Home Blog Page 1377

Apple Martin Embraces Gwyneth Paltrow’s Style Following Film Role Acquisition

0

Her outfit undoubtedly seemed fit to impress her renowned mother, Gwyneth Paltrow.

On Monday, Apple Martin, a notable figure in the realm of celebrity children, embodied her mother’s iconic Hollywood style while enjoying a shopping outing with a friend.

Clad in a pristine white T-shirt paired with matching shades, the 22-year-old Apple exuded the timeless elegance her mother, at 53, has come to define.

With her blonde hair cascading down, she finished her ensemble with stylish gold earrings, sunglasses, and a chic Prada handbag slung over her shoulder, adding a touch of sophistication.

Her demeanor, too, mirrored Paltrow’s essence, as Apple radiated relaxed and effortless poise, flashing a sincere smile throughout her outing.

The apparel, simple and classic, is the type of outfit one could easily imagine her mother wearing – or perhaps Martin has been rummaging through her mom’s closet again. 

Apple Martin channeled her mother Gwyneth Paltrow's fashion sense during a spot of shopping with a pal in Los Angeles on Monday

Apple Martin channeled her mother Gwyneth Paltrow’s fashion sense during a spot of shopping with a pal in Los Angeles on Monday

‘Apple borrows from my closet,’ Paltrow said on People (The Show!) back in 2021. 

‘Although I did take a hoodie from her about two weeks ago. So, fair enough. But she likes my t-shirts and my shoes. She likes my shoes.’ 

The daughter of Gwyneth and her ex-husband Chris Martin, Apple has since become known for her own trendy, fashion-forward sense of style – a trait she likely picked up from her famous mother.

Now the star has proven once again the apple doesn’t fall from the tree.  

Just two weeks after graduating from college, Martin landed her first major film role in a highly-anticipated Nancy Meyers movie. 

Meyers, widely regarded as one of the most powerful women in Tinseltown, has directed some of the most popular rom-coms of all-time, including Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday and It’s Complicated.

Her new film has just started production and is set for release on Christmas Day next year.

A-list actors attached to the project include Kieran Culkin, Jude Law, Penelope Cruz and Owen Wilson, according to Deadline.

From the white T-shirt to the matching slacks, the up-and-coming actress looked the spitting image of her mother

From the white T-shirt to the matching slacks, the up-and-coming actress looked the spitting image of her mother

Gwyneth and Apple have borrowed pieces from one another's closet

Gwyneth and Apple have borrowed pieces from one another’s closet  

Paltrow is not only known for her acting prowess but also her chic fashion sense

Paltrow is not only known for her acting prowess but also her chic fashion sense

‘I am really proud of her, really thrilling,’ Gwyneth recently said during an appearance on the Today show. 

Paltrow has already worked three of the other actors her daughter will star with.

She played Law’s lover in 1999’s The Talented Mr Ripley, worked with Cruz in the 2007 film The Good Night, and had scenes with Wilson in the 2001 comedy The Royal Tenenbaums.

Other costars on the film include Tony Hale, Beverly D’Angelo, and Erin Doherty.

The plot has not yet been disclosed, but Meyers dropped a hint three years ago that the film is semi-autobiographical.

It is about ‘a group of people making a film and the magic and mystery of what we do,’ she wrote online.

The model is the daughter of Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin

The model is the daughter of Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin

Meyers is directing from her own script and producing alongside Ilona Herzberg, with Diana Pokorny and Paula Case exec producing.

The film is set to be released on December 25, 2027.

Martin posted about the acting job on her Insta Stories as she added a note.

‘Dream come true!!! Thank you @nmeyers for taking a chance on me,’ wrote Martin on her Insta Stories as she added two red hearts.

Martin makes her feature film debut in Meyers’ comedy after signing on with a power agent at CAA. She is also working with her mother Paltrow’s manager Cade Hudson at Hudson Management Group.

Martin’s other acting credit is a small role on the show Rooster with Steve Carell.

She recently graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville with a degree in Law, History and Society.

Martin has also appeared in fashion campaigns for brands such as Gap, self-portrait and Chloé and has collaborated with French fashion house Chanel.

