Category Archives: Australia news

Greater Sydney council bans ‘revealing swimwear’ sparking debate about double standards

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One expert says women’s bodies and attire have long been a source for public debate in a way that doesn’t happen with men

A council in Greater Sydney has announced it is banning G-string bikinis at its public pools without providing further details about how the rule will be policed, sparking debate about gender standards.

Earlier this month, Blue Mountains Leisure Centres (BMLC) posted on Facebook that it had noticed some “confusion” about “appropriate swimwear” when visiting one of their pools.

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Coles to stop selling kitchen knives in supermarkets across Australia after Ipswich worker stabbed

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Decision comes after alleged assault on 63-year-old Claudia Campomayor Watt on Monday

Coles will stop selling kitchen knives after the stabbing of one its employees in a south-east Queensland supermarket – an alleged assault that prompted the state’s premier to promise further crackdowns on youth crime.

Claudia Campomayor Watt, 63, was allegedly stabbed in the back on Monday while working at a Coles in Ipswich’s Yamanto Central shopping centre. The knife was taken from the supermarket’s shelves.

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Australia news live: delays up to 70 minutes on Sydney trains as industrial action begins; Hume says Coalition would cut ‘bloated bureaucracy’

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‘Passengers should expect delays, service cancellations and large service gaps’ across Sydney today, NSW TrainLink warns. Follow today’s news live

Wong ‘absolutely confident’ government can work with Trump as US president

Moving to another topic, Penny Wong was asked about her invite to Donald Trump’s inauguration in the US, and responded:

Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and I’m honoured, on behalf of the country, to have been invited to his inauguration.

This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial. So that is their obligation, [and] we will look at the facts when they have been ascertained.

But I want to be clear, all options are on the table. Those options include expelling the ambassador and recalling Australia’s ambassador in Russia … I need, as the foreign minister, to identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.

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Sam Kerr appears in court charged with alleged racially aggravated harassment

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The Australia and Chelsea striker, who denies the charge, appeared at Kingston crown court on Tuesday

The Matildas and Chelsea superstar Sam Kerr has appeared in court charged with alleged racially aggravated harassment of a police officer

The Australian striker attended a hearing, wearing a black coat and a white jumper, at Kingston crown court on Tuesday.

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Middle-income Australians experiencing rental stress with a third of pay spent on housing, report shows

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Rent has increased by 36% nationally since Covid, CoreLogic finds, which equates to an extra $171 a week on average

Even Australians on median incomes are in rental stress, a new report has found, with households on middle incomes spending 33% of their wages on housing.

Last year saw the smallest annual rental increase since 2021, going up 4.8% over the year – down from 8.1% in 2023, CoreLogic’s report found.

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After costly appeal and dispute over research standards, religious institution becomes Australia’s 44th university

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Australian College of Theology is the third theological institution to get university status since 2020, demonstrating growing power of religious providers

A college that describes itself as Australia’s largest provider of theological education has become the nation’s 44th university, ending years of costly appeals and demonstrating the growing power of small religious providers.

The Australian College of Theology (ACT) – which will be renamed the Australian University of Theology – is the third religious institution to receive full university status since 2020.

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Dfat making ‘urgent inquiries’ after reports Australian man captured while fighting for Ukraine has been killed

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Australian government holds ‘grave concerns’ for welfare of Oscar Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Melbourne

The Australian government is “making urgent inquiries” after reports of the death of an Australian citizen captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine.

Oscar Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Melbourne, was serving alongside Ukraine’s armed forces when he was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers last year as a prisoner of war. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in military fatigues, speaking English and Ukrainian, confirming his name and nationality, and being asked if he was a mercenary.

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Australia news live: SpaceX debris disrupts Qantas flights from Sydney to South Africa

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Follow today’s news live

Rowland reacts to number of women preselected by Liberal party to replace retiring MPs

Michelle Rowland was also asked about the fact just one woman has been preselected to replace eight Liberal MPs who are retiring at the next election. Is she disappointed by this?

Clearly, Peter Dutton talks a big game when it comes to these issues, but the reality is borne out by the fact that they continue to overlook women for public office … For my mind, that says everything about Peter Dutton being stuck in the past, just as he’s stuck in the past around the national broadband network, his response to this announcement is to call it a joke, which is an insult to regional communities.

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Mystery balls close nine northern Sydney beaches months after fatbergs washed ashore

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Grey ball-shaped debris found washed up along shore will be tested by Environment Protection Authority, local council says

Nine of Sydney’s northern beaches have been closed after ball-shaped debris washed ashore.

The Northern Beaches council on Tuesday advised beachgoers to avoid Manly, Dee Why, Long Reef, Queenscliff, Freshwater, North and South Curl Curl, North Steyne and North Narrabeen beaches until further notice.

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Boy, 13, charged with attempted murder as Coles worker fights for life after alleged Queensland stabbing

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Woman, 63, allegedly stabbed in the back while working at supermarket in Ipswich’s Yamanto Central shopping centre

A 13-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after an alleged stabbing of a Coles employee.

