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Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
Heavy rain and flash flooding from Tropical Cyclone Jasper is expected to hit the far north Queensland coast over the coming hours, bringing intense winds and the potential for major damage.
The system was downgraded to a category one overnight, but is expected to hit the coast between Hope Vale and Cairns as a category two system late this afternoon and early this evening.
Many residents have spent the past few days preparing for the slow-moving system to arrive and are being asked to stay inside or move to higher ground if feeling unsafe.
Incoming Queensland Premier Steven Miles says residents in the far north are already feeling cyclonic conditions.
"This morning, winds of 82 kilometres per hour were recorded in Cairns and more than 48 kilometres in Innisfail, 56 kilometres in Lucinda. Heavy to locally intense rainfall, which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flooding is forecast and may continue for days to come as the system moves across the cape and the rainfall makes its way through the river systems."
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Opposition Treasurer Angus Taylor says there is nothing in the government's latest economic forecast to address inflation or ease pressure on families.
The government's mid-year economic update revealed a shrinking deficit of $1.1 billion dollars, down from $13.9 billion predicted in May.
But real wage growth has slowed more than expected, and the government forecast no new rent or income relief beyond existing measures.
Angus Taylor says the government's measures do not tackle inflation, which is feeding cost of living pressures.
"The Treasurer and Finance Minister talked about the Government budget, the one budget they avoided talking about was the household budget. It is in tatters, we have seen interest cost triple since Labor came to power, we have seen, as I've said, a 27% increase but in households and household disposable income come down in the last 18 months."
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Federal, state and territory workplace ministers are meeting today to discuss a possible ban on engineered stone products, commonly found in kitchen benchtops.
Safe Work Australia has said while a complete ban of the product would be expensive, it is necessary to protect people involved in construction from deadly lung diseases.
The federal government has pledged to work with states and territories to implement a nationwide ban.
The union for construction workers, the CFMEU says it will enact its own workplace ban from the 1st of July if federal and state governments do not take action.
Construction worker Kyle Goodwin was diagnosed with silicosis in 2018 and has been given between 5 and 8 years to live.
"As you can imagine it's devastating to not only to myself but to those around me, my family, my friends. It's such a sad thing to see myself and young men and women, and young workers in this country going through this. We're a country that's only in recent history that's gone through asbestos. And this is just another example of a preventable industrial disease, from a product that's not necessary to our construction industry."
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Families are being warned to be mindful of children's safety over the holiday period as they spend more time online on gaming and other smart devices.
The Australian Federal Police say online child exploitation incidents spike during holidays, and parents and carers should be aware that in-built chat functions in games can allow predators to connect with children and encourage them to share images.
The Centre to Counter Child Exploitation wants to raise understanding of the issue, with only 3 per cent parents and carers reporting online grooming as a concern.
That was SBS News in Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
