TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English, I'm Camille Bianchi.
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The New South Wales government says it will spend more than half a billion dollars to reduce domestic violence.
About half of the money - 227 million dollars -will be donated to the state's victims' support service.
State Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Jodie Harrison, says this funding allows programs to continue.
"We're going to be providing the certainty and the continuity for those services through five-year contracts for the majority of them. We're also going to be working with the non-domestic violence specialist workforce. So, people outside the DV specialist workforce, to help them recognize and respond to, and refer people who are experiencing domestic and family violence."
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Environmental groups are warning natural disasters will make insurance more expensive.
Australian Government numbers shows Tropical Cyclone Alfred and floods in New South Wales and Queensland cost around $2.2 billion in lost productivity, including businesses and roads being closed.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese says the government is focused on preparing communities for more natural disasters.
"The truth is, there are more extreme weather events, and they're more intense now. Science told us that that was the case, and the science has proven to be playing out. So we need to adjust to that, and it's one of the reasons that resilience programs and amelioration and mitigation and preparation is so important."
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Representatives from Russia and Ukraine have met in Istanbul, but they have not agreed to end the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine saying Russian president Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace.
But the countries have agreed to swap more prisoners and return the bodies of soldiers.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants United States President Donald Trump to give Russia stronger penalties for not planning a path to peace.
"They said they’re ready for a 2–3-day ceasefire to collect bodies from the battlefield. I think they’re idiots, because the whole point of a ceasefire is to prevent people from being killed in the first place. Therefore, I really want our American partners to take strong steps to impose a package of sanctions and to pressure the Russians into a ceasefire with strong sanctions. They won’t understand any other way."
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The Red Cross is urgently asking Australians to donate blood.
It says O negative and O positive blood types have reached their lowest storage levels.
These two blood types are the most common and are most needed.
Red Cross needs nine thousand, five hundred donations in the next week.
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To sport and Australia's Socceroos team wants to beat Japan at a game in Perth this week.
If Australia wins on Thursday, they will be able to compete in the World Cup next year.
Socceroos captain Matthew Ryan says he's focused on playing his best.
“To be honest, anything that they do doesn't, you know, impact my confidence. I'm just focused on what we do here and focused on what we can control. That's the advice I received, you know, as a young kid growing up, you know, focusing on what you can control. So, we're just obviously trying to work hard. We had a good couple of weeks in Abu Dhabi before coming here and try to take advantage of the time training together and working on, obviously, you know, the camaraderie and connection out there on the pitch."
