Police to investigate Gaza flotilla activist allegations
Sarah Basford Canales
The Australian federal police will begin conducting “inquiries” into abuse and sexual assault allegations made against Israeli authorities by Australian members of the Global Sumud flotilla after meeting Penny Wong yesterday afternoon.
The AFP confirmed it had met members in the group at Parliament House and “has begun inquiries into allegations made by a representative of the group”.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will today introduce legislation to parliament to guarantee the right to work from home two days a week, including for part-time workers and regular casuals.
As the government previously flagged, the bill will enshrine the right to work from home in the Equal Opportunity Act. If passed, it will take effect on 1 September, though there is a delayed commencement of 1 July 2027 for workplaces with fewer than 15 employees.
A new detail, however, is that regular casual and part-time workers will be covered by the new laws. The government said guidance on how pro-rata entitlements will work will be released before commencement.
The law provides a pathway for dispute resolution and enforcement - first via the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and then the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if conciliation fails.
Allan said:
Work from home works for families, it saves time and money and it gets more parents working.” That’s why we’re protecting work from home in law.
Outside parliament yesterday, Juliet Lamont, an Australian film-maker who has accused Israeli authorities of abuse, said Wong reiterated she believed the group’s allegations.
You couldn’t hear [a] pin drop in there. It was harrowing. It was acutely emotional. Every woman that was there, and I think it was maybe 10, they all believed us and came up to us at the end and thanked us for sharing our harrowing testimony, said that we were really brave and want to support us in the investigations.
Israel has denied allegations of mistreatment, claiming all prisoners and detainees were held “in accordance with the law”.
Melbourne student Gemma O’Toole said federal police had committed to taking the group’s testimonies, so “that is a process that we will be actioning as soon as possible”.
From there, they [federal police] will be going to Israel to try and get forensic evidence to try and get them to take part in the investigation, which you know they’re not hopeful will happen, and obviously we’re expecting not to happen, and that’s where that will stand … It’s been weeks that we’ve been back. You would have expected that they [the AFP] would’ve wanted this information from us. No, but here we are.
Police to investigate Gaza flotilla activist allegations
Sarah Basford Canales
The Australian federal police will begin conducting “inquiries” into abuse and sexual assault allegations made against Israeli authorities by Australian members of the Global Sumud flotilla after meeting Penny Wong yesterday afternoon.
The AFP confirmed it had met members in the group at Parliament House and “has begun inquiries into allegations made by a representative of the group”.
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
The Australian federal police will investigate alleged abuse and sexual assault by Israeli security forces against Australian members of the Global Sumud flotilla, it was announced last night. More coming up.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will today introduce legislation to parliament to guarantee the right to work from home two days a week, including for part-time workers and regular casuals.
Plus, today the Reserve Bank announces its latest decision on which direction interest rates will move: but everyone’s expecting them to stay the same.
<small>Source: The Guardian</small>
