Update on injuries after bus crash in Victoria
Ambulance Victoria has provided some more detail on this afternoon’s bus crash in Glenburn, a town north-east of Melbourne.
The state’s ambulance service says its paramedics responded to reports of a collision involving a bus in Glenburn about 2.40pm today, and assessed 21 people at the scene.
They say:
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A teenage male was treated at the scene and flown to the Alfred hospital in a serious condition with upper body injuries.
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A man in his 50s was treated and transported by road ambulance to Box Hill hospital in a serious condition.
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A teenage female was treated and transported by road ambulance to the Royal Children’s hospital in a stable condition.
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A teenage male was treated and transported by road ambulance to Maroondah hospital in a stable condition with upper body injuries.
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Sixteen other people assessed by paramedics at the scene did not require emergency treatment or transport.
Ambulance Victoria asked journalists to speak to Victoria police regarding a fifth person who was injured, so we will bring you more information as soon as we can.
Key events
Administrators order tools down on semi-finished Bathla sites after running out of money
The insolvency advisory Teneo has announced it is standing down workers and stopping construction on the embattled developer Bathla Group’s semi-finished properties.
Bathla – one of Australia’s largest property developers – went into voluntary administration on 25 August, weighed down by almost $3.6bn in debt, leaving thousands of customers in limbo, some with semi-complete homes they’d bought off-the-plan.
Its administrators at Teneo had been in crisis talks with private lenders to try to save Bathla and its many projects, saying their immediate priorities included finishing the estimated 2,000-2,500 homes on which construction had already begun.
Teneo managed to secure short-term funding to temporarily continue construction on the 13 Bathla sites where construction was underway, but it announced this evening that the money had run out and it had not managed to secure further funding.
Teneo said its discussions with lenders for further funding “have now concluded”.
As a result, construction workers across 13 Bathla sites have been stood down and all
construction operations have ceased, Teneo said.
Teneo’s Stephen Longley said the administrators were now focused on working with lenders for an “orderly sale” of Bathla Group’s subdivision and land bank sites.
He said:
A core team of Bathla employees has been retained to assist with the management and realisation of the assets.
The administrators will provide further updates to customers, employees, creditors, subcontractors and other stakeholders as the administration process progresses.
At Bathla, 125 staff members were let go today, and 67 employees have been retained.
We’ve asked Teneo to clarify if the 13 construction sites it is referring to encompasses all of Bathla’s underway projects, as well as how many construction workers have been stood down.
You can read more about Bathla’s downfall here:
Update on injuries after bus crash in Victoria
Ambulance Victoria has provided some more detail on this afternoon’s bus crash in Glenburn, a town north-east of Melbourne.
The state’s ambulance service says its paramedics responded to reports of a collision involving a bus in Glenburn about 2.40pm today, and assessed 21 people at the scene.
They say:
-
A teenage male was treated at the scene and flown to the Alfred hospital in a serious condition with upper body injuries.
-
A man in his 50s was treated and transported by road ambulance to Box Hill hospital in a serious condition.
-
A teenage female was treated and transported by road ambulance to the Royal Children’s hospital in a stable condition.
-
A teenage male was treated and transported by road ambulance to Maroondah hospital in a stable condition with upper body injuries.
-
Sixteen other people assessed by paramedics at the scene did not require emergency treatment or transport.
Ambulance Victoria asked journalists to speak to Victoria police regarding a fifth person who was injured, so we will bring you more information as soon as we can.
Australian chefs join global pledge to take farmed salmon ‘off the table’
Petra Stock
Australian chefs have joined their global colleagues in refusing to serve ocean-farmed Atlantic salmon.
The Gourmet Farmer Matthew Evans, Analiese Gregory and Josh Niland have signed an open letter, together with more than 120 leading chefs from 26 countries, and food-system campaigners such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
The list includes chefs from some of the world’s best restaurants, holding more than 90 Michelin stars between them.
The chefs have pledged to stop serving ocean-farmed salmon until it can be produced without harming wild fish, marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
Tasmania produces virtually all of Australia’s farmed salmon. Evans, the host of Gourmet Farmer and What’s the Catch?, said he would never serve Tasmanian-farmed salmon at his Fat Pig Farm.
Evans said:
It’s clear that the way we produce salmon in open pens is done in a way that continues to harm Tasmania’s natural environment.
It’s a dirty industry that refuses to clean up its act.
More than a dozen people injured in bus crash in Victoria
Multiple people have been injured after a bus crash in Victoria.
Ambulance Victoria paramedics are on the scene in Glenburn after reports of a crash involving a bus at about 2.40pm today. Paramedic crews are assessing multiple patients, with initial reports from on-scene crews suggesting 18 people may have been injured.
“Our paramedics’ priority is with their patients. Further updates will be provided as information becomes available,” Ambulance Victoria said in a statement.
