TRANSCRIPT
- Home Affairs Minister says the listing of Terrorgram as a terrorist group aims to protect Australians
- Ukraine accuses Western nations of supplying Russian military with equipment
- Oscar Piastri to start the Austrian Grand Prix in third position
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the formal listing of the violent online extremist group Terrorgram as a terrorist group is a necessary action to keep Australians safe.
The federal government revealed the formal listing was partly motivated by an incident in June last year, involving an alleged plot to kill a New South Wales Labor M-P.
The formal listing makes it an offence for anyone to be a member of, associate with, or support Terrorgram, with a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
Mr Burke told Sky News that constant effort is needed to counter the activities of terrorist groups online.
"Look, I won't confirm more than the New South Wales attack on Tim Crakanthorp because we have given that one as part of formal reasons for the listings. But I can tell you Australians are much safer in a situation where the moment we know that somebody is part of this group, we can charge them."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Western countries, including the United States, Germany and France, of supplying Russia with military components and equipment.
Speaking at a conference in Kyiv, he says experts in Ukraine have identified hundreds of different components contained in Russian drones and missiles.
"Unfortunately, even Western countries continue to supply Russia with equipment and critical components. In the past year alone, deliveries of machine tools to Russia's military-industrial complex were recorded from at least 12 countries, including China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and the United States."
The EU Special Envoy for sanctions, David O'Sullivan, says actions have been taken to stop Russia accessing the latest weapons technology.
"I think we have made it more difficult, more complicated and slower for Russia to obtain the kind of technologies that we are seeing here. We have not succeeded in stopping it totally and I'm sorry for that, because I know the suffering of the Ukrainian people. But I believe we have actually been quite successful in pressuring Russia; and we need to maintain that pressure while at the same time holding out the prospect that if Russia behaves correctly, we could have some kind of ceasefire and some kind of sensible negotiation. But for the moment, Russia doesn't seem to want that."
The world's leading economies have agreed to a deal sparing the US's largest companies from paying more corporate tax overseas.
In a statement, the Group of Seven says there's been agreement to exempt American companies from much of a 2021 deal imposing a 15 per cent global minimum corporate tax.
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves says in exchange, they have secured the removal of Section 899 from Donald Trump's major tax bill, which would have imposed additional tax on businesses.
She says the removal of the section provides a better environment for G7 nations to take the next steps in tackling aggressive tax planning and avoidance.
In Formula One, Oscar Piastri will start the Austrian Grand Prix from third place, while his teammate Lando Norris will be in pole position.
Piastri was unable to go for a final flying lap at the end of qualifying, after being forced to slow down due to yellow flags prompted by the actions of Frenchman Pierre Gasly who spun on the track, bouncing through the gravel and onto the grass.
The Australian says it was frustrating.
"I mean I am pretty disappointed - but on in myself. I didn't get to do my last lap of Q3 because of the yellow flags. So, you know I think pole was going to be a tough battle to win. But the front row was definitely for the taking. It's a shame to have that kind of bring it all undone a bit - but it still could have been worse. So, I will try make sone progress tomorrow."
