Welcome to SBS News in Easy English, I'm Deborah Groarke.
Emergency services are bracing for heavy rain in South Australia's north.
A private dam is at risk of failure in the Adelaide Hills, and the State Emergency Service is continuing to monitor dams at Hope Forest and Basket Range.
Authorities say the risk of the latter dam failing has decreased, but a watch and act warning remains in place for Hope Forest.
A man has reportedly been shot dead in Sydney's Bondi Junction.
A major police operation is now underway on a street near the suburb's Westfield shopping complex.
There is speculation that police believe the incident is the latest in a spate of gangland killings in Sydney.
DEFENCE Minister Richard Marles has defended the government's decision not to provide Ukraine with Hawkeis and Bushmasters in its latest round of military aid.
The Opposition and some defence experts have criticised what is being provided, with Opposition leader Peter Dutton labelling the $110 million package as being too little, too late.
But Richard Marles says while the package does not offer Hawkeis, the equipment that is in the aid package would make an impact on the ground in Ukraine.
"Ukraine came to us with a menu of items which they felt could make a difference in terms of their effort that was obviously very useful for us in terms of the conversation we then had with them. What we wanted to make sure was that we were responding to that with equipment that would make a difference in Ukraine, and that would would help them in their effort and do so in a timely way. I mean, there are issues with both tanks and Hawkei, and we've talked Ukraine through the details of that."
PARENTS are reporting an increase in daycare fees before federal government changes designed to help them come into effect.
Over a million families are expected to benefit from an increase to the childcare subsidy scheme from the 1st of July - but many now say they're being hit by a sudden increase in daily fees.
Melbourne mother Laura says childcare fees for her four year old have already gone up this year.
"It's just this never ending story of... you sort of can't win and I'm not getting a pay increase it's just like when does it stop?"
VICTORIA Police officers have been accused of racial profiling.
A new report from the Inner Melbourne Community Legal Centre says more than 37,000 fines were issued for COVID related offences in 2020, but that people of non-Anglo appearance were disproportionately fined during the height of the pandemic.
The report says more than 20 per cent of fines were issued to people of African and Middle Eastern appearance, despite them only making up about 5 per cent of the Victorian population.
It says Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people - who make up one percent of the state's population - accounted for nearly three per cent of all fines.
Police Accountability Project principal lawyer Gregor Husper says that the police's own data gives a snapshot of over-policing.
"They exercise their discretion disproportionately in areas of high racialised populations. And the implications for those people is a lack of trust, a lack of safety in the street, from unwarranted contact by police, and crushing fines, that they still can't afford to pay."
A group of indigenous entrepreneurs called the Blak Angels will visit the United States to study and invest in F irst Nations businesses.
The syndicate will head to the U-S in September, where they’ll invest in early-stage indigenous start-ups - and meet with established Native, Latin, and African American businesses.
Jerome Cubillo is one of the ten Blak Angels.
“We want to live on country, we want to stay connected to our culture, and we want to be strong with that and walk in the two worlds. So for us the work we see here and the opportunity we see in the Northern Territory through the rise of the black economy - supporting more Aboriginal businesses to start to run and operate on country.”
I'm Deborah Groarke. This is SBS News in Easy English.
