TRANSCRIPT
- New leaders for both Victoria's and New South Wales Liberal parties
- The UN Security Council endorses a US plan for peace in Gaza...
- European heavyweights book their spots at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
MP Jess Wilson will become the first woman to lead the Victorian Liberal party after defeating Brad Battin in a leadership challenge.
The party room rallied behind the 35-year-old shadow treasurer in her first term.
A delegation of Liberal MPs told Mr Battin on Monday afternoon that he had lost party room support.
Mr Battin, a former police officer, lasted less than a year in the job after replacing former leader John Pesutto.
The New South Wales National party has elected Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh as leader.
The third-generation fruit farmer was elected unopposed, less than 24 hours after former broadcaster Dugald Saunders' shock resignation for family reasons.
Mr Singh comes from a long line of banana and blueberry farmers with his great-grandfather migrating to Australia in 1895.
'"In the past he has decried the emphasis on his ethnic heritage, asking how many more generations were required before he stops being an Indian-Australian and just an Australian."
Vodafone's parent company TPG Telecom says a person has died after a triple-zero call failed to connect.
TPG Telecom said the person, from Sydney who died on 13 November, was using outdated Samsung software and was not able to make triple-zero calls.
New South Wales Ambulance alerted TPG Telecom service of the incident, which was linked to outdated Lebara software on a Samsung device, on 17 November.
TPG Telecom stated at the time of the attempted contact, the mobile network was operational and no outages were occurring.
More details to come.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley says she will provide further detail about the Coalition's policy to reduce migration numbers by the end of the year.
In an interview with SBS, she said the current intake is "too high", and migration is putting undue pressure on services and infrastructure.
However, Ms Ley declined to detail what visa categories would be cut under the forthcoming policy.
"My point is that the number is too high, and the infrastructure in this country is struggling, so we need to bring the number down. I've said that the great work that's being done by Senator Paul Scarr, and now joining the Home Affairs portfolio, Jonno Duniam, the two of them, They're working on foundational principles that will underpin the policy that I will talk about in further detail, and those principles will be out before Christmas."
US President Donald Trump is trying to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein as the Republican-controlled U-S House of Representatives prepares to vote to force the release of investigative files linked to the sex offender.
Mr Trump says he will sign the bill to release the files if Congress passes it, but added that the Republicans had nothing to do with Epstein, claiming all his friends were Democrats.
"Some of the people that we mentioned are being looked at very seriously for their relationship to Jeffrey Epstein but they were with him all the time, I wasn't. I wasn't at all. We'll see what happens. What I just don't want Epstein to do is to detract from the great success of the republican party."
Passage of the vote is all-but-guaranteed after Mr Trump dropped his longstanding opposition on Sunday.
It came days after a House petition gathered enough support to force a vote — a rare instance of House Republicans defying the president's wishes.
The New South Wales government is considering two-way tolling on the Harbour Bridge and tunnel, and on the not-yet-completed Western Harbour Tunnel and M-6 Motorway.
State premier Chris Minns says the extra cash will help fund the extension of the $60 per week toll cap on Sydney's roads, which was due to expire on New Year’s Day but will now be made permanent.
Mr Minns says the government cannot get rid of such a massive cost-of-living relief measure for hundreds of thousands of people who live in western Sydney.
But he says state-owned tolling assets are needed to fund the program.
The Harbour Bridge was originally tolled in both directions to fund its construction, until northbound tolling ended in 1970.
European heavyweights Germany and the Netherlands have booked their spots at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Four-time champions Germany thrashed Slovakia 6-0 after a shocking start to the group play.
Meanwhile the Netherlands — long-standing rivals of Germany — also won a place after a 4-0 win against Lithuania.
Germany and the Netherlands join England, France, Portugal, Croatia and Norway as the European teams to have qualified, with five remaining automatic spots still up for grabs.
Next year's tournament will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
