TRANSCRIPT:
- Australia confirms it will recognise Palestine as a state;
- Kathleen Folbigg speaks on her compensation payout as the government defends the amount;
- Australia's Adam Walton pulls off an upset win in the Cincinatti Open.
Australia is to formally recognise Palestine as a state.
After spending weeks signalling a likely diplomatic shift, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed his government will join France, the UK and Canada in recognising Palestine at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September.
More than 140 of 193 UN member states already recognise Palestine, including European Union member states Spain and Ireland.
Mr Albanese says the move to join them is part of a coordinated global effort for a two-state solution.
"A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza. The international community's vision for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East always encompassed two states - living side-by-side with internationally recognised borders."
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The Opposition meanwhile says the government's decision is not the best way forward.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor says the Coalition supports a two-state solution and that all Australians want to see an end to the conflict.
But he says Palestinian statehood should come at the end of the peace process with Israel.
"The preconditions necessary for a lasting peace are not in place. Those preconditions have been clear for a long time. Release of hostages. Demilitarisation of Hamas. A commitment to peaceful co-existence and agreed borders. And these are preconditions that have been widely agreed to across the world and certainly in Australia."
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New Zealand's government says it won't automatically follow Australia's example.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says while some of the country's close partners had opted to recognise a Palestinian state, New Zealand had an independent foreign policy.
He says the government intends to weigh the issue carefully and then act according to the country's values and national interest.
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The United States has defended Israel at a special session of the UN Security Council called to discuss the Middle East.
There has been international condemnation over Israel’s decision for a military takeover of Gaza City.
But the acting US ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea says Israel has the right to decide what is the best approach for its security.
She says accusations of genocide are false.
“Remarkably, instead of pressuring Hamas, members of this body have encouraged and rewarded its intransigence, actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and the United States, and by handing propaganda victories to terrorists.”
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Kathleen Folbigg has spoken out about the two million dollar payment she's been awarded by the state government, after spending two decades in prison for murder before being cleared of killing her four children.
She has told the Daily Telegraph in an interview that the sum leaves her without future security - and that the suggestion from Premier Chris Minns that she could sue the government for more money is a slap in the face.
"The New South Wales government apologises in monetary fashion when they do something that they think is incorrect. To offer the amount they did, is basically to offer not an apology. It's basically just like [saying], "We just pretty much want this to go away. "
But the state government has stood firm on the amount.
The Premier says they could not afford any more.
"The decision was made because it was the maximum amount of money the state could commit to Kathleen Folbigg in an ex gratia payment without drawing money away from other programs that the state has."
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Tasmania's minority Liberal government's pledge to phase out greyhound racing in a bid for political survival has cost it the support of an influential crossbencher.
Fishers and Farmers' party MP Carlo Di Falco has called the pledge a backroom deal with animal rights extremists in a bid to cling to power.
Liberal Leader Jeremy Rockliff has been reappointed premier, but Labor remains in the hunt to govern and could take power via a vote of MPs when parliament resumes on August 19.
Both major parties are attempting to secure support from a cross bench that includes five Greens, five independents and Di Falco.
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An English tourist has pleaded guilty over a fatal collision with a man as she rode an escooter drunk.
51 year old Thanh Phan was critically injured and died in a Perth hospital several days after being hit in May.
25 year old Alicia Kemp had been charged with dangerous driving occasioning death - under the influence of alcohol.
She's been remanded in custody to appear in the WA District Court on October 31 for sentencing.
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To sport and in tennis news,
Australia's Adam Walton has defeated the former men's world number one player in a shock result at the Cincinnatti Open in the US.
Walton defied his world ranking of No. 85 to beat Russian 12th seed Daniil Medvedev in three sets.
It was the first meeting between the pair.
