Category Archives: Australia news

Queensland’s 50c public transport fares to remain with support of both major parties

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Premier Steven Miles says scheme saves money and ‘takes cars off the road, gets people home sooner and is great for the environment’

The Queensland opposition says it will match the state government’s commitment to keep 50c public transport fares in place beyond the October election.

The cut-price bus, train and ferry tickets were initially slated as a trial – to run three months before and after election day – and had been criticised as a “desperate political gimmick” from a government struggling in the polls.

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Contrasting polls spell out disaster territory and green shoots for Labor ahead of Queensland election

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Mixed messaging for government as they try to conquer the ‘Queensland paradox’ – wooing both urban and regional voters

Six weeks out from the Queensland election, two polls dropped this week. They both told remarkably different stories.

Resolve Strategic, published in the Brisbane Times, put Labor’s primary vote across the state at 23%. That’s disaster territory. For context, when Anna Bligh’s Labor government was obliterated at the 2012 election, its primary vote was 26.7%.

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What’s causing China’s economic downturn and what does it mean for Australia?

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Oversupply and deflation are spooking markets, while falling demand for coal and iron ore threatens to further hamper anaemic Australian growth

“Because most Chinese are satisfied with the economy’s performance, Beijing would probably resist major adjustments in savings, consumption and investment incentives that did not serve its industrial policy goals.

“Only the prospect of closed foreign markets or deep recession at home, neither of which Beijing believes is likely in the near term, would change this view.”

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Calls grow for total ban on gambling ads as Australia’s annual losses surge to $32bn

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Exclusive: On a per capita basis, ACT residents posted the heaviest gambling losses and Western Australia the least, according to new data

Australia’s gambling losses have surged from $25.6bn annually pre-Covid to $32bn in 2022-23, according to new data from the Queensland government.

The data, released on Tuesday, revealed Australians are now losing $1,555 per capita, up from $1,395 in 2021-22.

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Clover Moore claims historic sixth term as Sydney lord mayor

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Longtime independent politician thanks community for support in face of misinformation and ‘awful’ campaign

Clover Moore has claimed a historic sixth term as the Sydney lord mayor despite a swing against her in a campaign she described as the “toughest” of her career.

The longtime independent secured another four years in the top job on Saturday evening, declaring victory in front of supporters at the Arthouse hotel in Sydney’s CBD.

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Mother held in jail after being charged with murdering her two sons in Blue Mountains home

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The 42-year-old woman fronted Parramatta local court in Sydney on Saturday in a brief hearing where she did not apply for bail

A mother charged with murdering her two sons at their Blue Mountains home has made a brief court appearance where she was remanded in custody.

The 42-year-old woman fronted Parramatta local court in Sydney for the first time on Saturday in a brief hearing where she did not apply for bail.

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Shorten furious over robodebt department head’s attempt to position herself as ‘scapegoat’

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Kathryn Campbell defends her role in unlawful scheme and rejects claim she came up with program with former prime minister Scott Morrison

Bill Shorten has launched an excoriating attack of former public servant Kathryn Campbell after she claimed she was unfairly blamed in the robodebt scandal and defended her decisions around the scheme.

“Robodebt was a shocking betrayal and failure of empathy towards vulnerable people who needed support from the government,” Shorten said on Saturday.

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‘When they go low’: Clover Moore apologises as volunteer caught allegedly pulling down Indigenous rival’s corflutes

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Team Clover volunteer filmed allegedly removing campaign posters of Yvonne Weldon from outside National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Redfern

The lord mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, has apologised to an Indigenous political opponent after a volunteer was accused of removing corflutes outside the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Redfern.

Yvonne Weldon posted a video recorded by one of her team members of a man who had allegedly taken down the corflutes to make way for Moore’s banners.

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National RSL head backs call to stop veterans charity name being used on pokies venues

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Exclusive: Concerns venues ‘don’t share values’ as debate continues over whether poker machines belong in RSL clubs at all

The national head of the Returned and Services League of Australia has backed a push to stop licensed clubs from using the RSL letters in their names amid internal division over whether poker machines should be phased out of the venues altogether.

The RSL president, Greg Melick, said the veterans’ charity was concerned its name was being used by “organisations that don’t share our values” and that licensed clubs should have to ask for permission before using it.

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‘Not on my watch’: how windfarms became a key issue in NSW local elections

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From Port Stephens to Illawarra, council candidates are running against renewable schemes because of ‘lack of consultation’

Part of what’s driving Mark Watson’s pitch for mayor is his opposition to a project he says is the talk of the town and the “biggest issue” in his coastal home’s history.

The former One Nation candidate for the state government is now running as an independent for mayor of Port Stephens. The coastal town just north of Newcastle overlooks the middle of the 1,800-square kilometre offshore windfarm zone off the Hunter, where the Albanese government plans a renewable energy hub to be operating by 2030.

