TRANSCRIPT:
- Victoria's premier fires back after neo-Nazis crash her press conference;
- A new report finds racism in health care is costing lives;
- A man apologises after a tennis cap stealing controversy at the US Open.
The Victorian government's anti-hate taskforce is to examine the weekend's anti-immigration marches and the ensuing violence in Melbourne.
The announcement was made before Premier Jacinta Allan's press conference was interrupted by heckling from self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell in a Melbourne park.
"Over the course of this week, alongside Victoria Police, I will be convening the anti-hate taskforce to both look at the incidences over the weekend, but also understand too that this goes beyond just being a law and order issue. There is something deeper going on here."
The Premier has released a statement saying she is un-fazed by the heckling, conducted by people she's described as 'goons' who are intent on whipping up fear to divide society.
She says if Nazis oppose her government's agenda, she wears that like a badge of honour.
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Experts say that the anti-immigration rallies attended by thousands of Australians are opportunities for neo-Nazi groups to enlist more members.
While only a small contingent of those who showed up identified as white nationalists, ANU terrorism expert Levi West has said there was an overlap that extremists could exploit.
Coalition backbencher Matt Canavan has blamed the government's immigration policies for driving people towards extremist views.
"Ultimately, the government has to take responsibility here for not showing the leadership for the Australian people so that they don't get attracted to these kind of rallies and end up giving air time to these type of extremists."
But Minister for Multiculturalism Anne Ali says that's not true.
She has told SBS Arabic that while the demonstrations may have been the result of fear, those people do not represent Australia.
"We call them out as racism because that’s what they are. And we do not accept that this belongs in Australia. And we stand with all migrants. It doesn’t matter where they are from, we stand with all migrants to Australia."
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A new report has found that racism in healthcare is costing lives, with patients repeatedly denied care, misdiagnosed or treated with suspicion because of who they are.
The scoping review published by the Australian Human Rights Commission looked at evidence from 100 studies, concluding that systemic and interpersonal racism is a critical driver of poor health, chronic illness, and premature death.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman says the report confirms what communities have been saying for decades.
He has called the findings a wake-up call for the nation.
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Australians seeking information from the Commonwealth could soon be slugged with a fee under reforms being considered by the government.
There are currently no processing fees for Commonwealth freedom of information requests - but Attorney-General Michelle Rowland wants to introduce them, saying the system is being overrun with vexatious applications.
The Coalition has chastised the push to introduce a fee.
Attorney-general spokesman Julian Leeser has branded it a 'pay to play' transparency tax that will make it harder to access documents.
"This is a government that talked a big game on transparency before they came to office. But what they've done since coming to office is anything but transparency... Information that the government holds on individuals is the right of individuals to seek that information. And being able to get that information is important because government is conducted for the Australian people in the name of the Australian people."
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Spain's President is proposing a plan to combat natural disasters following heatwaves and wildfires fuelled by climate change.
The country has just endured a catastrophic fire season, with 16 regions declared disaster zones and the E-U called in to support firefighting efforts.
Now, President Sanchez says Spain must be ready for the next bout of extreme weather.
"We propose to the administrations, that all of us, every single one of us, increase and keep for the 365 days of the year all of the human and technical resources needed to prevent and to fight extreme climate events. What does this mean? To rely on firefighters and brigades that are robust, trained, endowed with the appropriate vehicles and technologies, to support long-term public policies.”
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French police have found stolen jewelry worth millions of dollars tucked inside some underpants at a Paris train station.
The newspaper Le Parisien says the discovery was made during a routine check at the Gare de Lyon long-distance station.
The Paris prosecutor's office says officers discovered that one of the men they stopped had concealed a sock in his underwear containing a luxury watch and numerous pieces of jewellery.
The haul included a necklace valued at an estimated five million euros [[$A8.9 million]], earrings worth over two million [[$A3.6 million]], and a ring worth one million [[$A1.8 million]].
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To sport,
A Polish man has apologised after stealing a player's tennis cap from a young fan at the US Open in New York.
The man snatched the hat after it was offered to the boy moments after a singles match, with the entire moment caught on camera, and the footage now seen by millions online.
The man has posted on social media that he became caught up in the heat of the moment, and it was never his intent to steal away a prized memento from the young fan.
He says he has now returned the hat to the boy.
