More than 90,000 people are impacted after flash flooding and a 5.2-magnitude seismic event struck communities in Nepal on August 26.

Some are trapped in remote locations. Some are still searching for missing family members. Officials are working to recover the bodies of those who lost their lives and were swept downstream. 

The disaster’s death toll is now at 903 confirmed deaths. The number of people reported missing continues to rise; Nepal’s disaster agency has listed the names of 4,247 missing people.

Thankfully, more than 10,000 people have been rescued, but the situation remains volatile. Additional rains in the forecast could bring more devastation. 

With every day that passes, the chances of finding survivors grow more remote. As many as 500 workers may still be trapped in a dozen hydropower project tunnels. The workers called for help during the initial flooding, said The Associated Press. Six days later, they could be running out of oxygen. Every hour is critical for rescue efforts across the region.

Joel A’Bell, National Director of Convoy of Hope in Australia and New Zealand, said that prayers are urgently needed. 

“We’re asking people to pray for those who have lost loved ones, for those still missing, for rescue teams, local churches and communities facing the devastation of this disaster,” he said. 

“Convoy of Hope is distributing essentials for immediate relief — blankets, sheltering supplies, shelf-stable food, and fortified milk for children. Through these practical items, hope is reaching these hurting communities.”

To find out more about Convoy of Hope’s relief efforts, go to convoyofhope.org.au

Convoy of Hope is a faith-based, humanitarian organisation that delivers hope where it’s needed most.

Feature image: Supplied (Convoy of Hope)

A 5.2 magnitude landslide, paired with flash flooding, has devastated communities in the region.

The fast-moving mud, debris and floodwaters wiped out entire communities in moments, catching both local families and travelers off guard.  The death toll has risen to more than 350 people, with thousands still missing – including at least 39 Australians and 5 Kiwis.

Convoy of Hope and other Australian charities and churches are asking for urgent prayer for the situation.

“We’re calling on people to pray for everyone in Nepal, Australia and around the world whose loved ones are missing or have passed away – and for relief efforts,” said Joel A’Bell, National Director of Convoy of Hope in Australia.

“Convoy of Hope is responding through local partners to the disaster – delivering life-giving food kits to families, along with fortified milk to help sustain children.”

The full scope of the damage is still being assessed, but there are reports that more than 150 local churches have also been swept away.

“Roadways are too flooded for many survivors to evacuate. Rescue helicopters are working to save those they can find while some people wait at higher ground or grasp onto tree branches,” said A’Bell.

“We’re asking people to pray for those who have lost loved ones, for those still missing, for rescue teams, local churches and communities facing the devastation of this disaster,” he said.

To find out more about Convoy of Hope’s relief efforts, go to convoyofhope.org.au

Convoy of Hope is a faith-based, humanitarian organisation that delivers hope where it’s needed most.

Feature image: Canva

In this time of global unrest, is there room for the return of hope?

As this year opened with local unrest and worldwide conflict, a growing sense of instability and unpredictability took hold.

To better understand the impact of current events across our communities, researchers at McCrindle have researched our current responses to world events, comparing them with the ways we acted in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, publishing The Impact of Global Events on Australia’s Morale and Behaviour report.

“Taking the pulse of the nation matters because people matter. The best leaders understand people and this study provides the evidence needed to transition from reactive responses to strategic, empathy-based leadership,” the report stated.

From how Australians feel about safety through to their thoughts on electric vehicles, the report provides a window into how the community is responding to current events.

For more than a quarter of Australians the world doesn’t feel safe now

A sense of safety underpins strong communities, yet many Australians feel unsettled: 27% say the world feels unsafe, and concern about global conflict has risen sharply since 2023.

According to the report, “Younger generations are disproportionately affected by negative emotions, feeling more overwhelmed or scared than their older counterparts. This mirrors experiences from the pandemic.”

While most people feel safer close to home, this uncertainty can lead many to withdraw, spend less and stick to what feels familiar.

Building connection across our communities is essential in these volatile times.

Australians are divided on how long the Iran conflict might last

Behaviour is shaped more by perceived risk than present conditions, so expectations about the conflict’s duration reveal how deeply habits may shift.

Over a third of Australians (36%) expect the situation in Iran to stabilise within three months, while 28% anticipate instability lasting a year or longer.

Longer timelines can result in reductions in spending, investing and career moves as people try to manage their own risk.

Anxiety and frustration are higher now than in March 2020

Even though the Iran conflict is happening at a distance, it’s resulting in higher levels of anxiety and frustration than Covid 19 did for the average Australian.

