TRANSCRIPT
- A delegation of senior Australian officials heads to PNG
- Benjamin Netanyahu says the US is working to cancel restrictions on weapons supplies
- An Australian teenager becomes the youngest male gymnast to qualify for an Olympic trampoline event
A delegation of Australian government ministers is travelling to PNG for the 30th Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil are among the cabinet ministers in the delegation due to arrive within the next 24 hours.
Senator Wong says the number of senior officials in the delegation shows Australia is committed to engaging the Pacific region on climate change and broader security issues.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured him that the US government is working to cancel restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel.
The comments come as Israeli public broadcaster Kan reports that the country's military intelligence sounded clear warnings regarding a pending attack more than two weeks before Hamas launched its attack from the Gaza Strip on the 7th of October.
Mr Netanyahu says that when he met Mr Blinken last week, he expressed appreciation for the support the United States has given Israel since the start of the war against Hamas in October.
"When Secretary Blinken was recently here in Israel, we had a candid conversation, I said I deeply appreciated the support the US has given Israel from the beginning of the war. But I also said something else, I said it's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel. Israel, America's closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies. Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case."
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A researcher on extremism in Australia says the threat presented by growth of extremist activity includes terrorist violence and the erosion of universal human rights and dignity under a liberal multicultural democracy.
A parliamentary inquiry is examining right-wing extremist movements in Australia - and measures to counter violent extremism in Australia.
Lydia Khalil is from the Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation to Terrorism Network.
She told the inquiry, it is important to understand that right-wing extremism is not just a mono-cultural phenomenon.
"Oftentimes we think of right-wing extremism as a white Anglo male phenomenon. However, the expression of right-wing extremism has been manifested and shown across different aspects of our multicultural society, unfortunately. So for example, that could be the rise in Hindus for extremism, for example, or pro-Putin apologists, or with ultra-Croatian fascist expressions. So while that is the stereotypical image, it's important that to understand that those ideas manifest across ethnicities and across communities, both in Australia and globally as well."
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An organisation providing culturally safe legal support and prevention for First Nations survivors of family violence says real-time tracking using accurate data would help direct resources to better tackle the issue of missing and murdered First Nations women and children.
Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Djirra in Victoria told a parliamentary inquiry too many First Nations women who are victims of domestic violence are mis-identified by police as the perpetrators.
Antoinette Gentile is the acting Chief Executive of the group.
She says there is a need for more accurate data collection to support Indigenous self-determination.
"At least 24 per cent of the women we supported in 2023 had been mis-identified as pepetrators of violence by police. Mis-identification leads to criminalisation - and is a major contributor to the removal of our children. Jira has supported women who have reported violence to police, only to be issued with a warrant for their arrest - often over poverty-related offending such as unpaid fines."
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Seventeen-year-old trampoline gymnast Brock Batty says he couldn't be happier being selected to represent Australia at the Paris Olympics.
He will become the youngest male from any nation to ever contest Olympic trampoline when he makes his Olympic debut in Paris.
Australia’s first and only Olympic medal in gymnastics was won by Ji Wallace, who clinched a silver in the men’s trampoline event at Melbourne 1956.
Batty says it is a dream come true to compete in his first Olympics.
"It is insane like I don't really have the words to describe it. It is literally everything I have dreamed of. And it is finally happening. I just started teaching myself flips on the trampoline. And then one day mum decided it wouldn't be a bad option to sign you up to a club, learn how to do it safely. And I guess it kind of just took off from there. I don't know what it is, but I am obsessed with it. Jumping high, learning new flips, great community. I am obsessed with it."
