Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government has spoken with the U.S. administration about the shooting of an Australian reporter with rubber bullets in Los Angeles.
Television news reporter Lauren Tomasi was covering the ongoing protests in Los Angeles for Australia's Nine Network News on Sunday local time when she was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet fired by a police officer in the city's downtown district.
Albanese on Tuesday described the footage of the incident, which was published by Nine and showed the officer taking aim towards Tomasi and firing, as "horrific."
"I spoke with Lauren this morning. She's going OK. She's pretty resilient," he said.
"We have already raised these issues with the U.S. administration. We don't find it acceptable that it occurred. And we think that the role of the media is particularly important."
Albanese's comments came during a major speech to the National Press Club in Canberra in which he laid out his Labor Party government's agenda following May's general election.
Albanese said on Tuesday that the policies that Labor took to the election would be the "foundation" of its second term but not the "limit" of the party's vision.
"The way we deal with big challenges and opportunities from our first term, from economic growth and productivity to the energy transition, will continue to evolve," he said.
He announced that the government will convene experts, trade unions and business leaders in Canberra in August to brainstorm ideas to stimulate economic growth and productivity.
Albanese said that he wanted the dialogue to produce "concrete and tangible action" that would lead to long-term and lasting change.
The prime minister previously announced that the new term of the federal parliament will formally be opened on July 22 and that Labor's first priority will be legislation to deliver its pledge to cut student loan debts by 20 percent.
(Source: Xinhua)
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