Category Archives: Australia news

Controversial bill to protect Tasmanian salmon industry passes despite environmental concerns

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Critics say industry threatens the endangered Maugean skate and laws were rushed through with ’no proper process’

Controversial legislation to protect the Tasmanian salmon industry has passed parliament after the government guillotined debate to bring on a vote in the Senate on Wednesday night.

Government and Coalition senators voted in favour of the bill, which was designed to bring an end to a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie harbour in 2012 was properly approved.

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Rugby League Ashes: Australia’s tour to feature Test at Everton’s new stadium

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  • Three-match series will be first since 2003
  • Bramley-Moore Dock, Wembley and Headingley to host

Australia will tour England for the first time since 2003 this autumn, with Everton’s new stadium to stage one of the three Tests. The Kangaroos will take on Shaun Wane’s side in three matches at Wembley, Bramley-Moore Dock and Headingley on 25 October, 1 November and 8 November, respectively.

England have not faced Australia since the 2017 World Cup final, which the Kangaroos won 6-0, with Samoa shocking the hosts in the semi-finals in 2022 at the Emirates Stadium.

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Wong calls ‘reprehensible’ letter targeting Hong Kong activist in Australia a ‘threat to national sovereignty’

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Ted Hui received letter offering reward for information about his family after China accused Australia of interfering with its internal affairs

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has described another threatening letter sent to an exiled Hong Kong dissident in Australia as “reprehensible”, a “threat to our national sovereignty” and “the safety and security of Australians”.

The anonymous letter, mailed from Hong Kong and sent to Ted Hui’s Adelaide office, offered his colleagues $203,000 for information on his whereabouts and his family. It arrived just days after China’s foreign ministry accused the Albanese government of interfering with its internal affairs.

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Australia to redirect $100m in foreign aid to Indo-Pacific region after Trump pulls funding

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Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong says ‘hard strategic decisions’ need to be made

Australia will redirect more than $100m in foreign aid toward the Indo-Pacific region to urgently plug funding gaps after Donald Trump announced the US would cancel around $US54bn worth in overseas development assistance programs.

The official development assistance budget for 2025-26 will reach $5.1bn, an increase of $135.9m from 2024-25, but $119m will be reprioritised to support economic, health, humanitarian and climate responses in the neighbouring regions.

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Methane emissions from Queensland mine may be gross underestimates, UN research finds

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Data collected by two planes suggests large open-cut coalmine in Bowen Basin is releasing methane at higher rates than official estimates

Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane at a Queensland coalmine were likely between three and eight times higher than officially reported, according to UN-backed research that flew aircraft over the site.

Queensland’s open-cut coalmines are known to be a major source of methane and experts are worried that official figures could be a gross underestimation of actual emissions.

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Australians can now use Apple AirPods Pro as hearing aids – but experts warn they’re not for everyone

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Experts hope the use of the headphones for mild to moderate hearing loss will reduce stigma and persuade people to test their hearing

Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 can for the first time be used as hearing aids for moderate hearing loss in Australia – but despite benefits, such as reducing social stigma and lowering costs, experts warn they are not suitable for everyone.

After approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in December, Apple on Wednesday pushed out an update to AirPods Pro 2 devices in Australia allowing users to test their hearing and use the Bluetooth headphones as hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss. It is only TGA approved for people aged 18 and older.

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Coalition may rethink rules that push car markers to create cheaper EVs and hybrids for Australians

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Opposition says Labor’s national vehicle emission standard is ‘poorly designed’, despite data showing uptick in green vehicle sales

Australia’s love-hate relationship with fuel-guzzling utes and SUVs is now a looming election issue, after the Coalition indicated it may rethink Labor’s vehicle emission standard.

On Tuesday the shadow transport minister, Bridget McKenzie, called Labor’s vehicle emission standard “poorly designed” and said the Coalition will have “more to say” about it when the opposition releases its own transport policy before the election.

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The ‘hot mess’ Olympics? How Queensland’s 2032 Games planning descended into farce

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The LNP’s vision is for an Olympics held in venues rather than a city – and guarantees controversy across Brisbane and beyond

Few people in Queensland disagreed with the former state premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, when she described plans for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane as a “hot mess”.

Tuesday’s announcement by the new LNP government was framed as an end to the sort of disarray that has plagued Olympic planning during the past four years.

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Perth mayor and former journalist Basil Zempilas’s bid to lead Liberals to power in Labor-faithful WA

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Zempilas admitted he would continue to write unpaid for his former employer Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media and appear on Channel 7’s Sunrise program

Basil Zempilas’ punt for leadership has sailed straight through the goalposts, in a gameplay by Western Australia’s Liberals that surprised nobody.

As the nation waited for the federal budget to drop, Zempilas took centre stage on the steps of the state parliament to announce his unopposed appointment as opposition leader.

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Australia’s science agency sent questions from Trump administration asking if it aligns with US government interests

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Questions include whether science organisation receives funding from China, and whether it is a climate or ‘environmental justice’ project

The Australian government’s scientific agency joins more than a dozen universities that have been sent a questionnaire from the Trump administration asking to confirm if they align with US government interests.

On Tuesday, the CSIRO revealed it had received the correspondence from the US. A spokesperson at the CSIRO said it was aware of a “small number” of researchers who had received the questionnaire in recent weeks and was “determining an appropriate response”.

