Category Archives: Australian politics

Lotteries should not be exempt from credit card ban for online gambling, experts say

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Proposed laws provide carve out but financial counsellors say lottery products can cause ‘serious gambling harm’

Lottery companies should not be exempt from a ban on credit card use due to the harms they cause people with gambling addiction, according to financial counsellors, anti-gambling advocates and industry competitors.

The federal government has introduced legislation to ban credit card use for online wagering, citing high levels of community harm and people gambling with money they don’t have, but has proposed a carve out for lotteries.

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Labor to prioritise new asylum seeker claims as part of $160m package to tackle backlog

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Shift to ‘last in, first out’ processing aims to break the business model of those making unmeritorious claims, immigration minister says

The Albanese government will attempt to turn the tables on people making unmeritorious asylum claims by shifting to a “last in, first out” application processing system.

The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, will announce a $160m package to tackle the backlog of asylum claims, including $54m to prioritise processing new claims, an attempt to break the business model of those suggesting junk claims as a means to remain in Australia.

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Asylum seekers sent to Nauru by Australian government only months after last detainees were removed

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Exclusive: Guardian Australia understands the group – believed to be 11 people – was intercepted in September and taken to the Pacific nation

A group of asylum seekers who attempted to arrive in Australia by boat has been sent to Nauru just months after the last people were removed from immigration detention on the Pacific nation.

Guardian Australia understands that a group of asylum seekers was intercepted in September and taken to Nauru. Staff of International Health and Medical Services have been asked to work on Nauru to provide health services to the cohort, believed to number 11.

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Australia news live: Elise Archer resigns from Tasmanian parliament after ultimatum from premier; fire tears through Kings Cross hostel

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Jeremy Rockliff writes to Elise Archer asking that she advise whether she will remain in parliament

No property loss in hunter region bushfires, NSW RFS deputy commissioner says

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, NSW RFS deputy commissioner Peter McAfee also provided an update on the bushfires in the Hunter region.

So some really great saves by firefighters in really challenging conditions.

We still have some high fire danger days right across northern NSW with with extreme up in the north-west, so it’s not over this period of fire activity, but some good news to see that change moving through the southern part of the state.

It really was a serious incident there right into the evening, with crews protecting properties throughout.

We’ll have our teams in there at daylight this morning. They’re already getting in there, just looking at exactly what’s occurred. It’s [was] too dangerous to do all that work overnight.

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Pacific Islands Forum head says yes vote on Indigenous voice would ‘elevate Australia’ on world stage

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Henry Puna’s intervention comes after Vanuatu’s ex-foreign minister said a no win on 14 October would be a blow to Australia’s relationships with region

Australia’s credibility would be boosted on the world stage if the yes vote wins the looming Indigenous voice referendum, a senior Pacific leader says.

Henry Puna, the head of the Pacific Islands Forum, said on Wednesday that while he respected the country’s right to make its own democratic decision it would be “wonderful to see Australia vote yes”.

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Victorian government hired lawyers weeks before Commonwealth Games cancellation

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Law firm was engaged well before cabinet decision to cancel 2026 event, but Jacinta Allan says it came amid rising cost estimates

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has confirmed that the state government hired lawyers weeks before the public was told that it was cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

But she has denied that the law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler’s sole role was to terminate the multimillion-dollar contract.

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Australia’s system of indefinite immigration detention to face high court challenge

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Lawyers for stateless Rohingya refugee seek to overturn 20-year-old precedent that allows those who can’t be deported to be kept detained

Australia’s system of indefinite immigration detention is set to be challenged in a bid to overturn a 20-year-old high court precedent keeping hundreds of people who can’t be deported in detention.

Lawyers for NZYQ, the pseudonym of a stateless Rohingya refugee, have told the high court their client, aged 28 to 30, “may potentially be detained for life” unless it rules that people can only be held temporarily to facilitate their deportation.

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Hanson-Young labels Dutton’s voice campaigning ‘sinister’ – as it happened

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Residents of Pine Scrub and Leeka in Tasmania urged to leave amid out of control fire

A bushfire emergency warning has been issued to the Tasmanian communities of Pine Scrub and Leeka.

Burning embers may threaten your home before the main fire arrives.

Smoke and ash may make it difficult to see and breathe.

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Labor to spend $37.8m to weed out ‘bottom feeders’ among vocational education providers

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The ‘compliance blitz’ aims to crack down on rorts in the sector with the establishment of an integrity unit

The federal government will launch a $37.8m “compliance blitz” to crack down on unlawful behaviour in Australia’s vocational education and training (Vet) sector as part of a suite of measures to clean up dodgy providers in international education.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, the minister for skills and training, Brendan O’Connor, will announce the establishment of an integrity unit within the regulator to identify and address threats to Vet.

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Guardian Essential poll: yes vote gains ground but no still ahead on Indigenous voice

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Latest survey suggests 28% of voters remain in play as Anthony Albanese says one-on-one chats will shape referendum outcome

More Australians intend to vote no than yes in the voice referendum on 14 October, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

But the new poll has recorded the first positive shift towards yes in several months, as the historic referendum campaign enters the decisive stretch.

