Israel accused of breaking Gaza ceasefire with surprise air bombardment overnight; Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticises Peter Dutton's calls for a new referendum; And in sport, Collingwood star Jordan De Goey to make his first AFL appearance of the season.
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In this bulletin;
- Israel accused of breaking Gaza ceasefire with surprise air bombardment overnight;
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticises Peter Dutton's calls for a new referendum;
- And in sport, Collingwood star Jordan De Goey to make his first AFL appearance of the season.
Israel has been accused of ending its tenuous ceasefire with Hamas after reportedly killing over 200 Palestinians in sweeping surprise attacks across the Gaza Strip.
In what is a serious violation of the ceasefire terms that came into effect on January 19, the Israeli military has rained down bombs and Israeli tanks are now reportedly firing on the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that at least 230 Palestinians, including many children, have been killed with the death toll rising rapidly.
After weeks of failed efforts to agree on an extension to the truce, a senior Hamas official says Israel has now unilaterally overturned the ceasefire agreement with these attacks.
The renewed assault on Gaza comes amid the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with one eyewitness saying they were bombed right before they were due to begin fasting.
“Almost the entire family was martyred, all of them in pieces, and our house collapsed on us. Our house is directly next to theirs. There are also injuries at the Sattari house. They are still pulling people out from under the rubble. We were sleeping just before Suhoor and the house almost fell on us.”
The Israeli military says the strikes will continue for as long as necessary and will extend beyond air strikes.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticised Peter Dutton's proposal for another referendum if he wins the election, saying it's a distraction from the cost of living that has clearly not been thought through.
It come after the Opposition Leader said, if the Coalition is elected to Federal Government, he plans to hold a new referendum on whether dual nationals guilty of serious criminal offences should be deported and stripped of citizenship.
The move was subsequently walked back by the Opposition's legal spokesperson Michaelia Cash who says they have no plans of holding a referendum currently.
Mr Albanese says its a sign that Mr Dutton doesn't have serious policy proposals to address issues such as cost of living.
"Well this is another thought bubble from Peter Dutton that hasn't made it to lunch time. This morning you had Peter Dutton on one T-V channel calling for a referendum and Michaelia Cash on another T-V channel ruling it out. This has not been thought through. It is not clear where this has come from. Peter Dutton wants to talk about anything but cost of living."
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has confirmed next week's federal budget will unveil a deficit close to $26.9 billion and will contain the smallest revenue upgrade by far in this term of government.
The Treasurer says this means there were fewer choices for what the nation can afford to spend money on and an even bigger premium on responsible economic management.
Despite the significant deficit falling in line with earlier predictions, Dr Chalmers says the budget has turned a corner after weathering a tropical cyclone, a sluggish Chinese economy and US tariffs battering the nation's finances.
Without guaranteeing more energy bill rebates, the Treasurer assures Australians that more cost of living relief is on the way.
"I'm obviously not going to commit to another round of energy bill rebates here with you in Brisbane a week out from the budget, but what I can say is that there will be more cost of living help in the budget. The form of that will be made clear to you in the next week or so because we understand that people are still under pressure despite this quite remarkable progress that we're making in our economy."
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In sport,
Collingwood star Jordan De Goey will make his first AFL appearance of the season after overcoming knee bruising.
The premiership ace sat out the Magpies' first two games of their campaign to build fitness and conditioning following his pre-season setback.
But coach Craig McRae has declared De Goey a certain starter for the Magpies' Friday night clash with the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.
McRae admitted the 29-year-old could have played as far back as their Opening Round defeat to GWS, but the Magpies opted to hold back their star playmaker out of an abundance of caution.
