Medicare’s universality under threat as chronic disease, mental illness and an aging population increase out-of-pocket costs, experts say
When Dr Brian Morton became a trainee general practitioner in 1977, healthcare bills were the number one cause of personal bankruptcies in Australia.
On more than one occasion Morton provided treatment to patients who couldn’t afford to pay. “If someone turned up, you wouldn’t turn them away,” he says.
Continue reading...Home values rose 0.4% in January and rents increased 0.8%, but the housing market remained varied around the country
The Australian housing market upswing continued in the first month of 2024 with property values rising another 0.4%.
As house prices rose, renters continued to feel pain, with the national rental index recording its biggest monthly rise since April. Rents were up 0.8% in January, after a 0.65% rise in December.
Continue reading...Three new levels added by US Coral Reef Watch after ‘extreme’ unprecedented heat, with highest alert warning of ‘near complete mortality’
The world’s main system for warning about heat stress on the planet’s coral reefs has been forced to add three new alert categories to represent ever-increasing temperature extremes.
The changes introduced by the US government’s Coral Reef Watch program come after reefs across the Americas were hit by unprecedented levels of heat stress last year that bleached and killed corals en masse.
Continue reading...Bob Brown Foundation wants logging banned in area of forest south of Hobart, claiming it is breeding habitat for endangered bird
Conservationists have won a temporary injunction to stop logging in an area of forest south of Hobart they say is breeding habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot.
The Tasmanian supreme court granted the injunction on Wednesday afternoon pending a hearing of the legal challenge brought by the Bob Brown Foundation.
Continue reading...Albanese government is yet to publicly outline conditions to reinstate funding to UNRWA but it is unlikely to move before US or UK
The Australian government is in talks with close allies including the US and the UK to consider conditions to reinstate funding to a key United Nations agency delivering aid in Gaza.
The talks come after Australia and other donor countries met with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, in New York to discuss the investigations into UNRWA staffers over alleged involvement in the 7 October attacks on Israel.
Continue reading...The latest ranking of revenue foregone shows the usual suspects topping the list
Concessions for superannuation cost the federal budget almost $50bn a year while rental deductions, much of them for negative gearing, have jumped by more than half in three years, the annual treasury summary of tax expenditures shows.
The ranking of revenue foregone in 2023-24, released on Wednesday, was headed by many of the usual groups, finding for example that shielding taxpayers’ main residence from capital gains taxes, saved them a combined $47.5bn for the year, up about a third from 2018-19.
Continue reading...Ms Bernard, a Kowanyama woman, was last seen at Archer River quarry on 10 February in 2013. Follow the day’s news live
Update on Queensland flooding
Senior BoM meteorologist Angus Hines spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier to provide an update on the rain and flooding in Queensland.
Last night the rainfall totals were between 50mm and 120mm which is still a very significant dose of rain, but bear in mind this time yesterday we were talking about 300mm leading to widespread flooding.
We could see these rivers with elevated levels for the next several days, as it will take a while for those flood waters to drain out, long past when the rainfall conditions have cleared up.
The goal for the AI taskforce is to be a trusted source of expert advice and assistance for the Law Society, and through it, for the solicitor profession across NSW. Its members will be drawn from the law, justice system, academia, and government.
The work of the taskforce will enhance the Law Society’s work to ensure that NSW leads the way in harnessing the best that AI has to offer for the legal profession while mitigating the risks.
Continue reading...CPI came in at 4.1% in the December quarter, easing from the September quarter pace of 5.4%
Australia’s inflation retreated to a two-year low in the December quarter as food and fuel prices increased at a slower pace, fanning hopes the next move by the Reserve Bank will be an interest rate cut.
The consumer price index came in at 4.1% in the final three months of 2023 compared with a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had expected CPI to come in at 4.3%, easing from the September quarter pace of 5.4%.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Locals say ‘huge penalities and fines’ needed after deaths increased almost 90% in one year
Turtle deaths in a key south-east Queensland habitat have increased 87% in a single year and there are concerns that uncontrolled boating, four-wheel driving and discarded crab pots could result in more fatalities.
The annual turtle death toll average in the Bribie Island area – which includes Beachmere to Caloundra, Pumicestone Passage and Bribie Island – had been at 36 for a decade.
Continue reading...Almost nine out of 10 the shops are within walking distance of schools, WA audit discovers
Vape stores are concentrated around schools and in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, Australian researchers have shown for the first time in an audit of dedicated shops in Western Australia.
