‘Hope is fading’ in search for Baghsarian, but police ‘won’t give up trying to find him alive’
Marks said the home believed to have held Baghsarian was a “suspicious house” amongst other homes in the area.
Inside, officers found evidence consistent with images and video of Baghsarian. Marks said:
We haven’t found Mr Baghsarian and that is our main focus, to recover Mr Baghsarian and bring him home safely to his family and get him the medical treatment that he requires.
It has been seven days now, so hope is fading. We have grave concerns for his safety. But we won’t give up trying to find him alive.
House in Dural, NSW, believed to be used to hold kidnapped 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian
NSW police are holding a press conference into the kidnapping of Chris Baghsarian, an 85-year-old man missing since he was abducted by mistake.
Detective acting supt Andrew Marks said officers executed a search warrant on a property in Dural, where investigators now believe Baghsarian was held for some time. He said:
We have had a significant progress, progression in the investigation, whereby we believe we have found the location where Mr Baghsarian was kept for some time. That location is in Dural.
Police yesterday afternoon were able to identify that location and a quick search of the property did not locate Mr Baghsarian.
Marks appealed to those in the Dural area to come forward if they have seen anything.
Even if you think it is insignificant information, let us be the judge of that and we will take that information and investigate that thoroughly.
Alyx Gorman
Fashion week has made moves to boost diversity and inclusivity
In recent years, Australian fashion week has made moves to become more diverse and inclusive, including championing First Nations designers, and experimenting with public ticketing to what was once an industry-only event.
The Australian Fashion Council (AFC) has also confirmed the return of former Harpers’ Bazaar Australia editor and AFC co-founder Kellie Hush as fashion director for the event, overseeing designer and industry relations.
Last year, the NSW government announced its first fashion sector strategy.
Minister for jobs and tourism Steve Kamper said:
As the nation’s fashion capital this is exactly the kind of bold, iconic experience we want to see in Sydney – there is no better example of our city’s unique combination of natural wonder and cultural vibrancy than fashion week on the harbour, at one of our most recognisable cultural institutions.
Alyx Gorman
Australian fashion week moves to Sydney’s MCA
After more than a decade at cultural precinct Carriageworks, Australian fashion week has announced a change of location. Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is set to be the central hub for this year’s event, which will take place 11-16 May. The new Harbourside setting will surely invoke nostalgia for those who remember the event’s mid-00s heyday, when shows were held a stone’s throw away from the MCA, at the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
Both fashion week and Australia’s fashion industry more broadly have faced stiff headwinds since those glitzy days, as the rise of e-commerce and lately ultrafast fashion; alongside sharply rising manufacturing costs and increased competition from international brands has lead many of the labels that once headlined the event to shut shop.
The future of fashion week was further imperilled last year, when US owner IMG announced they were withdrawing from the event. This lead to a quick-turnaround resurrection by the Australian Fashion Council (AFC), with financial support from Destination NSW and the City of Sydney.
In a statement, AFC executive chair Marianne Perkovic said:
Bringing Australian Fashion Week to the Museum of Contemporary Art marks an exciting new chapter for the event and for Australian fashion more broadly. The MCA provides an iconic Sydney backdrop that reflects the creativity, cultural relevance and global outlook of our designers, while enabling a more open, connected and internationally compelling format.
Four charged after former NRL star Matt Utai shot outside Sydney home
NSW police have charged four people after a 44-year-old man, identified in media reports as former NRL star Matt Utai, was shot outside a home in Sydney’s south-west earlier this week.
Officers said strike forces executed six search warrants across Sydney on Thursday, during which they seized three vehicles, 1kg of cocaine, weapons and electronics and clothing related to an investigation.
Multiple men were arrested, including an 18-year-old, charged with participation in a criminal group, among other charges; a man, 19, who faces similar charges; a man, 19; charged with accessory after the fact in a shooting with the intent to murder, among other charges; and a boy, 16, charged with accessory after the fact in a shooting with the intent to murder, among other charges.
The 18-year-old was granted conditional bail, but the three others have been refused bail. All will appear in court in the coming days.
Andrew’s arrest ‘a fall from grace’, federal minister says
Josh Butler
The health minister, Mark Butler, says Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest is a “fall from grace”, sentiments echoed by the deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume.
Speaking on a panel on Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, the pair were asked about the arrest in the UK on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Butler said “the law must follow its course”.
“There’s not much we can appropriately say about the potential for charges, but what a fall from grace. A man we knew for decades as Prince Andrew, his royal highness, is now just ‘a man in his 60s from Norfolk’,” Butler said.
I think all of our thoughts as human beings, not members of government or the opposition, all of our thoughts as human beings go to the girls and the women who were caught up in this hideous network of powerful men that Jeffrey Epstein pulled together, and we’re starting to see some accountability for those awful, awful years.
