Category Archives: Australia news

Pro-Palestine protesters fight police decision to block Sydney Opera House protest on 12 October

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NSW supreme court will have final say over whether demonstrators will be given legal protections during march this month

The Palestine Action Group will fight the New South Wales police in court after their proposed plan to march on the Sydney Opera House was knocked back.

On Wednesday, the group announced its plan to diverge from the normal route of its near weekly rallies over the past two years, and march from Hyde Park to the Sydney Opera House on 12 October to mark two years since 7 October and call for “an end to genocide in Gaza”.

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Australia news live: retired admiral criticises Aukus deal; decision expected in NSW psychiatrists pay dispute

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Peter Briggs says relying on overseas construction is ‘folly’; industrial relations commission to rule this morning on government’s stoush with doctors. Follow the latest news live

The former head of Australia’s submarine squadron has urged Australia against outsourcing boat construction overseas, as bureaucrats express confidence the US won’t scuttle Aukus, Australian Associated Press reports.

A parliamentary inquiry yesterday ran the rule over the Geelong treaty, a 50-year Aukus cooperation agreement between Australia and the UK signed in July.

There is no minimum protection in the treaty for a guaranteed work share for genuine Australian industry.

The Collins project has established a viable submarine supply chain within Australia.

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Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they’re becoming unstoppable

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Of 200 fires in the past 44 years, half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were in the last decade

Wildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn, £12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the grief and the economic pain in recent years.

As the headlines, the death tolls and the billion dollar losses from wildfires have stacked up around the world, so too have the rising temperatures – fuelled by the climate crisis – that create tinderbox conditions.

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Millions of Australians eligible for 5% first home buyers scheme may be unable to afford repayment

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Greens and experts argue policies that let first home buyers spend more than usual only creates more expensive housing – without lifting the proportion of homeowners

Millions of Australians eligible to take up the federal government’s new 5% deposit scheme could be unable to afford mortgage repayments, new analysis has shown.

Data compiled by the Parliamentary Library and commissioned by the Greens shows of the 3.8 million Australians in the top 10 most common professions in Australia, the vast majority would be unable to afford mortgage repayments on the median Australian home without falling into housing stress.

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Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will appeal against her convictions, court told

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Lawyers for Erin Patterson confirmed on Thursday that she would appeal against her convictions, after she was sentenced to life imprisonment last month

Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will appeal against her convictions, the Victorian supreme court has heard.

Patterson’s barrister, Richard Edney, confirmed she would appeal during a short hearing in Melbourne on Thursday morning.

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Corporate ‘middlemen’ mask who really profits from Australian fossil fuel projects, report warns

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Nominee companies – paid to be listed as shareholders on behalf of unnamed investors – could be reducing accountability over financial support of industry

Three global banks are being paid to obscure who profits from 51 fossil fuel projects in Australia that produce 22m tonnes of carbon emissions each year, according to new analysis.

An analyst who authored the report says it highlights a “massive problem” in Australia that could be reducing the amount of scrutiny investors face for financial support of the fossil fuel industry.

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NSW urged to stop strip-searches of young people after court ruling spotlights police conduct

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Supreme court rules police suspicion that a person is in possession of a prohibited drug ‘is not sufficient to conduct a strip-search’

Advocates are calling on the New South Wales government to scrap strip-searches of young people altogether, saying a landmark court ruling found “systemic” issues with the way police have been using their powers.

Justice Dina Yehia handed down her findings in the NSW supreme court on Tuesday in a class action brought by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre against the state of NSW.

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Albanese hopes China’s reported BHP iron ore ban ‘very much short-term’ as ASX dips

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers and BHP CEO Mike Henry to discuss reports of Chinese iron ore blockade

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will meet with the boss of BHP amid a shock report that the world’s largest mining company faces a Chinese blockade on its iron ore shipments.

Beijing’s state iron ore buyer has told steelmakers to pause imports of BHP ore, amid hardball negotiations over the price of the crucial resource, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

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Footprint found in South Australian outback search for four-year-old boy

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August, known as Gus, disappeared from his family’s sheep station in state’s remote mid-north on Saturday afternoon

The discovery of a footprint is providing a glimmer of hope before the search for a preschooler on an outback homestead becomes a recovery operation.

Four-year-old August, known as Gus, disappeared from his family’s sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north on Saturday afternoon.

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Mass slaughter in Gaza stands apart from other genocides, Chris Sidoti says: ‘People cannot escape’

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Australian human rights expert who was on UN commission of inquiry labels Israel’s strategy a failure that ‘has not brought peace and has not destroyed Hamas’

“The people of Gaza have absolutely no way to escape the killing: they are literally a captive population.”

Chris Sidoti knows the brutality of conflict too well, his experience investigating international crimes is devastatingly comprehensive. But he sees a categoric difference in the violence in Gaza.

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Base formulation may be linked to 20 sunscreens falling short of SPF claims, drug regulator finds

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TGA investigation also finds some testing laboratories may be more reliable than others

The same base formulation has been identified in 20 sunscreens that Australia’s medicines regulator has warned are unlikely to have a sun protection factor (SPF) rating of more than 21, with some products as low as SPF 4.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Tuesday identified sunscreens sold by 17 different companies using a base formulation made by manufacturer Wild Child Laboratories as likely to fall far short of their sun protection factor claims.

