TRANSCRIPT:
- Four people in a stable condition after a lightning strike in Sydney on Monday;
- Victoria to review its electricity network after a wild storm last week;
- A shoulder injury rules Will Jordan out of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
A sergeant whose unmarked police car was involved in a fatal crash with an Indigenous teen has been charged over the accident.
The sergeant has been served with a court attendance notice this morning.
16 year old Jai Kalani Wright died a day after suffering critical head injuries in a collision with the police car in inner Sydney in February 2022.
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Four people injured in a lightning strike while sheltering from intense storms in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens on Monday are said to be recovering well.
They were sitting under a tree that was struck by lightning.
New South Wales Ambulance Inspector Dominic Wong says all four suffered various injuries and were taken to hospital in a stable condition.
"The four patients are ranging in age from 19-36 with burns on their backs and limbs and also suffering from cardiac symptoms."
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The Victorian government has announced a review into wild storms that cut power to more than 50,000 properties last week.
Victorian Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio says experts will be commissioned to look at the lead up to - and fallout from - the destructive storm event that crippled the state's electricity transmission network.
Premier Jacinta Allan says it's standard practice to hold these reviews.
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Australia says it stands ready to assist Papua New Guinea after an escalation in tribal violence in the highlands.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says we are available to provide whatever practical support might be needed.
The violence broke out just as Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the government was giving Papua New Guinea a funding package to address major health challenges, including HIV and malaria.
The massacre has prompted P-N-G Prime Minister James Marape to announce that more powers will be given to the police to manage simmering tensions.
"We’ve asked for stronger police approach, especially in the face of firepower. Police at the moment are hesitant in terms of their own personal risk and safety. We're now looking in a cabinet paper that is being developed, how best we could ring fence our policing in operational area like this with not just a physical firepower, but a legal protection for them to be engaged. This has been going on for some time."
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The Royal Australian Navy's fleet of warships is to be boosted to more than 20 under a major defence shake-up.
It means the navy's surface fleet will more than double in size, with Australia buying more smaller warships and boosting the strike ability of larger ones under a $54 billion spend.
Defence Minister Richard Marles says it makes the navy the biggest it has been since the end of the Second World War.
"Because of the circumstances - the strategic circumstances - that we face today, we are announcing that we are accelerating the procurement of the general purpose frigate, which will see the first of those in service by the navy by the end of this decade."
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The Australian household savings ratio has hit a 17 year low.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics says just 1.1 per cent of disposable income is being saved - and since interest rate increases began, that ratio has gone down even more.
That's a cause for concern for Anglicare Australia Deputy Director May Azize.
"But it's also not surprising because we know that rents have been going up by about 10 per cent every single year. Rents have gone up by about 75 per cent since the onset of the pandemic. I don't know anybody who has had a wage increase of 75 percent."
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An Australian-led team of astronomers have found what could turn out to be the brightest object in the universe.
They have discovered what's known as a quasar, shining 500 trillion times brighter than the sun.
Lead author Christian Wolf from the Australian National University says the quasar has a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day.
He says the object is like a cosmic hurricane.
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A shoulder injury has ruled out New Zealand and Crusaders fullback Will Jordan from the Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
The Crusaders announced Jordan will undergo surgery and as a result be unavailable for selection during the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season.
He is expected to be fit to return to play in around six month's time.
