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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Sam Dover.
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Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton claims rumoured changes to housing policy in Victoria are a symptom of the Labor party's poor economic management.
Victoria received nearly half a billion dollars from the federal government in June, as part of the $2 billion social housing fund.
Today the state government will reveal how it intends to spend that money, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expected to join Premier Daniel Andrews for the announcement.
It is believed Victoria may also adopt policies such as putting a levy on short-term bookings with accommodation provider Airbnb.
Mr Dutton says he believes this change, as well as the Labor party policies on the economy, energy, and housing are combining to cause Australians financial pain.
"There are a lot of families who supplement their income through an AirBnB property that they have. It might be when they go on holidays themselves, it might be that they're a retired couple, jumping in the caravan...or going to visit friends. And they might rent their house out for a period to help them pay their electricity bills. So, at the same time that Labor's driving up electricity bills, they're making it harder for families to source additional income to help pay those bills. And that's why families, that's why small businesses, will always be worse off under Labor."
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The Westpac Banking Corporation is resisting pressure over the closure of some of its branches in regional Australia.
A Senate inquiry is examining the more than 650 closures of bank branches in rural and regional Australia since 2017.
It will host three hearings this week, and Westpac is one of those set to make an appearance.
But, in its submission to the inquiry, Westpac says in-store transactions in rural and regional branches have fallen by 39 per cent over the past five years.
The inquiry has previously been told that major banks do not give enough warning to the public before branch closures.
However, Westpac says this is not possible as it could risk exposing sensitive information to its competitors.
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Canada has deported a senior Indian intelligence official.
The Canadian government says it has reliable information linking Indian government agents to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in the town of Surrey, in western Canada, in June.
Mr Nijjar was designated as a terrorist by India in 2020 after he supported the creation of a Sikh nation in the Indian state of Punjab.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says India has violated Canada's sovereignty in this matter.
"Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open and democratic societies conduct themselves. As you would expect, we have been working closely and coordinating with our allies on this very serious matter."
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And in football,
Manchester City say they are confident they will be able to defend their European title.
The English champions won the European Champions League for the first time last season.
Their first match in this year's competition is tomorrow against Serbian team Red Star Belgrade.
Despite all the success they've already had, fullback Kyle Walker says motivation will be no problem for his side under the watch of manager Pep Guardiola.
"It comes from within that you have to keep going and the hunger is still definitely in the changing room from us lads and I should hope in him as a manager as well that he still wants to win more. You can see what he's like on the field. You can see what he's like in the training sessions. He doesn't settle for second."
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I’m Sam Dover, this is SBS News in Easy English.
