Pocock says Australia is ‘sleepwalking’ into AI impacts – as it happened (original) (raw)

Neale Daniher's daughter Bec: 'You inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad'

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

Daniher’s son Luke said while the crowd knew him as a footballer, coach and campaigner, to him he was a “man with a sweet tooth who occasionally hid his chocolate biscuits from us four kids”.

double quotation markOne of Dad’s happiest memories wasn’t a football memory at all. It was watching the children become parents and seeing the grandchildren grow. The older I get, the more I realise Dad’s greatest legacy isn’t what he achieved, it’s what he passed on – the values, the perspective, the example.

Daughter Bec, who is the executive director and spokesperson for FightMND, says her dad was her mentor:

double quotation markI once heard that grief is the price that we pay for love, and I loved you boundlessly. So, I’ll carry that grief gladly, because it comes from it, comes from such a deep privilege to have had those laughs, those lessons, the challenges, and all those moments in between, the big and small, that shaped who I am today. I wouldn’t trade a single one. To the world you inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad, the one who guided me when I couldn’t see the next step, whose laughter filled the room, whose charm and cheeky smile could light up anyone around him.

Bec Daniher

Bec Daniher: ‘To the world you inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad.’ Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

She said in the coming weeks she will welcome a baby boy he was desperate to meet but she knows he will have Daniher’s “spirit and laugh”.

Son Ben described Daniher as his “kindred spirit”, who he talked “endlessly” to about politics, movies and music:

double quotation markMy dad was a tyrant when it came to the control of the music, and anyone who knows me well knows I inherited that trait. We both like to rule the speakers with an iron fist. Some have said they haven’t seen a more autocratic father-son duo since Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un … and they’re probably right.

Ben Daniher speaks at his father’s state funeral on Wednesday

Ben Daniher speaks at his father’s state funeral on Wednesday. Photograph: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos/Getty Images

There have also been touching tributes from his young grandchildren, Cooper and Rosie. Cooper said:

double quotation markWhen I was born, Pops couldn’t hold me with his arms. He still found a way to rock me with his legs, even when he couldn’t talk. He used his machine to chat and called me and my brother Ollie cheeky monkeys. My pops was strong, brave, and courageous, and I hope I can be like him when I grow up. I miss you, Poppy, play on.

Rosie said she wishes he could “come back to see us and take me on adventures:

double quotation markI wish he could come back to the Big Freeze. Poppy, I see you as a star in the sky. I hope you got to see me push the sliders down. I love you.

Paul Kelly performs during Neale Daniher’s state funeral

Paul Kelly performs during Neale Daniher’s state funeral. Photograph: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Key events

What we learned – Wednesday 10 June

And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap today’s headlines.

Pocock says Australia needs to ‘stare down’ AI companies on datacentres

David Pocock was asked if regulating datacentres further could discourage investment. He said:

double quotation markEvery AI company that my team has met with has said we desperately want to come to Australia. Australia is the target, and so we have a lot of power here.

Let’s not buy the same lines that the gas industry and others say, and say, ‘well, if you actually make us pay tax, then we’re not going to come, we’ll go elsewhere’.

I think we need to stare them down and actually say, ‘you can come here, but these are the not voluntary expectations, these are the actual laws, and this is how we’re going to get a return’, because we’ve got to be thinking, what is good over the next decade, two decades, not just what’s going to prop up GDP for the next few years.

Australia is ‘sleepwalking’ into AI and its impacts, Pocock says

David Pocock has said Australia is “sleepwalking” into the impact that artificial intelligence will have on the country, saying there remains many unanswered questions by the government.

Speaking on ABC’s Background Briefing, the independent senator for ACT said:

double quotation markI think we are sleepwalking into this as a country, we’re not talking about the potential job losses, the plan for that, what AI means for the very fabric of our society when it comes to datacentres, which are clearly going to fuel that.

There’s some real unanswered questions in terms of the government’s statement of expectations. Just expecting companies to do something doesn’t cut it, and my bigger concern is once these things are built, how do we actually benefit?

