Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rules out an Israel stopover on his Washington trip, An Indigenous boy has now died after being found unresponsive in a Western Australian youth prison, Pat Cummins is confident Australia can recover from early losses at the Cricket World Cup.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rules out an Israel stopover on his Washington trip.
- An Indigenous boy has now died after being found unresponsive in a Western Australian youth prison.
- And in cricket, Pat Cummins is confident Australia can recover from early losses at the Cricket World Cup.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out a visit to Israel ahead of a bilateral visit to the US next week as the Australian Labor Party insists it is not divided on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Mr Albanese has today rejected opposition calls to visit Israel, after two Labor ministers have said there needs to be an investigation into potential violations of international law by the country.
Science Minister Ed Husic claimed yesterday that Palestinians were being "collectively punished" for Hamas' attacks on Israel, while Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly has called for an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel.
The Albanese government backed a motion on Monday which condemned Hamas and supported Israel's right to defend itself, while Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged restraint in protecting civilian life on both sides.
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Channel 7 that the Prime Minister needs to control his fellow ministers.
"You don't get to freelance on government policy, on foreign policy when you're a cabinet minister. The Prime Minister has got a real problem here, he's going to Washington, he may well be asked, who is running foreign policy in Australia? Is it Penny Wong? Is it Ed Husic?"
ALP President Wayne Swann told Channel 9 News he does not think Mr Husic and Ms Aly's positions are outside the party line.
"This is national security, the head of ASIO has already warned about this sort of politics being played. Let's see a little more political restraint and no more of this nonsense about deep divisions in the Labor party."
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United States President Joe Biden has issued a spending request to Congress for over $22 billion in aid for Israel, and almost $95 billion for Ukraine.
He's expected to ask Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill quickly, as the US responds to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
The attack killed at least 1,400 people in Israel, and in response the Israeli military has bombarded Gaza killing at least 3,785 Palestinians according to local health authorities.
Mr Biden has just returned from a visit to Israel on Wednesday in which he reaffirmed U-S solidarity with Israel.
He says his proposed increase in spending will address a common thread between the aims of Hamas militants and Russian President Vladimir Putin's aims.
"They both share a desire to "annihilate" neighbouring democracies. Hamas' stated purpose for existing is the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. Hamas uses the Palestinian peoples as human shields, and innocent Palestinian families are suffering greatly because of them."
The supplemental spending request will also include almost $16 billion in humanitarian aid for the Indo-Pacific region.
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An Indigenous boy has now died after he was found unresponsive in a youth prison in Western Australia last week.
The 16-year-old had been in critical condition after staff at Casuarina prison’s Unit 18 youth detention facility found him in his cell on the 12th of October.
He died last night at Sir Charles Gairdner hospital.
The death will be subject to a mandatory inquest and Western Australia's Department of Justice says it will fully co-operate with the coronial process.
The department says they have also shared their condolences to the boy's family.
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In cricket,
Pat Cummins believes Australia's batters are ready to fire again after a stuttering start to the World Cup in India.
The captain was encouraged by how his team went with their run chase in their five-wicket win against Sri Lanka on Monday following early defeats to South Africa and India.
They are preparing to face Pakistan at the historically high-scoring venue of Bengaluru in a must-win match for Australia today, after a loss by South Africa against the Netherlands on Tuesday revived their tournament hopes.
Cummins has told official broadcaster Fox Sports that he is quietly pleased by South Africa's loss, which showed there were no small sides in the tournament.
"I think what we're seeing in this tournament is, you know, it's ten really strong sides, it's not sides that are just making up numbers, they've all qualified, and they're all here because they've earnt their sport, so, yeah there's no easy games, everything's pretty full on"