Judge Denies Attempt to Remove Jeanine Pirro from Trump Assassination Case

0

A federal judge has denied a bid by the man accused of attempting to assassinate then-President Donald Trump to dismiss Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro from the case. The decision marks a significant moment in the prosecution’s proceedings against Cole Tomas Allen.

On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden delivered an 18-page ruling rejecting Allen’s request. The case in question arises from a frightening episode at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, where Allen allegedly launched his attack.

Prosecutors state that Allen targeted the event at the Washington Hilton with the intent to kill President Trump. His plan involved breaching a Secret Service checkpoint armed with a shotgun. In his attempt, he injured a Secret Service officer but was thwarted before reaching the ballroom, teeming with President Trump, Cabinet officials, and other high-profile figures.

Allen sought Blanche and Pirro’s disqualification based on their attendance at the dinner. Furthermore, he cited their public remarks following the incident, emphasizing Pirro’s alleged bias due to her longstanding friendship with Trump as a point for removal.

Despite these arguments, Judge McFadden was unconvinced by Allen’s motion to remove Blanche and Pirro from their prosecuting roles, thereby maintaining the team poised to proceed with what promises to be a closely watched legal battle.

The judge rejected Allen’s contention that merely being present at the event transformed Blanche and Pirro into legal “victims” of the alleged crimes. The actual victims, he explained, were President Trump and the wounded Secret Service officer — not everyone who happened to be attending the dinner that evening.

Nor did the court see any issue with either official speaking publicly on the matter afterward. Prosecutors, McFadden noted, aren’t expected to be neutral observers. They are expected to vigorously prosecute criminal cases. The Constitution guarantees an impartial judge and jury — not prosecutors who are personally indifferent to whether a defendant is guilty.


Memorial Day Boat Crash Suspect to Face Court as Pre-Trial Date Announced

In Chatham County, Georgia, legal proceedings are advancing in the high-profile case involving Mark Stegall. Following discussions among the legal teams on Tuesday, a pre-trial date has been tentatively scheduled.

The case traces back to a tragic incident on Memorial Day 2022 when Stegall, allegedly under the influence, crashed a boat into another vessel, resulting in the tragic deaths of five individuals on the Wilmington River.

On Tuesday, lawyers convened to determine the duration of the trial, estimating that it will span approximately seven days.

Due to the anticipated length of the proceedings, an official trial date has not yet been confirmed.

Currently, the pre-trial is set to commence on October 19, 2026, at 9 a.m. However, the judge has indicated that this date may be subject to change, contingent on the scheduling of the trial itself.

Stegall is facing the following charges:

  • 10 counts of homicide by vessel in the first-degree

  • 6 counts of serious injury by vessel
  • Operating a vessel under the influence
  • Reckless operation of a vessel.
  • The judge suggested the trial be set for early 2027, but no exact date has been set.

    Amy Adams’ Heroic Act: How She Saved a Stabbing Victim’s Life

    0

    Amy Adams recently shared a harrowing experience where she aided a stabbing victim in Los Angeles.

    During Monday’s episode of the “Smartless” podcast, Adams recounted the incident, which occurred as she, her father Richard Adams, husband Darren Le Gallo, and daughter Aviana left their favorite restaurant in Santa Monica. They were the first to arrive at the distressing scene amid what was meant to be a pleasant family outing.

    “We heard people screaming, and saw a man staggering with onlookers shouting, ‘He’s dying!’” Adams recalled. Her husband quickly pointed out, “That’s blood!”

    Concerned for their daughter, Adams instructed her husband to stay with her while she and her father rushed over to help, discovering that the man had suffered a stab wound to the neck.

    She described the chaotic scene to hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, explaining how the man was bleeding profusely while his friends were in a state of panic.

    The “American Hustle” actress, 51, noted that “luckily” they were going to the beach and had towels with them.

    She shared that her father “applied pressure” with the towels as he’d been “on lots of scenes.”

    “And I’m sitting there somehow going, ‘You need to calm your pulse rate. Take a deep breath in,” she shared, adding that in the moment, she was “focused.”

