Tony Mokbel clears final legal hurdle
One of Australia’s most notorious crime figures has had his final drug conviction charge withdrawn after a lengthy court battle, AAP reports.
Tony Mokbel, 60, will walk from Melbourne’s supreme court on Friday a free man after a lengthy battle to overturn his drug convictions in the aftermath of the Lawyer X scandal.
He won his appeal last year, with judges ordering he face a re-trial over alleged offending in 2005, dubbed the Orbital charge and relating to alleged MDMA trafficking.
Mokbel argued his drug convictions were tainted as he was represented by barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X.
A judicial registrar urged prosecutors to progress their case at a directions hearing in December, and decide whether to order a re-trial for the charge or dismiss it all together.
On Friday, prosecutor David Glynn announced the case against him would be discontinued.
Mokbel is expected to walk out of court to awaiting media shortly.
Key events
Josh Taylor
Nearly half of Roblox users go through age checks
Gaming platform Roblox says over 45% of its 144m global daily active users have completed an age check on the platform, with 60% of users in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands going through the checks since the platform began implementing age assurance late last year.
The shift to age checks came after a Guardian Australia investigation documented a week of virtual sexual harassment and violence on Roblox experienced by a user with a profile set up as an eight-year-old.
The checks launched in Australia, NZ and the Netherlands in December, and globally in January. Once an age check is done, users are be assigned to one of six age groups – under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20 or 21+.
Those who do not go through age checks can still use the platform, but cannot use features such as chat.
Roblox said on Friday its age checks revealed the ages of its user base to be:
Under 13: 35%
Ages 13-17: 38%
Ages 18+: 27%
Jonathan Barrett
News Corp offsets advertising hit with higher prices
News Corp’s global stable of mastheads have suffered a hit to their advertising, with revenue falling $US13m during the last financial quarter, according to earnings released in the US.
The division, which includes the Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun as well as mastheads in the US and UK, was able to partially offset the weak global advertising conditions by raising subscription and cover prices.
The overall business, however, was once again lifted higher by the strong performance of REA Group, the owner of realestate.com.au.
The Murdoch family-controlled company has a majority stake in REA, which has benefited from continued strength in Australian property listings, and the ability of the portal to charge premium prices due to its market dominance.
News Corp reported US$2.36bn in overall revenue during the December quarter, up 6% from a year earlier, with strong contributions from the digital real estate portal, book publishing units and Dow Jones information unit.
Its Australian chief executive, Robert Thomson, released an upbeat assessment of the potential for more revenue deals with artificial intelligence firms.
He said:
What is the point of acquiring cutting-edge semiconductors if they are being deployed to repurpose gormless, factless, feckless content sets?
We do believe an increasing number of insightful companies understand this content contradiction and will indeed pay a premium for our premium content.
News Corp reported an increase in digital subscriptions for its Australian mastheads, rising from 979,000 to 999,000 over the past year, according to internal figures.
Tony Mokbel clears final legal hurdle
One of Australia’s most notorious crime figures has had his final drug conviction charge withdrawn after a lengthy court battle, AAP reports.
Tony Mokbel, 60, will walk from Melbourne’s supreme court on Friday a free man after a lengthy battle to overturn his drug convictions in the aftermath of the Lawyer X scandal.
He won his appeal last year, with judges ordering he face a re-trial over alleged offending in 2005, dubbed the Orbital charge and relating to alleged MDMA trafficking.
Mokbel argued his drug convictions were tainted as he was represented by barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X.
A judicial registrar urged prosecutors to progress their case at a directions hearing in December, and decide whether to order a re-trial for the charge or dismiss it all together.
On Friday, prosecutor David Glynn announced the case against him would be discontinued.
Mokbel is expected to walk out of court to awaiting media shortly.
Rideshare driver in court over allegations of sexual assaulting passenger
A rideshare driver will face court after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman during a short early morning trip, AAP reports.
Police said the woman got into the rideshare vehicle in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Collingwood about 5am on 25 January.
The driver, a 44-year-old man, allegedly sexually assaulted her before dropping her at South Yarra, a short distance away. The woman, who has not been identified, reported the matter at a police station.
Detectives arrested the driver on Thursday and charged him with one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault.
Queensland man charged over alleged threats to federal parliamentarians
A Queensland man has been charged with allegedly threatening multiple federal parliamentarians on social media.
The Australian federal police (AFP) said the man, 39, allegedly posted the threatening messages on the social media site X in December. Officers executed a search warrant at a unit in Woodridge that month, seizing swords, axes and electronic files.
Police will allege in court they found records of the threats on social media on the man’s mobile phone and desktop computer.
He has been charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offense, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
He was granted conditional bail and will appear in court later today.
49ers will face Rams in historic NFL showdown in Melbourne
The first ever regular-season NFL clash to be held in Australia is on its way to the Melbourne Cricket Ground this year, and will feature a historic clash between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, AAP reports.
The NFL announced on Thursday the MCG would host one of nine international games in 2026 across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums, with Melbourne joining London (three games), Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Madrid and Paris as hosts.
The NFL said the match, the date and time of which has yet to be announced, would be staged in partnership with the Victorian state government and Visit Victoria.
