ley said that “Australians have an opportunity to take action on this issue” before asking “businesses to reconsider any activities they may be taking that may be financially benefiting Mr Combs”.

Ley called on radio stations to “take any of his music off their channels”.

She also commented the video that shows Combs attacking Cassie in a hotel corridor in 2016.

“While this matter is occurring in the United States the vision that is circulating on media and online will affect many thousands of Australian women who will be reliving their own traumatic experiences …”

Good afternoon, blog readers.

I took over the reins of the blog from my colleague Jessica McSweeney a couple of hours ago, but just wanted to jump in at this midway point to provide a recap of what we’ve covered today.

Here’s what’s made news so far today:

• A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountainous terrain in heavy fog on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan.
• Politicians could be fined up to $3 million or jailed for up to 15 years if they don’t report worker’s complaints to a powerful new body being created to investigate misconduct allegations.
• Struggling casino giant The Star briefly entered a trading halt amid speculation it is ripe for a takeover and is being watched by a number of local and US parties since it was disgraced by two state inquiries into its operations in 2022.
• In state news, NSW Police have arrested 554 people in a huge statewide crack down on domestic violence offenders.
• In Victoria, an extraordinary $75.7 billion war chest has been squirrelled away by Labor in the state budget for as-yet-unannounced spending promises as it gears up to fight the 2026 election.
• Australians have backed the case for lower migration after a bruising political fight over housing and congestion, with 66 per cent of surveyed voters saying last year’s intake was too high.

The University of Melbourne has warned pro-Palestine protesters they will call the police and possibly expel student protesters if they do not pack up their encampment.

Pro-Palestine protesters at Melbourne universities continue to defy orders to shut down their camps, with protesters at La Trobe University vowing to rally this afternoon to “demand an era to war in Gaza”.

More than 15,000 students across 474 classes have been affected, and alternative arrangements were being made for today and tomorrow, the university said.

The building was closed on Friday following a safety inspection which found damage and obstructions to emergency exits, fire panel access and firefighting equipment.

Vice chancellor Duncan Maskell today issued a notice to protesters saying the demonstration had become “increasingly disruptive and unsafe”.

“Camping is not allowed on university premises. Occupation of buildings is not permitted,” he said.

Click here to read more on the situation in Melbourne.

With AAP

Rescuers have found a helicopter that was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials that had apparently crashed in the mountainous north-west reaches of Iran the day before.

As the sun rose in Iran on Monday (noon AEST), rescuers saw the helicopter from about two kilometres away, Iranian Red Crescent Society president Pir Hossein Kolivand told state media.

Raisi was travelling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, about 600 kilometres north-west of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, state TV put it further east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.

The incident comes after Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel on April 13 in response to an earlier Israeli attack on an Iranian consulate in the Syrian city of Damascus.

There was immediate speculation from international commentators and online conspiracy theorists that the helicopter incident would be blamed on Israel, further inflaming relations in the Middle East.

However, Iranian state TV blamed the crash on adverse weather conditions.

Read the full story here.

AP

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb confirmed “more than 550 offenders have been charged and arrested and put before the court” during a four-day domestic violence blitz.

Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell, who oversaw the raids under Operation Amarok, rattled off a number of stats during a press conference.

During the four-day crackdown there were:

• 3735 Apprehended Domestic Violence Order compliance checks conducted.
• 554 offenders arrested and charged.
• 1070 charges laid in total.
• 200 offenders arrested with outstanding warrants.
• Nearly 1300 bail compliance checks conducted.

“These offenders have got to get the message that abuse of females is not acceptable. Domestic violence is not acceptable, and we will not stop in our operation,” Thurtell said.

Thurtell also welcomed the coercive control legislation that comes in to force on July 1.

“Our victims will be able to record information about what goes on in their family, what goes on in their life, the coercive control they are under, and the NSW police force will have yet another tool to address domestic violence offenders and those that exercise coercive control and intimidation against their partners,” he said.

Victoria will spend $16.8 million to find out if ultraviolet light can be used in aged care facilities to kill airborne viruses before they infect residents, the state’s minister for ageing has announced.

The trial, which is part of a study steered by the Burnet Institute, will result in the “germicidal” lights being installed in the ceilings of common areas at 30 aged care facilities across Melbourne and Geelong. Another 30 facilities will act as control sites.

Researchers say the lights, which look like projectors, emit ultraviolet light at a certain wavelength so that it can damage the genetic material of a virus, meaning the virus cannot replicate. The light is not visible to residents.

Minister Ingrid Stitt, speaking from one of the pilot sites in Brunswick earlier this morning, said she hoped the technology could reduce the levels of COVID-19 and flu in the air and – in doing so – protect residents and visitors from future pandemics.

“This particular study has the potential to be a real game changer,” Stitt said.

“This is a wonderful example of innovation and the fact that Victoria leads the way with this sort of medical research.”

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Police Commissioner Karen Webb addressed the media after a four-day blitz under Operation Amarok VI led to hundreds of arrests of domestic violence offenders.

Watch the presser here

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the only way to bring inflation down is to elect a Coalition government, and that he does not sign up to what he calls Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ “voodoo economics”.

Speaking from Logan in Queensland, Dutton said last week’s budget would put pressure on inflation.

“Unless the Reserve Bank governor [Michele Bullock] … can get inflation back into that bandwidth, she’s not going to reduce interest rates any time soon,” he said.

“I want rates to come down as quickly as possible, which is why you need to elect a Coalition government at the next election.”

Chalmers said yesterday that the Coalition’s plan to cut migration to 140,000 a year would cost the economy billions of dollars as it would hurt the skills base of Australia.

Asked about these comments, Dutton said it was concerning if the Australian economy could only function with high migration numbers.

“I don’t sign up to Jim Chalmers’ form of voodoo economics … I believe very strongly that there is enormous economic growth in what we’ve proposed because Australians are much wealthier if they’re able to buy their own home and see the price of that home appreciate over time,” he said.

“I believe very strongly that we’ve got a policy which is well calibrated, and you’ll see growth continue, but you’ve got a treasurer at the moment who’s willing to sacrifice homes for Australians because he’s got a migration program to prop up a failed budget.”