Australia will for the first time move to outlaw a far-right extremist group, A Current Affair can exclusively reveal, potentially paving the way for other neo-Nazi outfits to be subject to the same bans.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton confirmed he had received a recommendation from spy agency ASIO to formally proscribe the Sonnenkrieg Division a "terrorist organisation".
The ban – made last week in response to a proposed new Media Bargaining law – meant Australian users could no longer view or share local articles, while international Facebook users were also restricted from seeing Australian news.
Lifting the ban means local news publications and sites – including news.com.au – will be back on Facebook, with content once again allowed to be shared in coming days.
“Australian news will be restored to the Facebook platform, and Facebook has committed to entering into good faith negotiations with Australian news media businesses and seeking to reach agreements to pay for content,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters.
Mr Frydenberg thanked Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg “for the constructive nature of the discussions we have had over the course of recent days”.
“It has been a difficult process, but these are really important issues. These are important issues because the purpose of the code and the purpose of the Morrison Government’s intentions have been designed to sustain public interest journalism in this country,” he said.
“That is why we have sought to put this code in place, that is why the now-Prime Minister, then the Treasurer, commissioned the ACCC to undertake this groundbreaking review a number of years ago.”
A warrant for attempted murder has been issued for the arrest of Matthew Donaldson, 41, who police believe may be in the Blue Mountains area and may be armed with a firearm.
He is described as being of Caucasian appearance, approximately 182 centimetres tall and of a solid build with light brown hair.
Mr Donaldson allegedly posted two photos from inside a hotel room on Facebook on Tuesday night with the caption “Game Over”.
Asked on the 9.17pm post what game he was playing, he replied: “life or death, I lost.”
Emergency services were called to the five-star Primus Hotel on Pitt Street following reports a woman had been hurt about 11pm.
Facebook will restore news content to its platform in Australia after the government agreed to amend its proposed News Media Bargaining Code. In an update posted today, Facebook’s William Easton, managing director of Australia and New Zealand, said that the company is “satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns.” News content will return to the platform “in the coming days,” Easton said.
Facebook and Google have been at loggerheads with the Australian government about an upcoming law that will require them to pay publishers for content shared on their platforms. In response to the proposed bargaining code, Facebook took the extreme measure last week of blocking news from being shared on its platform by Australian users and publishers.
