Illuminated signs have increased nocturnal artificial light and are detrimental to the city’s liveability and sustainability, a review has found
Large digital billboards could be turned off late at night under a proposal by Melbourne city council to crack down on light pollution and reduce its health and environmental impacts.
A review, commissioned by the council, recommended the introduction of a curfew for illuminated signs above ground level.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Two officeholders quit, with one claiming the party had ‘become a spineless jellyfish’
Labor’s multicultural branch in Western Australia is in upheaval, with two officeholders quitting the party in protest at the treatment of Fatima Payman.
Guardian Australia can reveal that the branch’s treasurer and vice-president have resigned, with one claiming the party had “become a spineless jellyfish” that “throws its own under the bus at the drop of a hat”.
Continue reading...Election promises are now the sole priority for any new funding in the budget update
Anthony Albanese has narrowed the scope of new policy announcements to political essentials only, telling ministers before the mid-year budget update that they can seek funding for measures that fulfil election promises and nothing more.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that Albanese wrote to his ministers last week, making it clear that election promises are now the sole priority for any new funding in the budget update, due by mid December but possibly sooner. Everything else approved but not yet funded will have to wait – possibly until a second term.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lawyer says move by state government shows residents being treated ‘as an afterthought’
The Victorian government is forging ahead with plans to demolish three public housing towers subject to a class action seeking to stop the redevelopment.
The move was described by a lawyer for residents as an example of them being “treated as an afterthought”, after the supreme court ordered the class action could proceed to a two-day trial earlier this month.
Continue reading...Fair Work Commission’s Murray Furlong appointed as administrator of construction union. Follow the day’s news live
Tim Ayres flags ‘proportionate’ federal response to CFMEU
A Labor senator says that federal intervention into alleged criminal behaviour within the CFMEU will be effective and proportionate, AAP reports.
Tony and the team in there are doing the careful work of making sure that the government’s response is effective, well-weighted and effective.
While I don’t forecast the debates in terms of the national executive, we have received these requests from the premiers, we will act upon them, and we’ll act in accordance with the requests from the premiers.
We’re very blessed in this country. We don’t have a gun culture, we don’t have a history of political violence, we don’t at this point in time – thank God – have the fragmentation and polarisation that sadly exists in America to quite the same extent.
So look, can you rule these things out? Of course not. Do I expect it? Well, maybe some time in the next 100 or 200 years, sure. Almost anything could happen in that period of time. But is is imminent? I doubt it very much.
Continue reading...The bodies of Sydney man David Fisk, his partner Lucita Cortez and a relative of Cortez were found tied up in a hotel resort south of Manila
The suspect in the killings of two Australians and their Filipina companion at a hotel in a popular resort city south of Manila was a former pool cleaner who allegedly wanted to retaliate against the hotel for firing him.
The suspect claimed that he randomly barged into the victims’ room last week because its window was open, Philippine officials said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Footage taken at a tourist lodge in Scenic Rim shows a brief snow flurry, the area’s first since 2015
A rare and short-lived dusting of snow has fallen on parts of Queensland and northern New South Wales, surprising residents in high-altitude border areas on Tuesday as Australia’s south-east shivered through a windy and wet start to the week.
Video footage taken at Spicers Peak Lodge at the Scenic Rim, west of the Gold Coast in famously sunny Queensland, showed snow flurries on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Premier says he has written to NSW Labor general secretary requesting immediate suspension of party’s affiliation to CFMEU’s construction and general division
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has asked for the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union’s (CFMEU) affiliation with the state Labor party to be immediately suspended and donations and fees to be stopped after further allegations against its leadership.
The Labor leader lashed the union early on Wednesday morning after Nine newspapers published a video allegedly capturing the NSW union boss Darren Greenfield being passed a $5000 cash bundle in a suspected kickback deal.
Continue reading...Police say 49-year-old was arrested alongside a teen, who was released without charge, after woman’s body discovered in Maribyrnong River
A woman has been charged with murder after another woman’s body was found in a river in inner Melbourne.
The body was discovered by a passerby in the Maribyrnong River, near Smithfield Road in Flemington, on Sunday.
Continue reading...Government will also overhaul state laws after Guardian Australia uncovered serious problems with biodiversity offsets scheme
The New South Wales government says the state’s biodiversity is in crisis and must be put on a path to recovery to reverse the decline of beloved species and ecosystems.
The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, has released the government’s “first steps” in responding to a major review of the state’s nature laws, saying: “We cannot ignore the truth: biodiversity in NSW is in crisis.”
