As it happened: National corruption watchdog investigating six current or former MPs; thousands of activists disrupt weapons expo

Labor has scrubbed criminal penalties for seriously vilifying minority groups from its upcoming hate crimes bill, just months after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to introduce stronger measures to protect people from hate speech.

Sources familiar with Labor’s promised “hate speech” bill said it had been significantly weakened in the final stages of drafting and was now starkly different from Albanese’s original pledge, which was made earlier this year following months of dispute over the war in Gaza and community concerns about inflamed antisemitism.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus will introduce the bill to parliament on Thursday but sources, who spoke anonymously as they were bound to confidentiality in order to be briefed, said it will not use the words “hate speech” nor introduce a serious anti-vilification law, which was a key aim of the bill.

Instead, it will focus on acts and threats of violence.

Read the full story here.

Police have charged a man for allegedly stealing four Olympic medals, but the hunt for the stolen medallions continues.

Earlier today, this blog reported the medals – three gold and one silver from four successive Olympics – were allegedly stolen from Oarsome Foursome rower Drew Ginn’s car that was parked in Melbourne’s Docklands last week.

Police arrested 47-year-old Windsor man Luke Tones in Brunswick on Wednesday afternoon following a public appeal from police and Ginn.

Tones has been charged with theft from motor vehicle, obtain property by deception, obtain financial advantage by deception and handle stolen goods.

He will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on November 29.

“Neither the Olympic medals or any of the other allegedly stolen property have been recovered at this time,” said a police statement released about an hour ago.

Ginn said he had hidden the medals in a secure spot in his car after he had shown them at a school event more than a week earlier.

The Oarsome Foursome was a series of Australian coxless four rowing crews. Ginn was a member of teams that won gold at the Atlanta 1996 Games and silver at London 2012. Ginn also won gold medals in pair events at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

AAP with Lachlan Abbott

A fleet of international warships is departing Darwin Harbour for Exercise Kakadu, but not before some unconventional competition between the nations involving inflatable crocodiles.

Led by the Royal Australian Navy, the biennial exercise brings together more than 30 international allies to undertake high-end maritime warfare over 10 days, starting on Thursday.

But the Top End’s flora and fauna pose a particularly unique set of risks, which exercise director Captain Dave Teiztel says they try to address with some “fun and games”.

On Wednesday, the nations took part in the Ninja Cup, an inflatable assault course set up on Darwin’s waterfront, where teams had to climb, slide and run while keeping a blow-up croc “alive”.

AAP

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner has branded anti-war protesters in Melbourne as “hypocrites” as violent scenes erupted outside a weapons conference today.

Thousands of demonstrators targeted the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre where the Land Forces military expo is being held.

Shane Patton, who just spoke at a press conference, said: “The only way I can describe them is a bunch of hypocrites. Their conduct today was absolutely appalling.”

He praised the response of his officers.

Follow along live here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has argued for reform that will break the link between sport and gambling after being challenged in question time to impose a full ban on gambling advertising in a long-awaited package being considered by federal cabinet ministers.

The prime minister rejected the idea of trying to stop gambling, saying it was about individual freedom, but said he wanted a policy to scale back the advertising.

“I believe we have a responsibility to restrict the damage that harmful advertising can have. I think we need to act,” he told parliament.

He said there should not be gambling advertising aimed at children – a key part of the plan reported by this masthead recently. The government has taken more time to finalise its stance, which means there is no statement about its preferred option.

“I think we need to make sure that adults can be adults but children can be children,” Albanese said. “And the connection as well between sport and gambling needs to be broken because sport should be enjoyed for what it is – sport. That is an important focus of why we are undertaking these reforms.”

Albanese also named one of the leading campaigners for an ad ban, Tim Costello, and said some campaigners wanted to ban all gambling, saying he respected but rejected this approach. Costello responded by saying he did not want to ban gambling.

“Every gambler knows where and how to gamble,” Costello said in a message to this masthead. “I have always believed adults are free to gamble.”

In breaking news, bus driver Brett Button has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison for the fatal crash that claimed 10 lives and injured 25 people following an idyllic wedding in the NSW Hunter Valley last year.

Hours earlier he wept in court, telling the families of his dead and injured passengers that he committed “the ultimate sin” when he killed and injured their loved ones while under the influence of prescription painkillers.

Button, 59, spent two full days in court hearing the gruesome and heartbreaking statements from victims – some of whom want him imprisoned forever or dream of his death in prison.

On Wednesday afternoon, Judge Roy Ellis said Button would serve 32 years in prison, 24 years of those without parole, for the “case of such extraordinary devastation”.

Read the full story here.

Maverick crossbencher Bob Katter has quizzed Resources Minister Madeleine King about the closure of Australia’s coal mining industry in a rambling question that mentioned the chance of the Bullamakanka Progress Association achieving a moon landing.

Specifically, the MP for Kennedy asked:

Is the bipartisan 2050 zero emissions target a lying hypocrisy, or is Australia’s coal industry to be abolished, [causing] 48,000 jobs and 1/20th of the economy to vanish?

Since in India solar and nuclear [energy] is as likely as the Bullamakanka Progress Association achieving a moon landing, doesn’t [the] 2050 [target] condemn the 600 million people – half India – to continue to live without electricity?

Surely heli-power stations, ethanol Brazil model, and brilliant [Environment] Minister [Tanya] Plibersek’s kelp-diesel algae ponds avoid the reality of Clausewitz’s chilling aphorism: When goods don’t cross borders, then guns will.

As Katter finished, Speaker Milton Dick said: “The member’s time has well and truly expired.”

For those who require a translation of Katter’s question, the online Collins Dictionary says Bullamakanka is Australian slang for “an imaginary very remote and backward place”.

At the end of his question, it appears Katter could have been referring to Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, whose aphorisms about military theory are often quoted. However, a quick Google search indicates there isn’t an exact match for the quote that Katter cited.

In response to Katter, the resources minister assured him the Labor government “absolutely will not be” abolishing the coal industry, but said “the question does go to the challenge of meeting very important global net zero targets, given the global demand for reliable and affordable energy”.

King added: “I wouldn’t want to limit the ambitions of the Bullamakanka Progress Association, but I do note India’s really important commitment to lowering emissions.”