eSafety worried Roblox was ‘playground for pedophiles’ before age-check change
Josh Taylor
The eSafety commissioner said she was concerned gaming platform Roblox was “becoming a playground for pedophiles” before the company announced new age assurance measures to prevent kids and teens from chatting to random adults on the service.
As Guardian Australia reported, from next month in Australia, users who want to use the chat function in Roblox will need to go through facial age estimation that will group them into age groups that they will be able to speak to.
Julie Inman Grant told ABC Radio Melbourne that the change came about after she had negotiated with the company over concerns raised in recent months, rather than the possibility of Roblox being included in the under-16s social media ban.
She said:
We’d been watching Roblox for a long time and had been concerned about some of their safety features and it becoming a playground for pedophiles. So we reached out to them around a formal warning and then it turned into a negotiation which they have to comply with by the end of December.
Key events
Price says Hollie Hughes ‘clearly bitter’ after ex-senator quits party
A war of words has erupted between current and former Liberal members after an ex-senator quit the party in disgust at the behaviour of some MPs, AAP reports.
Hollie Hughes, who lost her Senate seat at the last federal election, resigned from the Liberals on Tuesday, accusing some of her former colleagues of undermining opposition leader Sussan Ley.
“There are some people who are completely inept, who are lazy, who are not across the details,” she told 2GB radio. “It is an absolute rabble.”
Hughes also accused the conservative faction of using women to do the undermining, singling out Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson.
(They) are being used, quite frankly, by the boys who want to challenge but don’t have the gumption to go out and say anything themselves.
Price fired back at the remarks, also on 2GB:
It’s pretty disappointing to hear that sort of commentary from a woman … it’s just a ridiculous notion.
She’s clearly bitter, and that’s her issue to deal with herself.
The former shadow minister was dumped from her senate spot in the lead-up to the 2025 election in a factional deal which she says was orchestrated by potential leadership contender Angus Taylor. Hughes rejected suggestions her comments were a reaction to losing her senate spot.
Patrick Commins
ANZ boss issues ‘unreserved apology’ for failing vulnerable customers
The chief executive of ANZ, Nuno Matos, has offered an “unreserved apology” for what he called “serious and unacceptable” failures by the bank, which included ignoring hundreds of hardship applications and not refunding fees charged to thousands of dead customers.
Speaking at a parliamentary committee hearing this morning, Matos, who was appointed to the top job six months ago, said the bank “must put those we serve at the centre of everything we do”, as he admitted that ANZ “has not always lived up to these expectations”.
The failings of non-financial risk management that led to regulatory actions were serious and unacceptable. Some of them occurred when our customers were at their most vulnerable, facing hardship, bereavement, or relying on us to act with integrity.
The bank fell short of what is expected of us and for that, I offer an unreserved apology.
In September, ANZ was fined $240m by Asic after the bank admitted to lying about bond trading data in its dealings with the federal government, alongside widespread misconduct in its retail division that affected tens of thousands of customers.
Earlier this month, ANZ revealed it had stripped $32m in bonuses from current and former executives, including the former CEO, Shayne Elliot.
Josh Taylor
Roblox had seen ‘writing on the wall’, Inman Grant adds
Inman Grant said Roblox had seen “the writing on the wall” of having children commingled in the one app with adults.
This negotiation was specific to Roblox and based on the common grooming scenarios that our investigators had seen where offenders tend to use Roblox to connect with children and young people before they potentially move them to another platform where they will continue to groom them.
They might also instruct a child or their avatar to perform sexual acts in games on the platform. And then we’re also seeing children are being coerced into sending explicit images in exchange for gifts like sneakers or Robux, which is the digital currency on the platform.
Read more about reporter Sarah Martin’s week on Roblox here:
eSafety worried Roblox was ‘playground for pedophiles’ before age-check change
Josh Taylor
The eSafety commissioner said she was concerned gaming platform Roblox was “becoming a playground for pedophiles” before the company announced new age assurance measures to prevent kids and teens from chatting to random adults on the service.
As Guardian Australia reported, from next month in Australia, users who want to use the chat function in Roblox will need to go through facial age estimation that will group them into age groups that they will be able to speak to.
Julie Inman Grant told ABC Radio Melbourne that the change came about after she had negotiated with the company over concerns raised in recent months, rather than the possibility of Roblox being included in the under-16s social media ban.
