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TRANSCRIPT
- Mixed reactions to the plan for Israel's President's to visit Australia
- Former prime minister Scott Morrison criticised over call for regulation of Islamic religious teachings
- Elena Rybakina defeats Iga Swiatek to reach Australian Open semi-finals
Former prime minister Scott Morrison has called for an accreditation process to help identify preachers who promote hate and distorted versions of Islamic religious teachings.
He made the remarks in a speech at an antisemitism conference in Jerusalem for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Mr Morrison says responses to antisemitism after the Bondi terror attack should include a process where Muslim leaders issue a licence to preach and translate religious teachings into English.
He has told Radio 2GB, an accreditation process already exists for Anglican, Catholic and Jewish preachers - and he believes it makes sense to extend this idea.
"Religious leaders in all faiths have got to take responsibility for what is happening in those faiths. And their teaching has to be right. It has to be positive; and it has to be in English, so people can see what is being said, so it is transparent. And I think this is an important way of shining some light into these places. But it is what is happening here (in Australia) is what we have to address. And that means we have enlist our imams - and all of those who are religious leaders in the Islamic faith to take charge of that."
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The Australian National Imams Council has condemned remarks by former prime minister Scott Morrison as ill-informed, after he appeared to blame Australian Muslims following the Bondi terror attack.
At an antisemitism conference in Jerusalem, Mr Morrison urged Muslim leaders to establish nationally consistent standards for imam conduct, create a system of accreditation for preachers, and a peak body that could discipline radical preachers.
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg says he believes Mr Morrison's proposal to accredit preachers is worth discussing.
In an interview on the ABC, he said the Australian Muslim community needs to take some collective responsibility for extremist incidents.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy says he finds the remarks problematic and troubling.
"What we need is moments of unity to bring the Australian people together, which we try and endeavour to do last week. But for the Liberal Party to hold one million Australians of Islamic faith responsible for the vile acts of two individuals in Bondi is disgraceful. And yet again, they are dividing Australians to cover up their own divisions and disunity."
In a statement, the Imams Council urges politicians and former politicians to be more considered with their public remarks and refrain from using divisive language.
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has begun his first official visit to Timor-Leste.
The plan for two-day trip includes addressing the country's parliament and meetings with President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.
Mr Albanese says it is a great honour to be welcomed so warmly.
"We want to work very closely on its economic development. This is Asia's newest country, but ASEAN's (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) newest member. They became a full member at the last ASEAN conference. That was something that we supported very strongly."
How to manage the Greater Sunrise gas field, located in the Timor Sea, remains a point of tension.
This A$50 billion project has not yet been developed due to disagreement over where the processing should take place - in Darwin or Timor-Leste’s capital of Dili.
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the rise in annual inflation serves as a reminder that there's more work to be done to stabilise the economy.
Australia's inflation rate is at 3.8 per cent in the year to December, up from 3.4 per cent in November.
The trimmed mean, a measure of underlying inflation, is at 3.3 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in November.
That data will feed into the decision-making on interest rates by the Reserve Bank when board members meet on Tuesday.
Dr Chalmers says the increase in inflation is not a surprise.
"Today's numbers are a really important reminder that there is almost always more to do when it comes to tackling the big challenges in our economy. These persistent price pressures, the longstanding decades long standing challenge we have with productivity and also the global economic uncertainty. So inflation ticked up today. It is higher than we'd like. We expected it to tick up but we know that doesn't make it any easier for people."
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In tennis, Elena Rybakina has ended world no.2 Iga Swiatek's bid for a career grand slam, with a straight-sets victory in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The fifth-seeded Kazakhstani repeated her comprehensive win over the the Polish superstar at last year's W-T-A Finals, with a 7-5 6-1 win in one hour and 35 minutes on Rod Laver Arena Park.
Rybakina will face one of two Americans in the semi-finals: Jessica Pegula or Amanda Anisimova.
