<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nTeal MP says she was disappointed by referendum result<\/h2>\n
Independent MP Zoe Daniel was also asked about the Voice referendum over the weekend, and the support she had in her seat of Goldstein. <\/p>\n
The MP said on RN Breakfast this morning that she was told that 94 per cent of booths across so-called teal seats voted in favour of the referendum. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a reflection of a lot of hard work in those seats by the MPs and volunteer teams,\u201d the former ABC correspondent said of the result in her electorate.<\/p>\n
She said she had teams across the electorate for weeks, they leafleted at train stations, held nearly 300 events and had public forums on the Voice to parliament. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really made an effort to try to help people understand without telling them, you know, you can\u2019t vote No, but trying to provide them with the facts to make an informed decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MP added that she was disappointed about the result of the referendum. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was really sad to see the result of the referendum, but I was very pleased and grateful for the result in Goldstein.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zoe Daniel condemns attack on Gaza hospital as a war crime<\/h2>\n
Independent MP Zoe Daniel says that bombing hospitals is a war crime, following the attack on a hospital in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) is blaming a failed Palestinian rocket for the strike, while Palestinian officials have pinned it on the IDF.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that if this is a deliberate bombing of a hospital, that\u2019s a war crime,\u201d Daniel told ABC radio this morning. <\/p>\n
She said she had been very clear in her response, that Israel had the right to self-defence after the terror attack carried out by Hamas. <\/p>\n
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Independent MP Zoe Daniel has condemned the attack on a hospital in Gaza. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n\u201cThat is that Israel has a right to self-defence within the parameters of the international rules of war. Bombing hospitals, bombing civilians, withholding humanitarian supplies are not within the rules of war.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the governments around the world would wait for the evidence to stack up on who was behind the attack. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think if nothing else, it proves that the situation will spiral out of control without some very calibrated thinking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her comments come after teal independents Dr Sophie Scamps and Kylea Tink supported a Greens motion in parliament that condemned the bombing of Palestinian civilians.<\/p>\n
Daniel who represents Goldstein, in Melbourne\u2019s southeast, spoke about their decision to support the motion his morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe vote according to the needs of our communities and our conscience,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201c I have a large Jewish community in my electorate, and you know, I\u2019ve been talking to and interacting with my community a lot, understandably over the last couple of weeks \u2026 Kylea has a different community, therefore she took a different position,\u201d Daniel said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what independents do.\u201d <\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s terror threat level hasn\u2019t changed: O\u2019Neil<\/h2>\n
The home affairs minister says Australia\u2019s terror threat level hasn\u2019t changed despite recent attacks overseas. <\/p>\n
Clare O\u2019Neil has told Seven\u2019s Sunrise<\/em> program that she was in constant contact with ASIO directors about the domestic situation. <\/p>\n\u201cThis is something I\u2019m working very hard on,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
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Home Affairs Minister Clare O\u2019Neil says Australia\u2019s risk of a domestic terror attack remains \u201cpossible\u201d. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n\u201cWhat I can report back to people is that the terror threat in Australia has not changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The threat level remained at possible, she said. <\/p>\n
The minister said the only thing that had changed was the constant vigilance and focus of Australian government security officials. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m confident that we can get through this. But please know we are watching very, very closely and carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hope for families facing deportation for having disabled children<\/h2>\n
Australia\u2019s practice of deporting migrant families with disabled children over their costly care will be reviewed in return for the Greens\u2019 crucial support for Labor\u2019s delayed Pacific visa lottery, as the government moves to fortify its regional presence while overhauling immigration.<\/p>\n
In a significant deal clinched amid international pressure to pass the Pacific Engagement Visa through parliament, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles agreed to review the mechanism the Australian government uses to order temporary visa-holding households with disabled family members to leave the country.<\/p>\n
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Shaffan (right), 9, has a rare genetic condition that meant his family faced deportation to Pakistan before Immigration Minister Andrew Giles intervened.<\/span><\/p>\nLabor has been negotiating crossbench support for its much-hyped, US green card-style ballot system for Pacific migrants, after the Coalition opposed it. The Greens have been pushing for the government to scrap a controversial migration exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act that allows families to be deported.<\/p>\n