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Murder charge for man arrested at Brisbane airport after 79-year-old woman found dead

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Body discovered with fatal stab wound at home in Brisbane’s north-west

A man will remain in custody after he was arrested at Brisbane airport and charged with murdering a 79-year-old woman whose body was found at a suburban home.

Emergency services were called to a residence on Chestnut Place about 4.20pm on Monday at The Gap in Brisbane’s north-west, Queensland police said.

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Queensland plans to build 2032 Olympics stadium on significant Indigenous site

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Despite premier David Crisafulli ruling it out during election, the government is expected to announce plans for stadium at Victoria Park

The Queensland government is expected to announce that a significant preserved site of Indigenous heritage in central Brisbane, a massacre site on a songline, will host the main stadium of the 2032 Olympics.

Premier David Crisafulli repeatedly promised not to build a new stadium to host the athletics during last year’s election, and also specifically ruled out building one in Victoria Park.

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‘Impressive, ingenious and affecting’ poem about missing an absent son wins National Poetry Competition

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Fiona Larkin’s poem uses Finnish grammar to explore her feelings about her son’s move from the UK to Brisbane

A poem inspired by the writer’s experience missing her son after he moved from the UK to Australia has won this year’s £5,000 National Poetry Competition.

Fiona Larkin’s poem, Absence has a grammar, was picked from nearly 22,000 entries.

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Brisbane Olympics 2032: why these Games could turn out nothing like we had planned

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The IOC – which gave us 11 years to plan – must be nervous about the state of affairs

The 2032 Olympic Games loom for Brisbane residents with equal parts promise and fear.

On one hand, there is the opportunity to write Brisbane’s name alongside some of the world’s great cities.

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Weather tracker: Severe thunderstorms threaten flooding in northern Australia

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A broad trough has dragged in warm, moist air and offers perfect ingredients for heavy rainfall and even supercells

Northern parts of Australia have been under a flood warning this weekend, with further flooding set to bring havoc to south-eastern parts of the Northern Territory and western Queensland early this week. A broad trough – an area of locally lower pressure – has been moving across northern Australia, dragging in warm, moist air from the Gulf of Carpentaria and providing the perfect ingredients for the formation of severe thunderstorms, and even supercells.

More than 70mm (2.75in) of rain fell in an hour under the slow-moving storms over the weekend in what is usually an arid, low rainfall zone with a desert/grassland climate classification. Some parts of the region have sparse observation data, but some local stations have been able to record more than 100mm within 24 hours, with 132mm of rain at Marion Downs, Queensland.

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Fire ant sting hospitalisations surge post-Cyclone Alfred as reports of first pet death also emerge

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Twenty-three people hospitalised with fire ant stings amid an increase in reports of the highly invasive pest in south-east Queensland

Twenty-three people have been hospitalised with serious fire ant stings amid a surge in reports of the invasive pest in the aftermath of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and a new $24m package targeting suppression of the insect.

The National Fire Ant Eradication Program has received notifications of 60 serious red imported fire ant (Rifa) stings in south-east Queensland since 1 March, with 23 serious enough to warrant hospital care. Separately, a puppy stung to death 15 months ago was reportedly the first pet killed in Queensland by the ants.

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Sydney woman charged after reports novel contained child abuse material

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Police seize copies of novel to be forensically examined as 33-year-old charged with producing child abuse material

A Sydney woman has been charged with producing child abuse material in relation to a novel.

New South Wales police said they began investigations in March “following reports of a fiction novel containing child abuse material”.

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ALP under fire for ‘repurposing racist meme’ with ‘we love Medicare’ T-shirt

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Labor admits it ‘missed the mark’ with social media posts sharing T-shirt that states ‘This is Australia, we eat meat, we drink beer and we love Medicare!’

An Australian Labor party social media post has left followers scratching their heads, with its apparent send-up of white nationalist messaging triggering the question: “Have you been hacked?”

The Instagram post – which was uploaded on Sunday and then deleted on Monday – features a white man wearing a T-shirt with a flag-themed map of Australia and the words: “THIS IS AUSTRALIA / WE EAT MEAT / WE DRINK BEER AND WE LOVE MEDICARE!”. The Instagram caption stated: “CALLING ALL AUSSIE PATRIOTS NOW IS THE TIME TO PROTECT OUR MEDICARE.”

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‘Apoplectic’ environment groups halt Coalition attack ads to take aim at Albanese over species’ ‘death warrant’

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Exclusive: Australia’s top green organisations suspend anti-nuclear power ads to fund campaign against Labor’s move to protect salmon industry

Australia’s leading environment organisations have abruptly suspended advertising campaigns attacking the Coalition’s plan to introduce nuclear power and are instead funding ads accusing Anthony Albanese of signing “the death warrant” of an endangered species.

The shift from criticising the Coalition to Labor on the cusp of an election campaign was agreed by the bosses of green groups – including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, the WWF Australia and the Climate Council – at what campaigners described as an emergency meeting on Saturday.

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Alcohol safety ads to target young Australian travellers amid push for answers over methanol deaths

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Penny Wong says families of Laos poisoning victims Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles ‘foremost in mind’ as Smarttraveller campaign announced

The Australian government will launch a new alcohol safety campaign targeting young travellers as the families of Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, who died after drinking alcohol tainted with methanol while on holiday in Laos, continue to push for answers.

The friends, both 19, died in November last year while on holiday in Laos, in a suspected mass methanol poisoning that resulted in the deaths of six foreign tourists.

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