Category Archives: Australia news

Second body found at scene of Queensland house fire that killed girl, 8

Posted on by

Body believed to be that of missing 31-year-old babysitter located at destroyed townhouse in Thorneside

Queensland police have found the body of a second person at the scene of a house fire at Thorneside, south of Brisbane, believed to be that of a missing 31-year-old woman.

It comes after the body of an eight-year-old girl was found by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services after the fire was extinguished on Sunday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Mikola Bychok: Melbourne bishop’s appointment to College of Cardinals seen as gesture of support for Ukraine

Posted on by

Ukraine-born Mikola Bychok will become the only Australian resident in the powerful Catholic church position and the youngest cardinal overall

At just 44, Ukraine-born Melbourne bishop Mikola Bychok has ascended to one of the most powerful positions in the Catholic church, where he will have a say in who becomes the next pope.

Pope Francis named him as one of 21 new cardinals, making him the only Australian resident who will don the signature red vestments, and the youngest cardinal overall.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Division among Australian politicians easy to see and hear on 7 October anniversary

Posted on by

Labor condemns Hamas and acknowledges ‘devastating’ loss of civilian lives. Coalition offers emphatic support of Israel and chides calls for a ceasefire

The divisions within Australian politics over the Israel-Gaza war were on full display on Monday as senior leaders marked the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks.

The Labor government reaffirmed its unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Continue reading...

Qantas apologises after R-rated movie played to passengers on Sydney to Tokyo flight

Posted on by

Technical issues meant the film, starring Dakota Johnson, was played on all screens before it was swapped for a family-friendly movie

Qantas has apologised to passengers on a flight from Sydney to Japan after an R-rated film was played to the entire plane.

Passengers on the flight to Haneda were shown the start of Daddio, a 2023 R-rated film starring Dakota Johnson.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘Urgent’ action needed after Melbourne woman’s near decade in solitary confinement in mental health facility, judge says

Posted on by

Woman remains in seclusion after being found not guilty of assault due to mental impairment in 2015

A Victorian judge says the state’s health and attorney general’s departments must act urgently in the case of a woman who has spent almost a decade in solitary confinement at a forensic mental health facility.

Guardian Australia revealed in July that the Melbourne woman is being held at Thomas Embling hospital, a secure forensic mental health facility, after being found not guilty because of mental impairment on assault charges in 2015.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Australia news live: NSW police minister says pro-Palestine protests must remain peaceful or ‘you can expect to be arrested’

Posted on by

A pro-Palestine rally will take place in Hyde Park from 1pm today, after NSW police previously attempted to stop it from happening in federal court. Follow the day’s news live

Australians arrive in Cyprus after being evacuated from Lebanon

Some images are coming through of Australian citizens, residents and their families arriving at Larnaca airport in Cyprus after being evacuated from Beirut yesterday.

This is a tragedy that has been playing out in the Middle East. It is obviously difficult. It is obviously complex.

That is a patent lie, and it’s an intentional lie, and it’s a lie intended to create division within Australian politics and from there, within Australian society.

Continue reading...

Dutton ‘intentionally lying’ about Australia’s stance on Middle East crisis, Marles says

Posted on by

Opposition leader’s claim Labor is ‘at odds with our allies’ an attempt to sow division, deputy prime minister says

The federal government has hit back at Peter Dutton’s claims that Australia is at odds with its allies over the conflict in the Middle East, characterising this as “an intentional lie” that aims to fuel division.

With more Australians expected to fly out of Lebanon on Sunday as Israel steps up strikes in southern Beirut, the government said it was “deeply anxious” about the “extraordinary loss of innocent life in Gaza” and the prospect of the conflict spreading.

Continue reading...

Aussie classics Vegemite and Tim Tams cheaper in UK supermarkets than Australia

Posted on by

Vegemite sells for 30 cents more per 100g in Australia, a salty byproduct of lower supermarket competition sure to leave a bad taste

Shoppers in the UK are paying less for Australian brands including Vegemite and Tim Tams than customers in Australia, despite the classic products being made in Australia.

A comparison of seven Australian products stocked in UK supermarkets shows they are often cheaper to buy in Britain than at Australia’s two major supermarket chains.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Continue reading...

Liz Truss urges conservatives to ‘defund state media’ as she rails against left at Australian CPAC event

Posted on by

Former British prime minister also criticises the Bank of England and bureaucrats in speech at rightwing conference in Brisbane

Liz Truss, the former British prime minister, has claimed the left is winning “the argument” and called for the defunding of public broadcasters to help win it back during a speech at the Australian Conservative Political Action Conference.

About 1,000 people at the CPAC conference in Brisbane also heard the former Conservative party leader blame the “unelected Bank of England” for a financial crisis which contributed to her departure as prime minister after just 49 days, following her disastrous mini-budget.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Australia weather: sunny skies expected for most of east coast and NRL grand final in Sydney

Posted on by

Bureau of Meteorology says temperatures should reach high 20s in NSW and Queensland over the weekend, while Victoria can expect showers

Warm and sunny weather is forecast across much of eastern Australia as Sydney prepares for the NRL grand final and pro-Palestinian protests are being organised across the nation.

