Evening News Bulletin 28 May 2025
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has announced her opposition frontbench and shadow cabinet, following the reconciliation of the Liberal and National Parties to again form a coalition. The coalition frontbench includes senior Liberals Ted O'Brien as treasury spokesperson, James Paterson as finance spokesperson, and Michaelia Cash as foreign affairs spokesperson. National Party Senator Bridget McKenzie retains the infrastructure portfolio, and deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan retains the trade portfolio. Ms Ley is highlighting the diversity of her frontbench. "It includes those who've served in uniform, migrants and the descendants of the oldest continuous culture on earth, there are those who balance the books in small businesses, and those who've made tough calls in corporate boardrooms, our team is one of strivers and optimists, of leaders and listeners." Liberal Senator Jane Hume has been dropped from the shadow cabinet. Former National Party leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack have also missed out on frontbench spots. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has hit back at calls to impose sanctions on Israel after the U-K, Canada and France threatened to impose their own. Mr Albanese says Australia makes its own decisions on the matter. ALBANESE:"What are the sanctions you are suggesting?" ALBANESE: "Exactly. That's the point. You are not sure. And that's not a criticism of you, is just a reflection of the reality." Labor party M-P and former cabinet minister Ed Husic is making calls for specific action, such as ramping up aid into Gaza, calling in Israel's ambassador, and sanctioning the Israeli government. Rank and file Labor members have also made specific suggestions such as sanctioning individuals and groups involved in the forced displacement of Palestinians, targeting of hospitals and schools, and the killing of aid workers and journalists. Officials in Gaza say Israeli soldiers killed at least three people and injured 46 as thousands of Palestinians rushed to a U-S-Israeli operated aid distribution site. After an almost three month total blockade on Gaza, the new and controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began delivering supplies to the famine stricken enclave. The U-N and other humanitarian organisations say the foundation does not abide by humanitarian principles. U-N spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says the footage of the distribution centres is heartbreaking. "As the Secretary-General noted last week, we and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan supported by member states to get aid to desperate population. We continue to stress that a meaningful scale-up of humanitarian operations is essential to stave off famine and meet the needs of all civilians wherever they are."] The Israeli military denies responsibility for the deaths and says soldiers were firing warning shots at Palestinians around the distribution centre. New federal environment minister Murray Watt has given fossil fuel company Woodside approval to extend its controversial North West Shelf project in Western Australia. After years of delays, the contentious gas project has been given the go-ahead to extend the operating life of its project from 2030 to 2070. Research by the Australia Institute shows emissions from the extension are likely to equate to 33 years of Australia's entire emissions. Traditional Owners have also raised serious concerns over the project and the potential impact it will have on sacred Indigenous rock art. Greg Bourne is a former B-P executive and now a member of the Climate Council. He says Woodside is trying to push its emissions problems onto others. "If Woodside are to go ahead with this there's a long stream of emissions which as a percentage of Australia's emissions will be higher and higher and higher. Effectively what Woodside are asking is, that let's put the monkey on everyone else's back the Ag sector can sort it out, or the industrial sector can sort it out, or the transport sector can sort it out, but we're okay. So that's the problem is this is a long stream of emissions going out into the future." The inflation rate has held steady, contrary to the expectations of many economists, who had expected a rise. The monthly Consumer Price Index has remained at 2.4 per cent in the year ending April. A sharp rise in egg prices put upwards pressure on inflation, but this was tempered by falling electricity costs. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is claiming credit for the news. "It shows that the progress that we've made together as Australians on inflation has been substantial and it has been sustained. This is the ninth consecutive month where headline inflation has been in the target band and the fifth consecutive month that underlying inflation has been in the target band." Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has signalled that a ban on carrying machetes could be brought foward as a ban on sale of the weapons is imposed today [[28/05]]. Following a violent brawl at a shopping centre in Melbourne's north, Ms Allan brought forward the initial September deadline to ban sales but stopped short of fast-tracking a ban on carrying the weapon. Now, the premier says the ban on carrying could be brought forward if locked disposal boxes at 40 police stations are ready before the deadline. Ms Allan says she is always open to any measures improving community safety. "We're the first state in the nation to ban machetes, full stop. We're now the first state to ban the sale of machetes, recognising that these dangerous weapons have to be taken off the shelves as quickly as possible to choke the supply of these dangerous weapons before the full machete ban comes into place." Socceroos star Craig Goodwin is returning to his old A-League club, Adelaide United. The 33-year-old has signed a three-year contract with the Reds. He's spent his last two seasons with Al-Wehda in the Saudi Pro League. Goodwin is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, with 60 in 168 appearances. He says he has unfinished business at the club, saying he wants to win another A-League title, and another Australia Cup.
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He believes it's a 'hyper-real religion' – a modern hybrid of religion, philosophy and popular culture that helps people find their identity in a noisy world. 'The vampire is no longer a monster that needs to be destroyed,' he said. 'It's now a superman-type of character that people aspire to become to realise their full potential. 'As society becomes more consumerist, I expect hyper-real religions like vampires to grow. But it's tricky to quantify.' 'Are they people who identify with the image alone? How far do their practices go? And how long will they keep them up?' Though Australian vampire groups have picked up have thousands of members on social media, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said in a statement they don't formally recognise vampires. 'Vampires don't describe a stand-alone group in any of the statistical standard classifications used to disseminate Census data,' a spokesperson said. 'The ABS regularly reviews statistical standard classifications and holds public consultations to ensure standard classifications reflect the Australian community.' Until vampires are socially acknowledged, we'll never know how many of them walk among us or what secrets they hold.
