TRANSCRIPT
- Mixed reaction from Australia's Jewish community to recognition of Palestine
- Investigations into the fatal Optus outage now underway
- High-jumper Nicola Olyslagers reflects on her gold medal
Several Australian Jewish community groups have condemned the federal government's recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly.
Chief among their criticisms is an assertion that the Australian government has not done enough to guarantee pre-conditions for recognising statehood are met.
Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined these conditions, which mostly relate to the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank.
"Our act of recognition is based on the commitments received from the Palestinian Authority, including that the terrorists of Hamas cannot govern Gaza again; Palestine recognises Israel's right to exist in peace and security; and the Palestinian Authority will demilitarise and hold democratic elections, driving broader reform to governance, finance, and education."
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry says these commitments are so "vague" as to be "meaningless" and provide little confidence and no real reassurance.
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Others in the Jewish community have welcomed Australia's recognition of a Palestinian state, while maintaining more needs to be done to curb Israel's actions on the ground.
Max Kaiser is an Executive Director of the Jewish Council Australia.
"The real problem with this move is that it sort of tries to do a 'both sides' sort of issue and then treat them going forward as equal states. It just has no bearing on the actual power situation on the ground, because Israel controls the whole territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. It's system that has been legally found to be an apartheid system, and nothing that Israel has said (or) done over the past few decades indicates that they have any interest in a two state solution."
He says he'd like to see Australia move beyond what he calls 'symbolic' action by sanctioning Israel.
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The Australian Communications and Media Authority has commenced its investigation into the Optus outage that has been linked to the deaths of four people who were unable to call Triple-Zero.
Communications Minister Anika Wells says that the outage, which affected hundreds of customers across four jurisdictions, will lead to "significant consequences" for the telco.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin highlighted the fact Optus was previously hit with a $12 million fine for breaching similar obligations in 2023.
She says the investigation will focus on several areas, starting with the telco's compliance with the 'emergency call service determination'.
"And what that requires is that the carriers have networks and facilities in place to provide emergency call services, and that every person who goes to use an emergency call service will be connected to an emergency call service centre. And finally, they also require welfare checks, either that Optus needed to ring people who couldn't get through to triple Zero, or they needed to seek the assistance of local, state and territory, police to go and check on the welfare of those people."
Earlier, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he believes Optus failed to inform his government of the outage despite being aware.
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A measles outbreak in Queensland has spread to a third region, with three people hospitalised in the past three weeks, prompting warnings from public health experts to remain alert.
Authorities are actively monitoring cases in the Cairns, Gold Coast and Townsville regions, with the most significant number of infections recorded in the Cairns area.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Catherine McDougall says have been linked directly or indirectly with travel overseas.
She tells the ABC what symptoms people should be looking out for.
"So certainly, we're very eager for people who have returned from overseas to be monitoring for any fever, sore throat, sore eyes or runny nose. What we know is measles starts like that, and over a period of two to three days, develops then into a rash, and people are infectious for 24 hours before they get any symptoms, and for about four days after the rash comes out so it's about eight or nine day infectivity period in total."
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High-profile Republican figures have emphasised the evangelism of Charlie Kirk, a far-right activist dedicated to converting young people to the conservative cause.
Credited with bringing the youth vote to President Donald Trump, Mr Kirk founded an activist group called Turning Point USA at the age of 18.
The president, vice president, and secretaries of state, health and war all highlighted the centrality of Mr Kirk's Christian faith.
They cast his assassination as a turning point for the United States, too, as the country confronts rising political violence.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior even compared his killing to that of Jesus Christ.
"And Charlie understood the great paradox that it's only by surrender to God that God's power can flow into our lives and make us effective human beings. Christ died at 33 years old, but he changed the trajectory of history. Charlie died at 31 years old but because he had surrendered, he also now has changed the trajectory of history."
Mr Kirk is survived by his two children and wife, Erika, who has taken over as the CEO of Turning Point USA.
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In sport, Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers has produced a near-flawless performance in the pouring rain to win Australia's only gold medal at the world athletic championships in Tokyo.
She took out the top spot after a countback from Poland's Maria Zodzik, eight years after failing to clear a single bar on her world championships debut in London.
Olyslagers says the journey has taught her the importance of leading with heart and passion.
"And I have this light inside of me that even when it's pouring down rain, I just, this love is like a burning fire inside of me, and so jumping and looking at the bar, even if I had to wait hours in between attempts, I could just look and go, wow, this is for you God."
