TRANSCRIPT
- Labor optimistic Ali France can defeat Peter Dutton in the seat of Dickson.
- Anthony Albanese congratulates security agencies for preventing attempted espionage.
- And in rugby, Joe Schmidt says he's confident in James Slipper's leadership ahead of the Wallabies test match against Wales tomorrow.
----
Labor says they're optimistic that Ali France will be able to defeat Peter Dutton in his Queensland seat in the 2025 federal election.
As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continued his tour of the battleground state today, he unveiled Ms France as the Labor candidate for the Brisbane seat of Dickson and threw his support behind her.
Ms France, who competed for the seat in both the 2019 and 2022 elections, came close to defeating the Coalition leader in 2022, losing with a margin of just 1.7 per cent.
She believes she has a good chance at winning this time.
"I think we can win this, and i think that there's a lot at stake this election, a lot at stake. A lot at stake for this region, a lot at stake for this country, if he (Peter Dutton) implements his nuclear fantasy plan, we're actually putting all the progress that we have made on renewables in the bin. I think it's incredibly important for me to stand this time. I'm going to put absolutely everything into it, and I absolutely think that we can win."
----
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has congratulated the security agencies for their work in disrupting an alleged espionage operation.
Two Russian-born Australian citizens have been each charged with one count of preparing for an espionage offence.
Kira Korolev, a 42-year-old woman in the Australian Defence Force, and Igor Korolev a 62-year-old man, face Brisbane Magistrate Court today.
Police allege that Ms Korolev, while employed as an information systems technician with the ADF, instructed her husband to log into her work account and feed information back to her whilst traveling in Russia.
Mr Albanese says the incident is a wake up call for Australians.
"We live in uncertain times. And we know that the work that our security agencies do, whether it be ASIO or the Australian Signals Directorate, working with the Australian Federal Police and state authorities. On top of this, I think we can have a great deal of confidence in the fact that our agencies do their job and they do it very well. And I'm very proud of them, and every Australian should be."
----
US President Joe Biden still insists that he is the best person for the job as more and more of his fellow democrats are calling on him to withdraw from the campaign.
Mr Biden has once again sparked concerns today, first referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President Putin at the NATO Summit in Washington before mixing up the names of his Vice President Kamala Harris with Republican candidate Donald Trump.
"Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So let's start there. Number one. The fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again."
At least 16 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate's 51 Democrats have made public appeals to the president to withdraw from the race.
Sources close to the Trump campaign say that Donald Trump wants Joe Biden to remain in the race and are cautious their attacks ads targeting the President's age will increase his chances of withdrawal.
----
In rugby,
Wallabies captain James Slipper has no intention of reliving the disastrous Eddie Jones era as Australia attempt to win consecutive Tests for the first time since 2021.
Slipper has reclaimed skipper duties for tomorrow night's clash with Wales in Melbourne after last week's captain Liam Wright was ruled out due to a shoulder injury.
Reluctantly stepping up to captain Australia for the 15th time, the star Brumbies prop refuses to look back in the rear-view mirror.
Slipper is one of the few survivors of a disastrous World Cup campaign led by former coach Eddie Jones.
New coach Joe Schmidt says he's confident in the experience Slipper brings as the most capped player on the squad.
"He just leads himself really well, Slips. Yeah, he'll do a great job. Fantastic experience and it's that quiet leadership that we'll need and the quiet resolve he brings to his work."