Systemic racism to blame for Indigenous people’s wage disparity: landmark study
Systemic racism is to blame for a glaring Indigenous pay gap that is costing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples billions of dollars a year, a landmark study has found, AAP reports.
The Australian-first Towards Indigenous Pay Parity report released on Thursday revealed Indigenous employees earn 16 cents less for every dollar compared with the average Australian worker, culminating in an average $15,000 discrepancy each year.
That figure climbs to 21 cents for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, who earn an average $41 per hour, compared with $52 for men overall.
The UTS Centre for Indigenous People and Work report analysed Australian Tax Office and Australian Bureau of Statistics data from almost 230 occupations, identifying wage gaps in three quarters of sectors.
The centre’s director, Prof Nareen Young, warned the pay gap cost Indigenous Australians a combined $3bn in 2022-23, with a total cumulative loss of $170bn possible by 2050.
Exploring factors including education, age, job type and hours worked, the study found those elements accounted for less than one third of the average hourly pay gap.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast earlier today, Prof Young said:
Having examined all of the usual things that explain a pay parity gap we can only put it down to systemic racism.
When it’s up to the discretion of the employer or manager or a REM (remuneration) process or an HR process, the gap is wider, which is of real concern.
Man dies in water at beach south of Sydney, police say
New South Wales police say a 50-year-old man has died after he was spotted struggling in the water off a beach south of Sydney.
Emergency services were called to Marley beach in the Royal national park about 12.50pm today, to reports two swimmers were struggling, police said.
They said local police, officers from the Marine area command, surf lifesavers and three helicopter services assisted in the search and rescue operation.
Police said a 20-year-old man was pulled from the water after being washed back to shore by waves.
He was treated at the scene, winched out of the remote beach by helicopter and taken to St George hospital in a stable condition, police said.
A short time later, police said officers attached to the Marine area command found the 50-year-old man’s body in the water.
Police have said they will prepare a report for the coroner.
RBA still tipped to lift interest rates to 14-year high despite jump in unemployment
Luca Ittimani
Money markets are still predicting a 90% chance of the Reserve Bank raising interest rates next Tuesday.
The surprise rise in unemployment to 4.6% in August data today would normally reduce the prospect of a rate hike but today’s data also showed hiring actually increased, just by less than new jobseekers.
As a result, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and NAB have all reaffirmed their predictions for a hike in the cash rate on Tuesday from 4.35% to 4.6%, as have analysts at AMP and UBS. That would take rates to their highest level in 14 years. (Westpac has not explicitly said whether it still agrees with that view.)
For someone with an average-sized new mortgage of $731,000, paying a typical rate of 6.2%, a rate increase would add about $119 to their $4,477 monthly repayments.
Peter V’landys appointed NRL executive chairman
Jack Snape
Rugby league tsar Peter V’landys has increased his grip on the game after being named executive chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC).
The V’landys appointment adds the responsibilities of the NRL chief executive – a position held until July by new Tennis Australia boss, Andrew Abdo – to his existing duties as ARLC chair.
The move is controversial, given the ARLC was established in 2012 with clear separation between management and operations within a sport plagued by political infighting.
V’landys has the unanimous backing of NRL clubs and state associations, however, and resigned as Racing NSW chief executive earlier on Thursday to allow him to focus his energies on rugby league.
Former NGV employee allegedly stole $8m of gallery money to buy phones
A former senior National Gallery of Victoria employee is alleged to have funnelled $8m from the gallery over six years, AAP reports.
He allegedly bought $8m worth of mobile phones using an NGV account, which he then sold for personal financial gain.
The state’s corruption watchdog has charged the former employee with eight offences alleged to have taken place between September 2019 and September 2025.
“IBAC will allege that mobile phones were purchased under an NGV account to the value of approximately $8 million and then sold for personal financial benefit,” the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
The watchdog said it began investigating allegations of corrupt conduct in relation to theft and misuse of his position by the former senior employee earlier in September 2025.
The man has been charged with seven counts of theft and one count of misconduct in public office.
He is expected to appear before Melbourne magistrates’ court on 20 October.
Founded in 1861, the NGV is Australia’s oldest and most visited art museum.
NGV has been contacted for comment.
Catie McLeod
Hello, thanks for reading so far. I’ll take you through the rest of the day’s news.
Nick Visser
That’s all from me. Catie McLeod will snag the blog from here. Take care.
Violent, serious offences decrease as crime rate falls in Victoria
The crime rate in Victoria has fallen by almost 4% in the past year, with police praising controversial “adult crime, adult time” laws as being responsible for a major drop in youth offending.
AAP reports the state’s crime rate, which accounts for population growth, fell to 8,679.6 offences per 100,000 people, according to Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency figures released on Thursday.
Overall, the state recorded 624,624 criminal offences in the 12 months to June, a reduction of 13,360 offences compared with the previous financial year.
