Program: France celebrates after surprise election swing

Sally Sara : Hello and welcome to The World Today. It is Monday, the 8th of July. I'm Sally Sara coming to you from Gadigal Land in Sydney. Today, three children killed in a house fire in Sydney. Do firefighters receive enough support? And festival goers scramble to escape a deluge in Outback Queensland.

Senior Constable Stephan Pursell: We had to get a few people out of some camping bogs yesterday, but they just got caught out by the rain. As far as I've heard, the people have adhered to the road closures, which is good, and everyone's made their travel plans around those closures.

Sally Sara: France's far right has been thwarted in the country's runoff parliamentary election, with a coalition from the left expected to win the most seats. The results will still leave France with a minority government, following the snap poll called by President Emmanuel Macron last month. So will the outcome create instability in the European Union's second largest economy? Alexandra Humphries reports.

Alexandra Humphries: Hundreds have gathered on the streets of central Paris, launching fireworks in celebration, as exit polls showed a predicted far right win had failed. A left-wing coalition is set to secure the most parliamentary seats, followed by President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance in second. The far right came in third. Left-wing supporters like municipal worker Vincent are relieved.

Vincent: For weeks, the media and polls have been telling us that the national rally would win a majority, would be in the lead, and the country has shown that no, it is the left that has the majority.

Alexandra Humphries: French President Emmanuel Macron called the snap poll after votes for the far right surged during recent elections for the European Parliament. The far-right national rally looked set to win the most seats after the first round of voting last week. But its predictions of triumph were dashed after its rivals on the left and in the centre banded together, strategically withdrawing some candidates to ensure head-to-head battles rather than multi-candidate races that could split the vote. Although falling short of expectations, the far-right national rally, led by Marine Le Pen, has still drastically increased the number of seats it holds.

Marine Le Pen: Tomorrow we will be in a position to have an absolute majority, maybe in a year, because in reality the shield against us, I had of course predicted, has occurred. France is going to be totally deadlocked with three groups of roughly equal size in the National Assembly. It's unfortunate. We will lose another year, another year of illegal immigration, another year of purchasing power loss, another year of insecurity exploding in our country.

Alexandra Humphries: French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has already pledged to resign after his centrist party failed to win a majority. The far left is demanding the next Prime Minister come from within its ranks instead. Nicolas Tenzer is a senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis. He argues France still faces an uncertain future.

Nicholas Tenzer: We have no majority in the House and basically it means that the left parties and the centrist parties from Macron's side will have certainly to build a kind of coalition. So basically they will have to build a compromise between them, which is certainly not an easy thing but basically that's the only way out.

Alexandra Humphries: He believes the strategies used by the left and centrist groups to defeat the far right were key to the outcome.

Nicholas Tenzer: A lot of people from the right or centrist parties saying, OK, just to prevent the far right to come to power, we will vote for the left. And we had also some people from the left saying, well, we prefer to vote for Macron's party or the Republicans and we will act responsibly.

Alexandra Humphries: France's presidential elections are scheduled for 2027. Nicolas Tenzer says the way this new French parliament plays out could have ramifications in three years' time.

Nicholas Tenzer: If we have the chaos in the National Assembly, certainly it will be a big advantage for Marine Le Pen. But that's why I think that all the people from the left, from the centre, from the right must act with a kind of responsibility and a sense of national interest just to prevent this.

Alexandra Humphries : The far right's been pushed back for now, but the implications of the European Union's second largest economy electing a hung parliament will be felt right across the continent.

Sally Sara: That’s Alexandra Humphries there.

Firefighters are receiving support after attending a horrific house fire in Western Sydney on the weekend, which claimed the lives of three children. Police allege the father of the children tried to stop first responders from entering the house to rescue the victims. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has described the alleged domestic violence-related homicide as horrific and senseless.

Chris Minns: These children deserved a loving home with safety and security, and instead they're gone. And I can imagine the people of New South Wales feel enormous sorrow and deep sympathy with the surviving family members this morning, as we also show enormous care and gratitude to our emergency service workers in New South Wales that were confronted with a devastating scene.

