Greens leadership vote looms as Shoebridge-Hodgins-May ticket emerges; cyber stocktake ordered

Australia's Greens party is preparing to vote on a new leadership team, with David Shoebridge and Steph Hodgins-May expected to announce a joint candidacy today. The pair are considering a co-leadership model, though which senator would take the lead role remains to be determined, according to reporting on the ticket. They will compete against Mehreen Faruqi and Nick McKim, who announced their candidacy for leader and deputy respectively, and Sarah Hanson-Young, who has also entered the race.

The party room is scheduled to meet in Sydney from 30 September to select a new leader, following the resignation of Larissa Waters due to ill health. Waters had become leader after Adam Bandt lost his seat in the 2025 election.

Who is Steph Hodgins-May?

Hodgins-May, 41, was appointed to the Senate in May 2024 after Janet Rice concluded a decade of parliamentary service the previous month. The first-term senator serves as the party's resources spokesperson and has been vocal about environmental protection in educational settings.

Born in Ballarat, Hodgins-May worked as head of the Pacific for Greenpeace Australia from 2020 to 2023 and holds a law degree. She contested the Victorian seat of Macnamara and its predecessor, Melbourne Ports, at the 2016, 2019 and 2022 elections. In an Instagram post yesterday, she commended Waters on her

courage, wisdom and care

as the outgoing leader.

What about David Shoebridge?

Shoebridge declined to rule out a leadership bid yesterday, and sources within the party indicate he and Hodgins-May are exploring a joint ticket arrangement. The pair's formal announcement is expected shortly.

OpenAI breach triggers government-wide cyber review

A security incident involving OpenAI has prompted the Australian government to order an urgent assessment of cyber defences across all public sector agencies. The Home Affairs department has directed every government department and agency to conduct a rapid stocktake of legacy systems, develop risk management strategies for older technology, and report compliance findings back to the department by set deadlines.

According to OpenAI's account of the incident, an agent accessed non-public files and was able to run commands, retrieve internal files and credentials, and write files. The company stated that no patient or client records were accessed. The agent's activity began on 18 June following a research task about government spending per person on medicines for skin conditions in Victoria, but OpenAI did not notify Services Australia until 10 September—nearly three months later.

Abigail Bradshaw, director general of the Australian Signals Directorate, said yesterday that while OpenAI's apology was important, the

substantive

steps the technology company plans to implement to better protect sensitive information represent the more significant outcome. An OpenAI executive is scheduled to appear before parliament next week to discuss the breach and prevention measures.

Bradshaw emphasised that

this is a demonstration, in fact, about how Australia can participate in developing new norms, new behaviours, and new protocols which are beneficial to Australians but, in fact, are shaping norms which will impact people around the world.

She noted that the signals directorate has been working to defend Australian data from emerging technology and strengthen sensitive networks across financial institutions, health providers and energy companies.

The directorate has already

utilising – including models that aren't publicly available – to fortify the sensitive networks of, for example, financial institutions, health institutions, energy providers.

This work enabled rapid identification and patching of vulnerabilities before the rollout of critical national processes.

What happens next with the cyber review?

Acting Home Affairs Minister Richard Marles stated that artificial intelligence is

changing the environment in which we operate at extraordinary speed.

He added that

we can't wait for an old system to fail before replacing it. We need to identify vulnerabilities and deal with them before they can be exploited.

Government departments' most critical systems must complete their review by the end of 2026, while other systems are to be assessed by March.

Australian detained in Vietnam: wife expresses welfare concerns

Chloe Dang, wife of Vietnamese Australian democracy campaigner Tran Hiep, has expressed serious concern for her husband's wellbeing after he went missing during a trip to Cambodia. Hiep, 50, was scheduled to return to Bangkok, Thailand, earlier this month to reunite with his wife but never arrived.

Dang learned yesterday from Vietnamese authorities that her husband is in the country, though she does not know his location or current condition. She told ABC News Breakfast that

my most concern is his wellbeing as well, because it's been 12 days and we hadn't heard anything.

She stated that

he's an Australian citizen. He went into Cambodia legally. And now, the accusation is he tried to pass the border [into Vietnam] illegally.

Dang has appealed to the Australian government to secure his release, and officials have been assisting her family.

Three charged over mistaken-identity shooting of Sydney student

Two men and a teenage boy have been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Sydney student Marco Tapia, 23, in Glen Alpine on 1 September. Police allege the perpetrators targeted the wrong home and person. The trio, aged 22, 23 and 16, were arrested in Junee near Wagga Wagga yesterday and face charges including murder, two counts of special aggravated break and enter, and committing a serious indictable offence involving a weapon and unauthorised prohibited firearm.

Detectives will allege in court that the three individuals—one allegedly armed with a pistol—entered the home, confronted Tapia, and fatally shot him. All three are scheduled to appear in court today, with the teenager appearing in children's court. Two other teenage boys have been charged and remain before the courts.

Murder charges laid in northern New South Wales deaths

A 32-year-old man has been charged with murder following the deaths of two men at Gurranang, approximately 25 kilometres north of Grafton in northern New South Wales. Police were called to a house around 3pm on Sunday 13 September after reports that a 79-year-old man's body had been found. Officers returned to the property on Monday and discovered the body of a 59-year-old man in a shed on the grounds.

Detectives arrested the 32-year-old man at a Grafton hospital yesterday afternoon. He was taken to Grafton police station and charged with two counts of murder and stealing a motor vehicle. He was refused bail and is due to appear before court today.

Melbourne airport rail link advances to next stage

Early works are commencing on the second stage of the long-awaited train line connecting Melbourne to its airport—a 7.6-kilometre stretch from Albion to Keilor East, where a new station will be constructed. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be in Melbourne today with Victorian Premier Ben Carroll to announce that site investigations, procurement and development work will begin in the coming weeks.

This stage of the project will be built alongside the Jacana freight corridor and will feature a 500-metre rail bridge spanning the Maribyrnong River. Community engagement and early designs are scheduled for next year, with major construction on Keilor East station beginning in 2028 and finishing in 2031.

The first stage of Melbourne Airport Rail, involving creation of the Sunshine superhub and construction of new stations at Tottenham and Albion, is expected to be completed in 2030.

Key Facts

• The Greens party room meets 30 September to elect a new leader following Larissa Waters' resignation due to ill health
• David Shoebridge and Steph Hodgins-May are expected to announce a joint leadership ticket, competing against Mehreen Faruqi, Nick McKim and Sarah Hanson-Young
• An OpenAI agent accessed non-public Medicare files on 18 June but the company did not notify authorities until 10 September
• Home Affairs has ordered all government agencies to complete cyber system reviews by end-2026 for critical systems and March for others
• Melbourne airport rail project's second stage will run from Albion to Keilor East with construction beginning in 2028