Over 80 councils across Australia to not hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day. Queensland Premier Steven Miles hails works of emergency crews working to restore power in the state. And in football, Sydney F-C coach Ufuk Talay praises his team's performance in 3-1 win over Wellington.
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TRANSCRIPT:
- Over 80 councils across Australia to not hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.
- Queensland Premier Steven Miles hails works of emergency crews working to restore power in the state.
- Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay praises his team's performance in 3-1 win over Wellington.
Over 80 local councils from across the country have signalled their intent to abandon citizenship ceremonies held on Australia Day.
The move is seen as a symbol of respect towards Indigenous and First Nations communities and part of a collective effort to change the date of the anniversary.
The ceremonies will instead be held either three days before or three days after the date.
However, the Albanese Government has been accused of attempting to use the councils in its attempt to make the changing of the date official.
Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan has told Sky News the federal government should force the council to conduct the ceremonies.
"Councils should be required to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day. It is our National Day. And unless the Prime Minister wants to be upfront with the Australian people and change the date, which he said he wouldn't do before the last election, councils should enable citizens to be able to have their citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day."
Queensland's Premier has praised the teams working on electricity re-connections following wild weather that has claimed the lives of seven people since Christmas.
Roughly 28,000 households remain without power in the hardest hit areas of the Gold Coast, namely Scenic Rim and Logan.
Queensland Energy chief executive Peter Scott says there have been another 5000 outages on the Sunshine Coast and 2500 at Moreton Bay after storms rolled through on Saturday morning.
Premier Steven Miles says disaster response crews have been working hard to bring them all back online, despite the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting more thunderstorms.
"Really since Christmas, many of them have missed that time around the festive season that they would normally spend with their families, and they have done that out of service to their fellow Queenslanders, and I really do want to thank them... We do still expect that most people will be re-connected by the 5th of January."
Two men will face court in Melbourne next year for allegedly smuggling almost a hundred kilograms of methamphetamine into the country.
A 30-year-old man will appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court in March on charges of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, while a 36 year old man will appear charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
Police will allege they found 98 kilograms of meth inside the drive shafts of wheat thresher machines after tip-offs from colleagues in Dubai and Serbia.
They also allege the men have links to Afghani organised crime and arranged to receive the drugs from a ship that left Dubai and arrived in Melbourne in late November.
The pair were arrested last week as part of an operation coordinated by the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce, which included members from the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police, Australian Border Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and Department of Home Affairs.
More than two dozen people have been taken in custody in Western Australia as part of a crackdown on illegal fishing in the Kimberly Marine Park.
The Australian Border Force says three fishing vessels have also been seized and destroyed in the sweep, coordinated with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.
The ABF says the 30 suspected crew members have been placed into immigration detention while authorities consider prosecution and removal from Australia.
Assistant Commissioner Kylie Rendina says their apprehension represents the largest cohort of foreign fishers to be detained in over a decade.
In football, Sydney FC boss Ufuk Talay has expressed his satisfaction for his team's performance in their 3-1 win against current A-League Men's table leaders Wellington Phoenix.
The sky blues took the lead just after 11 minutes through skipper Rhyan Grant but a late Kostas Barbarouses equaliser saw the game heading for a draw.
Two additional goals from Robert Mak and late substitute Fabio Gomes, ensured that the home side would celebrate their fourth win this season.
Talay says his team carried out their game plan to perfection.
"That's the way we want to play. We want to dictate the terms when we don't have the ball and when we have the ball, to actually try to play through teams and create those moments. So, like I said, the pressing in the first half, I thought was fantastic from the players. Second half, like I said, they had their moments when they played through us at times but we still dealt with it. And I'm happy at the ed of he day to get all three points. I think it's a very important win for us."