Sally Sara: Leighton Drury is State Secretary of the New South Wales Fire Brigade Employees Union.

Leighton Drury: It's certainly the trauma, it is heartbreaking. Firefighters trained their whole lives to be there and save people's lives. So when you come across situations like this and, you know, the crews that the incident we're talking about did fantastically well to pull out two people. The house was fully involved when they got there, which means they should have gone defensive, but they went internal and did what they could. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Sally Sara: So when you say they should have gone defensive under their training practices, that they shouldn't have gone in, but they wanted to go in anyway.

Leighton Drury: Absolutely. When fully involved houses, the chance of life still being there is obviously extremely low and the risk is obviously very high for firefighters to get hurt. After speaking to some of the crews that attended those incidents and other incidents that we go to, you know, firefighters put their bodies on the line and try to do what they need to do.

Sally Sara: How much has the culture of the job changed late and since you began 25 years ago? Are firies talking more about this stuff than they used to when you first began?

Leighton Drury: Absolutely. Certainly firefighters always talk to each other about these incidents. But certainly, you know, more and more firefighters are now reaching out for help. It is the largest injury that firefighters now suffer. 40% of our workers comp claims are psychological. And it's obviously not just going to house fires, it's car accidents and suicides and all the other things that firefighters now go to.

Sally Sara: What are the ups and downs like for firefighters, Leighton? Because many of the calls that you get, it's a false alarm, everything's okay. You just never know which one is going to be the one. How do the firefighters deal with that possibility that this could be nothing or this could be something very difficult?

Leighton Drury: Yeah, it's certainly an interesting mindset to always be, you know, be the coiled spring. But you know, the best thing to understand as a firefighter is that you didn't create the problem, you're there to try and fix it. And that's what firefighters do across the state 365, 24/7.

Sally Sara: We were talking in the office this morning, Leighton, about often there's focus on paramedics and police and on bush firefighters, but sometimes we don't focus enough on the people who do your kind of firefighting.

Leighton Drury: Yeah, look, everyone knows that we do, we fight fires, but a lot of our trauma actually comes from, you know, road crash rescue or industrial rescue. Fire Rescue NSW is the largest rescue provider in NSW for general land rescue. And a lot of that trauma comes from those incidents. It's one of the things that we do, we turn up. We're generally not the ones that create a big fanfare about it. But we're there to serve our community.

Sally Sara: Why did you choose this job?

Leighton Drury: I thought it was an interesting job. You know, serving the community was a good thing. But at the same time, now, you get in touch with the team that you work with, you work very, very closely with that team and put your skills to the test. But I don't know, I'm a lifer now.

Sally Sara: What are the best days as a firie do you think?

Leighton Drury: Look, you know, this is going to be controversial. The best days is when you don't get a call. The best days is when you don't have to go out and help somebody, because that means the community is safe and they don't need your help. It's always good to obviously go out and help people. But I'd much prefer not to go out and help them, which means, you know, someone's not suffering, you know, firefighters turn up on some of the worst days of people's lives. And obviously, we're there to try and make that better. But it's obviously always a lot better when you don't have to go.

Sally Sara: That's Leighton Drury there, the State Secretary of the New South Wales Fire Brigade Employees Union.

Four years ago today, a family from regional New South Wales was torn apart by the murder of their 10-year-old daughter. Bridget Porter was killed by someone she knew. The perpetrator was found guilty of murder but not criminally responsible on mental health grounds in 2021. Now the girl's parents are demanding major reforms to provide more support for victims of crime. And a warning this story contains some confronting details. Joanna Woodburn reports.

Joanna Woodburn: 10-year-old Bridget Porter, known as Biddy to her family, had regularly visited rural New South Wales during school holidays. But during what was to be her last trip in 2020, her mother Rebekah received unfathomable news.

Rebekah Porter: I was on my way to work, I had dropped into the post office and I received calls from my ex-husband saying that she was dead and I just couldn't believe it.

Joanna Woodburn: Bridget's father Dom says he's now living his worst nightmare.