The mechanism for deportation is the \u201csignificant cost threshold\u201d, which calculates the cost of care for the disabled child over 10 years and triggers deportation if it exceeds $51,000, the level considered too burdensome for the Australian community.<\/p>\n
Greens disability spokesperson, Senator Jordon Steele-John said Australia\u2019s migration system was ableist, and its \u201cblatant discrimination belongs in the dustbin of history\u201d.<\/p>\n
Continue reading this exclusive here.<\/p>\n
Home Affairs minister says 46 Australians in Gaza<\/h2>\n
Turning now to Home Affairs Minister Clare O\u2019Neil, who says there are 46 Australians in Gaza, one more than previously reported. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t give you the demographic information of who it is, all I know is that there are 46 Aussies with Australian passports in their hands,\u201d she just told Seven\u2019s Sunrise<\/em> program this morning.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.141%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/69a42ba31ae17f3d6dfc62ed77b6400e671efd8c\")
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Minister for Home Affairs Clare O\u2019Neil says there are 46 Australians in Gaza.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\nThe home affairs minister said the government had already helped 1500 people to leave the region, but they were now focused on the Australians in Gaza. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to now focus our attention on those 46 people, and we\u2019re doing everything we can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that we\u2019ll be able to report back something positive,\u201d O\u2019Neil said.<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles revealed yesterday there were 45 Australians in Gaza, which was more than double the number the government said it knew about the day before. <\/p>\n
Labor won\u2019t look back on Yes campaign but hamstrung on next steps<\/h2>\n
And back in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told colleagues there won\u2019t be a formal review of Labor\u2019s role in the failed Yes case, as he signalled a mooted crackdown on false and misleading political advertising could look at the Voice campaign.<\/p>\n
Indigenous leaders\u2019 decision to observe a week of silence to absorb Saturday\u2019s referendum defeat has left the federal government unable to advance its alternative plans for reconciliation and to tackle disadvantage because of a desire to first consult them.<\/p>\n
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised consultation with leaders before outlining the government\u2019s next steps to close the disadvantage gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\nThree days after 61 per cent of voters rejected a Voice to parliament enshrined in the Constitution, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton focused his attack on treaty and truth-telling, which he argued could cost tens of billions of dollars.<\/p>\n
Dutton sharply criticised the prospect of a national treaty with Indigenous Australians as something that \u201cgoes on for between 20 and 30 years\u201d and in question time demanded the prime minister \u201cinform the house whether or not he remains committed to a treaty and truth-telling?\u201d <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the full story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why Cheng Lei did not see her family for three years<\/h2>\n
Back in Australia, journalist Cheng Lei revealed she was imprisoned in a Beijing cell because she broke an embargo on a Chinese government briefing by just a few minutes. <\/p>\n
That lead to national security charges that would cut her off from her two children for the past three years.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Sky News<\/em> correspondent Annelise Nielsen, Cheng said she had been told while being held for six months in isolation that she had eroded the state\u2019s authority and had \u201churt the motherland\u201d through her actions.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.516%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_4\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/459aa73d4fc87caee7b1580486caa256c2a1ce9a\")
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Australian journalist Cheng Lei, seen here on air on Chinese English-language news channel CGTN, has returned to Australia after a long period of detention in China.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>CGTN<\/cite><\/p>\n\u201cThe aim [is] to drive home that point,\u201d she said. \u201cThat in China, that is a big sin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Media embargoes are widely used in Australia and around the world as a public relations strategy by governments, companies and organisations to ensure that information is digested and then distributed by news networks at the same time.<\/p>\n
Learn more about Lei\u2019s detention here.<\/p>\n
Hamas says hundreds killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza City hospital<\/h2>\n
Health authorities in Gaza say an Israeli airstrike killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza City hospital crammed with patients and displaced people.<\/p>\n
The reported strike on Tuesday, Israel time, was the bloodiest single incident since Israel launched an unrelenting bombing campaign against Gaza in retaliation for a deadly cross-border Hamas assault on southern Israeli communities on October 7.<\/p>\n
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Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Wednesday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\nA civil defence chief in Hamas-ruled Gaza said on Al-Jazeera television that more than 300 people were killed at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital. A Gaza Health Ministry official said at least 500 people were killed and injured.<\/p>\n
Read more on the airstrike here, or tune into our live blog for the latest updates. <\/p>\n
This morning\u2019s headlines at a glance<\/h2>\n
Good morning, and thanks for your company.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Wednesday, October 18. I\u2019m Caroline Schelle, <\/b>and I\u2019ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know:<\/p>\n