Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hails a newly signed Strategic Partnership with the Philippines; Victoria Police say a man who struck several pedestrians in Melbourne was known to them; Coach Eddie Jones to feel the heat as Australia chases victory in the Rugby World Cup.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hails a newly signed Strategic Partnership with the Philippines
- Victoria Police say a man who struck several pedestrians in Melbourne was known to them
- Coach Eddie Jones to feel the heat as Australia chases victory in the Rugby World Cup.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has hailed a newly signed Strategic Partnership between Australia and the Philippines.
The agreement, covering security and economic ties, was signed during Mr Albanese's historic visit to he Philippines.
It was the first bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister in 20 years.
Mr Albanese says he looks forward to hosting Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Australia soon.
"The Philippines is an important country for Australia. I think 20 years is too long for there to be a gap in bilatral visits. I can say that the President will be making a bilateral visit to Australia. We will work on appropriate times, as well as he has confirmed his attendance in Melbourne at the G20 meeting."
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United States President Joe Biden has opened his visit to India by meeting privately with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Indian leader's home.
The White House says the session was marked by undeniable warmth and confidence in one another going into the annual Group of 20 summit where climate, economic security and more will dominate the weekend's talks.
National Security Council Coordinator Kurt Campbell says India was disappointed Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to attend the G20.
"I think it is a disappointment for India that both Russia and China are not here. And the fact that the United States, probably the country that India has invested the most in deepening and developing a relationship with, showed up and is engaged in every major initiative that will be rolled out over the next couple of days was both reassuring and gratifying for Indian interlocutors."
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A man is in custody after the car he was driving ploughed into pedestrians at a busy tram stop and two other vehicles in Melbourne's busy CBD, killing one person and injuring five others.
The incident occurred on Bourke Street at 6.20pm yesterday evening.
Bourke Street was closed overnight, but has reopened after tow trucks early on Saturday removed a white Hyundai whose 76-year-old driver died in the crash, and a grey Mazda SUV from the scene.
Three pedestrians - a 26-year-old man from South Yarra, a 23-year-old woman from China and a 35-year-old woman from Docklands - were taken to hospital.
Two are in a stable condition and the other remains in a serious condition.
Chief Police Commissioner Shane Patton says the driver, a 26-year-old man from Melton West, was known to police, and there is no ongoing threat to the public.
"He has no prior criminal history. He's not on bail. He's in effect a clean skin for a term used by Victoria Police for someone who's not had police involvement. The only record we have of that male is that he has had a report of missing person before and in 2020 We had some involvement with him for a mental health transfer. There is nothing known in relation to terrorism to connect this in any shape or form at this time."
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Premier Daniel Andrews has offered his support, saying all Victorians would be thinking about those affected by the crash and their families.
"I just wanted to on behalf of all Victorians send our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the 76 year old man who has died as a result of this incident, our hearts go out to them. They're in our thoughts and prayers at what will be a very, very difficult time for them. We also wanted to on behalf of all Victorians, thank those three police members who very quickly and with great bravery did the most important work in terms of securing the scene and taking the suspect into custody."
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A new report from PropTrack has revealed rental vacancy rates fell 0.14 percentage points in August to reach a new low of 1.10 per cent.
The PropTrack Market Insight Report finds the share of rental properties sitting vacant is now 54 per cent lower compared to the start of the pandemic.
Vacancy rates fell in all states and territories, except Darwin, where it rose to 1.70 per cent.
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And in sport,
Wallabies legend Michael Hooper says he has no doubt Eddie Jones will be feeling the heat when Australia chase a desperately needed victory over Georgia in their Rugby World Cup opener in Paris.
It's been well documented how the Wallabies are winless in five Tests since Jones took over from Dave Rennie in January.
Jones has now presided over 13 defeats from his past 14 Tests during his two tenures as Wallabies coach.
Australia lost eight of nine Tests in 2005 before Jones was sacked, and then resurrected his international coaching career in successful stints with South Africa, Japan and England.
