source : the age
Hello and welcome back to our rolling coverage of national and world news for this Friday, October 2. Here’s what you need to know today.
- Lawyers who lodge visa applications that they know have little chance of success will face tougher consequences under a federal crackdown on misconduct in the Australian migration system. Assistant Minister for Citizenship Julian Hill will use a speech today to outline the proposed changes.
- Some Australians will likely continue to encounter card payment surcharges at the checkout into the weekend despite the RBA’s ban coming into effect yesterday, after business lobby groups warned many smaller shops – particularly those run by migrants – have been left in the dark about how the new payment system works.
- The opposition has criticised the Albanese government’s decision to join a $200 million bailout of Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania, despite saying they would have made the same decision if in government.
- Abroad, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flight to Israel had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination” leading him to stab the pilot and plunge the aircraft towards the ground in a horrifying ordeal for 174 passengers and crew. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, that Iran might be linked to the incident.
- And the US military is dispatching about 9000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East as Trump weighs new strikes against Iran.
Opposition spokesman for education Julian Leeser says he has sought clarity on how the government’s Thriving Kids program will roll out in schools, but has received “very little”.
Thriving Kids is the initiative that seeks to provide early intervention support outside the NDIS. It was announced alongside a raft of changes to Australia’s disability support system in the Albanese government’s May budget.
Asked whether he was satisfied with the information the government had provided about how the program, which launches today, would roll out to schools, Leeser told ABC Radio National:
“Ever since Thriving Kids was announced, I’ve been asking state education teachers and administrators. I’ve been asking people in the Catholic and independent sector, and people can tell me very little.”
He said there were more questions than answers about its implementation.
“The website doesn’t tell you very much. I mean, how does it help a parent who is not sure whether their child needs moderate or high support? Where is the line to be drawn there? What is the role here for teachers and schools, and how does this actually create any additional services in terms of occupational therapists or speech therapists?”
Washington: The US military is dispatching about 9000 troops aboard ships to the Middle East, a US official said.
The bolstering of the American military presence comes as US President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon.
The troop movement, which includes a third aircraft carrier, underscores the rapidly evolving dynamic of Trump’s war against Iran as he ponders his next move, with US midterm elections looming large and new signs that the nature of the conflict may be becoming more complex.
In a Time magazine interview published overnight, Trump said it was “possible” that he would ramp up bombing in Iran after the November 3 elections.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed the Albanese government’s $200 million bailout of Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay aluminium smelter, saying it was an example of “net zero lies and madness killing Australian manufacturing”.
“Yet another smelter is on the brink. And Albanese hands out a taxpayer-funded Band-Aid while Chris Bowen keeps piling on costs through his climate safeguard mechanism,” she wrote on social media.
The leader of the minor party also repeated her vow to scrap net zero and abolish the government’s climate change programs.
“We must use our own resources and stand on our own two feet,” the post said.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor also criticised the bailout during a press conference yesterday, but said the Coalition would have done the same if it were in government.
London: Police have arrested a dual UK-Iranian national on suspicion of plotting a terror attack following a security incident at a US-run military air base in England that British authorities have linked to Tehran.
The 25-year-old man was arrested in central London overnight, and police have searched two properties in the city.
Five men, all British nationals in their 20s and from London, were arrested last weekend on suspicion of explosives and terror offences close to the RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran. The suspects have since been released on bail.
Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant – petrol – in three vans linked to the five suspects, but no explosives.
Hello and welcome back to our rolling coverage of national and world news for this Friday, October 2. Here’s what you need to know today.
- Lawyers who lodge visa applications that they know have little chance of success will face tougher consequences under a federal crackdown on misconduct in the Australian migration system. Assistant Minister for Citizenship Julian Hill will use a speech today to outline the proposed changes.
- Some Australians will likely continue to encounter card payment surcharges at the checkout into the weekend despite the RBA’s ban coming into effect yesterday, after business lobby groups warned many smaller shops – particularly those run by migrants – have been left in the dark about how the new payment system works.
- The opposition has criticised the Albanese government’s decision to join a $200 million bailout of Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania, despite saying they would have made the same decision if in government.
- Abroad, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flight to Israel had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination” leading him to stab the pilot and plunge the aircraft towards the ground in a horrifying ordeal for 174 passengers and crew. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, that Iran might be linked to the incident.
- And the US military is dispatching about 9000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East as Trump weighs new strikes against Iran.
