Australian news and politics live: Pocock calls for Labor migration strategy amid protests, skills shortages

A former detective and colleague of police officer Neal Thompson, who was fatally shot in Porepunkah last week, has slammed protesters who carried a poster supporting an alleged cop killer at the “March for Australia” protest in Adelaide on Sunday.

About 15,000 protesters swarmed Adelaide‘s streets as part of the anti-immigration rally, with attendees carrying flags and placards.

One person was pictured holding a placard with a stylised picture of alleged cop killer and fugitive Dezi Freeman, who is on the run after allegedly shooting two police officers in Porepunkah in Victoria’s northeast on Tuesday.

Beneath the photo of the alleged shooter read “Free Man” with the southern cross symbol.

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Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly claims extremists were using genuine community frustrations about housing and the cost of living to push their agenda at Sunday’s rallies.

While many demonstrators were not far-right activists, Dr Aly acknowledged, she argued their involvement was driven by “legitimate” worries about infrastructure and affordability.

According to Dr Aly, parts of the protest messaging singled out Indian migration.

“Now that, to me, is clearly racist. When you target a specific ethnicity, that is clearly racism,” she told ABC Radio National.

“You see this periodically in the history of Australia, it happens periodically where every now and then this kind of eruption of anti-immigration comes up and the migrants are blamed for taking all the jobs, for taking all the houses, for being on the dole queues, for every social ill they become scapegoats for that,” she said.

“It is an effective response in times of economic or social tension; migrants get blamed for it.

A man has been arrested after allegedly ramming his vehicle through the front gates of the Russian consulate in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.

Police were called to the consulate on Fullerton Street in Woollahra following reports of an unauthorised vehicle parked in the driveway.

When police attempted to speak with the 39-year-old driver, he allegedly drove the vehicle into the property’s gates.

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ACT Senator David Pocock has called on the Albanese government to deliver a clear migration strategy that recognises the vital role of migrants in easing infrastructure pressures and filling skill shortages.

He warned that failing to do so risks fueling unrest such as the nationwide anti-immigration protests held on Sunday.

“I think Australia has benefited so much from migration over the years. And I think this is really damaging when it comes to the message it’s sending to migrants across the country. And some of the slogans and behaviour we saw are totally unacceptable,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

“One of my frustrations has been that there is a real lack of appetite from the parliament to actually have a debate about this in a sensible way.

“So I think there should be room for a sensible conversation amongst leaders so that, when people do raise these things, we can actually say, ‘Yes, we have a plan that takes into account infrastructure, skills, and all these things.’ But currently, there really isn’t one.”

“When you don’t have a plan, you open yourselves up to the kind of things we saw on the weekend.”

Leading Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik says Donald Trump is displaying “Dictator-chic” tendencies and, unlike his first term, there are now no guardrails around the US President.

Speaking exclusively to the Latika Takes podcast, Mr Sosnik said Mr Trump was seeing how far he could bend the institutions to his will.

Asked if that was fascism, he offered another phrase, pointing to Mr Trump’s newly pimped out Oval Office.

“ I don’t know if you’ve had an opportunity to look at how he’s redesigned the Oval Office,” he said.

“ So we call that Dictator-chic.

“ There are a lot of aspects to how he’s operating that fall under the heading of ‘Dictator Chic.’”

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Shoppers could get the chance to dob in grocery retailers charging top dollar for shrinking products.

The federal government is exploring ways to ensure consumers get value for their money at the checkout, by strengthening the unit pricing code.

A public consultation kicks off on Monday seeking consumer feedback on the introduction of a new “shrinkflation” notification regime to name and shame brands, as well as a proposal to make unit price displays more readable and impose fines for non-compliant retailers.

Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh said clearer information means Australians will be able to spot changes to product sizes and decide if it’s value for money.

“If a chocolate bar loses two squares but keeps the same price, that’s not magic - it’s shrinkflation,” Mr Leigh said.

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Communications Minister Anika Wells has hit out at the violent March for Australia rallies held nationwide on Sunday, condemning the presence of extremist groups and the aggressive behaviour toward police.

“There were awful scenes, and there were also known racists who were trying to spread division and hatred,” Ms Wells told Nine on Monday morning.

“And I think it is particularly appalling the people that were aggressive and violent towards our police officers.

“You’ve got people, neo-Nazis, who were given a mic, they were given a platform to espouse their beliefs, proud racists.”

She expressed deep concern about the growing strength of extremist movements like the sovereign citizens, noting a rally in Adelaide featured a photo of alleged police killer Dezi Freeman.

Ms Wells dismissed any claims that legitimate community concerns, such as the housing crisis, were being exploited by these groups. “I would not for one second give any credence to the grievances of these people as legitimate,” she said.

Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has joined a flotilla of boats loaded with aid for Gaza as they set sail from Barcelona, aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver food to the shattered enclave.

Thousands of supporters gathered at Barcelona’s port to see off the boats, many of them waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “Free Palestine” and “It’s not a war, it’s a genocide”.

“This is a mission to challenge the extremely violent, business-as-usual international system that is failing to uphold international law,” Thunberg told the crowd before the departure of the flotilla of dozens of boats, set to be joined by more along the way.

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Displays of racism and extremism at anti-immigration rallies across Australia have been condemned after multiple arrests following clashes between protest groups and police.

Tens of thousands of nationalists, dozens of dogs and at least one horse draped in Australian flags and paraphernalia participated in March For Australia rallies on Sunday in major cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra.

Speakers and attendees were at pains to state they were not against immigrants and wanted the federal government to pause or slow the pace of immigration.

However, some of the rhetoric crossed into racism and xenophobia, with one speaker in Sydney spouting a theory about “a clear global agenda to shame, beat down and replace people with Anglo-Celtic and European heritage”.

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Parents are being assured their children will be kept safe online as technology used to block kids from social media receives the green light.

An independent trial evaluated ways to verify ages including matching people with documents provided and estimating someone’s age based on physical features and hand movements.

More than 60 tools were assessed as part of the trial, which found technology could be used successfully to prevent Australians accessing explicit and inappropriate content.

Available technologies could ensure age assurance was done “privately, efficiently and effectively” with appropriate limitations.

“Age assurance can be done in Australia,” the experts wrote in a final report published on Monday.

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