TRANSCRIPT:
- Australia defends its embassy in Iran amid a social media post controversy;
- Ireland to open a commission of inquiry into historic allegations of abuse in Catholic schools;
- Australia meeting Scotland tonight in a Twenty20 matchup.
Australia has defended the right to back in its values overseas after Iran reportedly summoned its ambassador in Tehran over a social media post it deemed "promoted homosexuality".
The Australian Embassy in Tehran made an Instagram post celebrating "Wear it Purple Day", an event to promote safe and inclusive environments for members of the L-G-B-T-I-Q plus community.
Iran's leaders have previously described homosexuality as part of the "moral depravity" found in Western society.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has said Iran's reaction to the post is a concern, and that the government supported the embassy's promotion of Australian values.
"Certainly the Albanese government’s views and our values are that we support all Australians, regardless of their sexual orientation, their gender, their race."
.
Ireland is set to open a commission of inquiry into sexual violence in religious schools after a government commissioned report revealed what's been described as a "truly shocking" level of abuse.
The report identified almost 2400 [[2395]] allegations of sexual abuse at religious schools over nearly a century - primarily at those run by the Catholic Church.
It also found 884 alleged sexual abusers at more than 300 schools across the country between 1927 and 2013.
Education Minister Norma Foley says she expects the commission will find additional cases.
"We shouldn't underestimate this. This is the first time that the scale of child sexual abuse allegations in schools run by religious orders has been disclosed."
.
Vladimir Putin has arrived in Mongolia for two days of talks, defying a war crimes arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court last year.
Mongolia is a member of the I-C-C and is obliged to make the arrest, but instead the Russian President has received a red carpet welcome.
The Kremlin says it's not concerned Putin would be detained during the visit.
"The relations with Mongolia are among the priorities of our foreign policy in Asia. They have been brought to a high level of comprehensive strategic partnership."
.
A coal mining company has become the first to be charged with industrial manslaughter in Queensland, three years after the death of a worker.
60 year old Graham Dawson was killed when a roof at Mastermyne's Crinum Mine in central Queensland collapsed and crushed him in 2021.
It took four days for his body to be recovered from the site west of Rockhampton.
.
The latest national account figures have now been released - and they confirm Australia has experienced the slowest economic growth since the 1990s recession.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the figures are largely due to a downward trend in consumer spending.
"The main story in these figures is consumption. Consumption went backwards, and discretionary spending fell substantially. And to get your head around that, in through the year terms we saw around the same growth in the year as we usually see in a single quarter, when it comes to consumption. And that gives you a sense here of consumption going backwards - but particularly discretionary spending, which has fallen really quite substantially."
.
Meanwhile, the president of Australia's housing supply council has confirmed what many have long suspected: that there is an affordability crisis.
There has been growing concern on the back of spiralling property prices and not enough action to create more affordable homes.
In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz has said the council's data confirms a growing gap between those who can afford property, and those who cannot.
She says the situation has been building up over a long while.
"There is no denying the housing crisis that we're in. It's a crisis that has been decades in the making through our persistent failure to deliver enough housing of all types, from crisis accommodation, to social affordable homes, right through to the private market. Our housing system is simply not working."
.
Australia's online watchdog has ordered social media companies to reveal how many children are using their sites, amid concern kids are dodging age limits.
Most social media sites have their own age limits to prevent children under 13 from creating accounts.
But eSafety research has found one-in-four children aged eight to 10 use social media at least once a week.
Google, Facebook's parent company Meta, TikTok, Reddit, Discord, Twitch and Snap will now have 30 days to tell eSafety about how they're enforcing age restrictions.
.
Australia will begin a three match Twenty 20 series against Scotland in Edinburgh tonight.
Scotland is a rising second-tier cricketing nation who only narrowly missed qualifying for the knockout stages of the recent Twenty20 World Cup.
