Category Archives: Australia news

Karl Stefanovic won’t appear on Friday radio show with Eddie McGuire amid Tommy Robinson interview fallout

Posted on by

Nine Entertainment is expected to sever ties with the Today show host but is yet to make details of the separation public

Karl Stefanovic will not appear on his scheduled Friday afternoon radio show with Eddie McGuire after widespread criticism of his podcast interview with UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Stefanovic only recently signed the deal with ARN Media to co-host The Long Weekend nationally on Gold FM, but the threat of an advertising boycott has led to the contract being reviewed, Guardian Australia understands.

Continue reading...

The pianist from the audience at La La Land in Concert was a global feelgood story – but all was not what it seemed

Posted on by

Two orchestra members from the Sydney performance allege tensions behind the scenes were the cause of pianist failing to appear after intermission

When an audience member stepped in for a pianist at a Sydney performance of La La Land in Concert last month it made global headlines.

During the intermission of the concert at Darling Harbour Theatre on 30 May, the two-time Oscar-winning composer and conductor Justin Hurwitz appealed to the 2,000-strong crowd for an “amazing sight-reader”, saying one of his two keyboardists had fallen ill.

Continue reading...

Critic of Labor’s tax changes deletes anti-immigration AI video reposted from rightwing nationalist account

Posted on by

Fund manager Geoff Wilson says he did not watch full video and deleted it after ‘inappropriate associations were identified’

The fund manager Geoff Wilson, a prominent public critic of the government’s tax changes, has deleted an inflammatory AI-generated video he reposted from a rightwing nationalist account portraying Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers taking money from white Australians and giving it to recently arrived migrants wearing Islamic face coverings.

Wilson said he had not watched the full video before sharing it or examined other accounts, some of whose content he reposted on Wednesday morning – which included content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory – and deleted his posts after being contacted by Guardian Australia.

Continue reading...

Australian citizen working as spy for Iran ‘orchestrated’ Bondi firebombing, Asio boss says

Posted on by

Mike Burgess’s annual threat assessment warns social media is ‘amplifying’ an erosion of trust in institutions, promoting discord and heightening polarisation

An Australian citizen working as a senior intelligence officer for Iran “orchestrated” a firebombing in Bondi, the country’s top spy has revealed, while a former Australian resident in Iraq directed the attack on a Melbourne synagogue.

The homegrown ties to Australia’s “summer of antisemitism” are contained in a wide-ranging speech given by Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation’s (Asio) director general, Mike Burgess, on Wednesday night, in which he said the “hatred of Jews is one thing virtually all the violent extremist cohorts have in common”.

Continue reading...

Western Australian police to review response to Virginia Giuffre domestic violence dispute

Posted on by

Police will investigate how they interacted with Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent victims, after her family requested the review

Police in Western Australia have agreed to review how they interacted with Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent victims of the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, in the lead-up to her death a year ago by suicide.

Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, told ABC radio on Wednesday morning that they had written to both the state coroner and the police requesting an investigation into how police handled a domestic violence dispute she was involved in before she took her life on her WA farm last April at age 41.

Continue reading...

Former Liberal vice-president Teena McQueen dies from illness weeks after defecting to One Nation

Posted on by

Tony Abbott says he has lost a good friend as NSW opposition leader pays tribute to ‘force of nature’

The former Liberal heavyweight Teena McQueen is being remembered for her contribution to the party despite her defection to One Nation.

McQueen, who served as the federal Liberal party vice-president from 2017 to 2023, died on Wednesday after battling severe sickness.

Continue reading...

Angus Taylor won’t say if he supports multiculturalism

Posted on by

Treasurer says Coalition playing ‘footsie with the monoculture language’ after Liberal leader sidesteps questions at press conference

Angus Taylor has repeatedly refused to say whether he supports multiculturalism in Australia, sidestepping five questions at a press conference about his views and claiming “there’s all these vague words running around”.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, accused the opposition leader of “playing footsie” with One Nation and Pauline Hanson’s call for a “monoculture” in Australia, as Labor ministers committed to backing multiculturalism.

Continue reading...

Cult leader William Kamm and wife groomed young girl for a decade, Sydney court told

Posted on by

The 76-year-old allegedly ordered he should have 12 wives to ‘repopulate’ the world. He and his wife deny the charges

The leader of a cult and his wife allegedly groomed a young girl over a decade so she could bear 45 of his children in a post-apocalyptic world.

William Kamm, also known as “Little Pebble”, was the leader of the Order of Saint Charbel, a religious cult run from a property on the New South Wales south coast.

Continue reading...

Brown skuas and giant petrels rarely make landfall. When they were found in WA, scientists feared ‘bad news’ for wildlife

Posted on by

Experts thought H5N1 bird flu would more likely reach Australia’s north. But an arrival from Antarctica had always been possible

Brown skuas and giant petrels are a common sight offshore in southern Australian waters in the winter months, but they will rarely risk venturing on to land.

So when two of these birds were discovered sick – on beaches a few kilometres apart on Western Australia’s southern coastline – it was a sign something might be wrong.

Continue reading...

AI models that can take down governments and business months away, rare Five Eyes statement warns

Posted on by

Signal agencies in Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada sound alarm after Trump blocks foreign nationals from Anthropic’s Fable AI model

Powerful AI models capable of taking down governments and businesses are mere months away, cyber intelligence agencies for the Five Eyes have warned in a rare joint statement, urging leaders to “act now”.

The surprising public intervention by signals agencies for Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada comes after the Trump administration earlier this month decided to block “foreign nationals” from using a much-hyped AI model built by tech company Anthropic, called Fable.

Continue reading...

