TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
- Linda Burney gives her last speech to Parliament;
- Divers in Italy find five bodies on board a sunken yacht;
- And in soccer, Manchester City players win both the men's and women's PFA awards.
The first Indigenous woman to be elected to the House of Representatives has delivered her final speech.
In her valedictory address, Linda Burney said it had been an honour to be a trailblazer for Aboriginal women in politics.
The Wiradjeri politician also told Parliament she believes there will be a positive legacy from the failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum she helped champion last year.
"I believe it can and will be a catalyst for progress and positive change in our nation. That in the years that come it will be looked on more kindly by history. Because of the role it played in inspiring a new generation of young Indigenous leaders to emerge and push the change for a better future, because it showed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities overwhelmingly wanted the voice to be heard, and 6.3 million Australians said yes."
—
Divers have found five bodies on board a yacht, which sunk off the coast of Sicily earlier this week.
The bodies have not been formally identified, but Italian rescuers have spent days searching for six people - four Britons and two Americans, believed to include British tech magnate Mike Lynch, and some of his family and friends.
The 56-metre British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early Monday as it was moored about a kilometre offshore.
Civil protection officials have said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
—
Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick has agreed to review the standards and behaviour shown by politicians in the House.
He has also called on elected officials to uphold better standards in parliament, following complaints from some MPs over conduct during question time.
Mr Dick says we must find ways "to better engage in debate that maintains respectful behaviour."
His call follows an incident last week involving Independent MP Zali Steggall, who was heckled several times by opposition leader Peter Dutton as she questioned his calls for a blanket ban on visas for Gazans fleeing war.
SPENDER: "I would like to ask the speaker to review the behaviour, language and standards in recent weeks and make any necessary statements relating to them."
DICK: "I thank the member for Wentworth for her question. I agree with her. We must find ways to better engage in debate that maintains respectful behaviour and - in particular - upholding the standing orders. I shall reflect on standards and behaviour in recent times and report back to the member."
—
A market-researcher turned whistleblower claims he was directed to fabricate data for a project commissioned by the Australian Electoral Commission ahead of the Voice to Parliament referendum last year.
The allegations relate to research that was supposed to track awareness of the referendum process among Indigenous communities in remote and regional areas of Australia.
Regina Featherstone, a senior lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, is representing the whistleblower who worked for a private research consultancy subcontracted by the AEC.
She has told NITV he was directed to submit data from Indigenous people in Sydney as being from South Australia and regional NSW.
"He's alleging that he'd be in Sydney. He'd be talking to First Nations people in Redfern and then he was directed to enter whatever they gave as feedback as a totally different geographic area, often somewhere really remote or regional or in a totally different state. So, in no way, shape or form could you say that represents the true perspective of a person living in a totally different area than he was talking to in Redfern."
—
In football,
Phil Foden and Khadija Shaw, both of Manchester City, have been named the men's and women's players of year by the U-K Professional Football Association.
Foden helped City finish the title race first, securing their fourth consecutive Premier League title in a row, with 19 goals in 35 appearances in the 2023-24 season.
Meanwhile, Jamaican Khadija Shaw was the top scorer for the Women's Super League, with an impressive 21 goals in 18 games.
Chelsea's Cole Palmer and Manchester United's Grace Clinton received the Young Player of the Year awards in the men's and women's cateogries respectively.
The PFA also named their Teams of the Year in the Premier League and Women's Super League, with both sides largely made up of Manchester City players.
