TRANSCRIPT:
- Sussan Ley rejects claims Liberals are losing young voters after net-zero shift
- Tasmania lower house backs $1.13b Macquarie Point stadium plan
- Deni Juric ruled out as Socceroos prepare for Venezuela clash
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has dismissed criticism that the Liberal party lost its bid to attract young voters, despite the party dropping the net zero target by 2050 on Thursday.
Several polls this year have indicated that climate change is one of the most concerning issues for young and city voters.
When announcing the abandonment of the net zero target on Thursday afternoon, Ms Ley said her party will pitch an alternative policy to attract young voters.
During her speech at the John Howard Institute in Sydney on Thursday evening, Ms Ley reiterated that she and her colleagues understand young voters' demands.
"And I said that when I became leader that I will meet modern Australia where they were, and I have, and so have my colleagues. Of course we have. We've been listening, we've been learning, we've been understanding. And we know the Gen Z and Millenials are right now the disfranchised people, because they are facing a future of unaffordable housing, of stagnant wages, of spiralling cost of living."
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The Greens have condemned the Liberal Party's decision to scrap the net zero by 2050 emissions reduction target, calling it a recipe for environmental vandalism and economic wrecking.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Liberals have shown they do not care about the climate crisis, by following their Coalition partners the Nationals in dumping the target, four years after adopting it under Scott Morrison.
"What an absolute train wreck and this is a bunch of nutters who want to drive Australia's economy over a cliff and continue to trash our environment. This is a Liberal Party who are clearly controlled by climate deniers and people who don't even accept the clear climate science and they simply cannot be trusted to be any type of partner on climate or environment policy."
Dan Tehan, moderate Anne Ruston and conservative Jonno Duniam are now negotiating with the Nationals on a joint formal coalition position.
They have entered discussions with Nationals senators Matt Canavan, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald in the coming days before a joint partyroom meeting on Sunday to rubber-stamp a policy.
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The federal government will today announce $37 million dollars of funding for child safety reforms that could be implemented nationwide by the end of the year.
The money will go towards enhanced national monitoring of working with children checks, although a uniform national working with children check remains off the cards.
Calls for reforms to child safety regulations started earlier in the year when a Melbourne childcare worker, Joshua Dale Brown, was charged with sexually abusing eight children under the age of two.
He was known to have worked at 24 childcare facilities between 2017 and 2025.
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Tasmania’s lower house has approved the $1.13 billion stadium project at Macquarie Point in Hobart, as required for the state’s football club to enter the AFL and AFLW competitions in 2028.
After around six hours of debate, the vote passed 25 to 9, with support from both major parties and some crossbenchers.
The stadium will be built on the former rail yards at Macquarie Point, Hobart, and the facility, including a roof, is a pre-condition set by the AFL for entry in 2028.
The project now moves to the upper house of the Tasmanian Parliament for further approval before it can proceed.
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The United Nations says Israel must do more to protect mosques in the West Bank, after one was attacked by Israeli settlers.
Grafitti was scrawled on the mosque, and Korans burnt, in the attack in the Palestinian town of Deir Istiya.
Israel says it is investigating, but hasn't identified any suspects yet.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says it is up to Israel to keep the Palestinians living in the area safe.
"Israel, as the occupying power, has a responsibility to protect the civilian population and ensure that those responsible for these attacks, including this attack on a mosque and the spray painting of horrendous language on the mosque, be brought to account."
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To sport, and in the United States, the Australian men’s national team, the Socceroos, have suffered a setback ahead of their friendly against Venezuela in Houston, Texas, this Saturday.
Deni Juric was injured during training and has now withdrawn from the camp.
The coaching staff will not call in a replacement, meaning the match-day squad will be chosen from the remaining players.
Central defender Milos Degenek says Juric’s injury shows how fiercely the younger players are competing for selection.
"The desire from all the players to impress, that no one is taking a backward step, everyone is going forward, the intensity in training is really high, the level is really good, the quality is really good, and I think everyone has just done their best and unfortunately, Deni - it's his first camp, and unfortunately he got injured, and hopefully he will recover and get another chance eventually in the future I believe."
