Chapter 1: What recent events occurred in the Strait of Hormuz involving the US and Iran?
A listener production. Hi, Natasha Belling with you and welcome to the afternoon edition of The Briefing. Coming up in our deep dive, it's the mysterious disappearance that captivated a nation. Desi Freeman was on the run for more than eight months in Victoria's high country after he shot dead two police officers.
Now we speak with the journalist who broke the story that police had finally found Desi and killed him.
Chapter 2: What prompted the Northern Territory to review its child protection system?
So who tipped police off and who was helping hide Desi? All those details in just a moment. But first, let's check the afternoon headlines this Friday, the 8th of May.
Thanks, Tash. I'm Alex Tai.
Chapter 3: Why did Julie Bishop resign as Chancellor of ANU?
Fighting has broken out again in the Strait of Hormuz between the United States and Iran. Even as it appears, both sides are continuing to negotiate towards a peace deal. The two sides have conflicting stories as to who attacked who first. Iranian state media claimed that the U.S. attacked an Iranian oil tanker and then carried out airstrikes against several cities.
Chapter 4: What charges are the so-called 'ISIS brides' facing in Australia?
The United States, on the other hand, said that they were responding to, quote, unprovoked Iranian attacks and that three American destroyers were attacked while in the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump wrote on his social media, missiles were shot at our destroyers and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came and were incinerated while in the air.
They dropped ever so beautifully down to the ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave. A few hours after the fighting, Trump also spoke to media from Washington and said that, despite the attacks, the ceasefire was still in effect.
Is the ceasefire with Iran still on?
Yeah, it is. They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle. I'll let you know when there's no ceasefire. You won't have to know. If there's no ceasefire, you're not going to have to know. You're just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran.
Chapter 5: Who is Desi Freeman and what led to his notoriety?
And they better sign their agreement fast.
The Northern Territory has announced a review into the child protection system following the death of five-year-old Kumunjai little baby. The Minister for Child Protection, Robin Cahill, said in a statement that her government was not prepared to accept the status quo and will announce the scope of an independent review on Monday.
According to the statement, the review will be conducted by an external expert. Julie Bishop, the former Foreign Minister of Australia, has announced her immediate resignation as the Chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra. Bishop had been leading the university since her appointment in 2020, and it has been, it's safe to say, a period of significant turmoil.
In 2024, the university announced a plan to cut $250 million in order to become financially sustainable after operating costs blew out. That plan was wildly unpopular and the then Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell resigned from her role last year.
Now, Julie Bishop is also gone, with her tenure as Chancellor being marked by scandals over executive expenses as well as accusations of bullying, which Bishop denies. Her term was meant to finish at the end of this year.
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Chapter 6: How did journalist Cassie Zervos investigate the case of Desi Freeman?
The resignation today means she's finishing seven months early. We heard Sash and Chris this morning talk about the arrest of three of the so-called ISIS brides who arrived back in Australia last night. The update today is that all three women have now been charged.
The two women in Melbourne appeared in court and were remanded in custody until Monday when they will face court again and are expected to apply for bail. Those women have been charged with crimes against humanity. As for the Sydney woman, her lawyer is seeking a psychological report and is then expected to apply for bail on her behalf.
That woman has been charged with entering a declared area and with being a member of ISIS. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was asked about the women at a press conference earlier today.
I have absolutely zero sympathy for these people. I do have sympathy for the children though, who are victims of decisions that their parents have made. We will work through these issues.
It is appropriate that they undergo support, children who've been subject and exposed to all sorts of horrors in those camps with a big presence of ISIS and that terrible, horrific ideology which seeks to destroy our way of life.
Staying with the Prime Minister for a moment, he was in front of cameras today to make another pre-budget announcement, this time for $3.8 billion that'll be going towards Melbourne's new rail network. And you've been hearing it all week, but the budget is for this coming Tuesday.
And after being asked at the press conference about other potential budget items, it does sound like the Prime Minister can't wait to have the full thing out there.
