Category Archives: Australia news

Asio cleared of unlawfully luring Daniel Duggan back to Australia, agency chief Mike Burgess says

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Exclusive: Duggan’s legal team continues to fight US request for extradition on charges of arms trafficking and money laundering

The spy agency Asio says it has been cleared by the intelligence watchdog of allegations of impropriety raised by the Australian citizen Daniel Duggan as he fights extradition to the US.

Duggan, a former US marines pilot accused of training Chinese pilots to land fighter jets on aircraft carriers, had complained to the inspector general of intelligence and security (IGIS) about Asio’s role in securing his return to Australia from China.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters charged after Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

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Police confirmed one man and seven women were charged after entering the parade route near Taylor Square on Saturday night

Eight pro-Palestinian protesters who allegedly attempted to disrupt Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have been charged.

Police confirmed a 25-year-old man and seven women, aged between 29 and 42, were charged after entering the parade route near Taylor Square about 9.20pm on Saturday.

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Dunkley byelection: Labor’s Jodie Belyea triumphs but Liberals win modest swing

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Liberal candidate Nathan Conroy wins swing of more than 3% but well short of the 6.3% required, leaving Belyea as the newest federal MP

Peter Dutton’s Liberal party has won a modest swing in the Dunkley byelection but fallen short in the Labor seat vacated by the death of the popular local MP Peta Murphy.

The Liberal candidate, Nathan Conroy, has currently received 47.5% of the two-party preferred vote, a swing of more than 3% to the opposition, well short of the 6.3% swing required to win the seat off the Albanese government.

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Crowdfunding campaign brings first Timor-Leste float to Sydney Mardi Gras parade

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It was only two weeks ago that the founder of Timor-Leste’s own pride march learned he and 10 others were coming to Australia

Natalino Guterres likens getting the chance to march down Oxford Street in pure queer pride to the feeling he had when he was 12 and Timor-Leste achieved independence after a brutal occupation.

“It’s really emotional for me,” he said. “It’s one of those moments when you’re really happy and get to look forward to having some momentum.”

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Amy Gillett Foundation for cyclist safety to close after federal funds cut off

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Set up to honour the Australian national team cyclist killed by a car, the group was behind the successful A Metre Matters campaign

The Australian cycling safety advocacy body behind the successful A Metre Matters campaign is being wound up after federal government funding was discontinued.

The Amy Gillett Foundation was established in 2006 after the death of Gillett, a former Olympic rower who had switched to track and road cycling. The 29-year-old was training with the Australian national team in Germany when she and her teammates were hit by a car.

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Voters turn out for byelection; tributes to Jesse Baird and Luke Davies – as it happened

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Queensland government pledges over $40m to fertility treatments

More women and girls suffering complex medical conditions like cancer will have access to cheaper reproductive care after Queensland became the latest state to announce public funding for fertility treatments, AAP has reported.

When a significant health issue, such as cancer, impacts a person’s fertility, being able to afford access to fertility services should be the last thing Queenslanders need to worry about.

Longstanding and deep-rooted … abuse, racism and homophobia rampant within the NSW police.

About 8.30pm, the group moved onto the roadway, blocking all vehicle traffic at the intersection of Oxford and Flinders Street. With the assistance of additional police, the crowd were directed to move onto the footpath. Those who did not comply with police directions were physically removed.

The crowd later dispersed, with part of the group attending the Sydney Police Centre on Goulburn and Riley Streets, where they continued to protest.”

There were no reports of any property being damaged, person being injured, or any arrests being made.

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‘Breakdown’ in processes may have allowed police gun to be used in alleged murders, former senior detective says

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If police claims are correct, a gun appears to have been ‘largely unaccounted for’ the weekend before alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, Vincent Hurley says

A former senior detective has raised concerns about an apparent “breakdown” in processes that may have allowed a force-issued firearm to be used in the alleged murder of two young men in Sydney.

Vincent Hurley, whose New South Wales police career spanned almost three decades, said he was troubled by police claims, made in the course of the ongoing homicide investigation, that suggested a Glock had been “largely unaccounted for” before being used to allegedly kill Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

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Julia Gillard enters Dunkley byelection campaign as Labor and Liberals brace for close result

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Exclusive: The former PM has been enlisted to front a social media campaign to help Labor hold the Victorian seat

Julia Gillard has been enlisted to help boost Labor’s chances in the Dunkley byelection, with Australia’s first female prime minister fronting a social media push aimed squarely at women in the Melbourne seat.

In a sign of Labor’s effort to shore up every last vote in what is expected by both major parties to be a close-run contest, Gillard’s election-eve endorsement praises Jodie Belyea as a “strong local voice”.

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NT supreme court shown footage of Don Dale tear gassing and hosing down of teens

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The recording forms part of the territory’s appeal of over $1m in compensation awarded to four teenage inmates

Disturbing footage of teenagers being handcuffed and hosed down after being teargassed at the notorious Don Dale Detention Centre has been seen as evidence in an Northern Territory supreme court case.

The vision, which will not be released to media, is part of the NT government’s appeal over nearly $1m compensation awarded last year to four teenagers who were unlawfully teargassed at Don Dale detention centre in 2014.

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Politicians from 12 countries unite to press for arms ban on Israel

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Letter aims to bring public anger over 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into heart of parliaments

More than 200 MPs from 12 countries have committed themselves to trying to persuade their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, arguing they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza.

The letter, organised by Progressive International, a network of socialist MPs and activists focused on international justice, is seen as the best practical measure possible to bring public anger over the 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into the heart of parliaments, where calls for an immediate unconditional ceasefire have so far fallen on deaf ears or been rejected by national governments.