She said:
We’d been watching Roblox for a long time and had been concerned about some of their safety features and it becoming a playground for pedophiles. So we reached out to them around a formal warning and then it turned into a negotiation which they have to comply with by the end of December.
Shark warning for small Australian town after lobster diver ‘bumped’ by large animal
The Western Australia government issued a shark warning to the small town of Gnarabup after a diver reported being bumped by a large white shark while diving for rock lobster on Tuesday.
The WA government’s SharkSmark program issued the warning for the area around Gnarabup and Prevelly after the diver said they encountered the shark just after 4.30pm. The animal, thought to be a 2.5m white shark, “bumped” the diver, who did not sustain any injuries.
SharkSmart said yesterday:
Take additional caution in the Gnarabup Boat Ramp area.
Adhere to beach closures advised by Local Government Rangers, Parks and Wildlife Service officers or Surf Life Saving WA.
DPIRD (Fisheries) advise that a shark warning has been issued for Gnarabup Boat Ramp near Prevelly following a reported shark interaction. See more: https://t.co/zarpbmZYC4
— Surf Life Saving WA (@SLSWA) November 18, 2025
NSW to get 159 new EV chargers in regional hotspots
NSW’s third round of grants boosting EV charging infrastructure will result in 159 new chargers being deployed in 48 regional hotspots, with drivers encouraged to check out towns and inject money into local economies before they hit the road, AAP reports.
The chargers will be high-powered at between 22kW and 100kW, which can fully charge a standard EV SUV in about an hour.
Exact locations are yet to be finalised but government officials said they would be installed at “iconic road trip routes” and at “key tourism destinations”, including at rest stops, visitor centres and holiday hotspots.
Of NSW’s local government areas, Shoalhaven will receive the most charging ports at 19, Kempsey will get 11 and Lismore will get nine.
Gardener charged with manslaughter after Sydney woman dies
A man was charged with manslaughter after the death of an 86-year-old woman in the inner-Sydney suburb of Glebe, following an alleged assault at her property last month.
NSW police said the man, 53, was employed as the woman’s gardener. Officers allege the man entered her home in Glebe on 31 October before assaulting her and then leaving the premises.
The woman was taken the hospital in a serious condition later that day and the man was subsequently arrested and charged with reckless grievous bodily harm and staking or intimidating to intending fear or physical harm.
Police said they were later informed the woman died on 6 November in hospital. The man was formally charged with an additional count of manslaughter on Tuesday.
He will reappear in court in January.
Cait Kelly
Victoria only state on track to meet national housing targets, report finds
A new joint report from the Summer Foundation and YIMBY Melbourne reveals that Victoria is the only state on track to meet its national housing targets while also adopting the Livable Housing Design Standard (LHDS) – a national accessibility benchmark that NSW and WA have refused to commit to.
The national housing accord aims to have Australia build 1.2m new homes from mid-2025 to mid-2029. Victoria is forecast to deliver 98% of its target of 306,000 dwellings by 2029 – the only state on track to come close to its target.
NSW, for comparison, is forecast to achieve only 65% of its target of 376,000 homes.
Joel Dignam, lead campaigner at the Summer Foundation, said:
Victoria’s success shows that when you get the settings right, accessibility and affordability can go hand-in-hand.
Delaying liveable housing standards in the name of supply is a Trojan horse for perpetuating housing discrimination. Every new home should be one that everyone can live in.
NSW is reforming its planning system — that’s promising. But it must stop using accessibility as a scapegoat and commit to the LHDS.
Caitlin Cassidy
SA’s education minister urges federal government to launch national inquiry into asbestos bungle
South Australia’s education minister will write to the federal government on Wednesday calling for an urgent national inquiry into how coloured sand products which have been contaminated with asbestos were allowed into the country.
It follows the closure of a string of schools in the ACT and Tasmania that were confirmed to have used the products, and recalls from major retailers including Target, Kmart, Woolworths and Officeworks.
A ban and import prohibition for asbestos in Australia has been in place since 2003. On Tuesday, border officials confirmed the coloured sand products were not required to undergo any testing for the hazardous material before they were imported.
The minister for education, Blair Boyer, said the recall had led to costly specialist removal and cleaning in thousands of buildings nationwide. No public schools have closed in South Australia over the asbestos concerns however two Catholic special schools were shut for cleaning.
