Category Archives: Australia news

One Nation is campaigning directly to Christians. But will party policies rub against worshippers’ conscience?

Posted on by

Anti-abortion policies may have appeal, but with one in three Australian churchgoers born overseas, talk of a monoculture may put them off

When One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce addressed anti-abortion campaigners at a Sydney rally in early June, the former deputy prime minister told the audience he could see “about 1,500 people who can hand out how to vote cards”.

Christian leaders spoke at the rally. The Lord’s Prayer was recited. Many there were active churchgoers.

Continue reading...

Details of MCG assault against Lidia Thorpe revealed after court lifts suppression order

Posted on by

Ebony Bell convicted and handed community work order following assault on senator and second ‘gratuitous act of violence’ while on bail

A woman has been handed a community work order for punching Lidia Thorpe outside the MCG over claims the independent senator disrespected her mother.

Ebony Bell was initially told to undertake an anger management course after her 2024 attack on Thorpe, but committed a second “gratuitous act of violence” while on bail, the Melbourne magistrates court was told in June.

Continue reading...

Jacinta Allan admits criminals infiltrated Big Build but rejects calls for royal commission

Posted on by

Premier apologised over organised crime in some of Victoria’s largest construction projects, in op-ed that claimed a royal commission would not solve the issue

Jacinta Allan has admitted that criminals have infiltrated some of Victoria’s largest construction projects – but has again rejected growing calls for a royal commission into alleged corruption involving unions and labour hire companies.

In an opinion piece published in the Age on Thursday night, the premier wrote that “we now know that criminals operated on some of Victoria’s construction sites” during projects dubbed by the Labor government as the Big Build.

Continue reading...

Moira Deeming wins temporary reprieve as Victorian Liberal party postpones decision on her future

Posted on by

State opposition tells court it will not take any steps to disendorse MP while legal proceedings under way

A Victorian Liberal MP who sued her party to stave off a meeting that will determine her political future has been handed a temporary lifeline.

Moira Deeming launched an eleventh-hour supreme court challenge against the Victorian Liberal party president, Brian Loughnane, and the party on Friday morning, seeking a temporary injunction to stop the meeting.

Continue reading...

NSW records first suspected case of deadly H5 bird flu as virus reaches Australia’s east coast

Posted on by

Migratory giant petrel discovered near Hawks Nest north of Newcastle infected with H5. Testing under way to determine if it’s highly pathogenic H5N1 strain

New South Wales has its first suspected case of the deadly H5 bird flu in a giant petrel that was found near Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, on the state’s coast.

If CSIRO testing confirms it is the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, it would mark the first detection of the deadly disease on the Australian east coast.

Continue reading...

AFP assessing allegation of Gaza war crimes committed by Australian citizen serving in IDF

Posted on by

Claims against Israel Defense Forces battalion include deliberate targeting and destruction of residential buildings in 2023 and 2024 without military justification

Australian federal police investigators are assessing a brief detailing alleged war crimes committed by an Australian citizen serving in the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza.

A 61-page brief has been handed to the AFP by the Australian Centre for International Justice detailing alleged war crimes committed by an IDF battalion in Gaza across 2023 and 2024.

Continue reading...

Australians have more negative view of Israel than of China, Guardian Essential poll finds

Posted on by

Poll also finds perception of Donald Trump has soured since his re-election, with fewer than a third of respondents viewing him positively

Australians have a more negative view of Israel than of China, the latest Guardian Essential poll has found, with women and middle-aged people exhibiting the least positive perception of Israel.

The poll also finds Australians’ perceptions of Donald Trump have tumbled since his re-election, with fewer than a third of voters having a positive response to the US president.

Continue reading...

Social media platforms ‘monetise gore and fringe content’, eSafety regulator tells antisemitism commission

Posted on by

Julie Inman Grant singles out X when giving evidence to royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion

Mainstream platforms are fighting to distribute and monetise “gore” and “fringe” content, the eSafety watchdog has told the antisemitism royal commission.

Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Thursday singled out X, telling the inquiry her office has to fight its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, to try to keep footage – including some posted of the Bondi terror attack – restricted or off the platform.

Continue reading...

‘Obviously disturbing’ if Christian Brothers’ $1 property sales deprive abuse survivors of pay, government tells court

Posted on by

Concerns Catholic order’s historical transfers of millions in assets were potentially inappropriate, NSW supreme court hears

Lawyers for the federal government say they are concerned at the “disturbing” potential that the Christian Brothers Catholic order may have inappropriately transferred property to another entity years before claiming it was broke and couldn’t afford to pay abuse survivors’ civil claims.

The New South Wales supreme court on Thursday ordered a moratorium on all abuse claims against the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that played a significant role in the church’s child sexual abuse scandal.

Continue reading...

Melbourne stabbing: teenagers arrested after boy left outside Craigieburn hospital dies

Posted on by

Fifteen-year-old unable to be saved after being left outside Craigieburn Community hospital

Two teenagers have been arrested after a 15-year-old boy was left for dead with suspected stab wounds outside a hospital in Melbourne.

The boy was found critically injured outside Craigieburn Community hospital on Lygon Drive, in Melbourne’s north, about 7.50pm on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

‘Life-saving’ drug for people with opioid dependency to be pulled from Australia by end of year

Posted on by

Exclusive: Fears that US companies may withdraw more medicines as global markets react to policy changes by the Trump administration

A “life-saving” drug heavily subsidised for Australians living with opioid dependency will be pulled from the market by the end of the year, causing alarm among doctors and pharmacists.