These are all companies that have a track record of minimising their tax to an extraordinary degree.

Independent senator David Pocock

Independent senator David Pocock. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

NSW health minister takes aim at federal government

The NSW health minister has said the state has been “forced” to spend “tens of millions of dollars every single year on essentially doing the commonwealth’s job” as patients become stranded in federally funded hospitals.

As we covered in the blog a little earlier, the state government has said almost 1,300 people in NSW are stuck in hospital beds awaiting either an aged care or NDIS placement, prompting it to pursue its own strategy to address the issue in federally funded hospitals.

Speaking on ABC Afternoon Briefing, Ryan Park, said:

double quotation mark[We’re now] spending tens of millions of dollars every single year on essentially doing the commonwealth’s job.

These are 1300 people, remember, that have finished their care in our state’s hospitals. They no longer need it, but they’re taking up a bed, which is terrible for them and their family.

Park said the state government needed the commonwealth government to rapidly increase home care packages so people can return to their home with the care they need.

‘No government should be able to unlawfully detain people and then walk away’

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has responded to today’s high court ruling which found the Australia government unlawfully held Safwat Abdel-Hady in immigration detention for 18 months.

(My colleague Sarah Basford Canales covered the news a little earlier here.)

Jana Favero, deputy chief executive of the centre, said:

double quotation markToday’s decision was a critical step towards justice for people who have had years of their lives taken from them by Australia’s immigration detention system.

This decision is not just about the years that have been taken from people, it is also about the harm that has been done to them during that time.

It is about the trauma that has been inflicted on them in the detention environment - the use of restraints including body belts and handcuffs, medical neglect, and having every moment of their lives controlled by security guards.

No government should be able to unlawfully detain people and then walk away from the damage it has caused.

Today’s ruling could be a watershed moment on whether the government could be liable for damages for more than 350 unlawful non-citizens released after the high court ruled against indefinite detention in 2023.

NSW police officer charged with negligent driving over crash with motorbike while off-duty

A New South Wales police officer has been charged with negligent driving after he crashed into a motorbike rider while off-duty.

Police said in a statement:

double quotation markAbout 5.40pm on Tuesday 23 December 2025, emergency services were called to the intersection at Garfield Road East and Picadilly Street, at Riverstone, after reports of a crash involving a sedan and motorcycle.

The rider, a 19-year-old man, was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The 33-year-old senior constable was charged with one count of negligent driving and also one count of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

He will appear before Blacktown local court on 28 July.

NSW government to pursue its own strategy on hospital bed issues, saying commonwealth left it ‘no choice’

Almost 1,300 people in New South Wales are stuck in hospital beds awaiting either an aged care or NDIS placement, the state government has said, prompting it to pursue its own strategy to address the issue in federally funded hospitals.

The government said this strategy would include:

The NSW health minister, Ryan Park, said:

double quotation markThe NSW Government is effectively subsidising the Commonwealth in its duty to provide aged care places.

The government said that in the year up to March 2026, the number of stranded patients in NSW hospital beds surged from 871 to 1,276.

Almost 950 of these people are older patients waiting for an aged care placement.

Park said:

double quotation markThe growth in the number of stranded commonwealth aged care patients in our health system is unsustainable, and the commonwealth has left the NSW Government with no choice but to devise its own plan.

While the NSW Government is pursuing its own plan to address bed block, this is by no means a signal to the Commonwealth that they are relieved of their responsibility to deliver aged care placements.

NSW health minister Ryan Park.

NSW health minister Ryan Park. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

Neale Daniher’s state funeral comes to an end

The state funeral for Neale Daniher has come to an end, with his casket escorted out of the MCG by pallbearers – daughter Lauren, sons Luke and Ben, son-in-law Drew and brothers Terry and Chris – to Sting’s “Fields of Gold.”

Master of ceremonies Hamish McLachlan says:

double quotation markNeale, we will honour your wishes and play on. Rest in peace.

