Category Archives: Australia news

Rough sleepers dying ‘alarmingly’ premature deaths, Sydney homeless data shows

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People suffering from schizophrenia especially at risk, homelessness advocates say

One of Sydney’s largest homelessness services says its client data shows the city’s rough sleepers are dying at “alarmingly” premature rates, particularly those with schizophrenia.

Matthew Talbot Hostel, based in the inner-city suburb of Woolloomooloo,
said data from about 4,000 patients attending its health clinic shows those experiencing homelessness are dying at an average age of 55.9.

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Australia detains alleged key player in North Korean tobacco smuggling scheme after US request

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Exclusive: Jin Guanghua was arrested by the AFP in Melbourne last year and is facing extradition to the US

A Chinese national has been quietly arrested and detained in Australia for 11 months at the request of US authorities investigating an alleged tobacco smuggling conspiracy that generated an estimated A$1.1bn (US$700m) in revenue to North Korea.

Jin Guanghua, 52, was arrested by the Australian federal police in Melbourne last March. Described in US court documents as an Australian resident, Jin was kept in custody in Melbourne for several months before being transferred to immigration detention while awaiting extradition.

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Bob Brown arrested at Tasmania logging protest – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Birmingham backs Dutton’s asylum boat comments

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, was on ABC RN earlier this morning.

It is our responsibility to hold the government to account and if there are cuts to the Border Force budget, if there are reductions in terms of any aspects of maritime surveillance, if the Border Police Commissioner is saying that his resources are being stretched, then these are the things for us to absolutely call the government out on.

Vegetation clearing and repairs to damaged powerlines and poles continue. However, given the extent of the widespread damage, it may still take some days in extreme circumstances to restore electricity to all of those impacted.

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Mornington Peninsula hotel owner forced to sell business after gambling watchdog finds payout error cover-up by staff

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Owner of Rye hotel hit with $80,000 fine and required to sell business after staff falsified records to cover up an erroneous cash payout

The owner of a Victorian hotel has been fined $80,000 and will be forced to sell the business after staff tried to cover up an illegal gambling payout.

Senior staff at the Rye hotel on the Mornington Peninsula falsified records to cover up an erroneous cash payment of $2,039 to a patron, Victoria’s gambling watchdog has said.

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Albanese signs WA GST pledge on reporter’s arm and signals possible support for state’s nickel miners

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PM says federal government will make ‘no changes’ to Western Australia GST payments, which could hit $50bn over a decade

The federal government is considering “time-limited support” for the nickel industry in Western Australia as it faces growing international competition from Indonesian producers, Anthony Albanese has said.

The prime minister also pledged to maintain WA’s lucrative share of GST payments by signing a promise on a newspaper front page and on a reporter’s arm in marker pen, before encouraging the journalist to get it tattooed on his body.

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Barnaby Joyce says he has given up alcohol for Lent as Perin Davey admits having two drinks before Senate hearing

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New England MP accuses opponents of exploiting issue for political gain, while footage emerges of deputy Nationals leader appearing to slur her words

Barnaby Joyce says he’s giving up alcohol for Lent while accusing political opponents of seeking to exploit the issue of parliamentarians’ consumption of alcohol, as the conduct of politicians again falls under the spotlight.

The shadow veterans affairs minister made the comments on Monday after the deputy Nationals leader, Perin Davey, admitted she had two drinks before a Senate committee hearing in which she appeared to slur and stumble over words.

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Sydney lightning strikes: four people ‘knocked unconscious’ and train network faces delays

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About 75,000 lightning strikes were detected across the city and afternoon commuters facing delays with T1 Western and T9 Northern lines affected

Four people have been taken to hospital with burns after being struck by lightning in Sydney’s botanic gardens.

A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance said the quartet was standing underneath a tree when struck at about 12.45pm on Monday.

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Woman committed to stand trial in Queensland charged with murder of her baby

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Both Noemi Kondacs and the baby’s father, Reinhardt Bosch, have been charged over son Rhuan’s death in Yugar, near Brisbane, in 2022

A woman accused of murdering her seven-month-old baby boy has been committed to stand trial in a Brisbane court.

Noemi Kondacs was charged with murder and torture after her arrest on the day Rhuan Immanuel Bosch died in November 2022.

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Australia news live: Taylor Swift shows to go ahead at Sydney Olympic Park after no asbestos found – as it happened

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NSW environment watchdog gives venue green light after tests; agency says schools at Marsden Park and Orchard Hill found to have mulch containing bonded asbestos. This blog is now closed

Asked about the Barnaby Joyce incident and “issues of alcohol in Parliament House”, Chandler-Mather says the public is right to expect “a high standard for politicians”, even though they “don’t always deliver”.

Look, personally, in general I don’t think drug testing and alcohol testing in any workplace is necessarily a good idea. People are justifiably upset at the standard politicians hold themselves to.

When we talk about immigrants, we’re talking about the nurses and teachers, construction workers. Secondly, we saw during Covid net migration reached near zero and house prices continue to … go up. Property is treated as a massive speculative asset that drives up the price of housing.

I want to be clear, we have enough homes for people to live in. We have enough construction materials to build the homes for the new people coming to this country. We don’t have the political will to take on a housing system and property developers who restrict supply to make money for themselves and treat housing as a huge speculative asset.

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Thousands of NSW students to stay home after asbestos found in mulch at two more Sydney schools

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Positive tests recorded at schools in Marsden Park and Orchard Hills takes total number of sites to have tested positive to 34 since early January

Thousands of New South Wales students will be forced into remote learning for a week after asbestos was found at another two Sydney schools, as testing continues across the city.

