Divers demand end to fishing of rays after mutilated carcasses discovered at Chowder Bay on Sydney’s north shore
Jayne Jenkins found the sandy floor of Chowder Bay on Sydney Harbour a mess of fishing lines, hooks and ray carcass, last Saturday morning.
Fins had been chopped from two bull rays, the diver told Guardian Australia. One had a big split across its head – Jenkins identified it as Stumpy, a well known ray that had its tail chopped off in previous years.
Continue reading...State’s electoral commission receives request from NSW Liberal president after party failed to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates
The New South Wales Liberal party has demanded a week-long extension to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates after the party missed the deadline in a “monumental stuff-up”.
The NSW Liberal party president, Don Harwin, sent a letter to the NSW electoral commission overnight after the party’s head office missed the Wednesday noon deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate all of its candidates for the local government elections on 14 September.
Continue reading...Announcement comes after musicians passed vote of no confidence in senior management over cancellation of Jayson Gillham’s performance
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s policies will undergo an independent review after the decision to cancel a performance by acclaimed pianist Jayson Gillham shortly after he made comments on the killing of journalists in Gaza.
It comes after the orchestra’s musicians passed a vote of no confidence in their senior management on Friday over the cancellation of Gillham’s performance, according to a letter sent by staff to the board seen by Guardian Australia.
Continue reading...Independent now has ‘surprise’ backing of Liberal elder statesman and departing Hornsby mayor Philip Ruddock
While many of his former colleagues were furious this week, local councillor Nathan Tilbury has been feeling pretty happy as a former Liberal.
Two days before the party failed to nominate more than 130 candidates for next month’s New South Wales local government elections, Tilbury handed in his resignation.
Continue reading...Dr Adi Paterson’s statements are apparently at odds with the group’s official position, which says nuclear is needed to tackle the climate crisis
The chair of a leading Australian nuclear advocacy group has called concerns that carbon dioxide emissions are driving a climate crisis an “irrational fear of a trace gas which is plant food” and has rejected links between worsening extreme weather and global heating.
Several statements from Dr Adi Paterson, reviewed by the Guardian, appear at odds with statements from the group he chairs, Nuclear for Australia, which is hosting a petition saying nuclear is needed to tackle an “energy and climate crisis”.
Continue reading...Inquest reveals how Gareth Train went from ‘keyboard warrior’ to killer, and radicalised his wife and brother
Gareth Train was, by many accounts, a deeply unimpressive and unpleasant person.
He was arrogant, prone to anger and had low self-esteem. He was paranoid, narcissistic and emotionally primitive, the Queensland coroner’s court heard this week. One witness described him as a “keyboard warrior”; he believed in baseless conspiracy theories so strongly they took over his life, the inquest heard.
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Continue reading...Treasurer says Australia must choose ‘high road’ as fallout from opposition leader’s position on visa-holders from Gaza rumbles on
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has accused Peter Dutton of deliberately stirring up division on visa-holders from Gaza, as the opposition rejected an independent MP’s description of him as “racist” and called the label “disgraceful”.
In an interview for the Australian Politics podcast, Chalmers said he remains worried about community division and suggested Dutton’s comments – that all visa-holders from Gaza posed a national security risk – were not designed to improve it.
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Continue reading...Pilot whale that beached itself in 1973 was infested with thousands of parasitic nematodes that may have eaten away at its blowhole
A vial of white parasitic worms left for decades in a Tasmanian museum may help solve a timeless mystery: why do whales strand themselves on beaches?
The worms were collected from the blowhole of a pilot whale that beached itself in 1973 and then stored in Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
Continue reading...Reporters Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam win outstanding consumer affairs category at Kennedy Foundation awards for excellence in journalism
Guardian Australia reporters Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam have won an award for a series of stories that revealed the government-run controversial debit pay system was being used as a vehicle for economic abuse.
The reporters won the outstanding consumer affairs category at this year’s Kennedy Foundation awards for excellence in journalism.
Continue reading...Hundreds gather at Emerald Lakes to remember Emmanuel College schoolgirl after she was allegedly murdered by her mother
Hundreds of people have gathered at a candlelight vigil to remember Sophie Wang after the 10-year-old was allegedly killed by her mother on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Mourners paid tribute at Emerald Lakes on Friday afternoon after the community was left reeling by the tragedy.
Continue reading...‘MPower’ would be Australia’s largest scheme of its kind – with neighbouring councils invited to join in
Melbourne residents and business owners could have their electricity bills slashed by hundreds of dollars each year in a radical plan proposed by the city’s lord mayor.
Nick Reece has pledged to facilitate Australia’s largest community-led bulk purchasing scheme for renewable energy if he is re-elected.