The Daniher family farewell the hearse after Neale Daniher’s state funeral

The Daniher family farewell the hearse after Neale Daniher’s state funeral. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

NSW councils call for $5bn loan facility to boost infrastructure and housing

Councils from across NSW have come together to call for the state government to establish a $5bn interest-free loan facility so councils in the regions and Western Sydney can deliver infrastructure that will help unlock more housing supply.

In a plan released today titled Unlocking Homes, Local Government NSW – the peak body for council’s in the state – has proposed a new system that it says would unlock up to 70,000 homes.

This includes the $5bn interest-free loan facility, which it said council’s would repay after developer contributions were paid, and would be spent on up-front investments like roads and sewage.

Darcy Byrne, the LGNSW president and mayor of the Inner West council, said:

double quotation markWe are seeing across Western Sydney, in particular, that without up-front investment in roads, water, sewage and stormwater, housing is simply not being built.

It also called for an expansion on what developer contributions can be used for, and to include social infrastructure such as libraries, childcare facilities and pools.

Byrne said:

double quotation markWe agree with the NSW Government that the housing crisis is the number one challenge facing the State, but we also know that too little investment in the basic infrastructure needed for new homes is making the crisis worse.

Put simply, if we are serious about actually fixing the housing crisis, we need the NSW Government to do more to fix the infrastructure roadblocks that are preventing housing supply.

Alex Greenwich says ‘justice prevailed’ after Mark Latham appeal dismissed

Alex Greenwich has said “justice prevailed” prevailed today after the federal court upheld a ruling that Mark Latham defamed him in a “a sexually aggressive social media post”.

Greenwich, the independent MP for Sydney, said in a statement after the court dismissed the appeal:

double quotation markJustice is a long game. More than three years ago, Mr Latham defamed me in a sexually aggressive social media post that subjected me to an avalanche of homophobic hate.

He failed to take responsibility for his actions. Today, justice prevailed: his appeal has been dismissed and the judgment in my favour upheld.

NSW independent MP Alex Greenwich.

NSW independent MP Alex Greenwich. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Latham, the former One Nation turned independent NSW MP,was found in September 2024 to have defamed Greenwich in an explicit tweet during the 2023 state election.

Greenwich said it had been a tough few years and that he was deeply grateful for the support from his loved ones and colleagues.

He said:

double quotation markThis is an important judgment at a time when politics is too often charged with divisive vitriol. Like the original judgment and the NCAT ruling, it makes clear there is no place in Australian civil discourse for the kind of conduct Mr Latham engaged in.

Jordyn Beazley

Jordyn Beazley

Good afternoon. I’ll now be taking you through our rolling news coverage for the rest of today.

Nick Visser

Nick Visser

That’s all from me. Jordyn Beazley will take things from here. Take care.

Jordyn Beazley

Jordyn Beazley

NSW admits pro-Palestine protester Hannah Thomas was assaulted by police officers and falsely imprisoned

The state of New South Wales has admitted that a police officer punched Hannah Thomas in the eye while holding a torch at a pro-Palestine protest – and it’s offered to pay her medical costs.

Court documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal that the state has admitted to false imprisonment and battery in its defence to a civil action launched by the former Greens candidate in October.

NSW has denied claims of malicious prosecution and malfeasance in public office.

Thomas was arrested and charged alongside four others at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney in late June 2025 that was attended by about 60 people at SEC Plating. Three months later, the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) dropped all charges against Thomas and three other protesters.

Read more here:

Hannah Thomas

Hannah Thomas. Photograph: Remi Chauvin/The Guardian

Neale Daniher's daughter Bec: 'You inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad'

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

Daniher’s son Luke said while the crowd knew him as a footballer, coach and campaigner, to him he was a “man with a sweet tooth who occasionally hid his chocolate biscuits from us four kids”.

double quotation markOne of Dad’s happiest memories wasn’t a football memory at all. It was watching the children become parents and seeing the grandchildren grow. The older I get, the more I realise Dad’s greatest legacy isn’t what he achieved, it’s what he passed on – the values, the perspective, the example.

