25-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder after 39 people found dead inside a truck near London, & more in News in 5.

-With AAP.

1. 25-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder after 39 people found dead inside a truck near London.

British police have found the bodies of 39 people inside a truck at an industrial estate near London and have arrested the driver on suspicion of murder.

The discovery of the bodies of 38 adults and a teenager was made in the early hours of Wednesday local time, after emergency services were alerted to people in a truck container on an industrial site in Grays, about 32km east of central London.

Police say the trailer had arrived at nearby docks having travelled from Zeebrugge in Belgium and the bodies were found just over an hour later.

The red cab unit of the truck was believed to have originated in Ireland. It had “Ireland” emblazoned on the windscreen along with the message “The Ultimate Dream”.

The driver, 25-year-old Mo Robinson from Northern Ireland, remained in custody.

“In order to ensure we maintain the dignity of the people who have sadly lost their lives, we will be moving the lorry and the trailer”

Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills says “this will be a lengthy inquiry” and “we are yet to identify” the bodies https://t.co/5yQIACXWce pic.twitter.com/wCbktSUSIx

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 23, 2019

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was appalled by the news and was receiving regular updates about the investigation which was focused on human trafficking.

“We know that this trade is going on – all such traders in human beings should be hunted down and brought to justice,” he said.

All those in the container were pronounced dead at the scene after emergency services were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park, not far from docks on the River Thames.

Police said the trailer had travelled from Belgium to Purfleet and landed shortly after 12.30am on Wednesday local time. It left the port on the truck at about 1.05am and ambulance services notified police about the discovery of the bodies at 1.40am.

Originally it was thought both parts of the vehicle had entered Britain at Holyhead in North Wales on Saturday and to have originally started its journey in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian foreign ministry said while the vehicle was registered in Bulgaria by a company owned by an Irish woman on June 19, 2017, it had left the next day and never returned.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said his country had no other connection with the deaths.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Irish authorities would carry out any investigations necessary if it was established that the truck had passed through Ireland.

Police officers in forensic suits spent the day inspecting the large white container on the truck next to warehouses and had sealed off much of the surrounding area of the industrial site with large green barriers as they carried out their investigation.

The truck was later driven away to a secure location at nearby Tilbury Docks so the bodies could be recovered.

"At this stage, we have not identified where the victims are from or their identities and we anticipate this could be a lengthy process," Essex Police Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills told reporters.

"I appreciate how much attention this incident will continue to attract and the public and media appetite to understand what's happened. We also need to understand what has happened," she added.

The identities of the 39 victims are not yet known, but they are believed to be 38 adults and one teenager.

For years, illegal immigrants have attempted to reach Britain stowed away in the back of trucks, often seeking to reach the United Kingdom from the European mainland.

Separately on Wednesday, police in the neighbouring county of Kent found nine people alive in a truck on the M20 motorway heading towards London, Sky News reported.

In Britain's biggest illegal immigrant tragedy in 2000, customs officials found the bodies of 58 Chinese people crammed into a tomato truck at the southern port of Dover. It had begun its journey in Zeebrugge.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the latest deaths were an unbelievable human tragedy that needed answers.

"Can we just think for a moment of what it must have been like for those 39 people, obviously in a desperate and dangerous situation, for their lives to end, suffocated to death in a container," he said.

2. Immigration officer's use of force breaches human rights.

Fourteen complaints about the use of force in immigration detention form the basis for a comprehensive report by the Australian Human Rights Commission tabled in Parliament
today: https://t.co/Ob4MfAhyEh pic.twitter.com/rV3hwJsVHz

— AusHumanRights (@AusHumanRights) October 23, 2019

Immigration officers burst into a 19-year-old detainee's bedroom and refused to leave as she dressed.

The case is one of 14 examined by the Human Rights Commission in a special report on the use of force in immigration detention.

In nine of them, people's human rights were breached and they should be paid compensation, the commission has found.

