Australia news live: Penny Wong confirms all PNG hostages released; Olivia Newton-John remembered in Melbourne

Key events

Professor Matthias Ernst, from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre takes the stage next, who paid tribute to the star’s dedication to the centre:

During Olivia’s many visits to Melbourne she generously donated her time and personally shared her passion with many of my colleagues working at the laboratory bench.

When talking to our students, it was Olivia’s warmth and her easygoing personality, her authenticity that reinforced their conviction to dedicate their careers to one of the most destructive health challenges of our time.

Goldsmith wraps up her tribute by remembering how bad Newton-John was at directions, recalling a memory where she got lost on the way to Las Vegas:

My niece Fiona said, “Olivia would meet each one of us where we were and that piece of us that was like her. We had poetry, health and healing, yoga, and positivity, and calls mostly at 5am Melbourne time from wherever she was.

Her nephew Brett Road, said “She brought my first instrument and took me on the road. Later she trusted me enough to sing my songs. As a photographer she commissioned me to do portraits of her when she could have had any photographer in the world but she wanted me.”

I had pretty much a sisterly kind of relationship with her but she also held a maternal role for me. We shed a passion for the wellness centre, and, John, a sense of terrible direction. We got lost and pulled over by the police when she was at the wheel and guess who did not speeding fine.

But something that we all share and will always treasure, whatever our dreams were, Liv was our greatest fan. Liv, thank you, thank you for being an amazing unifying family member. Thank you for your love, your sunshine and your deep wisdom. Thank you for your love, for teaching us wide humility, strength and dignity are all about. We miss you, terribly, but we each carry with us in our own special thank you.

Newton-John’s niece, Tottie Goldsmith is next up, beginning by saying that her family was very important to Newton-John:

Family was extremely important to Olivia and she shared a unique and special connection with each one us. Toby, Olivia’s brother described as the convener. She brought us together and kept disconnected despite us being so spread out but as kids I also remember her cheeky sense of humour, doing wicked impersonations of our very English father. Her younger sister’s Sarah, watching from Spain, said Olivia was a true romantic, life meant love to her.

She was unpretentious and down-to-earth and a magical being.

Some initial reactions to the memorial:

Lattanzzi gives a short but moving tribute, greeted by a standing ovation, where she recalls the small details of her loving relationship with her late mother:

We loved watching our trashy TV shows together and immediately changed the channel when John walked in the room. We pretended we were watching educational shows about plant medicine.

My favourite thing to do was watch her watching the birds and the flowers, smelling her roses and the joy it brought to her face was a thing of beauty. I loved making her tea and then making it five times again until I got it right. I loved our snugless. I would crawl into bed with her late at night everyone if I was 20 years old. I loved the way she smelled.

I love how she loved fully and completely. I know that she would want me to tell each and every one of you how grateful she was for each individual special relationship. She cherished her friends and her family and she was so grateful to her fans and she loved you all so dearly. She would want us all to laugh and reminisce together in joy and celebrate her life. This life experience is temporary and my mother is the perfect example of a life truly lived.

Next up, daughter Chloe Lattanzzi begins her tribute by thanking all the attendees, and saying her heart is broken “in two.”

I know she’s holding it for me. Until we meet again. I stand here before you so desperately wanting to feel strong and confident and speak eloquently but the truth is, I feel like a little girl lost without her mother. She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan and the earth beneath my feet.

“We decided we’d feel gratitude and just let the happiness run at full throttle”

Easterling wraps up his emotional tribute, recalling some of the conversations in the lead up to their engagement:

We’d each had some hard times in our life before, like everyone has.

And we were just talking about how lucky we were, to have found each other, and how in love we were and how much happiness we were experiencing.

In an order of magnitude where we thought maybe we should feel guilty because we were so happy, but we decided we’d feel gratitude and just let the happiness run at full throttle.

Olivia Newton-John’s husband, John Easterling, speaks at her memorial service

Back to Olivia Newton-John’s memorial service, where her husband, John Easterling, is delivering a tribute to his late wife, retelling the story of how she asked him to marry him.

He recalled finding similar interests in their early conversations in their shared passion for rainforest ecology, natural medicines, plants and animals, including a story of how Newton-John saved a kitten in a forest.

He said he was not an initial fan, but was won over by Newton-John’s energy and her “healing”

You have to understand I wasn’t an Olivia fan, I didn’t know any Olivia music, I’d never even seen Grease.

At this small theatre in Miami, she started singing Pearls on a Chain, and there was this healing moving through the audience. “It hit me like a laser beam in the chest, that Olivia was a healer, and this was one of her mediums of healing.

He recalled another story where, in a rainforest on a trip to Peru, she sang the same song as she joined traditional owners in a ceremony:

By the time the sun was setting that day across the lagoon … we were asking each other ‘what is the main thing you want to accomplish in this life?’

