Key Points
- Optus CEO to focus on changes at company
- Coalition fallout over ongoing net zero debate
- India takes out cricket women's world cup title
TRANSCRIPT
The chief executive of Optus has rejected calls for his resignation, saying he has the support of the Board to continue with a company-wide transformation.
Stephen Rue has been in the firing line from coalition and crossbench senators during a Senate inquiry into the outage for taking more than six hours to tell the communications minister and industry regulator about a massive increase in the scale of the September outage.
The company says it is adding 300 people to its Australian call centres who are focused on Triple Zero customers, and that it will onshore its network operations from offshore contractors.
Mr Rue has told the first day of public hearings of the inquiry that the company's investigation into what happened is ongoing.
"Let me say on behalf of Optus, the board, the executive team - and the thousands of people across Australia who work at Optus what happened on the 18th of September is unacceptable. As the CEO, I am accountable for Optus' failings. And I am deeply sorry. We are all deeply sorry. The tragic events. The tragic deaths of people will stay with us an individual’s - and as a company, as we investigate the incident."
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has written to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to resolve the issue of who will host next year's COP31 summit.
Mr Albanese says Australia is continuing to engage with Türkiye's President to find a solution.
Australia and Türkiye have both submitted bids in 2022 to host the United Nations climate conference - and both countries have refused to concede to the other ever since.
The hosting rights are granted by consensus, not a vote - which means if the deadlock remains, the hosting rights for the event would default to the German city of Bonn.
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Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg says he thinks the Coalition will be able to reach an agreement to retain some form of net zero policy, despite the Nationals position.
Over the weekend, the Nationals voted in party room meeting to abandon net zero as a policy.
If the two parties cannot reach an agreement on climate policy, some Liberals say MPs should be prepared to end the Coalition arrangement.
Mr Bragg says net zero can be a part of the Coalition form, but it would need some revisions.
"You have to have net zero in some form. There is no doubt that Australia has very serious treaty obligations. Now the question of how you get to net zero is something for each country to make up their own mind on. My point is we're a serious country. We're a trade exposed nation. We're not going to walk away from international agreements. Never. We have to work harder to maintain Australia's international obligations. But do it in a way that suits the Australian economy and the Australian society."
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Six months after being elected, the Prime Minister says his government is strengthening Medicare by lifting the number of people who can receive free GP treatments.
New changes have come into effect from November 1, making it easier to see a GP for free.
The financial incentives for GPs to bulk-bill has now expanded beyond concession card holders - or children aged 16 years and under - to include any patient eligible for Medicare.
Anthony Albanese says the changes will benefit many.
"When you get sick you will get the care that you need. Not on the size of your wallet or your bank balance, you will get it on the basis of need. That is a fundamentally proud element of who we are."
Mental health consultations conducted via telehealth are now no longer exempt from the established clinical relationship requirement.
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Remote and rural First Nations communities across Australia experience an average 49 disconnections from their energy retailer each year - or nearly one power cut a week.
These communities have only one option for energy - and that is prepaid or upfront payments, to connect to small local suppliers that service their area.
According to research by the Aboriginal community and clean energy organisation, Original Power, 65-thousand First Nations Australians are impacted by this in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
Report co-author, Lloyd Pigram, is a researcher at the University of Notre Dame's Nulungu Research Institute.
He told SBS, the findings are eye-opening.
"The challenges of being on prepaid meters that I was first introduced when visiting family that I didn't take notice until I went and did the survey. Things that came out of the survey (include) food spoilages, old people (experiencing) chronic illnesses, running out of power as we doing it."
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In cricket, India has won its first-ever Women's World Cup title.
The team has held off South Africa by 52 runs in the final, in front of a sell-out home crowd at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.
It is the side's third attempt at the title, after finishing as runners-up in 2005 and 2017.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur says the win means so much.
"Yes, definitely, this is start. We wanted to break this barrier. And now our next plan is to make this happen because we are waiting for this moment. Now, this moment has come. So many big occasions are coming. We just want to keep improving day by day. This is not an end. This is just a beginning. We just want to keep giving our best."
