TRANSCRIPT
Security cameras are set to be trialled at 300 childcare centres across Australia, in response to the safety crisis that has hit the industry.
Education ministers from around the country are meeting in Sydney today [[fri]] to try and put in place solutions, after several cases of alleged child abuse in childcare centres.
Some centres will be made to install security cameras, whilst others can volunteer to do so.
Cameras can be put in everywhere in a centre except toilets and change areas.
The federal government is proposing to contribute $189 million for various improvements, and wants a national childcare worker register.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says all levels of government need to work together to protect children effectively.
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Weather conditions in New South Wales are clearing up after a long spell of heavy rain leading to flash flooding, with emergency crews responding to 10 rescues.
The State Emergency Service [[S-E-S]] has been dispatched to nearly 630 incidents across the state in the last 24 hours, including 10 flood rescues.
There are 42 warnings in place for residents across the affected areas from Wollongong to Goondiwindi.
Angus Hines, from the Bureau of Meteorology, says people in northern New South Wales especially should keep up to date with flood warnings.
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Passionate performers have competed in Finland for the qualifying round of this year's Air Guitar World Championships.
The competition, now in its 28th year, reaches its climax with the final on Friday evening in Finland bringing together competitors from 13 countries.
Contestants are judged on the performance of two songs in two separate rounds, each lasting 60 seconds, and real instruments are off-limits.
The challengers include U-S champion Saladin “Six String Sal” Thomas and German champion Patrick “Van Airhoven” Culek.
The winner is chosen by a five-member jury of performing arts professionals.
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Australia has joined allies in rebuking Israel over its plan to build illegal settlements in the West Bank, as the diplomatic stoush between the two nations deepens.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has released a joint statement along with her counterparts from 20 countries, including Canada, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
It calls on Israel to immediately reverse its decision to construct 3,400 homes in the E-1 area east of Jerusalem.
The plan, devised by Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, would effectively cut the Palestinian-controlled West Bank in two.
The joint statement says the plan will undermine security, fuel further violence and instability, and make a two-state solution impossible by dividing any Palestinian state and restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem.
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A postal worker has been charged after allegedly stealing bank cards from the mail in a number of Sydney suburbs before handing them off to criminal syndicates in a scheme worth nearly $1.5 million.
Police raided the homes of the 56-year-old postie and two other men, aged 35 and 27, in southern Sydney where they found the stolen goods.
These included Australian and United States cash totalling more than $14,000, a Rolex watch, Louis Vuitton handbags, a taser, electronic items and cartons of cigarettes.
Detectives from Strike Force Rubi, with help from Australia Post, investigated the postal employee who rifled through the mail in Edgecliff, Woollahra and Double Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
They allege he supplied the stolen bank cards to two separate organised crime syndicates.
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In rugby union, Olympian Corey Toole has been picked to make his debut for the Wallabies in this weekend's Rugby Championship match against South Africa in Cape Town [[kickoff 1:10am AEST sunday am]].
Toole played rugby sevens for Australia at the Paris Olympics last year.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt says the winger has adapted well to the more physical 15-man game.
Toole replaces Dylan Pietsch, who broke his jaw in last weekend's game.
Fraser McReight [[mc-right]] will captain the side in place of Harry Wilson.
Meanwhile, Australia's women's team, the Wallaroos, have announced their lineup to play Samoa in the opening game of the World Cup in England tomorrow night [[ sat 9pm aest kickof]].
Caitlyn Halse has been named at fullback, and at 18 years of age will become the younget woman ever to play for Australia at a World Cup.
