TRANSCRIPT
- Anthony Albanese says he didn't see Chinese officials blocking journalist Cheng Lei
- A pay rise for federal MPs
- In football, France kicks off its Euro 2024 campaign with a narrow win against Austria
Anthony Albanese says he did not see Chinese officials block Australian journalist Cheng Lei from camera view during a press event for Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Video footage on several media outlet shows Chinese officials appearing to block Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was imprisoned in China for three years, from camera view.
Nationals M-P Bridget Mckenzie told Nine's Today Show that the Prime Minister should not have let Chinese officials intimidate Cheng Lei.
"I'll tell you what is in our national having a free and having journalists of all stripes being able to front up in our people's the Australian Parliament and ask our own politicians and foreign politicians whatever questions they and to see Cheng Lei, who was been released from imprisonment in China, manhandled, intimidated by Chinese officials and for the PM to say he didn't know anything about it shows just how weak he is, he's either not being upfront, or he's got an incompetent office."
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Politicians will get a 3.5 per cent pay rise from July 1, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's base salary set to surpass $600,000.
The independent Remuneration Tribunal's decision will see the minimum wage for a federal politician rise to $233,650, with the Opposition Leader to receive a base wage of about $430,000.
The salary for Australia's top public servant, Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
Glyn Davis set to receive $1 million a year.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia will announce the outcome of a meeting on interest rates today with experts predicting no changes to interest rates.
The outcome of the R-B-A's two-day meeting, one of eight for the year, will be announced this afternoon.
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Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes claims employers will be reluctant to hire women if menopause leave is legislated.
The Liberal senator made the claims during a senate committee into issues relating to menopause and premenopause during a heated exchange with industry representatives.
C-E-O of Menopause Friendly Australia Grace Molloy says menopause is driving thousands of women towards an early retirement with statistics showing women are leaving work 7.4 years earlier than men.
Ms Hughes says whether intentional or not, women will face bias against them when employers consider the extra leave entitlements.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows early retirements equate to a loss of salary and super of more $575,000 for women.
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The notorious bank robber and fugitive known as 'the Postcard Bandit' is suing the Western Australian government for wrongful imprisonment while seeking to have his detention declared unlawful.
Brendan James Abbott, who escaped from Fremantle Prison in 1989, is claiming that sentencing laws introduced in 1996 do not apply to him and says his Western Australian custodial sentence lapsed while he was in custody in Queensland.
He is currently serving a 14-year sentence at a maximum security prison for bank robbery, a prison riot and escaping from Fremantle prison.
W-A authorities insist Abbott remains an escape risk meaning he remains subject to a High Security Escort classification.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea for the first time in 24 years for a meeting with leader Kim Jong Un.
The North Korean leader extended an invitation to Vladimir Putin last September stoking concerns the meeting underscores a developing partnership between the nuclear armed states.
Putin's Foreign Policy adviser Yuri Ushakov says the two countries may sign a partnership agreement including security issues on the trip but says the deal is not directed at any other country.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says the U-S is not concerned about the visit but is concerned about the partnership.
"Not just because of the impacts it's going to have on the Ukrainian people, because we know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean Peninsula. Now, we haven't seen the parameters of all of that right now, certainly haven't seen it come to fruition. But we're certainly going to be watching that very, very closely."
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To football now, France has defeated Austria with a narrow win to start off their Euro 2024 campaign.
With Austria's Max Wober scoring an own goal in the 38th minute, France maintained the lead before finishing 1-nil against a stubborn Austria in Dusseldorf.
French captain Kylian Mbappe played a strong game but ended the match with a suspected broken nose.
