TRANSCRIPT
- A new security agreement between Australia and the Solomon Islands
- Australian aid agencies launch an appeal for earthquake-struck Vanuatu
- And in sports, 2025 La Vuelta race to start in Italy for first time
Australia and the Solomon Islands have agreed to a new security deal.
$190 million Australian dollars has been allocated over four years to expand the police force in the Solomon Islands.
In a joint statement Prime Minister Albanese and his counterpart Jeremiah Manele says package would provide the Pacific nation with an "enduring sovereign security capability" and reduce its "reliance on external partners over time".
The deal does not include any veto powers for Australia over the national security and policing decisions of the Solomon Islands government.
China already has an effectively permanent presence of about 14 police officers in Solomon Islands.
Mr Albanese says while the presence will remain, it should not grow any bigger.
"The Solomon Islands of course is a sovereign nation and they have some measures in place, and we expect that to continue, but we also expect that, as a result of this agreement, what we’ve done is make sure that Australia remains a security partner of choice."
---
The Australian Council for International Development has launched an aid appeal to help with the recovery effort in Vanuatu, following this week's deadly 7.3-magnitude quake.
The coalition of Australian aid groups says about 80,000 people are impacted, with about 14 people killed and a further 200 injured.
The death toll is expected to rise.
Chantel Omai is among 136 Australians who were brought back to Australia on planes supplied by the Royal Australian Air Force overnight.
She says is grateful to have come through alive with her family - and she is concerned for the impact on the local population.
"So good to be home. A lot of people over there weren't so lucky. A lot of damage done in Vanuatu. Very scary experience. We were in a shop when it happened. It threw my son and hubby on the road. We are lucky. We all got out with a couple of bruises. People passed away. They said it is the worst one in 102 years."
---
Australian Olympic breakdancer Rachel Gunn says she is glad to have resolved the legal dispute with comedian Steph Broadbridge after her lawyers shut down Raygun: The Musical.
Ms Gunn, also known by her breaking name Raygun, says an agreement has been reached to now allow the musical to go ahead under a different name and using a new poster.
She says the entire episode has been very stressful and she insists that she won't be seeking any legal costs over the matter.
"She still gets to go ahead with the musical. She has got a new name, new poster, and she still gets to take that show on the road. So you know, I'm really happy for her. And I wish her all the best with the show and the tour. We've got no costs from them. Not from Steph, not from the comedy club. In our view, it's all resolved."
In a statement, Broadbridge has acknowledged that she had not contacted Gunn before creating the title and poster.
She says she had not intended to mislead people into thinking the breaker was involved in the production.
---
More than 900,000 Australians identify as LGBTIQ+, including almost one in 10 people aged 16 to 24.
It is the first time the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released data on the LGBTIQ+ population in Australia.
About 740,000 people are lesbian, gay, bisexual or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation.
One in three from those communities are married or in a de facto relationship.
The data shows almost 179,000 people - less than one per cent - identify as transgender or non-binary.
For the first time, the Australian Census - which is coming up in 2026 - will include questions on gender and sexual orientation for people aged 16 years and over.
---
In cycling, the 90th Vuelta a Espana race will start in Italy for the first time next August.
The route, revealed in a ceremony in Madrid, will see ten summit finishes, including an arduous Angliru climb with La Bola del Mundo scheduled on the eve of the grand finale in the Spanish capital.
La Vuelta 2025 will take off from the Piedmont region on August 23, with stages also visiting France and Andorra before finishing on September 14.
La Vuelta director Javier Guillen says he has a big vision for the 2025 race route.
"That's the idea. Above all that, there is emotion. There are 21 stages but what we want is that all of them are a very exciting chapter of a series that begins this year in Piedmont and ends in Madrid. This is a race that always looks to the sky, it doesn’t look at the ground, but it is true that I think that from the first week there’ll be a lot of hardships and exists something that the spectator likes, and everything is built based on the same script. I hope we have many emotions until the end."
And that's the latest from the SBS Newsroom.
