Category Archives: Australia news

Asbestos confirmed in seven Melbourne parks after latest tests

Posted on by

PA Burns Reserve and the Altona Coastal Park the latest sites to have ‘small amounts of asbestos’ discovered

Victoria’s environment watchdog and a Melbourne council have confirmed traces of asbestos at seven parks and reserves across Melbourne, as the regulator probes the sources of the contamination.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, the Environment Protection Authority confirmed small amounts of asbestos-contaminated material had been discovered at PA Burns Reserve in Altona, in Melbourne’s west. The EPA said its inspection over the weekend found “good quality mulch laid over industrial waste”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Tanya Plibersek rejects Toondah Harbour project over impact on globally significant wetlands

Posted on by

Walker Corporation had proposed 3,000 apartments, marina and shops for the site, which is a critical habitat for the endangered eastern curlew

• Toondah Harbour: should a wetland home to endangered birds become $1.3bn worth of shops, high-rises and a marina?
• To the moon and back with the eastern curlew

The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, has announced she will reject an apartment and retail development on an internationally important wetland at Queensland’s Moreton Bay.

Plibersek said on Tuesday she would refuse Walker Corporation’s Toondah Harbour project – first proposed eight years ago and opposed by a long-running community campaign backed by scientists and conservationists – because it would have an unacceptable impact on the Ramsar site.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Refugee Sayed Abdellatif freed after almost 12 years in Australian immigration detention

Posted on by

Exclusive: Abdellatif released to join family after years of struggling to overturn denial of visa as a result of being convicted in Egyptian trial that used evidence obtained under torture

The Egyptian refugee Sayed Abdellatif has been freed after almost 12 years in Australia’s immigration detention facilities.

Abdellatif was granted a temporary protection visa and released on Tuesday afternoon from Villawood detention centre before being driven by authorities to his family’s home in western Sydney.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: judge to hand down verdict on Monday

Posted on by

Federal court announces a new date for the decision after original date delayed by fresh evidence

Justice Michael Lee will deliver his judgment in the defamation case Bruce Lehrmann brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court in Sydney on Monday.

The federal court announced the date for the decision on Tuesday, more than three months after the five-week trial ended on 22 December and four days after the final hearing of additional evidence last week.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

New footage shows Australian couple beginning hike moments before Taiwan earthquake

Posted on by

Search continues for couple who have not been seen for six days after they began their hike on the mountainous Shakadang trail before the 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck

Rescue efforts are still under way in Taiwan’s Taroko national park to find two missing Australian nationals, who have not been seen for six days after a massive earthquake hit the island.

The couple, identified by local government officials as Neo Siew Choo and Sim Hwee Kok, went missing after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island at 7.58am on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Victorian Labor party members to stage revolt over public housing tower redevelopment

Posted on by

Exclusive: Rank and file group wants a doubling of social housing at the 44 tower sites and a guarantee all the land will stay in public hands

Rank and file Victorian Labor party members will use an upcoming state council meeting to push the government to guarantee no public land will be sold off to private developers when it knocks down the state’s 44 public housing towers.

Labor for Housing – a non-factional advocacy group within the Victorian Labor party that advocates for better housing policies – will also use May’s state conference to call for a doubling of the social housing contained in the planned redevelopment.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Bridget McKenzie’s office wanted ‘sports rorts’ funding tripled after consultation with MPs and senators, documents confirm

Posted on by

Exclusive: FoI documents show senator’s office spoke to other members, duty-senators and some cross-benchers to prioritise marginal and target seats

Bridget McKenzie’s office proposed tripling funding for the “sports rorts” program to deliver “priorities for target and marginal” seats after consultation with MPs and senators, new documents confirm.

After a three-year freedom-of-information battle, the Greens have secured the release of colour-coded spreadsheets related to the community sport infrastructure grant program and the “talking points” document prepared for McKenzie to pitch to then prime minister, Scott Morrison, to expand the program from $30m to $100m.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Guardian Essential poll: voters back Coalition’s super for homes and Greens housing policy

Posted on by

Australians want wide-ranging reform of ‘failing’ housing system and back the Greens’ public sector property developer, poll finds

Australians think the housing system is failing and support a range of more radical solutions, including the Coalition’s push to use super for housing and the Greens’ public sector property developer.

Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,165 voters which sends a warning shot to the Albanese government and state governments to do more to combat falling home ownership and higher rents.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

On the state government’s role to “provide social housing and regulate rentals”, 50% said it was doing a poor job while 19% said it was doing a good job.

On the federal government’s role to “set policies on how homes should be taxed”, 47% said it was doing a poor job and 19% said a good job.

On the local government’s role to “establish planning rules for local communities”, 41% said it was doing a poor job and 23% said a good job.

Continue reading...

Australia among hotspots for toxic ‘forever chemicals’, study of PFAS levels finds

Posted on by

Australian limits on acceptable levels of these toxic chemicals in drinking water ‘orders of magnitude’ higher than in US

High levels of so-called forever chemicals have been found in surface and groundwater all over the world, with Australia one of several hotspots for toxic PFAS, a University of New South Wales study has found.

Researchers examined groundwater samples from around the world and found 69% had per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at levels above Canada’s safe drinking water criteria and 32% had levels higher than the US proposed drinking water hazard index.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW police paid redundancies to three top media advisers in two years totalling $687,000

Posted on by

Exclusive: since Karen Webb became commissioner the force has dumped and paid out three employees in senior media and public affairs roles

Almost $700,000 in taxpayer funds has been paid out between three dumped New South Wales police media executives over the past two years, and commissioner Karen Webb sacked a fourth controversial pick mid-appointment last month.

