Category Archives: Australia news

Number of children under 14 in adult watch houses in Queensland rises 50% in 12 months

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Report to parliament states watch houses are an ‘inadequate place to keep young people overnight’ and are ‘harmful and traumatising’

The number of children aged 13 or under in Queensland’s adult watch houses has increased by 50% in 12 months, according to new statistics.

The statistics – which were included in a paper tabled by the Office of the Public Guardian in Queensland parliament on Tuesday – showed 120 children aged between 10 and 13 spent at least one night in a police watch house in 2023–24.

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Australia’s housing market ‘buckling’ under widening gap between income and home values, report finds

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Housing prices fell by 0.1% in December but dip likely to be ‘shallow and short-lived’, according to CoreLogic

Australia’s housing downturn is being driven by a widening gap between income, borrowing capacity and home values, but the dip is likely to be “shallow and short-lived”, a new report has found.

In December, Australia’s property market eased with home values falling 0.1% after a flat result in November and a gradual slowdown over last year, according to CoreLogic.

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Record-breaking Sydney funnel-web spider dubbed ‘Hemsworth’ to be milked for venom

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Step aside, Colossus. Be gone, Hercules. The Australian Reptile Park has recorded its largest male specimen so far

First there was Colossus, then Hercules … now, Thor.

Among the Australian Reptile Park’s tributes to the gods, one is newly pre-eminent, bearing the title of “Hemsworth”.

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Australia news live: Dreyfus to spend a week in Israel, PM says; SA police shoot man dead during mental health incident

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The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, says “the firing gun has started” for this year’s federal election, which he predicts will be in March or April.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast just earlier, he said he doesn’t think the government will deliver a budget this year:

I think we’re all ready for it. I think it will be in March, April, I don’t think they’ll do a budget, they don’t want to remind the Australian people with the sea of red ink in the budget. That’s my punt.

This road is of national significance but it’s also one of the most dangerous in our country. And I think it just needs a commitment, and we’re glad to see the government has finally adopted that, one we had, and one the state government can now get on with the job of delivering.

Labor can make up all the nonsense they like. They’re desperate. I mean, this is a government that’s been on the back foot, that got things wrong, that is sending Australians on a pathway to poverty, not a pathway to prosperity. And so they’re in a state of desperation, saying these sorts of things.

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Hadi Nazari’s camera and campfire found as search continues for hiker missing in Kosciuszko national park

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NSW police ‘hopeful’ of finding 23-year-old Hadi Nazari alive in remote national park as they track movements since he was last seen on Boxing Day

Police are hopeful a 23-year-old hiker missing since Boxing Day could still be alive in the remote Kosciuszko national park after a camera and campfire area were found.

The extensive search entered its thirteenth day on Tuesday.

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Caulfield Racecourse fire: suspicious blaze engulfs grandstand in Melbourne’s south-east

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Victoria police say nobody has been injured and a crime scene has been established

Major parts of a Caulfield Racecourse grandstand have been destroyed in a suspicious early morning fire.

Fire Rescue Victoria responded to the blaze at Station Street in Caulfield East in Melbourne’s south-east at 6.20am on Tuesday.

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Two men charged after young woman allegedly shot and killed in Brisbane

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The pair each face one count of murder after Chloe Mason was found dying in the street in Caboolture on 22 December

Queensland police have arrested and charged two suspects wanted for an alleged murder after a woman was chased and fatally shot in a Brisbane suburban street.

A 29-year-old Marsden man, Codye Thomson, and a 32-year-old Caboolture man, Kaine Thomson-Gleeson, were arrested without incident in Logan on Monday.

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Gina Rinehart and Pauline Hanson seen dining together in Thailand – as it happened

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Lambie says Albanese decision to campaign over holidays ‘bizarre’

Senator Jacqui Lambie has questioned whether Anthony Albanese would call an early election, amid his pre-election campaign blitz across multiple states this week.

Most people don’t want to see a politician over this … three weeks, you know, from about the 20th probably to about the 10th or 15th of January. So to be out there and campaigning now, I just I don’t know whether that will just annoy the people more or what …

Going out this early straight after Christmas, this would have to be a first, I reckon. This is phenomenal. So anybody would have to say that he’s going to call an election in late February or early March, surely.

You never see anybody running around campaigns during the Christmas period. This is really bizarre, so I’m not sure how that is going to go down with Australians. But quite frankly, the worst time to do it is the three weeks over the Christmas period. They just don’t like it very much.

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Anthony Albanese announces $7.2bn in funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway in first major election promise

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Federal government to fund 80% of upgrades with state paying for 20%, despite previously vowing to split infrastructure projects 50-50

In the first major promise of the election year, Anthony Albanese has announced $7.2bn in funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway.

The federal government will fund 80% of the upgrades, with the state funding 20%.

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Skull of child or small person may have been deliberately placed in Gold Coast park, police say

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Bushwalker’s discovery in Springbrook national park leaves Queensland police with ‘a lot of questions we need answers for’

A skull found in a national park may belong to a child and appears to have been deliberately placed in the rainforest.

