Bus mounted a kerb and pinned the 18-year-old against wall near one of the city’s busiest intersections during peak hour
Authorities have pledged to find answers after an 18-year-old woman died when she was pinned between a bus and a building in Brisbane’s city centre on Friday evening.
And authorities have said the bus involved in the crash underwent routine testing last month, and will now undergo an engineering investigation to ensure there were no mechanical failures.
Continue reading...Pitch music and arts festival attenders urged to delay arrival, with those already on site advised to head home
Festivalgoers at a music festival in Victoria’s Grampians have been advised to leave amid the extreme heat and fire danger, while Melbourne’s iconic Moomba Parade has been cancelled due to soaring temperatures.
Residents across four states have been experiencing stifling conditions, with high temperatures forecast over the long weekend in many parts of the country.
Continue reading...Thirty-year-old arrested over death of three-month-old child in September 2011
A woman has been charged with the murder of a baby girl more than 12 years ago in Queensland.
The charge comes after police went to a home in Redland Bay, 35km south-east of Brisbane, on 2 September 2011 and found a three-month-old child who was not breathing.
Continue reading...The 39-year-old has also been charged with improperly interfering with a corpse or human remains
A man has been charged with murder after the body of a 60-year-old woman was discovered in the boot of a car in northern New South Wales.
The woman’s body was found by emergency services on Friday morning after they were called to a unit in Evans Head.
Continue reading...PropTrack report finds availability at its lowest in 17 years, with only 39% of properties affordable for median income households
The affordability of rental properties has reached its worst level since records began, a report has found.
The latest PropTrack Rental Affordability report found households on the median income of $110,000 a year could only afford 39% of available properties to rent.
Continue reading...Road crash deaths are the leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 13 in Australia and experts say many could be prevented with better restraints
Leading child safety experts are calling for regulations around child car restraints to be brought into line with the medical evidence and similar countries worldwide, saying that “a large proportion” of Australian children are being put in danger of life-altering traumatic injuries or death every day due to inappropriate use of car and booster seats.
The calls come as the state and federal ministers for transport undertake a review of Australia’s child restraint rules, which have been condemned as out of step with safe practice guidelines.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Influx of reports comes amid concerns about welfare of young people detained in overcrowded adult watch houses
The Queensland public guardian says its community visitors have reported more than 550 issues on behalf of children detained in police watch houses since the start of this year, amid ongoing concerns about the welfare of young people in overcrowded and “unsuitable” lockups.
First-hand reports from watch houses, revealed by Guardian Australia in January and February, detail how the system is struggling to cope with an influx of children, the result of the state government’s “tough on crime” justice policies.
Continue reading...Adelaide region expected to be worst affected with average temperatures forecast to be up by 10C
Southern parts of Australia are expected to suffer a short heatwave starting on Friday and lasting until next Tuesday. The Adelaide region will be worst affected, with highs of about 36C anticipated in the city on Friday, which is 10C above the seasonal norm.
Daytime maximums are then set to remain above 35C until Tuesday, while minimum temperatures are not forecast to drop below 25C. This will be the longest March run of high temperatures in Adelaide in four years, with only one March day above 35C being recorded over this period.
Continue reading...Australia’s biggest selling brand says it is broadly supportive but has asked for changes including revisiting the stringency and the timeframe
Toyota has asked the Albanese government to water down its proposed new laws aimed at disincentivising the purchase of the worst polluting cars and hastening the importation of cleaner vehicles.
Australia’s biggest selling brand – which makes popular models such as the HiLux and Landcruiser – has voiced concerns the scheme will harm rural and regional drivers.
Continue reading...North Melbourne’s Alastair Clarkson free to coach in round one after avoiding suspension for outburst in weekend’s trial match. This blog is now closed
Scooter rider dies in crash in Sydney
A scooter rider has died following a crash at North Ryde in Sydney this morning.
We are yet to see her beautiful eyes open, however, she has shown some really positive signs that she may be hearing her loved ones.
Continue reading...More workers are taking on multiple jobs as they grapple with higher interest rates, inflation and underemployment
Almost 1 million Australians are working at least two jobs as many workers struggle to meet cost-of-living pressures amid rising underemployment.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Friday show 970,700 people held multiple jobs in December 2023, up from 957,100 three months earlier.