    “I was like, ‘The more you struggle, the faster you’re going to bleed. Just lay down. Let’s elevate this,’” the “Enchanted” star said.

    In a bizarre turn of events, the “Junebug” actress said she ran into the stabbing victim a year later while dining out.

    “A guy walks up to me in the restaurant. He’s like, ‘I heard a story that you and your dad were on the scene of a guy getting stabbed,’” she recalled.

    She shared that she told him it was “so funny” he “heard that story.”

    “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s you.’ And it was him.”

    Calling the unexpected reunion “crazy,” Adams divulged that the man was “all teary” and that he “had his son with him” at the time.

    When asked if he told her the circumstances surrounding his stabbing, Adams said that “as far as [she] could make out,” he’d been having drinks with an old college pal before hitting a liquor store.

    “They were going back to someone’s house and he just freaked out,” she continued, while confessing that she didn’t “know kind of what the whole story” was.

    Adams isn’t the only celebrity to have been involved in a scary situation — Hayes himself shared that he’d once helped a man who’d been shot by turning his own shirt into a tourniquet to stem the bleeding before accompanying him to the hospital.

    “He lived and he was OK,” Hayes shared, noting that he’d been “topless” the entire time.

    Following “The Wire” actor James Ransone’s death in December, a woman came forward to share that he’d once saved her from a sexual assault by frightening the attacker.

    And in 2019, Danny Trejo rescued an infant trapped in an overturned car following an accident in Los Angeles.

    Tragic Incident: American Forces Network Employee Discovered Fatally Shot After California Base Vehicle Crash

    0

    A tragic incident occurred Tuesday when an American Forces Network staff member perished following a vehicular accident near a military site in California, having sustained a gunshot wound.

    The employee, who remains unidentified, was en route to work at the March Air Reserve Base, situated about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, around 8 a.m. when the incident unfolded, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. NBC LA reported that both individuals involved in the collision were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.

    The scene near March Air Reserve Base

    Authorities stated that the fatal gunshot wound was discovered after the vehicle crash near March Air Reserve Base, where an Armed Forces Network employee lost their life. (KTTV)

    “Subsequent investigation revealed the victim had sustained injuries indicative of a gunshot,” confirmed the sheriff’s department. “The Moreno Valley Investigation Bureau is spearheading the ongoing inquiry. As of now, further information remains unavailable.”

    Deputies were initially dispatched to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon, the news outlet reported. California Highway Patrol officers told deputies that both drivers were hospitalized in critical condition. Details about what led to the shooting were not disclosed.

    US AIR FORCE B-52 BOMBER CRASHES SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF AT EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE IN CALIFORNIA

    An F-15 flying beside a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker performing simulated refueling near March Air Reserve Base

    An F-15 flies beside a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker from March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif., as they perform a simulated refueling on April 21, 2023. The KC-135 entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1957 and is being replaced by the Boeing KC-46A. (Will Lester/MediaNews Group)

    The American Forces Network (AFN) is the official broadcast service of the U.S. Armed Forces.

    This government entity provides television, radio, and streaming content to deployed troops, Department of Defense civilians, and their families stationed overseas or aboard Navy vessels. The agency is headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, with its main broadcast center in Riverside.

    News Media has reached out to the military base, the American Forces Network, and the sheriff’s department.

    Tragic Lice Infestation Death: Lack of Medical Care Revealed in Young Girl’s Case

    0

    Pictured left and right: Matthew and Samantha Dylewski (Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office). Center: Joycelynn Dylewski (The New York State Senate). Background: Images of the Dylewski family’s apartment by Phoenix Property Maintenance (Facebook).

    In a tragic conclusion to a harrowing case, the parents of a three-year-old girl who died in their upstate New York apartment will now serve prison sentences.

    Matthew Dylewski, 34, and Samantha Dylewski, 33, have received maximum prison terms after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the death of their daughter, Joycelynn. The couple was apprehended following an incident on February 19, 2025, when emergency responders were summoned to their home in Corinth, New York. The parents reported their daughter was experiencing difficulty breathing, according to local ABC affiliate WTEN. For more details, visit News10’s report.

