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26 January 2024 Midday News Bulletin

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SBS NEWS Source: AAP

The Prime Minister says Australia Day is a chance to reflect, as thousands gather for ceremonies, and protests, across Australia; Cyclone Kirrily in Queensland downgraded to a tropical low.; and the Socceroos to play Indonesia in the Round of 16 at the Asian Cup


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Presented by Sunil Awasthi

Source: SBS News


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The Prime Minister says Australia Day is a chance to reflect, as thousands gather for ceremonies, and protests, across Australia; Cyclone Kirrily in Queensland downgraded to a tropical low.; and the Socceroos to play Indonesia in the Round of 16 at the Asian Cup


TRANSCRIPT

Thousands of people have gathered for ceremonies across the country to mark Australia Day.

In Canberra hundreds of people, including politicians and recent Australian of the Year winners, have gathered for a citizenship ceremony.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in attendance, and has praised Australia Day as an opportunity to reflect.

"Australia Day is our chance to pause and reflect on everything that we have achieved as a nation. Everything that we have created and built and learned through all the ups and downs of our history, the mighty challenges we have faced the profound opportunities we have seized the stern test, we have passed together everything that has made us who we are."

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Indigenous Australians are holding events across Australia to mourn the impact of colonisation and to celebrate the longevity and resilience of First Nations cultures.

In Canberra, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy has hosted the Sovereignty Day Rally to protest what it calls 236 years of "unfinished business".

In Sydney, dignitaries including premier Chris Minns attended the WugulOra Morning Ceremony, which calls on Australians to reflect on the significance of the world's oldest continuous living culture.

Wiradjuri woman and City of Sydney Councillor Yvonne Weldon led a minute's silence, calling January 26 a day of mourning held on the ground zero of colonisation.

She has paid homage to the Eora clans who she says were the first to suffer the impact of the arrival of the British.

"Other people's journey entered these waterways and our lands, with foreign words, beliefs and weapons. Not for sharing, but for controlling - to take, through brutality. The commencement of devastation through genocide, through disease, and through trauma. The creation of cycles that continue here today."

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Cyclone Kirrily has been downgraded to a tropical low after crossing the Queensland coast northwest of Townsville as one of the most powerful systems seen in the north.

The storm has left more than 53,000 Ergon Energy customers without power in North Queensland, with the majority in Townsville.

Conditions must clear before crews can assess the full extent of the damage to the grid and the company says the priority is to reconnect emergency services, hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure.

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The Greens are calling for further alterations to the federal government's proposed stage three tax cut changes.

Under the reworked scheme, anyone earning less than $150,000 will receive a larger tax cut while those earning more are in line for a smaller benefit than earlier promised.

The changes to the original stage three tax cuts will need to pass parliament with the support of the Greens and crossbench before they are due to come into effect in July.

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt told Sky News he believes the public will support the changes.

"There was unanimous support for this plan in our caucus, unanimous support for it in our cabinet and our expenditure review committee. The entire Labor team is behind this plan and that's because it delivers a tax cut to every single Australian taxpayer and does a huge amount for middle Australia, a lot more than what the Coalition was offering under Scott Morrison and now under Peter Dutton."

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Gaza's health ministry says at least 20 Palestinians queuing for food aid have been killed and 150 have been wounded by an Israeli strike on Gaza City.

The World Health Organisation has said the food situation in the north is horrific and humanitarian workers say rare aid deliveries are being mobbed by desperate people who are visibly starving.

The head of the W-H-O Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus broke down while calling for a political solution, saying he was struggling to speak because the situation is beyond words.

"The risk of epidemics is increasing, and people will die because of that as well. And people are facing death or risk of death because of hunger and starvation and famine. If you add all that, I think it's not easy to understand how hellish the situation is."

Israel's representative, Waleed Gadban, responded saying the international community has decided not to care about Israeli hostages still kept captive in Gaza, and it represents a grave moral failure.

More than 130 hostages are believed to still be in Gaza.

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In football, the Socceroos will play Indonesia on Sunday night in the Round of 16 at the Asian Cup in Qatar- because of a late goal in a game between two other teams.

Kyrgyzstan scored with ten minutes to go in their match against Oman to salvage a one-all draw.

The top two teams in each group, and the four best third-placed teams, go through to the Round of 16.

Oman failing to win meant they were not amongst the four-best third-placed teams.

Indonesia go through instead.

If they hadn't have gone through, Australia would have played Palestine in the Round of 16.

Australia hasn't played Indonesia since 2010, when they beat them one-nil in Brisbane.

If Australia beats Indonesia in the Round of 16, they'll play either South Korea or Saudi Arabia in the quarter-finals.


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