While we might not feel as likely to be impacted by the unrest in Iran, our levels of frustration are higher, with 50% or Australians using the word to describe their current feelings about the conflict.

Younger generations are more likely to be feeling negative emotions

In Australia, Gen Z and Gen Y are feeling the impact even more than the older generations.

…people are changing what they do, reducing non-essential spending and travel and changing behaviour to support their own wellbeing through prayer, managing anxiety and turning off the news.

According to the report, “Younger generations are disproportionately affected by negative emotions, feeling more overwhelmed or scared than their older counterparts. This mirrors experiences from the pandemic.”

The majority of Australians are changing their behaviour as a response

While the conflict is happening on the other side of the world, the impact is being felt by Australian households and businesses every day. As a result, people are changing what they do, reducing non-essential spending and travel and changing behaviour to support their own wellbeing through prayer, managing anxiety and turning off the news.

“These shifts are important because they demonstrate a proactive focus on maintaining personal stability and resilience during times of uncertainty,” explains the report.

Even in these volatile times, the older generations are bringing stability to the country, with 36% of Gen X and 43% of Baby Boomers making no change to their routines.

The impact on cars and their drivers

It’s at the petrol pump that most Australians are feeling the impact of world events, with only 23% reporting no change in their driving habits due to petrol prices.

The pressure of rising fuel prices is also pushing more people to consider moving to electric vehicles either now or in the future, with 31% indicating that they are very open to making the switch and another 37% being somewhat or slightly interested.

What next? Leading through challenge

The truth is that with challenge also comes opportunity. Opportunity to do things differently, to engage communities together and to develop creative solutions to what is in front of us.

In the same way that Jeremiah called the Israelites to be fully committed to seeking the best for the place they were in, we too can choose to be wholehearted in bringing hope and life to our country even in uncertain times.

The report illustrates the opportunity we all face, to respond with hope and step up to lead those around us, in our families, workplaces and especially in the wider community.

In the same way that Jeremiah called the Israelites to be fully committed to seeking the best for the place they were in, we too can choose to be wholehearted in bringing hope and life to our country even in uncertain times.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.

Feature image: Canva

More than a year on, Australia’s first Anti-Racism National Framework is still waiting for a federal response. So what happens now?

Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giri Sivaraman explains how the lack of progress on the Anti-Racism National Framework is deeply concerning.

So far, the Federal Government is yet to show clear commitment to acting on Australia’s first plan to tackle racism across all layers of our society.

“At this stage… they’re just sitting on it,” Giri said about the Federal Government’s response to The National Anti-Racism Framework.

“Other than acknowledging that they’ve got it, they’re yet to endorse it, and certainly they haven’t committed to funding any of its recommendations.”

Giri described the delay as disappointing, especially given recent events and what he sees as a growing urgency.

“We know that racism is an urgent issue and we need change,” he said.

“It’s something that needs urgent action, it’s simply not going to go away.”

The National Anti-Racism Framework

Created by the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Framework is the first of its kind in Australia and offered a whole of government, whole of society roadmap to tackling racism.

In the past, efforts have been “ad hoc and disjointed,” Giri explained, with some parts of government avoiding the word “racism” altogether.

“We won’t get along by pretending racism doesn’t exist,” Giri said.

The framework includes 63 recommendations, with a key proposal being the creation of a National Anti-Racism taskforce to prioritise and implement changes.

“We knew that it was big and bold,” Giri said.

“We’re talking about a deeply entrenched problem.”

He pointed to education and workplaces as areas where meaningful change could begin.

“The person that ends up doing that hateful, violent act… they’re on a journey,” he said. “On that journey they would have gone to school and probably had a job.”

“If you intervene in those spaces, you can divert someone… away from a destination of hate to something more productive.”

Yet even amid the frustration, Giri has found reason for hope closer to the ground.

“I’ve had so much support from community organisations, business, unions,” he said.

“There are some… that have decided, look, we’re not going to wait for the government.”

Giri also addressed the challenge of helping people understand systemic racism, which goes beyond individual behaviour.

“They think, ‘if I’m not saying something racist… it’s not happening’,” he said. “I say, actually no… it’s part of the system.”

From job applications to workplace culture, he outlined how barriers can quietly shape outcomes for people from different backgrounds.

But he believes change isn’t only structural, it’s personal too.

“We all have some degree of power, privilege or opportunity,” Giri said. “Think about what influence you can have to make a difference.”

“Maybe… you might speak up next time you hear something and you go, ‘oh actually no, that’s not really appropriate’.”