Hume, elected last week as the deputy to Angus Taylor, was asked if he should immediately abdicate from the line of succession in the British monarchy.
“Well, that’s really a conversation for the monarch himself. Look, I’d support Mark (Butler)’s comments here. I think that this is an extremely disturbing fall from grace that we’ve seen from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” Hume said.
The misconduct in public office is a very serious allegation. We should let the full course of the law take its place but it’s also a reminder that nobody is above the law.
Mayor of Sydney council says Hanson should face charges over her comments on Muslims
Bilal El-Hayek, the mayor of Canterbury Bankstown council in Sydney, said One Nation’s Pauline Hanson should be held accountable for her comments about Muslims in recent days.
El-Hayek spoke to the ABC as the country’s Muslims take part in the holy month of Ramadan, which began on Wednesday and runs through March. At the same time, Lakemba mosque, one of the country’s largest, has faced a series of threats in recent weeks, prompting a police investigation.
El-Hayek told the ABC that Hanson should face charges for her comments targeting Muslims:
I’m not going to skirt around the issue: Pauline Hanson should be charged. It’s an open and shut case. What she said was highly inflammatory.
When you look at the hate speech laws, they’re quite clear. There is specific reference made of public incitement of hatred, discrimination or violence against protected groups based on race, religion or gender. Clearly, her target was clearly the Muslim people. And I have no doubt that her remarks will incite someone.
Stephanie Convery
Funding changes threaten the cultural future of Melbourne, arts workers say
Late last year, there was a palpable tension among Victorian arts organisations. Rumours were that one of the most important arts funding rounds was going to be a bloodbath.
They were right.
A week before Christmas, longstanding arts organisations received phone calls from Creative Victoria, the state’s arts funding agency. Some were told their funding would be drastically reduced. Others had it cut completely after decades.
Morale has cratered in the state’s largest cultural institutions as the effects of the Silver review and the government’s budget crisis rippled through in staff cuts and restructures.
Read more here:
Aussie star, 16, soars into Olympic ski halfpipe final
Australia’s golden Winter Olympics could conclude with a medal-winning flourish after the sensational Indra Brown roared into the final of the women’s freeski halfpipe less than a month since she celebrated her 16th birthday, AAP reports.
One of the breakout stars of the winter sport season, the youngest member of the Aussie team showed no apparent nerves on her Olympic debut in Livigno as she qualified for Saturday’s final in fourth place.
With Canada’s third-placed former champion Cassie Sharpe having a bad fall on her second run and being put on a snow stretcher, it didn’t appear likely she would be fit for Saturday’s final even though there was relief all round as she waved to the crowd while being taken off the pipe.
It’s possible that Melbourne teenager Brown, who’s only had four World Cup outings with three of them ending up with her celebrating on the podium, could go into the 12-woman final as third-best qualifier.
She is Australia’s last realistic shot at a medal and would take the tally to a record-extending seven, including currently three golds, if she was to make the podium again.
Government says Syria situation ‘distressing’ for children, but lays blame on parents
Murray Watt, the federal environment minister, also spoke to RN, saying the government understands the situation as “distressing” for the children in Syria.
It’s a distressing situation that they’ve been placed in as a result of very bad decisions by their parents. We, of course, from a government perspective, you know, focus more than anything on the safety of Australians, and that explains the basis of our decisions that we’ve made about this group.
I do have sympathy for those children, and our government has sympathy for those children. But the decision to put the children in these situations was made by their parents. That’s something that we can’t change.
Watt maintained that any decision about repatriation comes after coordination with national security agencies.
Coalition maintains ‘anyone’ being repatriated from Syria presents a risk, even children
Jonathon Duniam, the shadow minister for home affairs, spoke this morning about the group of 34 women and children linked to Islamic State fighters who are stuck in Syria.
He was asked on RN if the children in the group should be subject to concern and protection from the Australian government after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, maintained yesterday no one in the group would be provided any assistance to return.
Duniam said the situation was complex but the country’s security trumped their return:
Anyone being repatriated from this part of the world is indeed a risk when it comes to our security. We cannot ignore the risk associated with individuals, whether they be minors or indeed adults, when it comes to repatriating them here.
And indeed, when it comes to these minors, the temporary exclusion order regime does apply to individuals between the ages of 14 and 17, and some reports suggest that these aren’t just infants, they are indeed inclusive of teenagers who would be more advanced in thinking and beliefs than perhaps a younger child.
British journalist who interviewed ex-prince Andrew ‘stunned’ by his arrest
Emily Maitlis, a British journalist who interviewed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor during a disastrous interview in 2019, said on RN Breakfast this morning she is “stunned” at the former prince’s arrest.
