Category Archives: Australia news

NSW could be forced to pay up to $4.3bn compensation if Newcastle becomes container port, modelling shows

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Modelling conducted for Treasury finds state’s liability to competing terminals could be $600m in 2024 and $4.3bn by 2063

The New South Wales government could be forced to pay up to $4.3bn in compensation if Newcastle becomes a container port, after it was privatised a decade ago along with two other major ports.

The government will on Thursday reveal the contracts used in the sales of Port Botany and Port Kembla in 2013 and the sale of the Port of Newcastle the following year, as well as modelling commissioned on the northern port’s plan to develop container abilities.

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Affordable housing beyond reach in all Australia’s eastern capitals, data shows

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Only Perth and Darwin buck the trend, according to analysis by the Parliamentary Library, as the Greens say home ownership has become an ‘impossible dream’

Affordable housing is now beyond reach in all Australia’s eastern capitals, according to new analysis released by the Greens, with the average annual salary needed to buy a home without financial stress $164,400.

There are just two capitals – greater Perth and Darwin – where the cost of a unit would not put the average earner under housing stress, according to the Parliamentary Library’s analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and CoreLogic.

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Data missing on clearing of endangered ecosystems for western Sydney housing scheme

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NSW environment department spokesperson says offset program for the area has continued despite failure to file reports for three years

The New South Wales environment department stopped monitoring and reporting on a $530m conservation program meant to compensate for swathes of land-clearing at the same time as its management of biodiversity offset schemes was under investigation, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Conservationists and the NSW Greens say the government must investigate the “startling failure” by the department to report on progress towards meeting the conservation offset requirements for new suburb developments in western Sydney.

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Focus on youth crime may be influencing bail decisions for children, Victorian judge says

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Exclusive: supreme court judge says ‘it is a cause for concern’ if public policy is considered over individual merits of a case

A Victorian supreme court judge has raised concerns an increased focus on crime may be causing authorities to take a “more conservative approach” when it comes to assessing bail suitability for children.

In a decision published earlier this month, supreme court judge Rita Incerti granted a 16-year-old Aboriginal boy bail after he had earlier been denied by a magistrate at Bendigo children’s court.

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Crossbenchers back Lidia Thorpe’s call for federal government to act on deaths in custody reforms

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Exclusive: Victorian senator criticises lack of monitoring of royal commission recommendations and demands ‘tangible and achievable action’

An alliance of parliamentary crossbenchers has backed a call from senator Lidia Thorpe for the federal government to urgently address long called for reforms in landmark reports on Indigenous deaths in custody and child removals.

Thorpe, the Victorian independent, said the Australian Human Rights Commission should be empowered to oversee progress on the key Closing the Gap measures.

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Prosecutors drop element of ‘prejudicing Australia’s national security’ in charge against Alexander Csergo

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Sydney businessman formally enters not guilty plea in court for charge of reckless foreign interference

A Sydney businessman accused of foreign interference over a series of reports he wrote for two Chinese nationals did not act in a way that “prejudiced Australia’s national security”, a court has heard.

Alexander Csergo, 56, has spent nearly a year in custody after he was arrested at his Bondi home last April and charged with one count of foreign interference.

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Australia politics live: Peter Dutton claims PM ‘misrepresented’ earlier comments about Kevin Rudd’s performance as US ambassador

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The Republican candidate for the US presidency, former president Donald Trump, has had a few things to say about former Australian prime minister and current US ambassador Kevin Rudd.

Trump spoke to UK conservative Nigel Farage on GB News, saying if Rudd is hostile “he will not be there long”:

The Aukus deal that is in place, America, you know, the UK, Australia, very, very important deal, it is there to try and combat that huge growth in China. But now of course things have changed in Australia, we have a Labor government in Australia. The previous ambassador, Joe Hockey, I think was quite a good friend of yours, you got on pretty well with him. Now they have appointed Kevin Rudd. Former Labor MP, an he has said the most horrible things, you were a destructive president, a traitor to the west, and he is now Australia’s ambassador in Washington. Would you [take a phone call from him?]”

Yeah, well don’t know. He won’t there be long if that is the case. I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little nasty. I heard he’s not the brightest bulb. I don’t know much about him, but he won’t be there long if he is at all hostile.

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Victoria’s scrapped 2026 Commonwealth Games cost $589m in ‘significant waste of taxpayer money’, auditor general says

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Report criticises government agencies for not working together and says the estimated $6.9bn cost of the event was ‘overstated’

The scrapped 2026 Commonwealth Games have cost Victoria more than $589m, the state’s auditor general says, in a report that calls the project a “waste of taxpayer money” with “no discernible benefit”.

The scathing report investigated the Victorian government’s shock cancellation of Games last year and found the cited $6.9bn cost blowout was “overstated”.

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Delay in court case for man accused of vandalising Woolworths over Australia Day stance

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Six-week adjournment granted for Travis Profke, 40, who is accused of spray-painting graffiti on Queensland Woolworths store

A man accused of an Australia Day-related graffiti attack on a Queensland Woolworths faces a six-week delay to the matter due to medical records and other information not being disclosed.

Travis Profke, of Ormiston, is accused of spray painting graffiti outside Woolworths Metro in Teneriffe on 15 January. The 40-year-old has also been charged with vandalising supermarkets at Victoria Point, Cleveland and Teneriffe on 13 January.

