Category Archives: Australia news

‘Shockingly amateurish’: Australian government delivers veiled rebuke to Israel over UN agency comments

Posted on by

Exclusive: Canberra insider hits back at Amir Maimon who accused Australia of forgetting ‘Hamas culpability’ for 7 October attacks

An Australian government insider has accused the Israeli ambassador of making “shockingly amateurish and counterproductive” comments in a rift over the potential to reinstate funding to a key UN agency.

The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said on Friday that Australia had previously backed “a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza that would only help Hamas to reorganise” and now seemed to have forgotten “Hamas’s culpability” for the crisis in the territory.

Continue reading...

Liberal MPs split on support for Labor’s stage-three tax cut changes

Posted on by

Party room divides as some keen to allow new plan while others want to keep up attack on government’s ‘broken promise’ and warn against falling into a ‘trap’

Liberal MPs are split on whether to support the Labor government’s stage-three tax changes, with some angling to oppose the legislation even as leader Peter Dutton signals the opposition may not stand in the way of larger refunds for millions of Australians.

Julian Leeser has urged his colleagues to oppose the tax changes, while Keith Wolahan warned against falling into a “trap” set by the government. Dutton said the opposition would push for lower taxes, a statement some see as an inclination to wave through the changes, but the view is not universal inside the Liberals ahead of a crucial party room meeting in Canberra next week.

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

Continue reading...

Victorian ministers’ diaries revealed to public for first time in ‘significant milestone’ for transparency

Posted on by

Allan government releases summaries showing meetings with lobbyists, stakeholders and other external organisations

Victorian ministers have opened up their diaries to the public for the first time, revealing their meetings with media bosses, union leaders, sports stars – and even a Hollywood celebrity.

After changes introduced last year under the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, ministers now have to disclose diary summaries outlining scheduled meetings with lobbyists, stakeholders and other external organisations.

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

Continue reading...

Greater glider put on path to extinction by NSW environmental watchdog, experts say

Posted on by

Ecologists condemn watchdog decision, accusing it of making reckless changes to allow easier logging of state forests containing glider habitat

NSW’s environmental watchdog has put the endangered greater glider on a fast track to extinction by watering down logging protections, experts say.

Ecologists from WWF-Australia and Wilderness Australia have condemned the watchdog, accusing it of making reckless changes so Forestry Corporation can more easily log state forests.

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

Continue reading...

Tasmanian jumping castle tragedy: company operator pleads not guilty to workplace safety charges

Posted on by

Rosemary Anne Gamble faces Devonport court over Hillcrest primary school incident that left six children dead

A company operator charged with workplace safety breaches after six Tasmanian primary school students died in a jumping castle accident has pleaded not guilty.

Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt were killed when an inflatable castle was lifted into the air in December 2021. Three children were also seriously injured.

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

Continue reading...

NSW police say analysis shows pro-Palestine chant in viral Sydney Opera House video was ‘where’s the Jews?’

Posted on by

Independent expert says with ‘overwhelming certainty’ the phrase was not ‘gas the Jews’, as was widely reported around the world

New South Wales police say an independent investigation has found no evidence pro-Palestine protestors used the offensive phrase “gas the Jews” during a march near Sydney’s Opera House two days after the 7 October attacks on Israel.

The investigation by an “eminent expert” from the National Centre of Biometric Science examined a compilation video containing a number of audio and visual files.

Continue reading...

Australian ‘contemporary’ portrait prize allows entries wholly generated by AI

Posted on by

Organisers of Brisbane Portrait Prize back artificial intelligence stating art is not stagnant and ‘traditionalists’ once opposed photographs

A prestigious portrait competition has defended allowing entrants to submit artwork generated by artificial intelligence, arguing art is not stagnant and should reflect societal change.

The Brisbane Portrait Prize – with a top prize worth $50,0000 – has been described as Queensland’s answer to the Archibalds with selected entries displayed at the Brisbane Powerhouse later in the year.

Continue reading...

ACCC to investigate supermarket sector – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

BoM issues wind weather warning for Tasmania

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in parts of Tasmania.

Australia has a very important role to play as a signatory to the ICJ, a signatory to the genocide convention, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and ensure that the investigations that are occurring with UNRWA … don’t inhibit funding and delivery of services that are going to basically save lives in coming days and weeks and months.

UNRWA has done the right thing in standing down the staff, sacking them. They have got an independent investigation occurring. 150 UN UNRWA staff have been killed, their families and children as well, over the past several months of this conflict. The UN is in the middle, sandwiched in the conflict, trying to do its best to save lives. Donor governments like Australia need to bear this in mind that, if funding ceases, there is nowhere else to turn to. People will simply collapse and die.

Continue reading...

YouTuber Friendlyjordies takes down video after alleged death threats

Posted on by

Jordan Shanks-Markovina says he removed 2022 video because he did not want the ‘death of innocent people’ on his conscience

The prominent YouTuber Jordan Shanks-Markovina says death threats have forced him to take down a 2022 video on the development company Coronation Property.

Shanks-Markovina, who posts under the name Friendlyjordies, said in a statement that he removed the video, Coronation, because he did not want the “death of innocent people” to “hang on our conscience”.

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

Continue reading...

Socceroos goalkeeper Joe Gauci joins Aston Villa in record-breaking Australian transfer deal

Posted on by
  • Keeper leaves Adelaide United for record fee for A-League player
  • 23-year-old to be understudy to Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez

Australian goalkeeper Joe Gauci has sealed a dream move to Aston Villa, amid a rush of transfer activity in the Socceroos’ Asian Cup camp.

