Indigenous landowners in the Northern Territory battle expanding demand for defence housing; The children of parents where the husband murdered his wife to sue their father; And, Australia's Olympic swimmers try to ignore a controversial comment on the eve of the Paris Olympics.
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TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Indigenous landowners in the Northern Territory battle expanding demand for defence housing;
- The children of parents where the husband murdered his wife to sue their father;
- And, Australia's Olympic swimmers try to ignore a controversial comment on the eve of the Paris Olympics.
Indigenous elders in Darwin are expressing concern about the growing demand for defence housing in the city.
They say it is pushing Indigenous people out of the city.
Both the Australian and US governments are spending large amounts of money upgrading Royal Australian Air Force bases in the Northern territory to suit evolving US and Australian interests.
That requires bringing in people to work on the projects, and coastal forest land-clearing to create housing for them, combined with rising prices for said housing, has sparked a dispute with traditional landowners, the Larrakia people, who are attempting to save Lee Point, north of the city of Darwin, from development.
Traditional landowner Tibby Quall says they have won cases like this before, and developers should be made to move south.
"It doesn't make any sense to us that they develop the land because we've been fighting land rights since '75. We won land in Darwin, land that was suburban, a suburb of Darwin, and we won a land claim in the Defence area. You know, it's a practical argument now that we should be successful in this."
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The children of a couple where the husband murdered the wife are suing their father for psychiatric injuries.
47-year-old Adrian James Basham is serving a life term in prison after murdering Samantha Fraser at her home in Phillip Island in Victoria in 2018.
She was due to give evidence against him in court a week later, testifying that he had raped her throughout their ten year marriage.
The couple's three children, aged 15, 13, and 11, as well as Ms Fraser's parents, say the murder has caused them to suffer anxiety and depression.
The children are also claiming damages, saying they have suffered a loss of financial dependency.
Basham admits to causing Ms Fraser's injuries, but maintains she took her own life.
He is in the process of appealing the conviction.
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Journalists at Nine newspapers have started a five-day strike.
Five hundred staff walked out of work at 11am eastern time this morning.
The ABC is reporting unionised staff rejected management's latest pay offer yesterday afternoon.
Adam Portelli is the deputy Chief Executive of the relevant union- the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
He says Nine are being disrespectful to their audience by making their journalists an inadequate offer.
"This is always the last resort for our members, and it's something they don't take lightly. But they're doing it because Nine simply hasn't shown them the respect that they deserve- and frankly hasn't shown the respect to their audiences that they deserve."
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Bronte Campbell says Australia's Olympic swimmers are trying to ignore the saga of one of their coaches who wants a star South Korean swimmer to beat them.
Michael Palfrey is one of eight Australian swimming coaches at the Paris Olympics.
He's told Korean television he'd like Korean swimmer Kim Woo-Min win gold in the men's 400 metres freestyle- despite the fact Australia has two strong competitors in the event, Sam Short and Elijah Winnington.
Palfrey has previously mentored Kim.
He's apologised for his comments, and Australian head coach Rohan Taylor says there will be consequences for them... but says Palfrey will allowed to stay in Paris with the Australian team.
Campbell says Australia's swimmers will focus only on what they can control.
"There's nothing we can do about it two days before an Olympic Games. And what we can control is the next two days- how we spend our time- and then, once we start racing, how that goes. So, it's not the time to spend any thought or energy on it. It's parked in the back of your brain."
The Olympic opening ceremony is tomorrow morning.