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Delayed air travellers may get compensation under rules Albanese government proposes

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Catherine King says new charter may force airlines to compensate you if they bump you off a flight, delay your flight, or cancel it

Airlines in Australia may yet be forced to compensate passengers for bumping them to other services because of overbooking, delaying or cancelling their flights, under the charter of aviation rights proposed by the Albanese government.

The transport minister, Catherine King, told Guardian Australia that, despite the aviation white paper not endorsing a standalone compensation provision, the government aims to have legally enforceable penalties included in the charter. It also wants powers granted to the proposed new aviation ombudsman to deal with how airlines treat passengers.

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Mother of two boys found dead in Blue Mountains home charged with murder

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The 42-year-old woman was charged with murdering the boys aged 9 and 11, in Faulconbridge will appear at Parramatta local court on Saturday

A mother of two boys who were found dead in a house in the Blue Mountains has been charged with two counts of murder.

Emergency services were called to a house in Faulconbridge on Tuesday following concerns for the welfare of a woman and two children.

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‘The death of campus life’: first major Australian university dumps face-to-face lectures, leaving staff ‘furious’

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Adelaide University touts ‘rich digital learning activities’ that will be ‘self-paced and self-directed’ after student numbers on campus decline

The newly amalgamated Adelaide University has become the first Group of Eight institution in Australia to ditch face-to-face lectures, in a move condemned as accelerating the “death of campus life” by the union representing tertiary education staff.

Ahead of the merged university opening at the beginning of 2026, staff at the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia were informed last week that traditional lectures would no longer form a part of courses.

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Inquiry into robodebt issues sanctions against four of 12 staff: why so few and what happens next

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Australian Public Service Commission’s report finds 12 of 16 public servants breached code of conduct 97 times but only remaining staff to be reprimanded

The outcome of a highly anticipated 13-month inquiry into the conduct of current and former bureaucrats involved in the illegal robodebt scheme has been released.

The Australian Public Service Commission’s report marks the formal end of the agency’s investigation into what public servants responsible for devising and running the scheme knew and how they acted.

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Weekend cold front to bring hail, snow and chilly winds to parts of east coast

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BoM modelling shows chance of above average rainfall for eastern states in coming months, and high bushfire risk for parts of NT and Queensland

A cold snap will hit Australia’s south-east over the weekend, with cool winds and rain sweeping up through Tasmania to Brisbane from Friday evening.

Victoria will face chilly weather, showers and potential thunderstorms on Saturday, with Melbourne expecting up to 10mm of rain and potential hail amid daytime temperatures of just 12C.

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Gold Coast man found not guilty of helping murder workmate’s estranged wife

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Jury finds Bradley Bell, 27, was not responsible for Kelly Wilkinson’s April 2021 death

A man accused of helping a workmate carry out the murder of his estranged wife has been found not guilty by a jury.

Bradley Bell, of Pimpama, faced trial in Brisbane supreme court after pleading not guilty to the murder of Kelly Wilkinson, 27, on 20 April 2021.

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John Howard weighs in on stoush between NSW and federal Liberals – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Assistant treasurer says Elon Musk post is ‘crackpot stuff’

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has said Elon Musk labelling the Australian government as “fascists” is “crackpot stuff”.

And whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals.

And, for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean is this what he thinks free speech is all about?

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Federal government approves third runway for Melbourne airport

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Approval requires the establishment of a noise amelioration program for nearby communities

The federal government has approved a third runway for Melbourne airport, with conditions set to share and minimise the effects of aircraft noise on surrounding communities.

The transport minister, Catherine King, announced the go-ahead for the runway construction on Friday, saying it would allow the airport to cater for the demand of a growing city and provide better access for freight and passengers.

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Dementia prescriptions jump 46% in a decade as Australia urged to prepare for ‘full impact’ of disease

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Neuroscientist says rapidly ageing population puts country at forefront of a health crisis

The number of dementia medication prescriptions has jumped by almost 50% in Australia in the past decade as more people seek out therapies that may slow the progression of the disease.

The latest report on dementia from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released on Friday, revealed that health services for managing dementia have increased to accommodate 411,100 people.

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Anthony Albanese may decide who runs in safe Labor seat as deputy PM and union locked in tussle

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Richard Marles and Bill Shorten’s old union, the Australian Workers’ Union, in stoush to pick candidate for Gorton

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is locked in a struggle with Bill Shorten’s old union, the Australian Workers’ Union, to pick the next candidate for the safe Labor seat of Gorton.

Shorten’s seat of Maribyrnong will be contested by the left’s Jo Briskey while Labor’s choice for Gorton is a tussle between the climate crisis and water policy expert Alice Jordan-Baird and the Brimbank mayor, Ranka Rasic.

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