Category Archives: Australia news

William Tyrrell’s former foster parents found guilty of intimidating different child

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Magistrate clears couple of other domestic violence allegations in hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre

William Tyrrell’s former foster parents have been found guilty of intimidating another child in their care, but cleared of a slew of other domestic violence allegations.

In a hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre on Friday, magistrate Susan McIntyre found the former foster mother – who cannot be legally identified – guilty of intimidating the child on two occasions, including threatening to slap them.

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David Cameron says Aukus and Nato must be in ‘best possible shape’ ahead of potential Trump win

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UK’s foreign secretary is in Australia alongside defence secretary Grant Shapps for high-level talks with Richard Marles and Penny Wong

The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has suggested the Aukus pact and Nato alliance must get into “the best possible shape” to increase their chances of surviving Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House.

Speaking after high-level talks in Australia, Cameron was careful to avoid criticising the former US president and presumptive Republican nominee for 2024, saying it was “up to America who they choose as their president”.

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Israel must allow humanitarian relief to reach Gaza, Australia and UK say in new joint statement – as it happened

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As part of the latest Aukus developments, Australia will send A$4.6bn to the UK to clear bottlenecks at the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor production line.

Richard Marles was asked why it costs so much, and why this component needs to be done in the UK. He told ABC News Breakfast:

We made clear a year ago that we wouldn’t be building the nuclear reactors in Australia. They will be built by Rolls Royce at its facility in Derby in the UK and once the sealed reactors are built, they will be taken here to the Osborne Naval ship yard and placed in the submarines which the rest of which will be built here at Osborne.

Building nuclear reactors is difficult to do and in order for this to play out, that facility in Derby, which is building nuclear reactors for Britain’s navy, that needs to be expanded and that is what this contribution is for.

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Baby killer Keli Lane refused release from NSW jail in ‘no body, no parole’ law test

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Keli Lane, convicted of murdering newborn daughter in 1996, refused parole because she has not helped police find Tegan’s body

A woman convicted of killing her baby daughter in one of Australia’s most notorious criminal cases has been denied parole after more than 13 years behind bars.

Keli Lane, 48, was convicted in 2010 after a jury found her guilty of murdering her newborn daughter Tegan in September 1996.

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Hillsong founder Brian Houston loses legal costs bid after being cleared of allegedly concealing child abuse

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Magistrate refuses application for costs after 70-year-old cleared of serious indictable offence over not reporting his father’s abuse to police

The Hillsong founder Brian Houston has failed in a bid to have his legal costs covered after unsuccessfully being prosecuted for allegedly covering up his late father’s child abuse.

The 70-year-old was cleared in August of concealing a serious indictable offence for not reporting his father Frank Houston’s abuse of Brett Sengstock to police.

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Cyclist killed and another injured in separate incidents in Indian Pacific Wheel Race

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Western Australia police appeal for information after second death in race after British ultra-endurance cyclist Mike Hall was hit and killed near Canberra in 2017

Tragedy has again befallen the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, with a cyclist dead and another in a serious condition in hospital after separate incidents along Western Australia’s remote Eyre Highway on Thursday morning.

The race sees participants ride solo and unsupported from Fremantle in Western Australia to the Sydney Opera House, covering 5,500 kilometres. It builds on a rich history of riders traversing Australia as early as the 1890s – considered to be the first “Overlanders”.

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One in 20 Australian mortgage holders are spending more than they earn

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Reserve Bank says households are generally weathering the record run of interest rate rises but 5% of owner occupiers are in a dire financial position

About one in 20 mortgage holders are spending more than they earn because of higher interest rates and cost-of-living increases but that share should halve by the end of 2025, the Reserve Bank said in its latest financial stability review.

The semi-annual report, released on Friday, was generally upbeat about the financial health of households and businesses, finding “nearly all borrowers continue to service their debts on schedule” even though conditions are likely to remain challenging for many this year.

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NSW outlaws gay conversion practices and makes it harder for young people to get bail

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LGBTQ groups welcome legislation passed after marathon overnight sitting, but critics line up to warn bail laws will put more children in jail

Gay conversion practices have been outlawed in New South Wales and it will be harder for teenage offenders to get bail after two laws passed the state’s parliament overnight.

The laws will, separately, ban conversion practices such as religious “straight camps” that attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation and introduce an extra test for some young people seeking bail.

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Ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan: evacuations in NT ahead of ‘one-in-a-hundred-year flood’

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McArthur River at community of Borroloola predicted to peak at 18 metres, three metres higher than previous 2001 record

More than 100 people have been evacuated from the remote Northern Territory community of Borroloola as it faces dangerous record flooding just days after it was lashed by Tropical Cyclone Megan.

The McArthur River at the township was forecast to peak at 18 metres by Thursday afternoon, three metres higher than the previous 2001 flood record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Landmark report calls for removal of LGBTQ+ discrimination exemptions for Australia’s religious schools

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Law Reform Commission says schools shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate against staff and students on basis of sexuality, gender identity or relationship status

Blanket exemptions allowing religious schools to discriminate against staff and students on the basis of sexuality and gender identity should be repealed, a key report to the federal government has recommended.

