What’s making news in Australia and around the world this weekend…

1. Tony Abbott allegedly punched in the face by Masa Vukotic’s accused killer.

The Melbourne man who is accused of murdering schoolgirl Masa Vukotic allegedly punched Tony Abbott when he was visiting a hospital back in 2006.

Police released this CCTV footage of Ms Vukotic’s accused killer.

Sean Christian Price, 31, was an acute care patient in the Thomas Embling Hospital that Mr Abbott visited in February 2006, in his capacity as Federal Health Minister.

Details: A man has been charged for fatally stabbing Melbourne Teenager, Masa Vukotic.

It is alleged that the now-prime minister was attacked by Mr Price, then in his 20s, but that no charges were laid.

Price, who was interviewed by an Age journalist less than a week before Ms Vukotic’s death, admitted to hitting Mr Abbott.

“I hit him and he stepped back and shaped up like a boxer,” Mr Price told the reporter.

Mr Price was arrested on Thursday, charged with murdering schoolgirl Masa Vukotic in Doncaster.

Masa Vukotic.

It is believed Ms Vukotic was on her way home when she was stabbed in a small park less than a kilometre from her home. The Canterbury Secondary College VCE student was age 17.

Read more about Masa Vukotic: Masa was a student. She was a daughter. She was a friend. She could have been any one of us.

2. Report into abuse in the Nauru detention centre finds that asylum seekers are scared for their own safety in the centre in light of sexual and physical assaults.

By Stephanie Smail for ABC. 

A long-awaited immigration report into allegations of sexual assault at the refugee detention centre on Nauru recommends a string of changes to the way the centre operates.

The independent review by former integrity commissioner Philip Moss was set up to investigate allegations of sexual and physical assault on asylum seekers, including children.

The report also investigated allegations that staff on Nauru employed by the charity, Save the Children, encouraged refugees to self-harm or manipulate abuse allegations. 

The Moss Review said there was no information to prove those allegations.

The Immigration Department ordered 10 members of Save The Children to leave Nauru in October last year after the workers made claims of sexual abuse against women and children inside the Nauru detention centre. The claims included that women inside the centre were being forced to strip and exchange sexual favours with guards so they could have access to the showers.

The report said many asylum seekers living in the detention centre are apprehensive about their personal safety and have privacy concerns. It also found some cases of sexual and physical assault were not being reported.

More: More evidence surfaces of abuse allegations on Nauru.

Mr Moss said when staff at the detention centre were made aware of issues, they have, in the most part, dealt with them appropriately and referred issues to police on Nauru when necessary. But he said there was room for improvement and he wants the Nauruan government and the Immigration Department to overhaul how abuse claims are handled.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

3. 

Malcolm Fraser: Australia’s 22nd prime minister dies aged 84.

By Peter Lloyd for ABC. 

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser is being remembered as “a giant of Australian politics” and a “great moral compass” following his death early on Friday morning at the age of 84.

“It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness, John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March, 2015,” a statement released by his office said.

“We appreciate that this will be a shock to all who knew and loved him, but ask that the family be left in peace at this difficult time.”

Mr Fraser — Australia’s 22nd prime minister — was born into a wealthy pastoral family in 1930 and first entered Parliament in 1955 as its youngest MP. He spent nearly 20 years as a backbencher and in the ministry.

From his first days in politics, Mr Fraser was an advocate of immigration as a means of boosting the population. As a minister in the Gorton government, he became the first federal politician to use the word “multiculturalism” — an historic break from the Anglocentric past of his own party.

He became opposition leader in 1975, facing off against Gough Whitlam and becoming prime minister in the wake of Mr Whitlam’s dismissal.

Mr Fraser’s multicultural conviction found shape in immigration policy in the post-Vietnam war push to bring refugees from mainland South East Asia to Australia. “I believe we had a moral and ethical obligation,” Mr Fraser later said.

“If we had taken polls … I think people would have voted 80, 90 per cent against us but we explained the reasons for it.

“We were also working to get people to understand that the idea and the reality of a multicultural Australia could be an enormous strength to this country, not a weakness.

“There is strength in this kind of diversity so long as we understand what it’s about.”

You can read more here: Tributes flow for former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser: 1930-2015.

After the Whitlam years, there was persistent debate about the new government’s legitimacy and Mr Fraser’s role. But he went on to win the next three elections.

In addition to multiculturalism, he embraced Aboriginal land rights, led the Commonwealth push to end Apartheid in South Africa and argued for an independent Zimbabwe.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

4. Customers queued around the block to visit the newly reopened Lindt Cafe in Martin Place yesterday.

The Martin Place Lindt Cafe reopened it’s doors yesterday, three months on from the Sydney Siege.

People lining up to enter the Martin Place Lindt Cafe, which reopened at 10am. Image: Twitter @chrisurqhuardt.

Customers lined up around the block to pay tribute to the fallen victims of the siege, Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, both of whom were honoured with memorial plaques.

Among the many people who attended the reopening were NSW Premier Mike Baird. Mr Baird said it was an “incredibly important step” for the nation that the cafe was reopened. The Prime Minister Tony Abbott also visited the cafe.

Details here: The Martin Place Lindt cafe has reopened with a beautiful memorial to Sydney siege victims.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Lindt Australia Chief Executive, Steve Loane, said the decision to reopen the cafe came after consultation with staff.

“Overwhelmingly, the feeling was that reopening and moving forward is the best thing to do for everyone affected,” he said.