Afternoon Update: Bruce Lehrmann settles with News Corp; Greens racism allegations; and a Snapchat before horror Victorian crash
Good afternoon. Bruce Lehrmann has dropped his defamation lawsuit against News Corp, opting instead to settle with the media company.
News Corp said it had not paid any damages and did not apologise for its coverage of Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations, but said the settlement involved the payment of a portion of Lehrmann’s legal costs. That leaves Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, who are represented by separate counsel, alone in arguing the truth defence at any future trial.
And turmoil hits the Greens, with senator Mehreen Faruqi saying she has experienced racism within the party.
Top news
Melbourne academic sentenced for
stabbing wife |Adam Brown, 41, a former Deakin University digital media lecturer who also taught gender studies, will spend up to 24 years behind bars for stabbing his wife Chen Cheng to death after a heated argument about their son’s kindergarten arrangements.
‘What’s the speed bro?’ |Video has emerged from inside the car involved in Saturday’s horrific crash that killed three teenagers and a 31-year-old woman near Hamilton in south-west Victoria. In the video, a young male voice asks, “What’s the speed bro? … What speed are we doing?” A female voice replies, “130”, to which the male responds “sweet”.
Lead in hospital water |Lead contamination has been discovered in the water at a new building at Atherton hospital in far-north Queensland, as well as at a nearby Aboriginal health clinic.
NSW pay freeze |Politicians and public service executives will be hit with a wage freeze to help fund a pay rise for frontline workers. Labor swept to power in the state two months ago on the promise of lifting the 3% cap on public sector wages.
Crown to pay damages |The casino giant has agreed to pay a $450m penalty after it failed to comply with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws. Crown agreed to the penalty with regulators, but it still needs to be approved by the federal court. A court hearing has been set down for 10 and 11 July. Surfer Ethan Ewing receives death threat |The Australian surfer received the threat after he defeated Brazil’s Gabriel Medina in the quarter-finals of the WSL’s Surf Ranch Pro. “I’m saying again, here in Brazil, we will kill you. Saquarema will be your funeral,” one wrote.
Queenslander Ewing responded: “How good are surfing fans!”
Moscow drone attack |Drones hit several buildings in Moscow, causing “minor” damage and no serious injuries, the mayor of the Russian capital said. Earlier,at least one person died in Kyiv and three were injured after Russia launched “massive” strikes on the Ukrainian capital.
Kosovo clashes |Dozens of Italian and Hungarian soldiers from Nato’s Kfor mission and more than 50 Serbs
were injured in clashes over ethnic Albanian mayors taking office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area.
Japan PM’s son in party controversy |The eldest son of Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida is to step down as his executive policy secretary amid public outcry over his use of the leader’s official residence for a private party. Photos showed Kishida’s son Shotaro lying on the stairs and posing at a press conference podium.
In pictures
A decade through the lens of Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers – see the photo gallery.
What they said …
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“In my 30 years in Australia I have worked in many organisations before I stepped into politics and I have experienced racism in each and every single one of them. And yes, I have experienced racism in the Greens.” – Mehreen Faruqi
The senator’s comments come as leader Adam Bandt says the party is yet to see the complaint of racism foreshadowed by Lidia Thorpe.
In numbers
Queensland has locked up the highest number of children nationally since 2020 – and has more than three times as many incarcerated children than Victoria.
Before bed read
Warning: Succession spoilers. The type of succession drama played out over four seasons in the fictional Roy family is eerily familiar to many farming families.
“Sorting out the succession in farming is often the biggest hurdle to making the business last past one generation,” rural and regional editor Gabrielle Chan writes. “The scale might be of another magnitude to the wealth of the Roys, but to most people, the assets held by a successful family farm are still very significant. That can lead to Succession syndrome, a real thing whereby successful and wealthy households ‘create a deep-rooted fear of weakness and failure’ in children.”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: FEST. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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