What happened Wednesday 25 May 2022
With that we will end our live news coverage for the day. Here’s a summary of the main news developments.
- The interim home affairs minister, Jim Chalmers, has sent a clear signal the Murugappan family will shortly return home to Biloela.
- People with medical conditions or disabilities that increase the risk of severe Covid-19 will be eligible for a fourth vaccine dose after updated advice by Australian health authorities.
- Australia’s new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will travel to Fiji on Thursday in an early sign of her determination to deepen the relationship with Pacific countries. Meanwhile, there is a report that China will seek a region-wide deal with almost a dozen Pacific islands covering policing, security and data communications cooperation when its foreign minister, Wang Yi, hosts a meeting in Fiji next week.
- A teenage gunman has killed at least 19 children and two adults after storming into an elementary school in Texas, officials have said, the latest bout of gun-fueled mass killings in the United States and the nation’s worst school shooting since Sandy Hook a decade ago.
- An employee at the now-collapsed Aboriginal Community Benefits Fund (ACBF) allegedly described its Aboriginal clients using a derogatory and racist term, and directed another sales representative going door-to-door to sign people up even if they were drinking alcohol, according to internal emails seen by Guardian Australia.
- Relentless rainfall has sparked a leech invasion in New South Wales, with no reprieve in sight for already damp dwellings.
- A woman found guilty of murder has wiped away tears as she continued to deny strangling and stabbing her mother to death two decades ago.
Thanks for following along, we’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.
Updated
Following on from that report about China seeking a region-wide deal with Pacific islands as China’s foreign minister travels to eight countries in the region: Australia’s new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will travel to Fiji tomorrow, amid a growing competition for influence in the Pacific.
Guardian Australia’s chief political correspondent, Sarah Martin, who is on her way back from Tokyo where new prime minister Anthony Albanese and Wong travelled for a Quad leaders summit, reports that Wong has broadly addressed the topic of Australia’s role in the pacific.
“Look, after a lost decade we’ve got a lot of work to do to regain Australia’s position as the partner of choice in the Pacific, in a region that’s less secure and more contested, but that work starts now,” Wong told reporters.
Wong added:
China has made its intentions clear.So too are the intentions of the new Australian government. We want to help build a stronger Pacific family. We want to bring new energy and more resources to the Pacific. And we want to make a uniquely Australian contribution including through our Pacific labour programs and new permanent migration opportunities. I will be a frequent visitor to the Pacific, starting this week with a visit to Fiji as we lead up to the Pacific Islands Forum.”
Daniel Hurst, Guardian Australia’s foreign affairs and defence correspondent, filed this report about Wong’s Fiji trip:
Updated
