The federal government makes a $1 billion investment in solar energy; Officers to use discretion to enforce a youth curfew in Alice Springs; And in sport, two teams to join the NRL women's competition from next year.
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin,
** The federal government makes a $1 billion investment in solar energy;
** Officers to use discretion to enforce a youth curfew in Alice Springs;
And in sport,
** Two teams to join the NRL women's competition from next year.
The government wants Australia to become a solar panel manufacturing superpower, with a $1 billion investment in the industry.
A former coal-fired power station in New South Wales will be transformed into a solar panel manufacturing hub as part of the Solar SunShot program.
PERC solar cell technology, which powers three quarters of the world's solar panels, was invented in Australia, but only one per cent of the world's solar panels are currently manufactured in Australia.
Chief Executive of the Smart Energy Council John Grimes says this investment will help solar panel innovation in Australia.
"We're very late, but we are finally getting into the race. Now in Australia we won't compete head to head with the large scale low cost solar that's been produced, but we will compete where that IP and innovation, the Australian know how, gives us a competitive edge."
—
Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy says officers will use discretion and common sense to enforce a youth curfew in Alice Springs.
The curfew is in place for a fortnight between 6pm and 6am and is designed to reduce the incidence of crime.
Commissioner Murphy says young people who are working in Alice Springs or families with children can still come into the town during the curfew hours.
"If you're a family and you've got young kids coming to have dinner in the central business district, you can still do that. You can go about your lawful business-it's about the unlawful conduct and the crimes that we're trying to control and put those measures in place under the provisions of the Emergency Management Act."
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated his support for local authorities in the Territory.
"We are continuing to monitor what is happening there. We have a $250 million program in Alice Springs. All Australians will be concerned by the scenes that we have seen. There has been a temporary curfew put there in Alice Springs. That is a sensible move and one that the federal government supports."
—
Director general of the International Organisation for Migration, Amy Pope, says climate change will displace more people than ever in the years to come.
Ms Pope says she has spoken with people in Australia who have lived through climate-related disasters, and called on Australians to understand the more complex, comprehensive picture that is migration.
She has also acknowledged the debate around migration isn't new, but you can see there is a period of tension and resistance around the world.
Ms Pope told the National Press Club when you hear the word displacement, you don’t necessarily think of yourself.
"Spend a moment to reflect on either your experience or people you know who have been displaced by one of these forces (flooding or bushfires). And then think for a minute, if you did not have insurance, if you did not have a government who could help you respond, if you did not have services to help fill the gap, where would you be today? That’s the situation that we are going to face more and more across the world with communities that are vulnerable."
—
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended Labor’s attempt to rush a deportation bill through Parliament.
The Albanese Government has faced criticism since November for not being ready for when the High Court ruled it unlawful to keep people locked up in immigration detention indefinitely.
The Coalition and the Greens have teamed up to refer a new bill, which would make it easier to deport non-citizens failing to cooperate with authorities, to a parliamentary inquiry.
But Greens Senator David Shoebridge says that doesn't mean the Greens and the Coalition are on the same page.
"I obviously have a real lack of faith that the coalition will, at the end of the day support decency and humanity in this space. But I think also as we look at this bill, we look at the God-like powers It's proposing to give the Immigration Minister, we look at the provisions to literally blacklist countries and freeze out millions of Australians from ever seeing their family again. Those aspects of the bill are so extreme that I have hope that a majority of politicians in this place from all political strikes were rejected."
—
And in sport,
Two teams will join the NRL's women's competition from next year, as the league takes the next step in growing the women's game.
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs will enter the the top women's league for the first time, with the New Zealand Warriors returning to the competition after a six year hiatus.
The addition of the teams will extend the NRLW regular season to 11 weeks, with a two week finals campaign.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo says the expansion will help develop the grassroots level of the game.
"As we've grown at the elite level so we've seen the inspiration of our players and our professional players provide to young people, and we've seen some incredible growth in participation across the country and across the Tasman. And I want to share some of those numbers with you. We're up to 40,000 females registered to play rugby league, and a couple of years ago before the advent of the NRLW competition, that number was under 10,000."
