TRANSCRIPT
- The First Nations Awabakal community celebrates the protection of a sacred women's cave
- A Virgin Australia plane makes emergency landing
- Manly decimated with 14 players injured ahead of South Sydney match-up
The First Nations Awabakal community in the New South Wales Hunter region is celebrating the protection of a sacred women's cave.
After 13 years of campaigning to have the Butterfly Cave saved from development, the state government has now purchased the land to turn it into a National Park.
Traditionally, women have been taking girls to the cave to teach history, culture and weaving.
In the past they had to ask permission to walk on the track to the cave, but now Awabakal Women can go to the sacred site whenever they want.
Aunty Lyn Brown, an Aboriginal role model in the community, says hearing that the site had been saved was an incredible feeling.
"The announcement of saving the cave, saving the site around it was amazing. It was like our hearts were broken and they just mended it. Excitement, crying, happiness. We finally done it. It took us a long time. We continued to fight and fight and fight till we got what we needed for our community and our Aboriginal people."
New South Wales Minister for Heritage and the Environment, Penny Sharpe, tells SBS News the victory was hard won.
"This is a tribute to the tenacity of the woman who've built a campaign for over 10 years and refused to take no for an answer. But I also want to acknowledge that the developers come to the party and been willing to allow the government to purchase the land and to hand it over to the National Parks and Wildlife Service."
**
A passenger plane has landed safely at a southern New Zealand airport after a fire shut down one of its engines.
The Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 jet bound for Melbourne landed in Invercargill about 50 minutes after takeoff from Queenstown after the fire forced a diversion.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand says fire trucks met the plane as it arrived.
Queenstown Airport spokesperson Catherine Nind says the cause of the engine fire and the number of passengers on board the plane were not immediately known,
Virgin Australia chief operations officer, Stuart Aggs says the incident may have been caused by "a possible bird strike" and they were not aware of any injuries to passengers or crew.
**
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has left Canberra after a historic day of diplomatic talks at Parliament House.
Memorandums on the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, climate change, education and research, strategic economic dialogue, and cultural co-operation were signed during the meetings.
Premier Li acknowledged that the relationship between the two countries has been volatile over the past decade but says he believes it is now heading in the right direction.
"How our relations evolved over the past 10 years has provided us with a lot of valuable experience and the most important of that is that we should uphold mutual respect, seek common ground while sharing differences and provide mutually beneficial cooperation. Mr Prime Minister, I sincerely hope that I will work with you to build a more mature, stable and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership."
Meanwhile, protesters raged outside Parliament with pro-China voices echoing the Premier's sentiment while those who oppose the Chinese Communist Party say the Australian government needs to do more to hold them accountable.
"From both countries, in terms of future, we believe in both working together."
"All the people over the world can see that Hong Kong was so badly cracked down by the CCP"
**
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet.
It was a widely expected move that follows the departure of the centrist former general Benny Gantz.
This also comes amid increasing domestic and international pressure for Israel to end the devastating war in Gaza and bring back Israeli hostages through a ceasefire deal.
And in Paris, pro-Palestinian protesters are celebrating after a French court ruled in favour of banning Israeli companies from participating in the major international defence expo Eurosatory.
Protesters still gathered outside the expo to condemn companies who continue to provide arms to Israel amid its assault on Gaza.
29-year-old Laura says she hopes this ban is only the beginning.
"It's a great victory for the movement because it sets a precedent for others in the world and in France to make companies accountable for the arms trade with Israel. This is reinforcing our determination to end all of the arms trade with Israel and not just during this exhibition and we are still protesting this exhibition because there are still many weapons manufacturers who are coming here today and all of this week who are selling arms to Israel."
The event organisers said they will appeal the court decision “as soon as possible.”
**
In Rugby League, Manly could be forced to hand out up to three debuts against South Sydney, with their forward pack decimated and a total of 14 players unavailable.
The Sea Eagles will name one of the most injury-ravaged squads of the season today, with only three of their first-choice starting pack and bench available.
As things stand, none of Manly's injured brigade from Sunday's gutsy win over St George Illawarra are expected to be able to face the Rabbitohs on Saturday night.
