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TRANSCRIPT:
- The government offers disaster management support as bushfires burn in eastern Australia;
- Support for the Indigenous voice to parliament up for the first time in months;
- An Australian player disqualified from the Shanghai Masters.
The federal government says it will provide whatever assistance the states ask for, as authorities battle natural disasters in multiple states.
Communities in eastern Victoria that spent days fighting early season bushfires are now bracing for floods which could isolate some areas, while in New South Wales, there are 73 bushfires burning, with homes lost on the state's south coast thanks to a major blaze.
Premier Chris Minns says forecasts of a "horrific" bushfire season is one of the things that keeps him up at night.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says New South Wales and other states and territories can count on the government's support, and that planning on the best ways to work together was the point of the natural disaster preparedness summit in Canberra a week ago.
"Because we know that the summer that we're anticipating - and indeed it would appear we're in right now even though it's only October - is going to present some real challenges."
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Employers have spent tens of millions of dollars on a campaign against laws which unions say will save the lives of exploited gig economy workers.
Transport Workers Union secretary Michael Kaine has described proposed federal measures to end labour hire agreements, criminalise wage theft and improve protection for gig workers as "life and death legislation".
But Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable says businesses across Australia believe the reforms will stifle productivity and add unnecessary complexity.
"Rather than building a new innovative society for the future, Australian businesses will be spending their days studying law books and appearing in court trying to work out whether we can even start."
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Support for the yes vote in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum has edged higher for the first time in months.
The latest Guardian Essential poll has found 43 percent of respondents will vote in favour of the voice, up two percentage points from the previous fortnight.
But the no vote still leads, with 49 percent of respondents intending to vote no, and 8 percent still undecided.
The referendum will require support from both a majority of Australians and states to pass.
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The Armenian National Committee of Australia says the continuing flow of refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh region is causing a humanitarian crisis.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but has a historic population of around 120,000 ethnic Armenians.
The Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Michael Kolokossian, is currently in Armenia, and has told SBS Arabic 24 the situation on the ground is dire.
"So what we are seeing is a humanitarian crisis unfold in the Republic of Armenia due to the large number of refugees or internally displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh as they are now in Armenia. So, there are quite a number of organisations on the ground doing an amazing work including the Armenian Relief Society of Australia who, through its international body, helped deliver over 400 boxes whilst our Australian parliamentary."
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In the United States, Republican Matt Gaetz says he has no regrets after leading the call to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
The vote to remove McCarthy marks the first time in US history that a speaker has been removed by the House following a motion to vacate.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has blamed "political chaos" for the decision, and that he could not believe eight Republicans supported the motion along with all the Democrats on the hill.
But Mr Gaetz says they did the right thing.
"It's to the benefit of this country that we have a better speaker of the House than Kevin McCarthy. Kevin McCarthy couldn't keep his word. He made an agreement in January regarding the way Washington would work, and he violated that agreement."
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Australian Marc Polmans has been disqualified from the ATP Tour 1000 Shanghai Masters after hitting the umpire with the ball during his qualifying match.
Polmans sent the ball into the face of British official Ben Anderson, after becoming angry over squandering a second match point in his two hour, 34 minute battle with Italian Stefano Napolitano.
It was a virtual replay of an incident involving Canadian Denis Shapovalov during a Davis Cup clash with Great Britain in 2017.
The umpire on that occasion, Arnaud Gabas, was left with a fractured eye socket - but Anderson appears to have escaped serious injury.
