TRANSCRIPT
——
An additional 500 commercial airlines seats have been secured for Australians attempting to leave Lebanon as Israel's invasion continues amid heavy bombing in Beirut.
Lebanese Australians say the emotional toll and heartbreak of worrying about their relatives in Lebanon is heightening with Israel's full-scale ground invasion.
Some say they have elderly relatives receiving 24 hour care in Lebanon who are unable to leave even if they want to.
Others say family members do not want to leave because they are responsible for taking care of other family members who aren't able to evacuate.
But Nationals M-P Barnaby Joyce told the Today Show he believes Australians in Lebanon are facing the consequences of staying in a dangerous place.
"You know, there does come a point where you say you've decided, you've made a decision some time ago to stay in a very dangerous part of the world, and by staying there, you now have to accept the consequences. We will do, I’m sure the government will do what's ever within their power to get them out. But does that go as far as putting Australian men and women's lives on the lines."
—-
Israel has killed at least 6 people and injured 7 others in an airstrike in a neighbourhood close to Lebanon's parliament.
The attack follows a strike in the eastern Bekaa Valley which killed 11 people including four children, with the death toll in the past day reaching at least 52.
Meanwhile Israel's military is ordering Lebanese people in southern Lebanon not to return home until further notice with social media posts saying the raids are continuing.
1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israel in recent weeks and continuous deadly strikes continue alongside the ground invasion.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says systematic violations of international law can't be ignored.
"Each escalation has served as a pretext for the next. We must never lose sight of the tremendous toll that this growing conflict is taking on civilians. We cannot look away from systematic violations of international humanitarian law. This deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop. Time is running out."
—-
Recent data revealing that overdose deaths remain at near record highs in Victoria has prompted renewed calls for more safe injecting rooms across the state.
Data released by the Coroners Court of Victoria shows that 547 Victorians fatally overdosed in 2023, just three fewer than the deadliest year on record in 2022.
The Victorian Drugs and Alcohol Association says the data shows a clear need for more safe injecting rooms across the state, with only one currently operating in North Richmond.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says she is opposed to a second safe injecting centre but says other measures are being taken.
"So we, as part of our statewide action plan that we released back in April, continue to support the operation of a medically safe, medically supervised injecting facility in Richmond, but are also looking at how we can expand lifesaving treatment more broadly across the state, the delivery of more pharmic therapy, the rollout of naloxone vending machines which is a lifesaving treatment for people experiencing an overdose. And also working towards a trial of hydro morphine as well."
—-
New data reveals that just 40 per cent of aged care providers in Australia met mandatory standards in recent months, raising concerns that residents needs aren't being met.
The data shows in the three months to June, just 40 per cent of providers met the mandatory targets for total minutes of care given to residents.
The targets were a key recommendation in the royal commission to aged care and advocates say the alarming figures indicate more needs to be done to improve standards.
—-
Canberra Raiders player Josh Papalii is set to face court over a late-night incident at a Canberra league club.
The 32-year-old NRL star will appear in the A-C-T Magistrates Court for allegedly intimidating police and failing to quit a licensed premises,
A-C-T Policing say that at about 3am on September 16, police were called to an incident regarding three men behaving aggressively towards each other and staff and throwing glasses at a club in Canberra's north.
When the group was asked to leave, Papalii was allegedly verbally abusive and threatening to police.
The men left after some negotiation, but soon returned, and when they were asked to leave again, the 32-year-old allegedly attempted to further intimidate police, before the group left the area a short time later.
