The World Today
Reflecting on a year in Gaza
ABC listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. Hello and welcome to the world today. It is Tuesday, the 8th of October. I'm Sally Sarah coming to you from Nanowar country in Canberra and acknowledging other custodians. Today calls for a major overhaul of the child support system with new research revealing women are experiencing financial abuse. At a gathering of Indigenous rugby league talent in regional New South Wales, the Koori Knockout combines history and emerging sport stars. Culturally it's like the standard, you know, the epitome of modern day corubbery. It's something very positive and yeah, our people are just... We all congregate here and it's a beautiful thing to say, I still get together. To the Middle East, and Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon's capital Beirut. In one of the heaviest days of fighting so far, the Israeli bombardment hit more than 30 towns and villages in Lebanon South as fighting with Hezbollah escalates. Lebanese officials say in one attack, Israel killed 10 firefighters and that in the past two weeks, almost 2,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million have been displaced. The IDF says another two Israeli soldiers have been killed inside Lebanon. Meanwhile, more than a thousand Australians have now been evacuated from Lebanon. Loved ones reunited at Sydney Airport last night as the first repatriation flight landed. Imagine you've been bombed, our houses have been bombed, our rooms have been bombed. No more neighbors, no more senior... Can you just imagine it for a second? And I never knew the importance of having this passport until today, honestly. So thank you very much Australia. Further flights carrying Australians are due to touchdown later today. Meanwhile, conditions in Gaza remain dire with Israel launching fresh attacks across the strip. Two strikes hit houses in a refugee camp, killing 21 people with more fear dead. Yesterday, you heard from Israeli mother Adit O'Hail, whose son Alon was kidnapped one year ago by Hamas on October 7th last year. Today, you'll hear from Palestinian journalist Akram Al-Sattari, who lives and works in Gaza. In the past year, he has risked his life day after day to cover the war. Sometimes, you know that the risk is extremely imminent. When you see neighbors die and you'll see some of your religious lives, you and when you see also your journalist trends die, you understand that at some certain time, you will die. And this is the very critical point, where you feel fearful, but at the very same time, you overcome that fear, knowing that whatever is written and that whatever you're sacrificing is for the sake of just communicating the truth about the people who are voiceless and whom you are becoming their voice. Akram, as a journalist, sometimes in the middle of great pain and suffering and war and violence, despite how big it is, sometimes there will be one child or one face or one day that really stays with you. I'm wondering what that has been for you. The painful thing is that we see faces every day when the average number of people who are killed is around 60 and with the average number of people who are injured is around 200. If there is a list of faces that would be a very, very long list, but I still remember one specific face of a child, those three years old, who lost his mother, who lost his father and who lost also his siblings and he was in the hospital. I was thinking, how would he be facing life and also with the fact that he has a very long process before he can be fully recovered. Do you have a family of your own, Akram? Yes, I have a family. It burns my heart, makes me worry, makes me cry sometimes, what it would be if I was targeted and killed or what it would be if my children were targeted and killed. You're living such a chronic period of time where you see people falling dead or injured, becoming displaced and every time you think that you might be the one skilled for your children might be the ones who are killed. So the situation is extremely emotionally draining because of the pain that you see, the pain that you feel at the same time and because of the fact that the overall situation in Gaza is extremely harsh, you're still feeling for the people and you still worry that you might be or some of your family might be next. How much do you feel for the doctors and the medical and the nursing staff who have been trying to deal with these casualties, often when they have almost nothing, very little equipment and medication to deal with these cases coming through? I feel sorry for them, but it's also the resilience and dedication. It's part of their professional career and it's part of their human message. They are very adamant to continue providing the care for the people. They ended up trapped in their hospitals when the hospitals were besieged by the Israeli army and they are heroes and they have been doing all they can for the sake of just supporting their people. I'm proud of them and I think they also should be proud of themselves but I don't think they have time to be proud. All they have is the time to dedicate themselves and their time and their professional expertise to help their people. I think that is extremely dignifying and honourable. Yesterday, a crime I spoke with a mother from Israel, her son is one of the hostages who is still in Gaza and I asked her, does she feel for the mothers in Gaza who may have their own children who are lost or missing? What do you feel about the Israeli families who may have their family members still as hostages in Gaza or who were killed on October 7th? Sally, we are all humans. I feel for