Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defends Australia's action on climate change at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting; Aslyum seeker advocates welcome a High Court ruling on indefinite immigration detention; and Australia Captain Meg Lanning retires from international cricket.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defends Australia's action on climate change at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting
- Aslyum seeker advocates welcome a High Court ruling on indefinite immigration detention
- Australia Captain Meg Lanning retires from international cricket
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has received an "extremely positive reception" at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting in Rarotonga.
Threatened by rising sea levels and intensifying cyclones in the region, Pacific nations are seeking stronger action on climate change, including the phasing out of fossil fuels.
Mr Albanese says he wants to have further discussions before he makes an announcement tomorrow on specific programs to support Pacific nations respond to climate change.
"There's a recognition that since the change of government there's been a change of Australia's position - and that we are taking the challenge of climate change seriously not only domestically, but also helping in the Pacific."
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The telecommunications watchdog is urging small businesses to get in contact with Optus to discuss options for compensation, after the nationwide outage yesterday. [[8 Nov]]
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has also independently commenced an assessment to investigate Optus' compliance with the rules on emergency calls.
The CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Andrew McKellar, says it is appropriate that there is compensation for businesses affected.
"Many of those are small businesses. They were very significantly affected yesterday. And outage for 8-10 hours. So for many of them that is a loss of a full day's business. Yes, I think there should be compensation. I think Optus needs to do the right thing. IT needs to consider the impact that it has had on many of those struggling small businesses. There should be compensation. It should be financial. And we are urging Optus to do the right thing."
Meanwhile, the federal government says it is launching its own review into the Optus outage.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says the terms of reference for the review are being developed, but the main goal will be seeking to learn lessons from the outage.
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Advocates for asylum seekers have welcomed a High Court decision that has found indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.
A majority of High Court justices overturned a 2004 ruling that unsuccessful asylum seekers who could not be removed to another country could lawfully be held in indefinite detention.
The case was brought by a detained Rohingya man from Myanmar. His lawyers argued his asylum application was wrongly decided.
CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Kon Karapanagiotidis says he thinks the ruling will also lead to compensation claims for people who have been unlawfully detained.
"One, on the fact that the government was indefinitely detaining people with no prospect of removal in breach of the Constitution, the separation of powers. Two, on the basis of the profound mental health and medical impact and harm caused. Remember, we've had many people actually lose their lives in detention centres, and we've had thousands of peoples' lives actually destroyed by indefinite detention. We have a person we're assisting who has been detained for 15 years."
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The Israel Defense Forces says Hamas has lost control of northern Gaza, as thousands of Palestinian civilians flee south.
Israel's military claims its ground offensive over the last 12 days has resulted in the destruction of 130 Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says 50,000 Gaza residents have left northern Gaza in the last 24 hours, showing Hamas is weakening.
"Today, we saw 50,000 Gazans move from the northern Gaza Strip to the south. They are moving because they understand that Hamas has lost control in the north, and that the south is safer."
The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies.
Hamas has indicated it is opposed to the ongoing evacuation of people to Gaza's south, accusing the UN of colluding with the Israeli military in what it calls the "forced displacement" of Gaza residents.
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In cricket, the Australian Cricketers’ Association says Meg Lanning will have a "lasting impact on Australian cricket," as the women’s cricket captain announced her retirement from international cricket.
The 31-year-old will continue playing in the and the Women's Big Bash and possibly the Women's Premier League in India, but has decided against playing for Australia again.
Lanning, who made her international debut at 18 in 2010, still holds the record for becomes the youngest player, male or female, to score a century for Australia, for an innings of 104 in only her third international match at the 2011 Women's Ashes.
Lanning says while the decision to step away from international cricket was difficult for she feels "incredibly fortunate" to have enjoyed a 13-year international career.
