News live: national park reopens as police say Dezi Freeman might have left area; Creative Australia awards $100,000 grant to Khaled Sabsabi

National Park reopens as police say Dezi Freeman might have left the area

A national park shut down during the hunt for Australia’s most wanted man has reopened, as police say accused cop killer Dezi Freeman might have left the area, AAP reports.

Mount Buffalo national park partially reopened to the public on Tuesday, seven weeks after officers Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot dead while serving a warrant at Freeman’s home in Porepunkah, 300km north-east of Melbourne.

There has been no sign of Freeman since the shooting on 26 August, when the 56-year-old was last seen fleeing into bushland shortly after the shooting.

Hundreds of Victoria police officers and specialist resources from across Australia and New Zealand have been involved in the search, including in large areas of the Mount Buffalo national park.

Victoria police today said their investigations had given them the confidence to reopen the park, although some areas remained off limits.

Despite the park’s reopening, Commissioner Mike Bush said finding Freeman was one of the force’s top priorities.

Key events

Council loses millions in scam using ‘AI techniques’

A beachside council has kept ratepayers in the dark for months after losing millions to an international crime gang who were using “social engineering AI techniques”, AAP reports.

Noosa council, north of Brisbane, has revealed it was defrauded of $2.3m back in December 2024, sparking a major police investigation.

But the council did not tell ratepayers about it for more than 10 months and have been tight-lipped about the nature of the “well organised cyber fraud” – though this was at the direction of the police.

The council’s CEO (and basketball great), Larry Sengstock, said:

The criminals used sophisticated social engineering AI techniques but we won’t disclose specific details of how the fraud occurred to protect staff and from also highlighting the criminals’ actions.

The four-time Olympian and former Basketball Australia boss said about $400,000 had been recovered, bringing the total loss to $1.9m.

Sengstock emphasised that it was not a cybersecurity attack and no council staff were at fault or involved in the “sophisticated, strategic, and targeted” fraud. He said in a statement:

Council systems were not breached or affected, no data was stolen and there was no impact to the public or our services.

The Australian federal police had instructed the council not to disclose the scam due to the risk of compromising an investigation, he said.

Luca Ittimani

SpaceX Starship delays Qantas flight while landing in Indian Ocean

The latest SpaceX launch splashed down in the Indian Ocean this morning, delaying a Qantas international flight.

Elon Musk watched along as his company’s Starship took its eleventh test flight, launching from Texas and testing its ability to deploy Starlink satellites before returning to earth, Space X said.

The rocket guided itself to a pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean, the company said in a statement. Video of the landing shows Starship landing with its nose pointed to the sky, then exploding (as planned).

SpaceX is now looking to upgrade its vehicles to new models that can go into orbit. The test flights showed the potential for Starship to enable one-hour trips to land from anywhere in the world, according to company staff who were commentating the launch livestream:

[It] is going to be pretty crazy. Imagine going from New York to Sydney in one hour instead of the 20 hours it takes currently.

For now, SpaceX is slowing down Australian customers’ travel somewhat. One flight from London to Perth was delayed by 15 minutes after pilots had to adjust their flight path, a Qantas spokesperson said.

No other Qantas flights were impacted or were expected to be impacted.

SpaceX test flights have disrupted international air traffic in the past, as you can read here:

Luca Ittimani

Two current PwC partners found to have breached code of conduct in tax leaks scandal

PwC has continued to employ two partners who breached the tax agent code of conduct and were officially cautioned over their role in the global tax leaks scandal.

Three partners were found to have failed to meet industry requirements around honesty and integrity by the regulator, the Tax Practitioners Board, in investigations that concluded a few months ago.

A fourth had findings made against them but is appealing those findings in the high court, according to Peter de Cure, chair of the TPB. De Cure told Senate estimates about the cautions last week:

They are on notice that that behaviour does not meet the standards of the code of professional conduct and are expected to improve.

A spokesperson for PwC has confirmed two of those cautioned partners are still working at the firm and were found not to have shared any confidential information. They added:

PwC respects and acknowledges the important work of the TPB.

Guardian Australia understands the other two cautioned partners are no longer at the firm.

The findings conclude TPB investigations into a total of nine partners related to the scandal, which related to the sharing of confidential tax policy details. Four other partners were cleared in similar investigations, but the TPB this year stripped the former PwC chief executive, Tom Seymour, of his tax agent registration and barred him from reapplying for four years after finding he had breached the industry code of conduct.

Man allegedly set alight in Coonabarabran

A man was allegedly set alight overnight in western NSW by a group of people who will today face court.

The 19-year-old man was walking in Coonabarabran about 6pm, when he was approached by a man and two women, NSW Police said.

A member of the group allegedly poured a liquid on to the man before he caught alight, police have been told. Their statement continued:

Passers-by extinguished the fire and the man before he was taken to hospital for treatment.

A short time later, police were called to the same street after reports of a public order incident.

…A crime scene was established, and a 45-year-old woman, a 19-year-old man, and a 17-year-old girl were arrested at a nearby property.