    Joycelynn was rushed to a hospital where, tragically, she was pronounced dead. Her death was later classified as a homicide.

    The investigation by the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office revealed hazardous living conditions in the Dylewski home, posing risks to Joycelynn and her four siblings. Local CBS affiliate WRGB interviewed Dan Shippee, the owner of the cleaning company that took over the daunting task of restoring the apartment after the tragedy and subsequent arrests. Shippee shared with WRGB, “I had no idea what I was getting into until about 45 minutes before I went over there.” For additional insights, read more on CBS6 Albany’s coverage and on their Facebook page.

    Shippee recounted to WRGB, “I’ve never really been in too many places where I had to shovel so much trash off the floor. There were dead flies and bugs all over that apartment.” He added that “people need to see to understand why that little girl died.”

    Local news outlet the Times-Union reported that Corinth Village Building Inspector Neil Hepner described the home as being “one of the worst” he had ever seen. The apartment was condemned the day the Dylewskis were arraigned in court. According to Saratoga County First Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Buckley, New York State Police investigators said their boots stuck to the floors of the apartment, which was overrun by lice and other insects. The sinks were clogged, and the walls, carpets, and floors were stained.

    According to the Times-Union, Joycelynn suffered from a lice infestation so severe that she became anemic. Samantha Dylewski said the little girl “fought her too much when she tried to apply treatment.” The little girl’s teeth were black and rotten, her hair matted, and she had clonidine, a blood pressure medication, in her system at the time of her death.

    Buckley told the court that while Samantha Dylewski initially blamed one of her children for giving Joycelynn the clonidine, investigators found text messages proving the Dylewskis discussed giving the medication to the little girl. Joycelynn did not have a heart condition and was never prescribed clonidine.

    Joycelynn was one of five children under 17 years old living in the house. She was the only child who had not received medical care, and she had not seen a doctor in the last 10 months of her life.

    Samantha Dylewski and Matthew Dylewski, who was sentenced on Monday, were both given the maximum sentence of 16 months to 4 years in prison. Both parents were ordered not to have any contact with their surviving four children until June 2038.

    Following Matthew Dylewski’s sentencing, New York State Sen. James Tedisco and Assemblyman Matt Simpson proposed Joycelynn’s Law, which would increase the maximum sentence for criminally negligent homicide to 20 years.

    Disappointing Draw: England Held to 0-0 Stalemate by Resolute Ghana

    0

    Well, that triumph was short-lived.

    Following the high spirits from England’s thrilling second-half display in their 4-2 victory over Croatia in Dallas last week, Thomas Tuchel’s squad seemed to hit a wall, echoing the bleak and chilly New England weather.

    Late in the game, Nico O’Reilly’s header clattered against the crossbar, but the match had already showcased an England side looking alarmingly lifeless. In contrast, Ghana grew more threatening as the contest stretched on, providing a couple of heart-stopping moments of their own.

    Gone was the fluidity and daring seen in Dallas. Instead, England delivered a tentative display, casting doubts on their ability to measure up against form teams like France and Spain, who are already showing the prowess needed to clinch the tournament.

    Although not as disheartening as the infamous 0-0 draw with Algeria in Cape Town in 2010, this showing was in the same vein, lacking ambition and boldness. Rumor has it the Scottish fans drank Boston dry during their visit, but looking at England’s effort, one might joke they drained the city of its passion and drive as well.

    England and Ghana now sit joint top of Group L and England face a nervous wait to see if they can get a big enough win over Panama in New York on Saturday to take them to the top of the group and ensure that they play their Round of 32 match in Atlanta, as most had expected them to. Suddenly, that seems far from certain. All the optimism from the win over Croatia has gone up in smoke.

