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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Sam Dover.
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Liberal senator Marise Payne has announced she will retire from federal politics.
In a statement, Senator Payne reveals she will leave parliament on September 30.
She says it has been a privilege serving in the senate, and she is honoured in having been the longest-serving female senator in Australian history.
Opposition Senate Leader Simon Birmingham thanked Senator Payne for her contribution and service.
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Opposition leader Peter Dutton has rejected claims that the Coalition will be ending its commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
It comes after comments by Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, who said the estimated cost of net zero was 'utterly untenable'.
Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has faced pressure to reject the net-zero commitment at the Nationals party federal conference.
Regardless, Mr Dutton has now stated that the Liberal/National Coalition will not be departing from the net zero goal, but believes very strongly that there needs to be a proper debate about how to reduce emissions sensibly.
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Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says Australia will continue to negotiate with China over trade relations.
It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Beijing before the end of the year.
The Prime Minister is expected to raise a number of trade and security related issues, including human rights cases in Hong Kong and Tibet.
He will also advocate on behalf of three Australians currently facing the death penalty in China.
Mr Marles says he's confident the discussions will be productive.
"We will continue to advocate to China in respect of greater trade in relation to wine, as we have in relation to a whole lot of other commodities including barley, for example where we have seen that trade come back online, I've got no doubt that this will be one of many issues that will be discussed by our prime minister when he visits China later in the year. Our aim is to stabilise our relationship with China."
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The head of the Commonwealth Games in Australia has admitted the organisation has not yet held conversations with other states and territories to host the 2026 event after Victoria withdrew from its hosting duties.
Chief executive of Commonwealth Games Australia Craig Phillips is appearing before a Senate inquiry into the Victorian government’s decision to cancel the 2026 games.
He says the organisation is considering all options, including hosting the games overseas.
"Currently CJA and CGFP and CGF are working together in terms of resolving between us around the settlement payment, and how that's applied. And then also, we're now working towards developing a model effectively, that will apply for a 2026 games, given the short timeframe we have that works in train right now all of that is a key factor in terms of then us having conversations with potential future hosts whether it's in Australia or overseas."
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And in football, France and the Netherlands have both enjoyed easy home wins in their UEFA EURO 2024 campaigns.
The French 2022 World Cup finalists beat Ireland 2-0 in Paris with goals by Aurelien Tchouameni and Marcus Thuram to maintain first place in group B.
Meanwhile, the Dutch team beat Greece 3-0 in Eindhoven to go level with them in second place and a game to play, with all goals scored in the first half and Denzel Dumfries providing three assists.
In Saturday's matches, Spain face the away challenge of Georgia, Portugal take on Slovakia in Bratislava and Croatia will play against Latvia.
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I’m Sam Dover, this is SBS News in Easy English.
