Australia news Australia news live: Victoria’s police chief arrests man in Melbourne CBD; diesel over $2 a litre as Iran war lifts oil prices Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast LIVE Updated 16m ago Achol Arok (now) and Petra Stock (earlier) Thu 16 Jul 2026 06.04 BSTFirst published on Wed 15 Jul 2026 21.29 BST Share Key events 1h ago Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed to be pneumonia 1h ago Victoria’s chief police commissioner arrests man in Melbourne CBD 2h ago New H5 bird flu case in Australia, as deadly disease arrives in New Zealand 3h ago Diesel over $2 a litre as Iran war lifts oil prices 3h ago AFP releases image of clothing and appeals for information in child abuse case 5h ago Dozens of civil society groups sign statement expressing ‘grave concern’ at universities restricting protests and political speech 5h ago Man arrested after body found in Sydney’s west, following house fire 6h ago BHP workers to take historic strike action in the Pilbara 7h ago Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Tommy Robinson 8h ago Government flags tougher anti- modern slavery penalties following US tariffs 9h ago Josh Thomas weighs in on Divine Playhouse debate 9h ago Welcome Victoria’s chief police commissioner, Mike Bush, was involved in an arrest in Melbourne’s city centre on Wednesday morning.
Officers on patrol had arrived on the scene at Queen Street, following reports of a man armed with a knife, a statement from Victoria Police said.
A Taser was deployed with no effect, and the man ran from police, the statement said.
At this time [Chief Commissioner] Mike Bush and his security officer were travelling to work in a vehicle and spotted the man running from police.
CCP Mike Bush got out of the car and restrained the man before being assisted by his security officer and other police.
A chisel thrown by the man was later seized by police.
The 32-year-old Brunswick man was taken to hospital for assessment and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
No one was injured during the arrest.
Victoria’s chief police commissioner, Mike Bush.
Key events 1h ago Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed to be pneumonia 1h ago Victoria’s chief police commissioner arrests man in Melbourne CBD 2h ago New H5 bird flu case in Australia, as deadly disease arrives in New Zealand 3h ago Diesel over $2 a litre as Iran war lifts oil prices 3h ago AFP releases image of clothing and appeals for information in child abuse case 5h ago Dozens of civil society groups sign statement expressing ‘grave concern’ at universities restricting protests and political speech 5h ago Man arrested after body found in Sydney’s west, following house fire 6h ago BHP workers to take historic strike action in the Pilbara 7h ago Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Tommy Robinson 8h ago Government flags tougher anti- modern slavery penalties following US tariffs 9h ago Josh Thomas weighs in on Divine Playhouse debate 9h ago Welcome Thanks for staying with today’s live blog.
I’m handing over the reins to Guardian Australia’s Achol Arok, who will keep you up-to-date throughout the afternoon.
Public hearings commence on Hunter Valley Operations coalmine extension Public hearings examining the largest coal project proposed in New South Wales have commenced in the Hunter, with critics of the massive Hunter Valley Operations extension warning the project will worsen climate impacts for communities already hit by climate-driven fires and floods.
Yancoal and Glencore are seeking approval for the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) Continuation project near Singleton in the Hunter Valley.
The project would extend open-cut mining at the site by 19 years to 2045 and mine an additional 430m tonnes of coal.
The coalmine would be the largest ever proposed in NSW based on the amount of coal produced.
HVO project manager David Foster told the NSW Independent Planning Commission on Thursday morning he was speaking “on behalf of our 1,500 strong workforce and our local community as a fourth-generation Hunter Valley coalminer and a Singleton resident for more than 40 years”: I’ve seen first-hand the prosperity mining has afforded our region, and the benefits and the rural impacts it can bring to people who live near operations.
Public hearings are part of the process the Independent Planning Commission uses to help it decide whether or not a development can proceed.
Three days of hearings are scheduled, indicating there is a lot of interest in this project.
Angus Taylor meets Dave Hughes Opposition leader Angus Taylor has posted a photo of himself in a Melbourne cafe with Dave Hughes, on social media.
Just trying to enjoy one of Melbourne’s famous coffees and this guy won’t stop talking to me about Labor’s toxic taxes.
