In this bulletin, the Greens draw new comparisons between Labor's migration plan and the US crackdown; Ireland to boycott next year's Eurovision contest and in sport, the athlete at the centre of a Hyrox competition controversy issues an apology.
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TRANSCRIPT
- The Greens draw new comparisons between Labor's migration plan and the US crackdown
- Ireland to boycott next year's Eurovision contest
- The athlete at the centre of a Hyrox competition controversy issues an apology
The Greens say the government has more questions to answer about its plan to deport those who overstay their visa, in a proposed migration crackdown.
Labor's plan involves hiring 100 new compliance officers and freeing-up 250 beds in immigration detention, as well as potentially re-purposing a 100-bed quarantine facility near Melbourne Airport used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge says Labor has rejected suggestions its plan to detain overstayers is comparable to ICE-driven crackdowns in the United States.
But he says if Labor does not want to be seen as copying the hardline US approach, it should avoid using the same methods.
"We know that when they open these detention centres, when they put the extra 100 Home Affairs officers in their uniforms and send families and kids into these detention centres, we know who is going to run them: MTC, a US international prison company... Before 2015, there were programs that actually stopped overstaying. And it didn't involve two burly blokes turning up and taking you to a private jail. It involved sending a caseworker in, understanding why people were overstaying."
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Queensland has declined to follow the lead of the New South Wales government in allowing people with small amounts of cannabis in their system to drive.
Legislation lifting a ban on medicinal cannabis patients has passed the New South Wales parliament, allowing motorists on an unrestricted licence to drive as long as they are enrolled as a registered medicinal user and have proof of a valid prescription.
But Queensland has approved tougher penalties for drivers with a drug present in their blood or saliva, saying the change was based on expert evidence around road safety.
In a video posted to social media, Jacqueline Verne from the Legalise Cannabis Queensland party says this is not true, and the vote will make life harder for medical cannabis patients in regional and rural areas who cannot access public transport.
"The government claims this legislation is based on crash data. If they used the evidence to double the penalties, why are they withholding that data from the public? Show us the data. Because this looks less like road safety and more like punishing patients first, then hiding the evidence until after the law has passed."
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Ireland has announced it will not be taking part in Eurovision in 2027 - or broadcasting the contest.
Ireland was one of five countries to also boycott the competition this year, along with the Netherlands, Iceland, Slovenia and Spain who all cited objections to Israel's participation.
Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green says the European Broadcasting Union regrets but respects broadcaster RTE's decision for next year which is based on the same reasoning.
Speaking to RTE earlier this year, Mr Green says the Contest is the ideal place to find common ground.
"It is a public service broadcaster, CARN, who participates here, and we don't believe that they're responsible for the actions of their government... We believe that there has to be spaces in the world - in culture and sport - where we can gather the world and show that the world can be a better place."
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A livestream video has been set up at a remote waterhole in the Northern Territory, for viewers to watch wildlife in real time.
Researchers at Charles Darwin University and NT Parks and Wildlife have set up the camera at a pool on a temporary stream in the Watarkka National Park in central Australia, 350 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs.
Professor of Freshwater Ecology, Jenny Davis, says viewers can watch as the waterhole changes throughout the day and across the seasons as dingoes, kangaroos, birds and other animals drink, catch prey or use the streambed as a path when the water dries up.
She hopes the livestream will give viewers an appreciation for the outback at the remote escarpment.
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To sport,
An Australian athlete who won a HYROX competition in China despite soiling herself mid-contest has retroactively withdrawn from the race.
Joanna Wietrzyk has posted a statement on social media saying she regrets her decision not to step off the track after experiencing a bowel movement during the international race in Beijing.
HYROX race organisers have promised immediate changes to competition rules after the incident, which sparked heated debate about hygiene, competition fairness, and the short and long term risks associated with pushing the physiological limits of the human body.
Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at UNSW, Mark Booth, tells SBS such incidents are more common than people realise.
"You just have to get on YouTube and have a look at any Hawaiian Ironman, any ultra-endurance events, and you're going to see many, many, many, many, many athletes soiling themselves and continuing their event. It's quite common in the ultra-endurance events. It's happened for decades and decades and decades. It just hasn't happened in that sport, I think."
