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TRANSCRIPT:
- The Prime Minister dismisses a Coalition push for a new criminal offence for those who help people linked to the IS group
- Hearings begin on Australia's capital gains tax
- Flagbearers chosen to carry the Australian flag at the Milan Winter Games closing ceremony.
The prime minister has dismissed the Coalition's call to create a new criminal offence for those who help Australians with alleged links to the I-S group return to Australia.
Coalition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam says the proposed bill would make it a criminal offence to facilitate the re-entry of people linked to terrorist hotspots or terrorist organisations, or who have committed terror-related offences.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he can't take the Coalition's push seriously.
He says he is receiving legal advice on the group of 34 - who are all Australian citizens.
"They don't have serious plans. If they did, they wouldn't have allowed more than 40 people, including fighters, on their watch when they were in government. We of course have advice. But it is the same advice that frankly the Coalition got, I'm sure. Which is why the laws that are in place are the laws that were put there by the Coalition. They pretend that the Constitution doesn't exist. They know there are limits to what can be done."
A psychiatric patient is dead after an incident at a mental health facility in Victoria.
Homicide detectives are investigating the alleged altercation at a hospital in Geelong that took place just before 2 o'clock this morning.
Police say that emergency services found the body of a man, who is yet to be formally identified, inside a room at that facility.
Another man, also a patient at the hospital, is under police guard.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called bomb explosions in Lviv a cynical and cruel terrorist act.
The National Police says one police officer was killed and 24 other people were wounded after several explosive devices detonated at midnight in Lviv, in western Ukraine.
Officials say the first explosion occurred after a patrol crew arrived at the suspected scene of a shop break-in, while the second explosion occurred a little later.
The western Ukrainian city near the Polish border far from the frontline that has been largely spared the worst of the conflict up until now, and Mr Zelenskyy says the attack is devastating.
"Two explosions, the second one when the rescuers arrived on site. Twenty-five people were wounded. Unfortunately one person, a policewoman, died. She was 23 years old – my condolences to friends and family. Now all who got injured are getting help. Among the wounded, there are some in critical condition. Doctors are doing all they can to save lives."
Ukraine tomorrow mark four years since the start of Russia's assault, which has uprooted millions and killed large numbers on both sides.
Three days of hearings have commenced as part of an inquiry on the capital gains tax.
The discount on capital gains tax was introduced in 1999 by the Howard government - and it allows for a 50 per cent reduction in the tax on investment properties sold after being owned for a year.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has not ruled out changes to the capital gains tax as part of the May budget.
Trade unionist Bill Kelty was former ACTU secretary and a key economic adviser to Bob Hawke, and has told the inquiry that any reform would need to be not just tax reform, but one aimed more broadly at intergenerational issues related to housing.
"I need the parliament of this country to unequivocally to stand up and say they're on the side of young people. Because that is the source of the frustration. That is the source of the alienation. Because young people do not believe you're on their side. And where do they go? They go where they always go. They go to extremities. They go to parties of hate. They go to the parties of division. And it is not just a bad thing for the Liberal Party. It is actually a bad thing for this country."
Warnings for heavy rainfall and damaging winds have been issued for parts of the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.
Six-hourly rainfall totals between 60 and 90mm are likely in some places, with forecasts saying the conditions are expected from today through to Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology says residents should prepare for the impacts and say remote communities could be heavily impacted by rising waters, which could isolate residents from services and support.
To sport,
Verona is hosting the closing ceremony of the Milano Cortina Games.
The event, entitled "Beauty in Action", is being held in a historic Roman amphitheater, the Verona Arena, where some 1,500 athletes will celebrate their feats against a backdrop of Italian music and dance.
Danielle Scott and Cooper Woods are the Australian flagbearers for the ceremony.
Australia has earned a record six medals at this year's Games, with three golds, two silvers and a bronze; prompting calls by athlete Alisa Camplin-Warner for more funding.
