Category Archives: Australia news

South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and NSW could experience blackouts from too much solar power, Aemo warns

Posted on by

Aemo says it does not want to ‘directly control people’s rooftop solar’ but it may be necessary to reduce or cut off power gleaned from the sun

The power grid in eastern Australia could experience “outage conditions” as soon as next spring unless states speed up actions to cope with surplus generation from solar panels on sunny days, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) has warned.

In a report released on Monday, Aemo called for an “emergency backstop” mechanism to ensure grid stability when households and other solar photovoltaic (PV) owners export excess electricity.

Continue reading...

Renters’ personal details allegedly stolen in Melbourne real estate agency burglary

Posted on by

Documents taken during break-in at Nelson Alexander agency in Northcote in October, police allege, and investigation under way

The personal information of a number of renters in Melbourne has been allegedly stolen from a Northcote real estate agency during a break-in, raising concerns about potential identity theft.

The ABC has reported that five boxes of documents, containing former renter information including names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and potentially ID documents, were allegedly stolen during a break-in at the Nelson Alexander agency in Northcote in October.

Continue reading...

Tribute to love, resilience and song: Indigenous musical legends Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter immortalised in bronze

Posted on by

The pair bonded as teenagers after chance meeting at Salvation Army drop-in centre while they were sleeping rough on Adelaide’s streets

Their songs have been the soundtrack to countless marches for justice, family gatherings and community barbecues. Now, Aboriginal music legends Uncle Archie Roach and Aunty Ruby Hunter have been immortalised in bronze.

The permanent tribute to the acclaimed musical couple was unveiled at Atherton Gardens on Saturday in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, with family and friends travelling from across the country to mark the occasion.

Continue reading...

No deal between Woolworths and warehouse workers – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Man dies after balcony fall during police operation

A man is dead after falling from a balcony during negotiations in a Queensland police operation.

I’m proud to announce today that I’m going to join the Libertarian party.

I believe in small government. I believe in the entrepreneurial ability of Australians. Get government out of the way, get government out of their hands. That’s what the Libertarian party stands for. Unfortunately, the Liberal party that I used to be a member of appears to have abandoned all those values.

I was there working on a contract basis for a small period of time. But look, I think the future in this country as a conservative party, to the right of the Liberal party, is with the libertarian.

Continue reading...

Victoria clubs give more money to themselves in guise of ‘community benefits’ for tax breaks

Posted on by

Latest disclosures include clubs who claim millions spent on their own golf and racecourses as donations to broader community

Poker machine venues in Victoria have significantly increased the amount of gambling revenue they are spending on themselves, while justifying it as a “community benefit” to get a tax cut.

Victoria’s community benefit scheme provides a tax cut to clubs that reinvest 8.33% of gambling revenue back into the community. But these clubs are able to list upgrades to their own golf courses, renovations and operating costs – which help keep gambling rooms open – as community benefits.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Two people dead in Mornington Peninsula shooting as police search for man who fled scene

Posted on by

Victoria police say man and woman died with gunshot wounds after reports of altercation at Rye home about 4am

Victoria police are searching for a man after a woman and a man were shot dead on the state’s Mornington Peninsula.

Police were called to an altercation between a group of people at an address on Parson Street in Rye shortly after 4am on Monday. Police arrived to find a man and woman with gunshot wounds.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Michael Rowland to leave ABC News Breakfast after ‘15 years of 3am starts’

Posted on by

The 55-year-old is the program’s longest serving male co-host, and hinted in September that he was ‘looking forward to something less intense’

After 15 years of waking up at 3am to host ABC News Breakfast, Michael Rowland is calling it quits.

The co-host of the public broadcaster’s breakfast offering has told viewers his final show will be on 13 December, followed by a long break.

Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter

Continue reading...

Cruise ships urged to ‘clean up their act’ amid concerns toxic effluent being dumped on Great Barrier Reef

Posted on by

Environmentalists say marine park waste regulations need updating to limit grey water and exhaust chemicals as passenger cruise numbers rise

Environmentalists and tourism operators on the Great Barrier Reef say authorities must enforce stricter pollution standards on cruise liners visiting the world heritage area amid growth in passenger cruise numbers and concern that ships are dumping toxins into the water.

The Whitsunday Conservation Council says the definition of “waste” used to prevent marine discharge on the reef – which dates back to the 1970s – does not restrict discharge from sulphur “scrubbers” that have become commonplace in the shipping industry.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Predatory rent-to-buy operators barred from Centrepay debit system in sweeping Albanese government reforms

Posted on by

Exclusive: ‘High-risk services’ will be removed, including companies providing consumer leases and household goods

The federal government will boot predatory rent-to-buy operators off its Centrepay debit system as part of sweeping reforms designed to stop the financial abuse of vulnerable Australians.

The reforms, set to be announced Monday, follow a Guardian Australian investigation that revealed shocking failures in the Centrepay system and helped trigger an urgent government review.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘Women are suffering unnecessarily’: Australians to get subsidised endometriosis treatment

Posted on by

Without a subsidy, patients could pay $750 a year to treat the condition which has no cure and can last decades

More than one million Australians living with endometriosis will have access to a treatment subsidised by the federal government for the first time in three decades.

The health minister, Mark Butler, announced on Sunday that a daily tablet will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Australia charts hottest spring on record for mean temperatures – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

The health minister, Mark Butler, is holding a press conference in Adelaide to announce the endometriosis drug Visanne will be added to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. It’s the first listing of an endo treatment in three decades.

