Category Archives: Australia news

Bronwyn Bishop apologises on Sky News after accusing MP Sophie Scamps of being part of ‘antisemitic movement’

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Former Howard government minister agrees to apologise on Sharri Markson’s program after threat of legal action

Bronwyn Bishop has made an on-air apology on Sharri Markson’s Sky News program after accusing the federal MP Sophie Scamps of being “part and parcel of the antisemitic movement”.

After a threat of legal action from Scamps, a teal independent who holds Bishop’s old seat of Mackellar, the former Liberal minister and Speaker agreed to apologise on Tuesday night’s program.

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‘Felt like an earthquake’: passengers recall moment of terror on Latam flight as investigation launched

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Latam Airlines flight LA800 was headed to Auckland from Sydney when plane’s ‘gauges just blanked out’ due to technical problem, pilot reportedly told passengers

Cockpit voice and flight data recorders are being gathered as an investigation begins into a sudden mid-air drop on an Auckland-bound flight that left passengers bloodied, hospitalised dozens and “felt like an earthquake had just hit”.

Latam Airlines flight LA800 departed Sydney at 11.35am on Monday with 263 passengers and nine flight and cabin crew headed for Auckland. About two-thirds of the way into the three-hour flight, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner – which was eight years old, according to flight tracking data – “experienced a strong shake”, the airline said.

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Rising festival 2024: theatre-maker to be drugged unconscious in ‘deeply unnerving’ show about date rape

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A Brazilian artist will have her body manipulated while passed out, in a lauded work about sexual violence that headlines Melbourne’s winter festival

A theatremaker will be drugged unconscious on stage in Melbourne this year, in a controversial and highly lauded theatre work about sexual violence that will have its Australian premiere at Rising festival.

Cadela Força Trilogy: The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella is directed by and stars Brazilian artist Carolina Bianchi, who recounts her experience of being drugged and sexually assaulted, before taking a drug on stage. Once unconscious, female performers then move her body around, even at one point inserting a speculum and camera into her vagina, with a live video feed shown to the audience in a simulation of a post-rape forensic examination.

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Almost half of cane growers sceptical of science behind laws protecting Great Barrier Reef

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Review found ongoing ‘mistrust’ among farmers, including many who remain unconvinced by need for pollution regulations

A review of the Queensland government’s Great Barrier Reef protection regulations has found that almost half the affected farmers still believe there is little or no scientific evidence to support pollution reduction rules.

The laws, passed in 2019, were based on scientific advice that limits on sediment and chemical runoff were needed in the reef catchment, amid concerns about water quality.

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TGA investigating telehealth websites prescribing nicotine vaping products for exclusive pharmacies

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GPs say patients should be able to fill scripts at any pharmacy and that a health professional should be consulted first

Australia’s drugs regulator is investigating several telehealth platforms that offer prescriptions only for nicotine vaping products, which experts warn could compromise patient care.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) confirmed it was assessing the vaping prescription telehealth sites medicalnicotine.com.au, myduke.com.au, quitmate.com.au and a site related to quitmate, medmate.com.au.

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Gareth Evans tells Labor to ‘get off the fence’ and restart UNRWA funding to help ease Gaza crisis

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Former Labor foreign minister says $6m in emergency funding should be released immediately as Canada and Sweden have done

Labor’s longest serving foreign minister, Gareth Evans, has urged the Australian government to “get off the fence” and immediately reinstate funding to a key UN agency to help avert mass starvation in Gaza.

The Labor government is edging closer to unfreezing $6m in emergency funding for UNRWA after similar moves by Canada and Sweden, possibly within days, but it is understood a decision has yet to be made.

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Person in custody after man fatally assaulted in Gold Coast car park

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Emergency services called to the shopping centre car park in Hope Island found a man with life-threatening injuries

A 25-year-old man has been taken into custody in relation to a fatal assault in a Gold Coast shopping centre car park.

Emergency services were called to the car park along Santa Barbara Road in the suburb of Hope Island on Monday afternoon after reports a man had been seriously assaulted.

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Fifty people treated after ‘technical problem’ caused ‘strong movement’ on Latam flight from Sydney

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Passengers on flight to Auckland describe ‘mid-air drop’ with people thrown from their seats

Fifty people have been treated by ambulance crews and 13 people are in hospital after an in-bound aircraft to Auckland experienced a “strong movement” mid-flight that reportedly saw passengers suddenly thrown about the plane.

In a statement, Hato Hone St John Ambulance said the organisation responded to an incident at Auckland International airport involving an inbound aircraft after a call at 3.58pm local time on Monday.

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Police investigate reports patrons performed Nazi salute in Melbourne cinema

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Cinema Nova spokesperson says group of four men and one woman were ‘vocalising hate speech to create a scene inside the auditorium’

Police are investigating reports that a group of patrons performed Nazi salutes and made racist comments during a screening of an Oscar-winning Holocaust film at a Melbourne cinema on Saturday night.

The patrons were attending a screening of The Zone of Interest, a German-language adaptation of the Martin Amis novel, a fictionalised account of the real-life Nazi commandant, Rudolf Höss, and his family, who lived in a villa at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

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Passengers treated after ‘technical problem’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Outer suburban drivers overtake inner-city drivers in EV uptake

New data from the Electric Vehicle Council shows that outer suburban drivers have overtaken inner-city drivers in their EV uptake.

