Category Archives: Australia news

Secret report warns Australian Border Force’s marine unit is ‘not safe for women’

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Exclusive: Human rights commission calls for immediate intervention in the division and says sexism and bullying are rife

Australian Border Force’s marine unit is rife with “inappropriate workplace behaviours including sexual harassment and bullying”, meaning female officers are not safe, according to the human rights watchdog.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), in a secret report for the ABF, revealed that in the marine unit 100% of women who responded to a survey “witnessed sex discrimination, sexual … and/or sex-based harassment” and 78% had personally experienced that behaviour.

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Central Coast Mariners star Angel Torres charged with sexual assault and stood down from A-League

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Football Australia imposes interim suspension after Torres arrested over alleged incident in March

The Central Coast Mariners’ star striker Angel Torres has been stood down from playing in the A-League Men after he was charged with sexual assault.

Torres, 24, was arrested at a property in Terrigal on Monday in relation to an alleged sexual assault of a woman on 24 March.

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Beau Lamarre’s lawyer flags mental health defence to murder charges

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Outside court in Sydney, John Walford says he is ‘not sure’ how his client will plead to alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

The lawyer for former police officer and accused double murderer Beau Lamarre has suggested the charges could be defended on mental health grounds.

John Walford said on Tuesday the charges against his client – who is accused of murdering Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29 – could be defendable on mental health grounds.

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Man charged with domestic murder of Forbes woman Molly Ticehurst was on bail for other offences

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Queenslander Daniel Billings was on bail for earlier charges including stalking and cruelty before arrest for alleged murder, NSW court hears

A man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in regional New South Wales while on bail for rape and stalking charges against her will remain behind bars.

Daniel Billings has been charged with the domestic violence murder of Molly Ticehurst, 28, whose body was found in a Forbes homes in the early hours of Monday.

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Senator’s X account removed – as it happened

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Anglicare says government spending eight times more on private investors than building housing itself

The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, says the government must step up and intervene, instead of leaving housing to the private sector:

We found that the government spends eight times as much propping up private investors as it does on building housing itself. This approach is wrong, and it’s supercharging rents and house prices.

Housing cannot be left to hobby landlords and private developers. Only our government can ensure that rentals are affordable by building homes itself, and by fixing Australia’s unfair tax system.

289 rentals (0.6%) were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage.

89 rentals (0.2%) were affordable for a person on the age pension.

31 rentals (0.1%) were affordable for a person on the disability support pension.

3 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on jobseeker.

0 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on youth allowance.

This is not hyperbole. It is Australia’s new normal.

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Bruce Lehrmann should pay Ten’s entire legal bill after ‘deliberately wicked’ decision to sue, network says

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In court submissions, Ten’s lawyers argue Lehrmann should indemnify the network for its legal costs, estimated at $8m

Bruce Lehrmann should pay all Network Ten’s legal costs because suing The Project for defamation was “deliberately wicked and calculated” and an abuse of process, Ten has told the federal court.

The former Liberal staffer lost the defamation case he brought against Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, with Justice Michael Lee finding that on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019.

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Australian taxpayers paid $466,000 for training of nation’s first female astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg

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With Bennell-Pegg unlikely to go to space anytime soon, there are questions about the value of the spending by the cash-strapped Australian space program

Australia’s first female astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, graduated from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) training program on Monday night.

She may be unlikely to take a giant leap into space anytime soon, but is on a mission to bolster the space industry and inspire women and girls.

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‘Will cost lives’: addiction experts condemn decision to scrap proposed safe injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD

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Government claims no appropriate location could be found for long-mooted second facility

A proposed safe injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD has been rejected by the Victorian government, with addiction experts warning the decision will “cost lives”.

The government on Tuesday announced that a trial facility, recommended by a former police commissioner and which would complement the existing service in North Richmond – will not proceed, after concluding there was no site that could balance the needs of drug users with the broader community.

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Australian prime minister labels Elon Musk ‘an arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law’

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Anthony Albanese responds to X owner who criticised Australian authorities demanding videos of a Sydney church stabbing be removed

Australia’s prime minister has labelled X’s owner, Elon Musk, an “arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law” as the rift deepens between Australia and the tech platform over the removal of videos of a violent stabbing in a Sydney church.

On Monday evening in an urgent last-minute federal court hearing, the court ordered a two-day injunction against X to hide posts globally containing the footage of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on 15 April. The eSafety commissioner had previously directed X to remove the posts, but X had only blocked them from access in Australia pending a legal challenge.

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Tiny freshwater Snowy Mountains fish faces extinction, environmentalists say

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The Yalmy galaxias is ‘on the verge of disappearing for ever’ and Labor on the brink of failing to meet its zero extinctions target

Even on its best days, the Yalmy galaxias is hard to find. The small, native freshwater fish is only known to live in a couple of tributaries of the Snowy River in remote and mountainous East Gippsland.

It was last seen in March 2023, when a government survey found 20 survivors. Since then? Nobody knows.

