China ready for closer ties with Australia

SBS Australia

2 days ago

China ready for closer ties with Australia
The federal court dismisses a big climate change involving the Torres Strait Islands...
Cricket, Aussie captain Pat Cummins pays tribute to Mitchell Starc after a crushing victory in his 100th Test match Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country is ready to work with Australia to deepen bilateral ties. Mr Albanese has met with Mr Xi in Beijing, before a lunch in his honour. He says Australia welcomes progress on co-operation regarding the possible expansion of the ten-year-old Australia-China Free Trade Agreement. Mr Albanese says the Australia-China relationship is important to the entire Indo-Pacific region. "Dialogue needs to be at the centre of our relationship, and I welcome the opportunity to set out Australia's views and interests and our thinking on how we can maintain peace, security, stability, and prosperity in our region." The Federal Court has dismissed a landmark case which argued the federal government breached its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from climate change. The case, brought by Traditional Owners Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai in 2021, argued the government held a duty of care to the Indigenous peoples and alleged that its failure to adequately reduce emissions has contributed to harm of their island communities. Justice Michael Wigney delivered the Federal Court's ruling, says the government had no such duty in this case. "The applicants have not succeeded in making their primary case in negligence. The Commonwealth did not and does not owe Torres Strait Islanders the duty of care alleged by the applicants in support of their primary case. The decisions involved in the setting and communication of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets pursuant to its international obligations or otherwise are highly political in nature and almost self-evidently involve matters of high or core government policy. They are accordingly not properly subjected to common law duty of care of the sort alleged by the applicants." Judge Wigney emphasises his findings are not sanctioning the government's previous greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets which he called unquestionably modest and unambitious. Authorities are working to contact families at four additional Melbourne childcare centres where alleged sex offender Joshua Dale Brown has been found to have worked. More than 800 additional children will be urged to undergo testing for infectious diseases. The newly-listed locations are all operated by Affinity Education. They are the Kids Academy Waratah Estate in Mickleham, as well the Milestones Early Learning Centres in Tarneit, Greensborough, and Braybrook. He worked at these centres between August 2024 and February 2025. Brown has been charged with more than 70 offences against eight alleged victims aged younger than two at a centre in Point Cook, in Melbourne's south-west. Police believe Brown worked at 23 childcare centres between January 2017 and May 2025. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is warning 34,000 defective power banks are still being used in Australia. There have been 17 different recalls of portable battery chargers since 2020, and more than half of these have been issued since the start of last year. Power banks use rechargeable lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries that can be highly flammable, and can explode or vent toxic gas. Amongst the most recent brands to have products recalled include Anker, Baseus, and Snapwireless. In cricket, Australian captain Pat Cummins says Mitchell Starc has summed up his own greatness in his 100th Test match. Australia has marked Starc's 100th Test by dismissing the West Indies for just 27 in Jamaica - the second-lowest total in the 149-year history of Test cricket. Australia winning the match by 176 runs on the third day to secure a three-nil clean sweep in the series. Starc took three wickets in the first over of the innings alone, and took for 6 for 9 to collect the Player of the Match award. Cummins says his team mate's performance was incredible, but unsurprising. "I think a lot of the chat leading in to this week is how resilient you need to do, and professional, and all those things, you need to be to make it to 100 Tests. But I think that is the Starcy I always remember playing alongside- he can tear a game open by himself really in a matter of a couple of overs. It feels like he can do it in any format, any time. That was amazing. It kind of went from really like we were in a pretty good position, to the game being ours, in the space of five minutes." Starc wasn't the only Australia fast bowler to star in the crushing win.
Scott Boland became the first Australian bowler in 15 years to take a Test hat-trick.