More prematurely victorious candidates in 2024 – 15 mayors and 46 councillors – than any time since 2012
A month out from election day, Queensland’s longest-serving mayor is confident he’ll get another four years in the top job.
That’s because John Wharton is the only candidate. By the end of his next term he’ll have been Richmond mayor for 31 years.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Firm’s denial comes after weeks of intense criticism, including accusations that it misled parliament
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Consultancy firm KPMG Australia has rejected claims it conducted due diligence on “the wrong company” before the federal government gave nearly half a billion dollars to a controversial company with no track record.
The firm’s objection to comments by a member of a Senate inquiry examining its conduct come after weeks of intense criticism and accusations it repeatedly misled parliament over its use of so-called power maps, which identify influential decision makers within departments.
Continue reading...Ukrainian ambassador to Australia also urges west not to succumb to ‘fatigue’ in its support for Ukraine
Ukraine is appealing to Australia and France to deliver more ammunition to the country as it marks the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, also urged western leaders not to succumb to “fatigue” over the protracted war, saying: “I think the only country which can feel fatigue can be Ukraine, actually, because we are the ones who are being killed.”
Continue reading...Surprisingly, Foxtel’s Hubbl makes a pretty good case for itself even if it doesn’t completely pass the sniff test
Foxtel is set to kickstart a massive marketing blitz to promote its new streaming TV hardware Hubbl. As viewers watch the TV ads featuring Hamish Blake dancing across their screens dressed up as a Hubbl set-top box, many will be asking a not-unreasonable question: “Doesn’t my TV already do this?”
Most Australians now have a smart TV. Australia got serious about streaming TV back in 2015 with the launch of Stan and Netflix. With the general lifespan of a TV being somewhere between 7 and 15 years, it means most of Australia by now have smart TVs or have equipped their TV with a plug-in device to make their TV “smart”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Davey says she is aware complaint may be lodged, which could lead to her party membership being cancelled or suspended if upheld
The Nationals’ deputy leader, Perin Davey, is facing the prospect of an official complaint from a party member over an incident in which she slurred and stumbled over words in a Senate hearing.
According to the NSW Nationals’ constitution, complaints that a member’s “general behaviour, public utterances, or writings, have been such as to bring or attempt to bring discredit or undue embarrassment to the party” can be grounds to cancel or suspend their membership.
Continue reading...Former celebrity blogger expected to face court. Follow updates live
What will happen if there’s a storm during today’s Taylor Swift concert?
With a thunderstorm forecast at Sydney Olympic Park this evening, many are asking what this means for the Eras tour?
The show will play, rain or shine. The only exception would be severe weather, which could impact the safety of artists and patrons. Such a decision would be made by NSW Police, the event promoters and Venues NSW staff.
Please follow venue screens and staff instructions in these circumstances.
Continue reading...Indigenous leader says yes campaign lacked necessary bipartisanship and federal reform for Aboriginal people has ‘come to a complete standstill’
Indigenous leader Mick Gooda will blame a flawed “crash through or crash” strategy for the failed voice to parliament referendum, arguing in a speech that the result has seen federal reforms for Aboriginal people “come to a complete standstill”.
In a speech to be delivered at the National Aboriginal Press Club in Brisbane on Friday, the co-chair of the Queensland Interim Truth and Treaty Body, planned to say the yes campaign’s strategy lacked necessary bipartisanship or detail, while criticising the negative tactics used by the no campaign, which he believed received funding from people or groups in the US.
Continue reading...Lamarre, 28, turned himself to NSW police on Friday morning and is assisting with inquiries at Waverley police station
A serving police officer has been arrested as New South Wales homicide detectives continue investigating the disappearance of the former Channel Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his Qantas flight attendant partner, Luke Davies.
Const Beau Lamarre – a former celebrity blogger – handed himself in at Bondi police station about 10.30am on Friday. No charges have been laid.
Continue reading...Thunderstorm prompts a short evacuation and axing of support act Sabrina Carpenter, but Swifties still treated to three-hour show from their idol
Taylor Swift fans were briefly evacuated from the floor and lower bowl of Accor Stadium in Sydney after a huge storm with nearby lightning strikes hit the area less than an hour before the show was to begin on Friday evening.
Accor Stadium posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the start time had been delayed, and asked fans in the venue to stay undercover until “further notice”.
Continue reading...Thousands of residents from almost 30 communities near Ballarat told to ‘leave now’
Victoria’s premier says homes have been lost to a huge bushfire in the state’s west, after a “tough night” in which two fire trucks broke down.
Emergency warnings remained in place for about 30 communities west of Ballarat on Friday morning, including in Amphitheatre, Elmhurst and Mount Cole, where residents have been told to “leave immediately” before “conditions become too dangerous”.
