Tax ombudsman says ATO commissioner has powers designed to modify how a tax law operates – should the media accept the ‘no discretion’ defence, and move on?
Last November, thousands of Australians received letters advising them of unpaid tax debts. Some of these were decades old, dating back to a time of chequebooks and paper records.
There were mixed responses.
Continue reading...Australian Council for International Development head says ‘intense coordination and negotiation’ would have occurred prior to passage of workers
The Israeli military likely had advance notice of the names and nationalities of each of the aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes while travelling in a three-car charity convoy in Gaza this week, according to humanitarian organisations.
As Anthony Albanese toughened his language over the killing of the Australian citizen Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, saying “this is against humanitarian law”, the aid sector stated the seven workers were there “with the full awareness” of the Israeli military.
Continue reading...Prime minister reiterates that has ‘demanded full accountability for what has occurred’ from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Follow the day’s news live
After a number of comments about the state of famine in Gaza, which Hyman appears to be disputing – it’s quite difficult to keep up with his comments, though they seem to include allegations that Hamas is stealing aid – he is asked by host Sally Sara if he’s rejecting UN concerns of hunger and starvation in Gaza. I will come back and check his comments shortly but the upshot seems to be that he is, more or less.
I’ll bring you more direct lines from this interview shortly, bear with me.
I mean, obviously, we know that this isn’t something that the IDF would do or the Israeli Air Force would do on purpose.
There’s a war going on. Wars are awful. Nobody wanted this war, we certainly didn’t want this war, but we’re forced to fight it because it’s a war for our very existence.
Continue reading...Lehrmann is suing Channel Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from today
Judge asks for documents relating to Taylor Auerbach’s departure from Seven
Justice Lee has asked Taylor Auerbach’s solicitor to produce as many documents as possible that relate to the producer’s departure from Seven last year by this afternoon.
Continue reading...Local council confirms material was found at the Donald McLean Reserve in Spotswood
Asbestos has been discovered in recycled mulch at a park in Melbourne’s west, prompting the closure of a playground and inspections of other public places.
A resident had reported items found in tanbark near a new playground at Donald McLean Reserve in Spotswood to the local council earlier this week.
Continue reading...Man, 71, found near vehicle in Logan as NSW and Qld residents warned to prepare for up to 200mm of rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding
A man has been found dead near his vehicle in Queensland floodwaters as storms bring heavy rain to eastern Australia.
Police found the 71-year-old man at 5.20am on Thursday, after being called to the Logan suburb of Greenbank to conduct a welfare check.
Continue reading...Environment groups say increased pollution levels means it would be ‘absurd and harmful’ to extend life of Eraring, which is due to close in August 2025
Mercury and particulate pollution from Australia’s largest coal-fired power station soared last year, prompting an environmental group to argue it would be “absurd and harmful” for the New South Wales government to extend its operations.
Origin Energy’s 2,880-megawatt Eraring power station, slated by the company to close in August 2025, reported mercury pollution jumped 130% in 2022-23 compared with the previous year, according to data from the national pollution inventory. The heavy metal permanently damages brains and kidneys, especially those of children.
Continue reading...Judges have described the Waanyi writer’s fourth novel Praiseworthy as ‘a canon-crushing Australian novel for the ages’
Stella prize winner Alexis Wright has been nominated for the $60,000 award a second time, for her 700-page “canon-crushing” novel Praiseworthy.
The Waanyi writer won the Stella prize, intended to reward the work of Australian women and non-binary authors, in 2018 for her biography Tracker.
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Continue reading...Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival, near Warwick, held Australia’s first multi-day festival clinic last weekend
The organisers of Queensland’s first festival pill-testing service say many drugs sold as MDMA turned out to be other substances including one recently dubbed “Canberra ketamine”.
The Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival, near Warwick, held the first multi-day festival clinic in Australia on the weekend, after two patrons died at the same event in 2019.
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Anthony Albanese has called a snap press conference in Canberra at 8.30am. We’ll have coverage of this for you soon.
A man has died in Melbourne’s south after being struck by a truck on a major highway near Frankston.
Continue reading...Victoria police say four men were charged with nearly 100 fraud and deception offences
Members of a Melbourne organised crime syndicate have been charged over alleged complex frauds totalling almost $4m, including sending phones to Russia.
