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TRANSCRIPT:
The Commonwealth Government has started legal action against 3M Australia in the Federal Court.
The case is about claims that PFAS chemicals polluted 28 defence sites across Australia.
The government says 3M Australia kept back information, gave wrong information about one of its products, and made false promises about its effect on the environment and how it should be thrown away.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland says the claims against 3M Australia are about a type of foam used to fight fires.
"The Commonwealth is seeking more than two billion dollars in damages to recover significant past and future expenses incurred in investigating and managing contamination resulting from the historical storage and use of this foam. Let me be clear, this is the this is the largest legal claim ever brought by the Commonwealth."
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Australian Federal Police have arrested a woman as part of an investigation called Operation Kurrajong.
She is being charged by the AFP Joint Counter Terrorism Taskforce, but police have not yet said what the charges are.
The woman is said to have recently returned to Australia.
This week, the AFP and police in New South Wales and Victoria said they were still investigating six women who arrived in Australia with their children from a detention camp in Syria for families linked to IS fighters.
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Labor ministers are defending the government’s planned housing tax changes.
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino says the government is moving quickly so people can have clear information as soon as possible.
A bill was introduced in parliament today, and the changes are expected to pass parliament with support from the Greens.
Education Minister Jason Clare has told Channel 7’s Sunrise the changes are mainly about helping young people who are finding it hard to buy a home.
"I don't want us to be a country where young people are forced to rent for their entire life, where they have no other option, where they can't afford to buy a house. But mate that is where we are going. When we were in our twenties, the average price of a house was around four times your annual salary. Now it is about ten and it is even higher in Sydney where we live."
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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says tax reform is needed but says the Treasurer’s plan is not the right one.
But Mr Taylor says it is being pushed through too quickly and is not being checked properly.
"We'll work with anyone and we'll talk to anyone and we have been talking to whoever is prepared to work with us to fight these taxes. And we'll keep doing that."
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Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the number of people killed by Israeli strikes has risen to more than 3,200.
The ministry says 31 people were killed in airstrikes on Tuesday night, local time.
The Israeli military says it has hit more than 150 Hezbollah sites and fighters near Tyre and Nabatieh in the south, and in the Beqaa Valley in the east.
It has also told people in five towns and villages in southern Lebanon to leave.
Maayan Malka lives in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel and says the area is still at war, even with a ceasefire in place between Israel and Lebanon.
"When a person ultimately lives their daily life in terror, where at any moment a siren or some missile attack could meet them, or they could be in life-threatening danger, that's essentially terror. Because if I live 24/7 with the feeling that every time I leave the house or a protected space it could cost me my life, you can't call that a ceasefire."
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Community-led events are being held across Australia for National Reconciliation Week.
This year’s theme is “All In”.
It asks all Australians to fully support reconciliation and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Filipino nurse at the APY Lands Amata Clinic, Lindeil Cuevas, says he has seen how much Indigenous Australians value the care once given by Filipino health workers on Thursday Island.
Mr Cuevas has told SBS Filipino he is proud to continue that history of kindness and care.
"I'm happy to serve them as well. Also to put yourself in their shoes. What else you need to understand there Also their situation that not all of them really trust, like some of them doesn't trust the healthcare system as well. So, so slowly some people are getting educated from Indigenous people. They're trying to encourage more of their fellow people as well to encourage them to see a medical treatment.”
