TRANSCRIPT
- Chinese Premier Li Qiang optimistic about growth areas in the relationship between China and Australia
- Interest rates left on hold at 4.35 per cent
- Australian diver Melissa Wu says she is elated to make history
Chinese Premier Li Qiang says the business sector offers many opportunities for China and Australia to forge closer ties.
The four-day visit by Mr Li is the first time a Chinese premier has visited Australia in seven years, marking a stabilisation in bilateral ties.
On his final day in Australia, he visited a lithium hydroxide processing plant owned by Australian miner IGO and entities based in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Speaking at a business roundtable event in Perth along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mr Li says he is optimistic about the future of the relationship between the two countries.
"Our two sides have agreed that we will grant each other reciprocal access to five-year multiple entry visas. And China has included Australia into its unilateral visa waiver program. And all of you are welcome to visit China more often. The business co-operation opportunities are boundless - as boundless as the Pacific Ocean."
Mr Albanese says better co-operation can only help both countries.
"The resumption of this roundtable is yet another encouraging sign of the stablisation of the relationship between our two great nations. It reflects a commitment to dialogue that Australia and China can use to manage our different views and advance our common interests. The event also speaks to our determination and optimism that we must draw on to meet the challenges of this moment."
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The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept interest rates at 4.35 per cent for the fifth-straight meeting.
The interest rate is currently at its highest level since November 2011 - but rates have remain unchanged since November 2023.
The board of the Reserve Bank says it is "not ruling anything in or out" when it comes to interest rates rising in the future.
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Passengers stranded in New Zealand after a plane engine burst into flames, will return to Australia on new flights.
Virgin Australia flight 148 bound for Melbourne - from Queenstown in New Zealand - was safely diverted to the southern city of Invercargill [[on Monday 18 June]], after a fire in one of its engines soon after takeoff.
Virgin Australia chief operations officer Stuart Aggs says a bird strike is believed to have caused the plane's right engine to burst into flames.
He says he is not aware of any physical injuries among the 67 passengers and six crew on board the plane.
Queenstown Airport CEO Glen Sowry told the New Zealand Herald, the pilots and staff handled the incident well.
"That is not an unusual occurrence if a bird does get ingested into an engine. Soon after that the crew on board the aircraft shut the engine down. And the aircraft was able to continue to fly very safely on one engine - as they are designed to do. In the minutes prior to that aircraft taking off - one of our operations team had driven down the runway and done a runway inspection, which includes looking for out any bird life on the airfield. And none was observed in that time."
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A parliamentary inquiry has heard from women with lived experience of perimenopause and menopause on the need for better education and service provision for sufferers.
The inquiry has been hearing views from health groups, politicians and the business sector on whether the should be legislation mandating menstrual leave [[under the Fair Work Act 2009]].
The CEO of Menopause Friendly Australia, Grace Molloy, earlier told the inquiry menopause symptoms are driving women to early retirement.
Imogen Crump is a former journalist with the BBC and ABC, and now editor of a news site with the University of Melbourne.
She says it took her five years to get a diagnosis - and there needs to be better education and service provision.
"It was only when the night sweats and hot flushes kicked in that my GP said the word: perimenopause. And that was almost five years after my original symptoms presented themselves. Five years is 1,825 days. 1300 of those were working days. It could - and should - be so much more straightforward."
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In sport, Melissa Wu says she is elated to be the first Australian diver to compete at five Olympics.
The 32-year-old has been named as one of the nine athletes selected for the Australian diving squad for the Paris Olympic Games.
Posting on social media, she says she is looking forward to bringing greater grit, resilience and mental fortitude to this Olympics.
"I think as a young athlete, I never imagined I would go to five Olympic Games. And I think as each one comes around - being an Olympian is an amazing feeling. And representing Australia you know is the best thing I have experienced in my life. So everyone time it comes around - I want to go, I want to experience again."
