Category Archives: Australia news

Petrol theft expected to rise in Australia as police call for more CCTV and prepaid pumps

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Amid a surge in fuel prices and fear of shortages, SA police chief signals officers might stop investigating ‘drive-offs’ unless service stations install prepaid pumps

The rusty green fuel trailer hardly looks like it is worth stealing. But some time before 1 March it was hooked up to the back of a vehicle and taken from a property at Huntley, south of Orange, in the New South Wales central tablelands.

It was just another in a series of thefts that police across Australia are keeping a watchful eye on.

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Rhoda Roberts, Indigenous cultural leader who introduced the term ‘welcome to country’, dies aged 66

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Roberts, who was the first Aboriginal person to host a prime-time current affairs program, was diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer seven months ago

Rhoda Roberts – obituary

Rhoda Roberts, the Bundjalung Widjabul Wiyebal cultural leader and arts devotee, has died at the age of 66.

In a statement made via Instagram, Roberts’s family announced she had died peacefully in hospital on Saturday afternoon, having been diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer seven months ago.

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Donald Trump ‘very surprised’ Australia declined to send troops to strait of Hormuz amid fuel crisis

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US president claims he ‘always says yes’ to Australia, Japan and South Korea, after saying he didn’t need help from trio of countries earlier this week

Donald Trump says he is “very surprised” Australia has not sent warships to aid in opening the strait of Hormuz as the blockade of the key strategic route for global oil supply continues to affect fuel prices.

“I was very surprised,” the US president said in Washington on Friday when asked what he took issue with regarding Japan, South Korea and Australia.

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Sports writer and photographer win Quill awards for work for Guardian Australia

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Jonathan Horn scooped best sports feature prize for a series on AFL, while Chris Hopkins won for pictures of a cancer sufferer caring for her son

Sports writer Jonathan Horn and photographer Chris Hopkins have won Melbourne Press Club awards for their work for Guardian Australia.

Guardian Australia was recognised with eight nominations in a range of categories in the 31st annual Quill awards, which were presented in Melbourne on Friday night.

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Tropical Cyclone Narelle barrels west after ripping off roofs and downing trees in far north Queensland

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Second landfall expected over weekend in NT as Queensland premier says relatively limited damage so far ‘an incredibly good news story’

Tropical Cyclone Narelle weakened in intensity on Friday evening after barrelling into far north Queensland as one of the state’s fiercest cyclones in living memory – downing trees, ripping off roofs and swelling rivers.

As of 4pm local time, the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Narelle from a category 3 to category 2 storm, meaning while it was less severe there were still destructive winds near the centre of 100 km/h and wind gusts up to 150 km/h.

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Gas giants warn against windfall gains tax as Pocock says ‘wartime profits’ should go to struggling Australians

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Government faces political fight as industry says mooted 25% levy on exports would hurt Australia’s economy and energy security

Gas giants will lobby against any federal government moves to introduce a 25% export levy on windfall profits, as crossbenchers pressure the prime minister to redirect billions of dollars in “wartime profits” to Australians struggling amid the global energy crisis.

It comes after the prime minister’s department asked Treasury to model the effects of placing a flat 25% tax on gas exports, the ABC reported on Friday, along with any further changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and corporate income tax.

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Australia news live: Tropical Cyclone Narelle poised to hit Queensland coast within hours with wind gusts up to 250km/h

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Tropical cyclone expected to make landfall in far north Queensland within hours. Follow today’s news live

Waves of near-record heights smash Cairns coastline

One of the challenges posed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is the lack of weather monitoring infrastructure in remote parts of Cape York.

Winds of that speed are pretty hard to imagine if you haven’t experienced them before. They are just so, so strong, capable of uprooting really large trees or completely stripping them of their branches …

It can also cause extensive damage to properties in the path of those very strong wind gusts as well as power outages.

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WA police investigate flyers targeting LGBTIQ+ community distributed to homes

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The anonymous leaflets display pictures of LGBTIQ+ people along with accusations of crimes such as drug trafficking and paedophilia

Police in Western Australia are investigating flyers distributed to homes across Perth targeting members of the state’s LGBTIQ+ community.

The flyers, which are anonymous, display photographs of LGBTIQ+ people and falsely accuse them of crimes such as paedophilia.

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Bernardi vows to pay for flights taken with Hanson on Rinehart’s plane amid confusion about SA’s donations ban

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World-leading laws to be tested before South Australian election, complicated by Hanson and Bernardi’s political status

Cory Bernardi says he will pay for multiple flights with Pauline Hanson in a plane registered to Gina Rinehart’s company amid confusion about whether the trips may contravene South Australia’s new laws banning political donations.

Saturday’s SA election is the first since the new laws came into effect. There are a range of exemptions to the ban, but it is not clear if any of them apply to One Nation as parties, candidates and the electoral commission work through the “world-leading” laws for the first time.