Daughter Bec, who is the executive director and spokesperson for FightMND, says her dad was her mentor:

double quotation markI once heard that grief is the price that we pay for love, and I loved you boundlessly. So, I’ll carry that grief gladly, because it comes from it, comes from such a deep privilege to have had those laughs, those lessons, the challenges, and all those moments in between, the big and small, that shaped who I am today. I wouldn’t trade a single one. To the world you inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad, the one who guided me when I couldn’t see the next step, whose laughter filled the room, whose charm and cheeky smile could light up anyone around him.

Bec Daniher

Bec Daniher: ‘To the world you inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad.’ Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

She said in the coming weeks she will welcome a baby boy he was desperate to meet but she knows he will have Daniher’s “spirit and laugh”.

Son Ben described Daniher as his “kindred spirit”, who he talked “endlessly” to about politics, movies and music:

double quotation markMy dad was a tyrant when it came to the control of the music, and anyone who knows me well knows I inherited that trait. We both like to rule the speakers with an iron fist. Some have said they haven’t seen a more autocratic father-son duo since Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un … and they’re probably right.

Ben Daniher speaks at his father’s state funeral on Wednesday

Ben Daniher speaks at his father’s state funeral on Wednesday. Photograph: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos/Getty Images

There have also been touching tributes from his young grandchildren, Cooper and Rosie. Cooper said:

double quotation markWhen I was born, Pops couldn’t hold me with his arms. He still found a way to rock me with his legs, even when he couldn’t talk. He used his machine to chat and called me and my brother Ollie cheeky monkeys. My pops was strong, brave, and courageous, and I hope I can be like him when I grow up. I miss you, Poppy, play on.

Rosie said she wishes he could “come back to see us and take me on adventures:

double quotation markI wish he could come back to the Big Freeze. Poppy, I see you as a star in the sky. I hope you got to see me push the sliders down. I love you.

Paul Kelly performs during Neale Daniher’s state funeral

Paul Kelly performs during Neale Daniher’s state funeral. Photograph: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Mark Latham will have to pay Alex Greenwich after failed appeal over homophobic tweet

A maverick New South Wales MP will have to pay more than half a million dollars after he failed to overturn a court ruling over a homophobic social media post aimed at a parliamentary rival, AAP reports.

The right-wing independent MP Mark Latham was found in September 2024 to have defamed Sydney MP Alex Greenwich in an explicit tweet during the 2023 state election.

He posted the tweet – which described a sex act – in response to a news article in which Greenwich described Latham as a “disgusting human being”.

The federal court found the post exposed Greenwich, who is gay and a vocal LGBTQ+ advocate, to hatred and ridicule.

Latham was previously ordered to pay 140,000indamagesaswellasanestimated140,000 in damages as well as an estimated 140,000indamagesaswellasanestimated400,000 to cover a large portion of Greenwich’s legal costs.

The former NSW One Nation leader sought to quash the court’s ruling, claiming that calling someone gay or saying gay men had sex was not defamatory.

Greenwich filed a cross-appeal to increase the damages on the basis that the post implied he was unfit to sit in parliament.

On Wednesday, three federal court appeal judges dismissed both the appeal and cross-appeal.

‘I love you, darling’: Daniher’s family pay tribute at state funeral

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

Neale Daniher’s family also paid tribute to him, with his wife, Jan, speaking first. She says they first met at a family friend’s 21st birthday party and have been together since:

double quotation markOur first date was a lunch in a dark old pub on Swanston Street that had a very limited menu of sausages, lamb’s fry, and chips. I’m fairly sure this was Neale’s way of checking, just to see how down to earth I was. I must have passed the test. We were married in 1985 and we were married for 41 years.

She says it was when Neale was the general manager of football operations at the West Coast Eagles – when “life was full, we were busy and things were going well” – that he first began to notice weakness in his hand and was later diagnosed with MND.

double quotation markBeing told there is no treatment, no cure, and that the life expectancy is around 27 months. It’s devastating and it was almost impossible to believe, but Neale took on the challenge.