Continue reading...Social services minister Amanda Rishworth says government ‘needed to work hard’ to fulfil election promise
Only a handful of the 500 domestic violence support workers promised by the Albanese government have been hired, the social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, has admitted, saying Labor “needed to work hard” to fulfil its election commitment.
“We put the money in our budget and we’re working with the states and territories through paying them to employ these workers and get these workers on the ground,” Rishworth told the ABC on Friday, confirming just 17 of the 500 domestic violence staff had started work.
Continue reading...Electric carmaker concerned at ‘overblown’ claims that Albanese government’s plan to import environmentally cleaner cars would increase ute prices
Electric car brand Polestar has become the second company to quit Australia’s main auto industry lobby group over frustrations at its campaign against the Albanese government’s plan to import environmentally cleaner cars.
On Friday – a day after Tesla announced it would cease being a member of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) over the group’s opposition to the government’s proposed vehicle efficiency standard – Polestar Australia’s managing director, Samantha Johnson, wrote to FCAI CEO Tony Weber advising him the Volvo-owned brand was also cancelling its membership.
Continue reading...Hot weather will send temperatures soaring to 38C in Melbourne, 40C in Adelaide and the low 30s in Launceston, the BoM forecasts
Victorians, Tasmanians and South Australians will swelter through their long weekends, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing heatwave warnings for the three states.
Melbourne is expecting maximum temperatures of 38C across Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If temperatures do reach 38C, it will be the highest temperature recorded across three consecutive days in March since 1942.
Continue reading...Australia co-ordinated the largest search to date, which failed to yield answers despite surveying more than 120,000 square kilometres under the ocean
• MH370: one of aviation’s biggest mysteries remains unsolved 10 years on
• Timeline of the search for MH370 – a visual guide
Australia has offered the Malaysian government support for a renewed search for the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, on the 10-year anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance.
On Friday, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, and transport minister, Catherine King, said the government’s “sincere sympathies” remained with the loved ones of those who were onboard.
Continue reading...Government agency issues disqualification proceedings after inquiry into failed finance firm Greensill Capital
The Insolvency Service has begun legal action to have Lex Greensill disqualified from running companies for up to 15 years after the outcome of an investigation into the directors of his failed finance firm.
The government agency said it had issued disqualification proceedings on behalf of the business secretary against the former Australian sugar farmer, who founded the Greensill group of companies.
Continue reading...Greens senator Nick McKim says decision to hear both cases is welcome as legislation passed in February 2023 is ‘clearly punitive’
The high court has agreed to hear two appeals that threaten the legality of the re-detention of more than 100 non-citizens who had been sentenced and served more than a year in prison.
In February 2023, Labor and the Coalition teamed up to pass laws retrospectively authorising the cancellation of visas of people who were released from immigration detention by a full federal court decision in December 2022.
Continue reading...Minns government fulfils $13m election commitment following long-running community campaign to protect the area
Almost five hectares of parklands has been added to the Wolli Creek regional national park – “a patch of green ribbon” which runs through dense suburbs in Sydney’s south – in the past year.
The Minns government added the additional 4.7 hectares after a $13m election commitment to complete the park, which borders Wolli Creek and was first promised by the Carr government in 1998.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Yingiya Mark Guyula says companies are ‘making big money’ off some of the poorest in the community
An Indigenous leader and independent MP has accused the Northern Territory government of having “a clear conflict of interest” with the $50bn online gambling industry and of ignoring First Nations health and advocacy groups.
Yingiya Mark Guyula, a Liya-dhälinymirr Djambarrpuyngu man, said online gambling was an increasing problem in remote areas. He accused some companies of “making big money off some of the poorest people in our communities”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: firm points to risk of asbestos contamination from other sources as it seeks to have prevention order thrown out
The landscaping materials company at the centre of the New South Wales asbestos crisis will point to the risks of contamination outside its facilities and the “unjustified impact” on its business when it argues to have an order preventing it making mulch products quashed.
Greenlife and the NSW Environment Protection Authority are expected to appear before the state’s land and environment court for a directions hearing on Friday.
Continue reading...