Police are investigating after a bushwalker made the gruesome discovery about 10 metres from a track in Springbrook national park on the Gold Coast on Friday morning.

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Collection of rare Barbie dolls worth $15,000 stolen from Victorian town ‘difficult’ to sell off

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Police say Tatura owner is devastated after theft of more than 150 dolls stolen last month

It’s unlikely more than 150 collectible Barbie dolls stolen from their dream house will be sold on the black market, with the close-knit collectors community keeping an eye out for dodgy dealers.

The dolls, as well as Elvis memorabilia and a Jack Daniel’s esky, were stolen from a home in the country Victorian town of Tatura, near Shepparton, in early December.

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Invasion Day marcher stripped of $800,000 compensation as police duty of care ruling overturned

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Laura Cullen was among 5,000 people at a 2017 Sydney protest when she was knocked down and injured as NSW police tried to arrest a man

A landmark legal ruling that set out the duty of care New South Wales police owe people attending protests has been overturned on appeal, stripping an Invasion Day marcher of an $800,000 compensation claim and forcing her to repay $103,00 in legal costs.

The NSW court of appeal handed down the decision shortly before Christmas, overturning an earlier ruling that found police had a duty of care to a woman who attended a protest where she was a bystander to an arrest, and who was knocked down and injured during the arrest.

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Tourism agency deletes ‘pristine swimming spot’ post about unpatrolled beach on Mornington Peninsula

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Video removed as Life Saving Victoria carries out 145 rescues – ‘We don’t remember when we’ve been that busy’

Victoria’s tourism agency has removed a social media post that described an unpatrolled ocean beach on the Mornington Peninsula as a “pristine swimming spot” amid almost 150 rescues on the state’s beaches on Saturday.

Number 16 beach, on the Bass Strait side of Rye, is described on the Visit Victoria website as “recommended for experienced surfers only” as it is not patrolled by lifesavers. It has a reputation among local residents as dangerous.

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Southern Ocean winds to break stifling heatwave baking Australia’s south-east

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Front dragging warm air from the Pilbara brings ‘particularly hot’ weather to SA, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania

Winds from the Southern Ocean will bring relief on Monday to parts of south-eastern Australia sweltering through a three-day heatwave.

A heatwave warning for South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania was issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for the weekend as temperatures were expected to spike in some parts to 40C.

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Melbourne fire that destroyed Forty Winks store could have been arson, police say

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More than 95 firefighters and 26 trucks deployed to Nunawading, with dozens of nearby residents evacuated

Fire crews remain at the scene of a blaze that destroyed a Melbourne mattress store, with investigations likely to continue well into Sunday night after the fire was deemed a suspected arson attack.

Emergency crews responded to several calls about a two-storey building on fire at Nunawading in the city’s east about 2.20am on Sunday.

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Bodies of pilot and passenger recovered from light plane crash off NSW coast

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Microlight wreckage found after witness saw plane go down near Nambucca Heads on the mid-north coast

The bodies of two men killed in a light aircraft crash on the mid-north coast of New South Wales have been recovered from the wreckage as the investigation continues.

The pair took off from a private airfield near Coffs Harbour on Saturday.

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Man charged over alleged rape of Virgin Australia crew member in Fiji

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Airline staff were celebrating New Year’s Eve in Nadi when the alleged incident occurred

A man has been charged with the alleged rape and sexual assault of a Virgin Australia crew member in Fiji in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

The man “will be produced in court on Monday”, after having been taken into custody on Wednesday, acting police commissioner Juki Fong Chew said in an email that confirmed a report by ABC.

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Suspected human bones found in Queensland national park

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Crime scene set up in Springbrook national park after a person discovered what police believe could be a set of human bones

Suspected human bones have been found in a popular Queensland national park, sparking a wider search of the area.

The bones were found by a member of the public in Springbrook national park in the Gold Coast hinterland at about 11.35am on Friday.

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Man arrested over alleged 1997 murder of Meaghan Rose on Sunshine Coast denied bail

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Keith Lees, 72, evaded warrant for almost 18 months in relation to alleged murder, and is accused of trying to bite police

A man is behind bars and will likely face extradition after his arrest over a woman’s alleged murder more than two decades ago.

Keith Lees, 72, remains in custody after spending about 18 months evading an arrest warrant over the death of his former partner, 25-year-old Meaghan Louise Rose, who was discovered at the base of Point Cartwright Cliffs on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in 1997.

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‘Unimaginable tragedy’ for central Victorian community as three-year-old boy found dead after caravan fire

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Police continue investigation into child’s body found after firefighters put out blaze in Boort

A regional community is mourning an “unimaginable tragedy” after a three-year-old boy was found dead following a caravan fire.

Emergency services were called to Lake View Street in Boort, north-central Victoria, at about 5.50pm on Thursday after reports a caravan had caught fire.

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