A second woman has alleged she was sexually assaulted by the same man who allegedly raped former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in a ministerial office at Parliament House in Canberra.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under increasing pressure over his government's handling of Ms Higgins' alleged assault, with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese slamming the government for treating the matter as a "political problem" rather than a criminal offence.
Mr Morrison on Saturday said reports in The Weekend Australian that a second woman was assaulted by the same man late last year were upsetting.
The woman said that if the federal government had adequately dealt with the incident involving Ms Higgins the year before, she would never have been assaulted.
To the United States now, where the country has officially rejoined the Paris climate agreement. President Joe Biden said climate change was a "global existential crisis".
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "Now, as momentous as our joining the agreement was in 2016 - and as momentous as our rejoining is today - what we do in the coming weeks, months and years is even more important."
Former president Donald Trump removed the United States from the groundbreaking accord in 2017, but the country did not formally leave the agreement until November 2020.
In good news from Israel, a large-scale rollout of the Pfizer vaccine is helping reduce the number of symptomatic COVID-19 infections.
The country's largest healthcare provider says there has been a 94 per cent drop in symptomatic cases of COVID-19 among 600,000 people who've received two doses of the vaccine.
The comparison was made against a vaccinated group the same size with matching medical histories.
"It shows unequivocally that Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in the real world, a week after the second dose, just as it was found to be in the clinical study," Ran Balicer, the chief innovation officer of health service Clalit, said.
Closer to home, Victoria has recorded no new local COVID-19 cases. The numbers are giving "increasing confidence" to authorities, the state's health minister says.
More than 17,700 tests were conducted on Friday, ahead of the state's first weekend after a third lockdown. There are 25 active cases in the state, and only one person is in hospital with the virus.
Health Minister Martin Foley on Saturday said authorities would next Friday consider easing restrictions further.
Mr Foley said the Holiday Inn cluster, which sparked the latest lockdown, was "far from being over", but the numbers showed it was "increasingly under control".
It's a good place to be in, with the Australian rollout of the vaccine set to begin on Monday.
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The news you need to know
- Prime Minister 'upset' by second staffer rape allegation
- US officially rejoins Paris climate deal
- Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine highly effective: Israeli health provider
- No new COVID cases in Victoria as restrictions are set to be reviewed
- Final preparations under way for Australian coronavirus vaccines
- French rugby star Dupont tests positive for COVID-19
- One killed, two injured and man in custody in Canberra suburb
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
