SBS News in Easy English 20 July 2023

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A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.


Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Greg Dyett.

Former Department of Human Services Secretary Kathryn Campbell has been suspended from her $900,000 a year senior AUKUS job, following the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission.

Ms Campbell headed the Department during the implementation of the automatic debt recovery system which sent hundreds of thousands of incorrect letters to Centrelink recipients raising unlawful debts against them, later known as Robodebt.

The Royal Commission into Robodebt found Ms Campbell had failed to act when alerted to the illegality of the scheme.

She is the first senior person involved in the unlawful scheme to publicly face consequences.

Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5 per cent from 3.6 per cent.

Bureau of Statistics data shows an estimated 33,000 extra people gained jobs last month.

Economists were generally expecting the unemployment rate to remain steady at 3.6 per cent, with the creation of around 15,000 jobs.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says there is no national security risk after a shooting in Auckland.

Three people are dead, including the gunman, and six are injured after a shooting at a building and construction site.

Police are among the injured, in what police are treating as an isolated incident.

Mr Hipkins has paid tribute to those who got involved.

"I want to thank the brave men and women of the New Zealand Police who ran into the gunfire, straight into harm's way in order to save the lives of others."

The Commonwealth Games could return to the United Kingdom, with Scotland weighing up the cost after Victoria dumped the event because it was too expensive.

Premier Daniel Andrews put the price tag to run the 2026 event in regional Victoria at up to $7 billion, more than double the initial estimate of $2.6 billion.

Every other Australian state and territory rejected calls to replace Victoria, causing the Commonwealth Games Federation to flag that they are willing to hold discussions with any member nation interested in taking it on.

Alcohol restrictions will remain in place in Alice Springs for at least 12 months with the Northern Territory government pointing to a reduction in harm.

The restrictions were introduced in January and include limits on bottle shop trading hours with no takeaways allowed on Mondays or Tuesdays.

Customers are also limited to one purchase each day.

Alcohol-related emergency department presentations at Alice Springs Hospital have reduced by a third and domestic violence incidents had halved since the moves were introduced.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apologised to LGBTIQ plus veterans who served in the country's armed forces and were affected by a pre-2000 ban on homosexuality.

It was illegal to be gay in the British military until 2000.

Mr Sunak has described the ban as an appalling failure of the state.

"Today, on behalf of the British state, I apologise and I hope all those affected will be able to feel proud parts of the veteran community that has done so much to keep our country safe.''

I'm Greg Dyett and that's SBS News in Easy English.


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