‘I felt like a bird god’: why comedian Geraldine Hickey is excited for this year’s Aussie Bird Count

The keen birdwatcher encourages others to take 20 minutes out of their day, describing the experience as ‘meditative’

In early October the comedian Geraldine Hickey went looking for tawny frogmouths, a charismatic bird with a frog-like beak and mottled feathers.

“They’re a good-looking bird,” Hickey says, though it hasn’t yet appeared in her annual bird calendar, a project she started as a “lockdown thing” that has gained its own dedicated audience.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Accidental vet email further evidence of euthanasia of healthy greyhounds in Victoria

As more cases of dogs being unnecessarily euthanised are revealed, activists want stricter reporting requirements for the racing industry

It was an accidental email that confirmed what many animal activists fear is a widespread issue in Victoria’s greyhound racing industry: young, healthy dogs being euthanised.

In July, clinic notes from a vet intended for a greyhound trainer were mistakenly sent to a rehoming group that had recently been to the same vet for treatment of a rescue dog.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Business Council blames slow local decision-making for feeding Australia’s housing supply crisis

Peak business body proposes deadlines to ‘speed up’ local councils, saying delays are making developers reluctant to invest

Local councils would be forced to set deadlines for deciding on housing development applications and lose approval rights if they cannot stick to them, under a proposal from the national peak body representing big business.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is urging state governments to force local councils to consult housing development proponents and set agreed deadlines, case by case, for ruling on their applications – then be held accountable for meeting them.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Republican debate flares ahead of King Charles’ first visit to Australia as head of state

Republic movement hopes to reignite conversation, but monarchist league says current constitution ‘best protects our democracy’

Debates around Australia’s continued future under the British monarchy have flared ahead of King Charles’ first visit to the country since he ascended the throne.

Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive in Australia on 18 October, with stops in Sydney and Canberra during their six-day visit.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Steven Miles bats away accusations of pinching policies from Greens ahead of Queensland polls opening

State premier announces free state primary school lunches at campaign launch after revealing plan for state-owned health clinics

Premier Steven Miles has warded off allegations of plagiarism from the Greens for a signature free school lunch policy announced at Sunday’s election campaign launch.

The Labor leader promised a free lunch for every Queensland state primary school student, the day before polls open in the state’s election. It came just a day after he unveiled a policy of state-owned, privately run GP clinics.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

One in 10 Australian parents struggling to afford vaccinations for children

Biggest obstacle to improving immunisation rates are practical difficulties families face, according to national vaccination survey

One in 10 Australian parents are struggling to afford the costs of vaccinating their children, according to a nationally representative survey conducted earlier this year.

The national vaccination insights project surveyed 2,000 Australian parents of children under five between March and April, and found the biggest barrier to turning declining vaccination rates around were the practical difficulties parents face.

Continue reading...

More Australians being ‘priced out’ of homes by big rent hikes, advocates fear

Renters in some cities forced to spend on average nearly $15,000 more a year on rent since the Covid pandemic, analysis reveals

Renters in Australian capital cities are on average spending nearly $15,000 more a year to rent a house since the pandemic, analysis has revealed.

Research from the advocacy organisation Everybody’s Home showed on average renters in capitals are paying $14,700 more annually to rent a house, and $9,600 more to rent a unit compared with 2020.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

King Charles won’t stand in the way if ‘Australia wants to become a republic’

Charles said to be adopting ‘anti-confrontational approach’ to republican campaigners before visit

King Charles has said he will not stand in the way if Australia wishes to replace him as the country’s head of state, it has been reported.

Ahead of his visit later this month, the king is said to be adopting an “anti-confrontational approach” to Australian republican campaigners, the Daily Mail reported.

Continue reading...

Victoria police officer suspended over alleged Nazi salutes and ‘Heil Hitler’ comments

The female sergeant, a veteran of 40 years in the force, allegedly made banned gesture on Tuesday and Wednesday in front of colleagues

The Victoria police chief commissioner has apologised to the Jewish community after a veteran sergeant allegedly performed a Nazi salute to colleagues at the police academy twice this week.

The 65-year-old woman was suspended with pay on Friday evening while police launched a criminal investigation into the alleged incidents, which included her allegedly saying “Heil Hitler” on both occasions, Shane Patton said.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

NSW man allegedly stabs victim with scissors, gets shot and then swims away from police

Police spotted alleged stabber in Murrumbidgee River but he swam to an island and climbed a tree, where he stayed for 12 hours

Being shot has not stopped an alleged stabber from trying his luck and swimming away from police in regional New South Wales.

The 33-year-old’s aquatic escape across the Murrumbidgee River followed his alleged stabbing of a man in Wagga Wagga.

Continue reading...

Dome of sweltering NT heat set to spread across vast swathes of Australia

Country’s south will likely bask in temperatures up to 8C hotter than normal next week and the balmy weather could trigger thunderstorms, BoM says

Much of Australia’s south will likely bask in temperatures up to 8C hotter than normal next week, which could trigger an increased risk of thunderstorms over wide areas.

A dome of heat that has put parts of the Northern Territory under heatwave warnings is set to spread east and west in the coming days, before moving south by the middle of next week, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

International arrest warrant issued for former Wallabies star Rocky Elsom

Ex-Australia rugby captain has been sentenced in his absence to five years in prison by a French court for misuse of corporate assets, lawyer says

An international arrest warrant has been issued against the former Australia rugby captain Rocky Elsom who was sentenced in his absence to five years in prison by a French court for misuse of corporate assets, a lawyer in the case told AFP.