US pharmaceutical company Indivior confirmed the marketing and sale of the long-acting injectable prescription opioid Sublocade would end from 31 December, with a company spokesperson describing it as a “commercial decision”.

Continue reading...

Guardian Essential poll: voters reject key One Nation policies as support slips

Posted on by

Survey shows two-point fall in vote amid concern about Pauline Hanson’s links to Gina Rinehart and ability to run country

Australians have emphatically rejected some of One Nation’s key policies, including shutting down SBS and ending multiculturalism, with voters raising concerns about Pauline Hanson’s closeness to the billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart and whether the party has the skills needed to run the country, according to a new poll.

But even as the latest Guardian Essential poll finds voters have major reservations about Hanson and her party, more than half of respondents said they were either definitely or at least considering voting for One Nation at the next election.

Continue reading...

‘But we’re just 1% of emissions’: do smaller countries’ climate efforts matter?

Posted on by

Past and present leaders of wealthy nations such as UK and Germany have argued their actions are insignificant

On first hearing, it is a position that sounds reasonable. “When our share of global emissions is less than 1%,” Rishi Sunak argued when he was the UK prime minister in 2023, “how can it be right that British citizens are now being told to sacrifice even more than others?”

Sunak is not the only world leader to have cited such figures while delaying cuts to pollution. In 2019, Scott Morrison, Australia’s then prime minister, used his country’s 1.3% of global emissions to reject any suggestion Australia was not “doing our bit” on climate breakdown. In July, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, pointed to his country’s 2% share of global emissions while supporting loopholes in European climate targets. A few months later the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, followed suit, flagging the EU’s 6% share.

Continue reading...

House prices fall in four capital cities as Sydney values drop nearly $50,000 this year

Posted on by

More than half of homes taken to auction not selling while median property price in Adelaide started to slide in June

House prices are now falling in four capital cities with the Adelaide market beginning to slide in June, while Sydney values have dropped by $48,000 since the start of the year.

Data from Cotality, released on Wednesday, showed Sydney and Melbourne recorded their biggest one-month decline in values since August 2022, falling 1.2% and 1% respectively.

Continue reading...

Josh Burns says partner Georgie Purcell faces antisemitic abuse because he is Jewish, commission hears

Posted on by

The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion hears how witnesses are subjected to hate speech amplified by misogyny

Vile, threatening abuse is being levelled at witnesses to the antisemitism royal commission, the inquiry has heard, while a Labor MP has said attacks on his partner were heightened because they were stacked with misogyny.

Meanwhile, data analysis has shown how quickly factual reports are transformed into conspiracy theories online, and that while there was a spike in antisemitism after the Bondi terror attack, there was a “huge spike” in anti-Muslim hate.

Continue reading...

EY sacks graduate employee after he allegedly accessed Australian PM’s bank account

Posted on by

Two men – including one who worked for EY – appear in court after being charged over accessing restricted data

An employee at one of Australia’s big four accounting firms has been sacked after he and another man allegedly accessed the prime minister Anthony Albanese’s personal banking account.

The men, aged 21 and 25, faced court on Tuesday over the breach, which Australian federal police alleged occurred when the EY graduate was on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank.

Continue reading...

The show must go on: musical theatre cancellations lead to industry calls for urgent government help

Posted on by

In the space of a week, two major musicals, Waitress and Beetlejuice, and a $20m opera were forced to cancel shows amid skyrocketing costs, putting hundreds out of work

Australia’s theatre industry is in desperate need of tax reform to keep it alive, experts have warned the federal government, after two major touring musicals and a $20m opera cancelled shows in the space of a week, citing skyrocketing costs and soft box office sales.

Broadway musical Waitress, starring Rob Mills and Natalie Bassingthwaighte, announced on Sunday that it would end in Melbourne on 19 July and will not tour to Sydney in August as planned.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Continue reading...

Liberal frontbencher calls for party ‘rebrand’ after drop in polls, prompting ridicule from Labor

Posted on by

Melissa McIntosh’s comment comes after Angus Taylor’s claim Morrison government ‘breached trust’

Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has said the party might need a “rebrand” to win back voters who continue to desert the opposition, with the Coalition hitting a new historic polling low.

Her comments came after the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, claimed the Morrison government – of which he was a senior minister – had “breached trust” with the electorate during the Covid pandemic by supporting “big government”.

Continue reading...

Bruce Lehrmann loses bid to get footage from documentary featuring Brittany Higgins ahead of rape trial

Posted on by

Judge says ‘no legitimate forensic purpose’ to former Liberal staffer’s subpoena requesting footage, ahead of his Queensland trial

Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost a legal bid to access copies of all footage from a documentary featuring Brittany Higgins.

Lehrmann had subpoenaed the producers of the documentary Silenced and signalled a possible attempt to ban its broadcast before his Queensland trial for rape.

Continue reading...

Victorian premier accused of ‘nonsense’ for blaming inflation amid gangland allegations over cost blowouts

Posted on by

Jacinta Allan resists calls for royal commission into state’s $100bn Big Build infrastructure project as pressure mounts following new reports

An integrity expert says Jacinta Allan blaming “inflationary pressures” rather than corruption for cost blowouts on the state’s $100bn Big Build is “nonsense”, as the Victorian premier resists growing calls for a royal commission.

Allan on Monday declared that “inflationary pressures on projects is not corruption” after Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes reported allegations that money from the state’s Big Build infrastructure projects was being paid to gangland figures and that the state government was warned about cost blowouts due to Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) demands.

Continue reading...