TRANSCRIPT
- About 40 men have been reportedly taken to Nauru's detention centre after arriving in WA by boat
- Gaza's second-largest hospital is completely out of service after a week-long Israeli siege
- The Mariners beat the Wanderers to stay second on the A-League Men's ladder.
Around 40 men who arrived by boat in remote Western Australia this week have reportedly been taken to Australia's offshore immigration detention centre on Nauru.
The ABC has reported a Nauru Airlines plane carrying the men, reported as asylum seekers from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, left Broome and arrived in Nauru in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The prime minister has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of politicising border security, after Mr Dutton said the arrivals were evidence the government is weak on border security.
Labor Premier of WA Roger Cook says he's not concerned by the incident but has highlighted the defensive vulnerability of the region.
"This is fundamentally a matter for the federal government to resolve, but it does emphasise just how exposed our vast north-west coast is, and that's why we need to continue to make sure we have the resources to protect that coast, not only just in terms of unlawful arrivals, if you want to call them that or asylum seekers, but also make sure we can protect our fisheries, our defence facilities and other infrastructure."
The government has not yet confirmed reports of arrivals being sent offshore, but a statement from Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil says the government's commitment to Operation Sovereign Borders is "absolute".
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United Nations health officials say fuel shortages and Israeli attacks have put the Gaza Strip's second-largest hospital completely out of service.
A spokesperson for Gaza's health ministry says the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis has no power and not enough staff to treat the many patients still sheltering there.
Most of Gaza's hospitals have been put out of action by fighting and lack of fuel, leaving a population of 2.3 million without proper healthcare, while Palestinian health authorities say almost 29,000 people have been killed since October the 7th.
The World Health Organisation has urged Israel to grant its staff access to the hospital, after a week-long siege and raids by Israeli forces searching for Hamas militants had stopped them from helping patients.
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, has called for the respect of international humanitarian law.
"War is not a lawless space. You're not allowed to do everything you want in a war situation. You cannot win a war at all costs, at the expense of the civilian population. You cannot dehumanise the other side."
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says retail workers will benefit from the government's revamped stage three tax cuts.
The prime minister says taxpayers across regional and rural areas will be better off than they would have been after Labor's changes to the former Coalition government's tax package.
The changes, under which Australians earning under $150,000 will receive a larger tax cut, passed the House of Representatives with Coalition support last week and will take effect from July 1st, if endorsed by the Senate.
Mr Albanese, who is in Western Australia ahead of the federal cabinet meeting in Perth today, has said all 13.6 million Australian taxpayers will receive a tax cut.
"For retail workers, so many people who work at Woolworths or Coles or work in the retail industry, they earn $45,000 or less, they will now get a tax cut, they were not going to get a single dollar under Peter Dutton's plans, that goes back to Scott Morrison's tax cuts of five years ago."
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A late penalty from Mikael Doka has given the Central Coast Mariners a 1-0 home win against the Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Brazilian recruit's cool 82nd-minute conversion on Sunday ensures the Mariners retain second spot on the men's ladder, five points behind leaders Wellington Phoenix.
Doka's game-breaker came after Western Sydney defender Gabriel Cleur brought down Mariner Ronald Barcellos.
Mariners coach Mark Jackson said the game was a "fantastic" win against a "really good team".
"The football we played in the conditions where we had to contend with the pitch, and it wasn't great at this point, but I thought we showed a lot of bravery to play that kind of football."
The Wanderers remain sixth, now just three points clear of seventh-placed Melbourne City.
