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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Daily OS. It's Friday.

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Speaker 1: How good it is the eighteenth of February. Today I

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Speaker 1: am joined by our journalist Mariah Lattice, who has an

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Speaker 1: incredible guest for us. We are so lucky to be

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Speaker 1: talking to a member of the US State Department on

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Speaker 1: the conflict in Ukraine and a number of other topics.

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Speaker 1: I'll let Maria introduce our guests later in the episode,

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Speaker 1: but first, Mariah, we had some major announcements yesterday from

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Speaker 1: both the Victorian and New South Wales governments on COVID restrictions.

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Speaker 1: Tell me more about that.

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Speaker 2: We sure did. Both New South Wales and Victoria are

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Speaker 2: further easing COVID restrictions today. With the changes in New

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Speaker 2: South Wales including density limits being removed in hospitality settings,

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Speaker 2: qrco checkins are now only required for nightclubs and music

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Speaker 2: festivals with more than one thousand people, and singing and

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Speaker 2: dancing will also be permitted in all venues except for

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Speaker 2: music festivals. Changes in Victoria include density quotas for hospitality

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Speaker 2: and entertainment venues removed, indoor downs floors reopened, and QR

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Speaker 2: code check in requirements are now no longer required at

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Speaker 2: retail venues, schools, and for employees at many workplaces.

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Speaker 1: That's some pretty major changes to happen to the two

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Speaker 1: most populous states in the country. Meanwhile, in economic news,

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Speaker 1: Australia's unemployment rate in January state at four point two percent.

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Speaker 1: It remains unchanged from December twenty twenty one. The head

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Speaker 1: of Labor Statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics noted

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Speaker 1: interestingly there was a significant decrease in the amount of

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Speaker 1: hours worked. This comes as a result of they think

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Speaker 1: employees having to take sick leave or falling ill with

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Speaker 1: the omicron COVID variant.

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Speaker 2: Moving to some international news, mudslides and floods in Brazil

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Speaker 2: have killed at least ninety four people after the city

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Speaker 2: of Petropolis experience torrential rains. Twenty five point eight centimeters

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Speaker 2: of rain hit the region within three hours, which is

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Speaker 2: roughly around the same amount that had fallen within the

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Speaker 2: thirty days prior. Recovery and rescue efforts have begun with

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Speaker 2: over one one hundred and eighty soldiers working within the

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Speaker 2: affected mountainous region in Rio di Jeniro.

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Speaker 1: And today's good news, the ministers of education in every

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Speaker 1: single state and territory in Australia have committed to mandating

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Speaker 1: consent education in every Australian school. It will now be

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Speaker 1: compulsory for every year to be taught age appropriate consent education,

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Speaker 1: from kindergarten to year ten. The news comes exactly one

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Speaker 1: year after Chanell Contos posted a poll to her Instagram

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Speaker 1: asking her followers if they or someone they knew had

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Speaker 1: experienced sexual assault. That pole question led to the establishment

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Speaker 1: of Teach us Consent, which has been instrumental in this reform.

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Speaker 2: When US President Joe Biden has a message to deliver

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Speaker 2: to the world, he doesn't always deliver it himself. As

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Speaker 2: you can imagine, being President of the US means you've

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Speaker 2: got a lot going on in your day, and in

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Speaker 2: order to be upfront to both the domestic media and

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Speaker 2: world media, spokespeople of the various US departments walk not

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Speaker 2: only on behalf of the president, but on behalf of

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Speaker 2: the entire administration. At the moment, the big story in

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Speaker 2: world news is the ongoing tensions in Eastern Europe, as

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Speaker 2: Russian troops gather at the Ukrainian border, and as the

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Speaker 2: US has unsurprisingly emerged as an influential voice in diplomatic

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Speaker 2: discussions to find out more about what happens next, we

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Speaker 2: wanted to take you straight to the source. Julina Porter

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Speaker 2: is the deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State

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Speaker 2: and is the first woman of color, an African American

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Speaker 2: woman to hold the position spokesperson. Porter, thank you so

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Speaker 2: much for joining us today.

