Key Points
- Police, family appeal over Simon Knight disappearance
- Prime Minister's pointed address to party on eve of new parliament
- Opals beat Japan to win Asia Cup
TRANSCRIPT
The father of a Sydney man who disappeared 20 years ago to the day, has made a desperate appeal for any new information to shed light on the fate of his son.
The appeal, made alongside New South Wales Police, is seeking clarity two decades after Simon Knight was last seen at a Surry Hills hotel on Crown Street.
His parents reported the aspiring chef missing, after he failed to show up to work at a Newtown Cafe later that day.
Police are currently offering a $250,000 reward for any credible information.
His father, Bob Knight, says the family has been waiting 20 years for closure.
"We have been waiting 20 years to find out what's happened to Simon. The family is still waiting, we're hoping that one day we will get the answers and closure. So please, if you do know anything, please get in touch with the police or Crimestoppers. Thank you."
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told federal Labor politicians they must repay the faith of the Australian public who chose to re-elect his government to power, with a dominant majority.
Mr Albanese made the remarks as he addressed the Labor party caucus, ahead of the first sitting day of the new Federal Parliament, tomorrow.
He says members must reflect on the mandate Labor has been given and do their best to serve the interests of the Australian public above all else.
"Each and every day, we must work hard to we repay the faith that has been shown in us. We should never, ever, ever take it for granted. People don’t expect perfection. They understand that the world will throw things at us. But they expect that we will put them first, rather than be focused internally on what goes on in this building."
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Over 150 organisations have come together to warn the human rights of Australians are increasingly under threat, ahead of a major United Nations review.
The coalition of organisations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights, legal, disability, refugee, LGBTIQ+ and climate groups, have submitted a joint report to the United Nations Human Rights Council identifying critical issues that have gone unaddressed.
They're calling for the establishment of an Australian Human Rights Act, to establish clear minimum human rights protections that must be considered by governments when designing policies and delivering services.
Caitlin Reiger, CEO at the Human Rights Law Centre tells SBS that urgent action is needed to stem the rollback of fundamental rights.
"We don't have a comprehensive set of human rights protections in our legal framework at the federal level. We've also seen a number of jurisdictions, wind areas of human rights and basic civil liberties protections back, both in terms of the quite repressive responses to public protests in recent times, we've seen backsliding around youth justice with the age of criminal responsibility going down in some places rather than up. And we have 10- and 11-year-olds sitting in police cells and not in classrooms or at home."
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Investigators are examining a light plane crash in south-eastern Queensland, which killed a pilot and flight examiner.
The twin turboprop aircraft crashed into a grass area near Oakey, west of Toowoomba, about 3pm yesterday.
Aero Logistics owns the craft.
In a statement, chief executive Ben Smee says it's a terrible tragedy and that the pair were experienced, well-respected pilots.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is now investigating the crash.
Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell says the pilot was undergoing an instrument proficiency check at the time, an annual requirement of instrument-rated pilots.
"Exactly what's occurred here is still not entirely clear to us but we do know that it was conducting ILS, which is Instrument Landing System approaches into Oakey. Now something has obviously gone quite tragically wrong and our job is to piece together the sequence of events leading into what's occurred yesterday afternoon and more broadly the environments that may have influenced that."
Mr Smee says Aero Logistics has offered its support to the families of the two men and counselling services to staff.
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In basketball, the Opals are celebrating after the Australian women have won their first Asia Cup, triumphing over defending champions Japan in the final.
It was a dominant gold medal display with the Opals leading at the end of every quarter, finishing with 88 points to Japan's 79.
While the six-time champions levelled the score twice in the final quarter, Australia polled ahead with the help of top-scorer Alexandra Fowler who led the charge with 15 points.
She was followed by Alex Wilson's 14 points and Stephanie Reid's 13.
Fowler says she's grateful for the opportunity to play for Australia and thanks her family and coaches for helping her improve her game.
"As I continue to develop and get older my game continues to grow. It's a credit to all the coaches over the years, my parents, everyone, all the time they've put in to getting me to training, to putting in the extra hours with me. It's just so fun to be out on the stage and play in front of a crowd wearing the Australian jersey. I think we had an amazing group of girls come together and I couldn't be prouder of the group and the coaching staff and all the people who put in all the time and effort behind the scenes. It's been so much fun, this whole tournament."
