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Anthony Albanese is seeking a call with Benjamin Netanyahu after at least 100,000 people marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest against bloodshed and suffering in Gaza. Organisers put the figure at closer to 300,000.
The Labor MP Ed Husic said politicians had “underestimated how strongly Australians feel” about Israel’s conduct in Gaza, while the Sussan Ley claimed the protest threw Sydney “into chaos for hours and hours”. Yesterday, NSW police said there were no reported injuries and protesters were “well behaved”.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said he did not regret voicing his opposition to the Harbour Bridge protest and he respected Australians’ right to protest. Several state Labor MPs attended the march yesterday, including Penny Sharpe, Jihad Dib, Stephen Lawrence, Lynda Voltz and Sarah Kaine.
The author and journalist Sarah Malik said Sunday’s protest “felt different”, describing it and similar rallies as “peaceful, powerful, loving declarations of freedom and democracy in action”.
Top news
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Melbourne synagogue spray-painted in a series of attacks by man in Scream mask
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Scandal-hit Queensland DNA lab repeats major testing error as rape victims wait over a year for results
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Victoria police criticised for Gaza protest tactics while thousands marched ‘freely’ in Sydney
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Global consortium led by Australia’s BlueScope weighs takeover of embattled Whyalla steelworks
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New Zealand to charge foreign tourists to visit most famous sites
In pictures
Held each year on Yolngu country in north-east Arnhem Land, the four-day Garma festival is Australia’s most significant Indigenous cultural gathering. Hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, it showcases traditional miny’tji (art), manikay (song), bunggul (dance) and storytelling.
What they said …
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“It’s normal for me. I do it a lot in the 50m and in the 100m, I always do it on the second lap. So I’m not quite sure what it is, I do it in training as well, but I guess it’s just like trying to focus on my stroke … not 100%, that’s just what happens.”
Meg Harris won a gold medal for Australia in the women’s 50m freestyle at the final night of the titles in Singapore on Sunday. The 23-year-old was stunned at her success – not least because she chooses to swim with her eyes closed.
Full Story
The Descendants episode 1: decoding a massacre
Colonial pastoralist Major Logue is a figure of note in the city of Geraldton, Western Australia. But his diaries, written partly in code, reveal a dark and confronting chapter of Australia’s past – a history that Yamatji people already know all too well.
Descendants of some perpetrator families are now challenging what they call “colonial silence”. For them, truth-telling is real, personal and local. There are no guidelines or rulebooks, and it can lead to denial and indifference – but it can also be a liberation.
In this two-part special Full Story, Indigenous affairs reporter Sarah Collard tells Lorena Allam from UTS’s Jumbunna Institute about decoding the truth behind Logue’s diaries, and how descendants of colonial violence are coming together to heal from the horrors of the past.
Warning: This episode contains historical records that use racist and offensive language, and descriptions of events that will be distressing to some.
Before bed read
The only ways Guardian Australia’s Daisy Dumas knew to rave were festival-style or in the buzzed wee hours – the time between pubs shutting and trains starting. But coffee raves are now the hot thing and Daisy headed along for a different kind of buzz.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: BEAT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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