Key Points
- Nauru government to be paid $400 million upfront in major immigration plan
- David Pocock announces voluntary lobbyist register in Canberra
- Emotional Alex de Minaur says he must improve serve after US Open disappointment
TRANSCRIPT
Australia will pay $2.5 billion over 30 years, to deport hundreds of former immigration detainees to Nauru.
The cost of Labor's plan to transfer hundreds of former detainees, including convicted criminals, to the tiny Pacific Island has been revealed by immigration department officials under questioning in the Senate.
The government has agreed to pay Nauru more than $400 million upfront and then $70 million each year.
In 2023, the Labor government was forced to release immigration detainees with a criminal history into the community, after the High Court ruled their indefinite detention was illegal.
It has now introduced legislation to remove procedural fairness in such cases in order to transfer the group to Nauru.
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Independent senator, David Pocock, has renewed calls for reform on political lobbying, announcing a voluntary register for politicians to publish information about lobbyists with privileged access to Parliament House.
Mr Pocock says that while lobbying has a legitimate role to play in politics, it must be transparent and regulated.
He proposes the register, to be made public next month, be maintained on a central and publicly accessible website.
"Australians know that our lobbying system is broken. The definition of a lobbyist is not working. The laws are so loose that it is a free for all in this place, any one time, we have between fifteen hundred and two thousand people with access all areas passes, we have no idea who they are, who gave them that pass, or what they're in here lobbying for."
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The Australian government will provide $1 million in emergency humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, following two deadly earthquakes which killed more than 1,400 people in the country's mountainous east.
The funds will be directed through the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, led by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Members of the Australian Afghan community have also launched a fundraising campaign to help quake survivors in the recovery effort.
Khalid Janbaz is the founder of the charity, Helping Needy Afghans.
He told SBS Pashto that all funds raised will be used for critical relief efforts, including urgent medical care, emergency shelter, and a clean water system.
"It's important for us to come together now to extend a helping hand, stand next to each other and help all those who are suffering. This is not just about bricking and building, it's almost giving people hope, dignity and the chance to start again."
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Survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, have shared emotional accounts of their experiences during a two-hour news conference on Capitol Hill.
The nine women are calling on United States lawmakers to force the Department of Justice to release of all documents relating to the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein and his associates.
One Epstein abuse survivor, Ashley Rubright, says adults who turn a blind eye to abuse are dangerous to children.
"To any survivors out there who feel like they don't matter. It doesn't matter if you went once or countless times. We were groomed. We were manipulated. And we were taken advantage of. For decades, survivors have been suffocated by speculation. We've been mocked. We've been doubted. We've been re-traumatized. while those that hide and seek are what those responsible hide in secrecy. Why don't we deserve justice?"
US President Donald Trump initially signalled support for transparency in the investigation, but overnight dismissed the matter as a “Democrat hoax.”
1800 RESPECT or 1800 737 732 is a 24-hour national hotline for people who have experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.
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And in tennis, Alex de Minaur's U-S Open campaign has come to an end after losing in the quarterfinals to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
De Minaur won the opening set, but his first serve let him down at times as he went on to lose in four sets.
It was de Minaur's sixth bid to make a quarterfinal at a Grand Slam tournament — he is yet to make it through to a semi-final.
The Australian player was emotional after the defeat, saying his serve is letting him down.
"Right now I'm looking at this like a wasted opportunity. And it's tough. There is no, no other way I'm going to deal with this other than seeing it straight. And that's what today was, today was an opportunity to break new ground and I was nowhere near the level I needed to be at. And that is frustrating, because you don't get these chances often."
