TRANSCRIPT
- The Prime Minister says faith-based political parties would undermine social cohesion
- NAIDOC Week celebrations kick off
- Two Australian archers will make their Olympic debut in Paris
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it would be a mistake for Australia to go down the road of faith-based politics.
The resignation from the party of Senator Fatima Payman over the issue of Palestinian statehood has raised questions about whether Labor can continue relying on votes from Muslim communities.
Senator Payman - who will now sit on the crossbench - has met with representatives from The Muslim Vote, a grassroots organisation that is set to run candidates in some Western Sydney Labor strongholds.
Mr Albanese says parties founded on religion would undermine social cohesion.
"My party has in around the cabinet and ministerial tables, people who are Catholic, people who are Uniting Church, people who are Muslim, people who are Jewish. That is the way you bring cohesion - and it seems to me as well that it is not the interests of smaller minority groups to isolate themselves - which is what a faith-based party system would do."
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Heading overseas, in the UK, Labour has won the general election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.
Keir Starmer will be the country's new prime minister, after Rishi Sunak conceded defeat.
Labour is expected to win 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 144.
Mr Starmer says change begins now.
"People will be waking up to the news, relieved that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation. And now, we can look forward again with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back."
Mr Sunak says he takes responsibility for the election defeat.
"The Labour party has won this general election. And I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory. Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner; with good will on all sides. That is something that should give us all confidence in our country's stability and future. The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight. There is much to learn and reflect on."
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Events marking the beginning of NAIDOC Week have taken place ahead of the official start of the week-long celebration of First Nations cultures on Sunday.
In the inner-city Sydney suburb of Glebe, a community day has been held to reflect on this year's NAIDOC theme: Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.
Larissa Minniecon is the chair of the Glebe NAIDOC committee.
She told NITV the 50th anniversary of NAIDOC Week is a special moment.
"Keep the fire burning for me is really about our young ones. We are there to keep the fire, but they are the logs that keep the fire burning. So encouraging our young ones to know what it means to be Black, loud and proud - by us showing them what it means to be Black, loud and proud. So keeping the fire burning is about community. You can't have fire without community."
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A Canberra backyard has become the latest site hit by a case of bird flu.
ACT authorities have confirmed a group of chickens kept at the home had tested positive to the virus, the territory's second site to be affected.
The home is in a quarantine area set up after an egg facility in Canberra's north detected the virus last week.
Along with the two sites in the ACT, eight farms in Victoria and two in New South Wales have been forced to close to stop the bird flu spreading.
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In sports, Peter Boukouvalas will join the Australian Olympic team to compete in Paris in the men's individual archery tournament.
Boukouvalas says it all started at the age of five, when he watched the 2004 Athens Games on television, alongside his Greek grandparents.
That inspired him to pick up his first bow at the Sydney Olympic Park Archery Centre - and he hasn't looked back since.
"I remember watching the 2004 Olympics at my grandparents' house. And the Australian men's team of Simon, David and Tim - they came on screen. I saw them doing it. And I thought yep, that's the sport I want to do. I just wanted to be the top 1 per cent in whatever I did. And I decided one day that was archery. It has been a whirlwind eight-and-half years from the first time I picked up a bow at this venue - my home club. To come here now is full circle."
He will be joined by 22-year-old Laura Paeglis - who also makes her Olympic debut, competing in the women's individual archery tournament.
She says it is an incredible feeling.
"I can't believe it. After the last 12 years of shooting, and this being a dream of mine for so long. It just feels absolutely incredible. We've got the next week-and-half before we leave. And that will all be about preparing, training - making sure we're as prepared as possible - and feeling a bit nervous - but also excited. And it has all just been about managing all that. Getting on and having a good time."