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Speaker 3: Riah, thank you so much for having me, and for

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Speaker 3: the people who may not know, my name is Jelena Porter.

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Speaker 3: I'm the principal Deputy spokesperson at the Department of State,

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Speaker 3: and while that's a long title, it is certainly worthwhile

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Speaker 3: and I'm happy to be here to help the Secretary

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Speaker 3: carry out his mandate, to help Americans understand what we

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Speaker 3: do and our foreign policy priorities, but also to engage

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Speaker 3: with with people like yous. So thank you so much

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Speaker 3: for having me.

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Speaker 2: Let's start off with the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

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Speaker 2: The tensions have been widely reported on. We've seen the headlines.

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Speaker 2: What do you see your department's role as and also

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Speaker 2: specifically your role as during a crisis like this.

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Speaker 3: Well, our department's role has been very clear. I mean

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Speaker 3: you've heard from not only President Biden, you've heard from

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Speaker 3: Secretary Blincoln in that we are leading the charge in

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Speaker 3: encouraging Russia to pursue the path to diplomacy and the

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Speaker 3: path of the terrence. And President Biden just spoke to

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Speaker 3: the American people just yesterday and he made it very

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Speaker 3: clear that we are prepared. We have been doing ongoing

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Speaker 3: diplomacy at every level. The President Biden has been able

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Speaker 3: to speak with President Putin for several times. Secretary Blincoln

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Speaker 3: has also been able to speak to four Minister Lavrov

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Speaker 3: several times. We've been engaged in dialogue for a very

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Speaker 3: long time, and what we want to do is prevent

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Speaker 3: an unnecessary humanitarian disaster, and that's what we're prepared to do.

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Speaker 3: But the President has also said that should Russia attack Ukraine,

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Speaker 3: were also prepared in that way too. But again, as

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Speaker 3: the leading foreign policy agency in the United States, our

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Speaker 3: job is to foster that diplomatic path.

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Speaker 2: What is the role of the US in the wider conflict?

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Speaker 2: Why would the US get involved in a dispute in

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Speaker 2: Eastern Europe.

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Speaker 3: Well, the US certainly prioritizes the peace and security of Europe.

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Speaker 3: You know, we prioritize Ukraine's sovereign sovereignty and territorial integrity,

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Speaker 3: and it's really important to US and our European allies.

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Speaker 3: We have several European and NATO allies that we are

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Speaker 3: in lockstep with and we're in agreeance with on making

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Speaker 3: sure that their security is protected and that peace is upheld.

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Speaker 2: At the end of the day, if Russia was to invade,

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Speaker 2: what would the US do.

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Speaker 3: Well, again, I'll just go back to what President Biden

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Speaker 3: said just yesterday. If Russia, unfortunately would take the path

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Speaker 3: to attack Ukraine, then we are prepared with our allies

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Speaker 3: and partners to take decisive action.

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Speaker 2: So zooming out a bit more and moving more towards

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Speaker 2: about your role, just more so for our Australian listeners.

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Speaker 2: What does a day in the life look like for

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Speaker 2: you in your role?

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Speaker 3: I wish I had a typical day to day, but

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Speaker 3: there's of course, as you know, there is a conflict

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Speaker 3: everywhere around the world, and we're tasked with making sure

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Speaker 3: that we find vible solutions to those conflicts with our

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Speaker 3: partners and allies and other nations all around the world.

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Speaker 3: Something that we've done since I've taken this role last

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Speaker 3: year is making sure again what I said before, is

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Speaker 3: making sure that we get the word out of our

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Speaker 3: foreign policy priorities to not only Americans, but the global community.

