TRANSCRIPT:
- Australia moving towards a social media ban for kids under 14;
- Tributes flowing for iconic US actor James Earl Jones after his death at the age of 93;
- New gender quotas announced for national and state sporting boards.
Australia is moving closer to a social media ban for children under 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce new legislation to enforce a minimum age for social media access, based on a recommendation from a report by former High Court chief justice Robert French.
The PM says the bill will be introduced before the next election.
Mr Albanese has told Channel Seven the move is about promoting the wellbeing of young people.
"What we want to do is to get our kids off their devices and onto the footy fields or the netball courts, to get them interacting with real people, having real experiences. And we know that social media is doing social harm."
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It's been confirmed that two children who were held in offshore detention on Nauru have won settlements from the Australian government for medical negligence and failure to provide proper care.
The rulings for the cases, known as F-B-V-18 and A-Y-X-18, were handed down just days apart at the end of August.
The details of the settlements are confidential to protect the identities of the children and their families.
But National Justice Project solicitor Emma Hearne says winning financial compensation for their clients sends a strong message to the government.
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A new report has recommended national power of attorney laws to protect vulnerable Australians from exploitation and financial abuse.
Power-of-attorney is where someone appoints another person, such as a relative, to act on their behalf in making important financial or legal decisions.
The Australian Human Rights Commission says there is a desperate need for nationally consistent regulation on this issue.
Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald says it would offer greater protection and make it easier for people to understand their rights and responsibilities.
He says that lack of understanding exacerbates the potential for abuse.
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A new survey suggests that the majority of Australian voters want house prices to fall or stay the same.
The Redbridge Polling, conducted for Everybody's Home, has found younger voters are more likely to favour lower home prices, though roughly half of those 50 or older were also prepared to see dwelling values go down over the next five years.
Redbridge strategy director Kos Samaras says those surveyed were not necessarily in favour of their own homes falling in value, but rather that any new homes coming onto the market were cheaper.
Everybody's Home spokesperson May Azize has previously said action was desperately needed, with renters among those to bear the brunt of the affordability crisis.
"We've got hundreds and hundreds of thousands of households across the country in the most severe rental stress. There's 640,000 households who are not just in rental stress, but the most severe, dire rental stress that really puts them at risk of becoming homeless. We've got median house prices in major cities like Sydney so expensive, that you actually need to be on an income over $200,000 to get a loan. And we've got rents that have surged - asking rents that have surged by 75 per cent since we started the pandemic. So this is truly a crisis."
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US authorities have condemned comments by Donald Trump that he would jail adversaries if he wins the election on November 5.
Mr Trump has been stepping up his rhetoric leading up to the presidential debate with Kamala Harris, vowing over the weekend to prosecute anyone who “cheats” in the election.
He has continued to insist that is what happened in 2020, despite multiple court rulings, and pushback from his own former members of staff and Republican colleagues.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre has joined in the criticism of his remarks, calling the rhetoric dangerous.
"This is not who we are as a country. This is a democracy... It is coming from, you know, a former president - is dangerous. I mean, we saw what happened on January 6th, in 2021."
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Tributes are pouring in for legendary US actor James Earl Jones.
Jones has died at the age of 93 in his New York home surrounded by family.
He overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen, perhaps best known for being the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars.
VADER:"Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father. "
SKYWALKER: "He told me enough. He told me you killed him."
VADER: "No. I am your father."
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The federal government has announced new gender equity targets for national and state level sporting organisations.
Under the National Gender Equity in Sports Government policy, 50 percent of these boards must be women and/or gender diverse people by July 2027.
Currently, 62 percent of funded national organisations reach the required standard of gender diversity in board directors, while only 25 percent of national sporting organisations and national sporting organisations for people with disability are chaired by a woman.
Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher, says that the Albanese government is committed to driving change, given that women have not been represented in senior leadership across a range of sports "for too long".
