Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised for not revealing Chinese naval incident before APEC Summit. Argentina elects libertarian Javier Milei as president amid anger over economic crisis. And in Rugby Union, ousted Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan says his departure will create division in the sport.
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised for not revealing Chinese naval incident before APEC Summit.
- Argentina elects libertarian Javier Milei as president amid anger over economic crisis.
- Ousted Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan says his departure will create division in the sport.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing criticism for not revealing details of an attack on Australian personnel by the Chinese navy until after he met President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit.
Former prime minister and current U-S ambassador Kevin Rudd has defended Mr Albanese's conduct against criticism from the opposition and crossbenchers.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has told Sky News the incident, which saw Australian naval divers injured by sonar pulses, should have been raised at the summit.
"You can't sit there and pretend you're going to be nice on trade while this is going on with your own navy people that could have bought more harm to them. This is just ridiculous. What happened to the friendship and the trust that we're building and all the rest? But more importantly, come out this morning, come and answer some questions, tell Australia what's going on, keeping us in the dark is not helpful."
Argentinian voters have elected libertarian outsider Javier Milei as their new president in a tight runoff, amid electorate anger at triple-digit inflation and rising poverty.
Centre-left candidate and Economy Minister Sergio Massa has conceded the election after a candidacy hampered by the country's worst economic crisis in two decades while he has been in the role.
President-elect Milei has won popularity with some for his radical views to fix the economy, including plans to shut Argentina's central bank, ditch the peso, and slash spending, sparking fears of austerity in others.
Mr Milei will have to deal with considerable financial pressures including depleted government and central bank funds, a significant debt program with the International Monetary Fund, and inflation nearing 150 per cent.
A new cyber health check program is being set up for small businesses which allows them to undertake a free assessment of their security measures.
The Albanese government has announced it will spend $7.2 million to offer the voluntary program as part of its Australian Cyber Security Strategy for 2023 to 2030.
This comes after concerns about national cyber security following an Optus outage, which saw millions of small businesses and customers unable to access the internet and make calls, and a cyber attack which saw Australia's largest ports operator shut down its operations.
Minister for Small Business Julie Collins says the program is about helping businesses who understand the risk to their data but do not know how to keep it safe.
"There's around 94,000 cyber attacks a year, and the average cost for small businesses is around $46,000 for each attack. This is about making small businesses more resilient. It's about also protecting consumers whose data they hold."
Emergency legislation rushed through parliament to apply more strict visa conditions on 93 people released from immigration detention could face a legal challenge.
Constitutional expert George Williams says legislation passed last week,requiring ankle monitors and imposing imprisonment for those in breach of tight reporting requirements, may be outside the scope of the government's powers.
Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has told Channel 7 the legislation, which passed with bipartisan support after amendments by the Opposition, should have been made before the High Court's decision.
"I mean all those amendments that you just talked about are Peter Dutton's amendments. What on earth is going on, they got a six month warning on this, six months ago they started saying 'Well mate, you're on shaky ground'. Well, the shaky ground just opened up."
In Rugby Union, former Rugby Australia ((RA)) chairman Hamish McLennan says his departure from the board will create further division in the sport.
Mr McLennan was ousted from the role following a late-night meeting ((November 19)), after six member unions who are yet to commit to RA's centralisation plans, including Queensland, the ACT and Rugby WA, demanded his resignation.
World Cup-winning Wallaby Daniel Herbert has been named as his replacement, amid concerns about the future of the code, including a disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign, the Wallabies' worst ever performance, and coach Eddie Jones' walking away 10 months into a five year deal.
Mr McLennan has told 2-G-B Radio he is disappointed, rather than angry, about the manner of his sacking, and not being able to finish the job of fixing what he describes as "a broken system".