Police allege the teenager approached the 63-year-old woman while she was working at the supermarket in Ipswich’s Yamanto Shopping Centre, south-west of Brisbane, and stabbed her in the back with a knife before attempting to flee the scene.

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Mornington Peninsula house falls down cliff in landslide

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One person taken to Frankston hospital after home collapses at Penny Lane in McCrae south-east of Melbourne

A house on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has collapsed down a cliff in a landslide on Tuesday morning, with one person taken to hospital.

The house on Penny Lane in McCrae collapsed shortly before 9am on Tuesday.

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ABC names Hamish Macdonald as new Sydney Mornings radio host after dumping Sarah Macdonald

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Decision not to renew former presenter’s contract triggered angry backlash from listeners and colleagues

Hamish Macdonald will replace Sarah Macdonald as host of ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program, two months after listeners and staff reacted angrily to the axing of the popular female presenter.

In November Sarah Macdonald revealed on air that her contract would not be renewed after two years in the slot, sparking a backlash and delaying the announcement of a replacement.

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Calls to halt kangaroo culling in Victoria’s Grampians after bushfires

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Australian mainland states permit killing of nearly 5 million annually as part of industry supplying meat and leather products

Wildlife advocates are calling for a halt to the commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Victoria’s Grampians region after bushfires there.

Wildlife Victoria warned of “long-term impacts” on native plants and animals due to the fires, which burned through 76,000 hectares of national park and farmland, and called for a stop to the controversial practice until the impact on kangaroo populations could be fully assessed.

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Driver in Perth crash that killed four was speeding on wrong side of highway

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A taxi driver, 58, a mother and daughter, aged 56 and 81, and an unidentified driver of another car died at the scene

A mother and daughter are among four people dead in a fiery crash after an SUV was driven at high speed on the wrong side of a highway.

A grey Toyota RAV4 and a silver Camry taxi collided about 3.40am on Monday on Leach Highway in Perth near the intersection of Abernethy Road, police said.

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Mystery syndrome killing rainbow lorikeets and flying foxes leaves scientists baffled

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‘The animals that don’t die need total nursing care,’ wildlife rescuer says, ahead of a potential spike in cases in coming weeks

Thousands of rainbow lorikeets and hundreds of flying foxes have been hospitalised in Queensland in the past year with a mysterious paralysis that can affect the animals’ ability to fly, swallow and even breathe.

Lorikeet paralysis syndrome has struck birds in Queensland and New South Wales since at least 2012, and a similar syndrome was identified in flying foxes five years ago.

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NBN’s $3bn fibre revamp is great news but don’t Australians now care more about price than higher speeds?

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The demise of NBN’s fibre-to-the-node technology is welcome but making the internet more affordable would have a much bigger impact

The announcement of the demise of NBN’s fibre-to-the-node technology will be welcomed by those who have endured poor speeds and service for the past few years, but making the internet more affordable would have a much bigger impact.

When Tony Windsor sided with Labor in the 2010 election, he put the NBN as one of the key issues, saying famously: do it once, do it right, and do it with fibre.

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Climate activist who graffitied Tanya Plibersek’s office says he stands by his actions

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Environment minister said vandalism and intimidation were ‘completely unacceptable’

A climate activist who graffitied the word “liar” on the federal environment minister’s office has stood by his highly publicised actions, urging the public to stand up for their beliefs.

Zachary “Zack” Edward Jaworowski Schofield took a can of red spray paint to Tanya Plibersek’s Sydney electorate office in December.

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Albanese says Coalition ‘more conservative than they have ever been’ as Dutton labels him ‘weakest’ prime minister

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Prime minister and opposition leader start election bids with early campaigning and funding announcements

Anthony Albanese has launched a stinging attack on Peter Dutton, accusing the opposition leader of a “cold-hearted, mean-spirited” politics that has targeted vulnerable people and skewed the Coalition “more conservative than they’ve ever been”.

As both men started their election bids with early January campaigning, Dutton brushed off the prime minister’s criticisms as “mud” and “lies”. The opposition leader is under pressure to announce some new substantial policies and a long-awaited reshuffle of his shadow ministry, just months out from the election – a fact Albanese highlighted, calling the Coalition’s weekend campaign rally a “damp squib”.

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Counter-terrorism police take up investigation of swastika attack at Sydney synagogue

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Vandals also started a fire in Newtown that could have had deadly consequences, commissioner says

Counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation of a swastika vandalism attack at a Sydney synagogue as the police commissioner and premier call on the public to help catch the perpetrators.

Jewish leaders condemned the latest antisemitic attack, in which red swastikas were spray-painted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.

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Butler urges NSW psychiatrists ‘come back to the table’ – as it happened

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Dutton continues rounds on breakfast television

The opposition leader Peter Dutton has been making the rounds this morning, also speaking with the Today Show.

We need to do what is right in our country’s economic interests. We have to have the settings so that people can invest here. And at the moment, when we speak to CEOs and chairs of companies … what they’re doing is moving capital away from Australia into south-east Asia, into Africa, into North America, and we’re missing out on the tax dollars and the jobs here in Australia.

It’s a question of how much money is in the bank and how much can we responsibly give back, because in the end, it’s people’s money. People are working hard for it.

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