It was already known that the two-time Super Bowl winners, the Rams, would be the home team for the Melbourne clash, but the 49ers are also another storied franchise with five world championship triumphs to their name.
Andrew Messenger
Adani donated $600,000 to Liberal National party before 2024 state election using federal ‘loophole’
Adani donated more than $600,000 to the Liberal National party of Queensland before the 2024 state election, making it the party’s largest single federal donor.
But the donations were not disclosed for a year, with the Greens blaming a loophole in federal electoral funding laws that allowed it to not disclose it in real time.
Queensland law requires “real time disclosure” for state-level donations, typically within seven days, but as little as 24 hours for donations made in the week before election day.
The donations were disclosed through the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday 2 February 2026 – but not through the state-level disclosure system. They represent four of the top five largest donations to the party reported in the 2024-25 federal disclosures, behind only a $200,000 donation by the Morris Family Trust.
Greens state MP Michael Berkman said the party had “exploit[ed] a gaping loophole in our donation laws”.
Read more here:
NSW man charged after Nazi symbols allegedly displayed on bin
A NSW man has been charged after allegedly displaying Nazi symbols in the state’s Hunter region.
NSW police began an investigation on 31 January, following reports Nazi symbols were allegedly displayed on a council issued bin in Cessnock.
Following inquiries, a 44-year-old man was issued a notice to appear at court, for the charge of knowingly displaying by public act a Nazi symbol without excuse.
He is due to face Cessnock local court on 19 March.
Minister says everyone needs to be ‘vigilant’ about social cohesion after alleged bombing attempt in Perth
Malarndirri McCarthy, the minister for Indigenous Australians, said First Nations people have felt “very scared”, “angry” and a “bit confused” after an alleged attempted bombing at an Invasion Day protest in Perth.
Police charged a 31-year-old man with terrorism on Thursday over the alleged attempted bombing, accusing the man of accessing “pro-white” material online and claiming the actions were motivated by “hate and racism”.
McCarthy spoke to RN Breakfast, saying the whole country had work to do when it came to social cohesion, adding the episode could have received “far more attention” from the media and political leaders from other parties. She said:
Each and every one of us need to be vigilant about what we can do. … Every single one of us needs to be vigilant and also report what needs to be reported to authorities.
We are very conscious of the different views in Australia, but that’s what makes Australia a beautiful place. We can have different views, but we should show them respectfully and have those debates respectfully.
RBA governor to face questions from MPs after latest cash rate rise
The Reserve Bank governor will face renewed questioning over the role the federal government played in driving up inflation and forcing the central bank to lift mortgage rates for the first time in more than two years, AAP reports.
Michele Bullock, her deputy, Andrew Hauser, and other senior central bank officials will report to Parliament House in Canberra on Friday for their regular grilling by a committee of Labor, Liberal and crossbench MPs.
Since the Reserve Bank lifted the benchmark borrowing rate to 3.85% on Tuesday, opposition MPs have bombarded the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, with accusations rising government spending is at fault for the resurgence in inflation.
Health minister says surge in ebikes a ‘real emergency’
The health minister, Mark Butler, says the spate of dangerous ebike riding is a “real emergency” after a group of riders swarmed the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic.
NSW police are investigating after about 40 people travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited, before turning around and riding through the Sydney CBD. No arrests or charges have been laid by police.
Butler spoke to Channel Seven’s Sunrise program this morning, saying:
This is a real emergency … This has got to be the subject of strong action by all governments. It’s one of those problems that really sort of creeped up during Covid and has just exploded.
People are talking to me about it all the time, it’s driving them absolutely to distraction.
He said having different laws in different states surrounding ebikes was a “real menace”, saying it was time to get “sensible” about this stuff.
Albanese set to sign ‘watershed’ security treaty with Indonesia during visit to Jakarta
Anthony Albanese has flown to Jakarta where he will meet with the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, to sign a “watershed” security treaty, AAP reports.
The details of the Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security, announced last November, have remained largely hidden. Penny Wong is joining Albanese and will meet with her Indonesian counterpart, Sugiono, during the visit.
Albanese’s trip will be his fifth as prime minister, and second since his re-election in 2025, opting to make Indonesia the first country he visited after retaining office.
“This treaty is a proud moment in the shared history of Australia and Indonesia,” the prime minister told parliament before his departure on Thursday.
It will ensure that we work together to shape a better future, securing our shared place in the world, so that we can secure the best outcome for those we serve here at home.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Gatra Priyandita said the agreement could be seen as a positive step in the context of the broader bilateral relationship.
Good morning
Good morning, and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to take you through the day’s news.
Australia will soon sign a “watershed” security pact with Indonesia, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in Jakarta to meet with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto. Indonesia has long upheld a foreign policy of non-alignment to avoid being entangled in conflicts.
The Reserve Bank governor, Michelle Bullock, and her deputy will report to Parliament House today for their regular grilling from MPs. Bullock will face renewed questions over the role the federal government plays in inflation. The cash rate currently sits at 3.85% after a hike of .25 basis points.
A man was charged after allegedly displaying Nazi symbols in the Hunter region of NSW. Police officials said they began an investigation last month after reports the symbols were allegedly displayed on a council-issued bin in the area.
We’ll bring you developments throughout the day. Stick with us.