Australian news and politics recap: NSW Health staff stood down over vile anti-Semitic video
Recap the all the latest politics and breaking news updates from around Australia and the world for Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
Key Events
Nurse wants to apologise to ‘Jewish community’
The male nurse at the centre of an anti-Semitism storm has made his first public comments, claiming his role in a viral video was ‘just a joke’.
“It was a joke, a misunderstanding … I will use social media, anything, to apologise but I need to go and see the detectives first,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Speaking to reporters outside his Bankstown home, Rashad Nadir said he didn’t mean to offend anyone and he was planning to apologise to the “Jewish community”.
Rio swings axe in cost-cutting purge
Around 120 tradies at Rio Tinto’s Pilbara mine site services have been told their jobs are being outsourced to contractors.
The Nightly’s Adrian Rauso reports that some are expected to be offered different jobs within Rio while the rest have been made redundant.
“We continually look for ways to align our workforce with ongoing operational requirements and clarify parts of our operating model to ensure the right work is happening in the right place,” a Rio spokeswoman said.
“We are still working through what these changes mean for each of our employees and our supply partners.”
Second nurse in anti-Semitic video named
A second nurse featured in a sickening video in which she brags about killing Israelis has been identified as Sarah Abu Lebdeh.
She and colleague Rashad Nadir have both been stood down by NSW Health after footage of the pair’s anti-Semtic rant was posted to social media earlier today.
Asked in the video whether she would kill an Israeli who came the her hospital, Ms Lebdeh responds, “I won’t treat them, I won’t treat them, I’ll kill them”.
Mr Nadir and Ms Ledbeh are both nurses in Bankstown, but NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has vowed they will never be allowed to work for NSW Health again.
Albanese says nurses should face ‘full force of the law’
The Prime Minister has used Question Time in Parliament to reiterate his disgust over anit-Semitic comments made by two NSW nurses in a video circulating on social media.
“It is very clear to me that these people have commited what are crimes and they should face the full force of the law,” he said.
Westpac becomes second of big four banks to cut interest rates
In huge news for homeowners, Westpac has become the second of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks to cut interest rates.
Canstar has revealed that Westpac has cut fixed rates for owner-occupiers by 0.40 percntage points, while investors will receive a 0.35 per cent reduction.
The move comes ahead of next week’s highly anticipated meeting of the Reserve Bank board.
“As a result, Westpac now has the lowest advertised fixed loan out of the big four banks; however, at the new lowest rate of 5.59 per cent it’s still unlikely to push many borrowers into fixing,” Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said.
The move follows Nab’s announcement last week that they would also cut their interest rates.
It’s widely expected that the RBA will cut interest rates by around 0.25 percentage points when it meets next week.
USAID watchdog fired after sounding alarm
The inspector general for the US Agency for International Development has been fired, a day after his office warned that the Trump administration’s actions had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian funds.
Inspector General Paul Martin’s office issued a report warning that the Trump administration’s freeze on funding and staff within USAID had left oversight of the humanitarian aid “largely nonoperational”.
That includes the agency’s greatly reduced ability to ensure none of the $8.2 billion in unspent unhumanitarian funds falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones, the watchdog said.
Trump’s tariffs an act of self harm
Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium, which go into effect on March 12, threaten to punish America’s allies more than its enemies — and will harm America’s own economy.
Read The Economist’s analysis and why it argues the tariffs are an act of self harm.
Trump aide comments fresh blow to tariff hopes
Katina Curtis and Nicola Smith have filed their full story on Peter Navarro’s comments, reported earlier here.
The long and short of it is that it’s still too soon to celebrate a tariff exemption for Australia, and we may be looking at more short term pain when it comes to aluminium.
Health worker in ‘kill Israeli’ video unmasked
A NSW Health care worker stood down after he and another nurse allegedly threatened to kill Israeli patients in a video has been identified as a refugee from Afghanistan who aspired as a teenager to be a doctor.
7NEWS.com.au reports Ahmad “Rashad” Nadir and a female colleague have been stood down from Bankstown Hospital, in Sydney’s west, after a video of them allegedly “bragging about killing Israeli patients” went viral.
As a high school student Nadir was interviewed by SBS about disadvantaged youths aspiring to be doctors.
At the time, Nadir revealed he had fled from Afghanistan to Australia with his family when he was 12.
Elon brings son X Æ A-Xii to Oval Office briefing
It must have been bring your child to work day at the White House.
Elon Musk’s four-year-old son X Æ A-Xii joined his billionaire dad and Donald Trump in the Oval Office before the President signed off on an order to gut the federal government’s workforce.
