Category Archives: Australia news

ACT police take aim at ‘moron tourism’ for bad behaviour at Summernats

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Senior officer says ‘pest’ drivers and not ‘real’ car enthusiasts were causing problems during festival in Canberra

A group of “morons” who would fail to enter the ACT if there were IQ requirements at the border are to blame for bad behaviour at one of Australia’s premier car festivals, a senior police officer has said.

ACT Policing seized 13 cars, including a Holden Commodore for doing a burnout metres from pedestrians, during this year’s Summernats festival in Canberra.

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Homemade bomb planted on car at Sydney home flying Palestinian flag

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Explosive device made of jerry can, rags, disposable lighter and large bolts found on bonnet of vehicle in suburb of Botany

Bomb squad officers have been called to a south Sydney home after an improvised explosive device was planted on the car of its pro-Palestinian residents.

The homemade device that appeared to be made of a jerry can with rags stuffed into it, a disposable lighter and large bolts was found on the vehicle’s bonnet in Botany on Friday afternoon.

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Man sues Victorian police after being shot in leg during routine response to noise complaint

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Andrew Wilczewski, 50, was shot in his yard in 2020 while holding a shovel, after an officer scaled his fence

A man who was shot in the leg by a junior police officer during a routine response to a noise complaint has sued Victoria police for compensation.

Andrew Wilczewski, 50, was shot in his back yard while holding a shovel, allegedly “fearing for his safety”, after an officer scaled his back fence and started banging on windows.

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Hundreds call for help in Victoria and SA amid heavy rain and severe storms

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‘The amount of moisture across Victoria at the moment is incredible,’ the Bureau of Meteorology says

Hundreds of people across Victoria and South Australia have called for help after heavy rain and severe storms lashed the two states.

Residents in Victoria’s north and north-east were warned to expect rainfall totals up to 200mm when thunderstorms sweep across the state on Sunday and Monday.

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Man charged after four stabbing attacks in Melbourne overnight that seriously injured victims

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Victoria police say random attacks were not terror-related with 31-year-old man facing 15 charges

A man is facing more than a dozen charges after he allegedly stabbed four strangers in Melbourne overnight in what police say were “completely random” and unprovoked attacks.

Officers on Sunday arrested the 31-year-old Melton man who allegedly used public transport to travel across the city when committing three separate attacks on Saturday night.

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Alleged Melbourne home invader shot dead after struggle, police say

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Man found dead in driveway of Donnybrook home with gunshot wounds after ‘firearm claimed off one of the offenders’, detective alleges

A man found dead in a driveway in Melbourne’s outer north was allegedly part of a group of home invaders before he was shot during a struggle, police say.

The man, who was yet to be identified, was found outside the property on Middlemount Street in Donnybrook, 30km north of Melbourne’s CBD, at about 4.20am on Sunday.

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More than 1,000 ‘distressing’ social media posts removed at Australian government’s request during Gaza war

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Figures show rise in incidents of online extremism and violent content, partly fuelled by Israel-Gaza conflict

More than 1,000 violent and extremist posts have been taken down from social media at the federal government’s request since 7 October following an increase in referrals brought on in part by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

It follows a warning by the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, in the days following Hamas’s 7 October attacks in southern Israel that it was the job of social media companies to “prevent the spread of distressing violent and terrorist content”.

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Perth overtakes east coast to become Australia’s hottest capital city property market

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Buyers and renters compete for limited stock as the Western Australian capital favours sellers and landlords, CoreLogic analysts say

The Australian property boom has shifted from east to west, with buyers and renters tussling for a limited number of Perth homes and creating a housing crisis for those left behind.

Perth has become the hottest selling market among state capitals, with homes listed for a median 11 days before being sold, according to CoreLogic data calculated for Guardian Australia.