    England were desperately flat as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Ghana in Boston on Tuesday

    England were desperately flat as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Ghana in Boston on Tuesday

    All the optimism around Thomas Tuchel's men after the win over Croatia has disappeared

    All the optimism around Thomas Tuchel’s men after the win over Croatia has disappeared

    Tuchel had treated the England side to a modest evolution after the win over Croatia that won so many plaudits from fans and analysts alike. They were both at the back, which made sense, given England’s vulnerability in that opening game in Dallas. Marc Guehi came in for John Stones. Djed Spence replaced Nico O’Reilly. Anthony Gordon was fortunate to keep his place ahead of Marcus Rashford.

    There had been speculation before the game about whether England’s players would shake hands with Ghana’s former Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with seven counts of rape by the Metropolitan Police. Spence appeared to withdraw his hand when he passed Partey. Partey denies the allegations.

    It was a slow start. Ghana sat off England. England tried to find a way through. Declan Rice whistled a free kick just over the crossbar from 25 yards, Noni Madueke and Reece James began to make inroads on the right and Gordon started to find space on the left. England stretched Ghana as much as they could.

    When the hydration break came, England did not need it for hydration because it had been raining most of the morning and it was cold enough for some fans to be wearing sweaters. But Tuchel, who had talked about the change the break makes to the rhythm of a match, used it enthusiastically anyway.

    He was animated on the touchline as England’s players gathered round him. He made a couple of points forcefully to Bellingham, who had been one of England’s better performers, and to Gordon. Once play resumed, Madueke became England’s main threat. His willingness to run at the Ghana defence again and again gave Tuchel’s team glimpses of openings.

    But the first signs of frustration crept into England’s play, too. Rice, who had desperately been trying to inject urgency and penetration into England’s play, was booked for a foul on Nicholas Opoku and even though the England midfielder was bitterly amused by the decision, the tackle was late and clumsy. The sanction was fair.

    Kane had half a chance in time added on at the end of the first half when Rice clipped a first time pass to him inside the area but Ghana smothered the England captain with attention. By the time Kane got a shot away, four Ghana players were surrounding him. One of them blocked it.

    A few seconds before the interval, Bellingham left his shoulder in on Opoku as the Ghana defender cleared the ball and the incident angered Ghana boss Carlos Queiroz. The bad feeling lingered. When the whistle blew for half-time, Bellingham and Queiroz appeared to exchange words and there was some finger-pointing and some barging. Things were heating up.

    Bellingham was earning his 50th cap and so, at 22 years and 359 days old, he had become the youngest player to reach this milestone for England’s men’s team. No one wanted him to mark it with a disciplinary issue.

    Harry Kane missed England's best chance, blazing over the bar late in the second half

    Harry Kane missed England’s best chance, blazing over the bar late in the second half

    Ghana started the second half confidently and five minutes into it, they created the best chance of the game so far. Marvin Senaya and Gordon watched a long crossfield pass from the Ghana left dropping towards them and Senaya muscled his way in front of the Barcelona winger. He took it on his chest and advanced on goal but his shot was smothered by an England challenge.

    Some concern crept in. Ghana had started to play well. England looked like a side that had run out of ideas. There were fewer signs of the verve and fluency that decorated their second half against Croatia, although, on cue, they produced a flowing move that ended with Madueke’s shot being headed away. It was England’s first shot on target. It had taken 57 minutes to muster it.

    Both teams had an escape of sorts midway through the half when Prince Adu chased down a through ball and Jordan Pickford raced out to try to clear it. Pickford has a history of reckless challenges and it looked as if he had made another when he and Adu collided just outside the box.

    Both men went down in a heap. Ghana appealed for a red card against the goalkeeper but replays showed that neither men had made contact with the ball and that, actually, Adu’s challenge on Pickford was worse than Pickford’s part of the equation. It was a glimpse of how quickly things can go wrong at World Cups.

    On the touchline, Tuchel cut a more and more frustrated figure, waving his arms and clutching his hands to his face in despair. He brought on Bukayo Saka for Gordon. Morgan Rogers, Eberechi Eze and Nico O’Reilly came on, too, but still England toiled.

    England had another escape 10 minutes from time when Adu burst free down the right and was clean in on Pickford. Ezri Konsa came across and appeared to foul him in the box but Adu was adjudged to have been offside. England were living on their nerves.