The state’s environment watchdog confirmed the additional positive results on Sunday while investigators continued to trace and test mulch that may be contaminated with asbestos.

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Asylum seekers taken to Nauru amid renewed political stoush over border arrivals

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Move comes after second group found in Western Australia and believed to have arrived on same boat as group found 25km away on Friday

More than 40 asylum seekers have been taken to Nauru after they were found in a remote part of Western Australia.

Guardian Australia has confirmed a second group of 13 asylum seekers was found at an Indigenous campsite at Pender Bay, about an hour after a group of 30 men were found at Beagle Bay on Friday.

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Australian cities hollow out as younger families move out and inner suburbs get older

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Many families move to afford a freestanding house, but higher density living could save them money, experts say

Sydney could become a “city with no grandchildren”, the New South Wales Productivity Commission has warned, but analysis of census data shows similar trends in most big capital cities.

Australian cities are being hollowed out as younger families are priced out, leaving many inner ring suburbs getting older.

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Murder victim Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly visited police in fear. They said she was ‘cop shopping’

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Exclusive: Family calls for inquest, saying Wilkinson visited police ‘almost every day’ before she was murdered by her husband in 2021

In the final frantic days before she was murdered, Kelly Wilkinson visited multiple police stations, warning she was in danger. Official police notes say she was “cop shopping”.

On Wednesday, Wilkinson’s estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, a former US Marine, pleaded guilty to her murder. A court has previously heard that Johnston tied Wilkinson to a clothesline and set her on fire on 20 April 2021.

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Second Sydney primary school among four more sites testing positive for asbestos contamination

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Single piece of bonded asbestos found in a garden bed at Allambie Heights public school

A second primary school in Sydney’s north is among four additional sites that have returned positive results for asbestos contamination.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority on Saturday confirmed Allambie Heights public school in northern Sydney, two residential estates under construction in Sydney’s south-west and Munn Park in Millers Point tested positive for traces of asbestos-laden mulch.

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Anthony Albanese says Alexei Navalny’s treatment ‘unforgivable’ and Putin responsible for his death

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Peter Dutton says Russian president a ‘murderous dictator’ while foreign affairs minister Penny Wong says Navalny an inspiring figure

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has joined western governments across the globe in holding Vladimir Putin responsible for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Navalny, 47, died while being held in a jail about 65km north of the Arctic Circle, where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a “special regime”.

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Participants at retreat where man died after ayahuasca ceremony allegedly told not to talk, NSW inquest hears

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Jarrad Antonovich died after drinking plant-based psychedelic and having frog toxin extract ‘kambo’ dabbed into burns

The ceremonial leader of a spiritual retreat in northern New South Wales at which a man died after drinking ayahuasca may have told witnesses not to talk about the fatal ceremony, a coroner has heard.

The second sitting of the inquest into the death of Jarrad Antonovich – who died after drinking the plant-based psychedelic and having the frog toxin extract “kambo” dabbed into burns in his skin – held its second hearing on Friday.

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Health minister accuses vaping lobby of targeting children after industry ad campaign against ban

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Industry claims vapes should be regulated like alcohol but Mark Butler says companies want to create a ‘new generation addicted to nicotine’

A vaping lobby group with links to tobacco companies is running ads in Australian newspapers calling for the government to abandon its vaping reforms, in a campaign ministers and experts say is misdirecting the public.

A campaign called Bust the Black Market ran full page advertisements in The Australian and the Daily Telegraph this week calling for e-cigarettes to be regulated “like tobacco and alcohol”.

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Testing regime meant to stop toxic chemicals going into NSW landscape products gamed by suppliers

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Exclusive: Manufacturers retest contaminated soil fill until it ‘complies’ with regulations and can then be used at childcare centres, schools or parks

A testing regime meant to stop toxic chemicals going into landscaping products in New South Wales has been gamed by suppliers who kept retesting samples until they passed.

Waste facilities making soil fill from construction and demolition waste – called “recovered fines” – are required to test their product for hazardous contaminants and report results to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) if they exceed legislated thresholds.

43% of facilities were requesting retesting and were only doing so after they received a result that breached state regulations

Waste facilities were sending in samples for testing that looked very different to material EPA officials collected from their stockpiles, a separate 2013 report shows

One testing laboratory alleged it was asked by manufacturers “not to report the presence of suspected asbestos”

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Taylor Swift concerts will go ahead in Sydney despite asbestos testing at Olympic Park precinct

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Environment minister says authorities are testing mulch in the area but any issues would be resolved before pop star’s sold-out shows at Accor Stadium

The New South Wales environment minister has sought to assure Taylor Swift fans that the pop star’s Sydney concerts will go ahead next weekend, amid an asbestos scare at the precinct where she is due to perform.

On Friday, the day after a special taskforce was launched to aid investigations into sites where mulch containing asbestos may be present, authorities have conducted testing at a location at Sydney Olympic Park, where Swift is set to perform to about 300,000 fans over four days of concerts as part of her Australian tour.

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Lisa Wilkinson told Ten boss she worried about losing Sydney home if network didn’t cover her legal fees

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Court documents reveal details of emotional call with Beverley McGarvey in which Wilkinson blamed network for failing to stop bad press

Lisa Wilkinson told her boss at Ten she was afraid she would have to sell her Sydney harbourside property if the network did not pay her legal fees, according to documents filed in the federal court.

The Network Ten chief executive, Beverley McGarvey, said that in a highly emotional call last year Wilkinson blamed the network for failing to stop the bad press that she believed had destroyed her reputation.

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