TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says promoting trade is his priority at the APEC summit;
- A new report finds 51 per cent of migrant women experienced sexual harassment at work;
- And in cricket, teammates give their support to Australia's Test debutant Nathan McSweeney.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says promoting trade is the priority during his attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru.
The election of Donald Trump has sent reverberations around diplomatic circles with concerns his protectionist, America-first trade policies and import tariffs could mean the loss of tens of billions of dollars to the Australian economy.
Mr Albanese says working with international partners and promote stronger trade ties has never been more important.
"Look, Australia will always support free and fair trade. We're a trading nation. One in four of Australia's jobs is trade dependent - and that will be a focus with the meetings that we will have over coming days."
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A new report documenting the experience of 3,000 migrant women on temporary visas has found 51 per cent have been sexually harassed.
Seventy-five per cent of those women did not report the incident because they feared losing their job and having their visa cancelled.
Union New South Wales - which produced the report - says the industries where workplace sexual harassment of migrant women was the highest, included the horticulture industry, hospitality, retail and the cleaning industry.
Unions New South Wales Secretary Mark Morey says significant reforms are needed to address the problem, including: establishing migrant worker centres to provide legal support.
He also says there needs to also be a regular assessment of new reforms like the new Workplace Justice visa, which allows workers to stay in Australia while they pursue legal action to enforce labour rights.
"I noticed this morning the president of the Farmers Federation made a couple of comments. One of those comments was I hope Unions New South Wales has reported all these to the appropriate authorities. That shows you the problem with this issue. A massive lack of understanding. Firstly, understanding that the women have their own agency and best practices on whether or not they will report what's happened."
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President-elect Donald Trump has named Matt Gaetz to be his nominee for attorney general.
The Trump loyalist and conservative representative from Florida - who has been under scrutiny due to ethics investigations - is being viewed by a number of people as a surprise pick for a position that usually goes to more senior politicians with a stronger legal background.
Trump's inner circle has described the attorney general as the most important member of the administration after Trump himself, key to his plans to carry out mass deportations, pardon January 6 rioters; and seek retribution against those who prosecuted him over the past four years.
In a statement, Mr Gaetz says it will be an honour to serve as President Trump's attorney-general.
Meanwhile, senator Marco Rubio has been appointed Secretary of State.
Mr Rubio says he is honoured to be selected for the role.
"It's a tremendous honour to the president who places his confidence in me in a position of such importance. It's also a tremendous responsibility. And the job of the secretary of state is to execute on the foreign policy set by the elected president of the United States."
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In cricket,
Usman Khawaja says he has confidence in his opening partner Nathan McSweeney, saying the25-year-old should be given the chance to leave his mark, following the retirement of David Warner earlier this year.
McSweeney will make his test debut in the series opener of the Border Gavaskar Trophy against India in Perth next week*, after Steve Smith moved to his preferred slot at number four.
He is the first Australian player in 47 years to make his Test debut as an opener, despite never having batted there at Sheffield Shield level.
Warner's 70-plus strike rate in first class cricket is significantly higher than McSweeney's 41.92, but Khawaja says there are other ways a test opener can build an innings.
"He has got a good head on his shoulders. He is very respectful. I haven't really met anyone who has had a bad word to say about him. We have an opportunity to put him in there with a lot of older experienced heads that might be able to help him. I feel like you can grow a lot quicker by not repeating the same mistakes that all the other guys repeat. I don't know where this myth started that you need someone to score really fast to do well. I don't know where that started. For me, it's a myth. As an opener, you are trying to score runs. You have got five days to do it."
