TRANSCRIPT:
- Advocates call for a West Australian boat arrival to NOT be used for political gain;
- Dozens reported killed in Papua New Guinea tribal violence;
- An Olympian stood down after wearing a mankini at a New South Wales equestrian event.
Advocates for asylum seekers say politicians should not use a Western Australia boat arrival for political gain.
The group of approximately 40 men have reportedly been sent to offshore immigration detention in Nauru after arriving on Friday.
Jana Favero from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says using their situation to political advantage, ignores the humanity of those fleeing to Australia.
"This is about people, it's not about politics. There are policies and laws in place to ensure that people can be safe when they are fleeing. So it's not 'new' news and people will always leave by whatever methods they can if their lives are in danger."
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Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in a massacre in Papua New Guinea.
Police say 53 men have been killed in P-N-G's northern highlands, in what is a major escalation of ongoing tribal violence in the region.
A report by local newspaper the Post-Courier has said the violence is connected to a battle between two tribes.
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Asbestos has been confirmed at more sites across Sydney.
There are now five schools who have detected asbestos in their mulch, and most have closed while that is addressed.
Three other public sites have been identified - an Aldi supermarket at Cobbitty southwest of Sydney, Riverstone Sports Centre, and an area of a shared path along the Parramatta Light Rail project at Telopea in Sydney's northwest.
They are all set to be contained today.
But in good news for Taylor Swift and Blink 182 fans - Sydney's Olympic Park precinct has been given the all clear.
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New opinion polling indicates Australians broadly support changes to the planned stage three tax cuts.
A new Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy poll shows 44 per cent support the changes, which will see Australians earning under $150,000 receive a larger tax cut.
The legislation passed the House of Representatives with Coalition support last week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he believes many people will be better off.
For retail workers, so many people who work at Woolworths or Coles or work in the retail industry, they earn $45,000 or less, they will now get a tax cut, they were not going to get a single dollar under Peter Dutton's plans, that goes back to Scott Morrison's tax cuts of five years ago."
Independent Senator Jackie Lambie says the tax cuts will help.
But she says the government needs to do more to address the financial pain many Australians are facing.
"I just think that people are feeling it really tough. It's not just about the tax cuts, it's about the lack of housing out there. It's about the supermarket prices that are going on, the fuel prices. And God forbid there'll be electricity bills starting to come in after that Christmas period. So I think it needs to go a lot further. This isn't just a one move thing. You're going to have to make multiple moves here. And I think one of the biggest things is those goddamn electricity prices."
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For the first time in recorded history, a famous red crab migration on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean has happened two months late.
Every year in December female red crabs cross the remote Australian territory to release up to 100,000 eggs each in the ocean, triggered by the first rainfall of the wet season.
But Brendan Tiernan from Parks Australia says they were late this year because of a lack of rain, spawning two months later than usual.
He says the late arrival is a worrying sign of climate change.
"The false start that we had in December, they got going with a couple of millimetres and the ones that started to migrate in December quickly realised that they'd made a mistake and turned back."
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Three-time Olympic medal-winning rider Shane Rose has been stood down from equestrian competition after wearing what's known as a mankini during a showjumping event at Wallaby Hill, in the New South Wales southern highlands.
Equestrian Australia says he hasn't been suspended - but they are reviewing the matter after a complaint was made about Rose's attire.
Riders were encouraged to wear fancy dress for their events at Wallaby Hill, with Rose choosing to wear a gorilla suit, a Simpsons outfit and the mankini, a skimpy swimwear item popularised by Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat character.
The 50 year old has apologised for his choice of outfit, and says he hopes the incident won't affect his Olympic preparation.
