The Bureau of Meteorology declares Australia has entered an El Niño climate pattern, The government calls for respectful debate in the lead up to the Voice to Parliament referendum, And Jack Payne remains in doubt for the Brisbane Lions' preliminary final against Carlton.
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TRANSCRIPT
- The Bureau of Meteorology declares Australia has entered an El Niño climate pattern.
- The government calls for respectful debate in the lead up to the Voice to Parliament referendum.
- And in AFL, Jack Payne remains in doubt for the Brisbane Lions' preliminary final against Carlton.
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The Bureau of Meteorology declares Australia has now entered an El Niño climate pattern, amid a record spring heatwave.
The Bureau's statement comes two months after the World Meteorological Organization made its own El Niño declaration.
The announcement follows soaring temperatures and extreme fire danger seen across multiple states, with a total fire ban declared for the New South Wales south coast and Greater Sydney regions.
The Bureau of Meteorology says temperatures are set to increase tomorrow too, hitting 34 degrees in Sydney, with parts of South Australia and Queensland also feeling the heat.
The El Niño event is linked to hot, dry weather which emergency services fear will increase the risk of bushfires around Australia.
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The government is calling for respectful debate from supporters of both the Yes and No campaigns in the lead up to the Voice to Parliament referendum.
It comes after a group of about 20 people supporting the Yes campaign staged a protest at a major No campaign event in Adelaide on Monday and were accused of heckling No supporters.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the actions of the protesters, and South Australia's Premier Peter Malinauskas says the protesters were harming the Yes side's cause.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says the debate needs to return to the issue at hand and calls for respectful conversation around the changes proposed.
"The call from those of us in in the Yes camp is that this needs to be a respectful conversation where people's views and opinions are listened to and not derided."
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New data reveals Indigenous Australians are dying of drug overdose at substantially higher rate than non-Indigenous Australians.
The data gathered by not-for-profit Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council finds Indigenous Australians are almost four times more likely to die of a drug overdose.
Director of the AD&A Scott Wilson says the research shows that unintentional drug induced deaths are higher for Indigenous people in all five jurisdictions and in every drug type category.
He says people need to be aware of the very real and immediate danger associated with drug use and warns people to take precautions.
"Don't mix alcohol because that's seems the combination that people will take panadine forte or codeine forte might be drinking that could lead to an overdose death. The federal government did make available on the 1st of July moroxydine which is a nasal spray. If your loved ones are on those pain medication or even moroxyzone just keep it in your medical kit because that will reverse the effect of the overdose if given administered pretty quickly."
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India has rejected Canada's claim that it was involved in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader, calling the accusation "absurd and motivated."
It comes after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was "actively pursuing credible allegations" linking Indian government agents to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Mr Trudeau told Parliament Canadian intelligence agencies were investigating after Mr Nijjar was gunned down on June 18 outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia.
Spokesperson for the British Colombia Sikh Gurdwara Council Moninder Singh says the community is calling for a thorough investigation into the death.
“I think at the moment, we have no idea. Like the justice system itself has been kind of, I think, failed in these moments in the past where trade deals and diplomacy and all these sorts of things come into play. So human rights if it's actually at the forefront of our agenda, then I would say like the justice system should do its work its job, find people that actually did this. If Canada is actually declaring that India is an actual actor in this, I think that's the first step towards acknowledging and a first step towards justice."
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And in AFL,
Brisbane Lions key defender Jack Payne remains in doubt for the preliminary final against Carlton due to his ankle injury.
At today's open training session in Springfield, 23-year-old Payne kept to light running in joggers.
The defender has stepped up as one of Lions most important players this year, filling the substantial void left by Marcus Adams.
