TRANSCRIPT
- The Coalition criticises the reinstatement of funding to the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees
- Israel's Prime Minister wary of a Hamas ceasefire plan
- The first female Muslim boxer named to Australia's Paris Olympics team
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The federal opposition has criticised the Albanese government for reinstating funding to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the government has received new security and legal advice that the agency is not a terrorist organisation, which means that overall support worth more than $52 million can now flow.
But Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has called the decision to reinstate funding premature.
"We do not support the Albanese government in acting without and ahead of the United States in terms of decisions around this funding. Ultimately, Australia deciding through means that lack any transparency to reinstate funding as Penny Wong and the Albanese government has announced, runs the risk that Australian dollars could be misused in the future."
The Greens have welcomed the decision, but say reinstating funding is the bare minimum the government could do.
Spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has called on the Labor government to publicly pressure Israel to allow aid into all parts of Gaza.
She says the original suspension of funding had been “inexcusable”.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labelled a ceasefire proposal by Hamas unrealistic.
Hamas has presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators and the United States which includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners.
The initial release of Israelis would reportedly include women, children, elderly and ill hostages in exchange for 700 to 1000 Palestinian prisoners.
But Mr Netanyahu says the new Hamas position is based on unrealistic demands.
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Russian citizens have begun casting their votes for their country's presidential election at polling stations across Australia.
Ballot boxes have been established in six Australian cities, allowing them to vote.
Dr Matthew Sussex is a research fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
He says a 2023 Lowy institute poll suggested that while 80 per cent of Australian respondents had no confidence in Vladimir Putin's leadership at all, seven per cent expressed some - or a lot - of confidence.
"There are people who endorse his view that Russia is the custodian of conservative values, that its leading the fight against 'woke' culture, that the West has become morally depraved, but in addition to that, I think there's just a sense that Putin is a contrarian who stands up to other established authorities."
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Questions have been raised about why two Indigenous doctors are no longer employed in the New South Wales Northern Tablelands town of Glenn Innes.
Dozens of people have signed a petition calling for a formal investigation into the Armajun Aboriginal Medical Service, which employed the doctors.
Protests have also been held over the employment status of the medics.
This protester has said Indigenous representation in the health industry is essential.
"This is what Armajun was set up for wasn't it? So we had the black people in there doing the black people. No one knows us black fella, only our own kind. We need to get our black fellas back in and it's wrong."
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A teenage girl has been injured in a suspected shark attack north of Brisbane.
The 13 year old has been taken to hospital in a stable condition after the attack at Bargara Beach near Bundaberg.
She is being treated for minor soft tissue injuries to her back, legs and abdomen, but the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) says they are not life-threatening.
QAS operations supervisor Matthew Davenport says she is a very fortunate girl.
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A transition council has been named for the troubled nation of Haiti, following the resignation of its Prime Minister, Ariel Henry.
Henry's resignation is part of the country's massive political and humanitarian crisis, which has seen gang violence spiral out of control, cutting off food supplies and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken there were a few names still to be submitted, but that the identities of most of the group were now known.
Secretary Blinken says the transition council will be responsible for naming a new prime minister, and appointing a commission that will put Haiti clearly on the path to new elections.
"What we've seen over the last 24 hours is there are seven seats on this transitional council and most of the parties or stakeholders that were given a seat have actually named their representative to the council. There are a couple that still haven't. So that's a work in progress. But we've seen that move forward.”
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In sport, Australia has named its first female Muslim boxer to the 12 member team heading to the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Tina Rahimi is one of six women on the team.
Five years ago, Muslim women weren't allowed to box at major events if they wore a Hijab.
Rahimi says it means the world to her to attend this year's Olympics.
"I'm here, able to represent my country and still follow my faith and go to the Olympics, and if that law wasn't approved back in 2019 I really wouldn't be here today. I thought why not let me give this a shot. And here seven years down the track I'm going to the Olympics. It just shows that you can achieve anything if you work and here I am, going to Paris."
