TRANSCRIPT
- Independent MP Kylea Tink to introduce a bill to limit the time asylum seekers can spend in immigration detention.
- Ministerial powers to place the CFMEU into administration could be put in place within days.
- And in sports, preparation for Paralympic blind football events underway in Paris.
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Independent MP Kylea Tink will introduce a bill to limit the time asylum seekers can spend in immigration detention.
The bill would make it illegal for the Australian government to detain asylum-seekers for more than 90 days and to place any children in detention centres.
Ms Tink claims the Migration Amendment (Limits on Immigration Detention) Bill 2024 will ensure Australia complies with global human rights obligations.
She says Australia does not meet international standards when it comes to treatment of asylum seekers.
“As it currently stands, we are one of the only nations in the world that receives asylum seekers and refugees, promptly offshores them and puts them into facilities with very little transparency or accountability and holds them indefinitely with no line of sight for that human being on what sort of treatment they can expect to receive or when they will be released."
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Ministerial powers to place a division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union into administration could be put in place within days.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says she's confident the government will be able to reach a deal with the Coalition to place the construction and general division of the union into external administration.
It comes after attempts to pass the legislation failed in the Senate last week, following tense talks between the government and the Coalition.
Senator Gallagher says negotiations on the CFMEU had taken place over the weekend, and she is confident the laws will pass the upper house.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced plans to create a buffer zone in Russia's Kursk region.
Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in the region and struck a second one nearby, disrupting Russian supply lines during a cross-border incursion that began on the 6th of August.
In his nightly address Mr Zelenskyy says Ukraine's primary task is to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions.
This includes creating a buffer zone in the operation in the Kursk region.
"Today, we achieved good and much-needed results in destroying Russian equipment near Toretsk. And all this is more than just defense for Ukraine, it is now our primary task in defensive operations overall - to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor's territory – our operation in the Kursk region."
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Independent MP Monique Ryan is calling on the federal government to do more to support people fleeing the fighting in Gaza.
The comments come amid opposition calls for a ban on Palestinians escaping Gaza to Australia.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called for a halt in the intake of Palestinians until strict security vetting processes can be applied, claiming terrorist sympathisers could be admitted to Australia.
Ms Ryan says those who arrive from Palestine need more certainty about their visa status.
"I think we do need to give those people who have come here as refugees from Palestine some certainty about their futures and the visitor's visas only last for three or six months and they have to keep reapplying which is not appropriate. The first priority is to provide humanitarian aid to those people who have come to this country and dreadful circumstances. I think it's also important to give them access to healthcare and education support. There is a number of things the government needs to do in this space."
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Workers in Paris have begun to convert the Eiffel Tower stadium pitch to host the Paralympic blind football events.
The Paralympics, which bring together nearly 4,500 athletes, will begin on August 28th with the opening ceremony set to happen on the Champs Elysees and the Concorde Square.
Venue manager for the Paris 2024 Blind Football events, Gautier Jourdet, says 400 tons of sand will allow for better acoustics of the playing field for the visually impaired athletes.
"The players are guided a lot by sound, sound coming from bells inside the ball and also by the guides that are outside the field of play. And so for that, it is extremely important that the field itself has good sound absorption capacities. That's why it's important to keep sand under the blind football playing area to avoid any resonance effects."
The blind football events will begin at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on September 1st, with a final scheduled for September 7th.
