TRANSCRIPT
Former U-S President Donald Trump has made a triumphant appearance at his Republican Party's National Convention, just days after surviving an assassination attempt.
Sporting a thick bandage over his ear from the shooting, he's received a raucous ovation from the party faithful.
He proceeded to sit with some of his children, and his newly-unveiled pick for vice-president, Senator J-D Vance of Ohio, to watch the convention's first night, where speakers made the case to millions of Americans watching on television to return him to the presidency.
They've focused on the economy and illegal immigration in making the case for Mr Trump.
One of his close allies, Senator Tim Scott, from the state of South Carolina, says there's an element of the divine in Mr Trump's survival.
"If you didn't believe in miracles before Saturday, you've got to be believing right now. Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared. Oh yeah, he roared."
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Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says she won't be stepping down over the government's response to the serious allegations of criminal behaviour on taxpayer-funded worksites involving the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union or C-F-M-E-U.
She says she is taking action at a state level, adding that there is also a role for the federal government.
"The Criminal Organisation Control amendment Bill 2024 will give Victoria Police the powers they have asked for - and the powers that they need. It will be a tool for authorities to crackdown on outlaw bikies on worksites. In terms of work with the federal government, it is ultimately the federal government who wields industrial relations in this state. And unions in this state are regulated under those Commonwealth, federal industrial relations laws."
She says whether a Royal Commission is held, is a matter for the federal government.
The Victorian branch of the CFMEU has been placed into administration, and actions have taken to suspend the CFMEU’s construction division from the Victorian Labor party.
Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton says after receiving a referral from the Premier on Sunday, the force is investigating the allegations that bikies and organised crime figures had infiltrated the Victorian branch of CFMEU.
He says union officials will be prosecuted, if the evidence meets the criminal threshold.
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Areas in Victoria's east and north-east are dealing with the aftermath of heavy rain and floods, with the State Emergency Service responding to more than 300 calls for help in the past 24 hours.
A number of watch and act alerts remain active [[including for properties near the Latrobe River between Yallourn and Traralgon Creek in Gippsland, near the communities of Morwell, Yallourn North and Erica]].
Rainfall levels expected to reach 90 millimetres in places.
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A parliamentary inquiry has heard Australia urgently needs to restrict the use of AI technology to protect workers, amid warnings it's already being used to cut creative jobs.
The call came after an actor told an inquiry on Tuesday his employment contract was cancelled and his voice cloned to complete a video production.
But the Senate inquiry into Adopting Artificial Intelligence also heard Australian businesses should create their own AI models to address problems with the technology and ensure national guidelines were met.
The inquiry's third public hearing saw representatives from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance call for legal restrictions on AI technology to ensure people employed in creative roles were compensated for their work.
The union's campaigns director, Paul Davies, says the union isn't opposed to the use or development of AI tools, but says he wants to see measures in place to ensure greater transparency on what data is used and how AI is used, as well as ways to ensure creators are paid for their work.
"If you know that your product is going to be scrapped and sold on - for no value - why can you have trust in that system? Of course, it effects our trust, public trust in journalism and feeds into already extremely worrying trend of misinformation and disinformation in our media."
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Taxpayers could wait years for a major overhaul of the toll-road system in New South Wales.
Changes recommended by an independent review of tolls are not expected to begin until at least 2027.
The measures include giving the NSW government power to set prices across the whole network.
The review, jointly led by the former head of Australia's competition regulator, Allan Fels, found motorway tolls in Sydney were higher than necessary or desirable and that a state government cap-and-rebate scheme was unsustainable.
The state opposition spokesman for industrial relations, Damien Tudehope, says the message being sent to toll road users is not positive.
"(The) message to the New South Wales users of our road system that they will pay more for tolls on the Harbour Bridge. And that we will have more bureaucracy, but not much else in terms of understanding how a future tolling regime will be put in place. What compensation will need to be paid, how much that will be."
The dominance of private toll-road operator Transurban, the only non-government owner of motorways in the state, was also highlighted as potentially harming competition.
The New South Wales budget, delivered in June, included $16.6 million to support reforms arising from the review, including a commitment to set up the motorway body.
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In rugby league, Queensland coach Billy Slater is denying a report that he's fallen out with one of his star players, on the eve of the third and deciding State of Origin game.
Channel Nine has reported Slater is in the midst of a significant disagreement with winger Selwyn Cobbo, who played in the first game of this series, was left out of the team for the second game, and has now been recalled for game three.
But Slater says that couldn't be further from the truth.
"I actually haven't seen Selwyn more happy. I haven't seen him more engaged in his football. And he's had a great week. He's ready to play. Gone are the days where you've got to report the truth. I don't know where that has come from, but... totally fake news."
A Queensland victory in Brisbane tomorrow night will give them a third straight series win.
History is on their side.
Thirteen times, a series has come down to a winner-takes-all game three in Brisbane... and Queensland has won ten
