TRANSCRIPT
- US President Donald Trump says a Ukraine peace deal is close to being secured.
- Calls for anti-racism training for MPs after Pauline Hanson's burqa stunt.
- Netball Australia's 10-year plan to boost the profile of the women's national team.
US President Donald Trump says the United States is "very close" to striking a deal with Ukraine and Russia to end their nearly four-year war.
Delegations from the US, Russia and Ukraine are holding talks in Abu Dhabi, as the U-S pushes for a deal to end the Kremlin’s war.
Earlier, the White House said a deal could be signed as early as this week.
But as Russian missiles continued to rain down on Kyiv, European leaders were skeptical.
Speaking on a video meeting of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" of 35 countries supporting Ukraine, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated calls for a "just and lasting peace".
"Because what we all want to see, and these are the guiding principles, particularly in recent days, is a permanent end to Russia's barbarity in Ukraine and a just and lasting peace. And, as all colleagues on the Coalition of the Willing know, both of those words, 'just' and 'lasting', are hugely important."
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with the Chairman of China's National Peoples Congress at federal parliament yesterday, as he took a tour of the national gallery.
Zhao Leji is considered the third most powerful politician in China.
Australian politicians and their staff were advised to switch off mobile devices and prepare for wifi to be paused during the trip, as part of the security measures taken.
The trip has raised speculation the Chinese President is preparing to make his own visit.
Chinese studies expert Graeme Smith from the Australian National University says a lot needs to happen for Xi Jinping to come.
"The visit of the number three is a pretty good indication, we've already had the number two guy visit, its a pretty good indication that the big guy is going to come here. It's also a different level of diplomacy, I mean if you look at the mentions of Zhao Leji in the People's Daily compared to how often Xi Jinping gets mentioned they're in a totally different league. So really a lot would need to fall in place before Xi Jinping gets into Australia."
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One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has been censured for wearing the burqa into Parliament, which includes being banned from the Senate for seven sitting days.
This comes after Ms Hanson wore a Burqa into parliament on Monday.
Ms Hanson now alleges that the Senate is denying her the right to introduce a private member's bill to ban the burqa.
"My position on banning the burqa, I still stand strong by that. if they really believed in what they were saying, they didn't want to ban the burqa, yet they denied me the right to wear it on the floor of parliament. there is no dress code on the floor of parliament, yet i'm not allowed to wear it."
But Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman has expressed his concerns about the implications when a politician engages in behaviour as exhibited by the One Nation leader.
He calls for anti-racism training for MPs and senators.
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The families of loved ones who were killed in the Bondi Junction stabbing attack are calling for the perpetrator's psychiatrist Andrea Boros-Lavackto be investigated, after she gave evidence that Joel Cauchi was not experiencing psychosis during his rampage in April last year.
The state coroner on Tuesday also heard there was a short but crucial time window for the shopping centre's alarm to go off after the incident - which could have impacted one of the victims.
Seventy-seven seconds is all it took between the radio call from security and when Pikria Darchia was stabbed by Joel Cauchi, when she bent down to pick up her water bottle.
The court also heard Mr Cauchi's experience with schizoprenia went back more than 20 years.
**
Australia's governor-general Sam Mostyn has announced Netball Australia's 10-year plan to grow its reach even further.
Among the plan's key goals is to double netball's playing and non-playing community from one to two million by 2035, maintain the Diamonds' world No.1 status, and make netball as Australia's most popular women's sports league.
Netball Australia is seeking a $10 million loan from private investors to underwrite the plan.
Ali Tucker Munroe who leads Netball Australia's new First Nations Culture Council says amplifying the sport's impact and legacy involves unlocking diverse talent.
"It comes back to opportunity. It comes back to some of those systemic structural barriers that also exist in our sport. So I think with the work that we're looking at doing from a strategic point of view is actually identifying them and defining them."