Teen accused of planning terror attack on Peter Dutton and Brisbane march was making ‘edgy joke’, court told

Posted on by

Defence barrister claims teenager was a ‘troubled kid’ but crown prosecutor says he was serious when he wrote of copying US domestic terrorists

A teenager accused of preparing a nail bombing campaign was either a “troubled kid” who made edgy jokes or a determined terrorist in waiting, a court has been told.

The teenager, who cannot be named due to his age, spent last week on trial in the Brisbane supreme court after pleading not guilty to one count of acts done in preparation for or planning a terrorist act.

Continue reading...

Almost three tonnes of cocaine found buried under Sydney property in Australia’s biggest ever seizure, police say

Posted on by

Australian federal police arrested and charged two men after allegedly finding $800m worth of cocaine in ‘bunkers’ under shipping containers

Police claim to have made Australia’s biggest ever cocaine bust after finding $800m worth of the drug buried under false flooring on a semi-rural property.

Two men, aged 21 and 25, allegedly tried to run from police and were arrested on Friday after an operation by Australian federal police, alongside investigators in multiple states.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: arrival of H5N1 bird flu a ‘genuine wildlife emergency’, experts say; fuel excise rebate extended for extra month

Posted on by

Follow live updates

Tram passengers in Melbourne will be able to pay for their trip using a bank card, smartphone or smartwatch from today.

The long awaited expansion of tap-and-go payments follows a staged roll out to the city’s train network and main regional routes. Buses are expected to follow.

From today, you can step off a train and straight on to a tram using the same phone, watch or bank card.

Four in five tap and go trips are already being made with a phone or smartwatch – showing more Victorians are leaving the wallet at home.

The potential for this virus to kill wildlife in significant numbers means it could be particularly catastrophic for threatened species.

We are talking about possible extinctions, alongside severe impacts to common birds like our beloved pelicans and black swans.

This is a genuine wildlife emergency and it must be treated as such with emergency funding to increase efforts to protect wildlife populations.

Continue reading...

Fears doctors criticising Israel may be silenced as health watchdog adopts contested antisemitism definition

Posted on by

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency to use International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition for ‘regulatory work’

Australia’s health watchdog has adopted a contested definition of antisemitism to guide its regulatory work.

The move has been welcomed by the nation’s peak Jewish body while the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (Apan) has warned it could silence health professionals from criticising Israel’s human rights record.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese says Australia’s first mainland case of deadly H5N1 bird flu ‘concerning’

Posted on by

Tests taken in Western Australia suggest a second bird was also infected, but there is no evidence poultry or agriculture systems are affected

The deadly H5N1 bird flu strain has arrived on the Australian mainland with test results confirming a migratory seabird found on the Western Australian coast was positive for the disease.

The agriculture minister, Julie Collins, confirmed a brown skua – found unwell last Sunday at Cape Le Grand national park near Esperance in southern WA had died from H5N1.

Continue reading...

St Kilda pier wins peak Victorian architecture award as judges praise playful and ‘deeply civic’ design

Posted on by

State government project among range of works celebrated for community-centred design that goes beyond utility

The reimagined St Kilda pier has added more accolades to its burgeoning trophy cabinet, taking out some of the top gongs at the 2026 Australian Institute of Architects’ Victorian awards.

The $53m Victorian government project redesigned by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, alongside Site Office Landscape Architecture and AW Maritime, took home the Victorian architecture medal on Friday, the award given to the most outstanding project of the year.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Continue reading...

KPMG leaked confidential Optus information and surveilled whistleblower’s laptop, inquiry hears

Posted on by

International firm owns up to breach of ethics after staff leaked confidential Optus information while bidding for telco contract

KPMG has admitted to another breach of ethics after its staff leaked Optus’ confidential information to colleagues bidding for an audit contract with Telstra.

The consulting firm’s executives also surveilled a whistleblower’s laptop and dismissed the individual as someone with “workplace grievances”, a parliamentary inquiry heard on Friday.

Continue reading...

Pauline Hanson says she ‘had to have a conversation’ about immigration and the Aboriginal flag with new Farrer MP

Posted on by

David Farley was told One Nation’s policy was to fly only the Australian flag, party leader tells conference

One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, says she “had to have a conversation” with the new Farrer MP, David Farley, after he appeared to defy her policies on immigration and flying Indigenous flags.

Shortly before winning Farrer in May’s byelection – the first federal lower house seat One Nation has won outright – Farley said Labor’s current immigration intake of 306,000 was “probably not” too much.

Continue reading...

Guardian Australia’s Matilda Boseley among journalists recognised at 2026 Walkley mid-year media prizes

Posted on by

Boseley won for her high-profile, multiplatform political explainer series, Parliamen-Tea: explaining the chaos of Australian politics

Guardian Australia’s Matilda Boseley’s political explainer series Parliament-Tea was recognised at the 2026 Walkley mid-year media prizes, winning the young journalist award for innovative storytelling.

The high-profile, multiplatform political explainer series, in which Boseley explained machinations in Australian parliament over a cup of tea, engaged a younger generation in national policy debate. The category recognises journalism that breaks standard structural moulds to reach and inform audiences through dynamic digital platforms and creative production formats.

Continue reading...

Inquest into Melbourne influencer’s death following freebirth halted after new phone evidence discovered

Posted on by

Coroner tells inquiry new material ‘of such significance’ any findings must be postponed so information can be analysed

The closing submissions in an inquest into the death of a woman who gave birth at home with no support from medically trained health workers has been delayed, after new evidence came to light after a forensic analysis of her mobile phone.

Stacey Warnecke, a 30 year-old nutritionist, died on 29 September in Frankston hospital in Melbourne.

Continue reading...