The study led by researchers from the University of Notre Dame Australia and published on Wednesday in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health found almost nine out of 10 vape stores were within walking distance of schools.
Continue reading...Statement signed by former foreign ministers, a Nobel laureate and academics outlines anxieties about possibility of conflict in Indo-Pacific region
Australia must step up diplomatic efforts to “avert the horror of great power conflict” and reduce the risk of being dragged into a war between the US and China, according to 50 prominent Australians.
The group, who include the former foreign ministers Bob Carr and Gareth Evans, is urging the Albanese government to play an “activist middle power” role to reduce tensions between Australia’s top security ally and its biggest trading partner.
Continue reading...Inquiry into invasive pest hears of risks species poses to health, agriculture and environment if it becomes endemic
Fire ants could sting 8.6 million Australians a year if they were to become endemic – but a pathogenic fungus and pesticide-loaded drones might help avert that scenario, according to submissions posed to the federal government’s fire ants inquiry.
Submissions to the Senate inquiry into red imported fire ants (Rifa) in Australia closed on Monday, just days after the latest in a string of fire ant detections beyond south-east Queensland, where an infestation of the invasive pest is ongoing.
Continue reading...Temperatures have not topped 35C since March last year as summer heatwaves skip Victorian capital
Melbourne is about to mark an unusual milestone. So far this summer the Bureau of Meteorology has not classified any single day as “hot” – that is, above 35C.
While other parts of the country have sweltered through severe heatwaves, the first month of 2024 has recorded no days above 35C, as observed at the BoM’s Melbourne Olympic Park weather station. On 12 January it was 33.4C and on 13 December it was 34C, but the last time the city’s mercury nudged over 35C was 18 March last year.
Continue reading...Transparency International index positions nation at 14th, as head of group talks of reducing big money’s influence on politics and whistleblower protections
Australia’s reputation on corruption has remained steady in the latest world rankings but the Albanese government has been urged to do more to protect whistleblowers.
The annual corruption perceptions index, released by Transparency International on Tuesday, has placed Australia at 14th, maintaining its score of 75 out of 100. It uses expert views to rate countries on possible corruption in public services.
Continue reading...‘Baffled’ MPs express alarm at ‘captain’s call’ while premier Jacinta Allan says cabinet followed ‘normal process’ in a ‘consensus decision’
Some Victorian Labor MPs were “shocked and disappointed” by the decision to continue to allow duck hunting in the state, despite a recommendation from a government-initiated inquiry.
After a marathon three-hour meeting on Monday, cabinet rejected a recommendation from a Labor-led parliamentary inquiry to ban the divisive practice, which would have brought the state into line with New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.
Continue reading...Man who stalked 23-year-old Melbourne woman pretended he was experiencing psychosis when he killed her, psychiatrist tells court
A man who stabbed a young woman to death repeatedly faked symptoms of psychosis while being assessed for a mental impairment defence, a court has heard.
Luay Sako, 39, told three psychiatrists there was a being called “Isha” who encouraged him to kill 23-year-old Celeste Manno in the early hours of 16 November 2020.
Continue reading...Roads are cut off, more than 20 schools closed and a town flooded after heavy rainfall inundated south-east Queensland, sparking multiple rescues
A relentless series of storms is starting to take an emotional toll on people in Queensland’s south-east as the Bureau of Meteorology warns of more heavy rain to come.
Roads are cut off, more than 20 schools are closed and a town is flooded after heavy rainfall inundated the region, sparking multiple rescues.
Continue reading...Inability of staff to inspect cabinet records means they were were not released to the national archives, as was usual
A “forgotten” box of cabinet records and a series of administrative errors are among the reasons why a tranche of Howard-era documents was mistakenly kept from public release earlier this year.
An independent review into why 82 cabinet records from 2003 were not handed to the national archives, released on Tuesday, found there was no political interference or influence at play.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
We’ve just spoken to St Vincent’s hospital and confirmed that the woman bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbour last night remains in hospital in a stable condition.
The woman, in her late 20s, was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay last night.
Continue reading...Activist group Justice for Myanmar alleges companies have continued operations in war-torn nation since the coup almost three years ago
Australian-linked mining companies are continuing to operate in Myanmar, helping to support the military junta and the junta-dominated mining sector, a new report alleges.
The activist group Justice for Myanmar released a report Tuesday detailing the activities of mining companies either linked to Australia or backed by Australian investors, which it alleges have continued their operations in the war-torn nation since the coup almost three years ago.
Continue reading...