The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Liberals meet for first time after poll
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will unveil a revised front bench later today, as Liberal Party MPs gather in Canberra for their first group meeting since the federal election.
The formal party room meeting follows a Sunday function at The Lodge in Canberra.
The meeting is widely expected to be tense, with party anger over superannuation changes and how the election campaign was run spilling over into media in the fortnight since the poll.
Joe Biden to visit Melbourne’s Boeing site
United States Vice-President Joe Biden will visit workers at Melbourne’s Boeing plant today as part of his Australian tour.
Mr Biden opened the $1 billion Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre on Sunday.
Mr Biden will speak to workers at Boeing before travelling to Sydney.
Controversial Qld cop loses legal pay bid
The police officer responsible for the manslaughter of an Aboriginal man in a Palm Island watchhouse in 2004 has lost his legal bid to have his pay re-instated.
Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley was stood down from regular duties following a police pursuit on the Gold Coast last year in which shots were fired. He was suspended in December after a separate incident relating to off-duty conduct, and then in March, he was also charged with two counts of assault, including one against a female police officer.
The Police Union led a legal challenge to have Hurley’s pay reinstated, but on Friday the Supreme Court struck it down.
It follows the controversial policeman’s 2007 acquittal of the manslaughter of Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died at the Palm Island watchhouse in November 2004. That death sparked an uprising on the island, in which the police station, court house and part of the police barracks were burnt to the ground.
Three injured in SA chopper crash
Three men are recovering in an Adelaide hospital after a helicopter crash in South Australia’s far north.
A 58-year-old pilot from Adelaide and two Queenslanders aged 32 and 38 were seriously injured when the helicopter they were in came down northeast of Hawker in the Flinders Ranges on Sunday.
And in Tasmania, a pilot is in hospital with suspected spinal injuries after his light plane crashed while taking off on Tasmania’s northeast coast. The aircraft crashed into an open paddock while attempting take-off at Bridport airport about 3pm on Sunday.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating both incidents.
Woman critical after Qld house fire
A 44-year-old woman is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after a house fire on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Police say a neighbour forced his way into the burning Coolum Beach house on Sunday night and dragged the woman out.
No-one else was inside the home, which was severely damaged by the blaze.
Accused Qld ambo, cop biter in court
A Queensland man accused of biting both a female police officer and male paramedic is expected to face court later today.
The 22-year-old Chevron Island man allegedly attacked the officers after police were called to a Thomas Drive address on Saturday night.
It’s alleged he bit the female constable on the hand as she tried to restrain him, then bit the male paramedic as he was being taken to Gold Coast University Hospital, police say.
The man is expected to appear in Southport Magistrates Court today.
Court to finalise record Tas compo payout
A supreme court judge will hear further submissions from lawyers to help finalise the payout figure in a record Tasmanian compensation case.
British woman Holly Raper, 27, was left a quadriplegic with severe brain damage, unable to speak or move after a quad bike accident at a King Island dairy farm where she worked while backpacking in December 2011.
Justice Stephen Estcourt will today hear submissions after his decision to award Ms Raper $12 million to provide around-the-clock care for her forecast remaining 15-year life span.
Lawyer for the Raper family, Brian Hilliard, said submissions will work toward finalising the 116-page judgment.
