澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-11-12（在线收听）

Australia is offering asylum seekers on board the Oceanic Viking resettlement in Australia within 12 weeks if they disembark in Indonesia and have their refugee status confirmed. About half of the 78 Sri Lankans aboard the Oceanic Viking could be in Australia by Christmas if they accept the offer. But Sri Lanka says the asylum seekers are not genuine refugees.

The Prime Minister is in New Delhi holding top-level talks aimed at improving economic and political ties with India. It comes after a surprise stopover in Afghanistan where Mr. Rudd met with those Australian troops in Tarin Kowt. He used the visit to tell troops that Australia will stay in the region for the long haul.

In Queensland, Mary Valley residents must wait for ten days before a decision to stop the controversial Traveston Crossing dam is finalized. The Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett  announced his interim decision to reject plans to dam the Mary River yesterday. The Queensland Government has ten days to provide further evidence in support of the dam.

And twenty thousand bales of hay are on fire at a property in South Australia’s upper Yorke Peninsula. About two hundred firefighters are battling the blaze. It is expected to burn for several days.

I’ll have more news updates later.