Evening News Bulletin 24 March 2025
Listen to Australian and world news and follow trending topics with
TRANSCRIPT
- Government announces extra $1 billion for defence as Australia boosts military spending
- Liberal MP criticises Monique Ryan’s husband for removing campaign sign…
- New documentary highlights women’s rise in NRL, tackles gender and violence in sport
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles says there will be an additional $1 billion in defence funding in the budget tomorrow.
The government previously planned to spend $9.6 billion in defence in the next four years.
Last year, Labor set a goal of increasing defence spending from around two per cent of GDP to over 2.3 per cent of GDP.
Mr Marles describes the increased budget as the most significant increase in decades.
“This is the most significant increase in defence spending in peacetime Australia since the end of second World War. Part of the $!0.6 billion is bringing forward an additional billion dollars, and that’s because of the need to accelerate Australia’s capability development.”
Liberal M-P James Patterson has criticised independent M-P Monique Ryan’s husband for removing the sign of Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer.
Ms Ryan and her husband Peter Jordan have apologised for removing the sign.
Mr Jordan says he thought the sign was misplaced, and that he regretted not reporting it to the council before removing it himself.
Mr Patterson has accused Ms Ryan of breaking her integrity by removing signs of her competitor.
“It is not appropriate for any campaign member or volunteer, let alone the husband of a member of parliament, to go around and stealing people’s sign if they think they haven’t been properly installed. If you’re concerned about sign locations, report it to your local council, and leave it to them, to enforce their own local laws and regulations.”
A spokesperson at the Australian Electoral Commission says while the commission doesn’t regulate the placement of election signs, the AEC wants to remind candidates about “the importance of civility while campaigning at this year’s federal election”.
Labor has removed a social media post about Medicare adapted from a meme that features a T-shirt with a racist slogan.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the federal Labor’s primary Facebook account posted a photo of a T-shirt that states “This is Australia. We eat meat, we drink beer and we love Medicare”.
However, the original T-shirt contains a racist slogan, and the shirt has been worn by a white supremacist in 2019.
Museum Victoria also has an artefact similar to the T-shirt as part of its collection that showcases racism in Australia.
A Labor spokesperson says the post was originally seeking to deliver the message that Australians value Medicare, and acknowledges that the post missed the mark.
Senator Jacqui Lambie says she backs a proposal to reserve gas for domestic use before it goes out to the international export market.
Senate crossbench colleague David Pocock says such a gas reserve policy is needed to bring power prices down.
Federal Labor over the weekend announced $1.8 billion in energy relief, promising $150 off power bills for households and small businesses.
Ms Lambie says the government should address the root cause of energy price hikes rather than announcing an energy bill rebate for households.
“Just so we’re quite clear here. This is not about digging up more gas. This is not about drill baby drill. This is about prioritising where our gas goes. This is about supporting Australia First. How about that? Australia First. This is why we want a gas reserve policy.”
Colleagues have paid tribute to an Australian accountant who died in a boat capsize in Bali last Friday.
Anna Blight was one of the 11 Australian tourists on the way to the Nusa Penida island when a large wave hit the boat and threw passengers overboard.
Ms Blight’s employer Cor Cordis says she will be “deeply missed and forever remembered”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to Ms Blight’s family.
The Turkish community in Australia has organised democracy meetings and protests in Melbourne and Sydney, following the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The detention of Mr Imamoglu, who is a political rival of Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has triggered mass protests in Turkiye.
Ozan Aksut is a member of the Republican People’s Alliance of Australia, which is the Australian branch of Turkiye’s main opposition party.
He tells SBS Turkish that his organisation has set up symbolic ballot boxes to allow non-party members to express their support for Mr Imamoglu.
Mr Aksut is calling for global attention to Mr Imamoglu’s arrest.
“Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has been in prison just because he is the strongest candidate for the presidency. This is not an attack on him but on democracy itself. The world must stand against this injustice, ignoring it will encourage more attack on democracy everywhere.”
The creator of a new documentary on the future of the National Rugby League says the rise of women in the game is a positive development.
Gamilaroi and Dunghutti woman Marlee Silva is the host, writer and executive producer behind the documentary ‘Skin in the Game’, which considers issues around gender and violence in and out of the sport.
The first-time documentary filmmaker says the project was initially inspired by her childhood as the daughter of Indigenous rugby league legend Rod “Rocket” Silva, who played for the Bulldogs and Roosters.
She told NITV Radio, the project then took on a life of its own.
“Over the last well couple of years, but a real explosion over the last year, with the horrific epidemic of gendered violence and women dying at the hands of their partners. We know that rugby league sometimes has been associated with the problem when it comes to gendered violence. But I also know because of what my dad has experienced and what I get to see as a rugby league reporter on the sidelines – is this game has the great opportunity to do good. And to create the change that we need to see.”
‘Skin in the Game’ premiered on NITV over the weekend – and is now available to view on SBS On Demand with subtitles in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
