More than half those who left recently headed to Australia with promises of higher pay and better working conditions
New Zealand citizens are leaving the country in record numbers, with large numbers heading to Australia, new figures show.
Stats NZ’s provisional international migration data shows there were an estimated 130,600 migrant departures in the year to April – the highest on record for an annual period.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Sydney’s light rail network disrupted today amid industrial action
A reminder for Sydney commuters that the light rail network will be disrupted today amid planned industrial action.
Recent estimates have Australians consuming around 3,300,000 bags of cocaine per year, with every single one of them bought off the black market. There is no way of knowing whether any of them have been cut with deadly substances like fentanyl or nitazene.
We have to acknowledge that the majority of people who use cocaine do so recreationally and there is absolutely no chance of stopping people using the drug. We therefore need to consider all options to reduce harm, including regulating cocaine in a similar way to how we regulate alcohol.
Continue reading...Joining founding guitarist Ed Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay in new five-piece lineup for November tour will be Mudhoney singer Mark Arm
The Saints – the Brisbane band who jump-started the punk movement in Australia with their hot-wired debut single (I’m) Stranded – have announced a national tour in November with a new five-piece lineup, more than 50 years after their rough beginnings.
Joining founding guitarist Ed Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay will be singer Mark Arm, from the Seattle band Mudhoney. Arm replaces the original singer and primary lyricist, Chris Bailey, who died in April 2022.
Continue reading...Coal and gas-fired power plant owners say interim target an important step to net zero by 2050
The owners of Australian coal and gas-fired power plants have joined the country’s leading business groups in saying the Coalition should keep Labor’s 2030 climate target if it wins the next election.
The Australian Energy Council, which represents electricity companies and gas wholesalers and retailers, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Group said maintaining an interim target – legislated as a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – was an important step in getting to net zero emissions by mid-century.
Continue reading...Calls intensify for the federal government to fully explain why it no longer publishes the information
The details of more than $25m in taxpayer-funded VIP flights for Australian ministers and dignitaries will be kept secret, fuelling calls for the federal government to fully explain why it no longer publishes the information.
The government has cited national security advice for the decision to no longer publish the flight logs, but advocates have argued transparency provides a deterrent to improper use and “right now, it’s potentially open slather”.
Continue reading...Sydney house rents still nation’s highest but an expected rise in vacancy rates this winter could provide some relief to tenants, expert says
Average asking rents in Australia’s capital cities fell 0.5% in May, the largest percentage monthly decline in more than four years.
New data released by SQM property research shows the fall in average capital city rents – to $723 in May – was the largest monthly percentage decline on that measure since April 2020.
Continue reading...Andreas Pantziaros given prohibition order from NSW Health Care Complaints Commission after purporting to be a paramedic
A man who wore a uniform, drove a vehicle closely resembling an ambulance and charged for emergency health services he was not qualified to perform has been deemed a risk to public health and safety.
The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission has handed down a permanent prohibition order against Andreas Pantziaros for offering health services via his company Medic Corp Ambulance.
Continue reading...Opposition leader says Coalition will ‘make our announcements in relation to our targets in due course’. Follow today’s news headlines live
Murray Watt says the opposition has “started the new climate wars” after Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt, two senior Nationals, called for Australia to pull out of the Paris agreement. You can read more on this from Karen Middleton below:
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt said:
We’re back to the same old climate wars in the Coalition. I saw overnight that [Joyce and Pitt] openly called for the Coalition to pull out of the Paris agreement. They’ve spent the last couple of days trying to paper over the cracks in the Coalition, saying that they can withdraw the target without withdrawing from the agreement. Now it’s out there in the open for everyone to see. And you can set your clock by Barnaby Joyce causing new climate wars within the Coalition. It’s seem like we’re back to the bad old days.
We’re on track to get to 42%, which is only 1% short of the 43% target.
Continue reading...Pair could not be revived and a third woman is recovering in hospital after tragedy in Kurnell in Sutherland shire
Two women picnicking in Sydney’s south drowned after a freak wave swept them off rocks and out to sea, authorities believe.
A third woman also swept from the rock shelf is recovering in hospital.
