Protesters interrupt Dutton's NSW south coast campaign stop

SBS Australia

29-04-2025

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TRANSCRIPT:
Protesters interrupt Peter Dutton's campaign stop on the New South Wales South Coast;
Mark Carney to remain Canada's Prime Minister - thanks to Donald Trump;
Australia's Alex de Minaur caught up in Spain's mass blackout. The opposition leader has cancelled a press conference this afternoon after unionists disrupted the event by pretending to check for radiation. Peter Dutton was going to appear alongside the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who is making his second attempt to win the electorate won by Labor's Fiona Phillips with just 373 votes in 2022. It's understood a group of three men from the South Coast Labour Council came to the event at Sanctuary Point, dressed in hazmat suits in a demonstration against the leader's policy on nuclear energy. They told onlookers they were searching for "the member for Fukushima". "Under a Dutton government, he's saying 'Nuclear is it.' Get used to the face masks, get used to the radiation suits because this is energy in Australia under a Dutton government." A teenager has been charged after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's office was vandalised for what is the third time during this year's election campaign. It's understood his Brisbane office was splattered in red paint and covered with posters criticising his stance on a number of issues, including his opposition to public housing initiatives, his stance on the war in Gaza, and links to mining billionaire Gina Rinehart. Police say the 18 year old woman was arrested after being tracked by the dog squad, and has been charged with causing wilful damage. Mr Dutton has described the vandalism as outrageous. "We can have disagreements, that's fine, but we need to do it better than we have at the moment... I don't want to see a situation where we've got people who are being intimidated." The Australian Electoral Commission has referred a video to its integrity taskforce amid concerns of foreign interference in this Saturday's federal election. In the video, two people wearing Monique Ryan T-shirts say that a community organisation which has historical links to the Chinese Communist party's foreign interference operation told them to vote for the teal MP. A spokesperson for the A-E-C has said the agency became aware of the footage when it was published on Monday [[28 April]], and that a review has been launched. Canada's Liberal Party has retained power in the federal election. The Liberals have been projected to win more of Parliament's 343 seats than the Conservative Party, though it remains unclear if they would win enough to have an outright majority government. The party had been heading for a crushing defeat until U-S President Donald Trump started attacking Canada's economy and suggested it should become the 51st state, stoking a surge in nationalism in infuriated Canadians. Toronto resident Reid Warren says Trump's actions and the response of Canada's conservative party were a large part of the reason for his vote. "I don't think there is a better choice right now. I know people believe in Poilievre but it's the same, like, soundbites that you get from anybody else. It sounds like mini-Trump to me." Four children have been killed after a car crashed an after school program in the US. Chatham Police Department Deputy Chief Scott Tarter says a car hit three people outside a school in the Illinois [[illa-noy]] town of Chatham before hitting another person as it rammed through the building and exited out the other side. Illinois State Police say those killed were between the ages of four and 18. The Deputy Chief says the circumstances of the crash remain unknown, and investigators are yet to determine if the accident was intentional. "We have an officer at the hospital with this, I'm gonna call him a suspect at this time, because that's clearly what they are. An arrest and any charges at this time, I can't confirm that." The police officer who first responded to last year's Bondi Junction shopping centre stabbing rampage has testified on day two of the inquest about how she pursued the killer and stopped him in his tracks. Inspector Amy Scott has told the inquest she chased the 40-year-old attacker without waiting for backup, because she wanted to eliminate the threat as quickly as possible. Two civilians commonly referred to as the "bollard men" have also told the Bondi stabbing inquest about their actions on that fateful day. But Silas Desperaux and Damien Guerot have told reporters outside the inquest in Sydney they do not consider themselves to be heroes - just men who did what needed to be done. DAMIEN: "I was like (we have) two choices, we escape or we go. Silas was like going, we go, we find the bollard. And we just follow him. And that time I would say my mind switched and we got full adrenaline." Australian tennis star Alex de Minaur has found himself among the millions of people impacted by a mass power outage across Spain and Portugal. The Australian No.1 was preparing to play his third round match in the Madrid Open when the lights went out across the Iberian peninsula.
All play has been since cancelled after a delay of more than four hours.