TRANSCRIPT
- Australia to partner with British industry to help build nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide
- Campaigning enters the final stretch ahead of Tasmania's election
- Dutch cyclist Marijn van den Berg wins stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya
Australia will spend more than $4.6 billion on a submarine nuclear reactor factory in the United Kingdom to ensure Australia's new nuclear-powered fleet arrives on time.
The money will subsidise an expansion of British production lines, boosting capacity at a Rolls-Royce plant that builds the nuclear reactors that will eventually be installed into the submarines.
The vessels will be jointly built by the Australian Submarine Corporation and the UK firm BAE Systems at the Adelaide Osborne shipyard.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps says the deal benefits both countries.
"This announcement today is extremely important, and it's going to mean that there are jobs provided both here, but also home in the United Kingdom as well, as we club together, as we pull our best people, our best brains, our best ideas together to build these nuclear powered submarines."
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In Tasmania, voters are preparing to vote in the state election tomorrow for the next premier.
Jeremy Rockliff is aiming to lead the Liberals to a fourth consecutive term.
The Liberals currently hold a slim one-seat majority, after John Tucker and Lara Alexander left the party to sit as independents in May.
Mr Rockliff says a majority government offers the best form of stability for voters - and he says "a minority government full of crossbenchers would make the Star Wars bar scene look boring".
The Jacqui Lambie Network is running candidates in four Tasmanian electorates.
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie says she believes after 10 years of a Liberal government in Tasmania, voters "are ready for a change".
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The United Nations Security Council will bring forward a draft resolution made by the US to vote on a ceasefire on Gaza as quickly as possible.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said this resolution will demand an immediate and sustained ceasefire in the region to provide humanitarian aid to the over-two million people who are suffering due to the war.
It comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues his tour of the Middle East.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield says she is hopeful about the new draft resolution.
"As you know, we have been working diligently over the course of the past few days, even, the past few hours, to, move forward our resolution. We have the resolution in blue. We just made some additional changes in the resolution that were requested. And we look forward to bringing, the resolution to a vote as quickly as possible."
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A New South Wales senior constable accused of killing two men using his police weapon has been sacked from the force.
Beau Lamarre-Condon is being held in custody after being charged with murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
The off-duty officer allegedly used his police-issued gun to kill the couple after entering Mr Baird's home in inner-city Paddington on February 19.
NSW Police has confirmed the officer has been removed from the force.
The bodies of the couple were found inside surfboard bags at a rural property in Bungonia in the state's southeast.
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The federal government has received a report on last year's Optus network outage that left millions of Australians without phone and internet services.
But the findings haven't been publicly released.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says the government will consider the report's recommendations and will make it public - along with the government's response - in due course.
The Optus outage in November left more than 10 million customers without phone and internet access for up to 14 hours - and triggered more than 900 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
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In sports, Dutch cyclist Marijn van den Berg has won stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya.
Van den Berg saw his opportunity and capitalised - after France's Bryan Coquard started his sprint slightly too early.
Van den Berg says he is happy to achieve his first victory of the year.
"Yeah, I think I made a big step in the winter again. It was going really well in the beginning and then I crashed quite hard in Algarve (stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve). I had a concussion, so I was out for a little bit. And I started competing last week in Milan-San Remo. And I came here to focus on getting in shape again. And see how the outcome would be in the stage like today. And now I back on track, I would say."
Tadej Pogačar retains overall lead, with Australian cyclist Chris Harper ranked number five in the general classification.
And that's the latest from the SBS Newsroom.