I think some tired stereotypes about EVs in Australia will need to be updated.

What this data tells us is that the average EV buyer lives in the suburbs and might well be keen to use the new car to take the kids camping on the weekend. They might even be thinking about towing a boat.

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US man linked to Wieambilla shootings claims right to own guns despite criminal history

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Donald Day Jr, linked to fatal shooting of two Queensland police officers, claims his right to guns for self-defence has been violated

A US man linked to the fatal shooting of two Queensland police officers has claimed that his right to own guns for self-defence has been violated by charges of alleged firearms possession while a convicted felon.

Donald Day Jr, 58, was arrested in December 2023 by the FBI in Arizona on two counts of “interstate threats” 12 months after the fatal shootings at rural Wieambilla, west of Brisbane.

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Cult leader William Kamm and partner arrested in Sydney over alleged child grooming

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William ‘Little Pebble’ Kamm and Sandra Costellia expected to be charged following six-month NSW police investigation

Cult leader William Kamm and his partner have been arrested in Sydney over allegations they groomed a 19-year-old woman for sex from the age of six.

Kamm, 73, who refers to himself as “Little Pebble”, allegedly sent the girl letters and homemade gifts and called her on the phone.

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Hobart endures hottest night in 112 years as severe heatwave hits south-eastern Australia

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Extreme heat forecast to continue across Victoria, Tasmania, SA and NSW for several days, as record temperatures cause cancellation of long weekend events

Hobart residents sweated through the city’s hottest night in 112 years as a severe heatwave continues to affect large parts of south-east Australia.

Extreme heat is forecast to continue across South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and southern New South Wales for several days, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Sunday after record temperatures caused the cancellation of long weekend events.

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Pure imagination: Tasmanian premier vows to build world’s largest chocolate fountain if re-elected

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Liberal Jeremy Rockliff commits $12m and says ‘chocolate experience’ at Claremont would be ‘the greatest thing to happen to tourism since Mona’

Dubai is home to the world’s tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa. Nepal boasts Mount Everest. Soon, if Jeremy Rockliff gets his way, Tasmania could be home to the world’s largest chocolate fountain.

The Tasmanian premier on Sunday appeared to take inspiration from Willy Wonka by pitching himself to voters as the dreamer of dreams during a visit to the Cadbury chocolate factory – the largest in the southern hemisphere – near Hobart.

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Craig Foster apologises to Sam Kerr after arguing her alleged remark to UK police officer was racist

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Former Socceroo says he made a mistake and is ‘very pleased to be able to learn’ that ‘racism can only be perpetrated against a marginalised person or group’

Former Socceroo Craig Foster has apologised to Sam Kerr for criticising the Matildas captain after it was revealed she allegedly called a police officer in the UK a “stupid white bastard”.

Foster in a lengthy explanation on X stated he had been mistaken in thinking that any “discriminatory, demeaning or hostile” comment made referring to “any colour” was racism.

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Woman’s body found in wheelie bin in bushes in regional Victoria

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Victoria police say death is suspicious and alleged offender ‘may have fled overseas’

Police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was reportedly found in a wheelie bin in Victoria’s south-west.

Her body was discovered on Mount Pollock Road in the town of Buckley, about 25km from Geelong, at midday on Saturday.

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Ads for gambling company forced to leave Australia digitally imposed on overseas A-Leagues broadcasts

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Digital ads for 8XBet inserted into matches played by clubs that rejected money from gambling companies

An offshore gambling company that breached Australian law and was forced to withdraw from the country has paid the national football league to promote it overseas.

The Australian Professional Leagues has digitally imposed ads for the gambling company, 8XBet, on to international broadcasts of A-Leagues matches. The company’s logo can be seen in 10 locations simultaneously during some games.

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Australian politicians spending two-thirds of time on the road at taxpayer expense, data shows

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Nationals’ Bridget McKenzie and Andrew Willcox top list with more than $20,000 spent each on nights away from home

A handful of federal politicians are spending more than two-thirds of their time on the road and in hotels, with one Nationals MP billing taxpayers for accommodation nearly every night over a four-month period, latest travel expenses data shows.

Andrew Willcox, the first-time member for Dawson, spent 113 days travelling over a 116-day period between August and December 2022, according to the most recent independent parliamentary expense authority’s (Ipea) data.

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Melissa Caddick’s luxury Sydney penthouse sells for undisclosed amount

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Proceeds from sale – which is believed to be below $5 million – will be used to pay back some of the money stolen from investors

Conwoman Melissa Caddick’s luxury Sydney penthouse is finally off the market and the proceeds will be used to pay back some of the money stolen from dozens of investors, many of whom were her close friends and family.

The apartment atop the Eastpoint Tower at Edgecliff in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was listed for auction on 10 October for an estimated $5.5m.

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Officers who shot and killed woman caught stabbing mother in Melbourne faced ‘terrible dilemma’, police say

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Police say they ‘acted appropriately’ when they shot a 26-year-old woman who fatally stabbed her 53-year-old mother

A Victorian woman shot and killed by police officers on Friday evening was caught in the process of stabbing her mother, police say.

Police revealed details about the incident on Saturday, saying that an officer was called to a home in Melbourne’s north-east at about 6.30pm after neighbours mistakenly reported that a young woman was trying to set her mother on fire.

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