Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the actions of a Chinese jet fighter which dropped flares in front of an Australian navy helicopter, labelling the move "unprofessional and unacceptable".
Defence Minister Richard Marles has revealed the Royal Australian Navy Seahawk helicopter was forced to take action to prevent being hit by flares launched by a J-10 Chinese Air Force plane.
The flares were dropped about 300 metres in front of the chopper and about 60 metres above it, but the helicopter was unaffected and all the crew were safe.
Mr Albanese says the aircraft was on a routine flight in international airspace as part of an effort to enforce sanctions on North Korea.
"We have made very strong representations at every level to China about this incident, which we regard as unprofessional and unacceptable. Australian Defense Force personnel were going about their job to support the United Nations in the sanctions that they have against the North Korean regime and Australian Defense Force personnel should not be at risk whilst they're doing that."
The woman accused of murdering three people after serving a meal allegedly poisoned with deadly mushrooms last year has pleaded not guilty in court.
The trial of the accused 49-year-old woman, Erin Patterson, will be fast-tracked after she pleaded not guilty to eight charges.
She is accused of killing her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, aged 66.
All three died in hospital days after consuming the allegedly poisoned meal at Ms Patterson's home in South Gippsland.
She is also accused of the attempted murder of her ex-husband Simon and the attempted murder of Ms Wilkinson's husband Ian.
She will face trial at the Supreme Court in Melbourne, due for a directions hearng on May 23.
Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv after Israeli leaders have rejected a Gaza ceasefire proposal agreed to by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators that Hamas accepted included terms that Israel could not agree to.
He says an Israeli delegation will be sent to the talks to negotiate but their military will continue an escalation of attacks on the city of Rafah in Gaza's south in the mean-time.
Israel says it is currently striking Hamas targets in eastern Rafah where they had dropped fliers yesterday telling civilians to evacuate.
Malak is a young displaced girl in Rafah fears what's to come.
“We have been through tough times and we were displaced many times, to many strange places. When they dropped leaflets asking us to evacuate we were afraid and we didn’t know what we should do. We were optimistic when Hamas agreed to the ceasefire proposal, we were very optimistic. But Israel procrastinated and it is going too far, they don’t want to agree for ceasefire and they want to raid Rafah."
Farmers will soon be able to access more support to help prepare for drought with a new government investment.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt made the announcement of an extra $519 million investment into the Commonwealth's future drought fund to help regional communities ready for dry times as part of next week's federal budget.
As part of the boost, $235 million will go towards drought resilience programs, while $137.4 million will be channelled into measures to assist producers with business planning and financial literacy.
Trials for new solutions to drought mitigation will also be funded with a further $120 million.
Minister Watt says the fund aims to provide tools for farmers to manage drought on their properties as well as prepare for the climate challenges of the future.
"The reason we need to do that is that too often in the past, governments have waited until droughts have happened and then put forward a chaotic, urgent response that hasn't dealt with the underlying problems, and we want to change that. Over half a billion dollar investment will do really practical things. It will help farmers learn what they can be doing on farm to make themselves ready and make their income streams ready for future drought sharing climate science with our farmers so they know how to get better prepared."
