Mental health toll of affected farmers revealed
Farm Angels Chief Executive Jason Law highlights the toll on farmers' mental health during agricultural challenges like drought and flood, saying farmers are twice as likely to take their own lives as a result of severe conditions.
'Farmers are twice as likely to take their own lives due to these severe conditions,' Mr Law told Sky News Australia.
'By and large, farmers are the most resilient people we come across … but there's always a breaking point.
'76 per cent of farmers feel unappreciated for the work that they do … they feed us, they clothe us, they water us, so, you know, we need to be thankful for the work that they do every day to make sure we've got food on our tables.'
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ABC News
12 minutes ago
- ABC News
Hot air balloons draw tourists to Northam in winter
Colour and light filled the skies in Northam during Western Australia's long weekend as the Wheatbelt town marketed itself as the "ballooning capital of Australia". Hundreds woke up to foggy skies in the Avon Valley, 100 kilometres east of Perth, to admire the hot air balloons over three mornings, before 8,000 visitors flocked to see the balloons light up at night, in time to rock tunes, for the Elevate Festival. A major drawcard of the Northam long weekend line-up was the inflation of the Skywhale and Skywhalepapa hot air balloons that were designed and made by Patricia Piccinini. Piccinini's artworks are travelling around the country with Northam one of six national showings. For a hot air balloon to take flight, on-ground wind speeds must not exceed 10 kilometres per hour, and the Avon Valley largely protects the area from such wind speeds. Unfortunately, due to unfavourable weather conditions, Piccinini's balloons were unable to take flight over Northam, instead tethering and putting on a show from the ground. Shire of Northam president Chris Antonio said the town's ability to embrace the cool conditions of the Avon Valley that were ideal for hot air ballooning, and turn them into a thriving tourist economy, was vital to the growth of the region. "Leveraging our unique climate and tying it in with ballooning is more important than I probably even realised," he said. "Traditionally in WA, tourism booms through the sunny months of the year, but we've been able to make tourism work in the peak of winter — that's our busiest time of year. "We are able to position ourselves as the ballooning capital of Australia." Mr Antonio said the town, which traditionally operated as a service town for smaller Wheatbelt communities, had previously struggled to establish a strong brand with tourists, but through hot air ballooning had become competitive with other tourism regions of the state. "But when winter comes, we have the flowing Avon River and the hot air balloons. "You can't do that in other places. That is our point of difference." Speaking at the Wheatbelt Futures Forum in Northam in May, North Eastern Wheatbelt TRAVEL's Linda Vernon said there was limited data on tourism in the region as a whole, with more focus on areas such as the South West. Despite limited data, she said there had been growth in visitor numbers to the Wheatbelt over the past decade that indicated an appetite for going inland. "The tourism space in the Wheatbelt is still immature and emerging," she said. Ms Vernon said feedback from tourists indicated that drawcards were niche events allowing visitors to connect with residents.
