Premier Minns defends police response to rally against Herzog visit | SBS News In Easy English 10 February 2026

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TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.

Premier Chris Minns has defended the police response at the Sydney protest against the Israeli president's visit.

Protesters who gathered at Sydney Town Hall to speak out against Isaac Herzog's Australian visit were pepper-sprayed, arrested, beaten and shoved by police.

New South Wales Police says 27 protesters were arrested, including 10 for assaulting officers.

Mr Minns conceded social media videos of police actions didn't "look good", but he says officers responded appropriately to prevent a breach of containment lines.

"New South Wales Police had to keep both protesters and mourners separate, so as disturbing as the scenes were last night on the news; they weren't even worse as a result of thousands of people clashing together on the streets of Sydney. I understand there has been criticism of New South Wales Police. I just want to make it clear, they were caught in an impossible situation. They did their job by keeping those groups separate. And we want to thank for their service to the people of New South Wales. It is a difficult, combustible situation."

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Members of the crossbench are calling on the Australian government to adopt a policy giving people control over their social media content.

The campaign - established by sexual consent advocacy organisation 'Teach Us Consent' - calls for the government to introduce an opt-in feature for social media algorithms to implement affirmative consent.

Independent MP Allegra Spender says there's a real problem with extremist content on social media, including misogynistic content and messaging which promotes disordered eating or radicalised violence.

"I think this is, you know we have a social media ban for people aged under 16. But the point is that this, the radicalisation by soical media isn't just constrained to those under 16. We see that in young people, we see that in people of different ages. And this is about once again giving Australians the choice to opt in, opt out to the algorithms that the social media companies are sharing."

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Liberal senator Jonathan Duniam says Angus Taylor needs to make clear whether he is going to challenge Sussan Ley's leadership, but acknowledges his party has work to do to repair their relationship with the public.

Following the Coalition's 17-day split and then reunification, there's growing speculation that Angus Taylor might challenge Sussan Ley's leadership this week.

Mr Duniam says the party needs to move forward - and work on effectively communicating the party's policy to Australians.

"The policies we're putting out there, the way we're selling them, the communication we're having with the Australian poeple, is part of the problem. It's not all at the feet of one person, the leader of our party, we all have a role to play. So all this talk of changing leaders and what not, that is not the answer to every problem we face. We have a lot of work to do, and we have to get on and do it."

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Research has found First Nations Australians in custody - are being held in what's known as a prone restraint for longer periods of time than non-Indigenous people.

The restraint involves holding a person face down against a surface - with guidelines stating it should be used for no longer than 3 minutes - without pressure on the neck or chest and with continuous monitoring of the person's condition.

The study by the University of Queensland looked at all publicly available coronial findings - where a prone restraint was linked to a death in custody.

The findings are calling for stronger oversight and improved training, particularly for vulnerable people in custody.

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To sport,

Michael Dickson has become the second Australian to play in an American Super Bowl - and win.

Dickson was part of the Seattle Seahawks side that defeated the New England Patriots 29 to 13 to claim the tean's second Super Bowl title.

Michael's teammate, Demarcus Lawrence, says after a decade in the league, he feels privileged to be able to help the team with this latest win.

"Special, these guys here are irreplaceable man. The type of group and bond that we committed to this yea. It is a special unit. It is a special group. I think it is our journey man. We have so many ups and downs throughout this season. You know overtime games and losses. That we thought we should have won. It is just gold. Our fundamentals are playing one play at a time, and just keeping at it!."

And that's SBS News in Easy English. I'm Biwa Kwan.


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