And we made a commitment to help each other accomplish and achieve our dreams.

Penny Wong announces release of hostages in PNG

And in breaking news, Senator Penny Wong has announced via Twitter that the hostages held by an armed group in the country’s highlands have been released.

Wong thanked the PNG government for its “leadership in securing a safe & peaceful resolution.”

An Australian professor and two local researchers were the last of the hostages being held by the group, with the kidnappers initially demanding payment from the PNG and Australian governments.

We will bring you more on this as it comes.

The choir at Christchurch Grammar School (which Newton-John attended) perform the Australian national anthem.

Guests welcomed before first song

A touching Welcome to Country follows Campbell’s introduction, delivered by Auntie Di Kerr, who also spoke of Newton-John’s generosity of spirit.

Campbell returns to the stage to welcome the many distinguished guests including former PM John Howard, current Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, Labor MP Andrew Giles (filling in for the PM) and the ambassador from the United States, Caroline Kennedy.

Host David Campbell during the state memorial service for Olivia Newton-John at Hamer Hall in Melbourne. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

He then welcomes the first musical act of the service, Bump, singing Newton-John’s song, Grace and Gratitude.

Olivia Newton-John memorial service starts

And we are about to head over to the state memorial service for Olivia Newton-John, with David Campbell beginning proceedings by calling Newton-John an “entertainer, cultural icon, philanthropist.”

Voice won’t impact most Australians, PM says

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says for most Australians, the proposed voice to parliament “won’t have an impact on their life” - but that it would be of major benefit to Indigenous people.

Albanese also took a shot at banks that raised the interest rates for borrowers but were slower to pass those increases on to savings accounts.

The PM gave an interview to Channel 7’s Flashpoint program, which aired today. Asked about the voice, Albanese said it wouldn’t have a major impact on most people.

“I think for people, they will say to themselves that it won’t have an impact on their life, and for most Australians it won’t. It just might make the life of some of the most disadvantaged people in Australia that much better,” he said.

Asked about details of the voice, for people who may not understand the model, Albanese again directed interested parties to “a 270 page document done by Tom Calma and Marcia Langton. That detail is out here there for all to see”.

“There’s plenty of detail out there. And if people want to just Google the Uluru Statement from the Heart they will see that,” he said.

The PM said he had confidence in Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe, but had sterner words for banks that didn’t pass on interest rate rises to savings accounts in a timely manner.

“The banks need to get their act together. It’s completely unacceptable,” he said.

“We’ve communicated that very loudly and I’m doing that again right now in this interview. The banks need to be responsible. You can’t put up interest rates, but not put up the savings accounts interest. The two go hand-in-hand.”

Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you this afternoon, to take you through the rest of the day’s news.

Thanks for tuning into the blog this Sunday – that is all from me!

Time to hand over to the lovely Mostafa Rachwani, who will keep you updated on Olivia Newton-John’s memorial service, and all other evening news.

LGBTQI community still fearful of authority, advocate says

Bronte Price, Equality Network founder, 69-year-old gay man and LGBTQI advocate, says his community feels overwhelming fear when surrendering to the “deathcare” system, AAP reports.

“I’m an elder, so my experience is very different from someone who’s 18 and has a million support mechanisms in place ... and has never been through what it’s like to be arrested for being gay, for example,” he says.

(From experience comes) some of that distrust of authority figures, such as doctors, police, absolutely the church, or even places that are faith-based that are hospitals or palliative care places – they scare the bejesus out of people like me.

Price has spoken to many in the community who say they would rather take their own lives than go into care and face discrimination from staff, volunteers and residents.

Heterosexual bias in the healthcare system goes beyond including only binary options on official forms, to outward discrimination and ignorance forcing people to hide their sexuality, Price says. He says this ignorance goes as far as people being misgendered at their own funerals.

Doctors say they are competing in a 'healthcare Hunger Games'

Doctors say they are competing in a “healthcare Hunger Games” for resources, AAP reports.

Michael Bonning, Australian Medical Association NSW president, calls on the government to take urgent action to stop doctors leaving the state in search of better pay and conditions.

“Doctors are abandoning the NSW health system – fed up, burnt out, and attracted by better conditions in other states,” he said earlier today.

AMA NSW vice president and obstetrician Kathryn Austin echoed this, saying doctors are fleeing the public hospital system and cutting their hours.

“We love working with our teams but don’t want to be forced to compete for scarce resources like it’s the healthcare hunger games,” Austin said. “Our patients deserve better.”

Bonning launched the peak body’s election platform, NSW Hospitals: Advanced Life Support Needed, saying growing patient needs will only be met by listening to medical experts who guided NSW through the pandemic.

Our managers, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers innovated and transformed the health system to respond to the global crisis,” he said. “However, that commitment and dedication will be lost unless NSW acts now to support our workforce.