Category Archives: Australia news

Protests across Australia as Penny Wong despairs ‘continued retribution’ in Middle East

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Local Jewish and Palestinian groups are preparing to mark one year since the October 7 attacks

As Palestinian and Jewish groups prepare to mark the first anniversary of the events that triggered the current Israel-Gaza conflict, the Australian government has again condemned the escalating cycle of violence in the Middle East, reiterating demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

“We’ve seen so much violence in the Middle East,” the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said on Sunday.

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Qantas engineers warn of ‘flight disruptions’ in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane as they walk off job over pay

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But the national carrier says contingencies are in place to prevent traveller chaos in capital cities on Monday morning

More than 1,000 Qantas engineers across Australia will walk off the job in industrial action they claim could kick the week off with peak-hour travel chaos, but the airline says it has contingencies in place and is not expecting any disruptions to travel.

Flights between 7am and 9am across three timezones on Monday morning are set to be affected in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

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Queensland LNP promise voters ‘cheaper GP visits’ but Miles government calls it ‘nonsense’

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The state’s shadow treasurer, David Janetzki, says general practitioners would be exempt from payroll tax with David Crisafulli as premier

Queensland’s opposition claims visits to the doctor would be cheaper under an LNP government, but Labor said they haven’t explained how they will pay to make GPs exempt from payroll tax.

The shadow treasurer, David Janetzki, announced on Sunday that the party would make general practitioners a special category under the payroll tax act.

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‘Wicked problem’: Coalition doesn’t rule out EV road user tax as fuel excise falls with uptake of greener vehicles

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Bridget McKenzie tells Insiders she is working on the opposition’s transport policy ahead of the next federal election – including EV plans

Liberal senator Bridget McKenzie has again left the door open for a Coalition government to level a road user charge against owners of electric vehicles, indicating concern about decreasing fuel excise and the impact on budgets for road repairs.

But the shadow transport minister also said the Coalition wouldn’t follow the US in banning Chinese-made EVs, which put her at odds with comments on Sunday from Nationals colleague, Barnaby Joyce. He invoked last week’s Hezbollah members’ pager explosions in raising his concern about technology he claimed could be made with a “malevolent purpose” by a “totalitarian state”.

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Melbourne in for chilly start to week as cold front brings frosty spring temperatures

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It follows a weekend of wild weather in NSW, where SES responded to 270 calls including two adults and a baby stranded in flood waters near Tweed Heads

A cold front moving across southeast Australia is promising to bring more frosty temperatures through next week after parts of New South Wales and Victoria shivered through a cold, wet and windy spring weekend.

Rain is expected for south-east Queensland, the New South Wales mid and north coasts over the next few days, but not in the quantities seen over the weekend.

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Australia’s magpie swooping season is here – but they aren’t the only birds to watch out for

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Noisy miners, butcherbirds and masked lapwings will also go on the offensive to protect their eggs and young

Australia’s infamous magpies have started to attack – but they’re not the only birds you might fall victim to this swooping season.

Lesser known suspects including noisy miners, butcherbirds and masked lapwings also swoop to protect their eggs and young, typically between August and October.

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The world is shifting away from using animals in research. Will Australia get left behind?

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Australia’s lack of transparency and funding leave it on the outer as researchers worldwide explore alternatives for training, study and testing

A global shift in scientific and medical research is under way as countries hope to phase out experimentation on animals – but Australia risks being left behind.

The transition from using animals to alternatives based on human cells, tissue and data is driving multibillion-dollar growth in new technologies and methods. However, industry leaders and insiders warn Australia will miss those opportunities due to a lack of funding, opaque record keeping and national inconsistencies.

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ABC rejects Russian claim two journalists involved in ‘illegal’ border crossing

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Australian broadcaster’s Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss and camera operator Fletcher Yeung accused of ‘illegally’ crossing into Russia from Ukraine on 31 August

The ABC has rejected Russian claims two of its journalists acted illegally after they entered the Ukraine-occupied Kursk region.

Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss and camera operator Fletcher Yeung are accused of “illegally” crossing into Russia from Ukraine on 31 August.

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Kenneth died after routine knee surgery. His devastated family want answers

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Kenneth Toll, a 62-year-old diabetic, was found dead in a private NSW hospital’s bathroom three days after his operation

Craig Rose recalls catching up in a pub with his best friend of 35 years, Kenneth Toll, when they saw two old men sitting and laughing together at another table. Toll gave Rose a nudge and said: “That’ll be us one day”.

Toll was wrong.

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Man, 47, charged with murder after woman found dead at NSW property

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Police say the 46-year-old woman was found with significant injuries at Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley on Friday afternoon

A man has been charged with murder after his wife was found with fatal injuries at the couple’s Hunter Valley, NSW, property.

Emergency services were called to a property in Pokolbin, about an hour’s drive west of Newcastle, just after 6pm on Friday.

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Four dead in two-vehicle crash in western New South Wales

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Two men, believed to be in their 20s, and an older man and woman, were killed in the incident near Dubbo

Four people have died in a two-vehicle crash on the Newell Highway at Tomingley in western New South Wales.

