Midday News Bulletin 22 November 2024

Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with
SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
In this bulletin;
Penny Wong says Australia respects the independence of the ICC after issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials;
Popular social media sites to be banned for under-16s within the fortnight;
And in football, Arsenal women’s team secure a last-minute 1-nil victory over Juventus.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has reiterated the Australian governments respect for the independence of the International Criminal Court as it issues arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
The ICC, an independent tribunal based in The Hague, was established to investigate, prosecute and try individuals accused of committing the most serious crimes – namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The court found there are reasonable grounds to believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, bear criminal responsibility for intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population in Gaza.
In a post to X, Ms Wong said Australia respects the ICC’s independence and important role in upholding international law.
Meanwhile, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley has refuted the courts jurisdiction to act.
SUSSAN LEY: “I know that Australians would be troubled today to see this targetting of a democratically elected leader who is trying to protect his country from terrorists.
REPORTER: Can I just ask, on those ICC comments, do your comments reflect that the opposition doesn’t have faith in the independence of the court?
LEY: We firmly believe that the court does not have jurisdiction over these matters.
REPORTER: Over the matters of war crimes?
LEY: Over the decision they have made.”
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber has rejected Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction, citing it can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial Palestine who is a party to the Rome Statute.
—
Popular social media platforms Tiktok, Snapchat and Instagram are among the sites that will have to ban children younger than 16, with reforms likely to pass parliament by the end of the fortnight.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government wanted this action to happen as soon as possible, with the Opposition confirming it would work constructively to see the bill passed next week.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie says the change could not come soon enough.
“We’ve been calling for a very, very long time that children under the age of 16 shouldn’t be allowed to have carte blanche access to all manner of topics on social media platforms. We’ve seen young boys in grade three and grade four accessing violent pornography. Let’s have a think about what that does to their view of women and their view of healthy relationships as they grow into young men.”
Advocacy groups, including the Australian Human Rights Commission, have spoken out against the ban, calling for less restrictive options to achieve the aim of protecting children from harm.
Australia would be the first country to have an age ban on social media.
—
The NSW Premier has apologised to commuters in Sydney for planned disruption to what is Australia’s busiest rail network, that would have pressed ahead if not for a last-minute deal with the rail union.
Sydney’s train services were due to stop running from Friday to Sunday morning, with train workers to go on strike over a longstanding pay dispute.
After hours of negotiations, the state government reached an agreement with unions, and the strike was called off.
In his apology, Premier Chris Minns says there’s more work to be done.
“I am obviously sorry about the inconvenience that the industrial disruption on the railway had over this coming weekend. We felt that we needed to be as clear as possible about what the implications of potential industrial action would be. It was averted and the trains are working this morning but I don’t want to make out that the government is doing a lap of honour. We have a long way to go to sort this out.”
Unions are seeking an eight per cent annual pay rise over four years, and protections for workers if train services are privatised in the future.
—
In football,
Champions League top scorer Caitlin Foord was unable to add to her tally of six goals as Arsenal grabbed a last-minute 1-nil victory over Juventus at the Emirates Stadium.
The single goal of the encounter was scored by late substitute Lina Hurtig who tapped in a cross from fellow sub Stina Blackstenius.
The victory saw Arsenal move closer to securing one of the two first spots of their group, which could see them advance to the quarter-finals.
In other games of the evening, Mary Fowler’s Manchester City walked away with a 1-2 win against Hammarby, as Bayern were held to a 1-all draw by Valerenga in Norway.