Received

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 95

Labor is keeping rising childcare fees and the cost of living at the forefront of its election pitch, as leader Anthony Albanese rejoins the campaign trail after a week of COVID-19 isolation.

Mr Albanese will fly to Perth on Friday ahead of the party's campaign launch on the weekend.

Labor attacked the government on Thursday after new data showed the average cost of childcare has risen by 4.2 per cent over the past year to March.

It came after inflation surged to 5.1 per cent, a 20-year high, with homeowners now facing an interest rate hike from next week.

The Reserve Bank is tipped to raise rates on Tuesday - for the first time in 12 years - increasing cost of living pressures for mortgage holders.

But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has suggested the RBA should wait for wages data due out on May 18.

"I can only point you to previous statements that they have made where they have said they want to see inflation sustainably within their (two to three per cent) band, and they also want to see significant wages growth before they start to move," he's told the Australian Financial Review.

Following the release of the inflation figures, former prime minister John Howard rejected suggestions there was a housing crisis in Australia as he campaigned in the Brisbane seat of Ryan.

"The cost of housing in this country is much higher than we would like, but a lot of the reasons for housing being expensive in Australia has been baked into the system over the years," he said.

"And may I say, because of planning and other decisions made by state and local governments to push up the cost of housing."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will start Friday in Hobart, after announcing $50 million for the Nyrstar Smelter in the Tasmanian capital.

Mr Morrison dismissed criticism directed at the government from Senator Pauline Hanson as "just politics", after it emerged the coalition would tell voters to preference the Jacquie Lambie Network in the Tasmanian Senate race ahead of One Nation.

"We're just focused on what the Australian people are focused on in this election, all this discussion about preferences ... it's just politics," he told Sky News.

"That's not changing what people do for a job. It's not changing what they earn. It's not keeping downward pressure on inflation and interest rates. That's what we're focused on in this in this election."

Senator Hanson accused the government of doing a "dirty deal with the devil".

© AAP 2022

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 87

Russia has fired two missiles into the Ukrainian capital Kyiv during a visit by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and one hit the lower floor of a residential building, injuring at least three people, its mayor says.

Reuters could not independently verify the cause of the explosions.

Kyiv has enjoyed relative calm since Russian invasion forces failed to capture it in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance and withdrew several weeks ago but remains vulnerable to longer-range Russian heavy weaponry.

The blasts shook Kyiv's central Shevchenko district and the three injured have been hospitalised, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Twitter post.

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba both said the blasts were caused by Russian missiles.

Reuters witnesses had earlier reported the sound of two blasts.

The explosions occurred after UN chief Guterres completed talks with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensiky focusing on efforts to allow civilians to leave the Russian-besieged southern port of Mariupol.

Guterres told Portuguese broadcaster RTP when asked about the blasts: "There was an attack on Kyiv...it shocked me, not because I'm here but because Kyiv is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike."

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the blasts were "proof that we need a quick victory over Russia... We must act quickly - more weapons, more humanitarian efforts... because every day Ukraine pays a high price for the protection of democracy and freedom".

Guterres had surveyed the destruction in small towns outside Kyiv on Thursday.

"Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians," Guterres lamented as he visited the bombed-out Kyiv suburb of Irpin.

Responding to repeated Ukrainian pleas for supplies of heavier weaponry and equipment, US President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday for $US33 billion ($A46 billion) to support Ukraine, a massive jump in US funding that includes more than $US20 billion for weapons and ammunition and other military aid.

The package, also entailing $US8.5 billion in direct economic assistance and $US3 billion in humanitarian and food security aid, forms part of US efforts to isolate and punish Russia for its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which has flattened cities and forced more than five million people to flee abroad.

"We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom," Biden said at the White House after signing the request on Thursday.

"The cost of this fight - it's not cheap - but caving to aggression is going to be more costly."

The US has said it hopes Ukrainian forces can not only repel Russia's assault on the east but also weaken its military so that it can no longer menace neighbours.

Russia says that amounts to NATO waging "proxy war" against it and has made a number of threats this week of unspecified retaliation.

Ukraine's general staff said Russia was stepping up its main military assault in the east, where it now aims to seize all of two provinces partially controlled by separatists.

"The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions," it said.

Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday the military had fired missiles at six Ukrainian arms and fuel depots and destroyed them, and that 76 Ukrainian military facilities were also hit.

Reuters could not verify the latest battlefield reports.

President Vladimir Putin calls Russian actions a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine that became necessary as the United States was using the country to threaten Russia and it had to defend Russian-speaking people from persecution.

Ukraine says it is fighting an imperial-style land grab and that Putin's claims of persecution are nonsense.

Russia has also reported what it says have been a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions which border Ukraine, and has warned that such attacks risk significant escalation.

On Thursday, two big explosions were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, two witnesses told Reuters.

It was not immediately clear what caused them and whether there were any casualties or damage.

with reporting from AP

© AP 2022

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 88

The old sporting adage 'defence wins championships' rang true for NBL champions Melbourne United after they outmuscled the Tasmania JackJumpers to open their play-off campaign with an impressive 74-63 victory.

United stopped the potent JackJumpers' offence in their tracks during the third quarter of Thursday's best-of-three series opener at John Cain Arena, holding them to seven points to turn a tight contest into an unassailable 19-point lead.

"We pride ourselves on trying to get three stops in a row at different times and we didn't get that done once in the first half," Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said about United's mindset in the third quarter.

"So once we established getting two stops, could we take it to another level? And I think there was a run of seven, eight stops during that third quarter and so there was just a better focus.

"I thought in the first half when we got two stops and they'd hit a three or we made a coverage mistake or fouled or something like that.

"So through that third quarter, I just thought we were so much more solid in our coverage and our communication."

Vickerman's decision to start NBL Sixth Man of the Year Shea Ili alongside Matthew Dellavedova in the backcourt proved a masterstroke as they harassed Tasmania's guards from the outset.

"We wanted to come out and really defend, and not give them any opportunities to get on a roll," former NBA guard Dellavedova said following his first NBL finals appearance.

"To hold them to seven points (in the third quarter) when you know they've been playing really well, knocking down a lot of threes, is a great effort by everyone."

Jo Lual-Acuil overcame a slow start to dominate at both ends of the floor in his 100th NBL game while the efforts of Jack White and Caleb Agada ensured Melbourne enjoyed a lopsided 52-32 rebounding advantage, including an 18-6 edge in offensive boards.

Tasmania absorbed United's pressure in the first half but finally cracked in the third quarter with coach Scott Roth lamenting a 21-7 collapse.

"Their overall physicality and they got some pit bulls in the backcourt that can really get after you...they've got some really good athletes and it's a hell of a team," Roth said about the defending champions.

The JackJumpers will attempt to stay alive in their maiden semi-final series in front of a capacity crowd at Hobart's MyState Arena on Saturday.

"The Tasmanian fans have been absolutely awesome and we are excited to go home and play again in front of them," Roth said ahead of the JackJumpers first ever home final.

"We'll have great support, there'll be great energy in the building and it's playoff basketball - it should be fun."

© AAP 2022

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 86

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese's home isolation is set to end as he recovers from COVID-19.

The Labor leader tested positive to the virus last Thursday, forcing him off the election trail for a week while he campaigned from the confines of his Sydney home.

He will officially launch the Labor Party's campaign in Perth on Sunday and says he is looking forward to coming out of isolation but has been advised to cut down on his work hours.

"My doctor tells me I have to take things easy, particularly in the first few days to not do the 16 and 20-hour days that I was doing," he told WSFM Sydney radio.

"But it will be good to be out and about," he said.

Meanwhile, the seven-day isolation rules for household contacts of people with COVID-19 will end at 12.01 on Friday in Western Australia, while Tasmania will on Monday become the final state to drop the requirement.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 13,771 cases, 19 deaths, 1701 in hospital, 76 in ICU

Victoria: 10,427 cases, 10 deaths, 445 in hospital, 35 in ICU

Tasmania: 1202 cases, 40 in hospital, one in ICU

Northern Territory: 564 cases, three deaths, 50 in hospital, two in ICU

Western Australia: 8889 cases, seven deaths (six historical), 237 in hospital, six in ICU

South Australia: 3733 cases, four deaths, 240 in hospital, 11 in ICU

ACT: 1149 cases, zero deaths, 69 in hospital, three in ICU

© AAP 2022