The Federal Government announces further $83 million for HMAS Stirling upgrades; Opposition leader Peter Dutton criticises the government's handling over asylum boat arrivals; And in AFL, CEO Andrew Dillon addresses player Jeremy Finlayson's homophobic slur.
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TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin,
- The Federal Government announces further $83 million upgrades to prepare for nuclear submarines;
- Opposition leader Peter Dutton criticises the government's handling of asylum seeker boat arrivals;
- And in AFL, CEO Andrew Dillon addresses player Jeremy Finlayson's homophobic slur.
The Federal Government has announced further $83 million for HMAS Stirling upgrades to prepare for AUKUS nuclear submarines.
The funding is set to span across 32 projects at HMAS Stirling including maintenance of the Parkes Wharf and tunnel, building refurbishments, pollution prevention, and road works.
There are expectations that Australia, the US and the UK will announce new talks on the accession of new members to the AUKUS security pact, especially Asian countries.
Deputy Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite says Australia is in constant talks with its allies in Asia.
"Australia hosted Asian, and we had leaders from Southeast Asia come to Australia. A big focus of that conference was on building and strengthening defense alliances with our partners in Asian and AUKUS will contribute to that strengthening into the future."
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Opposition leader Peter Dutton has criticised the federal government's handling of boat arrivals of asylum seekers in Australia.
It comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denied claims that the government is failing to maintain border security following the arrival of a group of people by boat in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Police spent the weekend searching for a man who is believed to have been separated from the group and was later located on a track in the state's far north.
Mr Dutton says that the country's immigration program needs to be reviewed.
"The government has weakened operation sovereign borders. They've removed key elements of operation sovereign borders. They've reduced aerial surveillance by 20%, and they've reduced the on water days being conducted by Australian border force by some 12%. So we don't want to see people drowning at sea again. We don't want to see boats restart. We want to make sure that we've got an orderly migration program."
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A new survey of people with a disability has found their strong opposition to several recommendations of the recent review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Advocacy Group.
The Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten commissioned an independent review of the program in 2022 with 26 recommendations that aim putting people with disability back at the centre of the NDIS, by restoring confidence in the scheme.
But the organisation Every Australian Counts conducted the survey with 1300 NDIS participants, family members, advocates and service providers and found that the majority of NDIS participants were particularly concerned about the proposed compulsory registration of NDIS providers.
Nick Avery is the vice-president of the organisation Every Australian Counts and a participant in the NDIS.
"NDIS review recommended mandatory provider registration or enrollment, but it would mean that people would not be able to use the non-registered providers that we currently have access to, which is problematic because there are very few registered providers currently and a lot of people are relying on non-registered providers for their support, especially in regional and remote Australia."
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Nearly 50,000 Israelis took to the streets in West Jerusalem urging their government to sign a ceasefire deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza.
It marks the six-month duration since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on the 7th of October last year.
Daniel, one of the protesters at the demonstration, says he hopes for the return of the Israeli hostages and a normal life for people in Gaza.
"Everything is going worse and worse and worse, just more and more war, more and more hatred. [I hope] that the hostages come back home, that the Gaza people which are refugees, and that's so many, will start to go back to normal life."
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, while 129 hostages remain in Gaza , of whom around 95 are thought to be still alive
Although Israel and Hamas have resumed negotiations for a ceasefire, there are still significant gaps holding up the agreements.