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Tropical Cyclone Narelle to make landfall in far north Qld on Friday as category 5 storm, bringing 315km/h wind gusts

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Massive storm tracking a path to Queensland coast, which intensified offshore Thursday morning to category 5, fuelled by warm waters in Coral Sea

Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday morning as a monster category 5 storm, bringing destructive wind gusts of 250km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The severe cyclone rapidly intensified over the past 48 hours and in the early hours of Friday morning had built to a category 5 storm that was barrelling west, sitting about 150km east of the small town of Coen. Coen has a population of approximately 330.

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NSW police overusing ‘highly intrusive’ legal powers to monitor phones and computers, national watchdog finds

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Commonwealth ombudsman also finds Victoria and Queensland police not keeping adequate records

The New South Wales police force is overusing intrusive technology to monitor the phones and computers of people suspected of committing less serious crime, the commonwealth ombudsman has found.

The watchdog said Victoria and Queensland police were not keeping sufficient records to justify their use of the electronic surveillance powers, while NSW police “were unable to demonstrate” they were meeting the requirements of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.

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Is this the world’s first quantum battery? Australian scientists say so

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Researchers say their prototype is a big step towards fully functioning batteries with rapid charging times

Australian scientists have developed what they say is the world’s first proof-of-concept quantum battery.

Quantum batteries, first proposed as a theoretical concept in 2013, use the principles of quantum mechanics to store energy, and have the potential to be more efficient than conventional batteries.

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DiDi raises prices in Australia to cover soaring petrol costs amid conflict in the Middle East

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Other delivery and transport companies such as Uber, DoorDash and Australia Post are weighing whether to charge more

Rideshare giant DiDi has raised its prices to cover soaring petrol costs, becoming one of the first major companies after the airlines to charge Australian consumers more as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.

Uber, DoorDash and Australia Post were among the delivery and transport companies weighing whether to add charges, as small businesses hike fees.

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Australia’s high court orders ankle bracelets be removed and curfews end for 43 former immigration detainees

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Labor’s preventative detention regime suffers blow as court finds tough laws for NZYQ group are unconstitutional

Dozens of former immigration detainees who have already served prison sentences will have ankle bracelets removed and curfews scrapped, with the high court again striking down laws targeting the group.

On Wednesday, the Albanese government’s preventative detention regime suffered another blow as the court ruled the tough laws to deal with the NZYQ cohort were unconstitutional.

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Australia’s environment minister wants to ban fishers and drillers from more ocean – and avoid a culture war

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Conservationists hope Murray Watt’s review of national marine parks will ‘right the wrongs’ of previous downgrade of protection

The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has pledged to put an extra half a million square kilometres of Australia’s ocean out of reach of fishers and drillers in a step conservationists hope will “right the wrongs” of an Abbott-era downgrade of marine protection.

Watt confirmed last year Australia would put 30% of its ocean estate under a high level of protection that bans extractive industries as part of an international agreement to protect 30% of the planet’s oceans.

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Let the games begin: Victorian Liberals fail at sport but surprise with teamwork in viral video

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Jess Wilson’s party has made a splash on social media but will they work together in the state election race?

Jess Wilson doing bombs into a swimming pool. Brad Battin in a muscle shirt curling 20kg, tattoos on show. John Pesutto throwing a discus, clad in blue jeans. Matthew Guy running, clutching a pink baton.

The current Victorian Liberal leader and three of her predecessors feature in a social media video to mark what would have been the opening ceremony of the regional Commonwealth Games on Tuesday – if the state government hadn’t cancelled them.

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Naveed Akram’s family members could be killed if their identities aren’t suppressed, court told

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Lawyer acting for alleged Bondi beach terror attack shooter says 24-year-old’s mother and siblings have received death threats since December antisemitic shootings

Lawyers for alleged Bondi beach gunman Naveed Akram have argued the names of his family members should be suppressed due to fears “one or more of them may be killed” after they received death threats.

But legal counsel for media organisations, who are challenging the suppression order request, argued there was no evidence before the court of an imminent risk.

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Author Craig Silvey facing more charges after being accused of producing child exploitation material

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Jasper Jones author also charged with additional count of possessing child exploitation material

Australian author Craig Silvey has been charged with more child exploitation offences.

The 43-year-old was previously charged with possessing and distributing child exploitation material in early January.

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Virgin Australia flight met by firefighters at Melbourne airport after smoke seen coming from vape

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Passenger on Flight VA 328 alerted the crew who responded by ‘containing the device’ before plane landed

A Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was met by firefighters after smoke was seen coming from a vape on board.

Flight VA 328 landed safely and all passengers disembarked normally after a vape “activated” in the cabin shortly before landing at about 4pm on Sunday afternoon in Melbourne, Melbourne airport said.

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Nine-year-old Australian boy allegedly caught driving car at 1.30am on major highway

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NSW police allege child was sitting on lap of 45-year-old man who was experiencing ‘significant fatigue’ but was operating pedals while boy steered

A nine-year-old boy has allegedly been caught steering a car after 1am on a major highway in New South Wales.

NSW police alleged that a 45-year-old driver was experiencing “significant fatigue” and “operating the pedals” while the boy steered on his lap.

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