Wet weather is forecast in some areas, including Victoria, on Saturday, but temperatures should reach the high 20s in New South Wales and Queensland, according to Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Angus Hines.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘You need to go’: up to 500 Australians prepare for evacuation from Lebanon amid government warnings

Posted on by

Two charter flights are expected to fly out of Beirut on Saturday as list of people seeking to leave grows

Up to 500 Australians and their close relatives are due to be boarded on to two charter flights out of Beirut on Saturday, amid increased government efforts to expatriate citizens after Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon’s south.

The first flight was expected to fly out of the Lebanese capital and land in Cyprus at about 11.30am local time (6.30pm AEST). From there, two Qantas flights can take passengers to Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Sydney woman allegedly killed and dismembered husband in ‘bizarre’ murder case, police say

Posted on by

Police say the man was reported missing last year and alleged his body was cut up with power tools to hide the remains

A Sydney woman has been charged with murdering, dismembering and disposing of her husband in bins almost 18 months after he was last seen, in what one detective described as one of the most “bizarre” cases police have seen.

New South Wales police have alleged Nirmeen Noufl, 53, intentionally killed and cut up the body of 62-year-old Mamdouh Noufl last year at their family home of more than 10 years in order to hide his remains. The incident is being treated as a domestic violence murder.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Many cheered when banks eliminated ATM fees in 2017 – but now it’s a struggle to find one

Posted on by

Bank-owned ATM numbers are down almost 60%, with many spots now taken by privately-owned machines charging about $3 per withdrawal

It is getting increasingly difficult to find an ATM and harder still to find one that doesn’t charge fees, prompting warnings that the push toward a cashless society is neither equitable nor wise.

Bank-owned ATM numbers are down almost 60% since 2017, according to regulatory data, with many spots now taken by third party-owned machines that typically charge about $3 a withdrawal.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Visas for Palestinians taking average of four months, data shows, not 24 hours as Coalition claimed

Posted on by

Exclusive: Guardian Australia found Coalition politicians cited the 24-hour figure in interviews on at least 12 occasions in August

It was one of the most potent talking points during the Coalition’s campaign against “rushed” visas to Palestinians fleeing Gaza.

“It is not appropriate to give 3,000 tourist visas to people leaving a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation in an average of 24 hours,” the Liberal senator James Paterson told Sky News on 20 August.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Former army lawyer David McBride appeals conviction claiming duty to disclose military secrets

Posted on by

McBride has appealed his jail sentence of five years and eight months claiming he ‘blew the whistle on the unequal application of the law’ by the ADF

The former army lawyer David McBride has lodged his appeal in the ACT supreme court almost five months after he was sentenced to a maximum of five years and eight months in jail.

McBride pleaded guilty to three charges in November 2023 after the court upheld a commonwealth intervention to withhold key evidence the government argued had the potential to jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia”. The charges included stealing commonwealth information and passing that on to journalists at the ABC.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘It’s doing social harm’: Albanese asks states and territories to work together on a social media ban for kids

Posted on by

PM is seeking input on the impacts of phone bans in schools and ideas to maintain the social connection of kids

Anthony Albanese has written to the nation’s first ministers asking for their support in implementing a nationwide minimum age for social media.

After South Australia’s Labor government announced it would be moving forward with plans to ban children under 14 from accessing social media, Albanese announced the federal government would introduce legislation addressing the same concerns by the end of the year.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Three men shot by police in unrelated Sydney and Melbourne incidents, two in critical condition

Posted on by

NSW police fired at two men in a car allegedly driven at them, while in Hillside, Victoria police shot a man allegedly armed with a knife at scene of stabbing

Three men have been shot by police in two separate and unrelated incidents – with two fighting for their lives in hospital – in Sydney and Melbourne.

Acting assistant commissioner Paul Dunstan said at about 12.10pm on Friday, officers responding to a report of a stolen car in a Wentworthville car park in Sydney’s west, fired their guns at the vehicle after it was allegedly driven at them.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Oztix co-founder apologises for saying ‘pent up’ men ‘don’t need distraction’ of women’s clothing choices at work

Posted on by

Brian ‘Smash’ Chladil made the coments while speaking at the Australian Women in Music Awards conference on Tuesday

The co-founder of Oztix has apologised for saying women’s clothing at work can be a “distraction” to “pent-up” male colleagues who are away from their wives, while speaking at a conference for women in the music industry.

Brian “Smash” Chladil made the comments as part of the all-male “Brothers for the Sisterhood” panel at the Australian Women in Music Awards (AWMA) conference in Brisbane held on Tuesday of this week.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Global plea for information over alleged murder of Queensland psychologist found dead near lawnmower

Posted on by

Police interested in speaking with women around the world they believe may have met alleged victim’s husband on dating apps

Queensland police have cast a nationwide and international call to women linked to the husband of a woman who was found dead in suspicious circumstances near a lawnmower.

Police on Friday said Robert Crawford had “connected” with women across Australia and around the world, including some via dating apps, before Frances Crawford’s death in the early hours of 30 July.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Peta Credlin texted warning about Moira Deeming expulsion to Victorian Liberal leader’s staffer, court hears

Posted on by

Defamation trial told of message from Sky News host to John Pesutto’s chief of staff while helping to set up office

Sky News host Peta Credlin warned against expelling Moira Deeming from the Victorian Liberal party room in a text message to John Pesutto’s chief of staff, whose office she was then helping to set up, a court has heard.

Deeming, now an independent MP after her expulsion, is suing the Victorian opposition leader for allegedly falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at the Let Women Speak rally held on 18 March 2023, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Pesutto has rejected the allegation.

Continue reading...