News live: Five Australians confirmed safe after Nepal-Tibet flooding; Chanel Contos urges action on ‘manosphere’ | Australia news
Five Australians confirmed safe after Nepal flooding
Five Australians have been confirmed safe in the devastating Nepal floods, meaning the number of unaccounted-for citizens has been revised from 43 missing on Tuesday morning to 38.
Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, one in China and three outside the crisis-hit area.
These Australians had not spoken to families and next of kin since the disaster struck seven days ago.
Dfat has received nearly 800 calls in relation to the floods, with 18 Australian personnel having travelled to Nepal to join staff on the ground.
More humanitarian and disaster relief from Australia is due to arrive in Nepal this afternoon.
Key events
Allegra Spender says government has an ‘opportunity’ to make social media safer with opt-in algorithms
Independent MP Allegra Spender said the Australia government has an “opportunity” to make social media algorithms safer for all Australians, not just young people.
The government is considering the change, saying social media was playing a “huge role” in the increase in sexual violence among teenagers and choking. Chanel Contos’s Teach Us Consent has campaigned for tech giants’ algorithms to be opt-in only.
Spender told RN Breakfast this morning:
What we see is that the algorithms as they are currently running, in certain circumstances, can serve content that has real damaging effects potentially across our community. And so I think creating an opt-in for people to make the default of social media safer and to give people really active choice in relation to social media makes a lot of sense.
The MP went on to say the under-16s social media ban was “not really working” and there was still a lot of work to do to see if the ban could be more effective:
Let’s be honest that the challenges of social media don’t stop when you’re 16. You know, many adults struggle with … particularly the addictive nature of social media. And at the same time, we know that some of those issues that both Asio has highlighted and also the misogynistic content don’t just stop when you’re 16.
Five Australians confirmed safe after Nepal flooding
Five Australians have been confirmed safe in the devastating Nepal floods, meaning the number of unaccounted-for citizens has been revised from 43 missing on Tuesday morning to 38.
Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, one in China and three outside the crisis-hit area.
These Australians had not spoken to families and next of kin since the disaster struck seven days ago.
Dfat has received nearly 800 calls in relation to the floods, with 18 Australian personnel having travelled to Nepal to join staff on the ground.
More humanitarian and disaster relief from Australia is due to arrive in Nepal this afternoon.
Drug testing to resume at NSW music festivals
Drug testing will resume at New South Wales music festivals from October, but will not be rolled out into the wider community despite calls from peak health and harm reduction groups.
On Wednesday the state government announced NSW Health will consult with the music festival industry and harm reduction organisations to roll out pill testing at up to 15 music festivals each year.
There will be no change to the use of sniffer dogs at music festivals, a government spokesperson confirmed, which have been found to prompt risky drug taking.
Good morning, everyone. Nick Visser here to take over. Let’s dive in.
Albanese announces $600m package to combat drug smuggling in Pacific
Australia will step up its support to fight transnational drug trafficking flowing through the Pacific, with a $600m package.
Anthony Albanese announced the new investment at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, which aims to stop the contraband arriving in Australia.
The increase in drug flow across the Pacific is a huge problem in several countries: linked to increased gang activity in Samoa and Tonga, and a sharp rise in the HIV rate in Fiji.
Heightened activity is showing up in Australian Federal Police interventions of narcotics in the region.
In 2025, about 4.6 tonnes of illicit drugs were seized by local and international law enforcement, the Australian Federal Police reported.
In the first five months of this year, 17 tonnes have been picked up – mostly cocaine.
The new package – which will be opt-in for Pacific countries – will include enhanced aerial surveillance, and police and border training.
“Drug trafficking is having a devastating impact on Pacific communities,” Pacific minister Pat Conroy said.
“This initiative responds to the calls of regional leaders to do more, and to step up regional coordination to address this scourge.”
Contos to call for social media opt-in algorithm to reduce influence of the ‘manosphere’
Achol Arok
Consent education advocate Chanel Contos will urge Australia to enforce a social media opt-in algorithm to help reduce the influence of the “manosphere” on both men and women.
Contos will deliver a speech about the harms of social media algorithms in Australia in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra at midday.
Contos is expected to say:
This is crucial, and the detail in any reform will determine its success – as will be the overall strength of the proposed Digital Duty of Care reforms that are needed in their own right. It is too easy for Big Tech to design schemes that appear as structural reform but actually suit them just fine.
The Teach Us Consent CEO will point to examples of algorithmic harms such as the “manosphere”, accusing bad actors of jumping on to “a market opportunity” that has misogyny “at the heart of its business model”.
It usually starts with something as harmless as a workout video, or motivational content. Very quickly, boys and men are taken into the “manosphere”, communities that persistently promote the idea that emotional control, material wealth, and physical appearance and dominance, especially over women, are markers of male worth.
This is harmful to the individual man consuming this content, and then anyone else close to him in life, including other men, but disproportionately women and girls.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
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