Category Archives: Australia news

Doctors accuse Nationals of serving interests of tobacco lobby by opposing vaping prohibition

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Exclusive: AMA president says party’s push to regulate vapes like cigarettes is a ‘tax grab’ that shows ‘complete disregard’ for health

The Australian Medical Association has accused David Littleproud and the Nationals of taking the advice of the tobacco lobby over health experts on vaping and accused the junior Coalition party of seeking “to gamble with people’s health”.

Ahead of a crucial vote on the government’s anti-vaping restrictions in parliament this week, the AMA president, Prof Steve Robson, claimed the Nationals’ suggestion of regulating vapes the same way as cigarettes is “a tax grab that shows a complete disregard for the health of Australians”.

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Only 60% of Australians accept ‘climate disruption’ is human-caused, global poll finds

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Exclusive: French survey of 26 countries finds fewer Australians than global average agree that climate change is the greatest health threat facing humanity

Australians are among the most sceptical around the world that “climate disruption” is being caused by humans and that the costs of tackling it will be less than that of its impacts, according to polling across 26 countries.

Just 60% of Australians accept that “climate disruption” is human-caused, a fall of six percentage points from the previous poll 18 months earlier and well behind the global average of 73%, according to the results from French polling company Elabe.

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Social media age restrictions may push children online in secret, Australian eSafety commissioner says

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Minors could also miss crucial support under a potential ban, online safety regulator’s office tells inquiry

Restricting children from social media could risk limiting their access to critical social support and could result in them accessing social media in secret, Australia’s online safety regulator has warned.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, this month said the Coalition would ban under 16s from social media within 100 days should they win the next election. The Albanese government is undertaking a $6.5m trial of age assurance technology and is assessing at what age children should be able to access social media as part of a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry on social media and Australian society.

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Nuclear confusion: the Coalition’s power plan is becoming less and less clear

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The Peter Dutton-led opposition is seeking a mandate to pursue nuclear energy, but details are in short supply

The Coalition’s nuclear plan is becoming less – not more – clear.

The shadow climate change and energy minister, Ted O’Brien, now says there will be more than one nuclear reactor at each of the Coalition’s seven nominated sites, but he can’t say exactly how many.

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Coalition reveals plan for independent authority to rule on nuclear power plant output

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Ted O’Brien says Labor must respect mandate for nuclear if opposition wins election, but will not say if Coalition will drop policy if Labor reelected

The shadow energy minister, Ted O’Brien, has revealed an independent authority would determine how much nuclear power is produced at each of its seven proposed sites, despite the Coalition claiming it would set the proportion of nuclear in the national energy mix.

On Sunday, O’Brien urged Labor to respect that if the Coalition wins the next election, it arguably has a mandate for nuclear power, but then refused to commit to the opposition dropping the policy if it loses the poll, due by 2025.

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Victoria’s Landcare groups have 60,000 volunteers – but will there be funds to support them?

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The volunteer environment network says lack of money is stifling the growth of local groups despite an increase in interest on the ground

Lyn Heenan’s involvement with Landcare began almost 40 years ago, when her late father, Paul, joined the new movement in the 1980s to get rid of rabbits that had been eating their way through the Pyrenees region in western Victoria.

It was shortly after then conservation minister Joan Kirner had launched the initiative alongside the Victorian Farmers Federation at the tiny locality of Winjallock in 1986.

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Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan could cost as much as $600bn and supply just 3.7% of Australia’s energy by 2050, experts say

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Coalition proposal would cost a minimum of $116bn – the same as Labor’s plan for almost 100% renewables by 2050, the Smart Energy Council says

The Coalition’s pledge to build seven nuclear reactors as part of its controversial energy plan could cost taxpayers as much as $600bn while supplying just 3.7% of Australia’s energy mix by 2050, according to the Smart Energy Council.

The analysis found the plan would cost a minimum of $116bn – the same cost as delivering the Albanese government’s plan for 82% renewables by 2030, and an almost 100% renewable energy mix by 2050.

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Families set to pocket more than $60 a week from stage-three tax cuts

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Treasury analysis shows ‘mums and dads’ will be among the biggest beneficiaries when 1 July cuts kick in, Jim Chalmers says

Australian families are set to pocket more than $60 a week when the government’s tax cuts kick in from July, according to new analysis from Treasury.

The federal budget’s cost-of-living measures will come into effect on 1 July, including the tax cuts and energy relief for all households and 1m small businesses.

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US official warns against dropping 2030 climate targets after Dutton refuses to commit to 43% emissions cut

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Exclusive: State department official urges politicians to do ‘the right thing’, citing ‘collective responsibility’

A senior US official has urged Australia and other countries not to back away from their 2030 climate commitments, insisting that “we all have a collective responsibility for the planet we live in”.

