Donald Trump reverses course on Ukraine-Russia ceasefire deal
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ABC News
19 minutes ago
- ABC News
Are most of the NT's landmark DV inquest recommendations already in place, as the government says?
Two years ago the Northern Territory coroner began an inquiry into the domestic violence deaths of four Aboriginal women, with her findings and recommendations handed down in November. At the last parliamentary sittings, the NT government provided its long-awaited formal response to the inquiry, with Prevention of Domestic Violence Minister Robyn Cahill stating the 35 recommendations were "uninspiring" and "failed so dismally to hit the mark". Ms Cahill's comments received significant backlash from the sector and legal associations, who labelled them "hurtful" and "undermining of the independence" of the coroner. As another series of coronial inquests into domestic violence deaths begins this month in Darwin and Alice Springs — which the NT coroner previously flagged as "an excellent opportunity" to review the government's response — the question remains: What has been the government's progress on implementing the recommendations? Of the coroner's 35 recommendations, the NT government has accepted 21 of them in full and 11 in principle. In the government's tabled response to the recommendations, it stated that for the majority of those accepted, funding for the programs was either already available under existing plans or had been recently assigned as part of the 2025-26 budget. For many of those it accepted in principle, the government said fully implementing them would be "subject to" finding the necessary funding and resourcing, or undertaking significant work to create a "whole new model of operation". During her speech to parliament, Ms Cahill claimed that "24 of the 35 recommendations related to programs or processes already in place". But that assertion is disputed by frontline sector workers, including the chief executive of the Women's Safety Services of Central Australia, Larissa Ellis, who has called such a claim "disingenuous at best". One of the recommendations in dispute is recommendation 7, which relates to an NT-wide rollout of the co-responder model, where police and Department of Children and Families staff work together to support victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. In her report, the coroner called for the co-responder model, which is already being trialled in Alice Springs, to be funded, evaluated and implemented across the NT. Ms Cahill claims that model is already "in place". However, less than two weeks before the last parliamentary sittings, a Department of Children and Families spokesperson told the ABC in a statement that the co-responder model had yet to be expanded across the NT. The full list of locations for the program's expansion was also only announced in parliament late last month. Ms Ellis also says the government has "skipped the monitoring and evaluation" of the Alice Springs co-responder pilot, which would have allowed the sector to consider "the lessons that we could learn [and] the challenges that we have experienced here in Alice Springs". Recommendation 11 is another the government claims is already in place, while sector workers disagree. The coroner called for the Prevent, Assist, Respond training (PARt) domestic violence program to be rolled out to "all current NT police officers, auxiliaries and new recruits, as well as [to emergency call centre] staff" and its specific funding. Ms Ellis says: "I would debate that that has been fully implemented". "The NT government has not funded that initiative, that is funded through philanthropic avenues. And it is temporary funding," she says. Multiple sector workers have also told the ABC that despite Ms Cahill stating recommendation 17— which calls for the replication of Alice Springs's specialist domestic, family and sexual violence court in other regions — is "in place", there is in fact no specialist court outside of Alice Springs. The government did not support three of the recommendations: The government's refusal to establish a peak DFSV body has been particularly contentious. Ms Cahill says there is no need for a peak body because that role is already fulfilled by a government-funded "domestic, family and sexual violence officer" position at the Northern Territory Council of Social Services. But Ms Ellis says this position doesn't equate to a peak body. "We're the only jurisdiction without a domestic and family violence peak, [and] we are the jurisdiction with the highest rates of domestic and family violence across the country," she says. "The domestic and family violence sector in the Northern Territory is in a terrible position, where we are advocating and arguing with our funders. "That places us in really precarious situation, because if we advocate too strongly we risk our funding."
SBS Australia
19 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
European leaders to join Zelenskyy in Washington as Trump pushes quick Ukraine deal
European leaders will join Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet Donald Trump in Washington, seeking to shore up Zelenskyy's position as the US president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years. Trump is leaning on Zelenskyy to strike an agreement after he met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in Alaska and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first. Trump and Zelenskyy will meet on Tuesday AEST. "If peace is not going to be possible here and this is just going to continue on as a war, people will continue to die by the thousands ... we may unfortunately wind up there, but we don't want to wind up there," secretary of state Marco Rubio said in an interview with US broadcaster CBS. Trump on Sunday promised "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA" in a social media post without specifying what this might be. Putin agreed to Ukraine security protections at summit, US envoy says Sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters news agency the US and Russian leaders have discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish small pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere. Top Trump officials hinted the fate of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region — which incorporates Donetsk and Luhansk and which is already mostly under Russian control — was on the line, while some sort of defensive pact was also on the table. "We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection," Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN on Sunday, suggesting this would be in lieu of Ukraine seeking NATO membership. He said it was "the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that." Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty enshrines the principle of collective defence, the notion that an attack on a single member is considered an attack on them all. That pledge may not be enough to sway leaders in Kyiv to sign over Donbas. Ukraine's borders were already meant to have been guaranteed when Ukraine surrendered a Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in 1994, and it proved to be little deterrent when Russia absorbed Crimea in 2014 and then launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The war has now dragged on for 3-1/2 years and killed or wounded more than 1 million people. Witkoff told Fox News that Russia had also agreed to passing a law against taking any more of Ukraine by force. "The Russians agreed on enshrining legislatively language that would prevent them from — or that they would attest to not attempting to take any more land from Ukraine after a peace deal, where they would attest to not violating any European borders," he said. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of allies on Sunday to bolster Zelenskyy's hand, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a US role. The Europeans are keen to help Zelenskyy avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting in February. That went disastrously, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance giving the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finland's President Alexander Stubb, whose access to Trump included rounds of golf in Florida earlier this year, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is an admirer of many of Trump's policies.
