TRANSCRIPT
- The Federal Opposition says new misinformation laws are "grossly incompetent"
- The jobless rate tipped to remain steady
- Wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario wins the Sydney Marathon
The Federal Opposition says the prime minister's approach to misinformation laws is 'grossly incompetent' after tech billionaire Elon Musk branded them 'fascist'.
Labor's proposed changes seek to strengthen the communication regulator's powers to monitor and regulate content online.
Under the laws, social media companies could face fines of up to five per cent of their annual turnover.
Elon Musk, who owns social media platform X, has repeated recent comments calling the moves 'fascist' and accuses the Labor government of censorship.
Speaking to Sky Agenda, Coalition spokesman for communications David Coleman says he has issues with the definition of intentionally misleading and harmful material but wouldn't go so far to say they are fascist.
"Look, obviously I wouldn't use those words, I mean I would say, incompetent grossly incompetent, I would say, contemptuous of free speech, there's a lot of things. You could say, I would say, more generally weak, indecisive and so on but that's not a not a term that I would use. "
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Israel says a surface-to-surface missile that they allege came from Yemen and crossed into Israel, has resulted in no casualties.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has killed at least 11 people in a strike on a residential building in Gaza.
Israel claims it was targeting a Hamas command centre.
Thousands of Israeli protesters are continuing to take to the streets demanding the Netanyahu government negotiate a hostage release and ceasefire deal.
The former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U-K and the U-S, Prince Turki al-Faisal, says normalisation cannot happen if Israel continues denying Palestinian statehood.
"Well, under the present circumstances, with (Israeli Prime Minister) Mr. (Benjamin) Netanyahu and his governments saying that they're not going to recognise a Palestinian state, the kingdom is not going to recognise Israel. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a prerequisite for any normalisation, not just between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but other countries as well that still don't recognise Israel."
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Australia's longest-serving lord-mayor, Clover Moore, has all but declared victory in the New South Wales local council elections.
The final results of the election are yet to be announced but early vote counts suggest Ms Moore has secured 37 per cent of the vote, followed by Labor on 17 per cent and the Greens on 13 per cent.
Vote counting commenced on Saturday night and will resume Monday morning, with 37 mayors up for election across the state.
Ms Moore, who has served as the City of Sydney Lord-Mayor for 20 years, says she is confident in securing a record sixth term as lord-mayor of Sydney, adding that this could be her last term.
"I'm really delighted this morning about the outcome of the election. It was a pretty tough campaign, and some pretty awful things were said by some people and on certain corflutes, but I'm so encouraged and happy about the city community endorsing endorsing me to do another four years."
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Upcoming labour force data is expected to show the jobless rate holding at 4.2 per cent in August and the number of employed people rising by 30,000.
The unemployment rate remains historically low in Australia but has been rising incrementally as higher interest rates work to slow the economy and combat inflation.
Speaking to Sky Agenda, Labor M-P Andrew Charlton says the labour market is still strong.
"In Australia, we have the highest employment to population ratio ever. You know what that means? If you're an Australian right now, you are more likely to have a job than ever in history."
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The death toll from flooding in Myanmar has risen to 74 with at least 89 people missing after heavy rains brought on by Typhoon Yagi triggered widespread floods.
Myanmar is just the latest country to be hit by Typhoon Yagi, which is being labeled the strongest storm to hit Asia this year and has already killed hundreds of people in Vietnam, Thailand and parts of China.
State media in Myanmar is reporting that more than 65,000 homes have been destroyed so far but says gathering information is difficult due to damaged infrastructure and communication lines.
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Wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario has won the Sydney Marathon just days after returning from the Paris Paralympics.
The 30-year-old finished in just 54 minutes and ten seconds, more than 15 minutes ahead of her closest competitor.
After completing her second marathon in one week, de Rozario says she is exhausted.
"It's been a really big week. I think I've done back to back marathons before I think six months ago when I committed to doing the double, that was sort of what was in my mind, and I didn't really factor in how exhausting an entire Paralympics, is going to be. It's not just the racing, it's the mental fatigue and the emotional fatigue of all of that. It was a bit of a, the last couple days, trying to, i think, mentally get back into the mindset to race was a bit challenging, but woke up this morning, you know, great and I really yeah, went really well, so I'm really happy."
