Tributes flow for hiker Lily Hooper
Kat Wong
Lily Hooper has been remembered for her smile, her talent and her toughness as the local community reels in the wake of the teenage hiker’s death.
The 18-year-old’s body was recovered from the dense bush of the NSW Southern Highlands overnight, eight days after she was reported missing and the night after it was incorrectly communicated that she had been found alive.
Condolences have poured in for her family and her martial arts teacher, Mark Szalajko, paid tribute to Hooper in a post on social media.
She was a talented and tough martial artist, but despite that toughness, Lily was such a lovely person. She was one of those people who everyone simply liked.
As a martial arts teacher, people walk into and out of our lives every day for many different reasons. Some leave a positive impact on us and on our dojo, and we wish they could have stayed longer. Lily was one of those people.
I will really miss her smile, her conversations and the moments we shared on the mat.
The Wollondilly Performing Arts centre and Wollondilly Shire library have been lit up in purple in memory of Hooper and on Friday evening, a vigil will be held in Oakdale, where she lived with her family.
Guardian reporter Ima Caldwell visited the now-still command post last night – read more below.
Key events
What we learned, Friday 21 August
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for the day.
Before we let you go, let’s look at the day’s top headlines:
Thanks for sticking around, have a lovely weekend!
Penry Buckley
Following from the previous post: the parliamentary committee voted 4-3 to find the director of public prosecutions, Sally Dowling, had given false evidence about the pitching of the story to 2GB. But the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, and the DPP rejected the findings.
The government commissioned a review by former NSW bar association president Noel Hutley which said there was no “no positive basis” to reject Dowling’s account “and find that she, in fact, gave false evidence”.
The committee described difficulty hearing from key DPP witnesses from a meeting about pitching the story to appear before the inquiry, after a court decision last year in favour of the Minns government which means that parliament can no longer compel witnesses.
The Australian high court will hear an appeal in that case later this year.
Penry Buckley
NSW judge cannot hear three criminal cases amid dispute with state’s top prosecutor, court rules
A NSW judge at the centre of a dispute which saw a parliamentary committee find the state’s top prosecutor gave false evidence under oath cannot hear three criminal cases after declining to recuse herself, a court has ruled.
A decision by the NSW court of criminal appeal today ruled the cases be heard by a judge other than district court judge Penelope Wass, finding she has a “long-standing grievance, or series of grievances”, against the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling, and that she was “wrong … in declining to disqualify herself” from the proceedings.
It comes after Wass made a written submission to a parliamentary inquiry examining protections against identifying children in court proceedings.
She alleged Dowling personally authorised her department to share details to radio station 2GB of a sentencing hearing in which Wass allowed an Indigenous child to perform an acknowledgement of country.
Wass is among district court judges who have criticised the handling of sexual assault prosecutions under Dowling. Dowling denied she was responsible for pitching the story, alleging Wass had a “personal grievance” against her and her department.
Following Wass’s submission, the DPP asked her to recuse herself from four criminal proceedings on the basis of apprehended bias. She agreed to recuse herself from one, but declined to recuse herself from three others, including a judge-alone child sexual abuse trial.
Monique Ryan says Sydney Swans incident highlights ‘significant cultural issues’ in the sport
Independent MP Monique Ryan says this week’s Sydney Swans incident has highlighted a number of broader issues within the AFL and has called for greater efforts to address them.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Ryan said:
There does appear to be significant cultural issues within the AFL. It was not just this incident, we also have the close relationship with the gambling industry, allegations of racism from AFL players, AFLW players, and also appearing to fail to support players with CTE and concussion.
They need to take action in all those areas in the next year or two to bring back the social licence and respect for the institution that so many Victorians have.
Cait Kelly
Social services council calls on government to protect people amid rising unemployment
The Australian Council of Social Service has called on the government to lift income support, reform employment services and tackle inflation as the unemployment rate rose to 4.5% this week.
ACOSS’s CEO, Cassandra Goldie:
There are already over 100,000 more people unemployed than four years ago when interest rates started to rise, and the RBA expects unemployment to rise to 4.8% by 2028 – that’s another 50,000 people out of paid work.
There are better ways to curb inflation than sacrificing more people to unemployment. The people most affected by rising unemployment and inflation are those living on the lowest incomes in our community, receiving poverty-level income support payments like jobseeker. These are people who were offered no additional financial support in the federal budget.
The government must act urgently to make sure people are protected and we are well-prepared for any potential economic downturn.
