Category Archives: Australia news

Taylor Swift Eras tour Melbourne concert: relive the pop star’s biggest ever show – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is closed. The once-in-a-lifetime show has finally come to Australia. For the millions who couldn’t get tickets, might a slightly chaotic blog be the next best thing? The night 1 setlist (spoilers), all the surprise songs, the atmosphere of 96,000 people at the MCG – if you missed it you can read it all again! Start at the beginning.

Taylor Swift sing-along on board Qantas flight to Melbourne

The Taylor Swift hype reached new heights earlier today.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Dutton says reports of WA boat arrival ‘disturbing’; Barnaby Joyce denies drinking problem

Posted on by

Opposition leader calls on home affairs minister Clare O’Neil to provide explanation on whether government has ‘lost control’ of borders. Follow the day’s news live

About 400 requests for assistance remaining in Victoria, SES says

The Victorian state emergency service says there are about 400 active requests for assistance remaining, after the extreme weather earlier this week.

We’re making good progress restoring services following the severe storms in Victoria, with more than 90% of our mobile sites now back online.

Many of our network sites have back up power that kept services running after the storms hit, but that back-up power may not last during extended power outages.

Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology forecasting hot autumn nights for most of Australia

Posted on by

The country has at least double the chance of experiencing unusually warm weather in the months ahead

Most of Australia has at least double the chance of experiencing unusually warm days and nights this coming autumn, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest long range forecast.

The bureau put the extra warmth in its forecast down to the climate crisis and the warming ocean surface that was tending to push up temperatures.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Victoria fires and storms destroy at least 60 homes as prolonged power outage payments announced

Posted on by

Number of homes lost set to rise as premier Jacinta Allan announces payments for thousands expected to be without power for more than a week

Victoria’s premier says storms and bushfires have claimed at least 60 properties and has announced payments for thousands of people expected to be without power for more than a week.

Speaking in Miraboo North in South Gippsland on Friday afternoon, Jacinta Allan said 16 homes in the area had been left “uninhabitable” after Tuesday’s storms.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘I can’t believe it’: diehard Taylor Swift fan gifted Eras ticket at pub trivia night in Victoria

Posted on by

Quiz organisers were taken by 15-year-old Emily’s enthusiasm and when she didn’t win they decided to reward her anyway

Andrew Caldwell was the same age as his daughter is now when he saw his favourite band. He was 15, it was 1989, and Metallica was touring Australia for the first time.

His daughter Emily’s tastes are a bit different. She’s a diehard Swiftie and Caldwell spent countless hours trying to secure a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour for Emily so she could have the same formative experience seeing her favourite band at 15.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Former LNP candidate Vivian Lobo fronts court accused of giving false details to Australian Electoral Commission

Posted on by

Candidate in 2022 federal election facing up to 12 months’ prison if found guilty of knowingly providing false or misleading information

A Liberal National party candidate in the last federal election has faced court accused of providing false information about his residential address to the electoral commission.

Vivian Rakesh Lobo was issued a summons to appear in Brisbane magistrates court on Friday after a federal police investigation followed a referral from the Australian Electoral Commission.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Oldest platypus found in the wild is ‘beyond all our expectations’, say researchers

Posted on by

Australian Platypus Conservancy says ‘it’s remarkable this animal is still doing as well as he is’

The biologist who first tagged a one-year-old platypus back in 2000 was astonished when it was recaptured last year, aged about 24, making it the oldest platypus found in the wild.

The director of the Australian Platypus Conservancy, Geoff Williams, has been researching the egg-laying mammals for decades, but said long-term research into the species can be expensive and rare.

Continue reading...

Sydney asbestos mulch sites: map and full list of locations where asbestos has been found

Posted on by

Hundreds of sites including schools are being investigated amid the growing asbestos mulch crisis across NSW. This map shows contaminated parks and other locations

Asbestos-contaminated landscaping materials have potentially been used at hundreds of locations across Sydney and at least one in regional New South Wales.

The premier, Chris Minns, has said the Environment Protection Authority is examining the sites as it undertakes its largest investigation ever.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

At least six Australian banks hit by network outages including Ubank and Bank Australia

Posted on by

Defence Bank, Beyond Bank, People’s Choice and P&N Bank among others to warn smartphone apps and online transfers unavailable on Thursday

Several Australian banks appeared to be hit with technical issues that caused outages and left customers unable to make online transfers or use mobile banking apps on Thursday.

Banks including Ubank, Bank Australia, Defence Bank, Beyond Bank, People’s Choice and P&N Bank had warnings on their website on Thursday evening that several features including online transfers, smartphone apps and the use of Osko – a secure payment service – were unavailable.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Victoria’s largest public health service faces criminal charge over Indigenous woman’s hospital death

Posted on by

WorkSafe Victoria has charged Monash Health for allegedly exposing a patient to health and safety risks while in its care

Victoria’s largest public health service is facing a criminal charge over the death of an Indigenous woman who took her own life while receiving mental health treatment at Dandenong hospital in 2022.

WorkSafe Victoria on Thursday announced it had charged Monash Health for allegedly exposing a patient to health and safety risks while in its care.

Continue reading...

