Category Archives: Australia news

Senator gives evidence at defamation trial – as it happened

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For more on this, Daniel Hurst looked into the issue yesterday. A spokesperson for the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, had said the government was “firmly committed to minimising harms from online wagering”.

The government continues to engage with stakeholders regarding the recommendations from the online wagering inquiry as we formulate our response.

I hope that’s not the case. I hope the long consultation is because the government’s actually going to do the right thing and make gambling ads history, just like we did with tobacco. We live in hope it’s not too late, but the rumors are not encouraging.

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Australians shunning petrol-powered cars for hybrid vehicles as bowser prices rise

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Trend also reflects concerns over range and a lack of charging infrastructure affecting purely electric vehicles, experts say

Australians are buying more cars than ever but are increasingly choosing hybrid vehicles over petrol-powered cars due to rising costs at the bowser, new data by the Australian Automobiles Association shows.

Quarterly vehicle sales data released on Monday revealed a further uptick in demand for hybrid vehicles, a trend the industry believes reflects both the rising cost of living, as well as range anxiety and concerns over a lack of charging infrastructure affecting purely electric vehicles.

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Police legally detained 15-year-old terror suspect in hotel without lawyers knowing location, solicitor says

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Ahmed Dib says legal team spent three days trying to find boy who was held with his mother in western Sydney

Asio and federal police officers legally detained a 15-year-old terror suspect in a hotel for multiple days without charge and without his lawyers being aware of his location, his solicitor alleges.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of seven people arrested by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team in the aftermath of the high-profile stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in April.

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Melbourne surgeon failed to tell patient he invented ‘experimental’ device used to replace jaw joints, court documents claim

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Dr George Dimitroulis, who is being sued in a Victorian court by a former patient, denies any injuries were caused by negligence or the prosthesis

A Melbourne surgeon failed to tell a patient undergoing major jaw surgery that the device she was being implanted was an “experimental” one that he invented, and that he also created the classification system used to diagnose her condition as severe enough to warrant removing her jaw joints, according to documents filed in a Victorian court case accusing him of negligence.

The surgeon, Dr George Dimitroulis, is being sued by a former patient, Bianca*, who alleged in a statement of claim filed to Victoria’s supreme court that he did not fully advise her of the risks before the operation.

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One of Australia’s most expensive commutes becomes the cheapest, as Queensland’s 50c public transport trial begins

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Operators not predicting a large influx of new customers right away, with patronage still well below pre-Covid levels

In an Australian-first trial of super-cheap public transport, Queensland bus, train and ferry fares are set to drop to just 50 cents this week.

Train tickets in the sunshine state had been among the country’s most expensive – up to $31.10 for a single adult paper train ticket.

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‘A total cop-out’ if Albanese government refuses blanket ban on gambling ads, Pocock says

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Betting ads would remain on television but be banned on social media and other digital platforms under intended proposal

The Albanese government has been accused of “a total cop-out” and lacking political courage after reports it is likely to stop short of introducing a blanket ban on gambling advertising.

The independent senator David Pocock said the government appeared to be pursuing a “watered down policy to appease the gambling industry”, while the crossbench MP Zoe Daniel slammed what she saw as a “half-hearted, half-arsed” proposal.

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Albanese endorses ‘principle’ of makarrata but stops short of backing truth and justice commission

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Prime minister’s emphasis on ‘engagement’ appears to differ from more formal truth-telling process advocated by First Nations leaders

Anthony Albanese has endorsed telling the truth about historical and current Indigenous experiences of colonisation in Australia but stopped short of committing to establishing a commission to facilitate the process.

Speaking on ABC TV’s Insiders program at the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land, Albanese suggested consulting Indigenous organisations on ways to better address Indigenous disadvantage and boost economic development in their communities fits the definition of the Yolŋu word “makarrata” – coming together after struggle.

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Second person dies after being diagnosed with legionnaires’ disease amid Melbourne outbreak

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Man in his 60s died on Thursday, following the death of a woman in her 90s who had presented to hospital on Tuesday

A second person has died after being diagnosed with legionnaires’ disease during an outbreak in Melbourne’s west and north-west.

The man in his 60s became unwell over a week ago and was admitted to hospital, before dying on Thursday.

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Government will consider pathways for Palestinians fleeing Gaza to stay longer in Australia, Burke says

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Calls for humanitarian approach offered to Afghans in 2021 and Ukrainians in 2022 to be extended to Palestinians as visitor visas expire

The new minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, has confirmed he is looking at ways to allow Palestinians who fled to Australia to stay longer, saying no country should send people back to Gaza right now.

Burke said it was understandable that the government used visitor visas as its first response to the crisis, but acknowledged action was needed because the visas were expiring and the Israeli offensive was continuing.

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Wong warns Australians in Lebanon to ‘leave immediately’ – as it happened

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Asked whether the government could still use an advisory body to help it target initiatives, Albanese says he accepts the outcome of the referendum and “the voice was never the end in itself”.

It was about putting Indigenous recognition in the constitution in the form which was asked for through the First Nations constitutional convention in 2017 at Uluru. After a process that was begun by Tony Abbott, and which people participated in. Now, that wasn’t successful. So what we can’t do is say “oh well, we’ll just give up on closing the gap, we’ll give up on moving Australia forward”. What we will do is renew through working with existing bodies. There are land councils, there are organisations such as the Yothu Yindi Foundation here.

