TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English on the 24th of January 2025, I am Camille Bianchi.
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Education Minister Jason Clare has dismissed Peter Dutton's calls to protect January 26 as Australia's national day under law.
Mr Dutton made the suggestion to force councils to use January 26 for citizenship ceremonies, after being told, some local councils are choosing to have citizenship ceremonies on another date.
But Mr Clare told Seven's Sunrise program this idea is being used as a distraction from a Liberal Party policy, offering tax benefits for business lunches.
"The date's not changing Nat, you know, we have the same fake fight every year. We're the best country in the world. Australia Day is a great opportunity to celebrate that. We don't beat our chests like other countries, but it's the truth. This is just another distraction from Dutton to conceal this stinker of a policy I know there's a smelly flower in Sydney today, the real stinker here is this idea that taxpayers should pay for their bosses’ lunch, and you still won't tell us how much it's going to cost. "
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Two bronze statues of former prime ministers have had their heads taken off in Ballarat's Botanical Gardens.
Police say the vandalism occurred in the early hours of Friday morning, between two and five am.
Statues of former prime ministers Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd were the main targets.
Name plates on 18 other statues were also painted with spray paint.
Police are asking the public for information.
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United States President Donald Trump has escalated his call for an end to Russia's war with Ukraine.
He spoke to attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos via video link.
Mr Trump criticised the European Union but promises Europe's supply of Liquified Natural Gas.
The President says he wants to bring an end to the war.
"One thing very important I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended. And that's not from the standpoint of economy or anything else. It's from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted. Beautiful young people are being shot in the battlefield."
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The Trump administration says United States Government employees will be punished if they do not report colleagues who use diversity and inclusion programs, after the president ordered that they stop.
Emails sent out to employees say the programs divide Americans and waste taxpayer money.
Andrea Abrams, the Executive Director of Defending American Values Coalition, says these programs are proven to help businesses.
"They're not doing it because DEI has been ineffective. They are doing it --they're backing away from these core values because they are capitulating to this bigotry. They are capitulating to the pressure from a few. And they're trying to score political points, but they're not doing it because diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, is a bad thing. Or they have any evidence that's a bad thing."
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Master Builders Australia has welcomed Labor's plan to provide $10,000 to apprentices in the housing and clean energy sectors.
The payments would be made in five instalments over the course of an apprenticeship, with the policy set to cost $626 million.
Master Builders Australia C-E-O Denita Wawn says Australia needs 1.2 million more homes by 2030 but will fall short by 350,000 homes at the current rate they are being built.
Ms Wawn says the Federal Government's policy will help secure skilled labour required to pick up the pace.
"Greater uptake and completion of apprentices in the building trades is a critical component to solving the housing crisis. We know that we need more people starting, but more importantly we need more people completing only 50 per cent of apprentices that start a building trade complete. And so 10,000 is a good start."
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American Madison Keys has reached her first Australian Open decider, after an exciting semi-final match against Iga Swiatek.
The Polish tennis player had been predicted to beat Keys and move forward to compete for a sixth Grand Slam title.
But Keys fought hard to win 5-7 6-1 7-6 (10-8) on Thursday night.
She will play against face two-time defending champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the finals.