    They pressed for a winner in the dying minutes but it was not enough. And frankly, it would have been more than they deserved.

    Have you paid attention to the action so far? Try our World Cup quiz HERE 

    Texas Lawyer Allegedly Breaks into Home in Quest for ‘Spiritual Stick

    0

    Report by staff

    GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A legal practitioner from Collin, Texas, identified as 35-year-old Candice Shantell Patrick, found herself in custody following allegations of breaking into a residence in Gainesville. The incident unfolded while the homeowners were asleep. According to Patrick, her actions were driven by a desire to reclaim a “spiritual stick,” purportedly taken from her by one of the residents during a recent “Ancestral Spirits” gathering.

    Officers from the Gainesville Police Department swiftly responded to the call at approximately 5:12 a.m. on June 22. The confrontation took place at St. Croix Apartments, located at 829 SW 5th Avenue. The residents reported being abruptly awakened by the sound of someone persistently pounding on their back door using a stick.

    Following the initial disturbance, the intruder moved to the front of the apartment, where she proceeded to strike the windows with another stick she found nearby. Her actions resulted in one window shattering, which allowed her unauthorized entry into the apartment.

    Surveillance footage from a doorbell camera reportedly captured the suspect exiting through the front door, only to re-enter the apartment shortly afterward. Police officers apprehended Patrick inside the home moments later. The series of events, from her entrance to her return inside, was documented on the victim’s doorbell camera.

    The victims said they did not know Patrick, and they didn’t know why she was in their apartment. They said they never left their bedroom while Patrick was inside their residence, and they watched everything through the doorbell camera.

    Post Miranda, Patrick reportedly said she just wanted her “spiritual stick” back from the victims’ apartment. She said she knew one of the victims, and he had taken her “spiritual stick” from a recent “Ancestral Spirits” conference. She reportedly would not say how she knew her “spiritual stick” was in the victims’ apartment.

    Patrick has been charged with burglary of an occupied residence. She has no criminal history, and she told Court Services that she is an attorney in Texas who has been in Alachua County for about five days. Judge Meshon Rawls ordered her released on her own recognizance.

    Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

    Australia’s Unique Status: Potential Shift Toward Introducing a Human Rights Act

    0

    For a large part of the last hundred years, the Labor Party has pledged to bring to an end Australia’s unique position as the sole developed democracy without a national human rights act.

    Despite previous governments’ plans that were either abandoned or mishandled, this pivotal reform is once more under consideration.

    The latest call for change comes from a government-commissioned parliamentary committee report. Concurrently, Hobart MP Andrew Wilkie has taken the initiative by proposing a private member’s bill to bring this legislation into effect.

    While the Coalition stands firmly against the proposal, the Greens have expressed their willingness to back it, giving Labor the necessary numbers to potentially pass the law.

    Nonetheless, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s administration is treading carefully. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has emphasized for the past two years that the government is “carefully considering” this intricate policy area.

    History — and a hard-nosed read of the political environment — suggests Labor is unlikely to enact a human rights act, even as advocates contend the time is right.

    “We have royal commissions indicating what happens when human rights standards are not in federal law,” Daney Faddoul, campaign manager at the Human Rights Law Centre, told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency.

    He is referring to the 2018 aged care and 2019 disability probes, which found mass breaches of human rights and a need to legislate protections to prevent future abuse.

    Also the subject of a 2022 royal commission, the infamous Robodebt scandal is another product of a public service which doesn’t centre the rights of its citizens.

    “Our constitution has very few human rights protections in it,” Australian Human Rights Commission president Hugh de Kretser says.

    “It’s then left to parliament and the common law to protect people’s rights.

    “In every other comparable democracy that’s been done either through constitutional protection or through a human rights act.”

    Both the commission and law centre are part of a huge civil push for a federal act.

    More than 175 organisations, including peak bodies, religious groups, legal bodies, unions, disability advocates, service providers, and ethnic communities have signed up.

    At its heart, the reform is very simple: to codify into a single law the rights Australia has already agreed to protect in international treaties.

    It gets complicated in the nitty-gritty.