The $687,000 was shared between three public servants who worked as media and public affairs advisers to the commissioner since her appointment in February 2022.

Continue reading...

PM says transparency around aid worker’s death ‘in Israel’s interest’ – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

PM ‘absolutely’ confident supermarket review will reduce prices for consumers

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC News Radio, also weighing in on Craig Emerson’s supermarket review.

Including the Senate review … we’ve already announced our funding of Choice, the consumer organisation, to do quarterly price monitoring, ensuring that consumers know where the best deal is available and using that use of information to drive that competition through the system.

We’ve only got a few supermarkets in Australia and it does concentrate a lot of market power in the hands of the retailers, [so] heavy fines might be the way to go. I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of that.

And I know many people, particularly in one of the richest cities in the world in Sydney, are doing it incredibly tough when you’ve got the dual hits of both interest rate rises and high inflation.

Continue reading...

Two charged in Nigeria over alleged sextortion that led to Australian teenager’s death

Posted on by

Boy who took his own life allegedly told to pay $500 to stop personal photos being shared with family and friends

Two men in Nigeria have been charged over an alleged sextortion case that led to a teenage Australian boy taking his own life.

The boy had been engaging online with an unknown person who threatened to share personal photos of him with his family and friends if he did not pay $500, NSW police said in a statement on Monday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW to review child protection screening algorithm over concerns about racial bias

Posted on by

Families minister says system is ‘not delivering the outcomes we want to see’ as almost 50% of children in care in NSW are Aboriginal

The New South Wales government will review a child protection tool that disproportionately affects Aboriginal children – and that has not been updated in the state for more than a decade.

The controversial system known as “structured decision making” (SDM) has been in use since 2010 to screen for at-risk children.

Continue reading...

Australia’s big supermarkets could face penalties of up to $10m under proposed mandatory code

Posted on by

Government report stops short of recommending powers to break up big chains saying heavy fines and effective enforcement would be ‘a more credible deterrent’

Australia’s big supermarkets could face hefty fines as part of a federal government plan to make the grocery code of conduct mandatory and give it teeth.

A report ordered by the government – to be released on Monday – warns changes are needed to redress “a heavy imbalance in market power between suppliers and supermarkets in Australia’s heavily concentrated supermarket industry”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Israeli officials who want to deny aid to Gaza civilians merit Australian sanctions, humanitarian groups say

Posted on by

Peak body for Australian aid groups joined by faith groups and health experts saying there is no excuse for starvation due to impact of war

The Australian government should impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials who have called for the denial of aid to civilians of Gaza, according to humanitarian organisations, faith groups and health experts.

The Australian Council for International Development (Acfid), the peak body for Australian aid groups, said a “man-made, preventable famine” in Gaza would leave “a permanent stain on all our collective humanity”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘I’ve got the yarn’: Taylor Auerbach cautioned over spending as he courted Bruce Lehrmann, texts reveal

Posted on by

Fellow Spotlight producer told Auerbach he found it ‘bizarre’ he was taking Lehrmann to dinner every night

Spotlight producers warned Taylor Auerbach about dropping too much money on Seven’s company card while he courted Bruce Lehrmann over several months for an exclusive interview, text messages have revealed.

The text messages between the former Seven producer and his senior colleagues were tendered in federal court after the Lehrmann defamation trial was reopened for Auerbach to give additional evidence as part of Channel Ten’s defence.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Police find missing member of group who reached remote Western Australia coast by boat

Posted on by

Search was conducted in difficult terrain near Mitchell Plateau as Coalition presses government over ‘third boat since November’

A man has been found in “relatively good condition” after becoming separated from a group of people who reached a remote pocket of the Kimberley coastline in Western Australia by boat.

A source confirmed to Guardian Australia that nine individuals had broached Australia’s mainland but did not confirm what nation they had arrived from.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Investigation under way after gas pipeline off Victorian coast ruptures

Posted on by

Gas platforms in the area are among the oldest offshore oil and gas operations in the country

The offshore oil and gas regulator is investigating after an undersea gas pipeline ruptured off the Victorian coast, causing a visible “sheen” on the ocean’s surface.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) confirmed it received a notification about a potential spill from ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso on Saturday morning.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Disaster assistance activated as Sydney ‘blue sky flood’ continues to threaten homes

Posted on by

NSW emergency services minister warns flood threat not over after heavy rain causes flooding in and around Sydney

Hundreds of residents in Sydney’s north-west have been ordered to flee their homes after heavy rain caused flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River catchment.

The New South Wales government has announced assistance measures after heavy rain on Friday and Saturday prompted authorities to open the spill gates at Warragamba Dam.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Ed Husic accuses Israeli government of ‘systematic failure’ over death of Zomi Frankcom

Posted on by

Coalition refuses to state if Israel breached international law, saying it ‘takes more care than Hamas does to protect civilian lives’

Senior Australian minister Ed Husic has accused the Israeli government of “a systematic failure” to observe the laws of war in Gaza, while insisting the west must “demonstrate our values” to avoid charges of hypocrisy.

But the Coalition opposition refused to say explicitly whether the Israeli military had breached international law, saying it “takes more care than Hamas does to protect civilian lives”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...