Midday News Bulletin 1 November 2024

Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with
SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
Pauline Hanson found to have racially vilified a Muslim Senator;
At least six Rohingya asylum seekers drown off the coast of Aceh in Indonesia;
And in sport, the Melbourne Demons to publicly release two reviews into the AFL club.
A judge has found Pauline Hanson made a racist comment when she told a Muslim senator to pack her bags and go back to Pakistan.
Hanson had told Mehreen Faruqui to “piss off back to Pakistan” after the Senator wrote she could not mourn the passing of a leader of a racist empire built on lives, land and wealth stolen from colonised peoples.
Senator Hanson has maintained she was engaging in political discourse by pointing out hypocrisy by the Greens deputy in criticising the monarchy while benefiting from immigrating to and living in Australia.
But Justice Angus Stewart has found the tweet by Pauline Hanson was unlawful, requiring Hanson to delete the post and pay Faruqi costs for the proceedings.
—
At least six Rohingya asylum seekers have died off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province.
East Aceh police chief Nova Suryandaru says preliminary information suggests they drowned trying to reach land, with their bodies discovered on a beach close to dozens of Rohingya refugees, including children, thought to have been abandoned on the shoreline by human traffickers.
The group are part of a growing number of Rohingya fleeing the harsh conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, after they escaped violence in their home country of Myanmar.
The UN’s Nicholas Koumjian says the violence in Myanmar appears to be worsening.
“They’ve been caught between this fighting between the Arakan army and the Tatmadaw and suffering because of that. They’ve been both victims of collateral damage and directly targeted in attacks. Frequently they’ve been told to leave their homes, but there really is nowhere for them to go.”
—
Lawyers have sent a letter of claim to Harrods on behalf of a group of women who have accused its late owner of abusing them.
While the late billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed always denied the allegations, Harrods has already apologised and launched a process for any current or former employees who wish to claim compensation.
The Justice for Harrods Survivors group says the letter signifies the beginning of a separate legal process to address the claims, amid concern the Harrods scheme is inadequate.
Lawyer Bruce Drummond says the sheer number of women coming forward – including an unknown number from Australia – suggests the scale of alleged abuse is more widespread than they first thought.
“That in our opinion is an industrial scale abuse, abuse that could have only been perpetrated with a system that enabled the abuse to happen and that is what is so key to this case and why this case, as I’ve said before in many ways, is the worst case of corporate sexual abuse of women that the world has ever known.”
—
Four more people have been arrested over a September demonstration outside a weapons expo in Melbourne.
Victoria Police says a 63-year-old man is expected to be charged on summons over allegedly performing the Nazi salute outside the Land Forces Expo, while the other three have been accused of pushing crates against police horses, hindering officers, and an altercation outside the expo.
Twelve people have now been arrested and charged since the violent protest.
Police say 89 people were charged or fined on the day over the hurling of rocks, projectiles, and liquids at police officers, horses, and expo attendees.
—
To sport,
The Melbourne Demons are poised to release findings of two reviews it has conducted as they try to settle more than 12 months of turmoil at the AFL club.
The two probes have examined their football operations and the board.
The public release of the report has coincided with the news that player Joel Smith is facing a heavy ban of around four years after testing positive for cocaine.
The positive test came in the wake of Melbourne’s round 23 win against Hawthorn.