TRANSCRIPT:
- Four in hospital after a lightning strike during severe storms in Sydney;
- The government trades barbs with the opposition over a boat arrival near Broome;
- Two gold medals for Australia at the world swimming championships in Doha.
Four people have been taken to hospital after lightning struck a tree they were sheltering under during severe storms in Sydney this afternoon.
The group were sitting under the tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens, near the Opera House, when the lightning hit.
A spokesperson for the New South Wales Ambulance Service says a man in his late teens and a woman in her 20s have been taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, while a man and woman, both aged in their 30s, have been transported to St Vincent's (Hospital).
All are reported to be in a stable condition.
.
Rhetoric on border control has intensified after the transfer of some 40 men to offshore immigration detention in Nauru, after they reached Western Australia by boat last week.
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the federal government has scaled back efforts to stop boat arrivals.
The coalition started what is known as Operation Sovereign Borders when it was in government to stop such boat arrivals, and a Defence Department official says that has continued under the present government, the same as it did under the previous one.
But Mr Dutton says this latest arrival shows that can't be true.
"It's clear that they don't have the same surveillance in place that we had when we were in government. It's inconceivable that a boat of this size, carrying 40-plus people, could make it to the mainland without here being any detection. And the Prime Minister carried on with some stupid story... he was caught completely by surprise. He had not a clue that this boat had arrived. So, I don't think you can take this Prime Minister at face value. You certainly can't take his word as his bond."
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek has hit back.
She's accused Peter Dutton of helping people smugglers advertise by claiming the federal government has softened its border security measures.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also gone on the offensive, saying people smugglers are part of an evil trade, and Mr Dutton and his party's attacks on the government over the latest boat arrival are cheap and selfish politics.
"They should stop being a cheer squad for people smuggling. Peter Dutton needs to stop acting in such an irresponsible, opportunistic way, in trying to seize some short-term political advantage in a way that just does not promote Australia's national interest."
.
A federal inquiry has been told there's concern about the practice of stripping convicted terrorists of their Australian citizenship.
The Home Affairs Department says it's important that Australian laws are robust enough to adequately deal with "more serious and sophisticated" security threats.
But independent senator David Pocock says expelling convicted terrorists could harm other nations and also hurt their prospects for de-radicalisation.
Australian Human Rights Commission President Rosalind Croucher has told the inquiry that stripping people of citizenship is currently only serving a symbolic purpose.
Ms Croucher says that under laws passed last year by the Parliament, the threshold for taking citizenship away is currently too low.
"Loss of Australian citizenship for dual nationals is an extremely serious matter and should only be possible in exceptional circumstances. Given the stakes involved, only the gravest criminal conduct should be captured by the regime, yet under the act, a court can make a citizenship cessation order if, amongst other requirements, the court has imposed a sentence of only three years imprisonment."
.
A second inquiry will be held into Sydney's Star Casino, with the gaming watchdog declaring it's not unsatisfied with Star's progress in proving it should regain its licence.
The Independent Casino Commission suspended Star's licence and issued a $100 million fine in October 2022 after an inquiry report found a litany of compliance failures.
These included a notorious gang-linked junket operator running an illicit cage at the casino and Chinese debit card transactions being disguised as hotel expenses.
The next round of hearings won't be held publicly, but a report will be released in May after the inquiry is finished.
.
Veteran environmentalist Bob Brown has been arrested in Tasmania during a defence of trees from logging operations.
Police say the former Greens party leader was taken into custody after a protest at a harvesting site in the Styx Valley, next to an area that is World Heritage listed.
Dr Brown argues that the area should never have been excluded from the heritage zone because it's home to the largest flowering plants in the world.
"There they are, smashing down World Heritage forest, which is, in my books, a breach of the World Heritage convention, which Australia is signatory to... breaking international law, and nobody gets arrested for that. It's outrageous."
.
Isaac Cooper and the women's four-times-100-metre medley relay team have finished the world swimming championships in Doha on a high, winning two gold medals for Australia.
Australia has finished the world titles with three golds, nine silvers and four bronzes, a medal tally only exceeded by the USA, who had 20 medals overall.