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Voice to parliament referendum: early voting opens as yes and no campaigners hit the hustings

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Early polling locations open in Victoria, Tasmania, WA and NT with other states to follow on Tuesday

Campaigners for both sides of the Indigenous voice referendum have hit the hustings as early voting opens across the country.

The yes and no campaigns have less than two weeks to make their case over whether to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in the constitution.

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Australia news live: September was driest month since records began; Victoria and Tasmania fires

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Bushfires prompt evacuation warnings in Tasmania as house destroyed in Gippsland and fire bans declared in four states. Follow today’s news live

Man allegedly set on fire at Deniliquin Ute Muster festival

Police are appealing for information after a man was allegedly set on fire at a New South Wales festival over the weekend.

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Neurodiverse kids ‘dumped’ from mainstream education amid debate over special schools

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The disability royal commission was split in its final report over whether segregated education should be phased out from 2025

Australian schoolchildren with neurodevelopmental disorders are being “dumped” from the mainstream system, a leading researcher says, as debate grows over whether special schools for students with a disability should be phased out.

The final report of the royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability, released on Friday, was split on the issue of special schools.

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Australia news live: two die after reportedly attending music festival; bushfire evacuation warning for campers in eastern Victoria

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The two men in their 20s reportedly attended the Knockout music festival at Sydney Olympic Park. Follow the day’s news live

Reserve Bank not likely to move on interest rates

Australian borrowers are likely to be spared more interest rate pain this week, following the first Reserve Bank of Australia board meeting under its new governor.

Sydney: 594 auctions with a clearance rate of 71.7%

Melbourne: 159 auctions with a clearance rate of 66%

Brisbane: 82 auctions with a clearance rate of 70.7%

Adelaide: 58 auctions with a clearance rate of 79.3%

Canberra: 64 auctions with a clearance rate of 62.5%

Tasmania: No auctions held with two expected this weekend

Perth: Six of 13 auctions have been held

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People power and a tsunami of ads: the yes voice campaign’s last-ditch effort for an unlikely victory

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Can the campaign for the Indigenous voice defy the polls and climb the ‘goat track’ of victory?

The yes campaign plans to staff every polling booth in the country with volunteers advocating for the voice, hoping their sheer numbers of supporters – and a renewed messaging focus on the consequences of a no vote on Indigenous Australians – can be enough to counter a no campaign that holds the advantage.

But despite talk in some quarters of the vote already being lost, voice supporters hope a final fortnight – including a tsunami of ads, an enormous pre-poll effort and the effects of the much-dissected “vibe” – will combine to carry the first referendum success in 46 years.

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Penny Wong refuses to release documents related to Qatar Airways decision – as it happened

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The foreign minister claims public interest immunity over Dfat advice. This blog is now closed

Rishworth won’t confirm adoption of any disability royal commission recommendations, ahead of report release

Families and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has refused to confirm if the government will be adopting any of the recommendations made in the disability royal commission report ahead of its public release today.

I’m not going to comment on any specific recommendations.

Obviously, we need to also make sure people with disability have choice and control.

You never change a country for the better through fear, you change it through hope and optimism and compassion and justice.

That’s what this referendum is about.

This is a body that won’t provide funds, that won’t run programs, that will just give advice to the government, and that experience of past bodies, and issues that have arisen has been factored in by Indigenous Australians when they’ve made this request.

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José Ramos-Horta says Australian intelligence agencies ‘know very well’ China deal is of no concern

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Timor-Leste’s president alludes to 2004 spying scandal as he brushes off concerns about new strategic partnership with Beijing

Australian intelligence agencies “know very well” that Timor-Leste’s decision to upgrade diplomatic relations with China is nothing to worry about, the country’s president has said, in an apparent reference to the 2004 spying scandal.

José Ramos-Horta has sought to ease any concerns among Timor-Leste’s neighbours about the country’s new comprehensive strategic partnership with China, despite the agreement flagging plans to expand military exchanges.

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Clive Palmer to launch million-dollar ad blitz for no vote in voice referendum

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United Australia party leader to especially target South Australia and Tasmania in reported $2m national campaign over fortnight up to 14 October poll

The campaign against the voice will be supported by millions of dollars from mining magnate Clive Palmer, who will reportedly launch an ad blitz against the referendum in the final fortnight.

Both the yes and no campaigns are preparing for a final sprint to the 14 October polling day, with major ad buys to target key states in the referendum.

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Administrative Appeals Tribunal members will be forced to reapply for jobs after Labor stacking claims

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Mark Dreyfus promises ‘transparent’ process to recruit for new federal merits review body, which will review decisions on migration, the NDIS and Centrelink

Members of the soon-to-be-axed Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) will be asked to reapply for their jobs if they wish to continue on a new federal merits review body, after Labor complained the old tribunal was stacked with Liberal mates.

On Friday the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, will open recruitment for the new Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), promising a “transparent and merit-based selection process for all members”.

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Voice referendum battlegrounds: digital ad spending surges in South Australia and Tasmania

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Yes and no camps have both honed in on two states considered to be critical to outcome, Facebook advertising data shows

Spending on digital advertising for the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum has surged in the key battleground states of Tasmania and South Australia, a Guardian Australia investigation shows.

An analysis of Facebook ad spending by prominent pages supporting the yes and no campaigns show that, adjusted for population, both groups are heavily focused on Tasmania and South Australia.

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