Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. Jillian Segal, the government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, will testify to the royal commission today when it examines education and training for fighting antisemitism, as well as its effectiveness. More coming up.
One of the 19 Closing the Gap targets has officially been reached after early childhood education enrolment for First Nations children hit 95% across the country. More coming up.
I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
Why is Jillian Segal appearing at the royal commission?
The special envoy to combat antisemitism will make another appearance in the royal commission’s hot seat today, Australian Associated Press reports.
Jillian Segal, who was appointed to the role by the federal government in 2024, will testify to the royal commission today when it examines education and training in handling antisemitism, as well as its effectiveness.
In a report released in 2025, the special envoy called for Holocaust and antisemitism education to be put in place in national and state school curriculums.
The education plans would be co-ordinated with government, independent and Catholic school systems.
What is the government doing about childcare safety?
The government has announced the second stage of its mandatory safety training for childcare workers will begin Friday, focused on preventing child safety concerns and detecting grooming.
It follows serious safety breaches and a number of high-profile arrests of childcare workers in multiple states for the alleged abuse of children in childcare centres.
The education minister, Jason Clare, says the first stage of training has been completed by 99% of early educators, which focused on staff conduct and reporting obligations.
Our early educators are the best asset we’ve got to keep our children safe. They had six months to do the first stage of the mandatory training and 99 per cent of them completed it within 4 months. It tells you a lot about how seriously they’re taking this.
This year the government has also established the childcare worker register, and is working on nationalising the working with children check.
What happened in the Sydney house fire?
Three people have died following a house fire in Sydney’s south-west last night, NSW police said.
Emergency services were called to a home on Cornelia Street, Wiley Park, at about 9.45pm following reports of a fire.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews attended and extinguished the blaze which caused extensive damage to the property.
Following a search of the home, the bodies of three people were located inside.
Officers from Campsie police area command have established a crime scene, and an investigation is underway into the circumstances surrounding the fire.
How has the Closing the Gap target been reached?
One of the 19 Closing the Gap targets has officially been reached after early childhood education enrolment for First Nations children hit 95% across the country.
Released by the Productivity Commission today, the annual data compilation report showed an increase from 61.3% enrolments in 2016 (the baseline year), to hitting the 95% mark across every state and territory today.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said although it was a “significant milestone”, state and territory governments should “back in” their commitments as other targets continued to worsen.
This result is encouraging, as are improvements in eight other targets including employment and education.
However, it is very concerning that we are still seeing outcomes worsening for early childhood development, children in out-of-home care, incarceration rates and suicide.
Our government remains committed to Closing the Gap; working in partnership with First Nations communities, building on what is working and investing in the areas where we can make the greatest difference to generational change.
State and territory governments must also back in their commitments under the national agreement with investments and policies that improve outcomes for First Nations people.
You can about the targets here, in Sarah Collard’s story from earlier this year:
Key Facts
- Jillian Segal will testify to the royal commission today on education and training in handling antisemitism.
- The government’s second stage of mandatory childcare safety training begins Friday.
- Three people died after a house fire on Cornelia Street, Wiley Park, last night.
- First Nations early childhood education enrolment has reached 95% nationwide, meeting one Closing the Gap target.
