Category Archives: Australia news

Anthony Albanese open to Makarrata commission for truth and treaty for Indigenous Australians

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But the government is being urged to move more quickly in outlining policy after failure of voice referendum

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

But key advocates for the referendum have urged the government to move more quickly in outlining its new agenda, including honouring the prime minister’s election night pledge to implement the Uluru statement from the heart “in full”.

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Victoria’s premier unveils new housing targets for construction of 2.5m new homes by 2051

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Jacinta Allan reveals Geelong will be set highest target for new homes, with City of Melbourne and Melton second and third

Melbourne’s CBD, the outer suburbs and the regional city of Geelong will shoulder the burden of new housing in Victoria, according to draft council targets set to be released by the state government.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, and planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, will on Sunday announce their proposed housing targets for local government areas (LGA), which they say could lead to the construction of 2.5m new homes by 2051.

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Housing to be at the centre of NSW budget, with more homes for those in need

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Treasurer Daniel Mookhey foreshadows more money for social and affordable housing while lamenting drop in state’s GST share

Housing will be the centrepiece of the New South Wales budget, with money for social and affordable homes, regional development and essential services to support growth across Sydney.

While the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, acknowledged there was no quick fix for the crisis, he said he had been listening to experts who called for more homes to help those most in need and stem the brain drain from the state.

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Farewell Fu Ni and Wang Wang: is Australia about to meet a new panda duo?

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Pair of panda diplomats loaned to Adelaide zoo in 2009 are expected to return to China soon

After more than 15 years, the Chinese government is expected to announce that Australia’s imported gentle giants, Fu Ni and Wang Wang, will soon be replaced by a new duo.

Ahead of the Chinese premier Li Qiang’s visit to Adelaide this weekend, speculation has grown about the future of Fu Ni and Wang Wang, with Anthony Albanese remarking that his government is “pro-panda”, and the Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, stressing the importance of panda diplomacy “cultural exchange”.

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Offshore windfarm zone off Illawarra coast given green light in bid to ‘power Australia’s clean energy future’

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Zone will be 20km off the coast and exclude areas significant for little penguin and for southern right whale migration

The federal government has given the green light to an offshore windfarm zone south of Sydney, making it Australia’s fourth such zone to be declared.

Announcing the project in the Illawarra on Saturday, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the move would bring thousands of new jobs and help “power Australia’s clean energy future”.

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Virgin Australia delays vote on controversial enterprise agreement that would cut pilots’ days off

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Exclusive: Last-minute decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it is ‘engaging’ with airline on concerns rostering is leaving pilots fatigued

Virgin Australia has made a last-minute decision to delay putting a controversial pilots’ enterprise deal to vote, after outcry about its plan to cut days off and concerns that pilot rostering was nearing unsafe limits.

The decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) officials flagged they were aware of fatigue concerns over Virgin Australia’s pilot rostering after the Guardian revealed internal disquiet on the issue among senior pilots and frustration at what they felt was an inadequate response from management.

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Dozens of Sydney’s asbestos-contaminated sites not cleaned up six months after first discovery

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EPA refuses to name untreated sites but says all schools and hospitals have been cleaned as it continues criminal investigation into contamination

Dozens of contaminated sites in Sydney are yet to be cleaned up six months after asbestos was first discovered in mulch at a public park, as the New South Wales treasurer urges the environment regulator to “throw the book” at polluters.

The Environment Protection Authority is refusing to name the sites that are yet to be remediated as it continues its criminal investigation into the source of asbestos contamination in recycled garden mulch that was used widely across greater Sydney.

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Life saving lessons: multicultural leaders urge education in ‘second language’ of water safety after latest drownings

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With one-third of drowning victims in Australia born outside the country, advocates say more funding is needed to reach diverse communities

As Supt Joe McNulty explained the circumstances behind the drowning of two women in Sydney, he said they hadn’t come from a “swimming background”.

That meant someone who was not a strong swimmer, or “wasn’t from a culture that taught you to swim early”, he explained.

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Australian banks to alert customers on interest rate moves under changes to get savers better deals

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Move comes after consumer watchdog found banks were using pricing strategies that were highly complex or took advantage of the tendency to set and forget

People will be alerted each time their interest rate moves and when promotional offers expire under a suite of changes aimed at prodding bank customers to snag a better deal.

The federal government plans to act on a number of recommendations from two Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reports that found bank customers could earn and save more if not for barriers stopping them switching to better offers.

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Germany’s top climate envoy says ‘this is the critical decade’ after Dutton ditches 2030 target

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Representative from Europe’s biggest economy and key player in global climate talks says deep emissions cuts by 2030 ‘essential’ to limit climate heating to 1.5C

Germany’s climate envoy has dismissed claims the Paris agreement is only about reaching net zero emissions by 2050, warning that deep cuts by 2030 are “essential” and scientific evidence shows “this is the critical decade” to act on global heating.

