The Greens call for compensation for thalidomide survivors; Hopes for an extended pause as the Israel-Hamas truce enters its sixth day; And in cricket, Player of the match Glenn Maxwell leads Australia to a nail-biting T-20 victory against India.
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TRANSCRIPT
- The Greens call for compensation for thalidomide survivors;
- Hopes for an extended pause as the Israel-Hamas truce enters its sixth day;
- And in cricket, Player of the match Glenn Maxwell leads Australia to a nail-biting T-20 victory against India.
The Greens are calling for increased support to Thalidomide survivors following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's national apology to those who were victims of the drug.
The apology was in reference to the failure of federal and state governments to ban the importation or sale of the drug - widely prescribed to expectant mothers for morning sickness and anxiety - despite it being linked to birth defects in November 1961.
Health minister Mark Butler says the government are reopening the Thalidomide Survivors Support Program to make sure anyone who missed the previous opportunity to apply won’t miss out on financial support.
The Greens spokesperson for health and disability rights, Senator Jordon Steele-John, says the government needs to ensure this support keeps up with cost of living pressures.
"An apology is only as good as the actions that follow it. That is why we are calling today on the government to index support payments so that they keep up with the rising cost of living, and that there must be a pathway for survivors to get justice. That is why we are calling on the government to enable and reopen the pathway for Accessibility Assessment for support programs in Australia."
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The United States has sent the first of three military planes to Egypt to bring aid to Gaza, but humanitarian organisations say more is urgently needed to address the humanitarian crisis.
On the fifth day of an extended six-day truce, Hamas has freed 12 more hostages and Israel released 30 Palestinians.
Attention has turned to whether Qatar can mediate another extension.
Palestinian Envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour has told the General Assembly only a ceasefire can address the humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza and ensure lasting peace.
"This truce must turn into a permanent ceasefire. The massacres of Palestinian children, women and men cannot resume. Should not resume. You should not allow it to resume. That human conscience cannot bear it. International law, including humanitarian and human rights law, prohibits it."
In response, Israel's envoy has criticised the UN for systematically promoting an "anti-Israel agenda" and says the full extent of Hamas atrocities against Israelis has not been acknowledged by the organisation.
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The United Nations and top oceanographers say Antarctica and Greenland are melting over three times faster than in the early 1990s.
This comes as the United Nations climate conference, COP28, is set to commence on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Antarctica last week and heard directly from scientists about how rapidly the ice is disappearing.
Oceanographer and British Antarctic Survey leader, Professor Michael P Meredith, is one of those who will be attending the climate summit.
"This is a huge concern because obviously all that ice that was on land is now melted into the ocean and that's pushing up sea levels everywhere. That's going to have a global impact on all coastal communities, all coastal megacities and so on, all low-lying countries and islands. So there's going to be consequences from that that will be felt everywhere around the world."
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In cricket,
Glenn Maxwell has single-handedly catapulted Australia to a miraculous last-ball win over India by five wickets, in the third Twenty20 match at Guwahati.
Australia were behind throughout their pursuit of India before the batting partnership of Maxwell and captain Matthew Wade turned their luck around.
The win means Australia now stands a chance of winning the 5-match series, with India leading 2-1.
Player of the match Maxwell says victory never felt secure until the final over.
"It all went by pretty quickly actually, I think once the dew obviously affects the ball and makes it difficult to hold onto we knew that it was going to be hard work to bowl yorkers, and there probably wasn't a number at the back-end that we set ourselves to, but we just thought if we could stay in the hunt at least until the last over and give ourselves a chance, you never know, if we get a couple out of the middle we might stay in the game and we did really well just to keep ourselves in the game until the final over."
The fourth match will be played on Saturday in Raipur.