“It’s hard… but we all have some degree of power… to make that little bit of difference, just to shift the dial that little bit more towards hope,” Giri said.

This article was prepared with AI assistance and then carefully reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by our Digital Team.

Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.

Feature image: Canva

The Albanese Government’s new budget aims to ease pressure on Australians

On Tuesday 12 May, the Albanese government delivered its fifth budget.

It comes at a time of increasing economic pressure for many Australians, with rising costs for essentials amid a global oil crisis, and elevated interest rates.

“War in the Middle East has been pushing up prices, pushing down growth, and punishing Australians,” said Mr Chalmers.

“But how we respond is up to us. This budget is ambitious in the face of adversity.”

Relief

The budget is focused on delivering cost-of-living relief, housing affordability and supply, national security, energy security, and productivity.

“It makes the tax system fairer and stronger for workers, businesses, first home buyers and future generations.”

Tax

The budget includes a new tax break called WATO – Working Australians Tax Offset.

It will provide an extra tax cut of up to $250 a year (increasing the tax-free threshold to $19,985). It will come into effect from the next tax year (2027-28).

Meanwhile, individual tax rates announced in last year’s budget will begin this year, on July 1.

The lowest tax bracket (between $18,201 and $45,000) will drop from 16 per cent to 15 per cent, giving lower income earners up to an extra $268 a year.

Further, workers will be able to use a $1,000 instant tax deduction (no receipts needed), producing a guaranteed average annual saving of $205. The instant deduction is for those 6.2 million workers who claim under $1,000 in work-related expenses.

Homes

Through a major overhaul of “investor tax”, the government says the market will finally be tilted toward first home buyers.

The government estimates that these measures (see below) will help 75,000 Australians buy their first property.

Also, to encourage the building of new homes, the government is spending $2 billion over four years on critical infrastructure.

“This funding will support up to 65,000 homes over the decade and brings the Government’s total investment in housing‑enabling infrastructure to $6.3 billion,” said a government statement.

 There will also be an overhaul of planning and zoning regulations so homes can be approved and built more quickly.

(The government is also extending its ban on foreign buyers purchasing any established homes until mid‑2029.)

Investor tax overhaul

The first big change is to negative gearing. In what critics have described as a “broken promise” by the Coalition, the Albanese government has overhauled a system long prized by investors.

From the next financial year, investors can only negatively gear a property if that property is a brand new home (not a pre-existing one).

For those who currently negatively gear a rental property, nothing changes, and their negative gearing can continue.

Negative gearing enables investors to reduce their taxable income by claiming the difference between their expenses (mortgage repayments and other costs), and the rental income.

The other big change is to Capital Gains Tax. Up until now, there has been a 50 per cent discount on CGT (the taxing on any profit when an investment is sold). From the next financial year, the government is scrapping that discount for new investments, though the purchase price will be indexed for inflation, softening the blow a little. (The reforms apply to gains made after July 1, 2027.)

Mr Chalmers admitted that the changes to the system, which have long been geared toward investors, were “contentious”.

“There’s no use pretending otherwise, but it’s the right thing to do,” the Treasurer shared.

“The easiest thing that we could have done from a political point of view would be to see these challenges in the housing market, particularly for young people, and to see the issues in the tax system, and to leave everything exactly as it was.”

Homelessness

The government is investing $59.4 million to help those at risk of homelessness. The funding will provide social housing for over 4,000 young at-risk people aged 16–24.

The budget will also release a further $100 million from the Housing Australia Future Fund to improve the quality of housing for Indigenous Australians living in remote communities.

Fuel crisis

As most Australians would be aware, the fuel excise has already been halved amid the oil crisis, and the government will invest $10 billion to strengthen Australia’s fuel security.

Small business

The ATO is “streamlining” access to temporary relief from tax obligations until the end of the current financial year.

This includes more generous payment plans for tax, support in varying pay as you go (PAYG) instalments (when taxable income drops), and a new dedicated way for businesses to access relief.

Defence

The government is giving the military $53 billion over 10 years to modernise the defence force. This will include investing in drone and counter-drone technologies.

“Road of Reform”

Treasurer Chalmers claimed that no other budget in the 2000s has set out this much “responsible repair” and economic reform.

“Tonight, we choose the hard road of reform, not the path of least resistance,” Mr Chalmers told Parliament.

“By responding to the pressures Australians confront today. And fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities to the generations to come.”

Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.

About the author: Michael Crooks is a senior journalist and former news editor of Who magazine. His work has appeared in People, Marie Claire, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, news.com.au, Qantas magazine and more.

Feature image: Canva