In this bulletin;
- Faith leaders warn that hate speech laws may infringe on religious freedoms;
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong urges Australians to leave Iran immediately if possible;
- And in tennis, defending champion Jannik Sinner confident about his Australian Open chances.
Some of Australia’s most influential religious leaders have come together to urge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to pause his hate speech reforms, warning about unintended consequences for freedom of religious expression.
Leaders from various Christian churches and Muslim organisations alongside Sikh and Buddhist leaders have sent a joint letter to the prime minister and senior government officials, raising concerns about the reforms drawn up in response to the Bondi Beach terror attack .
In the statement, the 26 leaders say they recognise the seriousness of the antisemitism issue in Australia but warn that, in their view, "The Bill does not provide clear and adequate protection for lawful religious teaching."
Reverend Michael Stead, Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, tells S-B-S all of these faith communities see it as an issue of religious freedom.
"All of the communities are concerned to ensure that Australia continues to be a place where people of all faiths are free to practice their religion and these kind of overreaching hate speech laws end up pitting communities against each other because it ends up becoming a criminal offense to make truth claims of my religion against your religion. And we end up getting the police to enforce claims because I've said something that offends somebody else because I've claimed that Jesus is the only way to God and things like that. But this isn't how we build social cohesion by asking the law to be a policeman on whose religion is better, whose religion is right."
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Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has urged Australians to leave Iran immediately if possible.
Ms Wong has condemned the Iranian government's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that activists say have killed at least 2,677 people.
The United States has also threatened military retaliation for the protesters' deaths.
The Foreign Minister advises all Australians to avoid the region for the foreseeable future.
"We have advised Australians not to travel for to Iran. The security situation remains extremely volatile. If you are Australian and you are in Iran, we urge you to leave and if it is safe to do so. We do not have a bill the ability to provide consular assistance other than in the most extremely limited of circumstances."
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Minnesota's Governor has delivered a rare prime-time speech to address rising tensions brought on by the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the state.
Demonstrations have become common in Minneapolis since Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent on January 7, prompting the US president to threaten to send in the army.
Tim Walz has declared news reports don't do justice to the level of chaos, disruption and trauma that he says the immigration agents and federal government have created.
The governor has encouraged the people of Minnesota to protest ICE in their communities, but to do so peacefully.
“Donald Trump wants this chaos. He wants confusion. And yes, he wants more violence on our streets. We cannot give him what he wants."
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The Prime Minister says parents are speaking to him directly about the benefits of the social media ban in their children's lives, a month on from the landmark policy being enacted.
The Federal Government is reporting 4.7 million accounts have been removed or deactivated across various platforms.
Australia has become the world leader in what could become a global movement toward social media age restrictions, as nations including Malaysia and New Zealand - consider similar moves.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is confident about the policy.
"The fact that in spite of some skepticism out there, it is working and being replicated around the world is a source of Australian pride."
The ban, which includes social media platform X, comes as X is under scrutiny for the actions of its AI chatbot 'Grok'.
In the past week, Grok has been banned in three countries for producing non-consensual explicit images of women and children.
Australia is among the countries considering further restrictions, as X reports that it has acted to fix the issue.
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In tennis,
Defending champion Jannik Sinner has arrived at the Australian Open confident in his ability to win a third successive title at Melbourne Park.
The 24-year-old Italian, who faces France's Hugo Gaston in the first round, is the favourite to win the men's Australian Open trophy, slightly ahead of arch-rival and current world-number-one player Carlos Alcaraz.
But the four-times Grand Slam champion says the competition will be far from easy.
"Yeah I mean the draw is very difficult. It doesn't really matter who you pick. We are the best players in the world and the way is very, very long and very far so we will go day by day. I would say especially in the beginning of the season, you never know what to expect. Players change a couple of things in the offseason so let's see what's coming but you know we are here to provide the best possible product for tennis and we just try to give our best."
