SBS News in Easy English 2 December 2024

SBS News in Easy English episode

SBS News in Easy English Source: SBS News

A daily 5 minute news bulletin for English learners and people with a disability.


Welcome to SBS News In Easy English. I'm Ciara Hain.

The federal government says it has accepted 104 of the 122 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide.

The final report of the three-year inquiry was handed down in September.

The government says it is going beyond the recommendations and is moving to immediately establish a new body to oversee a system overhaul in Defence and Veterans’ Affairs aimed at preventing suicide within the defence and veterans’ community.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says an independent inquiry will also be established to examine sexual misconduct and violence in the Australian military.

"This is one of the fastest ever responses by the government to a Royal Commission report. My government will establish a new Defence and Veterans Service Commission to undertake the most comprehensive reform to the culture, systems and processes across defence, the ADF and Department of Veteran Affairs to prevent suicide and improve the mental health and wellbeing of service personnel and veterans."

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The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of more floods mid-week for eastern Australia, after widespread rain and thunderstorms affected the region over the weekend.

Parts of southern Queensland and eastern Tasmania each saw over 200mm in 24 hours through to 9am Sunday, with the majority of the rain falling through the night.

Authorities are urging people to monitor the weather alerts.

Senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Angus Hines says by 11 o'clock tonight heavy rainfall and possible floods are forecast.

"From North Queensland down to Tasmania between 20 to 80 mm of rain for many. With pockets of heavy falls around the northeast Queensland coast, southeast Queensland, central interior New South Wales; and northern and eastern Tasmania where triple figures 100 mm-plus are likely in some locations through all those areas."

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The largest United Nations land conference date is getting underway in the capital of Saudi Arabia- the first time the event has been held in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Representatives from nearly 200 nations are expected to gather for over 12 days for the summit with the aim to expand efforts to restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land this decade.

Barron Joseph Orr is the chief scientist of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

He says the summit will look at strategies to address things like drought.

"If we stopped land conversion today, it would be what we would need to return to productivity to get us bakc to where we were in 2015. So it's a very important number to be pursued. The problem, of course, is that we continue to degrade; and we continue to convert lands."

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And in sport,

The Australia women's national rugby sevens team have beaten New Zealand 28-24, to win their fifth straight Dubai title.

Try-scorer Maddison Levi scored a record 15th five-pointer of the weekend.

She now holds the record for the most tries at a single tournament.

The result comes four months after the team missed a medal at the Paris Olympics.

Australia's longest-serving women's Rugby 7s player, Charlotte Caslick says she is proud of the team.

"I think we love the vibe of playing here. We love the weather. It is a dry field and it really suits the way we like to play. But I think every year we roll out more and more young girls and it shows the depth of our program. So I think the reason why we do so good here is the fact that our program is so strong."

That was SBS News In Easy English. I'm Ciara Hain.

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