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Anti-fire ant eradication activist convicted after using legal arguments ‘similar to sovereign citizens’

6 days 8 hours ago

Legal expert compares Trevor Hold’s failed defence to ‘tried and tested argument’ used by sovereign citizen movement

The Queensland leader of a group opposing the eradication of fire ants in Australia has been convicted of obstructing government officers, after a magistrate threw out his argument that the commonwealth-funded program is illegal.

Trevor Hold was fined $1,500 but a conviction was not recorded. Hold has described himself as an “ultrapreneur”, a mental health counsellor, an organic cattle farmer and the chief executive officer of the anti-program group the Australian Advocacy Group – and as self-employed.

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The Victorian Liberals’ campaign bus was supposed to be a reset. Instead it became the symbol of a rough week

6 days 8 hours ago

Crashing into a shop awning ended the first outing of the Jess Express – but the opposition’s electoral momentum will be harder to stop

Jess Wilson has barely put a foot wrong since becoming Victorian Liberal leader a little under a year ago. That was until this week, which ended with her campaign bus reversing into a small business.

The bus was launched on Friday, a few days earlier than planned, in what appeared to be an effort to reset Wilson’s relationship with the Spring Street press pack.

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Oxford, Bethnal Green and the Guardian: the British sojourn of a younger Abdul El-Sayed

6 days 8 hours ago

In a Guardian article in 2010, the Oxford Rhodes scholar said UK democracy had the ‘upper hand’ over the US

In the tense final hours before his dramatic election as senator for Michigan in this week’s midterms, Abdul El-Sayed had a heated encounter with a British TV journalist that rapidly went viral.

As James Matthews, of Sky News, tried to ask him a question, El-Sayed bit back. “Why would I care to have a conversation with you?” he demanded of Matthews, placing both hands on the reporter’s shoulders in a gesture of emphasis.

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Why bandicoots and bilbies evolved such different snouts

6 days 8 hours ago
Why does a quenda have a short, sturdy snout, while its relative the bilby has such a remarkably long one? New research led by Murdoch University's Harry Butler Institute suggests millions of years of adaptation to different environments across Australia and New Guinea may help explain the difference.