Aussie acting PM defends Capitol attack comments
AP, CANBERRA
Australia’s acting prime minister yesterday defended his comments comparing the attack on the US Capitol building with Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, despite criticism from Indigenous and human rights groups.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who is acting as the Conservative government’s leader while Prime Minister Scott Morrison is on vacation, has come under widespread criticism since Monday, when he described last week’s insurrection on Capitol Hill that claimed five lives as “similar to those race riots that we saw around the country last year.”
McCormack, who leads the rural-based The Nationals junior coalition partners, used several television and radio interviews to reject calls for an apology over his comparison.
MIL-OSI Australia: Official Leave | Global ForeignAffairs co nz foreignaffairs.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from foreignaffairs.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Scott Morrison is going on annual leave for a week following the arrival of new and more contagious Covid strains in Australia from the UK and South Africa.
The Prime Minister is handing over to Deputy PM and Nationals leader Michael McCormack until January 18, as health authorities plan the February roll-out of coronavirus vaccines.
After a tough year battling a pandemic Mr Morrison is entitled to take a break, as state premiers had been last week, but some of the PM s harsher critics have regularly brought up his Hawaii holiday in December 2019 during the summer bushfires.
Scott Morrison is going on annual leave for a week following the arrival of new and more contagious Covid strains in Australia from the UK and South Africa. The Prime Minister is pictured with his wife Jenny and their daughters Abbey and Lily
Tech Giants ‘Willing to Burn’ First Amendment Rights: Shark Tank Entrepreneur
Prominent tech investor and star on Australia’s “Shark Tank” TV series Steve Baxter has lambasted U.S. tech giants’ for targeting and suspending social media app Parler as well as the accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“This is pretty bleak stuff when this platform–Parler–is being held to account (by the tech giants) for the actions of its users,” the tech entrepreneur told The Epoch Times.
“All these amazing innovations (social media apps) come from the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which includes freedom of speech,” he said.
Canberra, Jan 8 (IANS) Australian flag carrier Qantas has resumed bookings for international flights which will begin from July 1, in a promising sign that overseas travel might return sooner than expected.