Category Archives: Australia news

Police detonated a ‘stinger’ grenade at a Melbourne protest. Now two activists may sue over their injuries

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Grenades filled with rubber pellets and other so-called ‘less lethal’ munitions have been increasingly deployed, despite being linked to serious injuries and even deaths

Scout* barely realised that something round and hard, with smoke coming from it, had landed in front of them before it exploded.

Pain suddenly shot through their leg and arm. Scout fell to their knees before someone nearby helped them rush out of the area.

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Biodiversity offsets failed to protect habitat in NSW. Now federal Labor is about to make the same mistakes, critics warn

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Offsets were meant to be a last resort for mitigating environmental damage from development projects, but rapidly became the default

The federal government risks repeating grievous mistakes made in NSW with its proposals to change the way developers compensate for damage to the environment, scientists and legal experts have warned.

As the Coalition tears itself apart again over climate, Labor’s plan to overhaul biodiversity offsets – and nature laws more broadly – has coasted under the radar with comparatively little scrutiny.

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Severe thunderstorm risk for northern and eastern Australia including Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra

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BoM forecasts possible storms from tropical north and WA to central and eastern parts, with potential for strong winds and heavy rainfall

Much of northern and eastern Australia faces a risk of severe thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon and evening, with millions of people potentially in the firing line.

“It’s another severe thunderstorm outbreak for eastern parts of the country. It could be an active one,” said Angus Hines, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday.

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Man who grabbed Ariana Grande at Wicked sequel premiere charged

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Footage shows the man jumping the red carpet barricade of the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, then rushing towards and embracing the star

A court in Singapore has charged a man who grabbed Ariana Grande at a premiere of Wicked: For Good on Thursday night with being a public nuisance.

Video footage shows Johnson Wen jumping over a barricade at Universal Studios Singapore and rushing at Grande on the red carpet. Grande’s co-star Cynthia Erivo immediately jumped in to help protect her and Wen was moved away.

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Bus chaperone kept working at school during months-long police investigation into alleged child sexual abuse

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Exclusive: Victorian education department apologises to mother who alleged her nonverbal child was sexually assaulted by the man. He denied the allegations and no charges were laid

A school bus chaperone who allegedly sexually assaulted a nonverbal child continued working with students for months during the subsequent Victorian police investigation, prompting an apology to the girl’s mother from the state’s education department.

The allegation was denied by the chaperone and did not lead to charges. But Victoria’s education department apologised to the mother last year for failing to implement risk mitigation strategies during the police investigation.

In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helpline International

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London judge rules BHP Group liable for Brazil’s 2015 Samarco dam collapse

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About 600,000 people seeking compensation a decade on from disaster that killed 19 and devastated villages

The global mining company BHP Group has been found liable for the deadly 2015 collapse of a Brazilian dam, in a landmark ruling that could pave the way for a multibillion-dollar payout.

The high court in London on Friday, Mrs Justice O’Farrell ruled that BHP was responsible for the collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana despite not owing the dam at the time.

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Multiple ACT schools shut after alert over asbestos in coloured sand products

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Testing and remediation to take place in 15 schools after a consumer safety recall was issued for coloured sand used in sensory play and arts and crafts

More than a dozen primary and preschools in the ACT have shut their doors, and a special school in Brisbane has made a snap closure, after an asbestos warning was issued for a range of colourful children’s sand products imported from China and sold at leading Australian retailers.

On Friday , the ACT’s education minister, Yvette Berry, confirmed 15 schools and six preschools would be fully closed, up from three earlier in the morning. Nine schools and preschools would be partially closed to multiple cohorts while testing and remediation took place.

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Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend pleads guilty to 2024 murder that ignited national anti-DV campaign

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Death of 28-year-old childhood educator in Forbes, NSW, intensified a national campaign against domestic and gendered violence

The former boyfriend of Molly Ticehurst has pleaded guilty to her domestic violence murder and made other admissions.

Daniel Billings appeared via audio-video link in Forbes local court, in central western New South Wales, on Friday morning to enter the plea.

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Will Victoria’s new youth crime laws be tough on crime or just a coward punch?

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Jacinta Allan’s Labor government takes a leaf out of the playbook of conservative oppositions: focus on crime and hope voters see them as knights in shining armour

To put it in language those in the Victorian government who are enamoured of tabloid newspapers and talkback radio will understand: are these new laws tough on crime, or merely a coward punch?

A decision by the Victorian government to introduce adult crime, adult time laws has been widely condemned as an easy way out, getting in first with a cheap shot rather than having to duke it out on youth crime with a rabble of a Coalition at next year’s state election. It may work politically, but will it work as policy?

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Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell abused by protesters after getting bail over alleged Camp Sovereignty attack

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Sewell, 32, must not be in Melbourne’s CBD or talk to alleged camp attack co-accused as part of bail conditions

A neo-Nazi who allegedly led a violent group attack on a First Nations protest camp in Melbourne has been greeted by protesters shouting “Nazi scum, off our streets” after being released on bail.

