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TRANSCRIPT
- An investigation underway into a mine blast that has killed two workers
- Western Australia to apologise for the 1834 Pinjarra massacre
- Speculation that Australian coach Ange Postecoglou could return to Celtic
Industry Minister Tim Ayres has paid tribute to the two workers killed in the mine explosion in Cobar.
Safework New South Wales is leading the investigation into the incident.
One man died in the blast that happened just before 4 this morning at the major underground silver, zinc and lead mine, 40 kilometres north of Cobar, while a woman died shortly after being brought to the surface.
Minister Ayres says his thoughts are with the affected families.
"Very distressing news for their families, their co-workers and what is a tightknit small community in Cobar, New South Wales' northwest end. Everybody - all of us - think of Jamie Chaffey, the new member for Parkes are thinking about those families in what is an unfolding situation in a very old mining facility there in Cobar."
Meanwhile the Mayor of Cobar Shire Council Jarrod Marsden has told SBS News that the small community of Cobar is devastated by what has happened.
But he says support is already being put in place for anyone who might need it.
"The mines have fairly strong support networks, with counsellors etc. We'll provide whatever support is necessary. Whatever the community and the families need is what we'll provide."
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And a warning that this story may be distressing for some listeners
Western Australia is to officially apologise for the Pinjarra massacre, 191 years after the state's governor took part in the killings.
The attack led by Governor James Stirling with a group of European settlers, police officers and soldiers took place on a Bindjareb Noongar community at Pinjarra on October 28, 1834.
It remains unknown exactly how many First Nations men, women and children were killed, but estimates have placed the number of deaths between 15 to 80.
Pinjarra was situated around 80 kilometres south of the Swan River settlement that would later become known as Perth.
For culturally appropriate Indigenous support call 13 YARN on 13 92 76
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Social media companies have told a parliamentary inquiry they will comply with the under-16s social media ban when it comes into effect in December.
An estimated 1.5 million accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Threads and X will be deactivated in less than two months when the ban on children younger than 16 comes into effect.
Google has previously told the inquiry the ban would be extremely difficult to enforce, and that a lack of detail about how platforms plan to implement age verification systems have clouded the ban since its announcement.
Meta Director of Policy Mia Garlick has today told the inquiry the minimum age requirement will be challenging to implement.
"We adopt a sort of a waterfall approach where we are trying to have the least privacy intrusive ways to confirm people's established age. So we have gotten good at building out predictive technology around the 18 age boundary - but as was noted in the age assurance trial report. There are more challenges with applying it at the 16 age marker. So that is still the area that we are working through as we approach the compliance deadline."
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King Charles III has dedicated the United Kingdom's first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the country ended a ban on homosexuality in the armed forces.
The King, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans.
Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who were - or were thought to be - gay or transgender were labelled unfit to serve and dismissed or discharged from the forces.
Fighting With Pride chief executive Peter Gibson has told the BBC that some were stripped of medals or lost their pension rights, and many struggled with the stigma for decades.
"This is in effect the culmination of their journey. But Fighting with Pride has a mission to continue to seek to find the rest of those veterans who are still lost to the military community."
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To sport, and in football,
Ange Postecoglou's successor as Celtic manager - Brendan Rodgers - has resigned.
Former boss Martin O'Neill and Shaun Maloney are temporarily in charge, as the search for a permanent replacement gets underway.
The move has prompted swift speculation that the Australian coach could return to the club which he led in two highly successful seasons before moving to England in 2023.
Postecoglou won both back-to-back Scottish League titles with Celtic - and the domestic treble in 2022-23, before moving to English club Tottenham.
He was recently sacked from his second English Premier League job with Nottingham Forest.