We'll make announcements when we make them as we go. But a $3.8 billion announcement, it always strikes me as somewhat strange that when you announce a $3.8 billion commitment in a budget in one, two, three, four sleeps to go, you get asked about what next. This will flow. You'll see that on Tuesday night.
And there's talk of a boycott brewing around the French Open, with top tennis stars saying they might not play if their pay isn't raised.
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Chapter 7: What were the circumstances surrounding the police's encounter with Desi Freeman?
In a statement, top players including Irina Sabalenka and Coco Goff said that their share of tournament revenue was projected to decrease this year to just less than 15%. The players are instead demanding 22% of the revenue to be paid out in player earnings. The top-ranked men's player, Yannick Sinner, also supports the French Open boycott.
It's more about respect, you know, because I think we give much more than what we are getting back. And it's not only for the top players, it's for all of us players.
That tournament is scheduled for later this month, with the singles draw beginning on May 24th.
Now it's time to get into our deep dive on Desi Freeman. In August 2025, Desi, who identified as a sovereign citizen, shot dead two police officers and injured a third after authorities went to execute a search warrant at his rural property near Paupanka. For more than eight months, he was on the run, with authorities eventually suspecting he may have been dead.
Then, on the 30th of March, Seven News journalist Cassie Zervos received a tip-off from one of her sources, a number of texts telling her police had found and killed Desi. Cassie has followed the case for months and now joins us to explain how the hunt unfolded. Cassie, thanks so much for joining us.
You have worked extensively on this case with Desi Freeman right from the very first moment that he shot dead two police officers near Pawpunka until he was found and shot dead by authorities recently. Tell us who was Desi Freeman? Sure. Thank you, Tash.
Well, Desi Freeman was a sovereign citizen of He identified in the sovereign citizen group. He was a man who was anti-government, anti-authority, who didn't work, thought he was above the law. He's the kind of person who would be pulled over by police for speeding and he'd get out his mobile phone and start antagonising them.
And he really sort of became quite well known in the Pawpunka region during the COVID-19 pandemic because, of course, that's when things really kicked off with the sovereign citizen movement. You know, he refused to get his kids vaccinated. So, you know, they'd do welfare checks at his Pawpunka homes to make sure everything was OK there. He would refuse to get the vaccination himself.
He would refuse to wear the mask. He would refuse to abide by the lockdown rules. So... He was quite well known to police, but not to a level of what we saw on August 26 last year. If they thought that he was ever to be violent towards them, they would have called in for extra backup during that search warrant then.
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Chapter 8: Who assisted Desi Freeman during his time on the run?
And we can now talk more about the details surrounding that. Can you explain that?
Of course. So there were allegations against Desi Freeman of a historical child abuse claim dating back to the past two years involving a victim under the age of 16. So a victim presented to police and that's when they started investigating. What officers did from there was...
gather enough evidence and apply for a search warrant, which we see officers do every single day for warrants, whether it's for all sorts of different cases. Quite routine what they did that day in terms of the search itself or what they were trying to do. What they wanted to do, the goal for them that day, was to go in and seize evidence from Desi Freeman's property.
For example, iPads, laptops, any sort of electronic devices, mobile phones, that kind of thing. Obviously, with what had happened, that's been the focus of this investigation, but we can now reveal these bombshell allegations. Police have been able to download the files from his computers and iPads.
using specialised technology, and there were hundreds and hundreds of child exploitation images found on Desi Freeman's laptop. So police wanted to find and deliver justice to victim or victims involved in these allegations, and that's why they were there that day, which we can now reveal.
Now, Cassie, as we know, these two police officers that were just carrying out their job, having no idea what they were walking into, we know they were shot dead in cold blood. We know then Desi fled the scene and he was able to be hidden from authorities and escape from them for months and months and months.
Did you believe, because you worked so closely on this case, did you believe during that whole time that Desi was alive? Because there was a theory he was dead.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so at the start, I thought he was alive. And then as the weeks and months went on, and, you know, I'd speak to police quite regularly about it, and they would say, Cass, it's so hard to disappear in 2026. Yes, we are talking about a very rural and remote area, but, you know, our mobile phones, they ping, they would connect to a telephone tower. There's road cameras, there's CCTV.
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