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The Juice Media told to censor satirical video with image of Tasmanian premier or face heavy penalties

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Maker of ‘honest government’ ad parodies says state’s antiquated electoral laws could be ‘weaponised to silence critics’

“It was a real ‘what the fuck’ moment,” Giordano Nanni says about his company, The Juice Media, being told to censor an image of Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff or face heavy penalties.

The Juice Media is well known for its satirical “honest government” series, which takes potshots at all sides of politics in videos that resemble government-funded propaganda.

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Australians ‘shocked’ at death sentence imposed on Yang Hengjun, Penny Wong tells Chinese counterpart

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Foreign affairs minister says she raised concerns about China’s human rights record during meeting with Wang Yi, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has told her visiting Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, that Australians are “shocked” at the suspended death sentence imposed on the writer Dr Yang Hengjun.

Wong raised the Australian citizen’s case – along with human rights more broadly – during a meeting that was largely aimed at stabilising the previously turbulent relationship with Australia’s largest trading partner.

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Queensland to become first state to introduce permanent pill-testing clinics

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Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival will conduct testing onsite at the end of March and first fixed-site clinic will open in Bowen Hills in April

Queensland will establish the first of two fixed pill-testing clinics in Brisbane this year, the first Australian state to back the harm reduction strategy on an ongoing basis.

The Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival near Warwick will be the first to conduct pill testing on site, at the end of the month. In 2019 two people died after taking drugs at the festival.

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NSW temperatures to plunge as cold weather sweeps south-east of Australia

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The cold front has been moving steadily across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania

Parts of New South Wales will feel a sudden drop in temperature on Wednesday evening as a cold front continues to sweep the south-east of the country.

The cold front has been moving steadily across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania since Tuesday and will reach NSW on Wednesday.

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Cricket Australia cancels men’s T20 against Afghanistan due to concern over women’s rights

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  • Australia postpones a second series in as many years
  • It comes amid fears conditions under Taliban are getting worse

A second Australian men’s cricket series against Afghanistan in as many years has been postponed due to the country’s poor record on human rights for women and girls.

Australia had already cancelled a one-day international series to be played in the United Arab Emirates in March 2023 due to “a marked deterioration” in the treatment of females in the country.

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Alex Antic: Liberal who rolled female frontbencher described as nice guy turned ‘Trumpian’ by colleagues

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The conservative firebrand has rekindled criticism of party’s ‘women problem’ after nabbing top spot on South Australian Senate ticket

Former colleagues paint Alex Antic – the rabble-rousing Liberal senator who rolled female frontbencher Anne Ruston in a preselection battle – as a nice guy turned “Trumpian”.

Antic, a backbencher known for his “anti-woke”, anti-vaccine mandate and anti-transgender stance, nabbed the party’s number one Senate ticket spot in South Australia on the weekend.

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NSW school to be demolished after extensive mould outbreak in carpet, chairs and plasterboard

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Willyama High School at Broken Hill set to be rebuilt, education minister Prue Car says

A New South Wales school where mould has infested carpets, chairs, plasterboard and even drum kits will be demolished and rebuilt, the state’s education minister has announced.

Willyama high school at Broken Hill has been closed to students and staff since mid-January when an extensive mould outbreak was discovered by a staff member after returning from the summer break.

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Liberal senator demands PwC executives ‘bare their necks’ at inquiry into consultancies

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Richard Colbeck says PwC International must clarify reports it took control of Australian firm after tax leaks scandal

The head of a second parliamentary inquiry has demanded answers from PwC International after reports it took control of the Australian firm to contain the tax leaks scandal, warning senior managers need to “come clean” and “bare their necks”.

The rebuke by Liberal senator Richard Colbeck, who chairs the senate inquiry into the consulting industry, comes a day after the head of a separate inquiry, Labor senator Deborah O’Neill, called for PwC International bosses to face questions.

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NSW police reject watchdog’s calls for updated training and protocols on use of force

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Force responds to scathing NSW law enforcement conduct commission report, dismissing four of 19 recommendations

New South Wales police have rejected calls from the state’s police watchdog for updated training and protocols for officers on the use of force, especially when handcuffing children, after a scathing report handed down last year.

In its Operation Mantus report, the NSW law enforcement conduct commission (Lecc) said the way police were trained should be changed and ongoing education provided to officers.

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Labor’s Don Farrell accuses teal independents of hypocrisy over political donations

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The special minister of state claims some cross-benchers ‘agree with banning big money, just not theirs’

The special minister of state, Don Farrell, has accused teal independents of hypocrisy for proposing a ban on political donations totalling more than $1.5m while imposing no limit on electoral spending.

On Tuesday Farrell reiterated Labor’s intention to cap political spending and donations, accusing unnamed teal independents of “saying to us that they agree with banning big money, just not theirs”.

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Australia politics live: Coalition slams Keating for China meeting; RBA tipped to hold rates

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Former PM called ‘reckless’ for accepting talks with foreign minister Wang Yi. Follow the day’s news live

Energy minister Chris Bowen is on a bit of a media blitz this morning.

More renewables are coming on to the grid, which is lowering the default price of energy, but this is Bowen’s main message (he is speaking to ABC radio RN here)

Nuclear is the most expensive form of energy in the world at the moment. There will be a real choice at the next election between the cheapest form of energy and the most expensive.

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