any human that is suffering worldwide, even when they're different from my culture, different from my religious orientation, different from my geographical zone. The humanity is an integral part and concept and I am feeling for the ones who are losing their tears and I hope that they would be reunited sometime soon and I hope that also the Palestinian prisoners would be reunited with their family some concerns. Just finally, what is the thing that you would like people to most understand about the situation in Gaza right now that the people are dealing with? The situation is unprecedented, unimaginable, uncomceivable. No matter how hard I try to explain to you how it's like to live in a life that is lacking everything, you will never understand. It's a personal reflection on the war, one year on, Akram Al-Sattari, a journalist living and working in Gaza. On ABC radio across Australia streaming online and on the ABC Listen App, this is the world today. Australia's child support system is causing harm to mothers who have left abusive relationships according to a new report. Today, women are campaigning in Canberra calling for urgent reform to the system. One expert says the current setup gives violent ex-partners continued control over their victims, Kathleen Ferguson reports. Cherise Hayes says she was encouraged to file for child support when she and her husband separated 14 years ago but she says the system wasn't what she expected it to be. The struggle is real and the system is not working and it certainly failed my family. The single mother from Perth is in Canberra with other women in similar positions advocating for change. I'm calling on the government to take notice and to hold parents without integrity accountable. A new report is being launched as part of the campaign. It is called opening the black box of child support shining a light on financial abuse. Its lead author is Professor Kay Cook from the Swinburne University of Technology. We surveyed single mothers on their experiences of the child support system and we had 675 women respond and we wanted to test the assumptions that the child support system works on about how parents behave, how payments are made and we found that they were largely erroneous. That the way that the administration and the government tells itself that the system works is not the way that women experience the system at all. Under the current system to receive family payments from the government parents must also file for child support from the other parent and depending on the agreement between them it doesn't have to go through the government. Kay Cook says this system is based on assumptions. Half of the child support caseload transfers payments privately between one parent and the other without the agency's involvement and there's an assumption that those parents get along better and that they're able to work together in children's best interests. But what we find is that the private system is also used as a way where particularly in instances where there's an abusive ex-partner that system can be used to then coerce or threaten to say well I'm not going to make payments. One of the reforms being put forward as part of this campaign is to delink family payments from child support. To guarantee single parents will get the government payment regardless of the other parent. Kay Cook says there is an exemption to this but she says it doesn't hold abusive ex-partners accountable. If a woman feels that collecting child support will put them in danger they can be exempt from seeking child support so they can still receive maximum family tax benefits. They're not reduced on the basis of child support income but it means that the perpetrator doesn't have to pay child support if they don't have to provide any money towards the like the welfare of their children. Another proposed reform includes moving all child support collections to the Australian Taxation Office. It currently sits with the Department of Social Services and is delivered by Services Australia. The report suggests this would improve debt collection and help address assessment loopholes including income minimisation leading to lower payments. Kay Cook says some ex-partners are exploiting the system to harm their victims. If you still want to control that person and you still want to cause harm then their finances provide an excellent vehicle to do so. Theresa Cook is the CEO of Single Mother Families Australia. She says the data is worrying because single families are more likely to experience poverty. It is concerning that women who were entitled to receive child support that 47% received up to $8 per week. That $8 per week exposes and shows the minimisation and the loopholes that are happening. The research shows more than $1.7 billion is owed in child support debt but Kay Cook says the government only calculates debts based on what is reasonably collectible. The federal government last month announced a review into key areas where there are weaponisation opportunities for perpetrators of gender-based violence including the child support and tax systems. That's Kathleen Ferguson reporting and if you're in an abusive situation or you know someone who is you can call 1-800-Respect that's 1-800-737-732 and if it's an emergency you can call 000. Infectious diseases experts are warning Australians not to be complacent about the ongoing risk of COVID-19 as cases of a newly highly transmissible variant grow. It's called XEC and the Australian has been reported in 29 other countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and now Australia. Experts say there's a chance it will drive a summer wave of illness here and they're urging