TRANSCRIPT:
- A Melbourne Comedy festival show cancelled after the death of a patron mid-event;
- Peter Dutton prepares for his budget reply speech;
- Tom Cochrane to become the first AFL player with Tourette syndrome in his debut tonight.
A show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival has been abruptly cancelled because of the death of a patron on opening night.
Festival organisers say the audience member experienced a medical emergency during the Allstars Supershow which was being held at the Palais Theatre in the south-east suburb of St Kilda.
Other audience members reportedly attempted to give him CPR for about 10 minutes before paramedics arrived.
Victoria Police say the death of the unidentified man is not being treated as suspicious.
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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is expected to confirm the Coalition will halve the fuel excise and repeal the government's tax cuts when he delivers his Budget reply speech tonight.
It means the price of petrol will be reduced by 25 cents a litre for a year, costing around six billion dollars.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor says their proposal would provide immediate relief for Australians under the most pressure.
But Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the decision to go to an election with a promise to repeal tax cuts is unprecedented.
"This decision will haunt them every single day of the election campaign. We will not let them squirm off this hook. This means that if Peter Dutton wins the election every Australian taxpayer will be worse off. "
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Democrats in the US have demanded Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth resign following revelations a journalist was added to a chat on the Signal app before an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The journalist has been identified as editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg from the Atlantic magazine, which has now published the Signal text chain, showing Hegseth texted about plans to kill a Houthi militant leader two hours before the surprise military operation.
But United States President Donald Trump has blamed national security adviser Mike Waltz for the mistake, saying he has taken responsibility for the journalist's inclusion.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meanwhile has maintained there were no war plans on the chat and that the Pentagon has said the information was not classified.
"The intel, it there was no intelligence information. And I understand when this story first broke, they were sort of alluding to where war maps or though this was there was no war plans on there. This was a sort of description of what we could inform our our counterparts around the world."
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The death toll from multiple wildfires raging across South Korea's southeastern region now stands at 24.
That includes a helicopter pilot who was killed when his aircraft crashed during firefighting operations.
The government says the deadly wildfires have also forced about 23,000 residents to flee their homes as fires destroyed entire neighbourhoods and closed schools.
South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo has vowed to mobilise all available support to contain the crisis.
“The direct reason why the wildfire is difficult to control is the strong winds that continued throughout the night, reaching gale force warning levels. We are fully mobilising all available support, including receiving helicopter assistance from the U.S. military stationed in our country, and we are putting all our efforts into the firefighting operations.”
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Thousands of sensitive files have been downloaded from a New South Wales government website in a major data breach.
New South Wales Police say the files include apprehended violence orders and affidavits held by the Department of Communities and Justice.
Attorney-General Michael Daley says the department is working to urgently identify and contact affected users.
He says police are trying to find out what happened to the information.
"What we don't know yet is which files were actually accessed, what the hacker did with them, whether he or she just viewed them or downloaded them and shared them. A briefing that I had with police this morning said it will be about a week before they know exactly what has happened with those files."
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Former defence minister Linda Reynolds has used her valedictory speech in the Senate to call for more support for Ukraine.
Europe is currently scrambling to respond to concerns that faltering US support for Kyiv will give Russia the upper hand as the White House and the Kremlin negotiate a peace deal.
Senator Reynolds says Australia must ensure Russia is not appeased as the world enters a more precarious period.
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Tom Cochrane will become the first AFL player with Tourette syndrome when he makes his debut for Port Adelaide against Essendon tonight.
The 19 year old son of former Port and North Melbourne utility Stuart Cochrane has been picked for the clash against the Bombers after strong returns in state league trial games.
His first appearance at the elite level is being hailed by Power coach Ken Hinkley as a great story for the AFL.
