TRANSCRIPT
- Anthony Albanese says he will contest a third term if Labor wins the election
- Police raid dozens of tobacco shops with alleged links to organised crime
- Sydney Roosters legend Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will retire at the end of the Super League season
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will contest a third term if he wins the election.
Asked about whether he is concerned about members of his own party vying for his position, Mr Albanese said his party is the most united he's seen since he first entered politics in 1996.
"Bill led us from 2013, right through to 2019. I'm not looking over my back. I'm looking forward and we have an incredibly united caucus, and that is one of the reasons why we've been able to focus on the needs of the Australian people."
This comes as new polling suggests Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has increased his lead over Opposition leader Peter Dutton in the election campaign - 53.5 per cent against the Coalition's 46.5 per cent, according to the Resolve Strategic poll.
Roy Morgan polling also puts Labor ahead 54.5 to 45.5 per cent.
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Opposition Treasurer Angus Taylor says the Coalition will deliver a stronger economic plan than Labor if elected.
Facing questions around the Coalition's spending, Mr Taylor told Channel Nine their policies were more effectively costed.
"We'll deliver a better bottom line than Labor. And the reason is because we've opposed over a hundred billion dollars of bad labor spending in this term of parliament. And that includes now in their spending 42 billion of spending on housing that the treasurer last night had to admit, hasn't delivered a single house for a family, not a single family is living in any of these houses now. There's a whole range of programs we've opposed. We've got to fix two budgets here, the government budget, and we will make sure we have a stronger bottom line than labor."
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More than 300 civilians have been killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan's conflict-ridden Darfur region, as today [[15/4]] marks two years of the country's civil war.
The attacks launched by Sudan's paramilitary group on two famine-hit camps for displaced people in North Darfur and its nearby capital on the weekend were initially reported to have left more than 100 dead, including 20 children and nine aid workers.
But the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has since reported the much higher death toll.
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Police have raided a dozen suburban tobacco shops with alleged links to organised crime, seizing almost $5 million in illegal cigarettes and vapes.
A total of 14 people were arrested in what investigators say is a targeted operation to deter and dismantle crime groups involved in Victoria's long-running tobacco war.
More than 100 tobacco shops and other businesses have been firebombed during the conflict over multimillion-dollar profits, which also involves attempts to extort individual store owners.
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And in NRL,
Sydney Roosters legend Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will retire at the end of the Super League season.
The 36-year-old played 316 games across 16 NRL seasons, winning three premierships at the Roosters before joining English side Hull KR for 2025.
Previous reports had floated the possibility of an NRL return to the Roosters but Waerea-Hargreaves will instead finish the year in England and then hang up the boots.
He said in a statement that he has so much gratitude for the game itself, and that it's been an honour to represent his country and make life-long friends and memories.
