Albanese calls Israeli decision on Frankcom killing 'outrage'; H5 flu kills 1,000+ birds in SA

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stood in parliament on Wednesday and called Israel's decision to close its investigation into the killing of aid workers—including Australian Zomi Frankcom—an outrage. The Israeli Defence Force had concluded its inquiry without pursuing any criminal proceedings, a determination that landed hard in Canberra, where the government has spent two years pressing for accountability.

Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have made their displeasure known through diplomatic channels. Wong called in Israel's ambassador to Australia to formally register the government's objections, and Australia's ambassador in Tel Aviv did the same. But when independent MP Sophie Scamps asked whether the government would expel the Israeli ambassador or take further action, Albanese stopped short of committing to either step. Instead, he said the government would "not stop pressing Israel for justice" for Frankcom and her colleagues. Wong had already explained the government's reluctance to remove the ambassador, arguing that doing so would "remove our ability to be able to engage, press for Australia's interests."

The Greens, however, saw this as insufficient. Leader Larissa Waters called the Israeli decision "absolutely outrageous" and demanded the government move beyond strongly worded statements. She called for sanctions against Israel and an end to the two-way arms trade between the countries. Frankcom, Waters said, represented the best of Australia—someone who ran toward danger to help others. Her death was a loss not only to her family but to the entire Australian community.

The tension between diplomatic pressure and concrete consequences hung over the exchange. Albanese emphasized that the government had "consistently made clear our expectation for transparency" and had "pressed for full accountability." Yet the government offered no timeline for escalating its response, no indication it would move toward the sanctions Waters demanded, and no commitment to expelling the ambassador. The question of what accountability actually looks like—and whether diplomatic calls for it carry any weight when a foreign government has already decided to investigate itself and found itself blameless—remained unanswered.

Meanwhile, in South Australia, a different kind of crisis was unfolding. Premier Peter Malinauskas declared a "significant escalation" in H5 bird flu after aerial surveillance detected three mass mortality events on remote islands. More than 1,000 crested terns were found dead across Troubridge Island off the Yorke Peninsula and the Pages Islands near Kangaroo Island. Authorities were also investigating a suspected case in a little penguin discovered on Kangaroo Island, a development Malinauskas described as "of particular concern." The state government said it was treating the events with "utmost seriousness," though the full scope of the outbreak remained unclear.