TRANSCRIPT
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong denies Australia is abandoning Gazans
- Two Aussies win $100 million each in the largest lottery jackpot to date
- Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari for 2025 Formula One season
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong is denying Australia is abandoning people in need in Gaza by pausing funding to a key United Nations agency.
Australia, along with at least eight other allies, have paused funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
The pause follows allegations some of that agency's staff were involved in the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 that sparked the latest round of conflict in the Middle East.
International aid organisations and the official Palestinian representative in Australia have criticised the move as collective punishment.
But Senator Wong says Australia is still trying to help people under siege from Israeli military action.
"These are deeply concerning allegations, and we have made clear they need to be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible need to be held to account. And I have, directed, this week, Australia's humanitarian co-ordinator to lead urgent work, co-ordinating with like-minded partners, as well as UNRWA, on these and other matters."
Australia has contributed to the agency since 1951.
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United States President Joe Biden has approved sanctions against four Israeli settlers accused of attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.
When signing an executive order authorising the sanctions, Mr Biden described violence in the West Bank as reaching "intolerable levels".
The sanctions will stop the four settlers from accessing all US property and other assets.
They also prevent them from using the US financial system.
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Australia will send a delegation to New Zealand to discuss New Zealand's possible involvement in the AUKUS military partnership.
The Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers of both nations held talks to discuss working more closely together in the area of defence.
Both nations have cited enhancing deterrence as critical in what they both agree is the most challenging strategic environment in decades.
New Zealand has expressed interest in joining pillar two of AUKUS, which centres on advanced technology sharing.
This relates to such things as artificial intelligence and cyber warfare.
Australia and New Zealand are long-time allies.
Defence Minister Richard Marles says that closeness is now as important as ever.
"The content and the manner in which we have spoken today really does reflect two countries which have a very shared view of the world, and a shared sense of how both of us need to go about our business in terms of working in the world. And that is making sure that in every aspect we can work as closely together as possible."
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Two Powerball lottery ticket holders - one in New South Wales and one in Queensland -have won a share of the country's largest ever jackpot of $200 million.
A couple in the Hunter Valley town of Singleton are set to pick up $100 million after winning the division one prize last night.
And a Queensland winner from the state's southeast will get the second $100 million.
The Singleton couple had purchased a 50-game QuickPick entry - which costs $67.40 - online.
Alongside the two division one winning entries, 22 lottery ticket holders each bagged the division two prize of over $177,000.
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Experts are calling for a Royal Commission into the COVID-19 pandemic response in Australia.
An inquiry has heard from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation - two peak bodies representing Australia's front line healthcare workers during the pandemic.
The ANMF's Federal Secretary Annie Butler has told the Senate's Legal Committee the pandemic shone a light on Australia's broken healthcare systems.
"The experience of COVID-19 was an x-ray of our entire health and aged care system. What it did was show all the fractures, reveal all the breaks and even the tiny cracks. Things that we knew - we knew they were there - but it just brought it into sharp relief through COVID. Most particularly in the aged care system. I mean, we'd known about the failures there for years and years."
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Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is reportedly planning to make a surprise switch to Ferrari for the 2025 Formula One season.
Local media in the U-K and Italy are reporting the Italian team want the 39-year-old to partner their current driver Charles Leclerc.
They suggest Mercedes team staff were called to a meeting at their U-K headquarters to be told Hamilton will leave at the end of the 2024 season and head to one of Formula One's most storied names.