The Home Affairs department disputes the findings but has changed its internal policies since seeing a preliminary version of the report.

"Force should only ever be used as a last resort where alternatives such as negotiation and de-escalation techniques have been exhausted," commission president Rosalind Croucher said in releasing the report on Wednesday.

"Any use of force should be limited to what is essential in the circumstances and should be used only for the shortest amount of time necessary."

Force should not be used as punishment or for cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

In one case, a man on Christmas Island was beaten and had his head pushed into a concrete floor, knocking out a tooth.

Another was handcuffed for 8.5 hours while transferred from Sydney to Perth, despite a significant wrist wound.

Prof Croucher says there are no records of why he was handcuffed, whether senior officials approved the measure or any suggestion a doctor was consulted.

A different man was handcuffed for 12 hours while flown from Christmas Island to Perth and on to Melbourne.

The report finds he was restrained not because he posed any risk but because he was travelling with other detainees who had to be cuffed and because he was Vietnamese and other Vietnamese detainees had previously attempted escape.

Prof Croucher also examined complaints from four family groups about force used when they were being moved from Wickham Point detention centre in Darwin and sent to Melbourne.

She found that in a couple of cases the use of force was acceptable but for most, handcuffs should not have been used.

"It is not sufficient ... for a blanket approval to be given for restraints to be applied to any person," she writes.

"The circumstances of individuals to be restrained still need to be taken into account individually."

It was one of these families who complained about their 19-year-old daughter being forced to dress in front of male immigration officers.

The report says this was neither reasonable nor a proportionate response, particularly given there was at least one female officer involved in the operation who accompanied the young woman's nine-year-old brother.

Prof Croucher says the cases raise several systemic concerns.

These include that process to assess risk from detainees is not nuanced enough - for example, it treats swearing the same as physical aggression.

It also applies blanket rules, such as saying all physically fit adults must be restrained during their first 28 days in detention, something the commission recommends stops immediately.

She also says it's vital there is effective oversight, clear lines of approval and records kept.

"The best way to do this is to ensure that any pre-planned use of force (and other uses of force to the extent possible) are filmed in their entirety."

3. Uluru's owners face future without climb.

Uluru climb closure raises debate on other sacred sites https://t.co/eVqPu548VO

— FreyaHiggnsDesbioles (@freyahd) October 23, 2019

The majority of the 400,000-odd visitors to Uluru this year will have little or no interaction with the Anangu Aboriginal people from Mutitjulu.

At the crowded Ayers Rock Resort, tourists from Australia and overseas might see Indigenous women painting and selling their work and a few Anangu staff (less than 30) who are far outnumbered by backpacker or Aboriginal employees from interstate.

The resort in the 35-year-old town of Yulara provides some luxury in the middle of the harsh Australian outback but nearby Mutitjulu is a different story.

The Indigenous community of roughly 350 people is located on the opposite side of Uluru to the steep, western face tourists climb.

That will be closed from October 25 in recognition of the rock's cultural significance to the Anangu traditional owners.

Mutitjulu is impoverished and littered with dilapidated buildings, rubbish and abandoned cars.

That is a shocking paradox for many who expect Uluru's owners to receive decent income, similar to mining royalties for Indigenous people elsewhere.

The view outside the window of Anangu elder Dorothea Randall's living room in Mutitjulu is dominated by the awesome sight of Uluru, which is so close you can feel the heat radiate off it sometimes, she tells AAP.

"I embrace that every morning as a blessing," she says.

There has long been tension among traditional owners around the money climbers bring in versus Uluru's importance as a sacred site to them.

The cultural importance relates to Tjukurpa, the Anangu word for their Dreamtime and the foundation of their culture including rules for living.

Tourists pay $25 to go to Uluru, of which the Central Land Council representing numerous indigenous groups receives 25 per cent.

The council gives some to Mutitjulu - only about one-fifth according to Ms Randall - and it gets no royalties from the resort.