The long-awaited report from the Australian Law Reform Commission, released on Thursday, says the institutions should be allowed to preference staff in line with their beliefs so long as its proportionate and “reasonably necessary” to maintaining a community of faith and isn’t unlawful under existing discrimination laws.

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No new stadium to be built for 2032 Olympics as Queensland opposition leader reveals plan

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David Crisafulli’s stance means the multi-billion dollar Victoria Park plan recommended by Graham Quirk on Monday is dead

Queensland’s 2032 Olympics will not be held in a brand-new stadium, with both major parties now ruling out the Victoria Park and Gabba rebuild options.

The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, broke his four-day silence on Thursday, promising there will be no new stadium. The LNP leader also ruled out cancelling the Games.

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‘Controlling’ man tricked wife into leaving Australia in order to have her visa cancelled, court told

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The man has pleaded not guilty to ‘exit trafficking’ after taking his wife to Sudan in 2014

While on a trip back to Sudan, a mother left her children with her husband to go and cook for them. But when she returned from her parents’ place, her husband and two young kids had vanished, a Melbourne court has heard.

Her husband faced the first day of a trial by jury in Melbourne’s county court on Thursday, accused of deceiving his wife into leaving Australia after withdrawing sponsorship for her visa.

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ABC broadcaster James Valentine ‘hopeful and terrified’ after oesophageal cancer diagnosis

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Sydney Afternoons’ host told listeners he will need surgery to remove his entire oesophagus and is taking several months off

Broadcaster and saxophonist James Valentine has revealed live on ABC radio that he has oesophageal cancer and is taking several months off to undergo surgery.

The host of Sydney’s Afternoons program, Valentine told his listeners the cancer was discovered after he “choked and retched” while eating curry at a party in December.

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David Shoebridge says Julian Assange ‘may not survive’ trial and extradition – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Expect to hear a lot more on this today:

Southern Australia could face gas shortages during “extreme peak demand days” from 2025 as Bass Strait supplies dwindle, the Australian Energy Market Operator has said.

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NSW could be forced to pay up to $4.3bn compensation if Newcastle becomes container port, modelling shows

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Modelling conducted for Treasury finds state’s liability to competing terminals could be $600m in 2024 and $4.3bn by 2063

The New South Wales government could be forced to pay up to $4.3bn in compensation if Newcastle becomes a container port, after it was privatised a decade ago along with two other major ports.

The government will on Thursday reveal the contracts used in the sales of Port Botany and Port Kembla in 2013 and the sale of the Port of Newcastle the following year, as well as modelling commissioned on the northern port’s plan to develop container abilities.

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Affordable housing beyond reach in all Australia’s eastern capitals, data shows

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Only Perth and Darwin buck the trend, according to analysis by the Parliamentary Library, as the Greens say home ownership has become an ‘impossible dream’

Affordable housing is now beyond reach in all Australia’s eastern capitals, according to new analysis released by the Greens, with the average annual salary needed to buy a home without financial stress $164,400.

There are just two capitals – greater Perth and Darwin – where the cost of a unit would not put the average earner under housing stress, according to the Parliamentary Library’s analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and CoreLogic.

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Data missing on clearing of endangered ecosystems for western Sydney housing scheme

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NSW environment department spokesperson says offset program for the area has continued despite failure to file reports for three years

The New South Wales environment department stopped monitoring and reporting on a $530m conservation program meant to compensate for swathes of land-clearing at the same time as its management of biodiversity offset schemes was under investigation, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Conservationists and the NSW Greens say the government must investigate the “startling failure” by the department to report on progress towards meeting the conservation offset requirements for new suburb developments in western Sydney.

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Focus on youth crime may be influencing bail decisions for children, Victorian judge says

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Exclusive: supreme court judge says ‘it is a cause for concern’ if public policy is considered over individual merits of a case

A Victorian supreme court judge has raised concerns an increased focus on crime may be causing authorities to take a “more conservative approach” when it comes to assessing bail suitability for children.

In a decision published earlier this month, supreme court judge Rita Incerti granted a 16-year-old Aboriginal boy bail after he had earlier been denied by a magistrate at Bendigo children’s court.

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Crossbenchers back Lidia Thorpe’s call for federal government to act on deaths in custody reforms

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Exclusive: Victorian senator criticises lack of monitoring of royal commission recommendations and demands ‘tangible and achievable action’

An alliance of parliamentary crossbenchers has backed a call from senator Lidia Thorpe for the federal government to urgently address long called for reforms in landmark reports on Indigenous deaths in custody and child removals.

Thorpe, the Victorian independent, said the Australian Human Rights Commission should be empowered to oversee progress on the key Closing the Gap measures.

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Prosecutors drop element of ‘prejudicing Australia’s national security’ in charge against Alexander Csergo

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Sydney businessman formally enters not guilty plea in court for charge of reckless foreign interference

A Sydney businessman accused of foreign interference over a series of reports he wrote for two Chinese nationals did not act in a way that “prejudiced Australia’s national security”, a court has heard.

Alexander Csergo, 56, has spent nearly a year in custody after he was arrested at his Bondi home last April and charged with one count of foreign interference.

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