Australia news LIVE: Sydney man facing Bali death penalty apologises to victim’s family; Labor to push tech giants on AI boom

3 months ago 20

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7.12am

Mangione seeks to exclude gun, manifesto evidence from murder trial

Luigi Mangione showed no emotion in court as prosecutors played surveillance videos showing the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk last year and Mangione’s arrest five days later at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.

The videos, including footage from the restaurant previously unseen by the press or the public, kicked off the hearing in Mangione’s fight to bar evidence from his state murder trial, including the gun prosecutors say matches the one used in the December 4, 2024, attack. Thompson was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.

Luigi Mangione, centre, appears in court for an evidence hearing in New York overnight.

Mangione, 27, pressed a finger to his lips and a thumb to his chin as he watched footage of two police officers approaching him as he ate breakfast at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 370 kilometres west of Manhattan.

He gripped a pen in his right hand, making a fist at times, as prosecutors played a 911 call from a McDonald’s manager relaying concerns from customers that Mangione looked like the suspect in Thompson’s killing.

Among the evidence Mangione’s defence team wants excluded are the 9mm handgun and a notebook – the so-called manifesto – in which prosecutors say he described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Both were found in a backpack Mangione had with him when he was arrested.

Mangione’s lawyers contend that the Manhattan district attorney’s office should be prevented from showing the gun, notebook and other items to jurors because police didn’t have a search warrant.

Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Neither trial has been scheduled yet. The next hearing in the federal case is scheduled for January 9.

6.59am

Australia to continue monitoring Chinese flotilla

By Daniel Lo Surdo

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has said Australia will continue monitoring a Chinese naval flotilla travelling through the Philippine Sea.

Defence Minister Richard Marles revealed the presence of the flotilla, travelling to an unknown destination, on Monday while outlining changes to the Defence Department.

The Chinese frigate Hengyang off Australia’s coast in February.

It comes after the Australian Defence Force sounded the alarm about Chinese warships operating close to Australia in February, prompting a swift rebuke from China, which accused Australia of intruding into its airspace.

“Australia is monitoring this activity as you’d expect,” Rishworth told Nine’s Today.

“It is some way from Australia, but our defence forces continue to monitor as needed.”

6.46am

AI models ‘changing every month’: Ayres

By Daniel Lo Surdo

Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres has declared that artificial intelligence technology is “changing every month”, as he looks to sell the Albanese government’s national AI plan to the Australian public.

The plan, as forecast by this masthead in August, will not include any new laws to regulate the burgeoning technology, even as Australia readies to enforce the world’s first social media ban for children with heavy fines for corporations that don’t comply.

Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres.

A $30 million safety institute will be created to advise on the need for new laws on a case-by-case basis after Treasurer Jim Chalmers and others inside the government pushed against any clampdown on an AI boom the Productivity Commission estimates will be worth $200 billion over a decade.

Ayres said the plan would be “agile and effective”, as tech experts analyse emerging models to ensure they are safe and responsible.

“It is changing every month, evolving as we speak, so we need to make sure the government has capability to keep Australians safe, but also to capture the enormous benefits here in Australia,” Ayres told Nine’s Today.

6.31am

Subdivision could add a million new homes: CEDA

By Shane Wright

A million new homes could be delivered across the nation’s five largest capital cities by allowing Australians to subdivide their properties, new research shows, in a move that would ease price pressures and give people more choice over where they live.

The Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) will argue today that allowing so-called “gentle density” – default approval for dual occupancies – would reduce pressure to build large towers of units across suburbs while maximising use of existing infrastructure.

Rather than multistorey apartment blocks, CEDA has proposed property holders be allowed to subdivide their homes for dual occupancy.

The federal government is already 60,000 homes behind its target to build 1.2 million properties by 2029, while house price growth has accelerated since the Reserve Bank started cutting official interest rates in February.

Figures released yesterday confirmed the median house value in Sydney has reached a record $1.584 million, while in both Canberra and Brisbane the median value is now above $1 million.

6.25am

Trump forces UK to pay 25 per cent more for new drugs

By Michael Koziol

The Trump administration has convinced the United Kingdom to pay 25 per cent more for new pharmaceuticals in a trade deal that now serves as a model to compel other developed nations, such as Australia, to fork out more for drugs.

Under the deal, announced overnight, the UK’s National Health Service will increase the net price it pays for new medicines by 25 per cent, and certain rebates paid by drug companies to the NHS will be reduced.

The Trump administration will use the British deal as a model for talks with other developed nations.

In return, British medicines will be exempt from potentially triple digit US tariffs and any future trade practices investigations involving pharmaceuticals for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term.

6.19am

What’s making news today

By Daniel Lo Surdo

Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Tuesday, December 2. My name is Daniel Lo Surdo, stepping in for Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our coverage for the first half of today. Here’s what is making headlines this morning.

A Sydney plumber accused of helping to murder an Australian in Bali has apologised to the victim’s family in a court hearing yesterday. Darcy Jenson is one of three Australians facing a potential death sentence over the June killing of Zivan Radmanovic, with his lawyer telling this masthead that the statement was not an admission of guilt, but of empathy for Radmanovic’s grieving family and friends.
Tech giants will be pushed by the Albanese government to build their own renewable energy sources to power the electricity-hungry data centres built in Australia to fuel the artificial intelligence boom. Data centres – huge facilities that store computers used for AI and cloud storage – are central to the government’s new AI policy, which shuns heavy regulations initially in favour of a laissez-faire model.
United States War Secretary Pete Hegseth faces pressure to explain his role in a lethal mission against suspected drug traffickers after he reportedly gave an order to “kill everybody”, resulting in a second strike to eliminate survivors from the first. The furore arises from a September 2 operation – the first of more than 20 strikes against alleged drug boats – which killed 11 suspected “narco-terrorists” believed to be ferrying drugs on international waters to the US.