Australia news LIVE: Defence review calls for more destroyers, fewer frigates; Dutton attacks Ray Martin over Voice

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  • Missile strike on Ukrainian cafe kills more than 50
  • This morning’s headlines at a glance

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Dutton attacks Ray Martin over Voice as Price weighs in against ABC

Coalition leader Peter Dutton has taken aim at prominent broadcaster Ray Martin for suggesting the No side’s Voice slogan is aimed at “dickheads”, as Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price railed against alleged bias at the ABC.

The No side has spent months pitching the Voice as an elite-backed idea and portraying the mainstream media as supporters of a radical Indigenous agenda backed by “woke” corporates.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Ray Martin (second from right) at the Yes event in Sydney on September 28.Credit: James Brickwood

Dutton has seized on several examples of Yes campaigners making critical reflections about No voters’ motives.

Martin criticised the anti-Voice campaign’s “If you don’t know, vote No” slogan at a Yes event with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Albanese’s Marrickville electorate on September 28.

Find out more on this here. 

Review wants more destroyers, fewer frigates

The navy would receive a major firepower boost through the addition of three heavily armed air warfare destroyers under a plan being considered by the federal government.

Sources briefed on the findings of a review of the navy’s surface fleet, which was delivered to Defence Minister Richard Marles last week, said it had recommended slashing the planned number of Hunter-class frigates from nine to six, as current shipbuilding projects face cost overruns of up to $20 billion.

The government is considering adding a further three air warfare destroyers to the nation’s fleet, taking the total to six.Credit: Royal Australian Navy

The Hunter-class frigates have blown out in size and cost since the program was announced in 2018, with critics saying the ships’ lack of missile cells would leave them seriously under-gunned in any conflict.

Continue reading this exclusive here.

Missile strike on Ukrainian cafe kills more than 50

A Russian missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in a village in northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, reducing the building to rubble and killing 51 people during a memorial service, Ukrainian officials said.

Large piles of bricks and shattered metal and building materials remained where the cafe and shop were hit early in the afternoon in Hroza village in Kharkiv region.

Firefighters work to clear the rubble at a destroyed village shop and café in Hroza, Ukraine.Credit: Getty

The attack was the deadliest in the Kharkiv region since Russia’s invasion more than 19 months ago, a regional official told public broadcaster Suspilne. It also appeared to be one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.

“This settlement has about 330 people,” regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said on national television, compared to 500 before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“In fact, one-fifth of this village has died in a single terrorist attack.”

More here from Reuters.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning, and thanks for your company.

It’s Friday, October 6. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started:

  • Advertisements bankrolled by Clive Palmer in the final days of the referendum campaign will warn a vote for the Voice will lead to financial costs for struggling Australian families.
  • Health Minister Mark Butler will closely monitor the progress of England and New Zealand’s responses to big tobacco but has no plans to follow suit.
  • Three heavily armed air warfare destroyers would be added to the national fleet under a plan being considered by the federal government.
  • Coalition leader Peter Dutton has taken aim at prominent broadcaster Ray Martin for suggesting the No side’s Voice slogan is aimed at “dickheads”.
  • The willingness of Australians to tip has not been dented by higher food and petrol costs and rising rents, with the average national gratuity sitting at $17.93, according to a report.
  • Most Australians have paid the price after a US manufacturer deliberately covered up the hazardous effects of one its widely used compounds, legal documents show.
  • In overseas news, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested hand grenades caused the plane crash which killed Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, not a missile attack.

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