A federal parliamentary inquiry has opened into racism in Australia, with advocates calling for the probe to be not 'another exercise in diagnosis'. The Australian Human Rights Commission says the government already knows what needs to change, and the inquiry must turn that knowledge into action, with timelines and accountability. Meanwhile the federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Malandirri McCarthy is encouraging big social media platforms to make submissions to the inquiry. She's told NITV some Indigenous people are feeling scared after a string of reports of racist attacks in public. She's talking here to NITV's John Paul Janke

A former intelligence officer who resigned over the Iraq War has told SBS it's indisputable that Australian intelligence is being used by Israel and the United States in their war against Iran. Referring partly to Pine Gap, the secret US-Australian intelligence base near Alice Springs, Independent Andrew Wilkie is demanding the parliament be able to scrutinise any Australian involvement in what he claims are a series of illegal strikes by western allies. Israel's top Canberra diplomat says the strikes were in self defence and complied with international law. Andrew Wilkie is talking to SBS Chief Political Correspondent Anna Henderson.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has sat down with Federal Politics reporter Anna Henderson, where she was pressed on Canberra’s position and whether Australia has any involvement in the escalating global conflict following the recent attacks on Iran. The Minister addressed questions about the legal justification for the strikes, Australia’s role, and national security concerns as tensions continue to reverberate beyond the Middle East.

As US President Donald Trump warns of a big wave of further attacks on Iran, the UN Security Council is under pressure to act over the US and Israel's strikes. Iran's U-N ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani says the strikes on the weekend were unlawful - a position shared by many international law experts globally. So what are the facts? Dr Tamer Morris is a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, and he's speaking with SBS reporter Rayane Tamer, who asked him what international law says about the Israeli/US strikes on Iran.

A new survey by financial comparison website CanStar has found that many Australian households are currently worried or have concerns about future energy bill payments as federal rebates run out this year. This is in addition to an underlying price increase in household electricity bills. Over the last month, they've risen by approximately 4.5% according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. CanStar's Data Insights Director, Sally Tindall spoke to SBS's Cameron Carr about what the latest data is showing.

Dr Jamal Rifi is an Australian doctor who has travelled to Syria to try and bring home a group of Australian women and children being held in an IS-group detention camp. The federal government has been adamant it will not help with the group's repatriation, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said any of those who do return will face charges if they are found to have broken Australian law. Dr Rifi has with him passports for the cohort of women and children which have been issued by Australian authorities. He also has another passport in his possession-- for an Australian man Yusuf Zahab, who was thought to be dead, until the SBS Dateline program revealed in 2024 he was alive and in a Syrian prison. Dr Jamal Rifi spoke with SBS Chief Political Correspondent Anna Henderson from an undisclosed location.

The University of Melbourne Student Union is preparing to release the findings of its fourth report on racism on campus. The union's president, Lushy Chinganya, explains what it found and how it connects with the latest Human Rights Commission report on the same issue.

The Acknowledgement of Country has been translated into 40 languages as part of a project led by Dr Elaine Laforteza. She explains how it started and the vision for what comes next.

The Murray Darling Basin management plan is currently under review. Public submissions on a discussion paper [[see it here: https://www.mdba.gov.au/publications-and-data/publications/2026-basin-plan-review-discussion-paper]] are being accepted until  1 May 2026, as authorities determine their next steps in managing Australia's biggest river ecosystem. SBS has spoken with the national director of the Murray Darling Conservation Alliance, Craig Wilkins, about what those next steps should be.

Primary Ethics is an independent, not-for-profit organisation and provides ethics classes for school students across New South Wales. Classes are impartially run by volunteers and the program has been implemented in hundreds of schools. Facilitator Feyza Tuncay became involved with Primary Ethics when she started volunteering as an ethics teacher at her son's school. She's speaking here to SBS News' Jennifer Scherer.