TRANSCRIPT:
- The embattled construction union officially put into administration
- A whale stuck in Sydney Harbour freed by rescuers
- Australia's contingent at US Open will be its largest in decades, after a record six qualifiers...
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has officially put the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU into administration.
Laws allowing the government to do so passed parliament this week following allegations of criminal behaviour within the organisation.
The Fair Work Commission has appointed Mark Irving KC as the administrator.
The federal government has committed $100 million to rebuild the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium in North Queensland.
The funding will allow the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to establish a purpose-built facility for reef education.
Mr Albanese says the aquarium will be an environmental hub.
"Here at reef HQ, this facility has since Bob Hawke opened it way back in the 1980s. This facility has played an important role in being a central point where locals can come and see the reef in a convenient way, but importantly, as well, the science and research that's been conducted here has been absolutely critical."
The prime minister made the funding announcement before heading to Queensland's Bush Summit.
His visit to the Sunshine State comes with two months ahead of a state election, with a federal election looming within the next year.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton says the arrest of three people who allegedly conspired to conceal a group of unlawful arrivals in Australia is proof the prime minister is weak on border security.
The AFP has charged the three people for allegedly conspiring to collect and conceal a group of unlawful maritime arrivals, who arrived in Western Australia in April.
A man and two women are expected to appear before court today, with a maximum penalty of 10 years for the alleged offences.
Mr Dutton says the government isn't strong enough on boat arrivals.
"The people smugglers always take advantage of a weak Prime Minister. We saw it with Kevin Rudd., we saw it with Julia Gillard, we're now seeing it with Anthony Albanese. When we were in government as the home affairs minister, we had a tough policy with operation sovereign borders, but it worked. It stopped people from drowning at sea, and it made sure that we could get the women and children out of detention that Labor put in there."
The National Women's Safety Alliance says family violence orders are often failing to protect victims of domestic violence.
The orders are designed to create seperatation between prepatrators and victims by prohibiting contact or visits, but the alliance says they often do not fulfill that purpose.
Between 2010 and 2018, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety found domestic violence orders featured in 40 per cent of the 240 cases of intimate partner homicide.
Executive Director of the National Women’s Safety Alliance Katherine Berney says the orders are not always effective.
"Family Violence orders play an essential role in protecting survivors from further harm, yet we know that the current system does contain significant gaps. Too often we have found from our members FVOs are undermined by conflicting parenting orders or ineffective enforcement across jurisdictions. The adversarial nature of most family law proceedings further compounds the issue allowing perpetrators to, at times, manipulate the system, often placing control over victims under the guise of parental rights."
One of the largest diamonds ever found has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the African country's government will put it on show.
The government believes the huge 2492-carat stone is the second biggest ever brought out of a mine.
The weight would make it the largest diamond found in more than 100 years and the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the Cullinan diamond discovered in South Africa in 1905.
The Cullinan was 3106 carats and was cut into gems, some of which form part of the British Crown Jewels.
Natural diamonds are at least a billion years old and some of them more than three billion years old, scientists say.
In tennis,
Australia will have its biggest contigent at a US Open in over four decades.
Twenty Australians will be part of the singles main draws at Flushing Meadows, after a record six players won final round qualifying matches on Friday.
Wildcards Tristan Skoolkate and Taylah Preston brought the total number of guaranteed entries to 12.
The contingent will be led by world number 10 Alex de Minaur and fellow seed Alexei Popyrin as well as women's veterans Daria Saville and 2022 quarter finalist Ajla Tomljanovic.
