Category Archives: Australia news

AFP promises ‘swift action’ after Albanese, Ley and Morrison’s private phone numbers exposed online

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Richard Marles says investigation under way into how the prime minister and other senior government staff’s phone numbers appeared in databases

Federal police are scrambling to assist politicians after the private phone numbers of Anthony Albanese, Sussan Ley, Scott Morrison and senior government staff were discovered to be freely available in large contact databases published by American marketing companies.

The Australian federal police is seeking to have prime minister Albanese’s number removed from such databases, where it is available to users free of charge, and to assist other federal parliamentarians who have been similarly exposed. Police have warned that harassment by phone or carriage service is illegal, and promised “swift action” against those breaching such laws.

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Australia news live: Chalmers reveals Keating influence on super tax backdown; cost of cybercrime revealed

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Treasurer says he spoke to former PM ‘half a dozen’ times before unveiling changes to his plans for superannuation tax concessions. Follow today’s news live

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will take over.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says he spoke to former Labor prime minister Paul Keating ‘half a dozen times’ last week as he finalised the federal government’s watered-down superannuation tax plan. More coming up.

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Albanese urged to ‘secure the future of science’ as CSIRO reckons with ongoing decline in funding

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CEO Doug Hilton says the agency’s budget allocation ‘has not kept up with the cost of doing science’

CSIRO will embark on further cost- cutting to research units in a bid to repair a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, as Australia’s national science and research agency reckons with an ongoing decline in funding.

The institution’s annual funding level as a percentage of GDP has been falling with few exceptions over recent decades and is now at its lowest since 1978, a parliamentary library analysis commissioned by ACT senator David Pocock showed. Pocock requested data from 1980 in the analysis.

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Superannuation tax changes: new rules have been proposed for your super – here’s what you need to know

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Major changes announced by Jim Chalmers include indexing superannuation balances to inflation and addition of a new threshold taxing balances between $3m and $10m

The Albanese government has dramatically rewritten its major tax policy, caving in to criticism on its controversial superannuation tax plan by raising thresholds and slashing the amount of money it will rake in.

After a long period of sustained attack from politicians and lobby groups, the government has conceded defeat on all major criticisms, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, saying the policy rewrites would “better target superannuation concessions”.

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Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

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Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

The earth has reached its first catastrophic tipping point linked to greenhouse gas emissions, with warm water coral reefs now facing a long-term decline and risking the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, according to a new report.

The report from scientists and conservationists warns the world is also “on the brink” of reaching other tipping points, including the dieback of the Amazon, the collapse of major ocean currents and the loss of ice sheets.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

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Australia’s household energy bills will halve by 2050, modelling suggests

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Grattan Institute report argues fall in costs will provide federal government room for more action on climate

Australian household energy bills will halve by 2050 as solar panels, batteries and electric cars and appliances become the norm, reducing pressure on the federal government over living costs and creating room for more climate action, a thinktank study suggests.

Modelling by the Grattan Institute finds that cutting greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in line with the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will cut average household energy costs from about $5,800 today to about $3,000.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

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Australian Madeleine Habib released from Israeli jail after aid flotilla intercepted en route to Gaza

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It’s not yet known if Habib signed waiver as demanded by Israel before being taken to Jordan border on Sunday

Australian woman Madeleine Habib has been released from an Israeli prison, four days after a ship she captained as part of another Gaza-bound aid flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters.

A source close to Habib said she was released on Sunday morning Israel time, along with other activists from the freedom flotilla, and taken to the Jordan border.

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Hackers leak Qantas data containing 5 million customer records after ransom deadline passes

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Hacker collective Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters demanded payment in return for preventing the stolen data of nearly 40 companies from being shared

Hackers say they have leaked the personal records of 5 million Qantas customers on the dark web, after a ransom deadline set by the cybercriminals passed.

The airline is one of more than 40 firms globally caught up in the hack, reported to contain up to 1 billion customer records.

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Three people dead after light plane crashes on take-off near Wollongong

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The aircraft caught on fire soon after taking off from Shellharbour airport at about 10am on Saturday

Three people have died after a light plane crashed at Shellharbour Airport on Saturday morning near Wollongong in New South Wales.

The plane took-off at about 10am before crashing and catching fire.

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Baby numbats spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in hopeful sign for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials

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Video shows some of the juveniles exploring outside their den at Mallee Cliffs national park in south-western NSW

Baby numbats have been spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in south-western New South Wales, sparking hope for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials.

Video captured by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) shows some of the juveniles exploring outside their den at Mallee Cliffs national park.

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Crocodile made famous by Steve Irwin ‘wrongfully arrested’ and should be returned to wild, traditional owners say

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Exclusive: ‘Old Faithful’ was captured after Queensland authorities deemed him ‘a problem crocodile’, but Rinyirru Aboriginal Corporation says the government is mistaken

Traditional owners have called on the Queensland environment minister to return an iconic saltwater crocodile to the wild, arguing his capture was a “wrongful arrest” – but that his case could prove “a landmark” in redefining consultation with First Nations people and the management of crocodiles.