people to start thinking about how to best protect themselves and others. Stephanie Smail reports. It's swept across Europe and now the latest COVID-19 variant has arrived in Australia. Hundreds of cases of the XCC strain have been reported across the world and the World Health Organisation says it's a variant under monitoring encouraging authorities to keep a closer eye on it. We're certainly seeing this new sub-variant out compete or have a growth advantage over other sub-variants in in many parts of the world at the moment. That's Professor Paul Griffin an infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist. He explains XEC is a recombinant COVID-19 variant which means it's a mix of two previous Omicron sub-variants. Professor Griffin says there's been about 23 cases reported in Australia so far but he warns there's a chance it could cause a summer wave of disease and he's worried Australians have let their COVID protections lapse. What we know is that COVID isn't going to go away it's going to keep changing it's done this countless times before and there's no reason to suspect it's going to stop doing this sort of a thing. So we do just need to keep those basic fundamental infection control practices those preventative health practices in place so that we don't let COVID cause more harm than it needs to. Because XCC is the combination of sub-variants it can escape existing immunity. So Professor Griffin says if you're not sure if you should be getting a vaccine booster ask your doctor. Most people are eligible and able to have one every 12 months or so that may still be subject to change depending on what we see with activity and high risk people should certainly have one at least every 12 months and for many including those in nursing homes or over 75 for example would really be having one every six months. He says it's not about how many vaccines you've had but getting regular boosters and he's calling for a new public health campaign to keep that fresh in people's minds. What I'd like to see is a bit of a campaign to remind people about the importance of boosting so we get good uptake of those new boosters when they become available. People who might have had an immunity boost through winter or had a vaccine earlier in the year might be feeling quite confident now that our infection rates in the community are at a low but they never go away. Catherine Bennett is chair of epidemiology at Deakin University. She says it's hoped that because XCC is the relative of existing strains it won't offer any nasty surprises in terms of severity or symptoms and she explains the therapeutic goods administration's decision on two new vaccines that target the Omicron sub-variant JN1 should be happening soon which would be good timing. That JN1 is of course one of the ancestral strains to this XCC variant that we're looking at so it would be a good fit. Other vaccines still work. There is cross-protection but the closer the vaccine matches the variant is circulating then the more effective it's going to be. That's Professor Catherine Bennett there from Deakin University ending that report from Stephanie Smail. Just a few weeks after being pummeled by Hurricane Helene the southern US state of Florida is again under threat. While local communities are still reeling after hundreds of deaths and widespread property damage a category five storm Hurricane Milton is intensifying off the southern Gulf Coast. As the state braces for Milton's landfall residents are becoming increasingly nervous. David Escort prepared this report. Just two weeks ago the southern US was hit by one of the most damaging storms in recent years. More than 230 people were killed as Hurricane Helene swept across six states with Florida among the heaviest hit. Now less than two weeks later the state is again preparing for the worst. This time category 5 hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in the coming days. Sarah says Licki is a resident of Bel Air Beach a city on Florida's west central coast. It's really frustrating that the last hurricane came the storm and they've screwed around and haven't picked the debris up and now they're scrambling to get it picked up and if this one does hit it's going to be flying missiles. Stuff's going to be floating flying in the air it's just a little scary to protect your house because it's not just your house it's all the houses have to refile it up as high as you can see. The warnings from authorities are also becoming increasingly urgent. Timothy Dudley Jr. is the emergency management director for Hillsborough County also on the states west central coast. He wants residents to start evacuating. Do it right now while the weather is still clear and you still have time. When it's time before those impacts come you need to be out of the evacuation zone. This storm is a serious storm. The EOC is at a level one activation over the past two weeks for a response to Helene. We've been activated operating at a level two to do recovery and response for Helene. We've suspended some of the resources for Helene right now to ensure that all those resources are ready to go back out. Hurricane Helene took several U.S. states by surprise surging inland after making ground in northern Florida. Houses were lifted off their foundations by floodwater and evacuation zones quickly reached capacity with people fleeing the storm. Alex Harris is a climate and environment reporter with the Miami Herald. She says the severity of Helene was amplified by local weather conditions. What made Hurricane Helene so different than other hurricanes is that you know it came in as usual on the coast. Floridians were pretty ready. We're used to storms. We