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Systems outage impacting international arrivals and departures
Sydney airport has confirmed there are delays at immigration due to a national outage affecting Border Force processing systems.
In a statement, the airport said passengers are being processed manually and that no flights have been affected – despite queues being longer than usual.
Passengers travelling today are encouraged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight, and leave plenty of time when travelling to the T1 international terminal.
We apologise for the disruption and appreciate everyone’s patience as the issue is being resolved.
Melbourne airport has also been contacted for comment. We’ll bring you the latest as soon as we hear more.
Key events
YouTube Kids may be exempt but not Youtube: Rowland
Michelle Rowland said TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram would not be exempt from the legislation.
They are in a range called age restricted services … Just as alcohol is an age restricted product these are age restricted services. The exemptions framework operates on this basis and it was pleasing to see national cabinet understood and endorsed this …
What would be a probable candidate to be considered under an exemptions framework, for example, is something like YouTube Kids.
She said YouTube would likely be age restricted but not YouTube Kids, as a different product.
It would need to be balanced against a set of criteria and I want to point out that the instruments to enable eSafety to make those decisions, they would be disallowable instruments, so it would be subject to review by the Parliament.
Anthony Albanese also detailed how national cabinet decided on the age cut off of 16, given Tasmania said it would have preferred 14.
He told reporters that Tasmania’s deputy premier Guy Barnett put forward the state’s formal position and that they would “go out there and consult with people in Tasmania further about this.”
All of the other premiers and chief ministers in all of the jurisdictions expressed their support for where we have landed. We think it is the right thing to do … I didn’t come to these issues with an endpoint in mind. We listened and we engaged.
Michelle Rowland added that an age range of 14 to 16 was being examined:
One of the starting points is where 13 is a notional entry point for a lot of these platforms, how much would 14 lift the dial, how much would 15 actually change the dial when it comes to those harms? There was a body of evidence presented from the UK about particularly children’s mental development around that time, so all this helped to inform the position we arrived on…
Anthony Albanese was asked how he would respond to criticism from Elon Musk, the owner of X, and if he is concerned about his power under the Trump administration?
The PM responded:
We will always advocate Australia’s national interest.
One-year implementation window to address privacy concerns: Rowland
Asked what data would be collected to actually implement this law – such as drivers licences or MyGov data – Michelle Rowland said the government acknowledges this is “world leading” and privacy is a key issue.
This is why there is a one-year implementation window, she said.
It’s also one of the reasons why we have been conducting this age assurance trial. We know technologies are developing rapidly but privacy must be paramount, including that of children.
We should also be very clear about the realities. These platforms know about their users in a way that no-one else does …
I want to stress this is about protecting people, it is about striking the right balance between those protections and privacy, and I want to make very clear to the Australian people that the upmost support needs to be given to young people through implementation of these provisions.
The communication minister, Michelle Rowland, also addressed the media and said national cabinet viewed the legislation as striking a balance between minimising harms and supporting young people’s access to benefits.
We know the welfare of children is a collective responsibility. It is heartening to see the Commonwealth and states working together and the broad support for design principles in the legislation is one of those things.
Anthony Albanese outlined the key elements of the legislation:
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A minimum age of 16 to use social media
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Establish an obligation on social media services, not parents or young people, to take reasonable steps to prevent age-restricted users from having the account
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Commencing the law 12 months after the bills passage
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A provision of exemptions to ensure young Australians retain access to the services they need
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Robust protections for personal information and privacy issues with significant penalties for platforms that breach these provisions.
Addressing the media, Anthony Albanese said social media is doing harm to young Australians and “the safety and mental health of our young people has to be a priority.”
What this will do is send a social message about what society thinks is appropriate going forward …
We will introduce legislation into the Parliament in the next sitting week, which is in just a fortnight’s time, and we are hopeful of getting support for that legislation across the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The PM said the government would work closely with stakeholders in the lead up to the law commencing, with a leadtime of 12 months following its passage “to give industry government and the eSafety Commissioner time to implement systems and processes.”
We will ensure as well young Australians retain access to services that are primarily provided education and health services and work constructively to make sure that is able to be delivered.
National cabinet endorses social media age limit of 16
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is addressing the media following today’s national cabinet meeting, where he proposed a social media age limit of 16.
He said national cabinet has endorsed the move.
Tasmania would have preferred the age of 14 but they did not want to stand in the way of national uniformity and getting a uniform national decision…
Additional ABF officers brought in to manually process passengers amid outage
The Australian Border Force says it is aware of a technical outage impacting international arrivals and departures nationwide today.
In a statement, it said the outage is impacting SmartGate kiosks:
Additional ABF officers are being surged into work areas to manually process passengers and provide as minimal disruption as possible.