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Hughes has recently been drawing attention online for his social media posts critical of Labor federal and Victorian governments.
Privacy commissioner ends inquiries over Qantas data breach The federal privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, has concluded, from preliminary inquiries into the 2025 Qantas data breach of 5m Australians’ personal information, that there were no omissions or failings by Qantas to protect this data in compliance with the Privacy Act.
Customer names, email addresses and frequent flyer numbers were among the data leaked on the dark web, after a hacker collective called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters targeted the airline last year.
After almost a year of inquiries, Kind said there were no revelations based on the information provided from Qantas that the airline had made any omissions or failings to protect the personal information it held, or ensure the third-party contact centre provider it uses complied with privacy law.
Kind said: While I recognise the serious implications of data breaches such as this one on the lives of the Australian community, in this instance I do not consider that the evidence supports the likelihood that a breach of privacy law occurred.
As a result, it would not be appropriate for the [Office of the Australian Information Commissioner] – a proportionate and risk-based regulator – to commence a full investigation or take further action at this stage.
The report details that the hackers contacted an agent at the contact centre over the phone posing as “Qantas IT help”.
The agent was directed to a customer relationship platform used by Qantas and ultimately was directed through actions that resulted in the customer relationship management (CRM) platform being connected to a data extraction tool, which was used to extract customer profiles on the platform.
Kind found Qantas undertook audits with the contact centre before the hack, including onsite assessments, and had mandatory training programs on cyber awareness.
The vulnerability arose from a default configuration in the CRM software that allowed the agent to authorise the connection of a third-party application, but this has since been changed by the CRM software provider for all its customers.
Sam Neill’s cause of death was pneumonia, his longtime representative has revealed.
The 78-year-old actor’s “sudden and unexpected” death was announced on Monday, just three months after Neill revealed he was finally cancer-free since being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.
After years of chemotherapy, Neill took part in a successful clinical trial for CAR T-cell therapy, a form of cancer immunotherapy that is particularly successful in treating certain types of blood cancers.
On Thursday, Neill’s representative, Philip Grenz, said he was revealing Neill’s cause of death after speaking with the actor’s family, due to “inaccuracies and outright falsehoods” in media reporting.
Police allege Annalouise Spence, 51, used credit cards owned by her former employer to make unauthorised purchases totalling more than $1.7m, including flights and accommodation, concert tickets, luxury clothing, artwork and jewellery.
Spence was released under strict bail conditions last month, including a $1m surety, after bail was refused in the local court following her arrest in April.
Spence, who did not appear at the hearing at Downing Centre local court today, had been charged with 128 counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, but the police prosecutor revealed fresh charges have raised the number to 144.
Spence’s defence lawyer, Bryan Wrench, told the court it was the “first time we’re hearing of fresh charges being laid now” and his client had yet to be served any of the brief of evidence, including any statement from Neilson.
He said his client remained at the mental health facility to which she had been released under bail conditions.
“She’s going to likely be there for the foreseeable future,” he said.
At her supreme court bail hearing last month, defence submissions released by the court state that her husband had repaid $840,708 in relation to the alleged fraud at the time of her arrest.
She has yet to enter a plea.
The matter has been adjourned until 27 August for the brief of evidence to be served.
Spence has been excused from appearing.
There have now been 15 detections of deadly H5 bird flu in wild birds in Australia since the first was confirmed in late June.
Australia’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Beth Cookson, confirmed on Thursday a further positive detection in a petrel, found at Hawks Nest, New South Wales.
She said: All of these have been individual wild seabirds found in coastal locations.
All but one have been wild migratory seabirds.
There remains no evidence of any mass mortality events and there are no detections in poultry or in our agricultural production system.
The risk to human health remains low.
It followed news that H5N1 bird flu has also arrived in New Zealand, with the first confirmed case on Wednesday sparking alarm that some of the country’s most beloved and vulnerable native birds could be wiped out if it spreads.
A single ocean-going seabird, a brown skua, returned a confirmed positive test after it was found on a beach in Wellington on 10 July, said Andrew Hoggard, the NZ biosecurity minister.