SBS Australia
19 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
Morning News Bulletin 25 August 2025
European leaders will join a White House meeting aimed at ending the war in Ukraine ... A man is dead after being shot outside a Sydney hotel ... The Tigers keep their N-R-L finals dreams alive. European leaders say they will be joining a key meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U-S President Donald Trump at the White House today. The meeting about the Ukraine war will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as leaders from the U-K, France, Finland and Germany. It follows Mr Trump's face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which ended without achieving a ceasefire. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the meeting was still a positive step, suggesting progress was made on the issue of security guarantees. "I think it is a really great progress that America is prepared to give such security guarantees together with us Europeans, but the major work on a peace agreement, if there is no ceasefire now, the major work on such a peace agreement now lies ahead of all those involved and not behind us." On Sunday, a separate meeting was held with Mr Zelenskyy and the leaders of countries that have pledged to support Ukraine through the so-called 'coalition of the willing'. Members of the Australian Ukrainian community have expressed outrage over the meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting in Alaska excluded Ukrainian leaders and while failing to reach a deal, reportedly included discussions of Ukraine potentially giving up land to Russia. While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the dialogue between the U-S and Russian presidents is 'a good thing', he stressed that Russia should not be rewarded for the invasion. Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, told SBS World News that Mr Putin is not a trustworthy figure. "We haven't seen anything from Russia, that Russians were actually serious about ending this war, they've actually stepped up their attacks. They have brought in more people to Ukraine, and they have sent more missiles and drones to destroy and kill more Ukrainians, so that's what we have seen. Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, he's indicted by the International Criminal Court and we hate the guts of him." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed nationwide protests demanding an end to the Gaza war. Demonstrators say a ceasefire is needed to bring back the hostages Hamas is still holding in the Gaza Strip. In response, Mr Netanyahu defended the Israeli security cabinet's decision to expand its military operations and occupy Gaza City. "Our continued security control over the Strip is just one of our conditions for ending the war, conditions that Hamas refuses to accept. We insist not only that Hamas be disarmed, we also insist that Israel enforces the demilitarisation of the Strip over time by taking continuous action against any attempt to arm and organise any terrorist element." Meanwhile Hamas has issued a statement describing Israel's plans to relocate civilians out of Gaza City as a "new wave of genocide and displacement". Health authorities in Gaza say Israel has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023. One person has died and another is being treated for gunshot injuries after a shooting outside a hotel in Sydney's inner west on Sunday [[17 AUG]]. Emergency services were called to a hotel on Ross Street in Forest Lodge at 6.40pm following reports of a shooting. Police say two people had been shot multiple times by unknown attackers before fleeing in a car. One of the victims died at the scene; another was taken to hospital in a serious condition. Police have established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the incident. Tasmania's minority Liberal government has announced an independent review into the salmon farming industry as it seeks to appease crossbenchers ahead of a critical week in parliament. Premier Jeremy Rockliff says the review will ensure the industry maintains its social licence while meeting environmental expectations. "This is not something that the industry should fear. It's actually something that the industry should embrace, and embrace the fact that we are wanting to support the industry (to) become better. To sport now and in the N-R-L ... Manly's attack has misfired again in a fierce blow to their NRL finals hopes, while Wests Tigers kept theirs alive with a dominating 26-12 win. Tries in the first and 79th minutes on Sunday at Allianz Stadium took Manly's tally to just 32 points in their past four games, all losses. It was a dagger blow to Manly's finals hopes, with the Sea Eagles now likely needing to win all three remaining games to be a top-eight chance. The Tigers' hopes were officially over if they lost on Sunday, but, improving to 9-12, they moved level on 24 points with Manly to remain alive. West Tigers head coach Benji Marshall says he's happy with how the team played. "Just the effort and the fight we showed today I thought, obviously a desperate Manly team on the points they are, needing to probably win to make the semis, you know, I thought we toughed out and played some pretty high quality footy, but just the attitude towards the way we want to play this week, they trained accordingly."
