TRANSCRIPT:
Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham says it's time Australia reopens its embassy in Kyiv, following some 70 other countries most of whom he says opened doors just months after the February 2022 invasion.
Senator Birmingham says it's vital Australia re-establishes its presence in Ukraine's capital, to ensure Australia's assistance to Ukraine.
The heads of some of Australia's biggest banks are set to attend a parliamentary hearing today as mortgage-holders struggle with interest rates.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn and Westpac head Peter King are to give evidence at the hearing.
The big four control about 80 per cent of the Australian banking sector.
The committee chair, Labor MP Daniel Mulino, says interest rate decisions are a key focus of the inquiry.
The official cash rate has been kept at 4.35 per cent by the Reserve Bank since November.
The Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said earlier in August that an interest rate cut would be unlikely by the end of 2024.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of further damaging winds in Victoria after a man died from a tree falling on his car.
Victoria's emergency services have so far responded to more than 2000 requests for assistance, as destructive winds swept across Victoria and parts of New South Wales.
Police said the man died at the scene in southwest Victoria yesterday afternoon while the female passenger was flown to hospital in a critical condition.
SES Chief Officer Tim Weibusch says there will be more wild weather.
"We're expecting these sort of conditions to come and go with fronts over the next several days, and so we're asking people to be particularly alert on our roads for the risk of fallen trees, fallen branches, and other debris. Our thoughts are certainly with the family of the person that was sadly killed yesterday at Jelly Brand, but we also saw a Second Tree come down the car on the Mornington Peninsula yesterday. So it is a timely reminder to be particularly vigilant on our roads in these coming days."
Two dams in the Greater Sydney region have been closed following testing which found synthetic 'forever chemicals'.
Water New South Wales said Medlow Dam and Greaves Creek Dam in the Blue Mountains - have been closed.
The tests for the so-called 'forever chemicals', or PFAS substances, revealed the untreated water in Medlow Dam has levels exceeding Australian drinking water standards.
PFAS compounds have more than 14,000 chemicals that do not break down and can accumulate toxins in plants and animals
Overseas governments in New Zealand and the US have taken action to gradually ban or phase out their use.
And in football,
Bayern Munich and England forward Harry Kane has received the European Golden Shoe trophy, recognising the top scorer in European football during the previous season.
Kane scored 36 goals in his debut season for Bayern Munich.
The 31-year-old is the first English striker to win the prize since Kevin Phillips in 2000 and the third Bayern Munich player after two-time winners Gerd Muller and Robert Lewandowski.
Speaking at a ceremony in Bavaria, he said winning was a "fantastic feeling".
