Evening News Bulletin 24 May 2024

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Source: SBS News

An historic apology by Victoria Police over the Stolen Generations; Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in the United States; An Olympic swimmer forced into retirement because of injury.


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TRANSCRIPT:
  • An historic apology by Victoria Police over the Stolen Generations;
  • Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in the United States;
  • An Olympic swimmer forced into retirement because of injury.
Victoria's police chief has formally apologised for the role the force played in taking Indigenous children from their communities over decades.

Shane Patton has told a group of survivors and their families that Victorian Police had to admit the part it played in the removals and the harm it caused for everyone to be able to move forward.

The removals happened from the beginning of the 20th century until 1969, because of government policies.

Commissioner Patton has said an apology should have been offered much earlier.

"I acknowledge that survivors of the Stolen Generations have called for an apology for police involvement in the forced removal of Aboriginal children for more than 27 years. This apology is long overdue."

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Over a hundred people are feared dead after a landslide in a remote village in Papua New Guinea.

The landslide has reportedly struck the Kaokalam village in the P-N-G's Enga Province.

It lies about 600 kilometres northwest of the island nation's capital of Port Moresby.

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It's been confirmed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon address a joint session of Congress in the United States.

His appearance comes amid heightened tensions with President Joe Biden over the Israeli leader's handling of the war in Gaza, with some progressive Democrats increasingly critical of Israel's military campaign and Biden's support for it.

But Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says the speech would provide solid evidence of their solidarity.

"This will be a timely and I think a very strong show of support to the Israeli government in their time of greatest need."

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An ex-US fighter pilot and now Australian citizen will be extradited to his former home country for prosecution on allegations of unlawfully aiding the Chinese military.

A judge has ruled Daniel Duggan can be held in custody to await extradition under a temporary surrender warrant.

The 55 year old is accused of breaching arms-trafficking laws by providing military training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012.

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Anthony Albanese has declared he remains optimistic for the future of Australia - but he's accused the opposition of sowing fear in the community.

In an election style speech to the Western Sydney Leadership dialogue, the Prime Minister has said Australia could not return to a time when the then-coalition government treated every issue "as a pretext for picking a phoney fight".

The government has not called a federal election yet, but will have to hold one by May 2025.

Mr Albanese says the progress made by his government is too important to return to a place of 'fear and division'.

"In politics, wrecking is always easier than building. And looking for someone to blame is much simpler than finding a solution. But that’s not strength, that’s the soft option. And we know where that takes us. We’ve seen what happens when the only test that politicians apply is their political self-interest. We saw it with the former PM, and we’re seeing it with the current opposition leader."

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New South Wales households with rooftop solar will get access to subsidised batteries under a state government plan it says will save as much as $2400 on up-front costs.

The incentives could help cut energy bills for more than one million households with solar panels - and the governments says the plan would also bolster the reliability of the state grid.

Energy Minister Penny Sharpe says it's all part of a long term energy plan for the state.

"The government's looking all the time at ways which we can incentivise this. This is really step one...We're moving from a system of three or four coal-fired power plants that provide most of the base-load power, to literally mini power stations at the top of every house."

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The annual Vivid festival begins tonight in Sydney.

Organisers are expecting more than 3.5 million people to attend the festival which will see the CBD lit up for 23 nights.

Festival Director Gill Minervini has told SBS there's more to the festival than just illuminated buildings.

"Each year of Vivid Sydney has an entirely different program. So if you think you've seen Vivid before, think again. I know you mentioned lights, but we also have an extensive ideas program, the music program, and a food program. So really, across those 23 days and nights, there is so much more than the light walk."

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Australian Olympic champion Chelsea Hodges has confirmed she's been forced to retire from swimming because of ongoing hip injuries.

The 22 year old was part of Australia's gold-medal winning 4 by 100 metre medley relay team at the Tokyo Olympics.

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