Category Archives: Australia news

NSW teachers to embrace ‘step by step’ explicit instruction method amid major syllabus shake-up

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State becomes first to mandate methodology in overhaul educators hope will allow disabled and disadvantaged students catch up to their peers

The New South Wales curriculum has had its biggest shakeup in five decades with better connections between subjects, more detailed concepts and skills, and a move away from the student-led approach to learning towards “explicit instruction”.

On Wednesday, new K-6 syllabuses for health, creative arts, human society and its environment, and science were released to teachers, with updated maths and English syllabuses in classrooms from this year.

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Olympic team officials briefed after Australian woman allegedly raped by five men in Paris

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Australian chef de mission Anna Meares says athletes have been advised to take care outside Olympic village after reports of assault

Olympic team officials have been briefed on the alleged sexual assault of an Australian woman in Paris.

French police are investigating the allegation that the tourist was sexually assaulted by five men, according to local media.

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Australia not ruling out sanctions against Israel settlers as concerns grow over ‘troubling’ behaviour

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Exclusive: Senior Australian government source says ICJ ruling the continued Israeli occupation of territory seized in 1967 was illegal ‘can’t be ignored’

The Australian government is increasingly alarmed at Israel’s “troubling pattern” of behaviour and has not ruled out a more assertive response, including sanctions against settlers.

In the wake of a sweeping international court of justice ruling read out in a courtroom in The Hague late on Friday that said the continued Israeli occupation of territory seized in 1967 was illegal, a senior Australian government source said the advisory opinion “can’t be ignored”.

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US ‘committed’ to Aukus regardless of who is president, admiral says – as it happened

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‘Tumultuous’ coverage must not worsen post-3G, farmers say

Telcos face the ire of rural Australians if the 3G network shutdown goes awry and are being warned they will be held publicly accountable for any fallout, AAP reports.

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Victorian woman’s bail revoked after lying about Aboriginal heritage

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Haley Terei likely to be charged with perverting the course of justice, judge says

A woman who was bailed after falsely claiming to be Aboriginal is back behind bars and facing perjury charges.

Haley Terei, 32, was released from custody in May when facing burglary, theft and other charges, after telling the Victorian supreme court she was an Aboriginal woman from the Yorta Yorta nation.

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Energy drinks with nine times as much caffeine as a can of Coca-Cola removed from Australian shelves

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Nearly 700 beverages with almost double the allowed maximum caffeine content seized from South Australian retailers

Hundreds of highly caffeinated beverages have been removed from shelves in a crackdown on potentially harmful energy drinks.

Beverages with almost double the maximum allowed caffeine content are among almost 700 drinks seized during inspections of more than 100 retailers in South Australia.

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Hundreds of labradoodles in urgent need of homes after RSPCA Tasmania shuts down puppy breeder

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Tasmanian Labradoodles agrees to close to avoid charges laid for alleged overbreeding

More than 250 labradoodles – many who have never been in contact with a human – are in “urgent” need of a home after RSPCA Tasmania shut down the state’s biggest puppy breeder over animal welfare concerns.

Tasmanian Labradoodles surrendered all of its dogs last Friday in a “landmark out-of-court agreement” that led to the immediate and permanent closure of the business, the RSPCA said in a statement.

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Accused killer mother was due for parole meeting before Elizabeth Struhs’ death, court hears

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Kerrie Struhs was scheduled to meet a parole officer before her daughter died from diabetes medicine being allegedly withheld, a Queensland trial has been told

A mother accused of killing her daughter had a parole meeting scheduled a day before the eight-year-old girl died allegedly from her diabetes medication being withheld, a judge has heard.

Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, has refused to enter a plea in the Brisbane supreme court to the charge of manslaughter over the death of her child Elizabeth Rose Struhs at Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on 6 or 7 January 2022.

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Murder accused faced ‘constant religious push’ to adopt belief that God could cure daughter’s diabetes, court told

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Elizabeth Struhs died after her parents and 12 other members of a Toowoomba sect allegedly withheld the eight-year-old’s insulin

A father accused of murder was viewed by his friend as a “broken man” torn between giving his daughter life-saving medication and his family’s beliefs against medicine, a judge has heard.

Elizabeth Struhs died at the family home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on 7 January 2022 after her parents and 12 others allegedly withheld the eight-year-old’s insulin for six days as they gathered around her in prayer.

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Amber Haigh murder trial: CCTV with potential vital clues lost forever, court hears

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Robert Geeves, who is accused of teenage mother’s murder, waited 14 days to report her missing, court hears

Any CCTV footage that might have captured Amber Haigh’s last movements was lost because it was a fortnight before she was reported missing, and days later before any vision was requested by police, the NSW supreme court has heard.

Prosecutors also argued in court that the vanished teenager was not reported missing by the father of her baby – the man now accused of her murder – until others raised concerns she had not been seen.

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Tasmanian judge facing assault charge tells court his former partner ‘fell’

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Court hears Gregory Geason, who denies assaulting the woman, searched ‘how to get domestic violence charges dropped’ in days after argument

A Tasmanian supreme court judge denied punching his former partner and pushing her into a mantelpiece, telling a court she was unsteady, fell and hit her head on a table.