Introducing legislation next year to enshrine a new state nature strategy with conservation and restoration targets;
Amending laws this year to reform the state’s offsets scheme;
Developing maps that identify current and future areas of high biodiversity value to give “clear guidance” on where environmental impacts should be avoided;
Reviewing other pieces of legislation that affect biodiversity to improve outcomes for the environment.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Muslim voters are ‘grossly underrepresented at all levels of government’, Ghaith Krayem says
One of the new organisations seeking to mobilise Australian Muslims at the next federal election has hit back at “almost farcical” attempts to discredit the movement, insisting the Labor government is “clearly afraid”.
Ghaith Krayem, a spokesperson for Muslim Votes Matter, said despite criticism from major party politicians and media, the movement was an “inclusive initiative that hopes to uplift representation for minority groups across the country”.
Continue reading...Craig Wright’s case referred for potential perjury and forgery prosecution after losing legal battle with crypto firms
The case of Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be the creator of bitcoin, has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service over a potential prosecution for perjury and forgery.
In March, Wright lost a legal battle with a coalition of cryptocurrency businesses who had pre-emptively sued to prevent him from enforcing his claim in the courts. In a sign of the extent of his defeat, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Mellor, took the unusual step of issuing an oral verdict within seconds of the case concluding.
Continue reading...Supreme court justice Gregory Geason has pleaded not guilty to emotional abuse or intimidation and common assault
A Tasmanian supreme court judge allegedly assaulted a woman and left her with two large “egg” bumps on her head after he saw a funny photo she received from a colleague, a court has heard.
The woman, who cannot be named, continued giving evidence on Tuesday in a hearing over her alleged “controlling and coercive” relationship with Tasmanian justice Gregory Geason.
Continue reading...Maurice Hawell, his brother Marius Hawell and Andrew David were convicted after the February 2022 incidents involving three teenage women
Three men have been found guilty of luring three women to be gang-raped in an apartment they were renting in Newcastle for a buck’s party weekend.
Maurice Hawell, 30, his brother Marius Hawell, 22, and Andrew David, 30, have faced an almost four-week-long trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre district court.
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...New peak may be challenged as early as Tuesday evening as mid-winter bites in Melbourne
The wintry blast sweeping across eastern Australia has set a record for electricity demand in Victoria and propelled wind generation in New South Wales to new highs, with energy authorities preparing for another power peak on Tuesday evening.
Victoria broke a 17-year record for maximum winter electricity demand, with the tally reaching 8,612 megawatts at 6pm on Monday, the Australian Energy Market Operator said.
Continue reading...SES receives more than 300 calls as strong winds and rain felled trees, damaged dwellings, and flooded low-lying areas and river catchments
Damaging winds and driving rain lashed Victoria on Monday night while snow flurries were reported in northern New South Wales as a low pressure system brought bitter, wintry weather across south-eastern Australia.
The Victorian State Emergency Services fielded more than 300 requests for assistance overnight as strong winds and rain hit the state, felling trees, damaging dwellings, and flooding low-lying areas and river catchments.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Weather update for Victoria and New South Wales: rain, floods, gusts and snow
Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology, spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier to provide an update on the rainfall across Victoria.
That has given us minor to moderate flood warnings including in parts of the Yarra River this morning, as all of the rain from last night and yesterday evening drains out through the river network and out towards the ocean.
Take actions to protect your life and property against potential hazards caused by flooding.
Continue reading...Police files document that a former partner was found to have died from a gunshot wound on his property, court has heard
Child protection workers were worried about Amber Haigh and her newborn son because of an earlier “incident of extreme violence” that occurred at the home of the baby’s father when a woman was found tied up in a wheelbarrow with a bag on her head and dead from a gunshot wound, the New South Wales supreme court has heard.
Robert Geeves, who the court has heard fathered Amber Haigh’s child, is on trial for Haigh’s murder, alongside his wife, Anne Geeves.
Continue reading...Survey also shows deep dissatisfaction with the state of democracy, as Clare O’Neil warns against the ‘virus’ of populism taking hold across the world
Less than 40% of Australians are satisfied with how democracy is working in Australia and three-quarters believe politicians enter politics to serve their own interests, the latest Guardian Essential poll has found.
The percentage of Australians who are satisfied with Australia’s democracy – 37% – is an increase from the 32% of people who felt the same way when the question was last asked in March, but well short of the high of 47% recorded in May 2022.
Continue reading...Lending puts banks in ‘complete violation’ of commitments to Paris agreement, climate group says, even as overall funding to sector ebbs
Australia’s big four banks are in “complete violation” of commitments to the Paris climate accord by funding fossil fuel expansion even as their overall lending to the sector continues to ebb, according to a new report.
The climate activist group Market Forces said in the report that the banks lent the industry $3.6bn in 2023, bringing their total loans to more than $61bn since 2015. Last year, though, was first year in the past eight that banks avoided explicitly backing a new or expanded fossil fuel project.
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