Thomas Sewell, 32, hired a top barrister to successfully argue in the supreme court that he should be released, after failing in a previous application for bail two months ago.

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Stunning aurora australis lights up sky above New Zealand and Australia after ‘cannibal’ solar storm

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The geomagnetic storm, caused by powerful bursts of energy from the sun, also postponed the launch of two Mars-bound Nasa spacecraft in the US

Skywatchers enjoyed a stunning treat on Wednesday night, with the southern lights visible across large parts of Australia and New Zealand.

The aurora australis that lit up the sky resulted from what has been dubbed a “cannibal” solar storm.

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Climate-sceptic IPA refuses to reveal funders in fiery Senate inquiry

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Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart has previously donated to Institute of Public Affairs but thinktank won’t say if she remains a donor

A thinktank known for its rejection of the climate crisis and a conservation group that has opposed renewable energy projects refused to identify their funders during a fiery Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation on Wednesday.

Chair of the committee, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, asked Rainforest Reserves Australia’s vice-president, Steven Nowakowski, who had funded nine full-page newspaper advertisements promoting an open letter attacking a shift to renewable energy and promoting nuclear.

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Property investors make up two in every five Australian home loans amid record borrowing

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Investor home borrowing surges nearly 18% in the September quarter compared with previous three months, prompting calls to ‘urgently rein in overheated credit market’

Property investors have borrowed record amounts of money for home purchases amid a decline in first home buyer lending and surging house prices.

Investors accounted for two in every five home loans from July to September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday, sparking calls for the Albanese government to force banks to put the brakes on landlord lending.

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Asio accuses Chinese hackers of seeking access to Australia’s critical infrastructure

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Mike Burgess points to successful infiltration in the US by units known as Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon ‘working for the Chinese government’

Australia’s intelligence agency has accused “Chinese hackers” of seeking to gain access to critical infrastructure assets, including telecommunications networks.

In a speech to a business forum in Melbourne, the director general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, said the nation now faced a threat of “high-impact sabotage”.

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Twice as effective as nets: shark-spotting drones to become ‘permanent fixture’ on Queensland beaches

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State government says expanded use of shark nets and drum lines will continue despite evidence of deadly impact on other marine life

Queensland will roll out shark-spotting drones to more beaches, after a major study found drones detected more than double the number of sharks caught in adjacent nets.

But while drones would become a “permanent fixture” of the state’s shark-control operations, the Department of Primary Industries said Queensland would continue to rely on “traditional measures like nets and drum lines”, despite evidence of their deadly impact on dolphins, whales, turtles and dugongs.

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Traditional owners file native title claim over Melbourne and surrounding areas

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Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elder says the claim would allow First Nations people to work with government to ‘look after that country’

Traditional owners have filed a native title claim over Melbourne and surrounding regions.

The claim by the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people covers thousands of square kilometres, from the mouth of the Werribee River north to its headwater in the Great Dividing Range, east to Mount Baw Baw, south through Bunyip and west to Mordialloc Creek.

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Survey finds 40% of Australian women without kids hesitant to have children because of climate change

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Research which polled a representative sample of 2,000 people also found over a third of Coalition voters believed the climate would not change at all

About 40% of Australian women without kids say they are hesitant to have children because of climate change, a new survey suggests.

The survey, on attitudes about the impacts of global heating, also found that half of Australians were very or extremely concerned about climate change and two in five believed the climate would be “much hotter” in 2050.

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John Laws, Australian talkback radio star, dies aged 90

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Laws was inducted into the Australian Radio Hall of Fame in 2003 and received an Aria lifetime achievement award in 2008

The one-time biggest name in Australian talkback radio, John Laws, has died aged 90.

A member of the Australian Media Hall of Fame, Laws attracted 2 million listeners to his morning radio program at the height of his popularity during a career that spanned more than seven decades.

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Victoria police re-enact single gunshot heard hour after Dezi Freeman fled into Porepunkah bushland

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‘Firearms testing’ triggered by reports of gunshot at about 11.45am on day Freeman is alleged to have killed two police officers serving warrant

A reported single gunshot has sparked a fresh line of inquiry in the long-running manhunt for alleged police killer Desmond “Dezi” Freeman.

Victoria police conducted “firearms testing” near Barrett Lane and Rayner Track in Porepunkah, about 210km north-east of Melbourne, on Wednesday as part of their search.

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Australia news live: Crisafulli declares end to ‘cannoli diplomacy’ with Albanese over lack of hospital funding

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BoM’s axing of free flood forecasting ‘potentially deadly consequences’

Natural disaster-prone councils in south-east Queensland say the Bureau of Meteorology’s decision to axe its free real-time flood forecasting tool is a “cost shifting” exercise with “potentially deadly consequences”, with New South Wales emergency services also affected.

The main treatment for viral gastroenteritis is to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Most people recover without complications, but more urgent care may need to be sought for infants, people with suppressed immune systems, and the elderly, who may experience more serious illness.

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