1. UN experts will begin investigating the site of an alleged chemical attack in Syria today. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked the UN mission in the Syrian capital of Damascus “to focus its attention on ascertaining the facts of the 21 August incident as its highest priority”. Syria has given permission for the inspection to occur.
2. Yesterday, leader of the Greens, Christine Milne, unveiled their asylum seeker policy, which stands in stark contrast to the major parties’ policies in this area. The Greens want to see asylum seeker processing fast-tracked, and refugees who are accepted by Australia to be given the full benefit of the Centrelink Newstart payment every fortnight. The Greens also want asylum seekers to be afforded full work rights, to speed the process of them being able to support themselves.
3. Police in India have arrested a third man, who is suspected to have been involved in the recent gang rape of a female photographer in Mumbai. Five men are thought to have been involved in the rape of the woman, who was aged in her early 20s.
4. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has released a statement saying that she will not be attending the Australian Labor Party’s official campaign launch next weekend, as she does not want to distract from the current PM’s “powerful message”.
Ms Gillard announced yesterday evening: “I have respectfully decided not to be present at next Sunday’s campaign launch because I simply do not want to distract in any way from Kevin Rudd’s powerful message to the Australian people. I stand with all those throughout our party, and with our great candidates, in voicing my fervent hope for a decisive Labor victory on September 7.”
5. The daughter of New Zealand Prime Minister, who is studying at the Paris College of Art, will be debuting racy self-portraits during Paris Design Week. Although News.com.au reported that, “We presume there is some sort of deep meaning behind the pictures. To us, they just seem a bit strange” – the Prime Minister has said that he is “very proud” of his daughter.
6. Australia’s Miranda Kerr has been named the second-highest-earning model in the world last year. She pocketed a handy $7.2 million from 2012-2013. However the former Victoria’s Secret Model was still a long way behind first place holder, Brazillian supermodel Giselle (no last name needed), who earned a whopping $42 million over the same period of time.
Top Comments
I will be voting green this time. I just wish they could get a go at Leader's debates. It seems pretty unfair to me, as they are fairly mainstream these days and appear to have more integrity than the others. Imagine wanting to be in government because you care about something other than power!
How do the Greens plan to stop people drowning in our northern waters?
Don't be silly. The greens don't need their loopy ideas to work in the real world. Just throw out a ton of ideologically charged policies that could never work in reality, because you will never have to answer for the mess were it ever to become real government policy.
The fact that her policy would see many tens of thousands dying trying to get here seems lost on Christine.
One of the greens policies is to give more funding to the UNHCR working indonesia. This funding will go towards processing the asylum seekers quicker so they don't have to take the boat ride. Currently the asylum seekers living in Indonesia with no timeline as to when they will be processed, they have no rights over there, their kids cannot go to school and they cannot work. Nevermind the police who round them up and jail them for bribes. If UNHCR can process them quicker then they will know where they stand, ie Australia or back home.