SBS News in Easy English 28 October 2024

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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I’m Greg Dyett
The leader of the Queensland Liberal National Party, David Crisafulli, has been sworn in as the state’s 41st premier by state governor Jeannette Young.
He will become the LNP’s first Queensland premier since Campbell Newman’s 2012-2015 stint, ending Labor’s time governing Queensland for 30 of the past 35 years.
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Independent MP Helen Dalton says she is looking forward to debate in the New South Wales parliament on a new bill to regulate gambling companies.
Under the bill, a gambling company would be required to report to the Commissioner of Police if it has reason to suspect a person is paying for gambling services with money obtained illegally.
Ms Dalton says the proceeds should go back to the victims, not the gambling companies.
“I think we all assume that the money goes back to the victims. That is the way we think life is. But in the gambling world it is not. So this will really shine a light on this issue. And hopefully get some fairness in the judicial system.”
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Western Australia has been named the best-performing state economy for the first time in a decade.
The state topped CommSec’s State of the States report, which gauges their economic performance and momentum based on eight indicators.
The October quarter report shows the resource-rich state has come first in retail spending, relative unemployment and population growth.
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A former Qantas pilot has been named as one of three people killed when two planes collided midair in Sydney’s southwest over the weekend.
Gary Criddle was flying in a Cessna 182 aircraft from Cessnock in the New South Wales Hunter region to Wollongong, south of Sydney.
In a statement, Mr Criddle’s family says they are “absolutely devastated beyond words”.
An investigation is focusing on whether both planes were following communication protocols.
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At least a hundred people are dead or missing in the Philippines in the wake of massive flooding and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Trami.
President Ferdinand Marcos says the unusually large volume of rainfall dumped by the storm overwhelmed flood controls in a number of provinces.
The President says the death toll is expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas, and search and rescue missions are completed in areas that have been difficult to access.
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The New South Wales government has been urged not to take ideas off the table ahead of a drug summit that opens at the end of this week.
Medical experts, police and drug users will inform the summit on drug use, harms and responses.
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Australia’s Immigration Minister has refused to grant a visa to Candace Owens, a conservative commentator from the United States.
Tony Burke says Ms Owens has downplayed the Holocaust, accused Muslims of starting slavery, and “has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction.”
The Immigration Miniser says Australia’s national interest is best served by Owens being somewhere else.
Owens had been booked for speaking engagements in five cities across Australia in November.
The Federal Opposition, Jewish groups, and others had called for the tour to be cancelled.
I’m Greg Dyett and that’s SBS News in Easy English.