Dom Porter: Everything's a trigger. Christmas, anniversary of our wedding, my birthday, anniversary of the murder, Bridget's birthday, Father's Day.

Joanna Woodburn: Rebekah and Dom plunged into depression and now suffer PTSD. They were entitled to a limited amount of counselling and $7,500 in victim support. The girl's killer has a suite of mental health and financial support available.

Rebekah Porter: It just felt like while the killer was getting the best and has been offered the best in mental health support and treating teams, as a victim to have so little access and to try and fight so hard and then have to fund your own mental health support felt like it just didn't matter.

Joanna Woodburn: In May last year, Rebekah and Dom heard their daughter's killer had been granted escorted day release from the forensic health facility where she's being treated.

Rebekah Porter: I thought wait a minute, not only has this happened, my daughter's name's also been suppressed. I can't speak about her publicly so it was just like a bolt of lightning hit me.

Joanna Woodburn: The news galvanised the pair to investigate how to get greater justice for their daughter. At the forefront of their campaign is legislative change. Under New South Wales law, the name of a child victim of crime is suppressed and can only be used with the approval of senior next of kins. They've granted the ABC this permission.

Rebekah Porter: I think it's really disrespectful to suppress any victims of serious crimes. Every victim deserves the right to have their story told, to have a voice. It makes them invisible and insignificant and I think we need to find a balance between protecting people who are mentally unwell and juveniles and also giving victims the right to still have a voice and the significance of what's happened to them to be told.

Joanna Woodburn: They've also been denied access to a key document in the prosecution's case against Biddy's killer.

Dom Porter: It feels like there's something to hide there. The police were quite happy, basically explained me outside the court, you need to ask for this and they just refused to provide it.

Joanna Woodburn: In a statement, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the brief of evidence contained highly distressing and extremely sensitive evidence and concluded it was not in the public interest to release the brief. The Porters are now calling for state parliamentary inquiries into the DPP and Mental Health Review Tribunal which decides if and when Biddy's killer is released. They say reforms to victim support are also needed.

Dom Porter: So it's more about the victim rather than the perpetrator. I acknowledge that there's mental health issues for the perpetrator but there needs to be more support for the victim.

Joanna Woodburn: Their local independent state MP and former police prosecutor Phil Donato has sponsored a petition to try to get the inquiries established.

Phil Donato: The way that they've been failed by the system, we can't let this continue to occur, we can't let other families go through the same process and that's why we need to call it out, we need to take action.

Rebekah Porter: I feel very proud that we're finally having a voice and fighting for justice for Bridget. That gets me out of bed I guess and gives me some energy some days but that's all I've really got at the moment.

Sally Sara: That's Mother Rebekah Porter ending that report by Joanna Woodburn.

A long-promised rail link to Melbourne Airport could become a reality by the end of the decade after a major stand-off was resolved between the airport owner and the Victorian government. Melbourne Airport has agreed to a compromise which will see the terminal station built above ground rather than underground. And while the project is expected to ease the city's growing congestion problems, some are sceptical that it will be built by 2030. Gavin Coote reports.

Gavin Coote: A rail link to Melbourne Airport has been debated for six decades, but any hopes of getting it built this decade had all but evaporated until now. Lorie Argus is the CEO of Melbourne Airport.

Lorie Argus: We all know that Victorians have had enough talk by now and we need to deliver a rail which is what today is about.

Gavin Coote: The airport corporation has ditched its ongoing push for an underground rail station at the airport terminal, ending a long-running dispute with the Victorian government. The stand-off has been a major hurdle to beginning construction on the entire $10 billion dollar rail link which would run from the airport in Melbourne's north-west to the CBD. With a third runway to open in 2030 and passenger numbers to dramatically increase, the airport now supports an above ground station with Lorie Argus saying any train is better than no train.

Lorie Argus: By 2030 we're going to have 45 million passengers passing through the door compared to 30 million today and our view is we need all the transport solutions including a rail link to the airport in time for that and we think that that's the priority so we've made the compromise.