evacuated mostly the death toll was pretty low but then it kept going inland and actually collided with another atmospheric phenomenon to just dump an intense amount of rain. She says residents are now especially anxious as Milton approaches. People are exhausted and they're scared. It hasn't even been two weeks yet and now and even potentially stronger storms specifically for certain areas of the coast that only got a smack from the last hurricane are now looking down the barrel of an even more powerful storm that the National Hurricane Center said could be one of the most deadly events for this part of the Florida coast in its history. Alex Harris says fear over the storm has already resulted in mass evacuations. There are folks who are you know long lines at grocery stores putting plywood and even skateboards up over their windows. People are evacuating by the millions as they all try to go inland and north and anywhere they can to get away from the water that we're expected to see. Milton is expected to make landfall on the coast of Florida on Wednesday, US time. That's David Escort reporting. The small town of Walgut has gone back to back to take out Indigenous rugby league's prized title at the annual Currie Knockout in Bathurst. What started as a way for Indigenous players who'd been overlooked to play on the big stage has grown to become one of the largest Indigenous gatherings in the country. To fans and players alike, it is much more than just a game. Reporter Hamish Cole was there to witness all the action. At a suburban football ground in Bathurst, New South Wales, around a dozen teenagers gather for a welcome to country. The ceremony is an integral part of the Currie Knockout where every year Indigenous rugby league players from 140 teams across the state gather to compete. Wiradjuri Elder Shirley Scott says the competition, now in its 52nd year, is about more than sport. His teaching and the part of the culture about what culture is all about is, you know, song and beats invade together. Over a lot of years, the kids have forgotten who, who, where they come from. And this is part of helping them learn. This year's tournament is of particular significance. 200 years ago, martial law was declared in the region, with colonial soldiers deployed against the local Wiradjuri people to suppress resistance efforts. Scores of First Nations people were massacred in the ensuing violence. Camilla Roy Mann, an event spokesperson, Jeff Simpson says the pain continues to be felt today. I think the impact around martial law is that all these, all these fellows here are a part of that lived experience, you know. Whether it was in Bathurst or in another town, something similar happened right across our nation. And we know it inherently, and it's been handed down through stories about the terrible, the terrible stuff that happened to our people who suffered for us to have a better life, so. The knockout is a unique fixture in the sporting landscape. NRL stars like Connor Tracy and Ben Barba mix in with amateur players from all walks of life. Some NRL players even travel to the tournament just to run water. For Bathurst local and Camilla Sharks' full-back will Kennedy, it's an opportunity to connect with the community. It's a very special, we're close family and we all love each other as a community and as people and we love our culture as well, so it's the best thing to come together as one here in the event. Everyone loves this weekend, so it's special. After four days of action and more than 30,000 fans attending, it was the Redfern All Blacks getting the win over the Burke Warriors and the women's first-grade grand final. Redfern Captain Lavina O'Mealy says she was overwhelmed with emotion. Been a while since I won a KO for like 27-9, I think it was a few years ago. We got into final last year and we went down in Golden Point but I think the girls took that in the stride and we used that as fuel leading into the KO this time and trained really hard and we worked hard for it. And just finally, you know, what does it mean to win the Korean knockout for you girls? How exciting is that? Culturally, it's like the standard, you know, the epitome of modern-day corubary. It's something very positive and yeah, our people, we just, we all congregate here and it's a beautiful thing to say us all get together. In the men's competition, the small town of Wollget took out the top honors for a second year in a row, defeating Nanoma Common Connection 46-12. The star-studded side included players like Will Kennedy, Ben Barber and Bathurst Local, George Rose. Despite having played more than 150 NRL games for clubs including Manly, St George Elawara and Melbourne Storm, George Rose says there's nothing quite like taking the field for the Korean knockout. We've got about a thousand people out here on the field at the moment and I've hugged half of them, I've got to hug the rest of them still to go. Well, I think it's just special people, they're all family to every one of us. That's Wollget Aboriginal Connections, George Rose ending that report from the ABC's Hamish Cole and that is all from the World Today team. Thanks for your company, I'm Sally Sarah. Hi, I'm Sam Hawley, host of the ABC News Daily Podcast. Electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular and if you can't afford a Tesla, a cheaper Chinese model could be the answer, except in the US, where the Biden administration wants to ban Chinese developed software from cars on American roads. Today, Adam Tong from the Centre for a New American Security on whether nations like Australia should do the same. Look for the ABC News Daily Podcast on the ABC Listen app. [BLANK_AUDIO]