Tributes flow for hiker Lily Hooper
Kat Wong
Lily Hooper has been remembered for her smile, her talent and her toughness as the local community reels in the wake of the teenage hiker’s death.
The 18-year-old’s body was recovered from the dense bush of the NSW Southern Highlands overnight, eight days after she was reported missing and the night after it was incorrectly communicated that she had been found alive.
Condolences have poured in for her family and her martial arts teacher, Mark Szalajko, paid tribute to Hooper in a post on social media.
She was a talented and tough martial artist, but despite that toughness, Lily was such a lovely person. She was one of those people who everyone simply liked.
As a martial arts teacher, people walk into and out of our lives every day for many different reasons. Some leave a positive impact on us and on our dojo, and we wish they could have stayed longer. Lily was one of those people.
I will really miss her smile, her conversations and the moments we shared on the mat.
The Wollondilly Performing Arts centre and Wollondilly Shire library have been lit up in purple in memory of Hooper and on Friday evening, a vigil will be held in Oakdale, where she lived with her family.
Guardian reporter Ima Caldwell visited the now-still command post last night – read more below.
Huge cocaine bust sparked by drugs floating in water
Two men have been charged as part of an ongoing probe into Australia’s largest cocaine seizure, AAP reports.
Brisbane man Richard Huynh, 41, has been arrested after being accused of facilitating the shipment of almost three tonnes of cocaine from Queensland to NSW and Victoria through a transport business.
A 23-year-old Sydney man has been also been accused of being part of a criminal syndicate after allegedly being found with a semi-automatic 9mm pistol and a loaded sawn-off shotgun along with ammunition and a silencer.
Huynh was charged after a Kangaroo Point home was searched and $80,000 in cash and electronic devices was seized. Several electronic devices were also seized for digital forensic analysis, police said.
Huynh was arrested at Brisbane airport on Thursday and charged with a number of offences. His matter was listed for Brisbane’s magistrates court today; he did not apply for bail and the case was adjourned to 18 September.
The Sydney man was charged on Thursday after an Erskine Park, NSW residence was searched. Officers seized the guns, ammunition and silencer along with about 28g of cocaine and about $10,000 in cash in suspected proceeds of crime.
He has been charged with a number of firearms and drug offences and appeared in Penrith local court on Thursday.
Petra Stock
SA government releases official ‘incredibly concerning’ cuttlefish counts
South Australia’s environment minister, Emily Bourke, said giant cuttlefish numbers in the state’s upper Spencer gulf were “significantly low and incredibly concerning”.
This year’s population estimate suggested there were 1,811 giant Australian cuttlefish off the coast of Whyalla this year – a record low since counts began in 1998 and down from about 63,000 in 2025.
Zero cuttlefish were observed during the standard cuttlefish surveys conducted by the SA Research and Development Institute (Sardi) in June and July, which the institute called an “unprecedented decrease”. But a modified method, and more extensive surveys by the environment department, which included searching for cuttlefish under rocks with torches, estimated there were 1,811 animals.
Prof Mike Steer, the Sardi executive director, said the harmful algal bloom, which reached the cuttlefish breeding area over Summer, was the likely cause for the low numbers. He said:
Cuttlefish breed one year, die and then the resulting hatchlings will make up the population next year. So next year’s survey is going to be really important.
Read more here:
More dead little penguins found on King Island with bird flu testing under way
Lisa Cox
A further 23 dead little penguins have been found on Tasmania’s King Island with tests under way to determine whether the birds died from H5 bird flu.
It follows the detection of 28 dead little penguins on the island on Wednesday, with test results from those birds also still pending. The state has not indicated at this stage that it suspects bird flu.
Other birds on the island have been confirmed positive for the deadly strain.
The state’s natural resources and environment department said this included four silver gulls, two crested terns, and one white-fronted tern collected at beaches and bays near the island’s main township of Currie. Of the 18 confirmed H5 bird flu cases in Tasmania so far, 14 were found around Currie.
Incident controller Wes Ford said the government was “deploying more staff to increase our surveillance, monitoring and collection activities in the area”:
We are committed to supporting the King Island community and local industries through ongoing surveillance, regular communication and timely advice as we continue to monitor the situation.
Deakin University’s Prof Euan Ritchie said with bird flu a possible cause of the penguin deaths, the state needed to mobilise all resources it could to protect the island’s wildlife, which included threatened species that had declined to very low numbers such as the King Island scrubtit and brown thornbill:
If bird flu were to affect these species it would be a disaster.
