Aus accused of 'environmental vandalism'+ Why is China censoring the Tibet floods?

**Chris Spyrou** (0:08)
Hey, Chris Spyrou with you, welcome to The Briefing. When you hear the words flash flood, you might picture a river bursting its banks or a car being swept down the road. Not a wall of mud and rock the height of a building swallowing everything in its path. But that's what the world watched last week on the Nepal-Tibet border. Everyone except people inside one country where the footage has been scrubbed.

**Allyson Horn** (0:30)
The one question and answer that was shown on state media was, how's China been treating you? And the response from these Tibetans, China is treating us really well. We're getting three meals a day.

**Chris Spyrou** (0:40)
A deep dive into why and how China is censoring information around the Nepal-Tibet floods is coming up in the second half of this episode. First, let's get into the headlines for Sacha Barbour Gatt. It's Thursday, the 3rd of September.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (0:54)
Hey, curious detectives have now wrapped up their interviews with players involved in the ongoing sexual assault investigation linked to the Sydney Swans. Victoria Police has released a statement saying the sexual crime squad has this week been in New South Wales and has interviewed four players listing their ages and home suburbs. Isaac Heaney, Chad Warner, James Jordan and Nick Blakey are the four men. It is understood Riley Bice is now being treated as a witness.

**Chris Spyrou** (1:22)
The group was stood down by the Swans last month for breaching club behaviour standards after a late night of partying in Melbourne following a win over Essendon. Three women subsequently made a report of sexual assault to the police. The statement says a further three men who are believed to have been present in the room at the time of the alleged incident will also be interviewed.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (1:42)
No one has been arrested or charged and the investigation remains ongoing. The Swans have issued a response acknowledging the statement by Victoria Police saying, the well-being of those impacted remains of paramount importance, and also saying that the club won't be commenting any further. But the statement did end with an apology to Sydney's members and fans, sponsors and the wider community, quote, along with all of our staff and players across both the women's and men's programs, for the distress and disappointment this matter has caused.

**Chris Spyrou** (2:12)
The Coalition will today announce a plan to make vapes legal, slash the cigarette excise and invest millions in law enforcement, as part of a plan to tackle Australia's deadly tobacco wars. Angus Taylor will today confirm a Liberal Nationals government would cut the tax on ciggies by 80%, which would lower the cost of a packet of 20 by around $24.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (2:31)
He'll also overturn a ban on vapes, which right now can only legally be bought at pharmacies. And he'd also tax them, saying the plan would inject an additional $8 billion into the budget in its first four years. There would also be an extra $200 million in funding for law enforcement to conduct raids, arrests and investigations to crush the black market trade of tobacco and vapes.

**Chris Spyrou** (2:54)
Now the Coalition insists this isn't about making smokes and vaping cheaper, but all about bringing an end to the underworld wars, which have seen businesses firebombed and people injured and even killed. The policy would also turn around an estimated $8 to $12 billion budget shortfall that's been lost due to the popularity of illegal and untaxed nicotine products.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (3:15)
So Peter Dutton took a similar sort of policy to the 2025 election. He said he'd legalise vapes. But this seems this is like a four point plan. This is also cash as well on education to tell people how bad smoking is and vaping, but also to let the public know what's happening with the underworld wars, which I thought was interesting as part of an education program and trying to say, here's what happens when we allow the black market to run rampant. Labour has faced internal pressure to lower the excise on cigarettes from state premier Chris Mintz in New South Wales. Now he said we should be looking at the excise and considering lowering the cost of cigarettes because of how bad the black market is.
But Labour has resisted all calls to lower the tax on cigarettes. They've compared it to putting the interests of criminal gangs above the health of the country. They want stronger police response to crime and have invested $300 million in enforcement so far.

**Chris Spyrou** (4:18)
Yeah, well, this is the thing. Health experts say if you lower the excise and you make these products legal and whatever, you're kind of giving the green light to smoking and smoking rates have dropped. In Australia, we're doing a good job around promoting healthy messaging there.