Justice Gregory Geason is facing a court hearing after pleading not guilty to assault and one count of emotional abuse or intimidation.

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In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

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Victorian teenager’s suicide after sextortion scam prompts call for improved education

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Coroner says those who find themselves in same situation as 17-year-old Rohan Cosgriff must know situation ‘will not define them’

A shift in the way young people are taught about online safety can help prevent deaths like that of a Victorian teen who fell victim to a sextortion scam, a coroner says.

Rohan Patrick Cosgriff was 17 when he was found dead at his home near Ballarat in July 2022.

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In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Michael Stutchbury resigns as editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review

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Publication’s longest-serving editor calls time amid unrest at Nine Entertainment over job cuts and and latest pay offer

The editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review, Michael Stutchbury, will step down after 13 years in the role, amid a shake-up at Nine Entertainment that will see 200 jobs cut across the media company.

Stutchbury, 67, will be replaced next month by James Chessell, the former executive editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age.

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Nine Entertainment journalists vote for industrial action – as it happened

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Biden has been ‘a great fan of Australia’: Albanese

Anthony Albanese is speaking with ABC RN after Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the US presidential race.

The president has been a great fan of Australia. [A] very significant economic relationship has grown out our trade during his presidency … He’s someone who has stood up for values of social inclusion, and importantly as well for Australia and for the world he’s been a leading figure on climate action.

He was a gracious host to myself and Jodie during our state visit last year … [He] will continue to be over the coming months the most important leader in our globe. Of course, the United States is our most important ally.

The policies won’t change much. I mean, he’s obviously very interested in policies around tariffs and trade. I don’t think that will change much from his first term.

I think the challenge for us with with Donald Trump is to remind him that one of America’s unique advantages is its network of allies and partners and to make the maximum use of that. And there’s been great progress … in terms of Aukus [and] many groupings in the Indo-Pacific … and all these need to be sort of maintained and strengthened and that requires American leadership.

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Exiled pro-democracy Hong Kong activists blocked from accessing pensions

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Case raises questions about complicity of western financial institutions in persecution of Chinese government critics

Two exiled pro-democracy Hong Kong activists have been blocked from accessing their pensions, depriving them of tens of thousands of US dollars of their savings and raising questions about the complicity of western financial institutions in the persecution of Chinese government critics.

Assets, including pension savings, belonging to Ted Hui, a former pro-democracy legislator who is now based in Australia, were frozen shortly after he fled from Hong Kong in December 2020. The assets are held by HSBC, a British bank.

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Apprentice hung from noose and poked with drill during bullying campaign, Victorian court told

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Celsius Ballarat fined $10,000, with no conviction recorded, for failing to provide a safe work environment

A Victorian apprentice was hung from a noose and poked with a drill in his groin as part of prolonged bullying at work, with his employer fined $10,000 over the abuse.

The first-year apprentice was working for Celsius Ballarat Pty Ltd in Bakery Hill, near Ballarat, when he was targeted by colleagues, a court had heard.

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Luxury ute tax loophole costs Australians $250m a year, researchers say

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The Australia Institute says tax exemption on ‘commercial vehicles’ with no testing requirement is incentivising people to buy utes instead of EVs

A loophole in Australia’s tax law is in effect subsidising the price of luxury utes such as Ram and Chevrolet SUVs, costing taxpayers more than $250m a year in forgone revenue, an analysis has found.

The research from the Australia Institute centres on the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) – introduced in 2000 for imported cars partly to protect the domestic industry that existed at the time – and an exemption that applies to certain utes.

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‘No one understands local issues better’: rural councils call for greater role in renewable energy transition

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NSW, Victoria and Queensland local governments have limited roles in approving developments but advocates say they’re best placed to keep communities on side

Rural councils should be “deeply engaged” with the planning of renewable energy projects in their back yards to keep communities on side and streamline the energy transition, local government advocates have said.

But not all renewable projects require local government approval, meaning developers are left to deal directly with local residents – to mixed results.

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Sydney commuters face travel woes all week as light rail workers strike for better pay

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All inner-Sydney light rail lines are due to grind to a halt during peak hours from 8am to 10am and 4pm to 6pm from Monday to Friday

Sydney commuters are expected to face major peak-hour disruption for an entire week with light rail workers shutting down tram services over pay and conditions.

All inner-Sydney light rail lines are due to grind to a halt during peak hours from 8am to 10am and 4pm to 6pm, from Monday to Friday, after the union decided to ramp up its industrial action.

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Sydney commuters face delays as light rail workers strike – as it happened

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Emergency meetings to assess IT outage fallout

Further emergency meetings will be held to examine the fallout of a global IT outage in Australia, AAP reports.

We are still in recovery stage … there is still more work to do to make sure that the residual issues arising from this outage are able to be addressed.

There will be opportunity in time to reflect on what’s occurred over the last couple of days, whether it exposes vulnerabilities that we are able to address.

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