Anthony Albanese remains optimistic about the Voice to Parliament referendum, Police in the Northern Territory say as many as four children were killed in a deadly car crash, and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is not giving up hope about Australia's chances of remaining in the Rugby World Cup.
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
- Anthony Albanese remains optimistic about the Voice to Parliament referendum.
- Police in the Northern Territory say as many as four children were killed in a deadly car crash.
- In sport, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is not giving up hope about Australia's chances of remaining in the Rugby World Cup.
----
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he remains optimistic about large numbers of undecided voters turning the tide in support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
It comes as early voting in four jurisdictions begins today ahead of the October 14th referendum.
Voters in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia are now eligible to vote.
And early voting will open up to New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland and South Australia from Tuesday, due to Monday being a public holiday in those states and territories.
As the referendum date approaches, Anthony Albanese says he is confident voters will focus on the question at hand and see the positive change a Voice to Parliament makes possible.
"This doesn't change the way that we're governed, doesn't change any of those circumstances. It won't be sitting down determining what the interest rates will be and telling the Reserve Bank, what they can do. It is a positive campaign. And I think also the feedback that I've had, certainly over the weekend, is people have noticed the positive nature of the yes campaign compared with some of the negativity that is there in the no campaign."
----
Police are working to figure out what caused the Northern Territory's deadliest road crash in more than 15 years after six people, including who police believe are four children, died in the Stuart Highway collision.
A four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Pajero collided with a road train near a small town in the Katherine region on Friday afternoon.
The driver and passenger of the truck escaped with non-life-threatening injuries.
Detective Senior Sergeant Brendan Lindner says investigators are working to identify those killed.
"So, we're working to identify, we have an idea of who the occupants may be. We believe that as many as four of them are children, but there are numerous inquiries ongoing currently in Katherine and in Darwin to confirm who's in the car."
----
A man charged with murdering an elderly resident by allegedly throwing him off a balcony had been aggressively going door-to-door at the unit complex, police say.
Officers attended the Brisbane residence at about 1.40pm yesterday after reports of a disturbance.
Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham says the 49-year-old Brisbane man had knocked on several unit doors before knocking on the door of the alleged victim.
"He was aggressively going door to door seeking certain items from people. We will allege that 49-year-old man knocked on the door of the 74 year old, now deceased man's unit. We allege that he answered the door. And within a very short period of time, there was a disagreement between the two men. ... We alleged the 49-year-old man has physically picked up the deceased and thrown him headfirst over the railing onto the concrete below, on the ground floor."
Police arrested the 49-year-old shortly after the incident at a nearby unit.
He has been charged with one count of murder.
----
Australia's chances of remaining in the Rugby World Cup are slim-to-non-existent after some disastrous games, but coach Eddie Jones is not giving up hope.
After beating Portugal 34-14 in pool play, their only chance of going through is for Portugal to beat Fiji in their next game by more than seven points.
While nothing is impossible, so far, the Portuguese have not won a single game.
Wallabies' coach Eddie Jones told 2-G-B that even so, they're going to spend this week planning as if they are going through to the final eight.
"I've never experienced this before, mate, so I really don't know, but we're anticipating we're going to be in the quarterfinals, so we've got plans to have three days off then we've got three days training. So we'll continue with that, and then we'll see on Sunday night."
