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TRANSCRIPT
- Australian billionaire Clive Palmer rejects claim in the Jeffrey Epstein files
- New research shows First Nations people dying at far higher rates from blood cancer
- In football, Australia formally expresses interest in hosting the 2035 Asian Cup
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer has rejected the claim that American political strategist and former adviser to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon influenced his 2019 federal election campaign.
The claims were contained in text messages released by the US Department of Justice as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files over the weekend.
A text message sent to the convicted sex offender from an account appearing to belong to Mr Bannon in 2019, two days after the election, stated: "I had Clive Palmer do the $60m anti China and anti climate change ads".
Mr Palmer says he denies the claim and any implications of foreign interference; but he did receive a late night call from Mr Bannon.
"I picked up the phone and this fellow said: 'It's Steve Bannon here.'
I said: 'Hello Steve, are you a member of our party?'
He said: 'No, I'm calling from the United States.
And I said: 'We can't talk to people from the states we can't take donations from overseas.
He said: 'I don't want to give donations. I was just ringing to say you're running a great campaign against the Chinese keep it up.
I said: 'Thanks Steve.'
And then I put the phone down and put on my mask because I have sleep apnoea. And I went back to sleep. If you go off the press reports, he wrote some sort of text to Mr Epstein. I never met Mr Epstein. I don't know him."
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There has been strong criticism of America's Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations from one of the best known names in human rights activism.
Martin Luther King the third - the eldest son of Martin Luther King Junior - says the actions of federal immigration agents demonises the immmigrant community.
He has told NITV Radio, the fatal shootings of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti are beginning to persuade many Americans to protest against the actions of the Trump administration, which he described as inhumane.
"There's going to be a time where it's going to dawn on people that, look, this is not workable. This is not the right thing to do. And that's my hope that people do come together and say enough is enough and we're not going to embrace what is going on."
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New data has revealed First Nations Australians are five times more likely to die from blood cancer.
Research commissioned by the Leukaemia Foundation shows Indigenous Australians are dying at significantly higher rates from blood cancer and face substantial barriers to treatment and care compared to non-Indigenous Australians.
The Leukaemia Foundation's head of research, Bill Stavreski, has told NITV this research fills in the gaps on the extent of the impacts on First Nations Australians.
"Blood cancers are not just one disease. There are 120 different types of blood cancers - and that means signs and symptoms can be quite unique, can differ from person to person. Without culturally appropriate information, without information getting hands to those living in rural and regional areas, it means not having the knowledge of what to look for. That often leads to delays in diagnosis, the disease has progressed; and unfortunately, it means poorer outcomes as well."
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A new report challenges the idea that all older Australians of the baby boomer generation are financially secure.
The 2025 State of the Older Nation report - released by Council on the Ageing Australia - finds one in four older Australians are living in poverty and struggling to access services.
The council's chair, former government minister Christopher Pyne, these older Australians are more vulnerable to loneliness.
"That's not a marginal group. It's completely incompatible with the cliche of universal boomer wealth. Older Australians experiencing financial hardship report lower quality of life, poorer physical and mental health, weaker social connections, higher loneliness, and they're more likely to be renting and they have greater difficulty accessing healthcare and medication. These disadvantages compound, once someone falls behind, it becomes much harder to catch up."
Among survey participants, 38 per cent say they've experienced one or more forms of ageism since turning 50 - a trend the report says is worsened by stereotypes of wealth.
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In sport,
The Asian Football Confederation says Australia, South Korea and Kuwait have all formally expressed interest in hosting the 2035 Asian Cup - in addition to bidding for the 2031 tournament.
The AFC is expected to confirm hosts for both the tournaments at a single annual congress, following a proposal by its President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa.
The governing body says Japan had also expressed interest in hosting 2035 alone.
The AFC has three other bidders for 2031 including: India, Indonesia; and a joint Central Asian bid from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
And that's the latest from the SBS Newsroom.
