Category Archives: Australia news

Samantha Murphy: Victoria police charge man with murder of missing Ballarat woman

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Police say the 22-year-old Ballarat man was expected to face court today, a month after the 51-year-old was last seen leaving home

A 22-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy, who went missing more than a month ago.

Patrick Stephenson is expected to front Ballarat magistrates court on Thursday, charged with one count of murder.

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Labor will require companies who want government contracts to meet gender equality targets

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Katy Gallagher announces businesses with more than 500 employees won’t get Australian government business without targets for their boards and workforces

Big business and government boards will be pushed to improve gender equality under new measures announced by the Albanese government.

The minister for women, Katy Gallagher, announced on Thursday that businesses with 500 employees or more will be required to meet new gender equality targets if they want to win government contracts.

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Competition watchdog to call for power of mandatory disclosure in investigations

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ACCC chief Gina Cass-Gottlieb wants legislaltion changed to enable it to force businesses to give up data without the need for government backing

The competition watchdog should have its powers increased so it can initiate its own inquiries with mandatory disclosure clout, says Gina Cass-Gottlieb, the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The ACCC can now launch its own investigations, such as a probe into exorbitant foreign exchange transfer fees. However, the agency only has compulsory information collection powers if specifically directed by the government such as for its current probe into supermarket behaviour.

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Labor pledges 12% superannuation on publicly funded paid parental leave

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Plan designed to help close retirement savings gap between women and men is expected to cost $250m a year from July 2025

Parents will receive 12% superannuation – or about $106 a week – on their publicly funded paid parental leave from July 2025, under a major initiative to be announced by the Albanese government.

The decision, expected to cost at least $250m a year to the federal budget, responds to calls from the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, unions and the crossbench to pay super on PPL as a way to help close the retirement savings gap between women and men.

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Fixing Australia’s supermarkets: how to drive competition without wielding a hammer

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Short of breaking up Coles and Woolworths, retail experts call for regulation of wholesale supply deals and help for new entrants to access sites

The Albanese government has ruled out breaking up Australia’s dominant supermarkets after likening such a measure to the old Soviet Union’s command and control economy.

While the government’s position will disappoint some of Coles and Woolworths’ fiercer critics, meaningful reform doesn’t necessarily require a hammer, according to industry and supply chain experts.

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‘No joy’ but inquiry brings ‘healing’ for victim-survivors of alleged child sexual abuse in Victorian schools

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Board of inquiry’s report identified 109 alleged victims of four paedophile teachers at 24 schools dating back to the 1960s

Glen Fearnett says he doesn’t have the words to express how he feels about an inquiry’s report into the alleged historic child sexual abuse that occurred at his primary school five decades ago.

“There’s no joy. There’s no happiness. There’s no celebration,” he tells Guardian Australia.

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Only one harm reduction group and 28 betting companies consulted over contentious NT gambling bill

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Alliance for Gambling Reform criticises closed consultation process for draft bill regulating $50bn industry, accusing territory of being ‘out of its depth’

The Northern Territory government – which regulates Australia’s $50bn online wagering industry – consulted just one harm reduction group before introducing laws welcomed by the gambling giants whose advice was sought during their drafting.

The Racing and Wagering Act 2024, which was tabled last month and could be voted on in coming weeks, would allow the chief minister to direct the NT gambling regulator and its director in “the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions”.

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Asbestos-contaminated mulch found at 75 sites across Sydney, watchdog finds

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Focus turns to criminal investigation after NSW Environment Protection Authority completes its trawl through the supply chain

Mulch contaminated with asbestos has been found at 75 sites across greater Sydney, with the New South Wales environmental watchdog turning focus to its criminal investigation following the completion of contact tracing.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) will on Thursday announce it has finished tracking mulch through the complex supply chain after asbestos was first discovered by a parent in mulch at a park in the inner west more than two months ago.

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Australia news live: West Gate Bridge climate protesters jailed; Greens propose plan for 360,000 homes

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Proposal to create a public property developer, with 70% of homes offered for rent, and rents capped at 25% of average household income. Follow the day’s news live

New analysis shows 2m hectares of Queensland forest destroyed in five years

More than 2m hectares (4.94m acres) of bushland in Queensland that included large swathes of possible koala habitat has been cleared over a five-year period, new analysis shows.

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Companies portray menopause as ‘medical problem’ and push women towards ineffective treatments, papers find

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Medical researchers in US, UK and Australia point to healthier menopause perspectives in lower-income countries

Many companies have a commercial interest in portraying menopause as a “medical problem,” leaving women inundated with misinformation and pushed towards ineffective treatments, a series of papers published in international medical journal, the Lancet, has found.

The findings have prompted leading doctors and researchers – including those from the US, UK and Australia – to jointly call for a societal shift that challenges inaccurate assumptions.

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Disability pension claims blew out to more than 80 days on average at the end of last year, data reveals

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Department of Social Services figures show some areas had average wait times of more than 200 days between September and December

Claims for the disability support pension took more than 80 days on average in the final months of last year and some local government areas are experiencing average wait times of more than 200 days, data has revealed.

According to the data provided by the Department of Social Services in Senate estimates last month, disability support pension claims took an average of 82.2 days to be processed between September and December 2023.

