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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English.
Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler says a Voice to Parliament would improve health outcomes for First Nations People.
It comes after more than 125 health organisations released a public letter in support of a Yes Vote in the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
Mr Butler says a Voice to Parliament provides an opportunity to find new ways to address systemic issues of disadvantage and poor health for Indigenous communities.
"Working in health, you understand more than any other sector perhaps, of the entrenched disadvantage being experienced day in and day out by First Nations people. There is no area of policy I don't think more important than health, and where a voice to the parliament and to the executive from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would be more valuable than in health care."
It comes as remote voting on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament begins across Australia today, enabling the first votes in the referendum to be cast.
And you can find comprehensive information about the referendum by visiting the SBS Voice Referendum portal at www.sbs.com.au/voicereferendum.
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Police in Darwin have charged a woman with aggravated assault over an attack on Chief Minister Natasha Fyles who had a cream-covered pancake pushed into her face.
Police allege the 56-year-old attacked the Chief Minister at the Nightcliff Markets on Sunday morning.
She will face court on October.
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Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt has launched a taskforce to implement a new public safety mobile broadband system to support first responders during disasters and emergencies.
Mr Watt announced the task force during his opening address at the first day of the National Bushfire Preparedness Summit in Canberra.
The two-day summit will bring Australian politicians together with around 250 crisis management, response and recovery specialists.
Mr Watt says the summit comes at a critical time, with the El Niño climate pattern bringing with it increased risk of dangerous bushfires, extreme heatwaves and other severe weather events.
He says a new task force will implement a public safety mobile broadband system to provide better communications capabilities for first responders.
"In short, this long promised but never realised project is about providing better communication systems for our first responders to protect them and our communities. It will provide fast and secure voice, video and data communications specifically for our emergency services so they can communicate with each other across jurisdictions and during the most challenging conditions."
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Scientists have begun preparations to process the contents of a space capsule containing a soil sample collected from the surface of an asteroid.
NASA confirmed the capsule re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Sunday and landed safely in the West Desert in Utah.
The samples had been collected from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020, which is classified as a "near-Earth object" because it passes relatively close to our planet every six years.
NASA Chief Scientist Eileen Sansbery says preparations are well underway to transport and open the capsule.
"We currently have a team of spacecraft engineers, scientists and curatorial personnel working right now in a temporary clean room here at Dugway to make the sample capsule ready for transport down to the Johnson Space Centre so that we can open it up and reveal this treasure."
That was SBS News in Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
