TRANSCRIPT
Trade Minister Don Farrell has countered American claims Australia has been breaking agreements with the US on aluminium trade.
Donald Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro has said Australia was killing the US aluminium trade through its imports by essentially flooding the market, or dumping.
But Mr Farrell says Australia has been complying with obligations agreed to by previous governments.
He says the government has been encouraging steel and aluminium manufacturers to seek alternative markets.
"In the last 12 months, the caps that have been talked about we have not exceeded. The products that we've got into the United States have been at lower caps. And why is that? Well, when we came to government of course we had all our eggs in the one basket.... But of course, we diversified our trading relationship."
Australia is seeking an exemption from U-S President Donald Trump's 25 per cent tariff on all imported steel and aluminium.
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The Prime Minister has announced a redress scheme for Stolen Generations will be extended, as the federal Parliament marks the 17th anniversary of the national apology.
Anthony Albanese says the scheme will be extended to the end of June in 2028, giving survivors from the Northern Territory, ACT and Jervis Bay Territory an extra 18 months to apply for compensation.
The anniversary of the apology is being observed days after a Healing Foundation report found only six per cent of the recommendations of the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report, which investigated the forced removal of children from their families, had been implemented.
Mr Albanese has told guests at the Parliament's official national apology day breakfast that he understands there is more work to do.
"The Apology could not have happened without your courage. Nor would we have had the annual report card that is Closing the Gap. Yet like the Freedom Ride, it was the target of controversy and hostile opposition. The power of hindsight only serves to render that opposition even more baffling... See, the apology was never intended as the end of the story - rather as Prime Minister Rudd said, the beginning of a new chapter."
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Nurses and widwives have rallied in central Sydney to try and reassure the public that healthcare is safe, in the wake of the anti-semitic video from Bankstown Hospital.
Two nurses have been stood down, and are being investigated by police, after making anti-semitic comments in uniform at the hospital... one of the nurses saying she would kill, rather than treat, Israeli patients.
The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association has scrapped a proposed rally outside New South Wales Parliament House pertaining to their current pay dispute, to instead send a message to the public.
The Association's Michael Waites says the two nurses are not at all typical of most healthcare workers.
"There is no room for hate in healthcare. Our union, our members- we stand against racism, we stand against bigotry. The comments that were made yesterday by two individuals do not reflect our professions, do not reflect the beliefs of our membership. We want to assure people of the Israeli and Jewish communities that you are safe when you come to New South Wales Health for healthcare."
New South Wales Police are expected to provide an update on their investigation later today.
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Egypt and Qatar are intensifying efforts to save the Gaza ceasefire deal, amid concern the violence could resume.
A Hamas delegation has now arrived in Cairo to continue the ceasefire talks.
Israel and Hamas have yet to agree on the second phase of the truce.
Egypt and Qatar alongside the United States brokered the deal that took effect on January 19 after more than a year of extensive diplomatic efforts.
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U-S President Donald Trump says he expects to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to try and end to the war in Ukraine.
Mr Trump has spoken extensively with both Mr Putin and Ukraine's President, Volodomyr Zelenskyy, and says they both expressed a desire for peace.
Mr Trump says his first meeting with Mr Putin could come in Saudi Arabia.
"We expect that he'll come here and I'll go there. And we're going to meet also probably in Saudi Arabia the first time- we'll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we can get something done. But we want to end that war. That war is a disaster. Really bloody, horrible war."
Mr Putin invaded Ukraine three years ago next week.
Earlier, Mr Trump's Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, says Ukraine has to give up its desire to join NATO and regaining all the territory Russia has taken in the war... signalling a dramatic change to the U-S approach to the conflict.
Mr Trump campaigned on quickly ending the war in Ukraine, although he's never explained exactly how he would do this.
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In football, Melbourne Victory teenager Alana Murphy has earned a surprise call up to the Matildas' squad.
She's been picked as the replacement for Clare Wheeler, who has withdrawn from the Australian squad for the SheBelieves Cup in the United States, having suffered a thigh injury playing with her English club, Everton.
Murphy is a 19-year-old defensive midfielder who has never before played for the national side.
The Matildas will play Japan, Colombia and the United States in the SheBelieves Cup- their first game coming against Japan on the 21st of February.