Rinyirru (Lakefield) Aboriginal Corporation chair, Alwyn Lyall, wrote to the environment minister, Andrew Powell, on Friday saying the removal of a crocodile longer than 4 metres, known as “Old Faithful”, from Rinyirru – or Lakefield national park – last month was based on a “flawed and outdated” test of his behaviour and highlighted “a bigger problem in how crocodiles are managed”.

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Rebel Wilson using US court proceedings to ‘harass and intimidate’ star of The Deb, court told

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The film’s producers are seeking an injunction in a Sydney court to stop Wilson pursuing a countersuit in California

The Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been accused of using US court proceedings to harass and intimidate the lead actor in her directorial debut, The Deb.

The New South Wales supreme court heard on Friday that earlier this month the star of The Deb, Charlotte MacInnes, was served a deposition in the UK, demanding she appear before a hearing in California later this month.

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Highly potent synthetic opioids found in teddy bear-shaped pills linked to a death in Queensland

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Public health warning issued after drugs known as nitazenes detected amid move to ban pill testing

Teddy bear-shaped pills laced with synthetic opioids have been linked to a death in Queensland, triggering a public health warning about a group of highly potent illicit drugs called nitazenes.

N-pyrrolidino-protonitazene and protonitazene were detected in toxicology and samples taken from pale yellow pills marked with the letter “Y” in the state’s south-east.

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NSW police reveal operation targeting ‘kill cars’ used by alleged Sydney crime gangs

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Arrests have been made over alleged involvement in group of contract criminals that uses network of staged vehicles

A secret police investigation into alleged violent contract criminals and a network of “kill cars” has been revealed after an alleged murder plot at a daycare centre was disrupted.

NSW police on Tuesday pounced on a group of men driving through Revesby in Sydney’s south-west with balaclavas and pistols.

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Boy, 15, dead after being hit by a truck outside Bendigo school

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Victoria police say pedestrian died at the scene after the crash on High Street at 8.30am Friday

A 15-year-old boy has died after being hit by a truck outside a regional Victorian school shortly before classes were due to start.

Victoria police on Friday said the teenager, who lived locally, was hit by a truck on High Street in Bendigo at 8.30am.

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Former Wallabies star David Pocock booted from parliamentary sports club

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Exclusive: Senator accused of bringing social club into disrepute after raising concerns about its association with betting lobby

Independent ACT senator David Pocock – a former Wallabies captain – has been banned from attending Parliament House’s social sports club after raising concern about its sponsorship by the gambling industry.

The former rugby star was on Thursday night told he was no longer welcome at Australian Parliament Sports Club events, and accused of politicising the organisation. He has been removed from group chats discussing its events.

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Google blocked STI awareness ads as ‘adult content’, Senate estimates hears

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Search engine added ‘STI testing’ to list of sensitive topics, censoring important public health campaign, Greens leader says

Google has blocked ads for a commonwealth-funded STI awareness campaign as “adult content” in a move sexual health organisations say frustrates efforts to share evidence-based public health information online.

The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday that the tech company’s moderation practices had recently undermined the reach and cost-effectiveness of the national campaign, run by Sexual and Reproductive Health Australia (SRHA).

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Judges prohibit pro-Palestine march to Sydney Opera House and say protesters risk contempt of court

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In landmark ruling, NSW court of appeal says anyone attending prohibited protest could be held in contempt of court

New South Wales’ top court has made a landmark ruling that criminalises attending a “prohibited” protest, with the court of appeal banning a planned pro-Palestine march to the Sydney Opera House scheduled for this weekend.

The court of appeal on Thursday ruled that anyone marching on the Opera House on Sunday could be held in contempt of court, as it sided with police against the Palestine Action Group due to “extreme” safety concerns.

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‘From reef to retail’: experts warn global marine aquarium fish trade relies heavily on wild populations

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New research finds 90% of marine fish sold by major US retailers are wild-caught, including threatened or endangered species

The global trade in marine aquarium fish relies heavily on fish sourced directly from wild populations, with many consumers unaware of the practice due to murky supply chains.

New research has revealed the scale of the issue, finding most marine aquarium fish sold online in the US were wild-caught, mainly from the western Pacific and Indian oceans.

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Tour operator Intrepid drops carbon offsets and emissions targets

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Firm will instead invest A$2m a year in ‘climate impact fund’ supporting renewables and switching to EVs

One of the travel industry’s most environmentally focused tour operators, Intrepid, is scrapping carbon offsets and abandoning its emissions targets as unreachable.

The Australian-headquartered global travel company said it would instead invest A$2m (£980,000) a year in an audited “climate impact fund” supporting immediate practical measures such as switching to electric vehicles and investing in renewable energy.

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