What we learned – Monday 8 January
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the day.
Here were the major events:
Four people were hospitalised after a plane overshot a runway on Lizard Island.
Two people were injured when a plane trying to land on Lizard Island flipped.
Palestine protesters disrupted Brisbane weapons company Ferra.
The treasurer said flooding in Queensland will “weigh on our economy in the opening months of 2024.”
Liberal leaders have condemned the reported bomb threat over a Palestine flag.
Residents were urged to leave parts of regional Victoria due to flood waters with emergency warnings for Seymour and the town of Yea.
The Albanese government put its plans for an Australian republic on ice.
The Queensland premier called out supermarkets over meat prices.
Updated
More federal Labor MPs sign letter calling for Gaza ceasefire
Another two federal Labor MPs have broken ranks with the federal government to sign an open letter demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for Australia to recognise Palestine as its own state.
Queensland MP Graham Perrett and Mary Doyle, who won the Aston byelection last year, have joined federal Labor colleagues, Maria Vamvakinou, Louise Pratt and Fatima Payman on Monday in putting their name to the statement, which calls out Israel’s “domination” of Palestine and urges the federal government to rethink its ties with the country.
More than 300 Australian current and former politicians, including former foreign affairs minister, Bob Carr, have now signed the letter initiated by NSW Labor upper house member Anthony D’Adam and the state Greens MP Jenny Leong in December.
Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, which has supported the letter’s circulation, said the statement represented the “steadily mounting political pressure” on the federal government to “act with moral integrity and authority and use all tools at its disposal to hold Israel to account for its genocide in Palestine”.
More than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israel’s campaign to destroy the militant group, Hamas, after its brutal attack on 7 October, which left 1,200 across southern Israel dead.
Last month, Australia shifted its official position voting in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in an emergency session of the UN general assembly.
Updated