How on earth does this happen in this day and age? It is completely unacceptable. There needs to be an urgent inquiry so we can understand how these products were allowed to be imported into Australia.
This has affected thousands of schools right across the country, let alone the countless families who may have the product in their homes. While the risk to children this time has been low, we need to make sure there are stringent regulations in place to ensure this never happens again.
Krishani Dhanji
‘This is a government that believes in science’: says industry minister on CSIRO job cuts
The government says the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will go through a “process” in the coming weeks and months to ensure “all of its effort is directed towards the research priorities of the CSIRO”, in response to questions on the organisation’s announcement it will cut more than 300 jobs.
The industry minister, along with the PM, addressed the media in WA on Tuesday evening. The CSIRO announced that 300 to 350 roles are expected to be cut, in addition to job losses earlier this year and in 2024.
Minister Tim Ayres said he would support the CSIRO during this “difficult time” for the organisation.
This is a government that believes in science. We believe in investing in science. We will continue to invest in science …
I’ve watched the management and leadership of the CSIRO working through these issues with their staff. There’s still more work to do, but they have come forward with that announcement. It is obviously a difficult time for the organisation, but with prioritisation from a government that believes in our national science institution and its capacity to serve the national interest, that is a necessary process, and I support them working their way through those questions.
Jonathan Barrett
Australia’s ‘right to disconnect’ laws helping to reduce unpaid overtime
Workers are quietly exercising their right to disconnect, according to workplace experts, despite rarely lodging claims against overbearing managers.
Last financial year, the Fair Work Commission received just seven applications under the right to disconnect provisions, designed to protect workers who refuse to respond to their employer after hours.
While the small number of applications has raised questions over the reform’s effectiveness, Trent Hancock, principal at Jewell Hancock employment lawyers, says the laws are being used by employees “more as a shield than a sword”.
You’ll have employees not responding to that out of hours communication. The employer recognises that if they then issue a direction to do so, they’ll find themselves on the receiving end of an application to the commission.
The disconnect laws came into effect for all “national system employees” in August last year. Small businesses were brought under the reforms in August this year.
Fiona Macdonald, from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, says the protections have helped reduce unpaid overtime in workplaces.
Its biggest effect was always going to be about shifting the culture.
The institute’s annual “go home on time day” report found that while full-time employees have been exercising their right to disconnect, part-timers and casuals are doing more unpaid overtime.
NSW to ban Nazi chants and expand police powers after Sydney rally
People in NSW who chant Nazi slogans could be imprisoned as part of a bid to punish and unmask far-right extremists, AAP reports.
New legislation will be introduced by the NSW government on Wednesday after 60 black-clad neo-Nazis yelled Hitler youth chants at state parliament on 8 November.
Though Nazi symbols are already banned in many jurisdictions, the bill will expand the ban to behaviour that shows support for Nazi ideology through imagery or characteristics associated with the ideology.
Anyone who repeats Nazi chants will face up to a year in prison or a maximum fine of $11,000 – a punishment that could be doubled for those who do so near a synagogue, Jewish school or the Sydney Jewish Museum. Attorney general Michael Daley said:
Nobody should be subject to this vile hatred because of their background or faith. We are giving police and the courts additional powers to hold Nazi extremists to account for their abhorrent views.
Police will be able to order perpetrators to take down suspected Nazi symbols and those who refuse could be hit with a $2,200 fine or three months’ prison.
Sussan Ley dodges questions about how much net zero by 2050 would cost
Sussan Ley, the opposition leader, refused to say how much it would cost to transition the economy to net zero emissions by 2050.
Ley just had a heated back and forth on RN Breakfast, where she repeatedly declined to say if the Coalition knew how much the transition would cost:
Labor doesn’t have a figure, we have a plan. And the point is that if you look at our plan, it injects more supply into the system, which pushes costs [down] if we’re arguing about cost …
I just know that the cost is blowing out under Labor, which is why the cost of your power bill is going up. Sally, have you asked the PM what the cost is? Have you got a straight answer from him? The government is in charge of all of these levers for energy policy right now. What we’re saying is: if we are fortunate enough to be elected, this is what we would do.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, and other Coalition MPs have regularly bandied about a $9tn figure for that transition. That claim is false, with the group behind that number saying it had been misrepresented. Academics actually found the additional cost of building an energy system to reach net zero by 2050 was closer to $300bn.
My colleague Adam Morton has more on those figures here:
