SBS News in Easy English 27 September 2024

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TRANSCRIPT:

At least one person is unaccounted for after a fire destroyed a vacant building in Brisbane on Wednesday night.

Acting Queensland Fire Chief Superintendent Steven Bates says heavy equipment needs to be brought in to look for them.

The Superintendent says a man who evacuated from the building as fire crews arrived has provided information to investigators.

But he says the man thought he was in the building alone before the blaze broke out.

"Obviously that person who was taken away from hospital is a witness and we've got a statement from him, but we're still piecing it together... It is believed that two people sometimes frequent this building. So at this stage we can't rule out that there is a person missing at this stage, and we won't determine that until once again heavy machinery (is) brought in and search every inch."

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Australia's Defence Minister has arrived in London for talks on a nuclear submarine treaty.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey says a formal bilateral agreement would bind their AUKUS alliance into law.

The UK and Australia are two thirds of the AUKUS security partnership with the United States, which was established in 2021.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has said acquiring nuclear power submarines would be one of the biggest advances in Australia's military history.

"The gravity of this is not lost on Australia. The significance for our nation in acquiring this capability is indeed enormous."

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A $100 million maximum security youth detention centre will be built near the Banksia Hill facility in Perth.

It will replace the Unit 18 youth detention facility at Casuarina Prison, and accommodate high-risk young people who cannot be safely housed at Banksia Hill.

A 17-year-old Indigenous teenager died at the Banskia Hill Detention Centre in August, and 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd died in his cell at Unit 18 in October 2023.

But West Australian Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia says there has been positive change at both facilities.

"We have elders and mentors going in both facilities at all times. And it's a seven day a week operation now, so there's no reduction in support. So a whole range of measures now that ensure the place is different, or both places are different and better, but we want to make it even better. And ultimately having a purpose design facility would be the thing that achieves that."

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A union has rallied in Brisbane over concerns the Coalition will revoke rights to abortion if elected.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has ruled out a review of the legislation in the first term of his government, if elected.

But Queensland Unions general secretary Jacqueline King says history shows otherwise.

Ms King says the party voted against the decriminalisation bill in 2018 and went to the 2020 election pledging a review of the laws.

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Australia's consumer watchdog has released its interim report into the supermarket sector.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report details a number of issues with the industry.

They include soaring prices at the checkout, a lack of competition, and customers losing trust about specials and discount schemes.

The commission's deputy chair Mick Keogh says there is concern major supermarkets are abusing their powers.

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A traditional healing ceremony has been held for the families of three United States Marines who died over the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory last year.

Both US Marines and Australian troops attended the ceremony that welcomed the grieving parents into Tiwi culture and kinship.

Tiwi elders gifted the families of the fallen marines skin names.

Tiwi Traditional Owner Jennifer Ullungura Clancy says it's a commemoration of the lives lost on their land.

"We share with them so that they can be free you know say a last goodbye to their loved ones because they haven't said goodbye since the day it happened because they didn't do it in their home, they did it in Australian soil. That's why my people wanted to do this back home."

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