The developments follow a “significant escalation” in H5 bird flu in South Australia after the discovery of three mass mortality events involving more than 1,000 greater crested terns.
David Pocock on the ‘real betrayal’ of Labor’s deal on gambling reforms – Australian Politics podcast
This week, the Albanese government passed major reforms to online gambling advertising and deep cuts to rein in NDIS spending – all with the Coalition’s support.
David Pocock has long been a vocal critic of the government’s approach to both of these issues. He argues Labor and the opposition have failed to stand up to vested interests on gambling reforms. And while he agrees NDIS cuts are needed, he says major parties have ignored expert evidence on the value of community participation and are handing over important decisions to algorithms with little scrutiny.
Political editor Tom McIlroy speaks to the independent senator about what he thinks this notable week of deal-making means for the nation’s political future – while both major parties continue to be spooked by One Nation’s rise.
Listen here:
Nick Visser
That’s all from me. Achol Arok is here to guide you into the weekend. Take care.
Thousands of little penguins being vaccinated against H5 bird flu in Victoria
Victoria has begun vaccinating about 5,000 little penguins at Phillip Island and St Kilda to protect them against the deadly H5 bird flu, in what is believed to be the world’s largest vaccination program involving wild birds.
While vaccinating wild birds against the disease was challenging, the fact that the penguins returned home every night to Phillip Island and St Kilda made it possible to deliver the two doses necessary over a two-week period.
Sarah Basford Canales
Tony Abbott’s role advising rightwing group ‘very informal’
The former prime minister, Tony Abbott, provided an “exchange of ideas in a very informal way” while an advisory board member for rightwing activist group, Advance.
The third-party group is appearing before a parliamentary inquiry this afternoon where its chair, Vicki Dunne, was asked about the nature of Abbott’s role with the group.
Ahead of being elected the Liberal party’s federal president, Guardian Australia reported Abbott was stepping down from his role advising the group.
Dunne, a former Liberal ACT assembly member for 19 years, explained:
He was on an … advisory board, and that’s, that was generally, you know, ‘hey, what do you think about this idea?’ and or, and vice versa … it was an exchange of ideas in a very informal way.
Dunne said she couldn’t remember who else sat on the advisory board.
[The advisory board] was more prominent when Advance was setting up, and it’s become – as the board has matured and the organisation has matured – I think that there’s less [of a] role for an advisory, a sort of a non-formal advisory committee.
AFP details foreign interference charge against dual Russia-Australian citizen
The AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, is holding a press conference after the agency said earlier today a 27-year-old man had been charged with foreign interference.
The man, a dual Australian and Russian citizen, is a resident of Victoria and was arrested in Brisbane yesterday with multiple devices seized.
He is charged with attempting to engage in intentional foreign interference, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Barrett said:
We will allege the 27-year-old man sought to provide information about Ukrainian military activities to individuals he believed were linked to Russian intelligence services.
She went on to say the man is alleged to have travelled to Russia in October 2024 where he allegedly undertook “military-style training” before returning to Australia in December 2024. Barrett said he is then alleged to have travelled to Ukraine in May 2025, where he joined the Ukrainian armed forces and gained access to information about Ukrainian military operations and personnel.
He then allegedly provided or attempted to provide that information to people he believed “were acting on behalf of Russian intelligence”. Barrett said:
It is alleged that this conduct created a risk to the safety and security of Ukrainian military personnel. We allege elements of this offending occurred in Australia and offshore.
Swans AFLW captain says ‘no doubt’ club has taken a ‘reputational hit’ this week
The Swans AFLW captain, Lucy McEvoy, and coach, Colin O’Riordan, spoke a moment ago about the five Sydney Swans players who have been suspended for the rest of the season for breaching club standards.
O’Riordan said:
Growing up, it was taught you treat everyone with respect, and that respect is a fundamental pillar of how you live your life. And that’s especially important in how you treat women. …
The sanctions imposed by the club reflect the seriousness with which this matter is being treated, and as a program, we fully support these sanctions.
McEvoy said the players were “incredibly disappointed” in the matter, although she said “we know the actions of those five players are not a reflection of the broader club”.
We’ve had some really open conversations as a group this week and with the club more broadly. We’ve felt the support both internally and externally … The girls are working through their emotions as they see fit for themselves. Personally, we wrap our arms around everyone as the whole entire club.
There’s no doubt the club has taken a reputational hit this week. And we’ll do whatever we can as a club, in both programs, to make sure we build back the trust and respect of our members and fans and the community more broadly.