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Australian court orders Elon Musk’s X to hide Sydney church stabbing posts from users globally

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Judge makes interim order after eSafety commissioner orders social media outlet to remove footage of Wakeley stabbing

The Australian federal court has ordered Elon Musk’s X to hide posts containing videos of a stabbing at a Sydney church last week from users globally, after the eSafety commissioner launched an urgent court case on Monday evening seeking an injunction.

X, along with Meta, were ordered by the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Tuesday last week to remove material deemed to depict “gratuitous or offensive violence with a high degree of impact or detail” within 24 hours or potentially face fines.

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Sydney church riot: images of 12 men released as police look for up to 50 people

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Four men have been charged and police are searching for more after violence outside the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley following the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel

Multiple men allegedly captured on video outside a western Sydney church are among 50 people police are seeking after a riot which injured dozens of officers.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Father Isaac Royel were stabbed during a livestreamed sermon at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley last week.

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Arj Barker and a ‘gurgling’ baby: comedian’s request for mother to leave Melbourne show sparks furore

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Trish Faranda claims she felt ‘humiliated’ when asked by the comedian to leave but fellow audience member says child was disrupting performance

Comedian Arj Barker’s interaction with a mother who brought a seven-month-old baby to his comedy show in Melbourne on Saturday night has sparked outrage, sympathy and debate about the woman’s decision to bring her infant to the gig and his decision to ask her to leave.

The account of the incident is contested, with the mother Trish Faranda saying the baby was just “gurgling” during the show and that she felt “humiliated” when asked by the comedian to leave the theatre in front of 700 people.

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ACTU calls for sanctions on Israel over Gaza war – as it happened

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The Matildas’ route to potential Asian Cup success is a step closer to being finalised, AAP reports, after Football Australia revealed the host states for matches at the 2026 edition of the tournament.

FA confirmed on Monday that NSW, Queensland and Western Australia had been nominated as the preferred locations for the continental competition.

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‘Alarming’ traffic light design at Brisbane intersection where young cyclist died after being hit by bus

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Green light created impression both bike and bus had right of way when 20-year-old Max Patrick McDowall was killed, coroner’s court hears

A forensic crash investigator was “alarmed” at the design of the intersection where a 20-year-old cyclist died, because its traffic lights gave both vehicles the impression they had right of way simultaneously, the Queensland coroner’s court has heard.

A recreation of the fatal accident showed that the driver of the Brisbane city council bus, Andrew Rudnicki, had almost no opportunity to see Maximillian Patrick McDowall, before he struck and killed him.

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Driver in ‘highly disordered mental state’ slammed into Sydney home and killed sleeping occupant, court told

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Batoul Sleibi El Dirani sped into home of Robyn Oxley, throwing her out of bed and through her back window, court hears

A woman was in a “highly disordered mental state” when fleeing the scene of an accident after her speeding SUV slammed into a western Sydney home, killing the occupant, a court has heard.

Robyn Oxley was asleep in her St Marys residence when a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Batoul Sleibi El Dirani barrelled through the front of the home on 8 October 2022.

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Drop in GST revenue will cost NSW ‘more than Covid’, treasurer says

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Daniel Mookhey says ‘absurd’ carve-up of GST allocations means the state will ‘almost certainly’ lose its coveted AAA credit rating

New South Wales will “almost certainly” lose its remaining top-notch debt rating after an “absurd” carve-up of GST revenue stripped more from state revenue than Covid-19, the state’s treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, said.

The assessment comes about a month after the Commonwealth Grants Commission revealed how it would allocate GST money. NSW complained it would lose $1.65bn even as its population swelled and other states, such as Victoria, got extra funds.

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Victoria alleged mushroom murders case: Erin Patterson set to face court on Monday

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Victorian woman faces three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after hosting a lunch at her Leongatha house

Erin Patterson, the woman accused of murdering and attempting to murder her relatives by serving them a meal laced with deadly mushrooms, is expected to face court again on Monday.

Patterson, 49, was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in November after hosting the fatal lunch at her house in regional Victoria.

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Restrictions on Victorian doctor accused of racist and homophobic remarks paused due to bulk-billing shortage

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Vcat suspends Bendigo doctor’s supervision order over ‘significant financial imposition’ on one of region’s last bulk-billing clinics

A Victorian doctor who allegedly made racist and homophobic comments to patients has had restrictions imposed by the medical regulator paused, due to their “significant financial imposition” on one of the last bulk-billing clinics in his local region.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has suspended the requirement that Dr Tom Crawford be subject to 10 months of supervision at his Bendigo practice, which was imposed by the Medical Board of Australia last month.

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Labor considered altering stage-three tax cuts just after coming to power, FOI battle reveals

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Former federal senator Rex Patrick’s 16-month tussle shows Treasury provided Jim Charmers with a range of policy options

The Albanese government was considering tweaks to stage-three tax cuts as early as one month after being elected, despite repeatedly stating its position hadn’t changed, new documents reveal.

A two-page ministerial submission, released to former senator Rex Patrick after a 16-month freedom of information tussle, shows Treasury officials provided the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, with a breakdown of options to change the stage-three tax cuts, and claw back more revenue, in July 2022.

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