Continue reading...Closing arguments begin in trial of former pilot, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill and Carol Clay
The only reasonable explanation for a former Jetstar pilot to cover up the deaths of two elderly campers in the Victorian high country was because “he knew he had murdered them”, the state’s supreme court has heard.
Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, at a remote camping site in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.
Continue reading...Employees voiced frustrations at how the administration process had been conducted, sources say
Bonza appears almost certain to be wound up after the administrators determining the troubled airline’s future terminated its staff.
Guardian Australia understands administrators from the firm Hall Chadwick told staff during a meeting on Tuesday they had been sacked.
Continue reading...In high-density places such as Sydney many drones may hover over an animal at once, amplifying disturbance pressure
As whales migrate up Australia’s east coast in the coming months, drones are hot on their tails. But experts are warning that low-flying drones seeking a viral shot can disrupt the whales’ migration patterns and may even place their mating season at risk.
Grace Russell, a PhD candidate at Southern Cross University who studies marine mammals with drones, said whales had been known to exhibit disturbance behaviours when drones were flown near them at low altitudes.
Continue reading...Supermarket’s restriction applies everywhere except WA as more than 500,000 chickens euthanised due to avian influenza
Egg farmers have rushed to reassure consumers that there is no shortage of eggs after the supermarket chain Coles announced a two-carton limit in response to the avian influenza outbreak in Victoria.
The highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of bird flu has been detected on four farms in western Victoria, and another highly pathogenic strain, H7N9, has been detected at a fifth farm. More than half a million chickens have been euthanised in an effort to stop the spread of the disease.
Continue reading...Former Nationals leader says ‘aspirations have to take a secondary position to the economic reality’ after Peter Dutton said he would oppose government’s targets
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and Morrison cabinet colleague Keith Pitt have called for the Coalition to abandon the Paris global climate change agreement and related emissions reduction targets, as the prime minister accused opposition leader Peter Dutton of walking away from climate action.
Dutton has said he would oppose the government’s target of a 43% cut to 2005-level emissions by 2030, telling the Australian newspaper there was “no sense in signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving”.
Continue reading...Emergency services called to water after reports three women swept from rocks into ocean in the Sutherland Shire
Two women have died after being swept from the rocks on Sydney’s coast.
Emergency services were called to the scene at about 4.30pm on Monday after reports three women had been swept from the rocks into the ocean near Kurnell in the Sutherland Shire.
Continue reading...Crowds attending drone show at Sydney’s winter light festival feared crowd crush and were left feeling trapped and panicked
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has conceded organisers need to “do better” after the crowd at Vivid’s drone show were left feeling trapped and panicked, with one expert describing it as a “near-miss incident”.
The first drone show as part of Sydney’s annual winter light festival drew enormous crowds to Circular Quay, where bottlenecks at the exits left thousands of people trapped and fearing a crowd crush on Saturday night.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Brisbane Christian school issues apology two years after gender contracts
A Pentecostal Christian school has expressed regret for introducing a controversial student gender and sexuality contract two years ago.
We regret any distress or concern which was caused to students, parents and guardians of students or prospective students of the college.
We are working closely with all of our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers and we are providing support to the industry in responding to the Avian Flu cases in Victoria.
Continue reading...Chris Minns says review of Molly Ticehurst’s interactions with government agencies will be provided to her family and the public
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has vowed the state will learn from “anything that has gone wrong” in the lead-up to Molly Ticehurst’s “preventable” death after her parents called for changes to a government program they said gave her “false hope” of home safety in the fortnight before she died.
Molly’s parents, Kate and Tony Ticehurst, would be provided with a report detailing the interactions their daughter had with NSW government agencies and service providers, Minns pledged, after they alleged she was promised security upgrades to her home that were not delivered before she died.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Police called to Kings Domain Monday morning to find head removed and paint thrown at monument
A statue of King George V has been beheaded and covered in red paint in the latest attack on colonial monuments in Victoria.
Police were called to the statue in Melbourne’s Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue just after 9am on Monday.
Continue reading...Defence industry minister says ‘social division and damage’ led government to rethink position on releasing information
The Albanese government has conceded it was forced to release more details about defence exports to Israel by a growing awareness that an information vacuum was being “exploited” and allowing misinformation to spread.
The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, said the “level of social division and damage to our community has caused us to rethink the level of transparency needed”.
Continue reading...