TRANSCRIPT
- The Federal Opposition says the government needs to take responsibility for controversial immigration directives
- Home Affairs refuses to reveal which agency conducted drone surveillance
- Thanassi Kokkinakis out of the French Open
Opposition Home Affairs Spokesman James Paterson has called on the federal government to take responsibility for the incidents caused by its own directives.
It has been revealed that a number of criminals made use of a directive by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to extend their stay in Australia.
Direction 99 was introduced in response to pressure from the New Zealand government, which criticised the Australian Government for deporting New Zealand citizens who had spent significant time in Australia.
Mr Giles has made changes to the directive, putting an emphasis to the safety of the Australian community.
Speaking to Sky News, Senator Paterson says the problem is the of the government's own making.
"It was Andrew Giles who signed the direction, it was Andrew Giles who ignored a warning from his department that this would lead to an increase in the number of visa's decisions being overturned and allowing people to stay. So he's got very serious responsibility here. It was him and his office who apparently failed to notice that the Department was stopping referring a lot of cases for him to look into. But the Prime Minister's the head of the government. He's the one who agreed this with Jacinda Ardern. He's the one who instructed the Department of Home Affairs and his Minister for Immigration to change it. So the Prime Minister should take responsibility."
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The federal government has confirmed the use of drones to monitor the movements of those released from immigration detention.
The Opposition has questioned why the drones were necessary when the government could employ other means of monitoring, such as Google Earth.
The Federal Police and other state agencies have denied they were participating in the monitoring program which was using the drones.
Speaking to ABC's Insiders, Cabinet Minister Murray Watt says the drones are being used to ensure the former detainees are not causing harm to the public.
"My understanding is that drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense of monitoring the accommodation that people are living in. For example ensuring that it's not too close to schools or other areas that they're not supposed to be living close to."
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Defence Minister Richard Marles says the upcoming elections in the United States will have no impact on Australia's relationship with the country.
Mr Marles has met with his U-S counterpart Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the annual security summit of Pacific nations being held in Singapore.
It comes following the conviction of former U-S President and Republican main candidate Donald Trump for attempting to cover up documents that showed he provided hush money payments to an adult film star.
Mr Marles says that no matter who the next leader of the U-S will be, the country will remain a key figure on global events.
"America is a key and principal guardian of the global rules-based order and that it continues to be that is critically important and obviously we are deeply grateful for the fact that America does play that role and is doing that around the world and very much here in the Indo-Pacific."
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U-S Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin has rejected the accusations from his Chinese counterpart that his country is attempting to expand NATO to the Pacific.
The two ministers met during the Shangri-La security conference which is currently being held in Singapore.
It is the first in-person meeting by the defence ministers of both countries since 2022 - when China shut down military-to-military communications, after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
Mr Austin was challenged by a Chinese delegate who used a QnA session to suggest the expansion of the NATO military alliance caused the Ukraine crisis.
"The Ukraine crisis was (applause)... but this was brought on because of a decision made by Mr Putin. As to whether or not we're trying to create a NATO in the Indo-Pacific, I would tell you that what we're doing is what I said earlier in the speech. Like-minded countries with similar values and a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific are working together to achieve that vision."
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Paris Olympic officials have set an ambitious target of halving their overall carbon footprint compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.
The organisers’ goal is to limit emissions to 1.58 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent for the July 26-August 11 Games and Paralympics that follow.
They claim energy will represent only 1 percent of emissions, as they intend to use 100 percent renewable power from wind and solar farms, plus solar panels on some venues.
Director for Environmental Excellence of the Paris Olympics, Georgina Grenon, says they no longer rely on harmful energy sources.
"Energy with all the decisions we've made is less than 1% for us. Teeny teeny teeny teeny little. Because, you know, we got rid of the diesel generators. You know, at least to the extent possible, we are aiming zero. We are still unsure because of regulations and other things. But this is, you know, in London there were 4,000,000 liters of diesel used. And we are aiming for, you know, as close to zero as possible."
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In tennis,
Thanassi Kokkinakis has been knocked out of the French Open in the third round following a five-set thriller against Taylor Fritz.
This was the third consecutive game that Kokkinakis has forced to a fifth set, following his encounters with Alexei Popyrin and Giulio Zeppieri.
However this time he was less fortunate against the more experienced Fritz, who currently stands at number 12 in the men's world rankings.
Australia's final representative at the tournament, Alex De Minaur, will face world number five Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round on Monday.