There is some bemusement as to why the Anangu would ban the climb and risk the tourist money.

A shift in thinking toward a ban occurred among the Anangu who began to believe allowing climbing was damaging their culture, Ms Randall says.

Numerous incidents contributed, including a man's suicide and his body being found six months later, at least 37 other climber deaths, a Frenchwoman's striptease filmed on top, other nudity, golfing and human waste coming off the rock into waterholes driving away wildlife.

"Our mob believed that at the base of this rock is our Tjukurpa, that's our law and if we believe in our Tjukurpa we should be strong in our culture," she says.

The specific reasons why the rock is sacred are not clear to visitors apart from signage telling simple myths and stories that children can understand with universal religious themes about right and wrong.

That is partly due to Aboriginal protocols that restrict what is told to non-Anangu.

However, for Indigenous owners, it was a key part of their identity, voice and beliefs, Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park culture and heritage project officer Shaeleigh Swan said.

"The creation stories and how the rock was created and how the Anangu people came to be is the Tjukurpa, everything carved into the landscape is there for you to see," she told AAP.

Whatever economic and tourism uncertainties there are, Ms Swan says she believes that "giving the Anangu the opportunity to make decisions on their land" is an empowering one like Native Title that keeps their culture strong.

While most Mutitjulu residents support the ban, Kevin Cooley, who was out in a truck collecting rubbish for the Mutitjulu Corporation, admitted to some concerns about losing tourism.

"I am happy and sad, two ways, tourists come here and we like it and welcome them," he told AAP.

However, his workmate Xavier Kitson said there were "a lot of sacred sites and sacred stories, dreaming and meaning" at the rock and it should not be climbed.

"If I tried to climb on top of that white house at Canberra, parliament house, they wouldn't let me in there," he said.

"I want people to walk around it but not coming from overseas to climb and die on top of the hill, it is dangerous and you might as well put all the coffins on top of the rock."

The general manager of the national park, Michael Misso, said it was not acceptable to have a community living in poverty around a tourist icon instead of benefiting.

"It is Aboriginal land and if the people who own the land aren't benefiting from the tourism activity there, there's a real issue of sustainability of tourism I believe anyway," he told AAP.

"The key is getting more Anangu engagement in the tourism industry."

He is hopeful a recent Commonwealth sub-lease for Mutitjulu which will make it easier to invest in, will bring more tourism businesses such as cultural tours.

Media reports of child abuse and social dysfunction in Mutitjulu sparked the Howard government's controversial intervention in 2007 in which the army was used and harsh welfare restrictions imposed.

The intervention caused a lot of psychological damage to innocent men who were productive workers at the time and were wrongly tainted, Ms Randall says.

The town was recovering but still had its social problems and its children lacked confidence and enough role models, she said.

Fixing its problems meant having people working in the tourism industry instead of being on the dole and children had to be educated in a way that respected their Anangu culture because western society was different, she said.

"Canberra tend to make a lot of policies down there that doesn't suit a remote community at all," Ms Randall said.

Aboriginal people have been in Australia for tens of thousands of years, so the brief time tourists have climbed on Uluru is tiny, Mutitjulu resident and Central Land Council chair Sammy Wilson said.

"It is just a blip in the middle, this whole climb thing, it is going back to normal by banning the climb."

4. Fair Work grilled over George Calombaris fine.

The $200,000 fine against celebrity chef George Calombaris was not high enough and higher fines, the Fair Work Ombudsman has admitted | @AnnaPattySMH https://t.co/1kN1xpbsvq

— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) October 23, 2019

George Calombaris's $200,000 fine for ripping off his workers almost $8 million could have been higher, the workplace watchdog has conceded.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the regulator was "learning and evolving" after the major scandal engulfing the TV chef earlier in the year.

"We will in future take into account the size of the underpayment as a major factor," she told a Senate estimates committee on Wednesday.