This is a condition that impacts more than 1 million women – one in seven women and teenage girls – and for too long, too many women have been made to suffer in silence.

[They’ve] been told by many healthcare professionals, it has to be said, that this is “normal”. That it is a normal part of period pain or many other explanations for debilitating, crippling pain.

This is all about providing cheaper medicines and cutting-edge treatment to Australian patients generally, but [particularly] in the area of endometriosis, which has attracted such inadequate support for hundreds of thousands of Australian women.

This listing is beyond time.

The major contributor to the record has been the minimum temperatures, which averaged 17.2ºC over the spring season for the site, and were elevated by cloud cover, precipitation, and most notably, humidity.

Continue reading...

Australia restricting number of domestic workers foreign diplomats can bring into the country, UN official says

Posted on by

Information campaign directed at diplomatic missions expected after court cases highlighted ‘slave-like’ working conditions for domestic workers


The Australian government has restricted foreign diplomats bringing domestic workers into the country, a UN anti-slavery expert has reported, after two recent federal court cases exposed systemic exploitation a judge described as “slave-like working conditions”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Man charged with murdering his parents after bodies found at Sydney shop

Posted on by

Allan Chiem, 31, will remain in custody after allegedly murdering his father, 69, and mother, 68

A 31-year-old man has been charged with allegedly murdering his parents at their shop in western Sydney.

Allan Chiem appeared in Parramatta local court on Sunday morning after he was arrested just after midnight at a home in Canley Heights in the city’s west and charged with two counts of domestic violence murder.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese insists environment laws still on agenda despite killing deal with Greens

Posted on by

PM overruled negotiations between environment minister and the Greens after speaking with WA premier last week

Anthony Albanese insists Labor’s plans to establish a national environmental watchdog are still on the table after he quashed a deal with the Greens in parliament’s final sitting week.

Last-minute negotiations between the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, were overruled by the prime minister on Tuesday after he spoke with the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Venomous tiger snake slithers up driver’s leg on Melbourne freeway

Posted on by

Woman weaves through traffic at 80km/h before fleeing from snake in car barefoot and attempting to flag down passing motorists

Victoria police have carried out one of the “more bizarre welfare checks” after a deadly tiger snake slithered up a driver’s leg as she was travelling at 80km/h on a major freeway.

Police said they were called to Monash Freeway near the Toorak Rd exit in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs on Saturday morning after receiving reports of a barefoot woman trying to flag down passing traffic.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Australians abroad at growing risk of being detained and ‘used as pawns’ by rogue nations, inquiry warns

Posted on by

Special envoy needed to help free citizens subjected to ‘hostage diplomacy’ by authoritarian regimes, senate committee finds

Australia needs a specialist envoy dedicated to freeing its citizens arbitrarily detained by rogue nations, a senate committee inquiry has recommended.

The practice of “hostage diplomacy” is an increasing threat, the senate committee found, and Australians should be specifically warned that authoritarian regimes in some countries – naming China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Mali and Myanmar – arbitrarily detain Australian citizens.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Family ‘devastated’ after two found dead in ‘confronting scene’ in Sydney’s west

Posted on by

Bodies discovered on Saturday morning after police were called to shop on Oxford Street in Cambridge Park following reports of an assault

New South Wales police are appealing for information after two people were found dead with “significant injuries” in Sydney’s west on Saturday morning.

Officers were called to a shop on Oxford Street in Cambridge Park, near Penrith, after reports of an assault at about 9.40am.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Laughter and tears as fans farewell ABC radio host Richard Glover after 28 years on air

Posted on by

Host of ABC Sydney Drive wanted to highlight ‘joy in the everyday’ rather than report on ‘terrible things’

In the competitive world of talk radio Richard Glover is the great survivor who stayed on top and chose the manner of his exit after almost three decades on ABC radio.

The former Sydney Morning Herald journalist has owned the Drive slot in Sydney for 26 of his 28 years on the ABC, offering listeners a mix of hard news, insightful interviews and what he says is the “silly and stupid” that makes up the life of a city.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘Treating workers like robots’: Woolworths blamed for empty supermarket shelves as warehouse strikes continue

Posted on by

Stores in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT affected as industrial action by up to 1,500 employees stretches into second week

Woolworths bears responsibility for the empty shelves seen in supermarkets across parts of Australia by attempting to treat workers like “robots”, the head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions has said, as a strike of warehouse workers extends into a second week.

Up to 1,500 employees began rolling 24-hour strikes on 21 November in warehouses in New South Wales and Victoria, seeking improved wages and safety. One of the major issues is a new framework system employed at the warehouse that tracks workers down to the minute, and logs performance each shift using an algorithm.

Continue reading...

IVF clinics brace for Christmas rush after sudden rebate change in NSW

Posted on by

‘Abrupt’ announcement will affect many women who have been planning their conception journeys to begin in early 2025, provider says

IVF providers are bracing for an influx of patients scrambling to access fertility treatments over the Christmas break after the New South Wales government said it would cut a rebate for fertility treatments for many patients from February.

The $2,000 rebate, an Australian-first program, was available to all NSW women accessing fertility services for the first time to cover some out-of-pocket expenses. It was introduced in 2022 by the former Coalition government.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...