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Speaker 3: And so what that looks like for US is holding

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Speaker 3: daily press briefings, so you'll see myself and spokesperson Need

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Speaker 3: Price speaking from the podium talking to reporters who some

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Speaker 3: who are based here, some who are from international outlets,

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Speaker 3: and we also do them to buy teleconference as well

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Speaker 3: to make sure that people who can't come here and

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Speaker 3: as you know, we're still in the middle of the

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Speaker 3: global health pandemic, so our numbers are very small. One

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Speaker 3: that comes to people who are in the building, whether

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Speaker 3: it's workers or reporters as well. So we have host

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Speaker 3: a teleconference briefing weekly as well to make sure that

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Speaker 3: people can call in from anywhere in the world. They

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Speaker 3: are to ask us questions that are pertaining to them

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Speaker 3: as well, and so we think that's really important to

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Speaker 3: make sure we have a direct line of conversation with

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Speaker 3: journalists with our fourth the state, who we value, who

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Speaker 3: keep us accountable. So I thank you for your service

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Speaker 3: and the work that you're doing and helping us be

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Speaker 3: transparent and be accountable to our goals.

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Speaker 2: How does Australia fit into all that how does Australia

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Speaker 2: fit into your department.

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Speaker 3: We value Australia as a long time partner, and I

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Speaker 3: think the correct term is our makeshift. We value the

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Speaker 3: makeshift that we have with Australia. It's been over one

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Speaker 3: hundred years and they are very very important to us

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Speaker 3: when it comes to our peace and security in the

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Speaker 3: Into Pacific region, and when it comes to solving some

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Speaker 3: of our world's most pressing issues. I've already mentioned COVID nineteen,

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Speaker 3: climate change, you know, humanitarian crisis around the world. Australia

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Speaker 3: has been such an invaluable partner. I know myself on

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Speaker 3: a personal level, even before I took this job, I

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Speaker 3: visited and I have nothing but great things to say

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Speaker 3: and great memories. Memories I hope to come back back

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Speaker 3: in the near future. But we certainly value Australia and

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Speaker 3: our alliance that we share with you all.

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Speaker 2: And finally, February is Black History Month and you've been

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Speaker 2: incredibly vocal about it on your social media. Can you

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Speaker 2: guide us through what this month means for you?

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Speaker 3: Well, thanks for that question, and I'll just say Happy

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Speaker 3: Black History Month to you. I share that with everyone

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Speaker 3: around the world. February marks a month long celebration celebrating

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Speaker 3: African American trailblazers both pass and present throughout the United

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Speaker 3: States history. And some people here say, I mean and

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Speaker 3: I've heard some millennials in gen Z call it Black

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Speaker 3: Futures Month as well, And I really like that term

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Speaker 3: because it focuses on again, not people who have only

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Speaker 3: been in the past. Like we have Ambassador Terrence Toddman,

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Speaker 3: who was a six time career ambassador who worked really

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Speaker 3: really hard to integrate the white only dining facilities not

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Speaker 3: that long ago here in the State Department where I

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Speaker 3: come every single day. But we have the likes of

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Speaker 3: Undersecretary Bonnie Jenkins, who's the first ever African American undersecret

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Speaker 3: Ortary at the Department of State. We have our US

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Speaker 3: Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Thomas Greenfield, who is

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Speaker 3: from where I'm from and the small town in Louisiana,

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Speaker 3: who is representing us so well on the global stage

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Speaker 3: and Security Council. And then you have someone like me

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Speaker 3: who is a millennial who came into this position not

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Speaker 3: knowing that I'd be the first woman of color as

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Speaker 3: a spokesperson or deputy spokesperson, but the first African American

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Speaker 3: as well. So these are things that we champion here.

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Speaker 3: The Biden administration has been very forward leaning and making

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Speaker 3: sure that diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are at the

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Speaker 3: forefront of not only the US government but foreign policy

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Speaker 3: as well. So we think that when we do those things,

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Speaker 3: we collaborate and we have courageous conversations and we open

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Speaker 3: those doors, that we're smarter, we're stronger, we're more secure,

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Speaker 3: we're more more innovative as well.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate your time. Thank you, spokes best importive for

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Speaker 2: joining us today.

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Speaker 3: Thank you Mariah