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Tomorrow is Mabo Day, which commemorates the overturning of the notion of "terra nullius" in the High Court of Australia.

"Terra nullius" was the legal concept that deemed Australian land unoccupied or uninhabited. The literal meaning of "terra nullius" is "land belonging to no-one".

3 June marks the legal victory to overturn that precedent and honours the legacy of the man behind it — Eddie Mabo.

The decision acknowledged that First Nations people had lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years prior to the British arrival. It recognised the traditional rights of First Nations people to their land and waters, and set up the framework for native title in Australia.

The quote
“[The school system was] structured in an era where women didn’t work, and households were comfortably sustained on a single income… It is a relic of a sexist, bygone era where society assumed women stayed at home and were responsible for the school pickup.” – Jordan Lane, the new Liberal MP for Ryde in NSW Parliament, during his maiden speech yesterday.

The stat
18-10
The score of last night's Women's State of Origin game, with Queensland winning the first game of the two-match series. On Wednesday, Queensland also won the men's game, with a score of 26-18.

Today in history
1953: Queen Elizabeth II was officially crowned during a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London.

Some headlines from this morning:

Australian house prices grew for a third month in a row in May, according to property data company CoreLogic.

Nationwide, prices grew 1.2% in May, much faster than the growth of 0.6% in March and 0.5% in April.

The fastest-growing area was Sydney, but prices grew in every capital city and in regional areas.

Not enough supply:
Prices grew in May even though the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates for the 11th time in a year. Higher interest rates make home loans more expensive, which on its own should push prices lower. So why are they rising?

According to CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless, the main answer is that there is not enough supply of housing. Lawless suggests this is forcing prospective buyers to be more competitive, meaning houses are selling faster and for higher prices.

Ben-Roberts Smith has lost his defamation case against Nine newspapers.

Roberts-Smith is a prominent former soldier who served in Afghanistan and received the Victoria Cross, Australia's highest military honour.

He sued over articles that alleged he committed war crimes and punched a woman. Roberts-Smith said these allegations harmed his reputation and were false.

The judge was satisfied some but not all allegations were "substantially true", but dismissed the lawsuit in full.

How defamation works:
Under Australian law, a person can sue if they believe published material has harmed their reputation. Defamation is almost always a civil matter, not a criminal one – you generally can't be fined or jailed for it. The complainant typically seeks 'damages' (e.g. money) from the defendant.

Defamation cases can be defended in a variety of ways. The Nine newspapers have opted for the 'truth defence' – that their articles weren't defamatory because they were true.

The judge had to decide whether the allegations in question occurred on the 'balance of probabilities' (i.e. whether it is more likely than not).

The allegations:
The allegations about Roberts-Smith which were the subject of this trial were published in a series of articles in 2018.

The articles alleged Roberts-Smith either ordered or personally carried out six killings of prisoners in Afghanistan in a manner that would constitute war crimes.

They also allege Roberts-Smith punched a woman, with whom he was reportedly having an affair, in a Canberra hotel room. Roberts denies all of these allegations.

The trial:
The Nine papers opted for the truth defence, so the trial focused on the substance of the allegations and on broader questions about Roberts-Smith's character.

Several former soldiers testified, including current Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie, who said there was a "widespread" view among soldiers that Roberts-Smith was a bully.

The trial began in 2021 but was interrupted by COVID.

The verdict:
Justice Anthony Besanko found many (but not all) of the claims made by the Nine newspapers in relation to killings in Afghanistan were substantially true.

With regard to the alleged assault in Canberra, Justice Besanko was not sufficiently satisfied that the assault occurred, but was satisfied the 'contextual truth' had been established (i.e. that the reputational implications of what was written do not constitute defamation).

Next steps:
Although the defamation trial focused on allegations that would constitute war crimes, Roberts-Smith was not himself on trial and has not been charged with any criminal offences.

However, the AFP is conducting a separate criminal investigation into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan, and a court in 2020 revealed Roberts-Smith had been interviewed as a suspect. The focus and progress of this investigation are unclear.

Criminal charges must be deemed 'true' beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a higher bar than was required in this case.

Get all the news you need to know today in your ears on The Daily Aus podcast!

Researchers from Sydney have become the first in the world to have grown tissue from every known type of endometriosis.

This will allow researchers to recommend specialised treatment plans by observing how different tissue reacts to different medicines. Endometriosis is a chronic disease believed to affect one in nine people with a uterus.

We've got big questions about university, like how is it possible to nail a nice photo of yourself on your ID card, or how can we justify hot chips before midday every day on campus. One thing we're not questioning is whether Charles Sturt University is the right place to snag your dream job after you graduate. It's the home of in-demand courses like the Bachelor of Nursing^ (Charles Sturt is actually ranked #1 in NSW for nursing graduate employment*), Education, Computer Science, Accounting or Civil Engineering. Oh, and your study breaks will be accompanied by kangaroos in the gorgeous regional surroundings. With plenty of scholarships on offer, this is your sign to join Australia's leading university for job-ready graduates and make progress that truly matters.

Click here to learn more.

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* Good Universities Guide 2022/23"

NASA wants there to be less stigmatisation around UFOs.

This week, NASA held its first-ever public meeting on ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’, commonly known as UFOs. NASA defines this as sights "that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective.”

The live-streamed meeting featured a panel of experts tasked with investigating unexplained sightings by civilians.

Interestingly, the experts said their efforts so far had been hindered by online abuse and harassment, which was in turn fuelling the stigmatisation of the field. Dan Evans, from NASA, said: "It is our collective responsibility to investigate these occurrences with the rigorous scientific scrutiny that they deserve.”

This all reminds me of when U.S. singer Demi Lovato said we should stop calling extraterrestrials “aliens” because “aliens is a derogatory term”. 🙃

The Daily Aus acknowledges the Gadigal peoples of the Eora Nation who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work. We acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.