Four people – two men, believed to be aged in their 20s, and an older man and woman – died at the scene of the crash that happened at around 9.20pm on Friday.

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Bottom-breathing turtle among Queensland endangered species under threat from invasive fish

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Record floods propel aggressive Mozambique tilapia throughout Mary River, compromising efforts to save ancient fish and endangered turtles

Record floods have propelled an aggressive invasive fish species across a south-east Queensland river catchment, compromising efforts to save endangered and ancient fishes and turtles.

The Moonaboola (Mary) river catchment is home to several threatened species, including the Mary River turtle, the white-throated snapping turtle (known for breathing through its bottom), the Mary River cod and the Australian lungfish, which has survived for 150m years and is considered a living fossil.

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How the most affluent Australians disproportionately benefit from negative gearing

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Those in the top tax bracket three times more likely to be negatively geared property investor, says economist

Negative gearing helps high-earning Australians the most, with those with income of more than $180,000 annually snaring almost one-quarter of the benefits, despite numbering just 5% of taxpayers.

Data from the Australian Taxation Office showed people who earn more than $180,000 were able to lower their collective tax bill by $1.3bn in 2021-2022 through negative gearing. The $1.3bn was roughly 25% of all the losses on rental properties claimed by taxpayers in that financial year.

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‘People are dying’: rise of nitazenes should be treated as pandemic, injecting centre head says

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Exclusive: Dr Marianne Jauncey says NSW government must make ‘hard decisions’ to combat growing threat of synthetic opioids

The head doctor at Sydney’s medically supervised injecting centre has compared the rise of synthetic opioids to a pandemic and says she is worried the government isn’t willing to make the “hard decisions” necessary to prepare for it.

Dr Marianne Jauncey began raising the alarm about the increasing prevalence of nitazenes earlier this year but was concerned the Minns Labor government had been reluctant to act because it “still feels for many like an emerging news story”.

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Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group raises offer to buy Rightmove to £6.2bn

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Australian group calls on Rightmove board to ‘engage now’ after fourth offer for UK online property portal

Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group has made a fourth attempt to buy Rightmove, increasing its offer to £6.2bn as it steps up its pursuit of the UK’s largest online property portal.

The Australian property group, which is controlled by News Corp, raised its cash and shares offer from the £6.1bn offered earlier this week and called on Rightmove’s board to “engage now” after it refused repeatedly to meet the suitor.

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‘Clear timeline’ for Palestinian statehood needed: Penny Wong escalates language in UN speech

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Penny Wong says she shares frustration of ‘great majority of countries’ about a lack of progress to recognise a Palestinian state

Australia has suggested the world should set “a clear timeline for the international declaration of Palestinian statehood” in a sign of increasing frustration about the stalled peace process.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will float the idea in a speech to the UN general assembly in New York on Saturday Australian time (Friday US time). Benjamin Netanyahu was also due to address the gathering amid mounting concern about an escalating regional war.

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Kokoda track shut indefinitely after PNG landowners demand payments

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Mount Kodu landowners petition prime minister to pay outstanding commitment the government made to them to preserve the track

The historic Kokoda track has been closed indefinitely as local landowners demand outstanding payments from the Papua New Guinea government.

Earlier in the month, Australians walking the 138km Kokoda track had treks cancelled while others were stalled for long periods as protests by landowners closed sections of the trail.

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Australia news live: Keating says Labor ‘flogging a dead seahorse’ over Aukus deal; severe weather for parts of NSW and Queensland

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The BoM has issued a severe weather update for parts of north-east NSW and south-east Queensland as wet and windy weather continues to batter the east coast. Follow today’s news headlines live

Dutton says PM ‘desperately hoping’ interest rates will fall

Opposition leader Peter Dutton believes Western Australia will play a crucial role in the election. He told the West Australian:

My judgment is that we’re waiting for the results to come in from WA before we know the outcome of the election this time around.

It depends on whether the prime minister’s waiting to see if interest rates come down.

He’d be desperately hoping that they come down in February of next year and he can go from there.

We live in the territory. This is our home. We are fighting to protect our water from the dangers of fracking.

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Victorian toddler’s drowning death in backyard pond prompts call for fencing law reform

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Ornamental ponds and water features are ‘undoubtedly attractive to a young child’ and therefore potentially dangerous, deputy state coroner says

A toddler’s drowning in a backyard fish pond has promoted calls from a coroner for Victorian building authorities to regulate fencing for residential ponds.

The 23-month-old boy drowned in a fish pond in his grandmother’s backyard in Victoria, in November 2022.

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Chalmers admits he sought advice about changing negative gearing but says it is not on Labor’s agenda

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Treasurer says it’s ‘not unusual’ for governments to get advice on ‘contentious issues’ but stresses changes to housing tax breaks are not in the works

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has conceded he did ask his department for information about possible changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, but the government insists any reform to the controversial tax breaks are not yet on the agenda.

The Independent senator David Pocock said the government had multiple options to make the system more equitable through moderate changes while still protecting investments made by ordinary families.

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