Continue reading...Palaszczuk, who retired from politics in December after almost nine years as QLD premier, will serve a three-year term as a non-executive director. Follow today’s news headlines live
‘We have to have a constant reminder’
The committee also called for a culturally appropriate and nationally significant recognition and remembrance of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children. Dorinda Cox said this would be “significant” if the government accepted the recommendation:
It would … have some permanent features to remind us the role that history has played for missing and murdered or disappeared women and children and First Nations women and children in this country, because there’s a story there that needs to be told, and we have to have a constant reminder.
Like we do … with the Australian war memorial of the safety that we have as a country, but also that this part of our history – this is now ingrained in and sketched into. And if we want to continue to work on this and continue to maintain safety for women and children and the most vulnerable, which is First Nations – as we know, we’re in an emergency for all women, but First Nations women and children are at the front of that – we have to have some permanent features, otherwise we become invisible.
What we hear too often is that this is a state and territory problem. States are responsible for their police forces, in particular … We have to centre our approaches and our outcomes in [addressing these issues] and we have to look at the culture of the organisations, such as police.
There’s lots of reporting on the media in relation to the attitudes of police across Australia, and that has to get better, but we have to have a measure against that – we can’t just put in the attorney general [to] have a chat to the police ministers, and nothing changes … Because if we don’t look at this in a way of wanting change, nothing ever changes.
Continue reading...Retired Liberal MP Steve Irons and Tasmanian senator Wendy Askew due in WA supreme court witness box on Friday
A federal senator and a retired former assistant minister are set to testify in the high-profile defamation between Linda Reynolds and her former staffer Brittany Higgins.
Senator Reynolds is suing Higgins over a series of social media posts containing alleged mistruths that she believes damaged her reputation.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...Aaron Govendir originally told police his Dover Heights home had been broken into and he was knocked unconscious, but police have new allegations on wife’s cold-case killing
Twenty-six years ago, Aaron Govendir told police his home had been broken into and he was knocked unconscious before his wife was bludgeoned to death.
But detectives allege the story was a lie and the now-elderly man murdered his wife Denise before staging an apparent car theft in a bid to cover up his crime.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Administrative bungle leaves party without a senior leader, four weeks out from statewide elections
The New South Wales Liberals director Richard Shields has been sacked after a “mind-boggling” failure to nominate more than 130 candidates for local government elections.
In a statement issued after an emergency meeting late on Thursday night, the party’s state president, Don Harwin, said its executive had unanimously decided to terminate Shields’ employment over the fiasco.
Continue reading...Emmy-nominated actor says she would catch herself ‘doing a lot of head tilting’ after finishing Netflix series
The Crown actor Elizabeth Debicki took a long time to shake off the mannerisms of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, whom she portrayed in the award-winning Netflix series.
The 33-year-old Australian found herself imitating Diana “for a long while” after the filming of the series’ sixth and final season, she said.
Continue reading...ACT government organisation deletes video that said endometriosis and arthritis were not conditions appropriate for emergency department
Canberra Health Services has removed a video it acknowledged was “not well executed and open to misinterpretation” after “appalled” advocates of endometriosis accused the government organisation of diminishing the acute pain of people living with endometriosis and arthritis.
The video, intended to provide an overview of how emergency departments worked as part of a larger health literacy campaign, has since been deleted from Canberra Health Services’ Instagram account. It is still visible on ABC News.
Continue reading...High court considering Salvatore Vasta case to weigh whether benefits of judicial immunity outweigh potential harm
The nation’s top judges must decide whether the benefits of wide judicial immunity outweigh potential harm to individuals left unable to seek damages, a lawyer for a man who successfully sued a judge says.
Perry Herzfeld SC, representing the man known by the pseudonym “Mr Stradford”, made submissions on Thursday’s second and final day of a high court appeal hearing in Adelaide.
Continue reading...Fallout continues over Liberal party’s failure to lodge paperwork to nominate 136 candidates in upcoming council local government elections
Disappointed New South Wales Liberal councillors are not ruling out taking legal action against the party, and others are demanding their money back after an administrative disaster that will prevent them from running in upcoming elections.
Councillors said they were “shocked” to learn through the media that the Liberal party had missed the noon Wednesday deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate 136 candidates for the 14 September local government elections.
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Dutton: ‘We should stop people coming in from a war zone’
Is it all refugees Peter Dutton wants to stop?
We should stop people coming in from a war zone. So that’s that’s what we should do. Because we don’t know if the proper checks haven’t been done. The 1% or whatever it might be who pose a threat.
You bring 3,000 people in, let’s say 99% are good. If 1%, 30 people are questionable or sympathisers with … a listed terrorist organisation, how on earth is that in our country’s best interests?
There are processes in place and I can assure your audience that when things get referred to Asio we deal with them effectively.
Of course there might be times when they didn’t get referred to us in time. Once we become aware of them, we’re able to do the assessments and deal with them effectively.
No, it’s quite, quite the opposite. Asio is fantastic. I appointed Mike Burgess, but Mike can only act according to the policy of the government of the day. It was not our policy in government to bring people in who were sympathisers of a listed terrorist organisation.
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