SBS News in Easy English 10 June 2025
The New South Wales deputy premier is asking women to get regular health checks, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Prue Car is taking time off work for treatment. She has one child and previously was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2022. Ms Car says her situation shows the importance of breast cancer screenings for early detection.
"I've fought this before and I'm really confident that I can fight it again. The prognosis is good. The amazing medical team around me are really confident of the prospects after treatment."
Some Australian fire crews are on their way to help fight fires in Alberta, Canada. There are currently 61 fires burning there, with 23 of them raging out of control. Local politician, Ian Bushie, said crews are arriving from all over Canada, the US, and other countries to help.
"Manitoba has deployed more than 650 people to support the firefighter efforts with a little more than 175 firefighters from out of province. We've deployed more than 57 aircraft and more than 80 firefighting equipment to communities that need it."
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is demanding the prime minister asks US President Donald Trump to explain why US police shot an Australian journalist with a rubber bullet. The incident occurred in Los Angeles where police have clashed with protestors over immigration raids. Channel Nine journalist, Lauren Tomasi, says she has a bruise on her leg, but is ok. Ms Hanson-Young says it is unacceptable.
"Donald Trump is a threat to journalistic freedom, and to democratic values. And we cannot afford as Australians to sit by and see an attack on those values by US authorities shooting at one of our journalists."
Emergency services are warning people visiting the snow, to follow safety advice after 14 people were rescued in recent days. 40-to-60 centimetres of snow has already fallen on ski resorts in Victoria and New South Wales. The Bureau of Meteorology says snow showers will bring more snow to the tablelands and ranges. Inspector Tracey Johnston, from Victoria Police says visitors should be careful.
"We are warning snow goers to obey road closure signs to allow emergency services to continue their work at this time. They are also continuing to search the area to identify if there are any further people who require rescue at this time."
To sport, the Matildas have poached Central Coast's championship-winning coach Emily Husband to join new coach Joe Montemurro's staff as an assistant. She has already worked with Mr Montemurro for last year's ALW All Stars game against Arsenal.
The English woman was ALW coach of the year in her first season in 2023-24 when she built the Central Coast Mariners' team, then led them to the semi-finals.
That's the latest SBS News in Easy English.
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UN urges Australia to halt deportation of man to Nauru while complaint investigated
The United Nations has urged Australia to halt plans to deport a man to Nauru while it investigates the human rights implications of his case. Australia is seeking to deport three people released under the NZYQ decision to the tiny Pacific nation in exchange for an undisclosed payment but their removal has been stalled since February due to court challenges. The men, one of whom has a prior murder conviction, were among a group of hundreds released into the community following the High Court's dramatic 2023 ruling that their indefinite detention was unlawful. The United Nations' Human Rights Committee wrote to the Australian government last week requesting the deportation of one of the trio be halted while they consider his complaint to the body, which was submitted days earlier. It cannot compel the government to follow its direction, which it issued as an interim measure while the matter is under investigation. "The principle is simple; if your visa is cancelled, you have to leave Australia," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement. "That's a pretty consistent principle, applied in every functioning immigration system around the world." But the Human Rights Law Centre, which is representing the man, argues the government has an international legal responsibility not to deport people to places where they might be killed or suffer inhumane treatment. Their complaint to the United Nations on behalf of their client argued that sending him to Nauru breached this obligation because he would not be able to access adequate medical treatment, would be separated from his family, could face violence or discrimination and there is no guarantee the Nauruan government would not deport him back to Iraq, where he faces the risk of persecution. "This insidious plan affects more than just three people. It shows the Albanese government believes that some people in this country deserve fewer rights than others, and deserve repeated, lifelong punishment," associate legal director Josephine Langbien said. "These deportations would set a dangerous new baseline for how all migrants and refugees can be treated. We must demand better from our political leaders." In February, the government announced it had struck a deal with Nauru, which offered to grant visas to members of the NZYQ cohort in exchange for payment. The group — many of whom were convicted of violent offences but have served their sentences — were previously being kept indefinitely in Australian immigration detention because they had failed character tests but also had no reasonable prospects of deportation. That was until the high court's landmark decision in the case of one man, identified only as "NZYQ", triggered the cohort's release into the community. The judgement sent the government scrambling to find an alternative solution, which included attempts to monitor the cohort using ankle bracelets and curfews. But that too had to be reworked when the High Court ruled the cohort could not be treated punitively. Announcing the deal with Nauru, Mr Burke said he expected that more than the three men would eventually be deported after the initial legal challenges were cleared. It is the first test of the new laws that the government passed last year to strengthen its powers to send people without a visa to a third country for resettlement. In the interim, the government has promised the High Court that the man would not be removed from Australia until his case was resolved. Court documents show he was convicted of a crime and sentenced to a total of five years' jail before being released on parole and taken into immigration detention. His lawyers argue the ruling about his visa was not made lawfully. It is unclear when the High Court will make a judgement in the case. "The Albanese government claims to respect international law and urges other countries to do the same," Ms Langbien said. "It must demonstrate that respect by following this direction from the UN Human Rights Committee and halting these deportations."