The issue is currently being rectified and systems are slowly returning online. We appreciate traveller’s patience as we continue to work through the issue.
Systems outage impacting international arrivals and departures
Sydney airport has confirmed there are delays at immigration due to a national outage affecting Border Force processing systems.
In a statement, the airport said passengers are being processed manually and that no flights have been affected – despite queues being longer than usual.
Passengers travelling today are encouraged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight, and leave plenty of time when travelling to the T1 international terminal.
We apologise for the disruption and appreciate everyone’s patience as the issue is being resolved.
Melbourne airport has also been contacted for comment. We’ll bring you the latest as soon as we hear more.
National cabinet meeting on social media age limit under way
Josh Butler
The national cabinet meeting on social media age limits is under way (we’re expecting a press conference from the prime minister some time after 11am) but Anthony Albanese’s office has dropped out his opening remarks to the virtual meeting.
The meeting today of state and territory leaders is to strike agreement on the federal government’s plan, announced yesterday, to limit social media access to those over 16. As we reported yesterday, there’s still no answers on how the age verification system is likely to work, with the government leaving it to tech companies to make their own arrangements, but Albanese and the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, yesterday didn’t rule out the potential for social media users to have their faces subject to biometric scanning, or for online platforms to verify users’ ages using a government database.
Albanese told the national cabinet meeting that his federal cabinet had passed the age restriction of 16 at a meeting on Monday, and spoke of the need for an Australia-wide consistency. The PM said:
This is what parents want to see around Australia. It’s something that we know is talked about on the sideline of every sporting activity, outside school grounds. And it is something that state premiers and chief ministers have raised with me directly, with Minister Rowland.
So part of the reason for convening the national cabinet is to make sure that we have uniformity. We don’t want to see different rules in different jurisdictions, because one of the things that parents are looking for here is clarity. And this is about keeping our young Australians safe. I think it is a very positive initiative that we’ll be looking to get your endorsement today.
Albanese said the government would provide access to the federal legislation when it is prepared.
Whooping cough spreading ‘like wildfire’ amid record cases
Australia is in the grips of its worst whooping cough outbreak since the introduction of vaccines, AAP reports, as people continue to fall behind on immunisations.
More than 41,000 cases of the highly infectious lung disease, which can be deadly, have been recorded in the nation so far this year, surpassing the previous annual record of 38,748 in 2011, according to an Immunisation Foundation of Australia report card.
About 130 people a day are diagnosed with whooping cough and, with 53 days left in 2024, figures are expected to surpass 45,000.
New South Wales and Queensland are the hardest hit, with each state accounting for about 30% of cases, according to the foundation’s findings. School-aged children are among the most affected, with those aged 10 to 14 accounting for 37% of all diagnoses.
The head of the molecular medical microbiology lab at the University of Technology Sydney, Laurence Luu, said whooping cough epidemics are fairly predictable as they follow a pattern.
However, we had not anticipated the magnitude of this outbreak, the largest since national notifiable disease reporting began.
Luu said a drop in vaccinations was behind the infection surge, and it can “spread like wildfire” as it is more contagious than the flu.
Strike action threatened for hospitals and trains in New South Wales
Nurses and midwives across NSW will stop work for 24 hours next Wednesday, AAP reports, after failing to come to an agreement during four weeks of intensive pay negotiations.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association general secretary, Shaye Candish, said the government was refusing to move on the wage deal, leaving workers with no choice:
Our members are extremely frustrated and disheartened. They have been holding on for an outcome on better pay, juggling challenging working conditions, trying to manage their bills in a cost-of-living crisis and now they feel terribly let down.
All NSW public-sector workers have been offered a blanket 10.5% pay rise over three years, including mandatory increases in superannuation payments. But nurses and midwives have been asking for an immediate 15% wage increase.
In a separate threat to state services, rail staff signalled plans to stop work from Thursday unless the government agreed to run metropolitan and intercity trains 24 hours a day from Thursdays until Sundays.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW secretary, Toby Warnes, said the government had been dragging its heels in negotiations since an enterprise agreement expired six months earlier. The union is seeking a 32% pay rise over four years and a 35-hour working week.
Transport for NSW said it would work through contingency plans for the strike but did not say whether the agency had agreed to the 24-hour timetable.
Far-right extremist sentenced to one month jail for performing Nazi salute
Adeshola Ore
An Australian far-right extremist has been sentenced to one month in jail for performing the Nazi salute in public.
In October Jacob Hersant, 25, became the first Victorian convicted of intentionally performing the gesture in public.
Hersant appeared in the Melbourne magistrates court this morning, dressed in a navy blue suit.
