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Key posts
- Lehrmann trial to continue today
- Nick McKenzie wins special Walkley honour
- Israel-Hamas truce to begin this morning
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Lehrmann trial to continue today
Former federal Liberal political staffer Bruce Lehrmann told the Federal Court yesterday he did not recall telling a colleague that Brittany Higgins was “good-looking”, but admitted giving incorrect answers in a police interview during the investigation into her claim he raped her in Parliament House.
Bruce Lehrmann leaves the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and high-profile journalist Lisa Wilkinson over an interview with Higgins, aired on The Project on February 15, 2021, which he says accuses him of raping her in then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds’ office on March 23, 2019.
In a tense afternoon in the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday, Lehrmann was cross-examined for the first time about his account of the events leading up to the alleged rape.
At one point Lehrmann denied that on a separate occasion in March 2019, before the alleged rape, he leaned into Higgins and tried to kiss her on the lips after a staff dinner at the Kingston Hotel.
“Absolutely not,” Lehrmann said, adding that he denied making “any advance to Ms Higgins ever”.
He is expected to face hours more questioning today.
Read more from the high-profile trial.
Nick McKenzie wins special Walkley honour
The Age and the Herald’s Nick McKenzie has been awarded a special Walkley Honour for Media Freedom, alongside investigative reporter Chris Masters, as part of this year’s prestigious annual journalism awards.
Chris Masters (left) and Nick McKenzie after Ben Roberts-Smith lost his defamation case.Credit: James Brickwood
McKenzie and Masters received their honour at the 68th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism in Sydney last night, six months after their reporting on disgraced special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was vindicated by Justice Anthony Besanko.
Alongside the award, a new grant was announced in their names, the Masters-McKenzie Grant for Investigative Journalism, awarding $10,000 to a recipient each year.
Another special commendation given on the night went to chief investigative reporter at the Herald and 10-time Walkley winner Kate McClymont, who was recognised for her outstanding contribution to journalism – a nod to three decades of reporting.
Journalists from the Herald and The Age were recognised across six categories on the night.
Read the full report.
Israel-Hamas truce to begin this morning
The latest news on the war in Gaza is that Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas will start a four-day truce this morning. The first batch of Israeli hostages will then be released later today, mediators in Qatar said.
The agreement – the first in a brutal, near seven-week-old war – would begin at 7am local time (4pm AEDT) and involve a comprehensive ceasefire in north and south Gaza, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Ambulances are seen on a road near an Israeli forces tank during an IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip.Credit: AP
Aid would start flowing into Gaza, Israeli hostages would be freed at 4pm and it was expected that Palestinians would be released from Israeli jails as part of the deal.
Hamas – who had been expected to declare a truce with Israel a day earlier only for negotiations to drag on – confirmed on its Telegram channel that all hostilities from its forces would cease. The Israeli prime minister’s office said the country had received an initial list of hostages to be released from Gaza.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after gunmen from Hamas burst across the border fence, killing 1200 people and seizing about 240 hostages on October 7, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 14,000 Gazans have been killed by Israeli bombardment, around 40 per cent of them children, according to health authorities in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Israel has said the truce could last beyond the initial four days as long as the militants free at least 10 hostages per day.
Read the full report from Reuters.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for joining us today.
It’s Friday, November 24. I’m Michael Fowler, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day
Here’s what you need to know before we get started:
- Fully subsidised childcare for three days a week for lower-income families is among recommendations to the federal government in a new Productivity Commission report.
- Labor is facing a new political storm over asylum seekers after a boatload of people from Indonesia arrived at a remote part of Australia’s west coast undetected.
- Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised that children would be barred from online porn and sports betting under a web age-verification plan.
In cricket, Josh Inglis smashed Australia’s joint-fastest century in Twenty20 Internationals but it wasn’t enough to secure victory over India in a thrilling series opener.
- In NSW, the state government has delayed plans to introduce new laws this year outlawing gay conversion practices so that it can first conduct more consultation.
- In Victoria, hundreds of school students took to the city streets in support of Palestine, ignoring politicians’ pleas.
- Overseas, China has provided requested data on an increase in respiratory illnesses, the WHO said, and authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens.
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