ABC News
28 minutes ago
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Automatic systems unlawfully cancelled 964 jobseekers' payments in two years, watchdog finds
Almost a thousand jobseekers had their income support payments unlawfully terminated over two years, the federal watchdog has found, cautioning the breach likely had a "profound if not catastrophic" impact on vulnerable people. The cancellations occurred automatically under the Targeted Compliance Framework, a system set up to monitor "mutual obligations", which are the conditions people have to meet to continue receiving payments, like job hunting and attending interviews. New laws introduced after the Robodebt scandal require agencies to consider the jobseeker's circumstances before cutting off a payment, which did not occur in 964 cancellations between April 2022 and July 2024. "Imagine that if you were already living under the poverty line, so you can't necessarily afford to pay rent, to feed yourself, to clothe yourself, but imagine then that that income is cut off for four weeks or more," Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said. "What are you supposed to do? That's the type of catastrophe that we are talking about." The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations paused the cancellation of payments in July last year, but the watchdog found it took too long to act after identifying the issue. It then informed the Commonwealth Ombudsman in December that it had not implemented the new legislation, which was passed two years earlier, sparking an investigation into how the lapse occurred. In his findings, the Ombudsman invoked conclusions from the Robodebt royal commission that warned automated processes in the delivery of support payments can have serious impacts on highly vulnerable people. "[The Robodebt royal commissioner] noted that automation requires a lot of care and skill to make sure that things don't go wrong," Mr Anderson said. "And while this is not the same as Robodebt, in that it wasn't a deliberate intention of doing things wrongly, there just wasn't the adequate care and skill being employed to ensure parliament's instructions in terms of the legislation were properly implemented." The department was involved in developing the new laws, according to the Ombudsman, which shifted the requirement from the secretary "must" cancel payments to "may" if they determine the recipient failed to meet their obligations without an acceptable excuse. "That big change required the individual circumstances of each jobseeker to be considered before their payment was cancelled, and that's the step that they didn't do — instead the system went on automatically cancelling payments," he said. The report makes seven recommendations, including that the department not resume cancellations until the errors have been corrected and that systems are put in place to provide ongoing assurance that the framework complies with the law. All the recommendations be accepted by the department and Services Australia. The Ombudsman is also investigating whether the decision-making process that leads to cancellations is fair and reasonable, and the role of employment agencies, with the findings to be released in a second report later this year. Under the framework, recipients accrue demerit points if they fail to meet their obligations without a valid reason, which can lead to their payments being suspended, reduced or cut off. More than 883,000 Australians are currently on the scheme, according to government data. A separate review by Deloitte into the framework's computer system — which was completed in June but is yet to be publicly released — found it had become "increasingly unstable, with volatility directly impacting compliance function operation" and increasing the possibility of unexpected results "including flawed determinations". Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth did not respond to a request for comment.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
DEWR, Services Australia unlawfully cancelled 964 JobSeeker payments, Commonwealth Ombudsman finds