Continue reading...New mobile data leads police to comb Mount Clear area for clues nearly three weeks after 51-year-old was last seen
Victoria police suspect “one or more parties” were involved in the disappearance of Samantha Murphy nearly three weeks ago, saying it was “very doubtful” she was still alive amid a renewed ground search.
Mobile phone data has provided a new lead in the search for Murphy, with a previously examined area the subject of a targeted hunt for clues as to her disappearance.
Continue reading...An emergency warning has been issued for 28 communities west of Ballarat, with conditions not expected to ease until about midnight
Thousands of people in 28 communities are being urged to evacuate a large fire zone as an out-of-control blaze bears down on them in Victoria.
An emergency warning has been issued for the communities west of Ballarat with concerns about a wind change is expected to sweep the area between 6pm and 7.30pm.
Continue reading...NSW police searching for former Channel 10 presenter, 26, and Qantas flight attendant, 29, after blood discovered at Paddington property and on personal possessions in Cronulla bin
New South Wales police are investigating the suspicious disappearance of the former Network Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his partner, Luke Davies, from Sydney’s eastern suburbs after bloody items were found in a skip bin.
Police said Baird, 26, and 29-year-old Davies, who works as a flight attendant for Qantas, were last seen in Paddington on Monday.
Continue reading...Incident comes as data shows government sector breaches mostly caused by human error, not criminal acts
The finance department has accidentally shared confidential commercial information for the second time as new data reveals the number of human errors behind government data breaches.
The department has confirmed that last week it emailed 236 suppliers, and that the email included “embedded information with some third-party confidential information”.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Competition minister Andrew Leigh just spoke with ABC RN about, you guessed it, competition.
Speaking about supermarket prices and concentration in particular, Leigh said he is worried that Australia’s market concentration has “increased over recent decades”.
We’ve got evidence now from very good micro data, which wasn’t available a few years back, that market concentration has gone up, that markups have increased – that is the gap between costs and prices – and that there’s less job switching than there was in the past which is a problem, because switching jobs is one of the best ways people boost their wages. All of that points to a less dynamic economy, and maybe one of the reasons why we just had the lousiest decade of productivity growth in the post-war era.
It’s not a priority that we’re focusing on at the moment.
In London to support Julian Assange’s hearing on whether he can appeal his extradition to the US. Julian’s extradition would strike at the very heart of free speech [and] democracy. Enough is enough. The US must drop the extradition of Julian Assange.
Continue reading...The airline is flush with enough cash for a $400m share buy-back, a great transfer of wealth from customers to shareholders
It may be slightly less profitable and boast a friendlier CEO who says she does “a lot more listening than talking”, but Qantas remains an airline making serious money that could do much more to win back Australians’ hearts.
The $1.25bn pre-tax half yearly profit unveiled on Thursday, while down 13% on the same period last year, was still 40% higher than the last half-year trading period before the pandemic upended travel.
Continue reading...Critics of treasurer Jim Chalmers’ proposed reforms say the Reserve Bank is independent enough
Treasurer Jim Chalmers faces an uphill battle to get his Reserve Bank reforms through the parliament – with former treasurers, RBA governors and senior economists criticising key aspects of his legislation.
Chalmers accepted all the recommendations of last year’s RBA review board, including removing the government’s reserve powers to intervene and overrule the central bank if judged necessary, and appoint a second ‘governance’ board of economic academics.
Continue reading...Médecins Sans Frontières logistics expert calls for immediate ceasefire and fears ‘catastrophic’ Israeli ground offensive
An Australian logistics expert who is working at a hospital in Rafah has warned that “everyone here is struggling” while raising fears of a “catastrophic” Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gaza city.
Lindsay Croghan, who is on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières, also said there must be an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” because a prolonged debate “equates to more deaths”.
Continue reading...Brad Banducci will face a Greens-led Senate inquiry, but it is Amanda Bardwell who will have to rebuild the supermarket giant’s reputation
Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci is stepping down from Australia’s biggest supermarket chain – but he’s going down swinging.
Against a backdrop of multiple parliamentary inquiries and a year-long pricing investigation, Banducci maintains that the grocery sector is “unbelievably competitive”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Smaller Workforce Australia providers, including those catering to Indigenous jobseekers, have effectively suspended more than 90% of their caseloads
Some of Australia’s outsourced employment service providers have effectively suspended the Centrelink payments of more than 90% of the jobseekers on their books, new data reveals.
Jobseekers have their payments suspended as part of the mutual obligations regime, which is meant to ensure jobseekers are actively looking and preparing for work. If they do not fulfil activities such as job applications, training courses, interviews and meetings with job providers, their Centrelink payments are suspended.
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