TRANSCRIPT:
Former Labor Leader Bill Shorten is stepping down from politics after an almost two decade long career.
The current Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme won't contest the next election.
Mr Shorten served as leader of the Labor Party in opposition for six years, taking over from Kevin Rudd following the ALP's 2013 election loss.
He has also played a key role in creating the NDIS under the Gillard government, returning to the portfolio in this term.
Shorten says it's now time to walk away.
"I genuinely consider myself to be one of the luckiest people in politics. I have been the member for Maribyrnong, it is a community that I love so much. I've had the privilege to serve in portfolios that I care about.
There was the bushfire reconstruction, industrial relations, superannuation. When I first came the junior Minister for disabilities, and now the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme."
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Australia's visa process has been criticised for reportedly blocking Palestinians fleeing war-torn Gaza.
About 7000 visa applications have been refused, while 2900 have been granted since the war began.
Amnesty International Australia says many Palestinians had been told to apply for tourist visas to enter the country - but were then refused on the basis they weren't genuine visitors.
She says that shows the system is either "highly dysfunctional or deliberately cruel".
Supervising Refugee Advice and Casework Service solicitor, Isobel McGarity, says tourist visas are the wrong approach.
"A visitor visa is, as the name suggests - the purpose of it is to allow somebody to come to Australia as a visitor - whether that's a tourist or whether that's to see family or friends. To be granted that visa you need to show a genuine temporary enterant intention, so that means that you intend to return home. RACS has been advocating that this is not the most appropriate vehicle for people fleeing a crisis."
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The federal government has released a voluntary framework for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence.
Ten guardrails have been established as part of the voluntary code, and consultation on a mandatory code is open for the next four weeks.
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic says regulating in this area is challenging.
"This is probably one of the most complex policy challenges facing the government world over. And the Australian government is determined that we put in place the measures that provide for the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence in this country."
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Victorian firefighters say they have been kept in the dark over a 2022 cyber attack.
Fire Rescue Victoria employees say they still don't know if their information was compromised.
The cyber incident left their firefighting information system offline for a year, and the rostering system still hasn't been restored.
United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall says updates have been repeatedly asked for with no response.
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Witnesses to Victoria's truth-telling commission have declared Australia must confront its colonial past.
One of the witnesses was Peter Sharp, a descendent of Australia's second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin.
Deakin sponsored the Aboriginal Protection Act while he was Victoria's Chief Secretary in the 1880s, which formed the legal groundwork for the Stolen Generations.
Mr Sharp told the inquiry he hoped his contribution would help dispel the myth that the removals came about through well-meaning but mismanaged policy.
"This was a shock I had no idea that this could have been possible, all the books I'd read said that Deakin was a supporter of Aboriginal rights. He was very clever at disguises and covers, being able to do things under the cover of his reputation for high principles."