Youth offending decreased by 8.1% in that time, but police maintain child offenders aged 10-17 continue to be over-represented in major violent crimes such as home invasions, aggravated burglaries and robberies.
Police attributed some of the reductions to increased visible and proactive policing. But other areas of offending continued to rise.
Drug offenders apprehended increased 11.6%, while the number of offenders processed for drug trafficking and dealing rose 18.5%.
Police also recorded a 2.7% increase in retail theft, with 43,124 offences recorded.
Petra Stock
Last-minute decision to protect endangered birds from SA space project
Conservation groups have welcomed an 11th-hour decision to protect “precious and important habitat” on South Australia’s Eyre peninsula from plans for a rocket launching facility.
The Whalers Way “orbital launch complex”, which could see as many as 42 rockets a year take off from conservation land, had already been approved under federal and state planning and environment laws.
But a recent decision by the state’s independent Native Vegetation Council could scuttle the space project, located about 32km from Port Lincoln.
The 23-hectare site is protected under a longstanding heritage agreement, a type of covenant on private land designed to protect native wildlife and habitat in perpetuity.
The chief executive of BirdLife Australia, Kate Millar, welcomed the council’s decision to protect “one of the most precious and important habitats in the state”, which was a stronghold for one of Australia’s tiniest birds, the endangered Eyre Peninsula southern emu-wren, and home to 80% of the endangered mallee whipbird population.
Read more here:
Wong pays tribute at UN to Australian aid worker killed in Gaza
Foreign minister Penny Wong has paid tribute to Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, who was killed in Gaza in a 2024 drone strike, at the UN summit in New York.
Wong said:
Australia remembers the death of Zomi Frankcom and her six World Central Kitchen colleagues, killed by an IDF strike in 2024.
And we will not stop – I will not stop – pressing for transparency, accountability, and justice for the Frankcom family.
Friends, no humanitarian worker should ever be a target.
Nine’s TV and streaming exec departs amid company ‘restructure’
Nine’s managing director of streaming and broadcast, Amanda Laing, will depart the company after just two years following a “restructure”.
Nine’s chief executive officer, Matt Stanton, who will be overseeing the department in the interim, said her role would “not exist in its current form” amid a company restructure.
In a statement, Stanton said:
[The] industry is changing at pace and we are operating in an increasingly competitive market.
Amanda will sadly be departing the business.
Laing, who also worked at Nine from 2006 to 2017 before a stint as a senior executive at Foxtel, said:
I leave Nine with immense pride in the team I have had the privilege to lead and everything we have achieved together. I’ll forever be a champion of their work.
It comes after the departure of the Australian Financial Review’s editor-in-chief, James Chessell, to join independent media website Rampart.
Achol Arok
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is software designed to perform digital tasks on behalf of humans with a high degree of independence. They’re built on different models, depending on their specific purpose or the task assigned by a human.
They’re often used for tasks such as writing code, conducting online research, generating reports based on that research or even booking a restaurant reservation.
They’re not the same as commonly used chatbots, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, because they take actions and make decisions rather than just responding to prompts.
Developers can include guardrails, such as strict access controls, in the instructions to reduce privacy and security risks. However, as we’ve seen this morning, some agents can bypass those safeguards by finding loopholes in their instructions or the systems they interact with.
Aria nominations are out – Genesis Owusu and Tame Impala up for top album
Nominations for this year’s Aria awards were released this morning, just under a month before the body’s 40th anniversary ceremony.
Genesis Owusu and Tame Impala lead the nominations with eight each, followed by Ecco Vandal with seven.
Music legends including Kylie Minogue, Paul Kelly, Keith Urban and Vika & Linda will also be celebrated, as will newcomers Way Dynamic, Wilsn and aleksiah.
Take a look at the full rundown of nominees here.
Achol Arok
NSW Greens call for audit of government website cybersecurity in wake of breach
The NSW Greens have called on the state government to immediately audit all government websites and datasets after an OpenAI agent was confirmed to have accessed state crime data agency.
Greens NSW industry spokesperson Abigail Boyd said the state is in need of an “urgent, forensic, and wide-ranging digital audit”.
Bocsar is not the only vulnerable source of potentially sensitive information, the NSW government hosts highly sensitive information through public-facing websites like the HealthStatsNSW website, as well as the Data.NSW website, which is an open data portal hosting 17,164 NSW public sector datasets.
The NSW government is extremely vulnerable to these attacks from malicious artificial intelligence products.
Boyd said the government could not rely on major technology companies to comply with Australian laws and safeguards.
We clearly cannot rely on these multinational big tech companies to comply with even the most minimal of social obligations such as notifying when, or even taking enough care to notice if, their products are hacking government systems.
We are told to believe that OpenAI only became aware of this egregious breach of Australian’s data in August, and then waited until well into September before sending a notification email to Services Australia in September. By all accounts, there has been no attempt by OpenAI to notify the NSW government of the potential breaches of our state systems and databases.
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