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Tesla accuses Australian car lobby group of making ‘false claims’ about Labor’s vehicle emissions plan

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Exclusive: Electric car company says Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries is running a ‘concerted public campaign’ by suggesting plan would push up price of popular cars

Tesla has launched a scathing attack on Australia’s main auto industry lobby group, accusing it of attempting to delay climate action by repeatedly making “plainly false” claims to the public about an Albanese government clean car policy.

In a submission to the government about the design of a vehicle efficiency standard, Tesla sharply criticised the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), an organisation in which it holds a board seat and is an active member.

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Lord Howe island faces ‘major’ coral bleaching as ocean temperatures continue to break records

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Exclusive: Fears coral bleaching moving south to Lord Howe, Norfolk islands after southern Great Barrier Reef experiences worst heat stress since 1985

Scientists fear excessive ocean heat – which is bleaching corals in parts of the Great Barrier Reef – is now hitting the world’s most southern coral reef at the World Heritage-listed Lord Howe island.

There are also concerns ocean temperatures are reaching dangerous levels for corals at Australia’s remote Norfolk Island, which is about 1400km east of Queensland’s Gold Coast.

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Domestic violence perpetrators ‘weaponising’ insurance policies in Australia to exert control, report finds

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Centre for Women’s Economic Safety calls on insurance companies to redesign their products to protect victim-survivors

Domestic violence perpetrators are “weaponising” insurance policies to exert financial control over their partners, according to a new report that urges insurance companies to redesign their products to protect victim-survivors.

The report from the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety found that victim-survivors of domestic violence were being denied insurance payouts when their property was damaged – including having their home burned down or car destroyed – because the damage had been done by their partner, who was also a policyholder, thereby voiding the insurance claim.

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Australia news live: Higgins and Reynolds in defamation mediation talks; first apparent lithium battery-related fire deaths in NSW

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Zoe Daniel says Asean has not done enough on crisis in Myanmar

The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, was just on ABC RN to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. She argued that Asean hasn’t done enough on the issue, and needs to do more.

There’s also I think, a desire within Asean for economic cooperation and to try to take that route with the junta as a form of leverage … My concern though is that, I think, that we might be heading down the path of a form of normalisation with the junta and you’ve currently got a situation where about 30% of the country is in stable control of rebel ethnic groups, and the junta is really only holding the major cities.

Any form of normalisation with the junta that is pushed by Asean, and I think will be raised with the Australian government for support this week, could backfire because it could in effect allow the junta to enter some of those areas that are reasonably stable and are actually managing themselves.

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Victoria to limit WorkCover compensation for stress after deal struck with opposition

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Workers receiving payments beyond two-and-a-half years to undergo another impairment test under changes expected to pass parliament

Workers’ compensation for mental health injuries such as stress and burnout will be limited after the Victorian government struck a deal to push through contentious changes to the state’s “broken” WorkCover scheme.

Premiums for businesses under the scheme would also be frozen for the 2024-25 financial year, under an agreement with the state’s opposition to secure support for the bill.

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Talk of nuclear power plant sites ‘conjecture’, says Liberal MP amid internal division on Dutton’s policy

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Rowan Ramsey says overturning ban on nuclear first is the ‘most logical thing’ to do as opposition leader prepares to nominate up to six locations

The Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey has said any talk of where nuclear power plants would be built or waste would go is “conjecture” that cannot sensibly be tackled until after the nuclear ban is lifted.

As the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, prepares to announce an energy policy nominating up to six possible sites for nuclear plants, he faces internal divisions about the level of government support required, proposed locations and questions about storage of nuclear waste.

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Text message from Queensland premier sparks war of words after photo is snapped of MP’s phone

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LNP accuses Steven Miles in parliament of lying, while Labor claims an unnamed opposition MP was trying to intimidate Ali King

Queensland’s opposition has accused the premier of lying, while Labor claims an unnamed Liberal National party member was trying to intimidate a female MP by taking a “creepy” photo of her phone inside state parliament.

Steven Miles stood in parliament on Tuesday to correct the record, admitting he was mistaken when he told the chamber in February that he had not sent a text message to Labor’s Ali King during sittings last October.

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Opposition reshuffles shadow ministry after underwhelming Dunkley byelection result

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There have been internal calls for the Coalition to announce more policy in the lead-up to the next election

Luke Howarth, a conservative, has been promoted to shadow assistant treasurer and minister for financial services in a Coalition reshuffle that also promotes Melissa McIntosh into the shadow ministry.

The Coalition has signalled it will target Labor over home ownership, creating a new shadow assistant ministry for Andrew Bragg a moderate senator, and energy affordability, a portfolio to be taken by McIntosh, a member of the centre right.

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Monash University criticised over $127,000 farewell party for vice-chancellor while students ‘sit on the floor’

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The university held the lavish event at the NGV for Margaret Gardner, now the governor of Victoria

University executives who spent more than $127,000 on a lavish sendoff for a departing vice-chancellor have been labelled out of touch.

Monash University threw the flashy party at the National Gallery of Victoria for Prof Margaret Gardner, now the governor of Victoria.

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