TRANSCRIPT
- Peter Dutton says he will introduce social media verification laws if he wins the next election.
- Ed Husic welcomes the release of Israeli hostages, but expresses concern over the loss of civilian life.
Australia's men's and women's hockey teams excel ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has vowed he would introduce an age verification system for social media if he wins the next federal election.
The coalition would increase the age limit for social media to 16, and would introduce the age verification system within 100 days of taking office.
Mr Dutton says actions needs to be taken to protect children from online harms.
"The question is, what do we do about it? The one option that you can take is just to do nothing, and allow a lawless environment to prosper and allow these companies to continue to profit at the expense of Australian children and their future. Or you can take the path that we're proposing now, and that is that there is age verification in place that we don't allow young impressionable minds onto social media without any guardrails."
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says the government supports age limits for social media, and is committed to trialling age verification technology in other areas before looking at changing the minimum age for social media.
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Cabinet Minister Ed Husic says he welcomes the release of hostages in an Israeli military operation, but the killing of more than 270 Palestinians is a tragedy.
Minister Husic has raised concerns about "a systemic failure" by Israel and its military to observe humanitarian law and the protection of innocent lives.
A United Nations inquiry has found both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the conflict, and that Israel's actions in Gaza also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.
Mr Husic told the ABC he was concerned about the loss of civilian life.
"The fact that you had so many people killed in that operation speaks to a broader thing, as well, of the way in which as I've said previously, the Israeli government is observing international humanitarian law and being able to distinguish between combatant and civilian. I've said that, you know, weeks ago that that was my concern that there was a systemic failure to observe international humanitarian law."
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A new report has found employees are feeling increasingly obligated to work unpaid overtime, with the average Australian doing more than nine hours every week.
Unions New South Wales says 86 per cent of those surveyed did at least some unpaid overtime each week, with the education sector averaging 12.2 extra hours per week.
Almost 5,500 people were asked about unpaid overtime across multiple industries, finding 64 per cent thought they would be limiting their career prospects if they didn't do extra hours.
Using the average Australian annual salary of $96,660, the association says it's a $21,000 donation from workers to their employers each year.
Secretary of Unions New South Wales, Mark Morey, has called for changes to the Fair Work Act, which permits unpaid overtime if additional hours are reasonable.
"What we are now seeing is an excessive use of this through coercive tactics, through tactics of pushing people to be part of a team and setting unreasonable expectations where people cannot meet things such as sales targets in the 38-hour week. They have to work extra time if they're going to meet those targets. It's particularly bad for young people starting out, and particularly for those with a mortgage, they're scared to speak up, they're scared to speak out."
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It has never been harder to live on welfare payments in Australia, according to Anglicare's latest cost of living report.
The report found prices for the core essentials - food, transport, and housing - were putting pressure on low income Australians, with the demand for homes outstripping supply keeping vacancy rates low.
Anglicare estimates a person on JobSeeker living in a share house has only $127 a week after paying for the three core essentials, whilst a single-parent household on the Parenting Payment would have $24.
Anglicare Director Kasy Chambers says welfare payments need to keep up with cost of living pressures.
"JobSeeker now is half the rate of the poverty line. We can see that those people, they're not able to look for jobs. This is actually a barrier to them for looking for jobs. They're not able to contribute to their kids school community, to their own community. They're worried every day about how they're going to balance getting food onto the table. So we've got to increase these benefits. We know that that costs money, but there's lots of other things that cost money too. We'd also say that the cost of not doing it is in some ways greater."
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Australia's men's and women's hockey teams have had the ideal warm-up for the Olympics, with the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos both beating Great Britain to finish their Pro League seasons.
The Kookaburras, led by a brilliant display from Tom Craig, recorded a crushing 5-1 win over powerhouses Great Britain.
And the Hockeyroos have pulled off a tournament double victory over the hosts, winning 3-2.