Australia’s opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has refused to commit to a 2030 emissions reduction target prior to the next national election, prompting claims from Labor, the Greens and independents that the Coalition isn’t serious about acting on the climate crisis.

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Australia’s south-east to endure more wintry weather after Melbourne records coldest day in five years

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BoM says south-east can expect cold days and frosty nights with below-average temperatures continuing into the coming week

Wintry conditions across south eastern Australia will continue into the weekend, with rain expected in parts of Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia.

Melbourne recovered slightly from a high of only 10.1C on Thursday, its coldest day in five years, reaching a maximum of 13C on Friday. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a frost warning for Victoria’s north-east and a strong wind warning for the East Gippsland coast.

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Australian War Memorial allegedly defaced with pro-Palestine graffiti, police say

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ACT police say man allegedly graffitied the outside of building and the ground with ‘pro-Palestine slogans’

The Australian War Memorial has been allegedly defaced with pro-Palestine graffiti, ACT police have said.

The police said a man allegedly graffitied three areas on the outside of the Canberra building and on the ground in a publicly accessible area about 1am on Friday morning. Police would not say what the graffiti said, only that it was “pro-Palestine slogans”.

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University of Sydney orders students protesting in support of Gaza to leave after almost two months

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Spokesperson says ‘the encampment has taken over this shared space to the exclusion of others’

The University of Sydney has ordered students protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza to leave a controversial encampment that has been on the campus since April.

A university spokesperson said on Friday that it had told the encampment’s leadership “we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space”.

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Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.

I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?

This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.

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Police offer $1m reward to solve murder of Maria James inside Melbourne bookshop

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Catholic priest Anthony Bongiorno and Peter Keogh, both dead, previously named as persons of interest

Almost 44 years after Maria James’s brutal murder in her Melbourne bookshop, her two sons hope a $1m reward will finally unmask her killer.

James, whose second-hand bookshop on High Street at Thornbury in Melbourne’s north also functioned as her home, was killed there on 17 June 1980 in what her son Mark described as a “ritualistic”, violent and frenzied attack. She was found dead after being stabbed 68 times.

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Independent MP Kylea Tink’s electorate of North Sydney to be abolished under AEC proposal

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New South Wales draft boundaries would also affect the seats of Bennelong and Bradfield, held by Labor and Liberals respectively

The Australian Electoral Commission has recommended one of the country’s oldest electorates, North Sydney, be abolished in a boundary shake-up that could have far-reaching consequences for the major parties.

After reviewing population changes and submissions, the AEC has released its draft proposal for New South Wales’s new electoral boundaries, recommending the federation seat currently held by independent MP Kylea Tink be abolished.

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All roads lead to Rome as Albanese and Dutton stress-test their pre-election pitches | Karen Middleton

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The policy discourse has shrivelled to its political core, where every soundbite becomes both an attack and a defence – and it’s just the beginning

Policy debate between the prime minister and opposition leader has become a version of “all roads lead to Rome”.

There’s a political dimension to every policy proposal, but the public discourse on ideas for change has shrivelled to its political core over the past week or so.

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Immunisation rates fall among Australia’s vulnerable as experts blame pandemic misinformation and practical barriers

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Below-target levels come after record highs in 2020, with some areas in NSW, Queensland and WA now showing consistently lower vaccination rates

Immunisation rates are lagging in Australia’s most vulnerable populations – the very young and old – with experts blaming practical barriers as well as the misinformation and vaccine hesitancy that took off during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020 Australia achieved a record high rate of 95.09% five-year-olds fully immunised against infectious diseases, even surpassing the government’s target of 95%, which provides “herd immunity”.

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Environmental groups apply to take Tanya Plibersek to high court over coalmine approvals

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Minister should have assessed climate damage that would be caused by two large developments, advocates say

Conservationists will ask the high court to examine whether the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, should have assessed the climate damage that would be caused by two large coalmine developments.

The Environment Council of Central Queensland has sought special leave in Australia’s highest court to appeal against the federal court’s dismissal of what is known as the Living Wonders case.

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Queensland Labor shelves reforms to stop faith-based schools discriminating against gay teachers

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Exclusive: Disabled people, DV victims also at risk after broken promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws, advocates say

The Queensland government will renege on its promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws before the October state election – a move advocates say will leave women fleeing domestic violence, people with disabilities and members the LGBTQ+ community at risk.

Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that the state government was considering watering down reforms proposed by a review of the 33-year-old act.

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