TRANSCRIPT:
- Neo-Nazis interrupt a press conference in Melbourne;
- The Taliban calls for international help in its response to a deadly earthquake;
- West Australia's Jack Robinson eliminated from the World Surf League finals.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has been forced to cut short a press conference after Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell gatecrashed the event.
Earlier in the conference, Ms Allan had condemned the violence surrounding anti-immigration marches on Sunday, which included an attack on a significant Aboriginal site in Melbourne known as Camp Sovereignty.
Mr Sewell was among a large group of people that attacked the Camp.
Today, the neo-Nazi has hurled insults and accusations at the Premier, including the false claim that the government wanted to ban the right to protest.
"Have your goons attack me. You're a coward, and we're going to take this country back from politicians like you."
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The Australian government says it will do what it can to assist Afghanistan in the wake of a devastating magnitude 6.0 earthquake that has killed at least 800 people.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has issued a statement saying Australian officials are in contact with the United Nations and other international partners to establish the extent of damage and the status of relief efforts.
Members of the Afghanistan community in Australia say the government should do everything in its power to assist.
Shams Mahmood has told SBS Pashto he was in Jalalabad when the earthquake struck.
“The shaking was very strong and terrifying, it felt like the whole ground was moving beneath us. People were running out of their homes in panic and many buildings were damaged.”
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Bulgarian authorities have accused Russia of interfering with a plane carrying E-U Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as it approached an airport at Plovdiv.
European Commission spokeswoman, Arianna Podesta, says the E-U is investigating what happened.
"We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria. We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia. We are, of course, aware and used to the threats and intimidations that are a regular component of Russia's hostile behaviour."
Russia has not yet commented on the allegations.
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Health Minister Mark Butler is standing firm against a cross-party push for more home care packages to be released for older people.
More than 120,000 Australians are waiting for assessment for home care services, prompting the government to plan to release 83,000 more packages from July.
The release has now been delayed until November, with authorities citing providers needing more time to prepare.
Mr Butler says the government still plans to stick to its timeline, but Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne says that would be a mistake.
"Every day that the government doesn't act on the home care wait list is a day that another person is denied the care that they desperately need. The government can do something about this. We heard on Friday that the sector is ready to go to take on more home care packages."
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Artificial intelligence tools that generate sexually explicit content of children are in the sights of the federal government.
Communications Minister Anika Wells has warned it's impossible to eliminate the problem of abusive technology "in one fell swoop".
But she says the government has vowed to work with industry on how best to restrict access to "nudify" and undetectable online stalking tools.
The Minister says there is a place for legitimate tracking technology - but NOT tools that are used solely to abuse, humiliate and harm.
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Dock workers in Sydney have been caught allegedly trying to extract half a tonne of cocaine hidden behind the false wall of a shipping container.
Australian Federal Police and other law enforcement agencies have confirmed the arrest of three men working at Sydney ports.
The AFP alleges a total of 506 individual blocks of white powder were found in a cavity in the container covered in metal sheeting.
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To sport and in surfing news,
West Australia's Jack Robinson has made a disappointing early exit from the World Surf League Finals in Fiji.
Robinson entered the first match of the men's top-five showdown as the fourth-ranked surfer who was favoured to overcome the 2019 world champion, Brazilian Italo Ferreira.
But the inconsistent conditions at Cloudbreak counted against the Olympic silver medallist, who struggled to find his groove.