Jan told the crowd the entire family went on the journey together:

double quotation markThere were moments of joy and sadness, fear and love, strength and determination. It wasn’t easy. It was incredibly difficult, but we faced each challenge together, and we never gave up. We’re incredibly lucky that Neale got to meet his six beautiful grandchildren, but MND doesn’t define Neale.

Neale is defined by his character, his integrity, his humility, his honesty, his strength, and resilience, by his sharp wit, his cheeky smile, his love of family and friends, and his wonderful love of laughter. This is how we will remember Neale. I love you, darling.

Jan Daniher speaks at the state funeral of her husband, Neale Daniher, at the MCG in Melbourne

Jan Daniher speaks at the state funeral of her husband, Neale Daniher, at the MCG in Melbourne. Photograph: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Daniher’s daughter Lauren said he never complained:

double quotation markYou got up each day and focused on what you could do, and you made the most of every single moment Even when his body was failing, his mind was still fighting on right to the very end, I’ll miss walking through the front door and seeing you smile from your chair.

I will miss the look of annoyance when I misunderstood what you were trying to communicate, and if you’re wondering what that look is, just Google a picture of Dad from his coaching days. I will miss that cheeky grin you would have on your face while you typed a smartarse comment, and I will miss the wink you would give us when we sorted what you needed. We will play on for you, Dad. I love you.

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

Albanese says Daniher ‘one of the most positive people’ he’s ever met

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke next, describing Daniher as a hero:

double quotation markWhen confronted with an adversity that most of us simply cannot imagine, facing odds that could not be beaten, Neale chose to fight. In doing so, he gave new hope to thousands of Australians living their own struggle against motor neurone disease, and he inspired all of us with his courage, with his determination, with his humor, and his invincible optimism.

Albanese says Daniher was “one of the most positive people I have ever had the honour of meeting”.

double quotation markFinding a cure was always about saving the lives of others. It was the same when he was awarded Australian of the Year in 2025 Neale didn’t see that as an accolade for what he had done. He treated it as a platform to continue his work and to share his call to action.

Anthony Albanese speaks during the state funeral for Neale Daniher at the MCG

Anthony Albanese speaks during the state funeral for Neale Daniher at the MCG. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Victoria premier says Neale Daniher ‘understood football, but more than that, he understood people’

Benita Kolovos

Benita Kolovos

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was the first speaker at Neale Daniher’s state funeral. A lifelong Essendon supporter, she says she grew up following the “mighty Daniher brothers, all four of them in red and black”.

She went on:

double quotation markThat was how Victoria first came to know Neale – one of the Daniher boys, a country New South Wales footballer who made his mark in the VFL and the AFL, and later Melbourne’s coach, [where he] coached for 223 games, including that grand final here against Essendon in 2000.

Allan says that as a coach, Daniher was known as “the Reverend”, a nickname she says suited him:

double quotation markA deep thinker, a fierce competitor, a man who understood football, but more than that, he understood people. When Neale spoke, people felt it. He brought them in, not around anger or grievance, but around purpose, around hope, around the belief that if enough people cared, something could change. He really was the Reverend, and all of us were part of his flock.

She says a letter Daniher sent her in late 2025 is on her desk. In it, he wrote: “You can’t always choose what happens, but you can always choose how you respond. Waiting for certainty keeps you stuck, and courage begins the moment you decide”.

Allan says the words have stayed with her:

double quotation markI think about them on hard days, and they say so much about how Neale lived his life. He did not choose MND but he did choose how he would meet it – with courage, with purpose, with love, by turning his own suffering into something that could help others.

Jacinta Allan speaks during the state funeral for Neale Daniher

Jacinta Allan speaks during the state funeral for Neale Daniher. Photograph: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos/Getty Images

How do you like them apples?

Nicholas Jordan is back with a new taste test: this time, it’s Australian apples.

These are always controversial, so steel yourself to either be vindicated or frustrated.

Check out the results below:

A table covered in apples

Photograph: James Gourley/The Guardian