SBS News in Easy English 7 August 2025
"More people are being killed and injured either along convoy routes or where they are staying. The situation is beyond catastrophic. Hospitals are overstretched. Patients are lying on the floor or in the streets, suffering, as beds, medical supplies and equipment are severely lacking. Starvation continues to happen, and today the Ministry of Health reported five new malnutrition-related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to about almost 200 deaths, half of whom are children."
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The Australian
43 minutes ago
- The Australian
Which Australian suburbs have the strongest support for teal independents?
From Avalon to Bondi, Hawthorn to Elsternwick, Subiaco to Shenton Park: these are the Liberals' one-time stronghold zones that have abandoned their blue-ribbon traditions, embracing a teal conversion that started as a protest and has become an entrenched movement winning over the majority of voters in some hotspots. At the May 3 election, more than half of all voters in the most teal-leaning suburbs cast a primary vote for their independent MP. Many were so disillusioned with a party that once was guaranteed to claim the lion's share of ballot paper '1's, they directed their preferences into the red corner of their ballot paper instead of the Liberals. Four booths in Sydney – Avalon Beach in Sophie Scamps' Mackellar on the northern beaches and Paddington North, Darlinghurst East and Bondi Beach East in Allegra Spender's eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth – led the way in ensuring their respective teal MP was re-elected with an increased majority, tallying primary vote totals above 50 per cent. At another 88 booths across the six lower-house seats won by teals – including Warringah and Bradfield in Sydney, Kooyong in Melbourne and Curtin in Perth – the independent's primary vote was between 40 and 50 per cent. Even in Goldstein, where former MP Zoe Daniel was narrowly ousted by Liberal returnee Tim Wilson, several teal-leaning communities still pushed Daniel past 40 per cent of primary votes. In the beachside enclave of Avalon – whose three booths finished in the top 11 teal-voting locations nationwide – disillusionment towards the major parties, a strong focus on community issues and progressive social values underpinned Dr Scamps' re-election. Residents Giles Belcher and Alex Carr said they supported Dr Scamps because she hadn't done 'anything wrong', as opposed to the major parties. '(Mackellar) was a Liberal stronghold for years but no one ever did anything … we were just ignored, so it was a protest vote to start with,' Mr Belcher said. '(Dr Scamps) didn't do anything wrong. The Liberals are still a mess so she got in again. 'I think she advocated for the area relatively well … I'm not sure I could point to any one thing that she actually got done, but at least she was a voice, whereas I don't think there was one before.' Mr Carr said the teal vote benefited from an electorate that was an 'unusual blend of being quite environmentally upstanding and community-based, as well as relatively well off' – something, he said, the Labor and Liberal parties respectively neglected. 'You can be very liberal in certain points of view and then still focus on the economics of the world … the perception is (the teals) sit in that centrist place quite nicely.' He said the electorate had not turned anti-Liberal but rather found an alternative that spoke to the community's position better. 'It comes down to the leadership – so therefore if I buy the leadership and the vision of the Liberal Party and then the person on the ground is right, then yeah, I don't think anyone is averse to the Liberal Party,' Mr Carr said. 'It's OK to want your pocket full but believe in environmental change. They seem to be able to hit that mark quite well, whereas I think the other parties have missed that point.' Mr Belcher also opened the door to a Liberal return. 'Leadership is key,' he said. 'If you had somebody with a good vision and the local person was right, I think people would vote for (Liberals) again. But without that, I don't think they have a chance.' Teal voter Ellie Rourke said Dr Scamps had 'done a lot to win the hearts and minds of us here' and that her trustworthiness bolstered her votes. For the Liberals to have any chance of winning back the electorate, they must regain trust and pick a better candidate. 'It's in the individual candidate, not necessarily the party's policies here … I think the Liberals have a lot of work to do across Australia to regain trust, and then within that we just need a better candidate,' Ms Rourke said. Judging by how many Avalon residents voted for the unsuccessful Liberal candidate, James Brown – the former son-in-law of ex-Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull – she's right. At the Avalon Beach booth just over 10 years ago, then Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop won the support of 53 per cent of voters, slightly more than Dr Scamps at this election. On May 3, Mr Brown wasn't able to win even a quarter of the primary votes, finishing with 24.1 per cent. A similar pattern played out in other teal-aligned booths across the country. In Wentworth, Allegra Spender received 46.4 per cent of first preferences in Woollahra, while her Liberal opponent, Ro Knox, won 34.9 per cent – a far cry from the 69.3 per cent Mr Turnbull received at the 2013 election, before he became party leader. In Warringah, home to the original teal MP Zali Steggall, the former Olympic freestyle skier almost cracked half of the primary vote in Fairlight (49.5 per cent), while her Liberal opponent, Jaimee Rogers, managed just 28.1 per cent, well below the 52.1 per cent Tony Abbott received when he led the Coalition to power in 2013. And in Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg's 50.1 per cent of the vote at the Auburn Primary School in 2013 was well out of reach for Amelia Hamer, who