    Questions like what rights to include, how strictly they should be enforced and whether courts can strike down inconsistent laws.

    For that reason, most advocates — and the Albanese-ordered 2024 committee — recommends the ‘dialogue’ model in place in Victoria and New Zealand.

    Under this approach, public bodies (including departments, police, courts, and more) must enforce human rights standards, while the government retains the right to enact laws contradicting human rights, so long as it tells parliament when it does so.

    “The model we’re recommending is very closely aligned to the UK or New Zealand model, and that’s the model adopted in the ACT in 2004, Victoria 2006 and Queensland in 2019,” de Kretser says.

    “A simple act of parliament, so parliament can change it whenever it likes, that lists every one of the rights that people in Australia enjoy in the one place.”

    The question of how to embed human rights in law has been considered at a federal level for more than a century but most recently by Labor.

    It was first discussed prior to federation, when politicians opted against a fulsome suite of rights in the constitution, partly for racist reasons.

    Gough Whitlam’s government acceded Australia to two key international rights covenants and, through attorney-general Lionel Murphy, sought to put them in Australian law in 1973, with beefed-up powers.

    A backlash meant it never re-introduced the bills after the 1974 legislation and a decade later, Bob Hawke’s government similarly abandoned a fresh bid before a second effort was scotched in the Senate.

    READ MORE

    Under Kevin Rudd, the government ordered a nationwide consultation, which became Australia’s largest ever public inquiry.

    It recommended a human rights act but the government settled on watered-down changes, disappointing countless Australians who submitted in favour of an act, at a ratio of 7:1 over its detractors.

    AAP reported this week that inquiry chair Frank Brennan was left, mid-inquiry, without hope the reform would pass after a crunch meeting with NSW Right warlord Mark Arbib.

    It was not a secret that senior Labor MPs were divided on the issue, with some, like NSW premier Bob Carr openly campaigning against reform.

    While Carr changed his tune last year — telling Nine newspapers he was open to the proposal in NSW — some Labor MPs apparently hold similar concerns today.

    Fr Brennan said then, as now, Labor “had concerns that whatever might come across parliament’s plate, that without a human rights act they could act as they saw fit”.

    “With a human rights act, there’d be restrictions, and why would you voluntarily impose these restrictions on the parliament?” he told AAP.

    In particular, he and others have cite the challenge of asylum seekers, while the intersection of hate speech laws and freedom to expression brings another legal clash to solve.

    “There’s no way they’d want a human rights act standing in the way,” Brennan says.

    For their part, shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash says the coalition is firmly opposed.

    “It is unnecessary, divisive and dangerous and should not be adopted,” she says.

    The Greens are pledging to pass reform, with Senator David Shoebridge, the party’s justice spokesman, telling AAP they have been “ready for years”.

    “There has never been a better moment to legislate a human rights act,” he says.

    “The Robodebt scandal, indefinite immigration detention, the floundering NACC all mean Australians have seen what happens where there is no meaningful check on government power and know it’s time to put one in place.”

    A spokesman for Rowland says the government is “committed to protecting and promoting human rights” but the reform, as outlined by the 2024 parliamentary committee, is complex.

    READ MORE

    “As the committee’s recommendations have links to work across government, thorough consideration is required to ensure a holistic approach to ensuring the rights and freedoms of all Australians are respected and protected,” he says.

    As many a political analyst also notes, the Albanese government has shown it is wary of attempting too many contentious reforms at once, especially in the shadow of the failed Voice referendum.

    Albanese has suggested that one lesson of the referendum is that big reforms need bipartisan support, which a human rights act would not have.

    Labor is also resetting its political equilibrium to account for the growing popularity of One Nation.

    In that context, while the offer of stronger protections to freedom of speech and religion may appeal, the notion it would deny itself potential tools to combat national security threats could leave Labor open to accusations it is soft on security.

    Still, Faddoul remains hopeful.

    “There are a number of issues where the federal government has clearly ruled out that they’re going to move on,” he says.

    “This is one where they continue to be saying that they’re considering it … if this was something which they thought was was problematic, why haven’t they said no?”


    For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.