source : the age
Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Monday, August 10. Here’s what is making news today.
- The Coalition has accused Labor of exploiting a $171 million multicultural fund to bankroll its own seats and entrench “ghettoisation” of migrant communities, as the Albanese government quietly shifts funding toward cross-cultural programs over narrower ethnic or religious activities, setting up a clash over border controls and diversity ahead of parliament resuming this week.
- Albanese will also aim to settle an ongoing debate on betting ads in talks with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week. Sources close to both leaders told this masthead there was appetite to strike a major party deal on a long-running dispute that has pitted the AFL, NRL and media outlets, who rely on ad revenue, against religious leaders and advocates who have argued for a blanket ban on betting promos.
- Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the US is unlikely to deliver any nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, as he argued the superpower would not be able to build enough Virginia-class vessels to honour its commitments to the defence pact.
- Australia’s confirmed bird flu detections have reached 215, as the Australian Centre for Disease Control say the risk to human health remains low. There are no confirmed detections in commercial poultry or the agriculture system.
- And Iran and Oman remained short of a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while US President Donald Trump signalled the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance after Tehran renewed a hefty list of demands for Washington as conditions for a full reopening of the waterway.
Iran named a new head of its powerful Supreme National Security Council, state media reported.
Mohsen Rezaei had been a military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander.
It was the latest shuffle at the top for the politburo-like body, which has a range of political opinions and rivalries and is adapting to the loss of several senior officials in the war.
The appointment could represent a further consolidation of power by the country’s old-guard security establishment, The New York Times reported.
Health Minister Mark Butler has batted down suggestions Labor are “returning to the drawing board” on its migration policy, after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled an immigration address to the National Press Club last week.
Speaking to Nine’s Today show this morning, Butler said the government were trying to achieve a “balance” between the need for skilled migrants and the need to reduce net migration numbers.
“The net migration numbers are down by almost a half … We’re looking at what else we can do to get those numbers down and be smarter about the balance that Australia needs.
“There are gaps in our workforce, as I said, in construction, in health, in IT. But we also do need a system here. So while we’ve got those numbers down by almost a half, we had said that we want to get them down more to make sure we achieve that balance,” Butler said.
Burke’s address was called off following a cabinet meeting last Monday. A new date for the speech has not yet been confirmed.
Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Monday, August 10. Here’s what is making news today.
- The Coalition has accused Labor of exploiting a $171 million multicultural fund to bankroll its own seats and entrench “ghettoisation” of migrant communities, as the Albanese government quietly shifts funding toward cross-cultural programs over narrower ethnic or religious activities, setting up a clash over border controls and diversity ahead of parliament resuming this week.
- Albanese will also aim to settle an ongoing debate on betting ads in talks with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week. Sources close to both leaders told this masthead there was appetite to strike a major party deal on a long-running dispute that has pitted the AFL, NRL and media outlets, who rely on ad revenue, against religious leaders and advocates who have argued for a blanket ban on betting promos.
- Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the US is unlikely to deliver any nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, as he argued the superpower would not be able to build enough Virginia-class vessels to honour its commitments to the defence pact.
- Australia’s confirmed bird flu detections have reached 215, as the Australian Centre for Disease Control say the risk to human health remains low. There are no confirmed detections in commercial poultry or the agriculture system.
- And Iran and Oman remained short of a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while US President Donald Trump signalled the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance after Tehran renewed a hefty list of demands for Washington as conditions for a full reopening of the waterway.
Iran and Oman remained short of a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although US President Donald Trump signalled patience, saying the US could wait for Tehran’s economic suffering to soften its stance.
For its part, Iran ruled out direct talks with the US for now, citing what Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described as repeated violations of a short-lived interim peace agreement signed in June.
“As long as the American violation of the Memorandum of Understanding continues and the US does not make amends for its violations, there is no possibility of resuming negotiations,” he was cited as saying by state TV. Araghchi also said a pact with Oman to establish a shipping route through the strait was “very close”.
That didn’t seem to bother Trump, who on Sunday (US time) told Axios that the US was now “low-keying it”.
“We are only semi-negotiating with them,” he said. “We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has revealed he will not be called to appear before the royal commission into antisemitism, despite leading the campaign to establish the inquiry in the wake of the December 14 Bondi Beach terror attack.
Frydenberg revealed in The Australian that he wanted to be called as a witness and had indicated this when he lodged his submission to the inquiry two months ago.
Instead, he says he was informed last Friday that he would not be required in the final week of public hearings in Sydney, which begin next Monday, August 17.
Writing in The Australian, Frydenberg said he told the commission he “would welcome the opportunity to be called as a witness”.