barely reached 30 per cent, far behind the 46.8 per cent who gave their first preferences to teal MP Monique Ryan and helped her win one of the most intensely fought electorates of the 2025 election. In Bradfield, the Liberals have lodged a challenge against the result in which Nicolette Boele was declared the winner after a recount gave her a 26-vote victory, reversing the initial count that found Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian had narrowly won. Whether the Liberals should pour resources into trying to regain the teal seats has been a source of debate within Coalition circles. Former leader Peter Dutton focused his attentions on outer-metropolitan seats before the 2025 election, barely setting foot in the teal seats across the five weeks of the campaign. After that approach failed spectacularly, with the Liberals losing a swag of outer-urban electorates including Mr Dutton's own seat, his replacement Sussan Ley declared winning back all lost seats, including those surrendered to the teals, would be a priority. In Avalon – a suburb named after the island from the legend of King Arthur where magic and mythical healing helped him recover from his battle wounds – no such forces look like helping Ms Ley's Liberals any time soon. Resident Jeremy Ing, who is a Liberal voter, said he was 'worried' Mackellar's future was teal. 'I don't see how we won't have a teal MP going forwards because the reality is you've got the Coalition standing against at least three parties because the Greens and Labor preference the teals,' Mr Ing said. His wife Susan, who voted for Labor, said any electorate with a strong teal representation was 'reflective of the disillusionment mainly with the Liberal Party'. 'People are fiscally conservative but socially want to see changes,' Ms Ing said. Asked for comment on the rise of the teals in one-time Liberal strongholds and the failure to win back any of the Sydney seats lost to the independents, a NSW Liberal Party spokesperson said the 2025 campaign would be subject to 'thorough analysis' in a review conducted by former politicians Pru Goward and Nick Minchin. Politics Home Affairs Tony Burke says Palestinian author Mona Zahed did not apply for a humanitarian visa, but instead had applied for an entertainment visa that she was not eligible for, resulting in her application not being cancelled on character grounds. Politics The two leaders addressed rising tensions in Gaza and growing Chinese assertiveness in the Pacific during high-level talks in Queenstown on Saturday.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Call for stronger self-defence laws in Victoria amid rise in home invasions
Strengthening Victoria's self-defence laws amid a rise in home invasions would give residents "peace of mind", according to a crossbench MP pushing for a review of the state's laws. Libertarian Party MP David Limbrick, who will bring a proposal for a Law Reform Commission review to parliament this week, said a change would provide greater clarity than the existing laws offer. "At the moment, in Victoria, there's some exemptions for self-defence in your home, but we want them to look at strengthening that so that people who are defending their own home against violent criminals have more peace of mind that they won't get into trouble themselves," he said. Mr Limbrick said an increase in home invasions and his constituents raising concerns had prompted him to raise the issue. "There's no real certainty. If someone invades my house and I've got a baseball bat and I hit them with it, it might be left up to a court on whether I get into trouble for that or not," he said. "I think most people naturally feel that they should be able to defend their home without fear of legal consequences, as long as they don't go over the top. "I'd like to see it that if you're protecting your home, protecting your family, and a bad guy gets hurt in that process then, you know, they've found out the hard way that you shouldn't get into trouble with the law." For most of the last decade, the rate of residential aggravated burglary — which includes breaking into a house while armed with a weapon, or when people are home — has remained relatively steady. But in the last couple of years, it has just about doubled, according to data from Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency. This rate is still lower than instances of non-aggravated burglaries, which have overall decreased across the last decade. Police have attributed the rise in home invasions to youth offenders, who were responsible for about half of aggravated burglaries recorded in recent crime statistics. The crossbench MP said Victoria should adopt laws that mirror those in place overseas, in countries such as the UK. "In the United Kingdom they've got what they call 'castle doctrine', where effectively if someone comes into your home and you defend yourself against an intruder, then you're pretty much protected from harm as long as you don't do anything egregious," he said. Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny defended the state's existing self-defence laws. "Our self-defence laws here in Victoria are proportionate, and Victorians are encouraged — in fact we plead with Victorians — to please continue to call Victoria Police in any emergency situation," she said. "Self- defence laws are about what is reasonable, what's a reasonable amount of force in any situation. Those are our laws already in Victoria. They are proportionate." A spokesperson for the opposition did not say whether it supported the proposed review. "The reason these laws are being discussed is because the Allan Labor Government has created a crime crisis in our state with their weak bail laws and cuts to police funding," they said. Bail laws that were brought into effect in March were described by the state government as the "toughest" in the country, and further reforms specifically relating to serious robbery and home invasion offences have been introduced to parliament.
