TRANSCRIPT:
- The federal government to pay superannuation on paid parental leave;
- In the US, Nikki Haley drops out of the Republican presidential race;
- The A-F-L to pay tribute to former umpire Jesse Baird at a season-opening game.
A man has died after an apparent fire in a Western Australian prison.
The Department of Justice has released a statement confirming the 27 year old, who was on remand, died in a Perth hospital after officers found him unconscious at Hakea Prison.
Staff had been responding to reports of a cell fire and smoke spreading throughout the unit.
Corrective Services Commissioner Brad Royce has extended his condolences to the man's family and friends.
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Queensland's parliament has approved landmark legislation outlawing coercive control, a form of abuse where perpetrators display a pattern of manipulative behaviour designed to intimidate and isolate their victim.
Queensland now becomes the second jurisdiction in Australia to make it a crime.
Its passage comes more than four years after the killings of Hannah Clarke and her children, who were set on fire in their car by Hannah's estranged husband Rowan Baxter.
Premier Steven Miles has paid tribute to her parents, and others, who have campaigned for this change.
"These laws will save the lives of women. It will make women and families in our state safer, and I'm very proud to be a part of a government that has delivered it. I want to thank the passionate advocates who've campaigned so hard for these changes. They should be very, very proud."
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In the United States, Nikki Haley has suspended her campaign to win the Republican presidential nomination.
That leaves Donald Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the party, despite two impeachments in his last turn at the White House, and a range of criminal and civil indictments since.
Haley had spent the final phase of her campaign aggressively warning the GOP against embracing Trump, whom she argued was too consumed by chaos and personal grievance to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.
The former South Carolina governor used her concession speech to encourage Trump to follow a moderate path.
"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing."
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The Philippines have accused Beijing of blocking and harassing its ships in the South China Sea, in the latest incident over the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippines says a top admiral was on board a resupply vessel that was water cannoned by China's coastguard, shattering its windshield and wounding four navy personnel.
Task force spokesperson Jonathan Malaya has called it "the most serious incident yet", branding Chinese officials as being determined to stir up trouble.
The Australian government has also criticised the incident.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says such behaviour could easily lead to something even more serious.
"I am very concerned and Australia is concerned about any unsafe and destabilising behaviour in the South China Sea. It is dangerous and it creates risks of miscalculation, which can then lead to escalation."
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The federal government has announced it will pay superannuation on paid parental leave from July next year.
Parents will receive an additional 12 per cent of their government-funded paid parental leave as a super equivalent payment to their super fund.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the reform is an important step in Labor's gender equality strategy.
She says women who take time off to raise children are on average left with 25 per cent less in retirement than men.
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The Climate Council has identified five global car companies they say account for an alarming amount of pollution in Australia.
The Council says Toyota’s 2023 new car sales are estimated to produce more pollution than 46 coal mines, followed by Ford, Hyundai, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, and Mazda.
The federal government is expected to introduce vehicle emissions standards next year for new petrol and and diesel powered vehicles which will bring Australia in line with Europe and many other nations.
But Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber says the proposal is too ambitious.
"The cost of that ambition has to be met by someone and with this scheme, that cost is met by the motorist."
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The A-F-L will pay tribute to Jesse Baird as a new season begins.
Baird umpired 62 games for the league, including two finals, before his alleged murder alongside partner Luke Davies.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says the tribute would be "a small token of reflection and remembrance" for the two young men during a difficult time for their family and friends.