Charges were brought after Elsom’s spell as president of French club Narbonne between 2015 and 2016.

Continue reading...

Victorian Liberals had been bracing for a leadership spill. Now voters have thrown John Pesutto a lifeline

Some in the party were concerned the Moira Deeming defamation trial had aired too much dirty laundry – but new polling suggests voters are focused elsewhere

There may have been only one person on Spring Street revelling in the latest polling data: John Pesutto.

Just days ago, the leader of the Victorian Liberal party was bracing for a potential leadership challenge. But the figures published in the Herald Sun on Thursday paint a hopeful picture for him and the Coalition, which has overtaken Labor and is in an election-winning position for the first time in seven years.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Tanya Plibersek defends Aboriginal heritage order blocking ‘irreversible damage’ of goldmine tailings dam

Financial impact on mining company does not outweigh ‘permanent loss’ to cultural sites, environment minister says

Tanya Plibersek has defended her decision to issue an Aboriginal heritage protection order for the site of a proposed goldmine near Blayney, saying the financial impact on the mining company does not outweigh “irreversible damage and permanent loss” to Aboriginal cultural heritage sites.

The environment minister made a partial declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act in August, blocking a proposal by mining company Regis Resources to build a tailings dam for its $900m McPhillamys gold project in the headwaters of the Belubula River. The declaration did not cover the rest of the proposed mining area.

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter

Continue reading...

Some Australian states are discovering what happens when they have too much rooftop solar

Alerts to possible power shortfalls have become a familiar occurrence. But experts say it won’t be long before the opposite is common

When Victoria basks in mostly sunny spring weather this weekend, energy authorities will be monitoring how far electricity demand ebbs. If needed, they’ll turn off rooftop solar systems to ensure stability for the grid.

Such minimum system load events, as they are called, have emerged as a new challenge as households across Australia take advantage of plunging prices for solar panels to shield themselves from rising power bills and cut carbon emissions.

Continue reading...

NT government denies that planned crime reforms are form of ‘racial control’

Former NT attorney general alleges Country Liberal party is planning law-and-order changes aimed at controlling Indigenous people

The former Northern Territory Labor attorney general Chansey Paech has accused the new Country Liberal party government of planning to introduce a set of tough law-and-order measures as a form of “racial control” aimed at Indigenous people.

Ahead of the first sitting of the reconfigured NT parliament since the election wiped out the Labor government, Paech has launched a broadside at the new government’s legislative agenda in an interview with Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Half of Australia’s law enforcement agencies have banned officers using encrypted messaging apps

Exclusive: After NSW ban on the likes of WhatsApp and Signal, federal counterparts permit a ‘limited number’ which they declined to reveal

Half of the Australian law enforcement agencies across Australia have banned their officers from using messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, after New South Wales police last week banned the practice.

Last week, the NSW police force said it had introduced security software that meant “social media and other personal apps will not work or be downloadable” on NSW police force issued devices.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Sussan Ley says Richard Marles should resign if he failed to provide safe workplace for chief of staff

Deputy opposition leader expresses concern for Jo Tarnawsky’s welfare after chief of staff claims she was effectively sacked

The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says Richard Marles should resign if he has failed to provide a safe and respectful workplace as required under the ministerial code of conduct.

Ley said on Friday that allegations from the deputy prime minister’s chief of staff, Jo Tarnawksy, were “extremely serious” and expressed concern for her welfare.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Australia news live: QLD LNP leader says end of coal before 2030s ‘fanciful’; patients at Sydney GP given less-effective vaccines

The LNP leader, David Crisafulli, appears to be walking away from a commitment to 75% emissions reduction by 2035. Follow today’s news live

Rowland questioned on gambling ad ban

Michelle Rowland was also asked why it has taken 16 months for the government – as yet – to make no decision on gambling ads. The communications minister said the government has “been working diligently in this space” but action “should have been taken on this some 10 years ago”.

We’re working very closely with the states and territories because the vast majority of recommendations in our late colleague Peta Murphy’s report go to issues that go across commonwealth and state jurisdictions.

We’re also working very closely to ensure that there are no unintended consequences here and it’s actually effective.

We have every anticipation that we will be able to respond comprehensively this year and that’s what we’re working towards as a government.

We will be taking advice on the appropriate form in which that can be done. Legislation is obviously an option because there is an interactive gambling act at the commonwealth level, which enables some of these approaches to be implemented.

There will be penalty for the platforms just as they are now in the Online Safety Act … These penalties will be drafted and, as I said, we’re currently reviewing the Online Safety Act because the penalties as they stand … the maximum penalties are less than $1 million for some offences.

They are being challenged but, at the same time, the industry does understand the need to comply here and, by and large, does comply with the rules under the Online Safety Act.

Continue reading...

Channel Seven asks judge to suppress ‘salacious’ evidence as it fights claims of a hostile work environment

Network trying to avoid embarrassment with ‘unprecedented’ application in legal battle with ex-Spotlight journalist Amelia Saw, court hears

The federal court has reserved its decision on whether to suppress “salacious” evidence by a former employee of Channel Seven’s Spotlight program who is suing the network.

The “extraordinary and unprecedented” application by Channel Seven to suppress journalist Amelia Saw’s statement of claim and amended statement of claim was heard in the federal court on Friday.

Continue reading...