ABC News
12 minutes ago
- ABC News
Top US spokesman who defended Israel now says it 'without doubt' committed war crimes
A prominent Biden administration spokesperson who defended Israel from allegations of war crimes now says Israel has "without a doubt" committed war crimes in Gaza. Matthew Miller, who was the State Department's top spokesperson until early this year, sparred with journalists who raised the allegations or questioned American foreign policy in the Middle East. He has now appeared on a Sky News UK podcast, conceding he believes Israel was responsible for war crimes while he was working in the administration. Asked if Israel was committing genocide, Mr Miller said: "I don't think it's a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes." When interviewer Mark Stone said to him: "You wouldn't have said that from the [State Department press briefing] podium," Mr Miller said: "Yeah, look, because when you're at the podium, you're not expressing your personal opinion. You're expressing the conclusions of the United States government." Mr Miller was the public face of the State Department during the last two years of Joe Biden's presidency, holding regular press conferences in Washington. At times, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside his home. Like Mr Biden, he publicly criticised moves to hold Israel accountable for alleged war crimes, such as an International Criminal Court (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders last November. Those warrants, which remain in force, accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant of crimes against humanity and using starvation as a method of warfare. The Trump administration has since imposed sanctions on ICC prosecutors and accused the court of "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel". The International Court of Justice is separately hearing a genocide case against Israel, which has been brought by South Africa. Israel and its leaders deny all allegations and argue the country is acting in legitimate self-defence after Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack, and that its military takes steps to avoid harming civilians, which Hamas uses as "human shields" and steals aid from. Mr Miller said it was an "open question" whether the Israeli government had pursued a policy to commit war crimes or recklessly abetted them. But it was "almost certainly not an open question" that Israeli soldiers had carried them out, he said. "And the way you judge a democracy is whether they hold those people accountable," he said. "We have not yet seen them hold sufficient numbers of the military accountable." Mr Miller said the thing "that I will always ask questions of myself about" is whether there was more the White House could have done to pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire sooner. "I think at times there probably was," he said. The Biden administration proposed a ceasefire deal last May, which was implemented in January, but broken when Israel resumed air strikes in Gaza in March. "Now, it's difficult — Israel was not the only … party to this negotiation. You saw Hamas repeatedly move the goalposts," he said. "But you saw Netanyahu move the goalposts as well, and I do think there were times when we should have been tougher on him."
SBS Australia
27 minutes ago
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Government to establish new Multicultural Affairs Office under promoted Anne Aly
An Office for Multicultural Affairs will be established within the Home Affairs Department to combine the department's existing multicultural affairs stream with settlement services and community grants programs. It falls short of the multicultural framework review's urgent recommendation to establish a standalone Department of Multicultural Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship with a dedicated minister. Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster will make the announcement to the department at 11am on Tuesday with a mandatory consultation period to begin shortly after. Settlement services, including the Adult Migrant English Program, grants for humanitarian entrants and other eligible migrants and communities could be included in the Office, as well as translation and interpreting services, and multicultural affairs policy. Exactly what's in the Office's remit will be considered as part of the department's mandatory consultation period. The Office could begin operation from 17 July, a week before the first sitting of the new Parliament. The landmark multicultural framework review released in August last year recommended establishing a standalone Department of Multicultural Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship with a dedicated minister, alongside a Multicultural Affairs Commission and Commissioner. The review found that the Multicultural Affairs portfolio was unable to influence public policy and government decision making within the Department of Home Affairs, and "the focus of policy and program approaches to culturally and racially marginalised communities has become one of being monitored and managed rather than inclusive and celebratory". The review also found that although multicultural policies are more than just immigration policy, the panel was "repeatedly struck by the interplay of migration policy and planning in shaping our success as a multicultural nation", recommending that immigration, citizenship, and multicultural responsibilities sit within a standalone department and single minister. Although a standalone Multicultural Affairs Minister has been elevated to Cabinet, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will still hold the Immigration and Citizenship portfolios, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs will sit within the Home Affairs Department. At the time of the review, Andrew Giles held the Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs portfolios in the outer ministry, with the review recommending elevating the multicultural minister to cabinet to allow "greater influence over decision-making across government rather than just within their own portfolio". SBS News understands the government intends to create a level of separation between multicultural affairs and the mega Home Affairs department that is responsible for national security, including counterterrorism and border enforcement, the AFP, ASIO, as well as immigration and citizenship. The Office will be responsible for the grants programs currently administered by the Department of Home Affairs. Since the Start of the Hamas-Israel war in 2023, the Department of Home Affairs has awarded more than $30 million in grants for "community funding to support social cohesion initiatives". This includes $2 million awarded to SBS to deliver reporting in multiple languages, and AAP for fact-checking services. SBS News understands the grants process will be reviewed by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, with the intention of modernising the program and improving accessibility. The special envoys for combatting Antisemitism and Islamophobia currently fall under the Minister of Multicultural Affairs portfolio and may become part of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