Maitlis held the shocking interview in 2019, as the then-prince Andrew tried to explain his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The journalist told RN to many his arrest overnight seemed to happen “incredibly quickly”:
I am stunned. I just have to say this doesn’t happen in our country. It is virtually unheard of.
So, to say that this is a crisis moment, I think doesn’t begin to cover it.
Read more about the arrest here:
NSW says ebike safety ‘ a huge challenge to solve’
The New South Wales transport minister, John Graham, said the changes will recognise the reality of ebikes’ popularity while moving towards a safer future.
He said:
We want children outdoors and active but keeping them safe is paramount. I am concerned that we have primary school-aged children trying to control ebikes that in some cases are heavier than them.
The community has spoken against souped-up motorbikes masquerading as ebikes and this new standard makes clear that ebikes must perform like bicycles not motorbikes.
Make no mistake, with more than 750,000 e-bikes on NSW roads, this is a huge challenge to solve.
Read more here:
NSW to introduce minimum age to ride an ebike
New South Wales will introduce a minimum age to ride an ebike as part of an effort to improve rider safety, the safety of pedestrians and of the wider community.
The minimum age will be between 12 and 16 and come after an expert review by Transport for NSW. Currently, a child of any age can ride an ebike and riders of any age can carry passengers if the bike’s design allows.
The Minns government said the state would also adopt safety and performance standards similar to those in Europe to ensure ebikes act more like bicycles, an effort to remove “high-powered illegal motorbikes masquerading as ebikes” from the streets.
Any ebike deemed to be against the law will be phased out over a three-year transition period to recognise they were bought legally. From 1 March 2029, only ebikes that meet European standards will be road legal in NSW.
Good morning! Nick Visser here to take over. Let’s see what Friday has in store.
Dural crime scene a ‘stronghold’ linked to kidnapping of Chris Baghsarian, police say
NSW police said in a statement early this morning that robbery and serious crime squad detectives had “located a crime scene in Dural believed to be linked to the kidnapping of Chris Baghsarian”.
The 85-year-old was taken from his North Ryde home last Friday morning in what police said was a case of mistaken identity. Det Acting Supt Andrew Marks said on Monday that police believed Baghsarian was still alive.
You can read more about the story here:
In their Friday morning statement, police said a Dural property was “believed to have been used as a makeshift stronghold by the kidnappers”, and a search warrant was carried out there at 7pm on Thursday.
The investigation continues, they said, appealing again for public assistance and telling anyone who “may have seen or heard anything relating to the kidnapping or witnessed any sort of suspicious activity in the Dural area since last Friday” to contact police.
Krishani Dhanji
Angus Taylor claims Australians ‘deeply concerned’ about classroom indoctrination
In Angus Taylor’s lengthy interview, Peta Credlin took the new opposition leader to a couple of other culture war issues including school curriculums, where he suggested children shouldn’t be “indoctrinated” in the classroom, and that “Australians are deeply concerned about it”.
I think our education system, our school system and our tertiary system has been drifting on this over a long period of time … we do need to give Australians the assurance that their kids are going to be educated, they’re going to be taught about our wonderful nation, warts and all, but they should be celebrating our country as part of their education, and they shouldn’t be receiving indoctrination.
We’ve heard the word indoctrination before – former Liberal leader Peter Dutton also said kids were being indoctrinated but claimed he had “no proposals” to change it.
Get net zero ‘out of our system’, Taylor says
Krishani Dhanji
Net zero is still dead, if not more dead under Angus Taylor’s Liberal party.
When Sussan Ley announced the party’s commitment to drop net zero in November, she kept the caveat that net zero would still be a welcome outcome if “we can get there with technology, with choice and with voluntary markets”.
Taylor now wants to abandon net zero terminology as a whole, telling Sky News’ Peta Credlin on Thursday night:
I think the starting point is to get that net zero ideology out of our system … We have uranium, we have coal, we have gas, we do have renewables, of course, in people putting solar cells on their roofs at a rapid pace, it’s the mix that’s going to get us the solution.
The government – and experts – have argued that renewables are the cheapest form of electricity.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best breaking news stories before Nick Visser takes over.
The biggest story overnight was the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor at Sandringham estate, on suspicion of misconduct in public office – you can find our live coverage here and we’ll bring you more developments and reactions throughout the day.
Elsewhere, a group of Australian men suspected of being former IS State fighters are among more than 5,000 detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq, where they potentially face charges that could carry the death penalty.
And in New South Wales, police said early this morning that they have located a crime scene in Dural as investigations continue into the kidnapping of Chris Baghsarian. They will speak to media later this morning – and we’ll bring you more details soon.
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