As it happened: Australia news: COVID vaccine hesitancy on the rise; Israel-Palestine conflict death toll rises

Good afternoon and thanks for reading our live coverage today. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be back with you tomorrow afternoon.

If you’re just joining us, here’s everything you need to know:

• A third Australian has died from COVID-19 in India;
• A record number of Australians were vaccinated yesterday. More than 90,000 doses, to be precise. It comes as federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says there will be enough mRNA vaccine for every Australian;
• Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong says the debate about China has become “frenzied, afraid and lacking context”. She has accused the PM of using the debate over Australia-China relations for political gain.

We’ll be back with you from 6.30am tomorrow morning. Have a lovely evening.

If you’ve seen those images of rockets exploding in the night sky above Gaza and Israel, you’ve seen the Iron Dome in action.

This high tech shield is said to be about 90 per cent effective at taking out rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, but is facing its biggest test yet as the militant group Hamas steps up its tactics to bombard the defence system.

At least 212 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to local officials. Israel says 12 people have been killed in the country since fighting escalated last week.

Here’s a deep-dive into how the Iron Dome works, why it’s changed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it’s holding up this time around.

A third Australian has died in India from COVID-19 as the country grapples with a huge wave of coronavirus cases.

The 51-year-old was living in New Delhi caring for his elderly parents. The man’s death comes after a 47-year-old died over the weekend after travelling to India for his mother’s funeral. A 59-year-old who was a permanent resident of Australia died in India from coronavirus earlier this month.

Daniella White has more.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge says children will be more likely to defend our “free, rich, egalitarian liberal democracy” if they are taught Western history.

His comments come a month after the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority released proposed changes to the national curriculum. Under the draft overhaul, students across the country would be taught that First Nations peoples experienced European colonisation as an invasion.

My colleague Jordan Baker has the full story.

Today on Please Explain, Tory Maguire is joined by chief political correspondent David Crowe and researcher Jim Reed to talk about our latest polling.

The trio discuss the Government’s electoral chances post-budget, vaccination hesitancy and whether the PM’s rhetoric on international borders is paying dividends for him politically.

Listen to the latest episode below.

In case you missed it, Victorian MP Jane Garrett says she is still being targeted by online trolls five years after she resigned as the state’s emergency services minister.

Ms Garrett was in charge of Victoria’s emergency services at the height of a bitter industrial relations dispute involving the state’s rural firefighting service, the Country Fire Authority.

The now upper house MP says she was recently called a “rat”, “liar” and “psychopath” online. The revelations come after a nationwide debate about the treatment of women in politics.

Earlier this year, federal Liberal MP Nicolle Flint announced she was quitting politics. While she did not give a reason at the time, she has previously spoken about the misogyny and abuse she has received during her time as a woman MP, particularly during the 2019 federal election campaign.

My colleague Paul Sakkal spoke exclusively with Ms Garrett.