The home affairs minister says there are no easy solutions to the parent visa backlog; China responds to Donald Tump's unverified claim that it meddled in US elections; and in football, this year's World Cup winners to receive championship rings.
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TRANSCRIPT
- The home affairs minister says there are no easy solutions to the parent visa backlog
- China responds to Donald Tump's unverified claim that it meddled in US elections
- This year's World Cup winners to receive championship rings
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the parent visa backlog is something the government is working to address, but there are no easy answers.
In the 2024-25 financial year, there were 157,000 parent visas in the backlog, an increase of 52,000 compared to six years ago, according to Department of Home Affairs data.
With only 8,500 places allocated in the system each year, the processing wait times for applications is 15 years for contributory parent visas and 33 years for non-contributory visas.
In 2023, an expert panel, commissioned by then Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil, recommended switching to a ballot or lottery system similar to what is used in New Zealand and Canada.
Mr Burke has told SBS Nepali, a range of options have been considered.
"Right at the moment, you've spoken to me about contributory parent visas - but you could actually pick any visa class; and there is a compassionate reason and decent reason for Australia as to why the visa exist. And within all of that, I have to try to manage a whole program; and work out where we put resources into how many people process different visas."
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China has accused Donald Trump of making fabrications, after the US president claimed China had meddled in US elections by trying to acquire American voter data.
Mr Trump used a primetime address to the nation to renewed unsubstantiated claims of past election interference - and dispute his 2020 loss - in an appeal for more restrictive voting laws ahead of the midterms.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian refuted Mr Trump's allegation of election meddling as completely groundless.
"The relevant claims from the US side are fabrication and malicious smearing that have long been proven to be complete nonsense. China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and has neither any interest in nor ever interfered in US elections. We urge the US side to reflect on its own conduct and contribute to a positive China-US relationship."
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President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on Canada over hazardous smoke from Canada's wildfires that have drifted across large parts of the US.
In a post on social media, he says he intends to call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to demand an explanation for his handling of the fires.
Ontario provincial officials say there are 191 active fires, with dozens still out of control, as crews work to protect remote communities and critical infrastructure.
Smoke from the fires has triggered air-quality alerts across more than a dozen US states, blanketing cities including Washington, New York and Toronto and prompting health officials to urge people to stay indoors.
The Ontario government says it's investing 650 million Canadian dollars in new helicopters and water bombers, as it seeks extra support to fight the fires.
"We are throwing every single resource we can. When you have 191 infernos running right across our province, we're deploying it based on the firefighters expertise. I've talked to a number of chiefs and telling them that we're there to support them. But, what's a miracle that no one's lost their lives."
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Telstra could face fines in the tens of millions of dollars, following last week's nationwide outage.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has told a Senate inquiry it is pursuing civil penalties.
Chair of the regulator, Nerida O’Loughlin, says if their investigation determines there have been significant regulatory breaches, that could result in fines of up to $30 million per breach.
"Remembering that we are looking at the ESC determination, we're looking at the outage notification, we're looking at welfare checks. So we're going to need to look at all of that information and all the evidence that comes before us, before we can establish what might be potential contraventions."
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And to sport, in football,
For the first time, World Cup winners will receive championship rings.
FIFA says 30 rings would be presented to the winning team - in addition to the trophy and gold medals.
Championship rings are a long-standing tradition in major North American sports, including the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball, but they have not been previously awarded at a FIFA competition.
These football fans on social media say they think it's a good idea.
Male fan 1: "Football has always been a medal. It has never been about rings or any other jewellery to symbolise you won a trophy. But I think the concept of putting in a championship ring - I think it works."
Male fan 2: "It is a nice gesture. At least players can always wear these rings and show that yes, they have won the cup. But I think if you're going to do this for the current winners, the past winners, I think rings should be created for them too. Right? They deserve rings too."
FIFA says it is producing 2,026 numbered rings, which minus the 30 given to the winning team, will be sold to the public at price that has yet to be announced.
And that's the latest from the SBS newsroom.
