TRANSCRIPT
- The Treasurer to deliver a budget surplus
- Unhappiness over the Eurovision EU flag ban
- Football Australia imposes a two-year ban on a fan who performed a Nazi salute
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Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the budget will contain a surplus of $9.3 billion forecast for the current financial year ending in June.
This would be the first back-to-back surpluses in nearly two decades, after last year's federal budget included a $22.1 billion surplus.
Meanwhile, the federal government is defending the Treasury forecast for a faster return to inflation, compared to the forecast issued last week by the Reserve Bank.
Treasury predictions in the budget show inflation sinking to 2.75 per cent by December, within the two to three per cent band targeted by the central bank.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the budget will help position the country to deal with current and future challenges.
"We live in uncertain economic times, but what we've ensured is that we deal with some of those pressures whilst of course making sure of course that we have our eye on the future."
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Israeli forces have pushed deeper into the southern city of Rafah, while also continuing to strike the devastated north.
Witnesses reported fighting in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, part of an area Israeli troops have returned to to battle what the military says is an attempt by Hamas to regroup.
Israel says it had always planned for this stage.
Palestinians say the need to return to earlier battlegrounds is proof Israel's military objectives are unattainable.
Aid groups are warning the humanitarian crisis could sharply worsen as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have again taken flight, searching for safety.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk says he is worried about the possibility of further atrocity crimes.
"I have repeatedly expressed my alarm about the catastrophic impact of a possible full-scale offensive on Rafah, including the possibility of further atrocity crimes. I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault in an area with an extreme dense presence of civilians can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law. And with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice."
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The European Union's executive says it is unhappy with the decision to ban the EU flag from the concert hall during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Even though the 27-nation EU did not compete as such, many of its member states did, and the star-spangled blue flag is often seen as a unifier for all involved.
European Commission spokesperson, Eric Mamer, says the matter will be raised directly with the organisers of the song competition, the Swiss-based European Broadcast Union.
"I think we will make the point very, very clearly that from our point of view, there is absolutely no reason not to allow this flag. In fact, we would certainly encourage the European Broadcasting Union to actually allow the flag to be shown and even to ensure that it is that is shown, if at all, if at all possible. We can certainly encourage the EBU to understand that this is a mistake."
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A pilot who successfully landed a plane after a mechanical failure has been applauded for his calm approach.
53-year-old Queensland man, Peter Schott, was forced to make an emergency landing at an air force base north of Newcastle, after circling the airport for nearly two hours.
The civilian King Air plane took off from Newcastle Airport [[at 8.30am on Monday]] and was headed towards Port Macquarie when the pilot noticed problems with the landing gear.
New South Wales Police Superintendent Wayne Humphrey says it will take as long as 24 hours to recover the plane, adding that he is thankful nobody was injured.
"It was determined that the aircraft's landing gear would not come back down. And he (the pilot) stayed here and burnt off fuel. Two passengers on board about 90 minutes burning off sufficient fuel, he made a textbook wheels up landing, which I was very happy to see. I was in the command post, but it's the normal process. They go to a staging area. The RAF manage the ground. It's their ground, it's a civilian aircraft. They got out of the plane themselves. So there wasn't a lot of need for too much (medical support). So it was a great result. Really well done by the pilot."
**
In football, a prominent Western Sydney Wanderers supporter who was captured on camera performing a Nazi salute at an A-League Men game has received a two-year ban from Football Australia.
Network Ten's broadcast coverage showed vision of the fan performing the gesture at the end of last month's Sydney derby at the Sydney Football Stadium.
In the footage, the man can be seen raising his middle finger towards the camera before quickly making the apparent salute.
New laws brought in during 2022 make the gesture illegal in NSW, with a maximum jail term of 12 months.
New South Wales Police says it is investigating the incident and has yet to make any arrests.
