A daily five-minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.
This is SBS News in Easy English... I'm Claire Slattery.
//
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has announced big changes to Australia's migration system.
The announcement comes after a review found the migration program was failing to attract the most highly skilled people to Australia.
The government is proposing a new model with three tiers.
The first would create a highly skilled stream with fast turn around times, while a middle stream will be linked to Jobs and Skills Australia.
Ms O'Neill says Australia needs the changes to compete in the market for global talent.
The review found the current system is being exploited to created a migrant worker underclass.
//
Anglicare Australia has made an urgent plea to the federal government to increase social and affordable housing.
The charity's annual Rental Affordability Snapshot has found 0.8 of a per cent of rentals are affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage.
The report also found no rentals are affordable for a person on Youth Allowance, while a single person on JobSeeker could afford just four - all in sharehouses.
Anglicare Executive Director Kasy Chambers says this year's result is the worst ever seen for a person earning the minimum wage.
"We found 45,895 separate individual listings in the private rental market across Australia. When we look at how many are affordable, we find that there's virtually nothing. "
//
The Federal Government has announced $3.8 billion to improve Australia's defence bases in the north of the country over the next four years.
The money comes after the recommendation was made in the landmark Defence Strategic Review, which was released in declassified form earlier this week.
The review found Australia's defence force needs to be overhauled to face the strategic challenges of the modern era.
Defence Minister Richard Marles says the money will upgrade air, land and maritime bases in Darwin, and across northern Australia.
"Our northern bases are a massive asset for our country. And are absolutely fundamentally important to being the platform for that projection."
//
An Australian man has gone missing after falling overboard from a cruise ship headed for Hawaii.
The man was a passenger on the Royal Caribbean Cruises ship Quantum Of The Seas, which had left from the port of Brisbane a couple of weeks ago.
The ship's crew searched for the passenger but were unable to find him, and the US Coast Guard has now taken over.
The cruise ship has continued with its scheduled trip, and is due to arrive in Honolulu on Friday.
//
United States President Joe Biden and South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol have announced an agreement to strengthen the two nations' response to the nuclear threat from North Korea.
It includes plans to dock US nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years.
The agreement comes at a moment of increased tension over the pace of ballistic missile tests by North Korea.
Announcing the new nuclear deterrence effort, President Biden gave a warning to Pyongyang.
"A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States, or its allies or partisans or partners, is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action."
//
This is SBS News in Easy English... I'm Claire Slattery.
