Australian news and politics recap: Chinese jet targets RAAF plane, NSW anti-Semitic video, Ukraine peace hope

Thanks for joining us for all the latest breaking news on Thursday, February 13.

Feel free to scroll down to browse through the days events as they happened.

And stay tuned to The Nightly throughout the evening and tomorrow for all the latest news from around Australia and the world.

Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie is not one to shy away from using strong language, and he’s taken it a little further than the Federal Government has on this one.

He said the incidents were “deeply troubling”.

“These actions are not only dangerous and reckless, but they put the lives of our Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel — who were thankfully not injured during this incident — at risk,” he said.

Read the full story here.

Richard Marles has spoken on Sky about the incident, as well as the tracking of three Chinese ships which are part of a task group in northern Australian waters.

“We think that this is what is prudent right now, it’s important to understand as best we can exactly what this task group is doing, and what it’s seeking to achieve,” Mr Marles told Sky News.

“We are responding in a serious way... I’m not going to jump to conclusions about what the task group is doing, part of this is about making sure we are shadowing so we get the best understanding.

He said the two incidents are “not connected”, but are a reminder of the difficult and complex geo-political and strategic environment.

Australia has “expressed its concerns” to China after an “unsafe and unprofessional” incident, in which flares were released in close proximity to an Australian Defence Force aircraft.

A RAAF P-8A was conducting a routine patrol in the South China sea on Tuesday when a Chinese fighter jet released flares in front and above of the Australian aircraft.

No one was injured, and the crew continued their mission, but it prompted a swift diplomatic response in both Beijing and Canberra.

“Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a safe and professional manner,” Defence said in a statement.

The incident came as Australia tracked three Chinese vessels operating in Australia’s north-east.

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Mining and agriculture magnate Gina Rinehart has once again been crowned Australia’s richest person.

Forbes magazine published its annual rich list today and put Ms Rinehart right at the top, estimating her net worth at $US29 billion ($46.2b).

On good news for billionaires, the collective wealth of all those who make up Australia’s 50 richest rose to $US243b — up nearly 10 per cent from a year ago.

SEE WHO MADE THE LIST

Veterans will be able to access compensation for their military service through a simpler process after the biggest overhaul of the system in a century.

Three complex laws governing Australia’s veteran support system have been rolled into one through legislation that passed the parliament on Thursday, AAP reports.

Urgently simplifying the compensation and rehabilitation scheme was a recommendation made by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in its interim report.

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The Nightly’s Nicola Smith reports that Federal Parliament has demanded universities stamp out the scourge of anti-Semitism on campuses across the country.

The warning after a parliamentary inquiry by the joint committee on human rights comes amid fears within the Jewish Australian community that a nationwide anti-Semitism crisis is being stoked by toxic anti-Jewish behaviour on university campuses, Nicola Smith writes.

Danielle Tischmann, co-president of the Australian Union of Jewish Students, said she hoped the report would spur universities to take the fears and intimidation of Jewish students more seriously.

“We hope that this recommendation will see universities return to a place of collaboration between students of all cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds,” she said.

Full story here.

Mr Leeser also turned the screws on Labor over whether it planned to direct preferences to the Greens, which he called a “racist” and “anti-Semitic party”.

After a bit of back and forward between MPs, Mr Albanese reponds referring to the comments by ASIO about “turning down the heat on (inflammatory language) where possible”.

“We have a responsibility to do that and it is in Australia’s interest that occur and I say that consistently.”

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has used the final Question Time of the fortnight, and possibly of this parliament, to grill the Prime Minister on his government’s record on anti-Semitism.

Leeser said the PM had promised social cohesion was a priority.

“With anti-Semitism getting worse, not better, what has our country become under your government?”

Mr Albanese said anti-Semitism was a scourge and then detailed a list of TV appearances where he had made comments denouncing the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and that there was “nothing to celebrate” about it.

He said he had condemned anti-Semitism at every opportunity.

Nurses have rallied outside NSW Parliament to condemn hate speech after two Bankstown nurses were caught on camera making threats about killing Israeli patients.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association assistant general secretary Michael Whaites said members were horrified by the footage and that nurses Ahmad ‘Rashad’ Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh did not speak for them.

“We find the comments to be abhorrent, and I want to reassure the people of Australia, of NSW, of our Jewish communities, our Israeli communities, that they do not speak for nurses and midwives, they do not speak for our profession,” he said.