Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wishes a merry Christmas to Australianstormy weather affecting much of the east coast of Australia, and in sport, Melbourne United have manages to curb the resistance of the Perth Wildcats.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wishes a merry Christmas to Australians
- Stormy weather affecting much of the east coast of Australia
- Melbourne United have manages to curb the resistance of the Perth Wildcats
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TRANSCRIPT
Anthony Albanese has wished all Australians a Merry Christmas while paying tribute to those who are giving up their day to help others.
Mr Albanese expressed his gratitude to everyone who's giving up their Christmas for the sake of others.
"In this time of celebration and reflection we express our gratitude to everyone who is giving up their Christmas for the sake of others. In particular our emergency personnel and defence force members, either here or overseas. Our medical workers and hospitality and those who give up for others through charities."
Mr Albanese also acknowledged it wasn't an easy period for some in particular those in Far North Queensland, dealing with the aftermath of the floods.
In his Christmas message the Opposition leader Peter Dutton acknowledged that many people were struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living rose.
He also thanked those assisting people in need.
"The generosity and the efforts of our wonderful charity workers and volunteers epitomised the very best of our society."
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Political leaders in Australia have paid tribute to Australian Defence Force personnel deployed overseas.
More than 1000 ADF personnel are on deployments during the Christmas holiday season in various regions of the world in 2023.
This year 11,471 Defence personnel have served on operations both at home, and across the world – including on peacekeeping missions in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and South Sudan.
A number of have sent video messages to loved ones in Australia.
"Hi my name is sergeant Justin Hill and I currently employed in Egypt...I would like to wish a special merry Christmas to my friends and family back home. Good day I am one of the engineering officers here in Germany. Sending my Christmas wishes and love to my partner Ash my mum Diane, my dad Vlad and my sister Denny."
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Flash floods have prompted multiple rescues and calls for help as thunderstorms brought hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall to areas across New South Wales stretching to the Queensland and Victorian borders.
Almost 600 NSW SES volunteers were responding to calls for assistance late on Christmas Eve most of the rescues involving vehicles trapped in flood water.
SES Spokesman Andrew Edmonds has told he ABC rain is likely to continue until at least boxing day.
"We are particularly concerned about the weather conditions for Christmas Day. We are expecting severe storms which could see a repeat of the conditions we saw on Christmas eve which was flash flooding, large hail and damaging winds. And those conditions are likely to persist through to boxing day."
Thousands of properties lost power in southeastern Queensland after supercells rolled across the state on Sunday afternoon.
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Pope Francis has lamented war in the Holy Land where Palestinian health officials say air strikes have killed at least 78 people on Christmas Eve in one of the Gaza Strip's deadliest nights in Israel's 11-week-old battle with Hamas.
Israeli strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Christmas Day on Monday.
Residents and Palestinian media say Israel stepped up air and ground shelling in central Gaza.
At least 70 people were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting Maghazi in central Gaza, a health ministry spokesman said, adding that many were women and children.
The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Maghazi incident and was committed to minimising harm to civilians.
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Thousands of people have gathered in the centre of Belgrade in an anti- government protest to demand the annulment of parliamentary and local elections a week ago that some international observers say were unfair.
The populist ruling Serbian Progressive Party won 46.72 per cent of the votes in snap parliamentary elections last weekend, according to state election commission preliminary results.
An international monitoring mission on Monday said the SNS gained an unfair advantage through media bias, the improper influence of President Aleksandar Vucic and voting irregularities such as vote buying.
Vucic said the elections were fair.
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In the National Basketball League,
Melbourne United have managed to curb the resistance of the Perth Wildcats 109-103 after overtime in the John Cain Arena.
Ian Clark scored 25 points for the winners, while Bryce Cotton tried to win the game for the visitors with 36.
This win continues United's successful run this season, as they maintain a 14 win to seven loss record at the top of the N-B-L ladder.
Melbourne's top scorer Ian Clark says the game plan gave them the victory.
"Just wanted to win. Obviously we know that last time we were here it was a battle against these guys. We know how good Bryce is and the attention that he draws. So we wanted to come out and try and execute our game like we've been doing all week. Obviously we went to overtime again but this time we put it out, it was a good game."