The administers of JobSeeker have been savaged in a report by the Commonwealth watchdog, which found actions taken by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and Services Australia likely had a 'catastrophic impact' on vulnerable Aussies. Between April 2022 and July 2024, 964 JobSeeker recipients had their payments automatically cancelled under a specific clause in the Target Compliance Framework (TCF) after it was amended in 2022. The framework is an automated system to get JobSeeker recipient to undertake compulsory tasks such as attending job appointments and actively search for work, with those who repeatedly fail to meet the mutual obligations subjected to financial penalties. Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson was scathing of DEWR secretary Natalie James and Services Australia, saying they 'failed to take adequate steps to ensure the TCF was implemented in accordance with the 2022 amendment,' resulting in an 'unlawful decision' to cancel income support payments. The move was done 'without consideration of the job seeker's circumstances' and the 'failure to exercise … discretion … (posed) potentially significant, if not catastrophic, consequences for vulnerable job seekers', he wrote. It also noted a further 45 job recipients had their payments automatically cancelled despite Ms James' decision to pause cancellations on September 2024 – the fifth IT error catalogued by the department. 'We also found that the agencies failed to take all of the steps required under those amendments to safeguard job seekers,' the report set to be released on Wednesday found. Critically the report also states a Digital Protection Framework, despite having the legal requirement to do so. Mr Anderson also noted the automation failures happened after the Robodebt Royal Commission which highlighted the 'serious impact' automated processes can have on 'highly vulnerable people'. Ms James also took nearly 10 months between April 2022 to September 2023 to pause the automated cancellations after it was raised by external legal advisers, with Mr Anderson questioning the 'apparent lack of urgency' over the 'significant issue'. As of March 21 this year, reductions and cancellations in income support payments have been paused pending ongoing legal and IT reviews. 'We do not consider a delay of over three years, coupled with an indefinite commitment to future action, is reasonable,' the report said. 'It does not satisfy the legislative requirement in the SPROM Act that the Secretary establish the DPF. 'In our view, if parliament imposes an obligation on an agency head without specifying a time frame (as was the case here), the agency head should aim for implementation as soon as reasonably practicable.' While the department has accepted all seven recommendations issued by Mr Anderson, the ombudsman issued an urgent warning to all government agencies, calling on them to ensure all 'automated decision-making is aligned with law and policy and is subject to ongoing testing and assurance'. 'Implementation of the recommendations is an important step towards restoring the confidence of the public, parliament and above all the people affected, that automated decisions are being made responsibly and according to law,' he said. Antipoverty Centres spokesperson Kristin O'Connell urged more action, including the permanent removal of the TCF. 'It is not enough for the government to implement the Ombudsman's recommendations and move on,' she said. 'The release of this damning report is a significant moment for every person who has been subjected to compulsory activities while on a Centrelink payment and for those who have spoken up about the abuse they experienced. 'For the first time, welfare recipients may feel their experiences are being taken seriously and their lives being treated as valuable by someone in a position of power.' Greens' social services spokeswoman Penny Allman-Payne said the report should be a 'wake up call for change'. 'Despite clear warnings that the TCF is cruel and unlawful, Labor has continued to allow suspensions of payments to be used as a weapon against welfare recipients, to the benefit of so-called employment service providers who profit from poverty,' she said. 'It is clear that the TCF is an expensive hangover from a conservative government which has been heartlessly prolonged by this Labor government for far too long.' During Senate estimates in February, Ms James apologised and took full responsibility for the IT outages which resulted in the cancellations. 'I absolutely and unreservedly apologise on behalf of the department that we cannot have full confidence in this system delivering what it's intended to deliver,' she said. 'It's not acceptable, and it is my responsibility and not the minister's (Murray Watt), in this respect, although he may wish to add his own commentary but I will say that I am responsible, legislatively and administratively, for overseeing this process.' At the time her comments resulted in welfare advocates calling for a half to the TCF framework, with Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie lashing the system as 'overly punitive and in need of a complete overhaul'.
