Peter Dutton accused of inflaming tensions over the Middle East; Student debt growing faster than it can be repaid; And in AFL, Brisbane has defeated Melbourne by 22 points.
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TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Peter Dutton accused of inflaming tensions over the Middle East;
- Student debt growing faster than it can be repaid;
- And in AFL, Brisbane has defeated Melbourne by 22 points.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has defended likening the social significance of a pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House to the Port Arthur massacre.
Mr Dutton is defending his choice of words telling Channel 9 he he was comparing the response of then prime minister John Howard with Anthony Albanese.
"The point I was making, which is absolutely a legitimate one, is that I thought this was a time for the prime minister to show leadership and to step up. Instead, we’ve had crickets."
But Labor's Bill Shorten says John Howard received bipartisan support after the Port Arthur massacre which led to gun laws being tightened.
He's told Chanel 9 Mr Dutton could consider taking a similar approach.
"Peter's, you know, he's got to make his points, that's his job but I think that he should work with the prime minister to call out inflammatory language rather than throw kerosene on the bonfire of hate."
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Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong says President Biden's comments regarding the prosecution of Julian Assange are "encouraging" to hear.
President Biden has said the US is considering Australia's request to drop the US push to prosecute Julian Assange, who is charged with releasing classified US documents almost 15 years ago.
Even so, Senator Wong has told Sky News that the matter is not up to the government.
"(There is) A positive momentum behind whatever discussions which occur. I would again, make the points that ultimately, these are matters that Mr. Assange and his legal team have to be engaged in."
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Independent MP Monique Ryan says students are seeing their HECS debt grower faster than they can repay it because of what she calls an unfair indexation system.
In June last year, an indexation rate of 7.1 per cent was applied to HECS debts, the highest rate in decades.
Monique Ryan has told Nine Radio the system needs to be reformed.
"What's happened now over time is that they way the indexation has affected young people and the issues that many people are experiencing in paying back their debt means that they're making payments but they're seeing their debt increase over time."
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An Indigenous legal service in the Northern Territory is calling for an independent advisory body to investigate allegations of racism by police.
It come after a racist image that was shared among police on email in 2008 was published in newspapers.
The image showing an alternative Monopoly board has been referred to a joint investigation between territory police and the NT's Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.
Principal legal officer with the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Jared Sharp has told the ABC Indigenous clients regularly make complaints against police officers.
"This is always a conflict on interest if you're investigating yourself. You're your own people. Like, it needs to be at arms length. It needs to be independent of the police."
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The former manager of singer Guy Sebastian will face a new trial next year accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the pop star.
Titus Day managed the Australian Idol winner through his company 6 Degrees between 2009 and 2017, before their relationship ended.
He's appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court to to plead not guilty to 34 counts of receiving money from the pop star and fraudulently embezzling the funds.
He'll face trial in May next year.
In December last year, Day successfully had his convictions quashed over the fraud charges after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal found prosecutors had made inappropriate comments to the jury.
—
In the AFL,
Brisbane has defeated Melbourne by 22 points.
The victory came as dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale marked his 250th game.
