Category Archives: Australia news

Husband charged with cold-case murder of Denise Govendir in Sydney in 1998

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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.

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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

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‘Mind-boggling’ nomination failure sparks sacking of NSW Liberal party state director Richard Shields

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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.

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The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki says she struggled to leave Diana’s mannerisms behind

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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.

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Canberra Health Services apologises for video that left endometriosis advocates ‘appalled’

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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.

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Victims would have ‘no remedy’ if judges given immunity, lawyer for wrongfully imprisoned Brisbane man tells court

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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.

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‘Shocked and gutted’: NSW Liberal councillors mull legal action against own party over administrative disaster

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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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NSW introduces legislation to overhaul environmental offset scheme – as it happened

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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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Wieambilla killer’s ‘incredibly disturbing’ emails sent to police before massacre, inquest hears

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Close associate of Nathaniel Train tells Queensland coroner’s court they forwarded emails to NSW police hours before deadly shootings

A close associate of one of the Wieambilla killers forwarded four “incredibly disturbing” emails from his account to New South Wales police hours before the Train family gunned down three people in Queensland, a coronial inquest has heard.

The emails were not passed on to Queensland police before they sent four officers to 251 Wains Rd, Wieambilla for a missing persons’ search, two of whom would be killed by Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train, the court heard.

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Raygun: Australian Olympic Committee condemns ‘disgraceful’ online petition attacking Rachael Gunn

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Petition amassing more than 45,000 signatures repeats falsehoods about breakdancer’s selection for Paris 2024, says AOC

The Australian Olympic Committee has condemned an anonymous online petition that repeats falsehoods about how B-girl Rachael “Raygun” Gunn was selected to compete at the Paris Games.

Matt Carroll, the chief executive of the AOC, said the petition – which also criticised Australia’s chef de mission, Anna Meares – was “disgraceful” and amounted to bullying and harassment.

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Australians’ mortgage payments hit high not seen since before GFC, data shows

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The average mortgage holder is parting with more than a fifth of their pre-tax income, double what they were spending in the 90s

Mortgage holders are spending well over 20% of their pre-tax income on their loans, representing one of the highest levels on record, data compiled by Commonwealth Bank shows.

It has rocketed in recent years amid rising interest rates and high living costs to a level last seen two decades ago when frothy property prices took hold before the 2008 global financial crisis.

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‘Close association’ through army reserve prompted anti-corruption commissioner to recuse himself from robodebt referral

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Exclusive: Paul Brereton delegated decision not to pursue investigation so as ‘to avoid any possible perception of a conflict of interest’

The perceived conflict that resulted in the anti-corruption commissioner, Paul Brereton, recusing himself from decisions on robodebt referrals was an apparent “close association” relating to his service in the army reserve.

That detail is contained in a more complete version of the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner’s “declaration of material personal interests” sent to the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, and released by the Nacc to Guardian Australia.

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Australia looks to modernise organ donation laws to keep pace with scientific advances

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Exclusive: Mark Dreyfus cites strong support from states and territories to update human tissue laws last reviewed almost 50 years ago

Australia’s definition of death is holding organ transplantation back from using the most up-to-date technology and achieving the best outcomes.

On Thursday the government will announce it will establish an Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) inquiry looking to modernise human tissue laws last comprehensively reviewed almost 50 years ago.

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Ecologists warn deadly H5N1 bird flu could arrive in Australia via Antarctica as preparations ramp up

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Influx of highly pathogenic strain a case of ‘not if, but when’ and could devastate native wildlife, experts say

The Australian government is ramping up preparations for a highly pathogenic and contagious strain of bird flu potentially reaching Australia via its Antarctic territory and Macquarie Island, warning it could devastate wildlife and be passed to people.

Government agencies led by the Australian Antarctic Division at a planning exercise in Hobart on Wednesday were told an influx of the virulent H5N1 Avian flu strain that has killed millions of seabirds, wild birds and poultry overseas was a case of “not if, but when”.

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New figures show NSW children are being ‘criminalised for their disadvantage’, advocate says

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More than half the 10- to 13-year-olds who faced court had been a victim of violence and about a third had accessed homelessness services, report finds

Children aged 10 to 13 facing criminal penalties in New South Wales are “overwhelmingly” from disadvantaged backgrounds and disproportionately Indigenous, according to a new report.

It comes amid debate over the minimum age of criminal responsibility, after the Victorian government reneged on a commitment to raise the age from 12 to 14. In NSW, children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and incarcerated.

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Record-breaking downpours in eastern Australia put emergency services on high alert

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Parts of the Queensland coast copped a battering into Wednesday of more than 100mm in less than six hours

Emergency services are poised to carry out rescues as record-breaking downpours have soaked parts of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales.

South-east Queensland’s coastal catchments have been issued with a flood watch warning, as have parts of the NSW Northern Rivers.

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Peter Dutton says Australia should not accept Palestinians from Gaza due to ‘national security risk’

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Coalition leader’s escalated rhetoric immediately rejected by senior Albanese government figures

Peter Dutton has escalated the Coalition’s rhetoric against Palestinians fleeing the Gaza war zone, claiming that none should be allowed to Australia “at the moment” due to an unspecified “national security risk”.

The comments from the opposition leader on Wednesday contradict the assessment by the Asio spy chief, Mike Burgess, that rhetorical support for Hamas should not be an automatic bar to Palestinians receiving visas.

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Australia politics live: PM welcomes home Olympic team; CBA records $9.8bn cash profit

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Commonwealth Bank records $9.8bn full year cash profit – a robust result against a backdrop of rising household costs. Follow the day’s news live

It seems Qantas has been forgiven – at least by the prime minister. Anthony Albanese gave the airline a special shout out in his speech welcoming home Australia’s olympians:

I do want to take a moment as well to thank [CEO] Vanessa [Hudson] and Qantas for once again reminding us of why every serious country in the world understands the importance of having a national airline.

And bringing Australian home and once again, looking after Australians as you always do.

Higher interest rates are slowing the economy and gradually moderating inflation,” Comyn said.

Australia remains well positioned but downside risks continue around productivity, housing affordability, as well as ongoing global uncertainty.”

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‘Alarming’ surge in mental ill health among young people in face of ‘unprecedented’ challenges, experts warn

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Insecure employment, climate crisis and social media are driving ‘dangerous’ decline, research finds

Intergenerational inequality, unregulated social media, wage theft, insecure employment and the climate crisis are driving a “dangerous” and “alarming” global surge in mental ill health among youth, a consortium of health experts has warned.

There is an urgent need to address these driving factors and improve mental health treatments to stymie rates of premature death, disability and lost potential, all of which have escalated over the past two decades, the research from The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health found.

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Woman charged with murder after girl, 10, found dead at Gold Coast home

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A 46-year-old Carrara woman due to appear in a Gold Coast court, police say

A 46-year-old woman has been charged with murder after investigations into the death of a 10-year-old girl on the Gold Coast.

Police and paramedics were called to a home in the suburb of Carrara at about 6pm on Tuesday.

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Labor urges court to bin obligations so it can keep documents secret in event of ministry changes

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Albanese government brings landmark appeal against original ruling on freedom of information that says documents remain official once portfolio changes hands

The Albanese government is urging the federal court to find that ministerial reshuffles wipe out its obligation to release certain documents under freedom of information law, insisting in a landmark appeal case that documents stop being official and are put beyond public reach whenever a minister changes.

On Friday, the court will hear the government’s appeal against a ruling made in March that “official documents of government” do not suddenly become unofficial just because a new minister takes over the relevant portfolio.

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