Gavin Coote: Melbourne's airport is 22 kilometres from the CBD and yet the vast majority of people use private vehicles to get to the airport. The remaining roughly 15% of travellers use bus services. With increasing congestion problems, local leaders are ecstatic the rail link is back on track.

Pierce Tyson: It is about bloody time. It's Christmas in July here in Airport West. We're so excited and so happy.

Gavin Coote: Piers Tyson is the Mayor of Moonee Valley City in Melbourne's north-west. He points out the rail project will have city-wide benefits.

Pierce Tyson: I think this is an absolute game changer for our community so not just a link to the airport but it's also as one of the highest proportion of airport workers in the state in our community it'll mean getting to work not to mention everyone young and old getting to the city.

Gavin Coote: The Federal Government last year appointed an independent mediator, Neil Scales, to try to get the stalled project moving. Last month he released a report that backed the case for an above ground station and while the long-running impasse may now be resolved, Victoria's Premier Jacinta Allan is continuing to blame the airport for delays.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan: Today's announcement, today's information from the airport that they've acknowledged their unreasonable demands don't stack up are welcome but they don't change the fact that we've lost four years whilst they have pursued that unreasonable claim.

Gavin Coote: The Premier argues it's unlikely the project will be built by 2033 and as to whether the $10 billion price tag could blow out, she says that'll be up to the Federal Government to work out.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan: The Federal and State Governments have both committed $5 billion to this project. With delay does come cost and so this will be something that the Commonwealth Government will need to work through with its project partners.

Gavin Coote: And some in Melbourne are tempering their expectations about exactly when they'll finally get a rail link. Daniel Bowen is with the Public Transport Users Association.

Daniel Bowen: It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of a project. Just when we think it's going to be delivered something else happens to cause a delay. So I think for many Melbournians they won't believe we've got an airport rail link until it actually opens and now a train's running.

Gavin Coote: The Transport Workers Union says today's agreement is positive news for 18,000 aviation workers, aviation businesses and the community.

Sally Sara: That's Gavin Coote.

The rising cost of living is among the factors being blamed for increasing rates of parents emotionally abusing their children. Figures show that one in three young people has been subjected to emotional abuse from parents. And for some victims, the damage can be so serious it can trigger mental health issues later in life. Alison Branley has this report as part of an ABC investigation into the youth mental health crisis. And a warning, some content may be distressing.

Alison Branley: Artist Jet James was eight when his father killed his mother in a drug-fuelled argument. His dad would later take his own life.

Jet James: When you're an orphan as a child you feel a profound sense of loneliness.

Alison Branley: But there was little to heal the emotional wounds and he lashed out and used drugs as a teen.

Jet James: I was sort of in a spiralling mess and that's where art sort of became my thing, it became my way of channelling all that grief and all that trauma.

Alison Branley: Exposure to family violence is one type of emotional abuse. It can also include parental insults, humiliation, rejection and withholding affection. Dr Divna Haslam from Queensland University of Technology co-authored the landmark Australian Child Maltreatment Study, which measured rates of parental emotional abuse across the generations around the country. It found this kind of parental abuse is on the rise, with nearly 35 per cent of Australians aged 16 to 24 saying they experienced it as a child.

Dr Divna Haslam: About one in ten Australians report that their parents said to them that they didn't love them, hated them or wished they were dead. These are quite serious interactions between parents and children.

Alison Branley: The study is supported by figures obtained by the ABC which show state-based child protection agencies are also grappling with a steep rise in emotional abuse. The agencies received between three and thirty-five thousand reports raising concerns of emotional abuse last financial year. Dr Haslam says research found emotional abuse is more closely linked to suicide, self-harm and drug or alcohol use than most other kinds of abuse or neglect, with these issues often first emerging in adolescence.

Dr Divna Haslam: So we need to be getting that message out there to parents that the way that you interact with your children, that it's not okay to call children names even in jest and that how you respond to children is critical in terms of their mental health.

Alison Branley: Child protection agencies told the ABC the rising cost of living is contributing to the increase in reports and Dr Haslam says their figures are likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

Dr Divna Haslam: Emotional abuse doesn't occur in a vacuum. It occurs when parents are stressed, when there are other substance issues going on, when there's other high stress financial pressure going on.

