Australia news live: man charged over synagogue fire; Melissa McIntosh says ‘something should have been done before now’ on childcare abuse allegations

<p>A 34-year old man has been charged after a suspicious fire at a synagogue in East Melbourne on Friday night. Follow today’s news live</p><p><strong>Shadow minister for communication and women, Melissa McIntosh</strong> said “something should have been done before now” to stop alleged abuses against babies and children in childcare centres.</p><p>On ABC Insiders, McIntosh said the government has taken too long to act, but acknowledged “review after review” have shown holes in the system that should have been addressed.</p><p>We had review after review, [and] a royal commission. We could go back in time to say that of course, successive governments should have done more.<em><strong> </strong></em>Right now, we’ve had a serious case of abuse of young children including babies, and the Government, the Albanese Government, has said itself that it has been too slow to act.</p><p>Why have we seen multiple accounts of child sex abuse take place before the government - [we’ve seen] politicians cry on television...<em> <strong>We had reviews and parents calling for change, we had advocates calling for change. Something should have been done before now.”</strong></em></p><p>We want to acknowledge the period of protected industrial action took its toll on rail passengers but today we also look forward with optimism to a train system that will benefit from the entire workforce and management pulling in the same direction and the introduction of new technology to improve reliability and recovery times when disruption occurs.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jul/06/australia-news-live-victoria-police-charge-nsw-man-over-synagogue-fire-minns-government-confirm-fare-free-travel-days-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>