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Telstra apologises to family of Victorian who died during triple zero outage

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Government says regulator is looking into the disruption which prevented more than 100 calls being transferred to emergency services

Telstra has apologised for a technical issue that meant Australians were not able to speak to trained triple zero call takers for more than an hour.

The telecommunications giant issued the apology to people who were unable to make phone calls to triple zero for more than an hour on Friday morning.

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Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers argue evidence is not available to rule out Britanny Higgins’ consent

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Lehrmann’s lawyers also admit client’s evidence is ‘unsatisfactory’ but say it would be overstating it to say he is a ‘compulsive liar’

If the court finds that sexual intercourse took place between Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins it will also have to find she was “so intoxicated as to be unable to consent” and that evidence is not available, Lehrmann’s lawyers have told the federal court.

“The evidence simply does not permit a positive finding of fact that Ms Higgins’ intoxication was, at any relevant time, such that she could not consent to sexual activity,” new submissions filed in Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten and Lisa Wilkinson said.

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Meta on collision course with Australian government after announcing end to journalism funding deals

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Publishers informed on Friday Meta would not enter new deals when current contracts expire and Facebook news tab would shut down in April

Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has set itself on a collision course with the Albanese government after announcing it will stop paying Australian publishers for news, and plans to shut down its news tab in Australia and the United States.

Meta informed publishers on Friday that it would not enter new deals when the current contracts expire this year.

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Ticketing company denies responsibility for refunds to Donald Trump Jr’s postponed Australian tour

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Ticketbud says money was sent directly to organisers Turning Point Australia, but it says money is only received after events are completed

A ticketing company has denied claims by the organiser of Donald Trump Jr’s postponed Australian tour that it is responsible for processing refunds, arguing Turning Point Australia received the money.

The eldest son of the former US president and Republican frontrunner for the 2024 US presidential election was due to speak at events in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in July last year, but the event was initially postponed to September amid claims of visa difficulties.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest told of ‘clearly racist’ NT police awards that appear to contradict senior officers’ testimony

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Zachary Rolfe evidence calls into question the testimony of several senior officers to the court earlier this week

Award certificates allegedly given out to members of an elite Northern Territory police unit were “clearly racist”, calling into question the evidence of several senior officers, a court has heard.

Zachary Rolfe told an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker earlier this week that he believed a racist mock award had been bestowed by the Tactical Response Group to the member who behaved most like an Aboriginal person.

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Australia ‘horrified’ by Gaza humanitarian catastrophe – as it happened

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Both sides of politics are pulling out all the stops as the Dunkley byelection goes down to the wire.

Speaking on Sunrise this morning, the education minister, Jason Clare, and the deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, went head-to-head over a tweet she published last night.

You should delete the tweet… This is a classic example of why women aren’t joining the Liberal party and why they’re not voting for the Liberal party, because of that classic, desperate, grubby political scare campaign we saw from the Liberal party yesterday.

I don’t know, really, you must wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and think, after 25 years of being a member of parliament, is this what I’ve become? I’m reduced to putting out tweets like this?

Anyone who watched question time during this week and saw your hopeless immigration minister unable to demonstrate that he even knows where his criminals [are], what they’re doing, who’s monitoring them and whether the community is safe, would probably not agree with what you’ve just said.

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The wanted: Australia’s approach to investigating alleged international crimes ‘not working’, Greens say

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David Shoebridge’s comments follow Guardian/Four Corners investigation that revealed Rwanda issued indictments for two men living in Australia it accused of participating in genocide

Australia’s current approach to investigating and prosecuting allegations of serious international crimes “is not working”, the Greens defence and justice spokesperson, David Shoebridge has said.

Legal experts and former prosecutors have said Australia needs a specialist investigations unit to look into allegations of international crimes such as genocide, or it risks becoming a “safe haven”.

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Queensland police to be granted power to instantly issue year-long domestic violence protection orders

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Exclusive: New ‘police efficiency’ laws planned amid political pressure to devote more frontline resources to youth crime

The Queensland government is planning to introduce new “police efficiency” laws that would empower officers to issue on-the-spot year-long domestic violence protection orders, amid ongoing political pressure to devote more frontline resources to youth crime.

Documents leaked to Guardian Australia show the state intends to announce police “modernisation measures” in mid-March, including legislative amendments allowing officers to impose immediate protection orders for up to 12 months without having to make an application to a court.

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Questions raised about whether GPs will be ready for influx of people seeking vaping prescriptions

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Doctors admit helping patients quit vaping is a ‘new experience’ ahead of a near-total ban coming into force on 1 July

GPs are preparing for a rush of patients seeking prescriptions for vapes or help to give up smoking, with a peak doctor’s lobby admitting it is a “new experience” for some medical experts ahead of new government vaping crackdowns and a near-total ban on electronic cigarettes from July.

The health minister, Mark Butler, says there is a need to “upskill” some GPs to help Australians off vapes. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says doctors are well-equipped to handle the looming changes, which will outlaw vapes without a prescription, but the head of the Australian Medical Association says it may be a difficult task.

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Australian workers’ productivity drops 3.7% as employment surges and investment slows

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Wage growth from higher employment and hours worked without output gains could fan inflation, Productivity Commission warns

A surge in employment combined with scant investment by firms to improve output triggered a sharp drop in worker productivity, limiting prospects for income growth without fanning inflation, the Productivity Commission said in its annual report.

Across the economy, productivity fell 3.7% in 2022-23, as output growth failed to keep pace with a record 6.9% increase in hours worked, the commission said. A rush by employers to hire new staff was much higher than in previous bursts – the nearest comparison was the 4.3% rise in hours worked in 1988-89.

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