SBS Australia
2 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Australia isn't exporting arms to Israel, weapons components a 'separate issue', Marles says
Germany is suspending all exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza. Australia's Defence Minister says the country's part in the Lockheed Martin supply chain is a separate issue. Richard Marles argues Australia's exports are not on the same scale as Germany and have a limited impact. Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles says any action regarding Australia's exports of component parts to Israel are unlikely to have an impact on the war in Gaza, after reiterating that Australia did not supply weapons to Israel. Marles was asked on Sunday whether Australia would follow Germany's lead to suspend all exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a conservative whose support for Israel was a foundation of his election campaign, last week announced he would not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza "until further notice". Speaking on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, Marles was questioned on whether Australia would cease exports of armoured steel and components for F-35 jets to Israel. Marles said Australia did not supply weapons to Israel and there was "a lot of misinformation" around this issue. When pressed further on the issue of components, he said that Australia was part of the F-35 supply chain and had been for decades. "That is a multi-lateral arrangement with supply chains that are organised by Lockheed Martin in the United States and have multiple supplies in respect of all of those supply chains," he said. But he said that was "a very different question" to the issue of being an arms exporter. Marles said components were "a separate issue, and this is about having an impact on Israel". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army will "prepare" to take over Gaza City with Israel's proposal outlining principles for "concluding the war". Source: Getty / Amir Levy "There is no step that we can take here which has any impact in relation to the activities of Israel. And it is a very different question to what is being talked about in relation to Germany which obviously has a significant supply in to Israel," he said. "We want to do everything we can to see an end to the hostilities that are occurring in Gaza. The most important thing that we can do is use our international voice here and that's what we have been doing." After the US, Germany is the next biggest supplier of arms to Israel. Source: SBS News The Greens and pro-Palestinian groups have been pressuring the government over its military trade arrangements with Israel in recent months. Responding to Marles' comment, Greens senator David Shoebridge said: "If the Albanese government stopped the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, then their F-35 fleet would be grounded." "International law is crystal clear, parts of weapons are weapons," he added. "Australia is a key part of the F35 fighter jet program. We are the only place in the world that makes parts like the bomb bay doors and we operate as one of the few regional distribution hubs." Anthony Albanese responds to calls for sanctions on Israel Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off calls to impose sanctions on Israel. "No, we make decisions and we never foreshadow any of those measures, but sometimes it's just a slogan. I mean, sanctions, I've done this before at a press conference, which sanctions are you talking about," he replied. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may be on a visit to New Zealand, but broader world matters have continued to be a pressing issue, with questions about Australia's position in regard to Israel being directed his way. Source: AAP / Peter Meecham "People aren't clear. What we need to do here is to have very clear statements and actions by the Australian government that make a difference, rather than respond to a slogan on a protest. "What we do is make a difference. The sanctions that we put on Israeli government ministers are a serious action given the actions of those ministers. So, it's entirely appropriate." Albanese also repeated his government's call for Israel to abandon its plan to seize control of Gaza City which was approved by Israel's security cabinet on Friday. "We called for an immediate ceasefire," he told reporters on Sunday morning following a meeting with Kiwi counterpart Chris Luxon. "We called for the release of hostages and we called for the unimpeded entry of aid into Gaza. "We have a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding there. And the idea that it can just be continued is completely unacceptable." Concerns around Palestinian state recognition under Hamas Opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie said he was hesitant to recognise the state of Palestine with Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Australia, still in "prime position" to control Gaza. "If they did move to elections, let's just say that the Gaza conflict wound up and they moved to elections, what guarantee would there be that Hamas would not win another majority?" he told Sky News. However, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said it would not be unprecedented for Australia to recognise a country while part of it was occupied by a terrorist organisation. "There have frequently been countries where half of that nation has been occupied by a terrorist group and we haven't ceased to recognise the country," he said. "Both Syria and Iraq had a long period where parts of those countries were being occupied and realistically controlled by ISIS." - with additional reporting by AAP
