Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
A listener production.
Hey, it's Chris Spear with you. Happy Monday and welcome to The Briefing. We're always hearing about the war on drugs, but behind one of Australia's biggest cocaine busts is a story of infighting that almost blew the entire thing up.
Aren't Australian police meant to be on the same side? So why have you got the most senior officers in one force actively trying to sabotage an operation that is stopping or had stopped 2.4 tonnes of cocaine coming to Australia, which is like half of our consumption at that time?
An investigation into Australia's obsession with cocaine and the fight to stop its trade is coming up in the second half of this episode. First though, let's get into the headlines with Sasha Barbagat on Monday the 25th of May.
Hey, Chris, and to you listening, a group of Australian activists will arrive back on home soil today after being released from detention in Israel. Eleven Aussies all up were on board the Global Samud flotilla bound for Gaza when they were intercepted by the IDF and taken into custody.
They spent three days being held before they were deported to Turkey on Friday, with one member touching down at Melbourne Airport last night.
Members have alleged being mistreated by Israeli forces while they were in detention, while video posted by far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gavir showed activists bound and forced to kneel while being taunted and physically manhandled.
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Chapter 2: What allegations have Australian activists made against the IDF?
Gemma O'Toole, the woman who arrived home last night, told reporters what the video showed was a tenth of what they went through.
And then to think that that's what they do to predominantly white people. when they're being held, like, relatively to account. And there's so much attention being paid to that. My heart is just, like, broken for the Palestinian people.
Another Australian, Juliette Lamont, spoke to local reporters after arriving in Turkey, sharing this story.
They put so much water under me for an hour that I thought I was going to drown. I was sexually assaulted in this kind of torture chamber and five men were bashing me and smashing my face. And then it just continued for the whole time, whether that was the prison vote or whether that was where we were taken to Ashdod.
It was a relentless and very targeted and very planned campaign of violence so that we wouldn't come back.
Now, we haven't heard from an Australian government official in the wake of these particular accusations. Foreign Minister Penny Wong did condemn the actions of Ben-Gavir and the Israeli authorities who mistreated activists after the footage posted by Ben-Gavir sparked global outrage.
But I did have a poke around just trying to see if someone had spoken about this because these accusations are extremely serious.
Mm.
And yeah, I couldn't find any government spokesperson coming out to make a statement on these particular accusations. Many of the participants who were involved have described their imprisonment as the most violent experience of their lives. This coming directly from flotilla press releases. That's what they were telling us.
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Chapter 3: What details emerged about the recent shark attack in Australia?
I said, you know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things. That's one I can't win on. If I do attend... I get killed. If I don't attend, I get killed by the fake news, of course.
And speaking of, there was another close call with security near the White House. So a 21-year-old man has been killed after opening fire at a checkpoint near the White House over the weekend. One bystander was left wounded. It did trigger a brief lockdown. There was footage. There were reporters going live at the time and then the shots rang out.
So yet another close call with security near the president.
Back home into Queensland now, where a man has become the second to be killed by a shark in Australian waters in as many weeks. The 39-year-old had been spearfishing in waters off the Great Barrier Reef, halfway between Cairns and Townsville, when he was bitten on the head.
He was rushed back to shore around midday yesterday when paramedics were called to treat him, but he died shortly after from his injuries. It is not yet known what type of shark was involved.
Now, shark attacks are fairly uncommon on the Great Barrier Reef, but bull and tiger sharks are known to frequent waters there. This comes a week on from the deadly attack off Rottnest Island in Perth, which claimed the life of father of two, Stephen Mataboni, who had also been spearfishing when he was bitten.
To politics now, and there are reports a number of independent MPs are in advanced talks to create a new political party that could be announced within weeks.
According to nine papers, sources say the push is being led by Teal MPs Allegra Spender and Zali Stegall, who have been working on the plan for months, but they're reportedly struggling to attract a bigger headcount as they approach some moderate Liberal MPs to join the centrist party, but those MPs they've approached have reportedly refused to take up the offer, Chris.
Yeah, it's understood they're currently working out the name of the party in key policy positions with independent Senator David Pocock among the high-profile names in their sights.
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