Alison Branley: Advocates say parenting programs help, but there's only one available to parents across the country and it's online.

Anne Hollonds: It's a bit of a postcode lottery as to what's available to you.

Alison Branley: Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds says offering help parents can trust is key.

Anne Hollands: Some parents say to me if they worry that if they ask for help their children will be removed. These are realities that we need to be considering when we look at what is the scaffolding we're providing for parents.

Sally Sara: That's National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds ending that report from Alison Branley. And if any of our stories have raised concerns for you or anyone you know you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

It's the music festival that turns one of Queensland's most isolated towns into a city for three days. But Big Red Bash attendees almost found themselves stuck in Birdsville for much longer than expected. Up to 50mm of rain fell across the region over the weekend, breaking some July records and sending some festival goers scrambling to leave the town. Declan Gooch reports.

Declan Gooch: This year's Big Red Bash was bookended by rain. But if outback festival goers thought it was a bit muddy at the start of the festival...

Youtube clip: Well it's going to be an interesting day. We're just in solution mode of how to get water away from our camps. The rain's quite heavy.

Declan Gooch: ...they'd be relieved to have missed what Mother Nature eventually had in store. Up to 50mm of rain was dumped on parts of far western Queensland over the weekend, across an area including Birdsville, where the festival was held. Senior Constable Stephan Pursell is the officer in charge of the Birdsville Police Station and says most of the thousands of festival goers got out of town just in time.

Senior Constable Stephan Pursell: Most of the Big Red Bash people got away early on Friday, so that pretty much emptied out the town. We're only left with about 20 or 30 caravans come Friday night, so everybody got away from Birdsville pretty good and off the roads.

Declan Gooch: The three-day event wrapped up at the end of last week, reducing the town's population to just over 100. Stephan Pursell says rain has forced the closure of most of the roads in and out of the town, which are all unsealed.

Senior Constable Stephan Pursell: We had to get a few people out of some camping bogs yesterday, but they just got caught out by the rain. But as far as I've heard, people have adhered to the road closures, which is good, and everyone's made their travel plans around those closures, so it's been pretty good.

Declan Gooch: Felim Hanniffy, a senior forecaster at the Weather Bureau, says it was a significant downpour.

Felim Hanniffy: We've seen falls of anywhere from between 20 and 50 ml across parts of the southwest over this weekend. 20 to 50 ml is anywhere from five to probably ten times some of these areas' July average, so that just shows you the significance of this rainfall as well.

Declan Gooch: Felim Hanniffy says Birdsville itself recorded 16.4 millimetres, setting at least a 25-year July record.

Felim Hanniffy: The previous record for July for this site was 15.8, and that was set last year, again during the Big Red Bash event as well. So two years in a row that we had rain events occurring during the Big Red Bash.

Declan Gooch: The Big Red Bash may have been the biggest event put at risk by the rain, but it wasn't the only one. Saturday's camel races at Bedourie went ahead, with some modifications. Race club president Rob Dare says conditions were slippery even after organisers applied stabiliser to the track surface.

Rob Dare: Yeah, no, they pulled it off. It was unreal. They had to plough the track up with a stabiliser to even the dirt out to make it safe for the camels. And there was one bit of a greasy patch on the outside running rail, and we thought it was just too risky. So cameleers decided to race them with no riders on. The camels seemed to know what they were doing, and a lot of people loved it.

Declan Gooch: Senior constable Stephan Pursell says once the roads reopen, it'll be the perfect time to visit.

Senior Constable Stephan Pursell: This greenery and wildlife that we've had is just going to continue, so just encourage people to start planning some trips out here, so that in between events, the bash and the races, that we've got people that are visiting us out here and keep things moving along.

Sally Sara: Fantastic part of the world. That's Birdsville Police Officer Stephan Pursell ending that report from Declan Gooch and Heidi Sheehan.

And that's all from the World Today team. Thanks for your company. I'm Sally Sara.