TRANSCRIPT
- Australia's Foreign and Defence ministers to host their New Zealand counterparts in Melbourne today.
- The Australian Government announces new targeted sanctions on the Myanmar military regime.
- And in sport, new concussion guidelines to help protect Australia's grass-roots athletes introduced.
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Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles are to host their New Zealand counterparts in Melbourne.
The inaugural Australia-New Zealand Foreign and Defence Ministers Consultations, known as ANZMIN, aims to bolster the security relationship between the two countries.
It is the first time the ministers have met since the change of government in New Zealand last year.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told Sky News he is interested in learning more about Australia's defence relationship with Britain and the United States, known as AUKUS.
"We're here to find out much more as to how we can understand it, and potentially be seriously a part of it."
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The Australian Government has announced new targeted sanctions on five entities directly linked to the Myanmar military regime.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says this decision comes as a response to the regime's persistent repression of the people of Myanmar, escalating violence, and the overall deterioration of the political, humanitarian, and security situation in the country.
The two banks facilitating the regime's activities, Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, will face targeted financial sanctions.
Additionally, three entities responsible for supplying jet fuel to the Myanmar military – Asia Sun Group, Asia Sun Trading Co Limited, and Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Co Limited – will also be subject to similar financial restrictions.
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The United Nations has rejected calls from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to shut down the main aid provider to Palestinians in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu told a group of ambassadors to the United Nations that Hamas has “infiltrated” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, following Israel's claims that 12 of their employees participated in Hamas’ 7 October attacks.
Those allegations prompted several countries, including Australia to freeze funding to the agency, which fired nine of the workers ahead of an investigation.
UNRWA says the agency, which employs 13,000 workers in Gaza and is a lifeline for the up to 1.9 million Gazans who have been displaced by the conflict, should not be punished for the alleged actions of a dozen employees.
Jan Egeland, former head of the UN humanitarian agency and current secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, says defunding UNRWA would be catastrophic for Palestinians.
"Defunding UNRWA is -- means a collapse of humanitarian work among Palestinian women and children in their hour of greatest need when they're under this relentless, indiscriminate bombardment and when there is so little capacity for humanitarian relief."
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St Vincent's Hospital has apologised to the victim of a shark attack after gruesome images of her injury appeared on social media that appeared to be shot in the emergency department.
Lauren O'Neill was badly wounded when a shark bit her on the leg while she was swimming near a jetty at Elizabeth Bay, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, on Monday evening.
Images emerged this morning of Ms O'Neill's bloodied leg while she was receiving emergency medical treatment.
St Vincent's has issued a statement saying it takes patient privacy obligations extremely seriously and is investigating the issue as a matter of priority.
Ms O'Neill yesterday asked for privacy after thanking medical staff and all who had come to her aid.
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In sport, new concussion guidelines to help protect Australia's grass-roots athletes have been introduced.
The guidelines, announced today by sports and medical officials, include a return-to-sport protocol which aims to ensure a minimum three-week break between a concussion and the resumption of competitive contact or collision sport.
The guidelines, developed in collaboration between the Australian Institute of Sport, Sports Medicine Australia and several others have used the most up-to-date, evidence-based information on concussion for athletes, parents, teachers, coaches and healthcare practitioners.
