Pauline Hanson calls for "monocultural society", vows to axe SBS

Good afternoon.

Pauline Hanson has declared Australia must exist as a “monocultural society” and cannot be multicultural, in her first address to the National Press Club in Canberra.

The One Nation leader pledged to axe SBS and overhaul the ABC if she wins the next federal election, including imposing a licence fee for metropolitan households to watch the public broadcaster. Regional services would be protected, she said.

She personally attacked a Guardian Australia reporter who asked about Hanson’s daughter working as a senior adviser to New South Wales One Nation senator Sean Bell, despite living and working in Tasmania.

During Hanson’s speech, a protest banner briefly appeared behind the podium, reading: “I opposed a pay rise for workers while I took a $100,000 pay rise for myself.”

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World Cup 2026

In a busy day at the World Cup, it was France 3-1 Senegal, then Iraq 1-4 Norway. Lionel Messi starred in Argentina’s 3-0 sweep of Algeria at 11am, while Austria has just defeated Jordan 3-1.

Coming up tomorrow: Portugal v DR Congo at 3am AEST and England v Croatia at 6am AEST.

Ahead of the Socceroos’ clash against the USA on Friday (Saturday AEST), Jack Snape reviews the key American threats Australia must neutralise to make the round of 32.

In pictures

Donald Trump’s US$14.2m attempt to turn the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool from what the US president described as a “filthy” site into a monument with “American flag blue” has encountered a hitch: the water is green again.

What they said …

“The reason why it went viral is because it was raw. It was not edited. It was just purely what the players wanted to say and all put together. And then it had an effect because individually the Australians can feel and relate with it.” – Awer Mabil

The Socceroos forward offered an explanation of why the public has latched onto a video celebrating the team’s diversity. At the same press conference (shortly before Pauline Hanson vowed to scrap SBS) Mabil delivered a touching moment when he spotted longtime SBS commentator David Basheer: “I grew up watching you.”

Full Story

‘Grandpa in a bunker’: is Putin losing control?

Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer discusses Vladimir Putin’s increasing isolation – and seeming paranoia – as ordinary Russians become more restive over the toll of the war in Ukraine.

Listen to the episode here.

Before bed read

A rat sighting in New Zealand can trigger an urgent response. Meet the ‘ghostbusters’ hunting them down

The detector teams in Wellington react to “intel” from the public about pest sightings as part of the country’s push to eradicate all introduced predators, as you can read here.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: RACH. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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