Aspect Sun SPF50+ Physical Sun Protection

Aspect Sun SPF50+ Tinted Physical Sun Protection

Aesthetics Rx Ultra Protection Sunscreen Cream

New Day Skin Good Vibes Sunscreen SPF50+

New Day Skin Happy Days Sunscreen SPF50+

Allganics Light Sunscreen SPF50+

Beauti-FLTR Lustre Mineral SPF50+

Found My Skin SPF 50+ Tinted Face/Body Cream

Ethical Zinc Daily Wear Light Sunscreen

Ethical Zinc Daily Wear Tinted Facial Sunscreen (Dark)

Ethical Zinc Daily Wear Tinted Facial Sunscreen (Light)

Endota Mineral Protect SPF50 Sunscreen

We are Feel Good Inc Mineral Sunscreen SPF50+

GlindaWand The Fountain of Youth Environmental Defence Cream SPF50+

Ultra Violette Velvet Screen SPF50 (product export only - not available in Australia)

People4Ocean SPF 50+ Mineral Bioactive Shield Lightly Tinted Cream

McoBeauty SPF50+ Mineral Mattifying Sunscreen

Naked Sundays Collagen Glow Mineral Sunscreen

Outside Beauty & Skincare SPF 50+ Mineral Primer

Salus SPF50+ Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum

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Crisafulli insists on more shark nets to protect human lives despite trapped mother and baby whale

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Queensland premier says he won’t protect whales ‘at the expense of one single human’

Queensland’s premier said the state is “not for turning” on its plan to expand shark netting, and won’t put protecting whales “at the expense of one single human”.

A mother and baby humpback were discovered trapped in shark netting near Rainbow Beach on Saturday, the eighth and ninth whales to become entangled in nine days.

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Clive Palmer banks on Swiss strategy after court throws out $305bn mine compensation claim

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Queensland mining magnate had been ordered to pay $13m after tribunal dismissed claim of being a ‘foreign investor’

Clive Palmer says he will challenge the decision of an international tribunal to dismiss his claim for $305bn in compensation from the commonwealth government, by appealing to a court in Switzerland.

On Saturday the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, announced that the permanent court of arbitration, in The Hague, the Netherlands, had ruled against the Queensland mining magnate.

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Lions coach hails AFL grand final win as ‘better than last year’ – as it happened

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PM brushes off Coalition criticism for attending UK Labour party’s national conference

Returning to Albanese’s appearance on Sky News this morning, the PM has shrugged off criticism from the Coalition that he is spending too much time engaging in international diplomacy after he attended the UK Labour party’s national conference.

What I do is work very hard representing Australia.

In Liverpool, I’ll be having discussions with ministers, not just with prime minister Starmer, about Aukus and about that progress, taking the opportunity to sit down with government ministers.

I think you can be strong on borders without being weak on humanity, and that’s what drives my government.

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Dezi Freeman search has hit the one-month mark. How long might police continue the manhunt?

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Hunt for suspected Porepunkah shooter ‘cannot go on for infinitum’, one retired detective says. ‘It has to have a line in the sand somewhere’

As the search for fugitive Dezi Freeman hits the one-month mark, questions are growing about when police may draw “a line in the sand” and call it quits.

The suspected Porepunkah police killer, also known as Desmond Filby, has been on the run since 26 August, when he allegedly shot and killed two officers who were part of a group executing a search warrant at his residence in Victoria’s north-east.

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Clive Palmer ordered to pay $13m after claim of being ‘foreign investor’ in Australian mining project thrown out

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Attorney general says mining magnate is ‘not a foreign investor’ and is ‘not entitled to any benefits under Australia’s free trade and investment agreements’

The Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay more than $13m after his claim of being a “foreign investor” was dismissed by an international tribunal after a dispute lasting more than a decade.

The permanent court of arbitration, established by international treaties, rejected Palmer’s claim as it had no jurisdiction over the dispute between a national government and one of its citizens, the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said on Saturday.

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Native forest logging must end in order to reach Labor’s emissions reduction target, expert says

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Murray Watt says ‘it’s not the government’s intention to stop old growth logging’ as Greens and academics press for total halt

The Albanese government is being urged to end old growth logging “at a minimum” in order to meet a 2035 emissions reduction target recommended by the Climate Change Authority.

One of Australia’s most respected forest scientists, Prof David Lindenmayer, of the Australian National University, has also written to the authority questioning why it did not go further in its advice and recommend an end to all native forest logging.

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

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Abnormally hot days may hit Australia’s south-east after rare sudden warming over Antarctica

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Phenomenon extremely unusual in southern hemisphere and last occurred in 2019 when it contributed to worsening of black summer bushfires

A rare rise in stratospheric temperatures over Antarctica could influence weather into summer, with previous events driving hotter and drier conditions for south-east Australia.

The phenomenon – called sudden stratospheric warming – is extremely unusual in the southern hemisphere.

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Controversial Queensland mayor Troy Thompson resigns after corruption inquiry

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Thompson, accused of misleading voters about his military record, says he will now nominate in the byelection caused by his departure

A controversial north Queensland mayor accused of misleading voters about his army service has resigned.

Troy Thompson was suspended on full pay in November while the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) conducted an investigation.

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‘Blood on these walls’: Mudrat tears into ABC’s Gaza coverage during Triple J live set

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Australian hip-hop artist donned a Palestinian keffiyeh and delivered a blistering critique of the broadcaster and its treatment of Antoinette Lattouf

The hip-hop artist Mudrat used Triple J’s video series Bars of Steel to deliver a blistering critique of the ABC’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and its treatment of Antoinette Lattouf.

The federal court found in June the ABC breached the Fair Work Act when it terminated the casual broadcaster for reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

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