TRANSCRIPT
- Measures to keep Australia's unemployment low to be outlined in the Employment White Paper
- Remote voting on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament begins across the nation
- Ethiopian marathon runner Tigist Assefa smashes the women's record by two minutes in Berlin.
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers is set to release the federal government's Employment White Paper, its road map for the Australian labour market.
Dr Chalmers says nine initiatives will be outlined to keep unemployment as low as possible, including key measures to address barriers women face in participating in the Australian workforce.
CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Andrew McKellar says he will be looking to see measures to boost productivity and further lift the participation rate.
"If we want to keep those unemployment levels at the very low rates that they are then we have to really focus on how we're going to drive productivity higher, encourage people to invest more in skills; and also encourage people to participate in the labour market. Whether they are young people in the labour market for the first time, or whether they are senior Australians who want to keep working for a little bit longer. That's going to be absolutely essential."
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Remote voting on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament begins across Australia today, enabling the first votes in the referendum to be cast.
61 teams will be on the ground in the most remote parts of the country, eventually covering 750 voting locations in the lead-up to the referendum on October 14.
This follows a major weekend of campaigning for supporters of both the Yes and No votes, with several Yes events scheduled to take place today [[25 September]].
Indigenous leader and Yes campaigner Noel Pearson will speak with the Aurukun community in Queensland ahead of the opening of remote voting there tomorrow.
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Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt will host the National Bushfire Preparedness Summit in Canberra from today alongside State and Territory governments.
This comes as Mr Watt says Australia is far better prepared for the coming fire season than it was ahead of the 2019 black summer bushfires, and has implemented almost all of the recommendations of a 2020 bushfire royal commission.
Bushfires burnt across a number of states last week, with the Bureau of Meteorology declaring Australia is now in an El Niño climate pattern, increasing the risk of dangerous fires.
Mr Watt told ABC's Insiders on Sunday that Australia may need to consider establishing a national community firefighting service.
"There probably are young people out there who'd be more interested in providing that kind of community service than they might be for enlisting in the army reserves or things like that. But the fact is we are facing a difficult changing climate and we need to be ready and we need to think differently."
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Police are investigating an alleged assault after Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles had a cream-covered pancake pushed into her face at a market in Darwin.
Ms Fyles has been left shaken by the incident which police say took place at around 11.40am on Sunday at Nightcliff Markets, near the chief minister's electorate office for the seat of Nightcliff.
Footage shared by Nine News on social media showed a woman rushing towards Ms Fyles and shoving what was described as a "whipped cream crepe" into her face.
Ms Fyles was previously left distressed after being confronted by anti-fracking protesters while taking part in a trail running event in May.
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At least three people have ben killed after 30 heavily armed men stormed a monastery in Kosovo.
The conflict began when a police officer died after being shot during an ambush near Banjska village near the Serbian border.
Gunmen then entered a monastery and an hours-long gun battle with police ensued.
At least three of the gunmen were killed in battles through the day, and police made several arrests during the operation.
It remains unclear if all gunmen have been apprehended.
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Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa has smashed the women's marathon world record by more than two minutes in her second consecutive victory at the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.
Assefa has improved the previous record of Kenyan Brigid Kosgei from 2019 in Chicago by two minutes and 11 seconds to set a new record of two hours 11 minutes 53 seconds.
She had previously set a personal best and course record at last year's win in the German capital, and has now set the mark for the 2024 Paris Olympics, likely securing her spot on the Ethiopian team.
Her victory overshadowed men's world record holder Eliud Kipchoge's record fifth victory on Berlin's quick and flat inner-city course.