The Premier League side have reportedly broken the transfer fee record for an A-League Men player heading overseas to secure Adelaide United’s Gauci on a deal until 2028.

Continue reading...

Two killed by freight train in Sydney as attempted track rescue ends in tragedy

Posted on by

A woman was being helped off Berowra tracks by a man when both of them were struck, police said

An apparent train track rescue has ended in tragedy for two people in northern Sydney.

A woman, aged in her 30s, was being helped off the tracks at Berowra by a man, aged in his 20s, when they were both hit by a freight train about midnight on Friday, police said.

Continue reading...

NSW Liberals propose weakening unfair-dismissal protections under new industrial relations platform

Posted on by

The policy platform, to be considered later this month, also seeks to abandon annual wage rises for middle and high income earners on award safety nets

The New South Wales Liberals are set to adopt an industrial relations policy to water down unfair-dismissal protections and abandon annual wage rises for middle and high income earners on award safety nets.

The policy, to be considered at the state council annual general meeting later in February, is an ambitious blueprint for reforms to the federal Fair Work Act likely to spark a hostile reaction from unions over weakening worker protections.

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

Continue reading...

Paedophile deported from Australia worked as lifeguard in the UK

Posted on by

Dean Carelse, a South African, was convicted in Queensland and left the country after being refused a visa before getting a job at Butlin’s in England

A convicted pedophile who was deported from Australia was working as a lifeguard at a holiday camp in the UK until his background was uncovered by reporters.

Dean Carelse, 43, was convicted in 2022 of more than 20 offences including indecent treatment of a child under 16, possessing child exploitation material and grooming a child under 16.

Continue reading...

US military stockpiling supplies in Australia in readiness for any confrontation with China

Posted on by

American war planners used joint Talisman Sabre exercises to position equipment in northern Victoria

When US and Australian troops practised amphibious landings, ground combat and air operations last year, they drew headlines about the allies deepening defence cooperation to counter China’s growing military ambitions.

But for US war planners preparing for a potential conflict over Taiwan, the high-profile Talisman Sabre exercises had a far more discrete value: they helped create new stockpiles of military equipment that were established in Australia after the drills ended in August, US officials said.

Continue reading...

Sydney Harbour shark bite: NSW Ambulance apologises after staffer leaked photo of victim’s injuries

Posted on by

Family of Lauren O’Neill told ‘we believe a NSW Ambulance staff member was responsible’ for leak after St Vincent’s hospital launched investigation

A New South Wales ambulance staff member is responsible for leaking an image of a shark bite victim’s injuries from inside the hospital, the state’s health department has revealed.

NSW Ambulance said in a statement on Thursday afternoon it had apologised to the family of Lauren O’Neill over the incident.

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

Continue reading...

‘Deliberate lie’: education lobby group says ‘landmark’ school agreement falls short of 100% funding

Posted on by

Federal and WA state governments’ public school funding deal dismissed as ‘not good enough’ by Australian Education Union

Education experts say a “landmark” deal to fully fund Western Australia’s public schools by 2026 is “not good enough” and still lets the state government “off the hook”.

The “statement of intent”, announced on Wednesday by education minister, Jason Clare, would increase funding for Western Australian public schools by $1.6bn over the next five years, with $770m coming from the commonwealth.

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

Continue reading...

New Zealand to be briefed on Aukus – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC RN, and says news that the inflation rate has plunged to a two-year low of 4.1% is “welcoming, encouraging progress”.

… We know that people are still under pressure and we need to not be complacent about it. We need to continue to work as we have with our three point plan, having the surplus, making sure we deal with cost of living pressures without putting pressure on inflation, and dealing with … supply-chain issues as well.

With parliament resuming next week, this is a wake-up call that 2024 is the last chance for meaningful democratic reform ahead of the 2025 election …

Australians should go to the next election with strict political donation disclosure laws, truth in political advertising laws in force and information about who’s meeting ministers made public as a matter of course.

Continue reading...

Kurtley Beale trial: ‘convince him he is guilty’, alleged sexual assault victim wrote in taped call note

Posted on by

Rugby union star has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting woman at Beach Road Hotel in December 2022

A woman accusing rugby star Kurtley Beale of rape made hand-written notes to herself before confronting him with the allegations in a secretly recorded phone call, a court has heard.

One of the notes mentioned trying to “convince him he is guilty and not innocent”, the court heard on Thursday.

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

Continue reading...

Wong signals Labor wants to resume UN agency funding to ensure ‘fewer children are starving’ in Gaza

Posted on by

Australian foreign minister says UNRWA is only organisation that can provide substantive support to occupied Palestinian territories

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has signalled that resuming Australia’s funding to a key UN agency delivering aid to Gaza is the only realistic route “if we are serious about trying to ensure that fewer children are starving”.

Wong has directed Australia’s humanitarian coordinator, Beth Delaney, to “lead urgent work coordinating with like-minded partners as well as UNRWA” to work out the next steps, after more than 10 countries suspended funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

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

Continue reading...

Australia Post apologises after workers underpaid by $5.6m over 10 years due to ‘payroll errors’

Posted on by

Postal service says 3,600 current and former employees will receive any owed pay with interest and super where applicable

Australia Post has apologised after admitting to “payroll errors” that saw 3,600 employees underpaid by $5.6m over a decade.

The postal service says affected workers still employed by the corporation will have their outstanding wages added to their next pay cheque.

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

Continue reading...