SBS News In Depth

Australia's first confirmed death of a little penguin with H5 bird flu has been recorded on Victoria's Phillip Island. The detection comes as authorities begin a vaccination program targeting thousands of little penguins on the island and at St Kilda. Conservation teams say vaccination is only one part of the response, with habitat protection and biosecurity measures also being stepped up to help vulnerable wildlife withstand the virus

Aunty Pat Turner has been named Person of the Year at the 2026 National NAIDOC Awards in Mparntwe Alice Springs. First Nations leaders, artists and young achievers walked the Blak Carpet, as ten awards were presented recognising achievement across culture, community, education, sport and innovation. The ceremony also marked 50 years of NAIDOC recognition, celebrating generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement.

A funeral has been held for five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby- three-and-a-half months after she was found dead near Alice Springs. Her alleged abduction and murder sent shockwaves throughout the country, with her family today inviting Central Australia to come together to mourn and remember who she was.

A new law in China requires parents to guide their children to love the Chinese Communist Party, schools to teach a government-approved version of Chinese history, and all citizens to refrain from doing anything the government deems not conducive to promoting a unified Chinese ethnicity. With the laws extending to critics abroad, minority ethnic groups like the Uyghurs and Tibetans say the laws codify and expand longstanding policies of forced assimilation and threaten to silence critics around the world.

The opening of a new mosque in the regional New South Wales town of Young is being celebrated by the Muslim community.