Handing down his sentence, magistrate Brett Sonnet says Hersant uttering “Australia for the white man” after he performed the salute sought to promote white supremacy and elevated the seriousness of the offence.
He says Hersant’s gesture was “inherent to Nazi ideology”:
This court denounces Nazi ideology in absolute terms.
The maximum penalty for the crime is 12 months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of $24,000.
Man charged for allegedly pinning another man between two vehicles during altercation
A man has been charged after allegedly driving at a younger man he was having an altercation with and pinning him between two vehicles.
NSW police responded to reports of a crash at Princes Highway, at the intersection with Kanahooka Road, Brownsville, about 8pm last night.
Officers were told two men – aged 28 and 49 – were involved in an altercation before the older man allegedly drove a vehicle towards the younger man, pinning him between two vehicles.
Initial inquiries have led police to believe the two men are known to each other.
The 28-year-old was treated by paramedics and airlifted to St George hospital in a serious condition. The 49-year-old drove from the scene to Dapto police station where he was arrested and subjected to mandatory testing, before being taken to Wollongong hospital for further testing.
He was later charged with dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, failing to stop and assist, negligent driving and contravening a domestic AVO.
The man was refused bail to appear at Wollongong local court today. Officers have established a crime scene, to be assessed by the crash investigations unit.
Indigenous estimates briefly suspended amid Thorpe and McCarthy stoush
Lorena Allam
Indigenous estimates have just been suspended about 10 minutes in due to a bit of a stoush between Independent senator Lidia Thorpe and the minister, Malarndirri McCarthy.
A question from Thorpe about the federal government’s response to the deaths of Indigenous children in custody descended into a shouting match when McCarthy attempted to answer the question and was interrupted by Thorpe.
The committee chair, Labor senator Louise Pratt, suspended proceedings for about five minutes but, when they resumed, Thorpe and McCarthy again locked horns. Thorpe continued to speak as Pratt gave the call to Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
McCarthy sought for Thorpe to withdraw various imputations.
The deputy chair, Richard Colbeck, attempted to restore order, eventually saying “can we just get on with it?”
Meta’s Australian policy director responds to social media age limit proposal
Tech giants are wary of a social media age limit, saying it shouldn’t be up to them to enforce the rules but rather app stores to ensure safety across the board.
As AAP reports, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram argues against putting the onus on social media companies to enforce a proposed 16-year-old age limit, saying the technology for a perfect solution “isn’t quite there yet”.
Parents and young people would carry the burden if each app needed to implement its own age controls, Meta’s Australia and New Zealand policy director, Mia Garlick, told ABC Radio this morning:
We completely agree that there needs to be age-appropriate experiences for young people on services like the ones we provide. The challenge is the technology isn’t quite there yet in terms of having a perfect solution.
App stores putting in place controls meant that information could be extrapolated, Garlick said.
When you get a new phone or a new device, you do spend a bit of time sitting down as a family, setting it all up. Age information is collected at that time and so there is a really simple solution there, that at that one point in time … verification can occur.
Pocock suggests Aukus deal has limited Australia’s ability to advocate on climate
Moving to the US election, David Pocock was asked how Australia should respond if Donald Trump begins opposing climate targets or international agreements.
He said that Australia should be “stepping up with leadership”:
On the one hand, we’re talking about the transition and, on the other hand, the major parties want to keep doing exactly that – drill, baby, drill. They’re maybe not that explicit but we have a Future Gas Strategy. We’re seeing coalmines being approved. That’s not in line with a safe future or a duty of care to young people.
So I think stepping up here and then using every single avenue available to us to push countries like the US, who obviously have much bigger emissions and have a role to play, ideally we’d be able to do that.
I’m concerned with things like Aukus that we’ve hitched our cart to their wagon, and that probably limits how much we can advocate for an existential threat for our neighbours in the Pacific that will shape the lives of every Australian into the future.
Pocock says social media age limit needs to be part of broader conversation
Independent senator David Pocock just spoke with ABC News Breakfast about the government’s proposed age limit for social media.
He said limiting the platforms for children 16 and under “strikes a good balance” but the legislation is not “a silver bullet”.
I think it’s great to see the prime minister and opposition leader acknowledging the very real harms of social media and wanting to put the safety of young people front and centre. I would love to see them also extend that to things like gambling advertising, to a duty of care when it comes to climate change, but, you know, this is an important discussion for us we’re seeing the harms of social media.
I don’t think this legislation is a silver bullet. It needs to be part of a much broader conversation in society about how we protect young people and allow them to actually have a childhood.
He said the ban for under 16s, versus under 14s, would give children “an extra three years … to have a childhood [and] develop those skills that are so critically important at that age when it comes to socialising, being physically active.”