Sydney asbestos crisis: largest EPA probe ever with hundreds of sites potentially contaminated

Posted on by

More than 130 people working on criminal investigation into mulch supplied by Greenlife Resource Recovery. The company denies any wrongdoing

An investigation into the growing New South Wales asbestos scandal has become the state environmental watchdog’s biggest-ever probe with hundreds of sites potentially contaminated including parks, schools, train stations and suburban back yards.

A surge workforce of public servants and firefighters will assist the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as it expands its criminal investigation into mulch found to contain asbestos across Sydney and regional NSW.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

BoM issues cyclone alert for NT and Queensland; NSW Health warns of high-dose MDMA tabs in circulation – as it happend

Posted on by

Heavy rainfall is expected to hit the Gulf of Carpentaria coast with a risk of a possible tropical cyclone from Thursday. This blog is now closed

Not everyone voted to bring Julian Assange back to Australia

Looking at the Hansard, it seems there were 11 MPs who abstained from voting on the Assange motion:

Continue reading...

Nearly 100,000 NSW homes not being used for long-term housing, figures show

Posted on by

Housing review finds 33,000 homes, including Stayz and Airbnb listings, are registered as non-hosted short-term rentals

Almost 100,000 apartments and houses across New South Wales are not being used for long-term housing, according to state government modelling.

The state government estimates 15,000 homes are vacant year-round, 45,000 are used as holiday homes and more than 33,000 are registered as non-hosted short-term properties, according to the data released as part of the Minns government’s review of short-term rentals including Stayz and Airbnb.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Push to weatherproof Australia’s electricity grid after storm leads to mass power outages in Victoria

Posted on by

State’s energy minister calls for national approach to energy system resilience as climate change causes more extreme weather events

Victoria’s energy minister will push for a national approach to weatherproof the electricity grid after a deadly storm left hundreds of thousands across the state without power.

Lily D’Ambrosio said the storm, which swept through the state on Tuesday afternoon and resulted in the death of a dairy farmer in South Gippsland, has caused “one of the largest outage events in the state’s history”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Academics in US, UK and Australia collaborated on drone research with Iranian university close to regime

Posted on by

Exclusive: work by researchers from western universities and counterparts at Sharif University considered potentially ‘very dangerous’ by experts

Academics in the UK, Australia and the US collaborated on research related to drone technology with an Iranian university that is under international financial sanctions and known for its close ties to the military, the Guardian can reveal.

The collaborative research was described by one security expert as having direct military applications, while another called it potentially “very dangerous”. Iranian-made drones have been responsible for a number of deadly attacks in the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts, and their development is known to be a top priority for the government in Tehran.

Continue reading...

Victoria police were asked to look at HyperVerse information in 2020 – but sent case back to Asic 22 months later

Posted on by

Australian financial regulator says it referred crypto scheme to police for alleged ‘possible fraud’ and believed matter was under ‘active consideration’

Australia’s corporate watchdog referred information about the alleged US$1.89bn “Ponzi scheme” known as HyperVerse to Victoria police in 2020, only for it to be referred back almost two years later without any action being taken.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission made the referral to Victoria police for alleged “possible fraud offences” after concerns were raised with the corporate regulator about a related company, Blockchain Global. Asic did not provide detail on what prompted the referral.

Continue reading...

Lidia Thorpe calls for ‘sleazy’ MPs to be excluded from sitting weeks and fined for bad behaviour

Posted on by

Senator condemns two-year wait for parliament workplace enforcement body recommended in Jenkins review

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe says parliament has waited “too long” for a workplace enforcement body, and has called for “sleazy” politicians to be excluded from sitting weeks and fined for bad behaviour.

Thorpe alleged she had been inappropriately touched and made to feel unsafe by male politicians on numerous occasions in her three-and-a-half years in Canberra, saying Parliament House’s “old boys’ club” has been allowed to “run roughshod” with impunity for too long.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Rebuilding of Melbourne heritage house on cards as police investigate fire at the property

Posted on by

Boroondara council moves to order the rebuilding of ‘Shenley Croft’ as condition for any bid to develop the property

The Edwardian-style house boasts a private ballroom and cellar. Located in Melbourne’s affluent, leafy south-eastern suburbs, the heritage-listed Canterbury house was last sold in 2019. A real estate advertisement at the time touted its potential for renovation as one of the 1,320sqm-property’s many selling points.

Within four years of its sale, the house – named Shenley Croft – mysteriously caught fire in December. There is an active police investigation but no charges have been laid.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Difficult to predict fate of Australia-Tuvalu deal on climate and security, intelligence boss says

Posted on by

Senior intelligence officer agrees deal is facing risk of unravelling amid ‘political change and turbulence’ in Pacific nation after elections, Senate hears

A senior Australian intelligence chief has acknowledged a landmark climate and security deal with Tuvalu may be at risk in the wake of the Pacific nation’s election.

Andrew Shearer, who leads the government’s Office of National Intelligence (ONI), said his agency was “obviously aware of recent political change and turbulence in Tuvalu”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Indonesia election 2024: from trade to security, what it could mean for Australia

Posted on by

Australia has signalled it wants stronger ties with Indonesia. With Prabowo Subianto leading in the polls, we look ahead to the post-Jokowi landscape

Indonesia is electing a new president on 14 February, with citizens of the world’s third-largest democracy heading to the polls in a huge day of voting and festivities.

The current president, Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, has been in power since 2014 but will not be returning to the top job due to term limits.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...