They were all taken to Coonabarabran Police Station where the man was charged with cause grievous bodily harm to person with intent, and affray; the older woman was also charged with affray.

… The teenage girl was released pending further investigation.

Luca Ittimani

Consumer confidence in economy hits 12-month low

Australian consumers are the most worried they’ve been in a year, new survey data shows.

Consumer confidence is at its lowest level since October 2024, on a four-week average basis, ANZ-Roy Morgan data today shows. Australians are even more uncertain about the economy than they were in April when Donald Trump unleashed a wave of tariffs.

Households’ confidence in how the economy will hold up in the next five years, a key part of the index, has dropped to its lowest level in over 15 years.

Sophia Angala, an ANZ economist, said the confidence drop was most pronounced among mortgage holders, which could be a response to the growing predictions the Reserve Bank won’t cut interest rates this year.

Renters and debt-free homeowners also lost faith, she said. Expectations for inflation have also been on the rise over the last few months.

The Reserve Bank has been confused as to why consumer confidence has been so low in 2025 when incomes have been rising and inflation has been falling, the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, said last week.

Bullock told a senate estimates hearing on Friday the trend was a “puzzle”:

Around the world, we’re seeing low consumer confidence. Even as interest rates are declining here, even as we’re observing that people are responding by [spending more], their confidence is still low and it’s a little bit of a conundrum. We don’t really know why that is.

Tom McIlroy

Millions of Australians yet to lodge tax returns

About 2 million people are yet to lodge a tax return ahead of the 31 October deadline from the ATO.

Tax office assistant commissioner Rob Thomson said taxpayers submitting their own annual return need to do so before the end of the month. Taxpayers planning on using an accountant or tax agent need to have started the process by the same deadline. Thomson said:

If you’re lodging yourself, you need to have completed and submitted your return by 31 October. If you plan to lodge through a registered tax professional, you must be on their books by 31 October.

Moving before the deadline means taxpayers won’t be subject to late lodgement penalties. Thomson said:

There’s a bit of a myth that delaying lodgment of your tax return will buy you more time to pay – that’s not true.

If you have prepared your own tax return and incur a tax bill, it will be due on 21 November.

If you’re worried you won’t be able to lodge or pay by the due dates, contact your registered tax professional or visit the ATO website beforehand to find out what support options are available to you.

More than 8.7 million taxpayers have already ticked lodging off their to-do list, with more than 4.4 million having self-lodged and more than 4.2 million lodged through a registered tax agent.

Most completed tax returns take about two weeks to be processed by the ATO.

Creative Australia awards $100,000 grant to Khaled Sabsabi

Dee Jefferson

Creative Australia has awarded a $100,000 grant to Khaled Sabsabi, the artist controversially dumped and then reinstated by the government funding and advisory body as Australia’s representative for the 2026 Venice Biennale.

The grant, one of 16 made under the Visual Arts, Craft and Design Framework, will fund the creation of a new body of work to be exhibited at Adelaide’s Samstag Museum of Art in March 2027.

In August, Sabsabi was awarded a major grant by Create NSW for the creation of a new work in Western Sydney.

The two commissions represent a reprieve in a tumultuous year for Sabsabi, a Lebanese Australian artist from Western Sydney. In February, he and curator Michael Dagostino were announced as Australia’s representatives for the prestigious Venice Biennale before being controversially sacked less than a week later after criticism of Sabsabi’s art by the Australian and the then shadow arts minister, Claire Chandler.

Creative Australia’s decision to renege on the commission fuelled a massive backlash from the arts community, with calls to reinstate the team made by leading figures such as former Museum of Contemporary Art director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor and artist Archie Moore, who won the Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

In July, Creative Australia reinstated Sabsabi and Dagostino.

Benita Kolovos

Vic opposition announces plans to scrap treaty legislation within 100 days if elected

The Victorian opposition has announced that if elected in 2026, it will introduce legislation within its first 100 days of government to scrap the treaty.

As parliament’s lower house begins debate on Australia’s first formal treaty with traditional owners, the opposition announced their own plan.

They said they would establish a new government – First Nations Victoria – and a new advisory body made up of Aboriginal Victorians.

This body will not be elected, as is the case with the First People’s Assembly, which under the treaty bill will become permanent.

Nationals MP Melina Bath, who is the opposition spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs, said:

First Nations Victoria takes in a breadth of voices … Certainly, we respect the First People’s Assembly, we’re happy and willing to always listen to leaders in our community, in our Aboriginal communities, but this policy will be about across the board, listening to all voices, not just the First People’s Assembly.

Here’s more on the government’s treaty bill:

The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, said:

South Australians have a strong connection to their coast, and this summer plan will back locals and encourage them to get out and about in the warmer weather.

We’re delivering funding for the science and environmental measures to help marine life recover, and ensure South Australia is at the forefront of our country’s algal bloom research.

We’re tackling this algal bloom outbreak from all angles, and will continue to work closely with the Malinauskas government to deliver what’s needed.