Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says the US-Australia alliance will stay strong regardless of the election outcome; First Nations advocates urge Queensland premier to reinstate truth-telling inquiry; And in cricket, Star paceman Mitchell Starc breaks Brett Lee's record.
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TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says the US-Australia alliance will stay strong regardless of the election outcome;
- First Nations advocates urge Queensland premier to reinstate truth-telling inquiry;
- And in cricket, Star paceman Mitchell Starc breaks Brett Lee's record.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says Australia's relationship with the United States will remain strong regardless of who wins the presidential election.
Mr Marles is confident that multi-billion dollar plans for Australia to buy nuclear submarines from America will be safe no matter the outcome.
As campaigning enters its final day, polls show Donald Trump and Kamala Harris neck and neck in the race for the White House.
Defence Minister Richard Marles says the US-Australia alliance will remain strong.
"Our alliance with the United States is fundamental to our national security. Really is the cornerstone of our world view of our foreign policy, and it will be there no matter who wins the next presidential election, and that is fundamentally a matter for the American people."
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First Nations advocates are urging new Queensland Premier David Crisafulli to reconsider his decision to abolish the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry, saying everybody benefits from the truth and no-one has anything to fear.
Mr Crisafulli – who last year said Queenslanders should embrace truth-telling – announced last week that he was scrapping the inquiry, without first communicating his decision to the inquiry's chair, Joshua Creamer.
Since, a raft of First Nations, human rights, educational and legal organisations and people have expressed their dismay and asked the premier to reconsider.
Psychologist Clinton Schultz, director of First Nations strategy at the Black Dog Institute, tells NITV that the premier’s decision felt like an attack on Indigenous people in Queensland.
“The perception that is left with us is that our social and emotional well-being, for us now and our children, our children's children into the future, are of less relevance and less importance to the government ... Truth-telling is more than just about recounting history, the whole process is about helping us to heal the wounds from the past and to look at how we can build a stronger future based on an accepted truth. ... By scrapping the Truth-telling and Healing Commission, the government has shut down a pathway to healing that has only just recently been opened … and that's leaving many people in in our communities feeling unheard, un-valued and it's deeply affecting the social and emotional well-being of many mob around the state and, no doubt, around the country.”
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Australia's spy chief says there have been nine terror attacks, disruptions or incidents in 2024.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess says none of the plots were related to events in the Middle East.
"So far this year, there have been nine attacks, disruptions or suspected terrorist incidents in Australia. in our assessment, one third of the incidents involved religiously motivated violent extremism. The majority of incidents were allegedly motivated by national nationalists and racist ideologies or mixed ideologies. Importantly, because this is often misunderstood, none of the attacks or plots were directly inspired by the conflict in the Middle East."
Mr Burgess adds however, that Hamas' terror attack against Israel on the 7th of October last year, and Israel's subsequent retaliation makes acts of terrorism more likely.
One-third of the nine terror cases in Australia involved religiously motivated violent extremism, while the majority were motivated by racist or nationalist ideologies or a mix of ideologies.
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The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says there are no ambulances or emergency crews left in the far north of the enclave, where Israeli operations have intensified.
Israel launched an offensive in northern Gaza in early October, focusing on Jabaliya, a crowded refugee camp, claiming Hamas had regrouped there.
Other affected areas include Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahyia, just north of Gaza City.
Senior Health Ministry official, Eyad Zaqout says the last three partially functioning hospitals in northern Gaza are being targeted.
"The occupation is intensively targeting hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip governorate. Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital were targeted, and casualties occurred among the patients sleeping inside Kamal Adwan Hospital as a result of the direct attack by the Israeli occupation."
Israel has repeatedly ordered evacuations from northern Gaza, but around 400,000 residents remain.
Israel alleges that Hamas uses hospitals as command and control bases, which it argues nullifies protections for these facilities.
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Star paceman Mitchell Starc has reached 100 ODI wickets in Australia quicker than any bowler, breaking Brett Lee's long-standing record.
Starc removed both of Pakistan's openers - Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique - to set the tone for Australia as they restricted the tourists to 203 at the MCG on Monday in the first of three ODIs.
The left-armer - who has the fourth most ODI wickets for Australia, only behind Glenn McGrath, Lee and Shane Warne - began the international summer in ominous form.
Starc - who had a brief period off the field to deal with cramp - nailed his line and length to finish with 3-33 after dismissing Pakistan Shaheen Shah Afridi (24) in his 10th over.
Starc's 100th wicket in Australia came in his 54th match, going one better than Lee's 55.