Financial crime detectives from Victoria police arrested four men on Wednesday and charged them with almost 100 fraud and deception offences after an 18-month investigation.
Continue reading...Worksafe also charged World Travel Expeditions after Lachlan Cook, 16, died in hospital following health complications
A travel company and a Melbourne private school have been charged over the death of a student who became unwell on a school trip.
The Kilvington grammar school student, Lachlan Cook, 16, suffered diabetes complications during a trip to Vietnam in September 2019 and later died in hospital in Melbourne.
Continue reading...Yoorook Justice commissioners disappointed ‘crucial’ recommendation to immediately raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 without exceptions was rebuffed
Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly and the head of the state’s Indigenous truth-telling commission have criticised the Allan Labor government for seeking more time to consider overhauling child protection and criminal justice systems.
The government on Wednesday handed down its response to a report by the Yoorrook Justice Commission, which called for it to tackle systemic injustices experienced by First Nations people in the child protection and criminal justice sectors.
Continue reading...Police announce manslaughter charge after initially believing man, 21, had died as a result of crash at Booie, near Kingaroy
A man’s death on a Queensland property was initially treated as a car crash fatality by police – who have now charged another man with manslaughter after the discovery of a gunshot wound during the postmortem process.
Investigators initially believed a 21-year-old Nanango man died in the 21 March crash after hitting a fence pole on a private property on Kingaroy Barkers Creek Road at Booie, near Kingaroy.
But after allegedly discovering a gunshot wound on his upper body, police have charged a 38-year-old Kingaroy man with one count of manslaughter and insecure storage of weapons.
Continue reading...A ‘pipeline’ of clean projects is being assembled, says the head of the agency charged with multibillion-dollar transformation
Australia faces a postwar-scale reconstruction costing hundreds of billions of dollars in private and public investment to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, the former Labor climate minister and incoming Future Fund chair, Greg Combet, says.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Combet said the Net Zero Economy Authority – a new government agency proposed to help manage the country’s transformation from a dirty to a clean economy – was putting together a “pipeline” of clean industrial projects and would be “figuring out how to help bring them to concrete investment decisions”.
Continue reading...PM Anthony Albanese describes 43-year-old’s death as ‘completely unacceptable’ as tributes flow for World Central Kitchen worker online
Lalzawmi Frankcom, the Australian aid worker killed by an Israeli military airstrike in Gaza, died “doing the work she loves”, her grieving family has said.
“We are deeply mourning the news that our brave and beloved Zomi has been killed doing the work she loves, delivering food to the people of Gaza,” her family said in a statement. “She will leave behind a legacy of compassion, bravery and love for all those in her orbit.”
Continue reading...Israeli military investigating after World Central Kitchen workers were in convoy struck in central Gaza
Seven people working with World Central Kitchen, a charity spearheading efforts to alleviate looming famine in Gaza, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike, the charity said, throwing humanitarian relief efforts in the Palestinian territory into chaos as the organisation said it would suspend operations.
The workers were travelling in two armoured vehicles branded with the charity’s logo, according to a statement released early on Tuesday. World Central Kitchen (WCK) said those killed were from the UK, Australia, Poland and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.
Continue reading...Justice Michael Lee has reopened high-profile case to allow fresh evidence from former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach
Justice Michael Lee will allow Channel Ten to present additional evidence in its defence of the defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann, delaying the judgment until next week.
The case will be reopened and the evidence of a new witness, former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach, will now be tested on Thursday, the day the judgment was to have been handed down.
Continue reading...The 700,000 visa holders helped push the total of temporary entrants to 2.8 million, another record
The number of international students in Australia has topped 700,000 for the first time, helping to drive the number of temporary entrants to 2.8 million, another new record.
There were 713,144 international students in Australia on 29 February, according to the home affairs department data published by data.gov.au on Monday.
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Aviation firefighters will walk off the job amid revelations many of the nation’s airports are ill-equipped to handle emergencies, AAP reports.
Leaked risk assessments carried out by Airservices Australia reveal travellers at 13 airports including Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide airports, were found to be at extreme risk if there was a fire or aircraft incident because of a lack of firefighting resources.
These leaked documents confirm that Australia’s air travellers face a dire risk every time they set foot on an aircraft in Australia.
Clearly, this significant and ongoing risk to all Australian air travellers is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.
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