"We didn't make it as high a priority as we think clearly the public and others believe we should."

Ms Parker said Fair Work would have liked the contrition payment to be higher but there were a range of factors limiting the amount.

She said the financial position of Calombaris' Made Establishment was taken into account when determining how much he should be forced to pay.

"We require them to provide statements and we discuss that with them. Those are matters that are commercial in confidence. They were a factor in this case," Ms Parker said.

Unions were outraged with the size of the fine after more than $7.83 million was back-paid to 515 current or former employees of Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic for work between 2011 and 2017.

Ms Parker said it would have taken two years for the matter to get to court if the ombudsman pressed for a prosecution.

She said media coverage and vilification of Calombaris meant there was a high deterrence factor stemming from negative publicity.

The head of the workplace regulator stressed the payment was a recognition the company got it wrong and was sorry, rather than a fine.

Ms Parker also served up a cold response to some chef and restaurateurs calling for an amnesty amid a string of wage theft scandals dogging the hospitality industry.

"I would have some concerns with an amnesty," she said.

"Ultimately it's not a matter for us to give amnesties and we wouldn't give amnesties."

Attorney-General Christian Porter signalled the government would push ahead with new wage theft penalties after joining the ranks of people who thought Calombaris copped a light penalty.

5. Australian and American scientists will team up in a world-leading NASA research mission to shed new light on ice in east Antarctica.

For the first time from Hobart, @AusAntarctic is working with @NASA for Operation #IceBridge to map coastal ice in East #Antarctica. This mission lines up Satellite ????, aircraft ✈️, and ground teams ????, to measure Earth's changing ice.
Read more; https://t.co/pZer8NoO3E pic.twitter.com/iOMhykX3Yg

— antarctica.gov.au (@AusAntarctic) October 22, 2019

Australian and American scientists will team up in a world-leading NASA research mission to shed new light on ice in east Antarctica.

Operation IceBridge combines data from satellites, aircraft and ground crews in the largest survey of the Earth's changing ice levels.

The project will for the next month fly out of Hobart Airport - the first time the program has made a base in Australia.

"We're exploring a part of Antarctica we haven't really explored before," NASA deputy project scientist Dr Linette Boisvert said.

"We want to find out which glaciers are retreating at which rate and get a better handle on Antarctic sea ice thickness.

"The biggest unknown for sea ice, in both hemispheres, is the volume of ice. We don't know how much ice is underneath the water."

From Thursday, NASA will fly a Gulfstream V aircraft as low as 500 metres above the frozen continent.

The plane is equipped with radar sounders, temperature sensors, a gravimeter and cameras, plus two laser altimeters that measure ice elevation to a precision of less than five centimetres.

A ground team will move along the same path as the aircraft and satellite, collect ice cores and measure snow cover to compliment what is recorded from above.

Dr Petra Heil, sea ice physicist with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), says the project will provide crucial data which can be fed into climate models.

Dr Heil said sea ice depth data from east Antarctica is not detailed, with NASA's satellite not aligning well with the area.

"Compared to other regions ... we are very much the poor child," she said.

"It's very important for us. It will give us a very good stepping stone to move our science forward."

The space agency's IceBridge program is so called because it bridges the gap in polar observations made by NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellites (ICESat).

ICESat-1 launched in 2003 and de-orbited in 2010 while ICESat-2 remains in orbit after launching late last year.

"(This project) will become a benchmark for the sort of work we do with other nations," AAD director Kim Ellis said.

"For small country, Australia punches well above its weight when it comes to Antarctica."

Mr Ellis said the division was in talks with Italy about increased research co-operation.

This week also marks the start of Australia's 2019/20 summer Antarctic research season, with the first of 10 A319 flights to depart Hobart.

Icebreaker Aurora Australis will on Friday make the first of five trips to three research stations and Macquarie Island in its final season in operation.

Around 550 expeditioners will travel south as part of Australia's Antarctic program in 2019/20.