TRANSCRIPT
- The first person to be found guilty under Australian foreign interference laws
- New guidelines on COVID-19 booster shots
- Renewed calls for funding to be reinstated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
A Chinese-Australian businessman has been jailed under Australia's foreign interference laws.
Victorian businessman Di Sanh Duong is the first person to be found guilty under legislation, which bans foreign interference in domestic politics.
Mr Duong was found guilty of a relationship with the then-federal multicultural affairs minister, Alan Tudge, on behalf of the Chinese Communist party.
He's expected to spend at least 12 months behind bars.
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Australians over 65, along with immunocompromised adults, are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster every six months.
The government has accepted advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) for the 2024 COVID-19 vaccination program.
All other adults are eligible for a booster dose every 12 months, as are immunocompromised children over five.
The advice states that children in good health do not require a booster dose this year due to low incidence of severe illness in the age group.
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Greens Senator Janet Rice has been ejected from the House of Representatives for holding up a sign reading "stop human rights abuses" during the Filipino president's speech.
Senator Rice then joined protesters outside Parliament, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr addressed the house.
The President addressed parliament as part of a two-day visit to Canberra, ahead of the ASEAN Australia summit in Melbourne next week.
Senator Rice says she is disappointed that President Marcos was invited into Parliament.
"I'm appalled that President Marcos was invited to speak to the Australian Parliament. It is white washing the appalling human rights abuses that are continuing under his government. Nothing has improved compared with the outrageous human rights abuses that occurred under the Duterte regime."
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The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) is calling on the federal government to reinstate funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) so the agency can pay workers delivering aid.
It comes after a letter from the UNRWA Commissioner-General to the UN General Assembly this week warned of a catastrophe unless funding was reinstated.
ACFID CEO, Marc Purcell has warned UNRWA’s ability to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza is set to end in just over a month unless member states reinstate funding.
He says Australia should show leadership on the international stage by reinstating funding immediately.
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Australian dating app and social media users are being targeted by child sex offenders hungry for exploitation and abuse material.
That's according to a new survey by the Australian Institute of Criminology, showing how almost 10,000 dating app and website users found 12 per cent of respondents had been targeted.
It highlights how vulnerable users are being pressured for sexual images of their children with payment offers.
This includes parents, those who are younger, Indigenous, have a health condition or live with a disability.
Deputy Director Rick Brown says people can be more vulnerable in different ways.
"If they link their profile to their social media profile to dating apps that has an impact too in terms of their vulnerability. But those are independent of these factors. There's something about those demographics that we don't really understand fully that explain it."
More than 69 per cent of users approached by child sex offenders reported being asked questions of a sexual nature about their children.