The message from Australia’s top security ally contrasts with rhetoric from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who claimed on Saturday the Labor government was “appeasing the international climate lobby” and “global climate activists”.

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Man charged after allegedly slashing staff at western Sydney hospital

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Police attended Westmead hospital about 11.30pm on Friday after a man, 39, allegedly slashed and assaulted staff

A man has been charged after allegedly slashing two security guards and injuring a nurse as police investigate possible mental health and drug issues.

Police were called to Westmead hospital in western Sydney about 11.30pm on Friday after reports a man had assaulted staff.

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Network Ten requests Bruce Lehrmann pay $200,000 security against cost of appeal

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Network asks court to dismiss appeal if Lehrmann fails to comply if such an order is made

Network Ten is asking a court to dismiss Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal against his defamation defeat if he cannot pay the broadcaster $200,000 in security.

In April, Justice Michael Lee found the former Liberal staffer was not defamed by Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten when The Project broadcast an interview with Brittany Higgins on 15 February 2021 in which she alleged she was raped by a staffer. Lee found on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Higgins on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019.

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Peter Dutton vows to override state nuclear bans as he steps up attack on PM

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Opposition leader tells Liberal party officials that state premiers ‘won’t stop us’ and labels Anthony Albanese a ‘child in a man’s body’

Peter Dutton has vowed a Coalition government would override the states’ legislated ban on nuclear power, telling party officials on Saturday that state premiers “won’t stop us”.

The opposition leader made the comments in an address to the federal Liberal party council in Sydney, where he escalated his attacks on Anthony Albanese. He called the prime minister a “fraud” and a “child in a man’s body” that is “still captured in his university years”.

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Coldest start to winter in decades in some areas with polar air mass predicted across Australia next week

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Many parts of Victoria, NSW and Queensland have shivered through temperatures between 2C and 5C below average, the BoM says

It has been the coldest start to winter in decades for parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and temperatures are expected to remain cooler with a polar air mass predicted to sweep through the entire country in the coming week.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said many parts of south-eastern Australia experienced temperatures in the past week between 2C and 5C below average for winter.

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Confusion reigns about the Coalition’s nuclear proposal. Here’s how the rhetoric has shifted

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We unpack the questions that remain about the Coalition’s plan – and the contradictions in their messaging

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, claims his nuclear power plan would underpin local economies and energy security for “another 80, up to 100 years” – but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, claims the Coalition’s long-awaited idea has “fallen apart within 24 hours”.

Questions remain about the cost, type, output and design of the reactors. There has been opposition from state premiers and from the owners of the proposed sites, who don’t plan to sell.

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Coalition would not copy Morrison government’s approach to China diplomacy, says Simon Birmingham

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Shadow foreign minister says blasting Beijing in public had negative consequences and a future government would do things differently

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, has suggested the Morrison government’s megaphone diplomacy with China was counterproductive and a future Coalition government would approach the relationship differently.

In an interview for Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast, Birmingham conceded that blasting China in public had had negative consequences.

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‘Bloody brilliant’: businessman stripped of far north Queensland island

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Double Island returned to state government over leaseholder Benny Wu’s failure to reopen it for tourism

A far north Queensland island has been returned to the state government after a Hong Kong businessman was stripped of a tourism lease for breaching conditions.

Double Island near Cairns was home to a luxury resort that shut down six years ago.

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Missing teen Amber Haigh was ‘removed from the equation’ after giving birth, court told

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Husband and wife plead not guilty before prosecution lays out case in NSW murder trial after 2002 disappearance

A couple from country New South Wales used the intellectually disabled teenager Amber Michelle Haigh as a “surrogate mother” so they could have another baby, before they killed her, a court has heard.

Robert and Anne Geeves, now of Harden, face one count each of murder over the suspected killing of Haigh, who disappeared without trace in June of 2002. On the opening day of the trial, the court heard how the couple had deliberately tried to “plant the seed” Haigh was suicidal, and they had set out to have her “removed from the equation”.

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Tributes for victim of fatal alleged road rage incident in Sydney as man charged

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NSW police allege ‘words were said’ before Rhyce Harding, 27, was killed in an alleged hit-and-run at Blackett

A man has been charged over an alleged road rage incident that police allege saw another man dragged 100 metres down a street before dying at the scene.

Rhyce Harding, 27, was allegedly hit by a white ute after getting out of his car in Sydney’s west, police said.

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‘It felt like bad news after bad news’: why record numbers are leaving New Zealand

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Many young people are lured by hopes of better opportunities in Australia as experts worry a soft economy means departing Kiwis may not come back

When New Zealand opened its borders after the pandemic, the departures began immediately. For Kirsty Frame, then a 24-year-old journalist for the country’s national broadcaster in Wellington, the sense of loss was constant.

“It was goodbye dinner after goodbye dinner, leaving drinks after leaving drinks, and I think that started to take a toll.”

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Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

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