Welcome to SBS News in Easy English, I'm Deborah Groarke.
Social media companies could face multi-million dollar fines if they fail to address misinformation, under a new proposal being considered by the federal government.
The proposed changes would allow A-C-M-A to obtain information and documents on how the corporations deal with such situations.
Failure to respond could attract penalties of almost seven million dollars, or five per cent of the global turnover in case of systemic breaches of standards.
The opposition have raised concerns these measures could restrict freedom of speech, but Australia National University Associate professor Jenny Davis says the measure is a consequence of the new times.
"The reality is that many of us are getting our news from social media sources via Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. And at some point, these companies that have so much power and so much money, have to be responsible for what fared on their platforms."
THE federal government says any Australians in Russia should leave immediately, amid fears the security situation there could deteriorate further.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong says Australia is working with its global allies to monitor developments following extraordinary scenes involving the Wagner mercenary group.
But she says Australia's travel advice for Russia is "do not go there".
She says the government's ability to provide consular help in the country is limited and it won't be able to facilitate evacuations.
A new analysis of the cost of living has revealed more people are being left behind by the crisis.
The Cost of Living Index from Anglicare Australia indicates housing is the biggest cost faced by families, with average rents having increased by more than 30 percent over the past three years.
The Index has also shown that full-time minimum wage workers have less than $60 dollars left after essential weekly expenses.
Anglicare Australia's executive director, Kasy Chambers, says essential goods are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
"These are people who have done everything we've asked them to do. They're working full time, they;re in the kind of occupations that stood at the forefront when we were in the pandemic. They're retail workers, they're food delivery workers, they're delivery workers, they're security workers, and yet still they're going backward."
THE Australian Labor Party is mourning the death of Simon Crean at the age of 74.
The former cabinet minister who served as a member of Parliament for 23 years died suddenly in Europe after an exercise session in Berlin, Germany, where he was part of an industry delegation.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Mr Crean will be remembered as one of the architects of the Hawke government's momentous industrial relations reforms of the 1980s and one of the most significant political figures of modern Labor.
"Simon, of course, had some ups and downs in politics as we all did, but he showed no sign of anything resembling regret. He is someone who continued to make a positive and constructive contribution."
TENS of thousands of people have taken to the streets around the world in support of LGBTQI-plus rights.
Rallies have taken place in countries such as Mexico, France, and Thailand, with marchers in Singapore making history in the first such event the city-state has had since the repeal of a colonial-era law that made homosexuality illegal.
I'm Deborah Groarke. This is SBS News in Easy English.