That was essentially a work for the dole, a make-work program. We’ve replaced that with the remote community and economic development program. So real jobs with real training. With real wages and conditions, so that’s part of it. $4bn into remote housing.

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NT police commissioner apologises to Indigenous community at Garma festival

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Michael Murphy publicly acknowledges the impact of territory policing on Indigenous Australians over the past 154 years

The Northern Territory police commissioner, Michael Murphy, has issued an extraordinary apology to the Indigenous people of his jurisdiction, declaring police have favoured protecting “settlers” over Aboriginal people and he is “deeply sorry for the hurt and injustices” this has caused them over more than a century.

In a speech at the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land, Murphy warned his words could “trigger strong emotions” in his audience but said they were issued in the interests of reconciliation, healing and justice.

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Man dead after accident at central Queensland mine site

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Emergency services were called to the Byerwen Mine site near Mackay after reports of a crane accident

A worker is dead after an incident reportedly involving a crane at the Byerwen coalmine site near the central Queensland city of Mackay.

Emergency services were called about 7.30am to a worksite on Wollombi Road in Suttor, after the 48-year-old man was located unresponsive, a Queensland police spokesperson said. He was later declared deceased.

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Media exposure has forced the government’s hand on Centrepay. The contrast with robodebt could not be more stark

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The Centrepay revelations should shock Australians – but not the government, after years of complaints about financial exploitation

In the months since the government announced it would overhaul its controversial Centrepay debit system, one thing has become abundantly clear.

Many already knew it was failing.

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‘A tiny ant crawling on a map’: Lael Wilcox on her epic cycle from Perth to Brisbane

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Midway through her 29,000km trek across the globe, the Alaskan was in Australia where she encountered headwinds, wombats and a love affair with ‘big things’

In a small town in the Shire of Banana, a 38-year-old Alaska woman jumps on her bicycle in the chill of the early morning and is about to set off for a day’s ride through the central Queensland countryside when a stranger approaches.

The man, in his 60s, has driven hours and slept in his van for this moment.

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‘We have to make a new path,’ Albanese vows, returning to Garma festival after voice defeat

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Prime minister to tell gathering he remains ‘committed to Makarrata’, as Malarndirri McCarthy hits back against Peter Dutton’s rejection of truth telling

“Anthony Albanese has returned to the Garma festival – a hub of excitement a mere 12 months ago around the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament – telling his hosts he did as he promised but the nation did not agree.

Still received with honour at the annual Indigenous festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Friday, Albanese faced gratitude that the proposed constitutional change was put to the people as promised, but grief that it was also overwhelmingly rejected.

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Terror in Wieambilla: inquest hears of a radio blackspot, booby traps and ‘fatal funnel’ of gunfire

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Distressing details emerge about what happened when two young police officers were shot dead in an ambush by the Trains in December 2022

None of the four Queensland police officers were older than 30, but the horrors they were about to experience at 251 Wains Road would shock even the most hardened cop.

They’d been sent to the remote area of Wieambilla, halfway between Chinchilla and Tara, in south-eastern Queensland, to find a missing person. It was in the middle of a known radio blackspot, with residents so off the grid some of them laid booby traps.

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Tears and triumph as George the cat reunited with owner years after going missing

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The cat had lived through thunderstorms, hail and icy cold in Adelaide but it only took him a moment to warm back up to his relieved owner

“Good news, George is alive.”

Adelaide woman Jessica van Niekerk was teaching her class of bright-eyed Year 2 students when she received an unexpected text message from her mother.

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PwC chief’s $1.2m bonus kept ‘secret for more than a year’, inquiry told

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Kevin Burrowes received additional salary from the firm’s international arm but did not initially reveal it to parliamentary inquiry into company

The chief executive of PwC Australia, Kevin Burrowes, received a $1.2m payment from the consulting company’s international arm which he did not initially reveal to the parliamentary inquiry into the 2015 leaking of confidential government tax reform information.

A parliamentary inquiry was told on Friday that Burrowes first told the corporations and financial services committee that he was paid an annual salary of $2.4m. That was later corrected to $2.8m.

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Brittany Higgins and husband schemed to ‘ambush’ Linda Reynolds, Liberal senator’s lawyer tells defamation trial

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Reynolds is suing former staffer over social media posts she alleges damaged her reputation

Linda Reynolds’ lawyer has told a court “every fairytale needs a villain” and has claimed Brittany Higgins and her husband schemed to ambush the Western Australian senator as part of a sophisticated media plan.

Reynolds is suing Higgins in the Western Australia supreme court over social media posts she alleges damaged her reputation, marking the latest in a series of legal battles related to Higgins’ rape in Parliament House five years ago.

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‘Running for her life’: how police rescued trapped officer from Wieambilla ambush

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Rescue team members tell inquest they devised a code to guide Const Keely Brough to safety, drawing gunfire as they blocked property entrance

The leader of a police extraction team sent to rescue trapped constable Keely Brough from the Wieambilla ambush has told an inquest of the moment he saw the officer emerge from scrub “running for her life” to escape the property.

An inquest on Friday heard evidence from several officers involved in the rescue attempt, which was launched while shooters Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train were nearby and considered “active armed offenders”.

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