Key events
‘Tumultuous’ coverage must not worsen post-3G, farmers say
Telcos face the ire of rural Australians if the 3G network shutdown goes awry and are being warned they will be held publicly accountable for any fallout, AAP reports.
Telstra is due to switch off on 31 August, Optus will close from September, while TPG/Vodafone ceased operation of the ageing network in January.
The closures and potential risks are the subject of a Senate inquiry, which is holding public hearings in Cooma, in southern NSW, and Canberra today and tomorrow.
Connectivity barriers in rural areas are long-standing and the 3G shutdown must not exacerbate an already “tumultuous” system, the National Farmers’ Federation said in its submission to the inquiry.
Many rural Australians are worried about being cut off from health and emergency services, or having their personal medical alarms fail after the shutdown.
Last week, the federal government said 102,000 active mobile phones aren’t compatible with 4G, although that’s a sharp decrease from more than 740,000 in March.
While the Senate committee isn’t due to report until November it has been urged to hand down its initial recommendations before the 3G shutdown.
Alice Springs mayor on merits of curfew, nearly two weeks on
The mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, has spoken with the Today Show after a second curfew on the red centre was lifted earlier this month.
Asked how the town is going nearly two weeks on, Paterson said:
The initial curfew we had regarding [just] the youth about 12 weeks ago made a drastic difference. This one was a little bit different because it was for everyone after some incidents we had.
I would say it is a success, but it just comes down to being a little bit more proactive where we get to a point where we don’t need a curfew. [When] we’re bringing thousands of people into Alice Springs for an event we need to be ready and unfortunately on this occasion we were not…
Here’s our story when the curfew was lifted:
Queensland premier denounces AI-deepfake video posted by state opposition of him
It seems deepfake content has reached the Queensland election.
Last week, the Liberal National Party posted an AI video of Steven Miles on their TikTok account, showing the premier dancing to ‘Closer’ by Ne-Yo.
A caption over the video reads, “POV: my rent is up $60 a week, my power bill is up 20%, but the Premier made a sandwich on TikTok,” and the video has a disclaimer: “Creator has labelled as AI-generated.”
Miles is an avid TikTok user and regularly shares videos of himself chatting to the camera about state government policy, while making a sandwich.
In a statement to the ABC, Miles said that it was “appalling and disgusting” the state opposition leader, David Crisafulli, had “stooped to using AI and deep fake videos to attack me.”
Mr Crisafulli needs to explain why he thinks this is OK. It’s a test of his character. In a time when misinformation is everywhere, we as politicians have a duty to communicate with our audiences and to voters clearly and honestly.
Separately in May, the Australian Electoral Commission said it expected AI-generated misinformation at the next federal election, but warned that it doesn’t have the tools to detect or deter it. You can read more on this below:
National dictionary looking for contributions on sport-related words
A message for any sporting tragics out there: the Australian National University wants to hear from you!
The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) is looking for new contributions for the national dictionary, with a focus on sport-related words and phrases.
A statement says that “from skyscraper marks featuring the Sherrin in Aussie Rules, to a cockroach getting sent to the sin bin for a dog shot on a cane toad in rugby league, the language of Australian sport has made a significant contribution to Australian English.”
ANDC senior researcher Mark Gwynn added:
Many Australian rhyming slang terms come from the world of sport like ‘Dorothy Dix’ for a six in cricket, ‘Wally Grout’ for a shout at the bar, ‘Mal Meninga’ for finger, ‘meat pie’ for try, and ‘sausage roll’ for goal.
Some people might not realise that common Australian words and expressions such as drongo, home and hosed, sledge, fang it, and no-hoper originate in the sporting world.
You can share your sport-related words via the ANDC Word Box feature or through the ANDC contact page.
Good morning
Emily Wind
And hello! Thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
See something that needs attention on the blog? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: [email protected].
Let’s go.
AFP union cites challenges in prosecuting alleged deepfake offenders
More on that parliamentary committee hearing: there was significant concern globally about the rise of sexually explicit deepfakes, the Australian Federal Police Association said.
There were challenges in prosecuting offenders, it said, writing in a submission to the inquiry:
With the creation of deepfake child exploitation material increasing, the role of law enforcement and identifying a victim is becoming exponentially more difficult.
Police must first determine who the victim is (and whether they are actually a real person).
How long do investigators spend trying to find a child who potentially doesn’t even exist or who had their likeness stolen but has ultimately not been abused themselves?
Relationships Australia wants the bill to include a definition of consent that aligns with an affirmative consent model, where it had to be expressly given rather than a person simply not saying “no”.
The parliamentary committee will report by 8 August. More on this story:
Up to seven years’ prison for distributing sexually explicit deepfakes under proposed laws
Proposed laws would attach a six-year prison sentence to adults found to have shared “deepfake” sexually explicit images without consent and a seven-year term would apply if they created and distributed the image, AAP reports.
The proposed changes to criminal laws are being considered today by a Senate committee chaired by Labor senator Nita Green.
Green said laws were not explicit enough to criminalise deepfakes. The Labor senator said:
AI technology can be of enormous benefit, but it has also seen an explosion in the sharing of fake non-consensual images, which can have long-lasting impacts on victims.
We know that most deepfakes depict women and girls and that’s why this is an important measure to take to reduce gender-based violence.
Rape and sexual assault prevention organisations, legal and criminal experts, the eSafety Commissioner, law enforcement and federal government agencies will give evidence at the hearing into the legislation.
Women for Election Australia chief executive hails Kamala Harris bid
A potential first female US president would be a political milestone not just for America but for other democracies like Australia, advocates say, ahead of Kamala Harris’ likely endorsement as candidate in the upcoming election, Australian Associated Press reports.
President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election after mounting pressure to drop out and endorsed Harris as his successor to run against Donald Trump in the presidential election on 5 November.
While Harris would have to be formally nominated at the Democratic Party’s national convention in August, the chief executive of Women for Election Australia, Licia Heath, said the move would be “significant” for women in politics around the world.
Heath said:
Compared with Australia and other western democracies, America is the stand out in terms of being a laggard of having women in the top job.
America is behind other countries in comparison, and their time is well and truly due.
(Harris) being vice-president in this particular term and having taken over from the previous administration puts her in a very strong strategic advantage in terms of any future debate with Trump.
Julian Assange pictured with wife and family on beach trip
A supporter of Julian Assange has posted a picture of the WikiLeaks founder and his wife, Stella, and their children enjoying a trip to the beach at an unspecified location in Australia.
The WikiLeaks founder has been keeping a low profile after his dramatic return to a free life in Australia after years in prison in the UK before pleading guilty to a US espionage charge.
A member of the group Melbourne 4 Assange posted the picture of the family with the following message:
What a beautiful sight this is.
A family reunited.
They made it.Love is our Resistance
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight yarns before Emily Wind takes over.
Australia is criminalising disabled children and allegedly keeping them “in cages” in police watch houses, according to the national children’s commissioner. In the latest part of our investigation series In the box, Anne Hollonds calls the situation “absolutely abominable”.
As momentum continued to mount overnight for Kamala Harris to win the Democratic party nomination for this year’s US presidential race, the chief executive of Women for Election Australia said the move would be “significant” for women in politics around the world”. Licia Heath says the US has been a “laggard” in terms of having a female leader compared with other western nations such as Australia. More follows.
Australia has recorded its deadliest 12 months on the roads for more than a decade, with 1,310 deaths to 30 June according to the Australian Automobile Association. The shocking figures show that more than one person dies every eight hours in road crashes with the figure up 11.7% on the previous financial year.