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Former Australian spy Alisdair Putt dies during ‘World’s Toughest Row’ across the Atlantic

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Race organisers say former war crimes investigator suffered a heart attack while skippering a boat from the Canary Islands to Antigua

A former Australian spy and war crimes investigator has died skippering a rowing boat in a race across the Atlantic Ocean.

Alisdair Putt, who had planned to spend his 62nd birthday on the boat, suffered a heart attack while competing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic rowing race from the Canary Islands to Antigua.

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Unit owners in Sydney’s Mascot Towers offered chance to wipe debts years after defects found

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Deal suggested by NSW building commissioner comes after residents were forced to evacuate in 2019

Owners of apartments in Sydney’s Mascot Towers may reach a potential settlement to clear massive debts for the first time since being forced to evacuate their units due to defects.

The New South Wales building commissioner, David Chandler, has offered a lifeline to residents of the buildings, in the city’s inner-south, who have been faced with significant repair bills since cracks were discovered in the basement in 2019.

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Baby in critical condition in Victoria after being delivered in ‘freebirth’

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Ambulance Victoria says woman and baby taken to hospital after incident in town of Ocean Grove

A newborn baby is in a critical condition in hospital after being delivered in an apparent “freebirth” in regional Victoria.

The medical industry has expressed concern about the practice, which is typically characterised as a birth without help from a healthcare professional.

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Sleeper services may return on Sydney-Melbourne route after new trains arrive, as night patronage booms

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Exclusive: NSW government says it is open to all options even though new rolling stock, now due in 2026, will have reclining seats only

The permanent withdrawal of sleeper carriages on Sydney-Melbourne trains may be averted after new rolling stock enters service, thanks to the increasing popularity of intercity rail.

New Spanish-built trains ordered by the previous Coalition government were initially meant to enter service in January 2023, but are now not expected to be running before April 2026. As yet, there is no firm arrival date.

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The Greens ring in the new year with a new fight over Australia’s housing crisis

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Adam Bandt signals new rent freeze push and criticises ‘tax cuts for billionaires’ as Labor aims to get ‘help to buy’ scheme through parliament

New year, new housing fight.

The Labor government may have started the year keen to talk cost-of-living relief and housing solutions, but the Greens have entered 2024 vowing to push the Albanese government to make actual change.

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Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers call for substantial damages despite ‘unsatisfactory’ evidence in defamation case

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Network Ten describes former Liberal staffer as ‘fundamentally dishonest’ in submissions released by federal court

Bruce Lehrmann’s legal team has accepted their client’s evidence in his defamation trial against Network Ten was “in a number of respects unsatisfactory”, but not to the extent that he is a “compulsive liar” or had raped Brittany Higgins, newly released documents reveal.

In written closing submissions released by the federal court on Friday, Lehrmann’s legal team also said the defence “significantly and unfairly” overstated the “acknowledged problems” with parts of his evidence.

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Rubbish bin and rocks used in attack on mobile speed camera in Melbourne that injured operator

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Police say group jumped on the car in Coburg and shattered windows in what union calls ‘horrific planned assault’

A mobile speed camera operator has been injured after his car was attacked by five men in a Melbourne street.

The blue SUV, fixed with traffic cameras in its rear window, was operating on Nicholson Street at Coburg in the early hours of Friday morning when it was attacked.

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Opposition says Australia should not support South Africa’s ‘unbalanced’ genocide case against Israel

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Albanese yet to reveal government’s stance on South Africa’s case in international court of justice but Coalition says Australia must support Israel’s right to defend itself

The opposition has urged the Albanese government to rule out any support for what it says is South Africa’s “unbalanced” case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ).

The “unprecedented” case brought by South Africa at the beginning of the year will be heard in The Hague on 11 and 12 January with the potential for a provisional ruling within weeks. It accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has called the allegations “a despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the ICJ and urged the court to reject it.

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Man charged over alleged New Year’s Eve sexual assault of NSW aged care resident

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Woman in 70s taken to hospital after kicking accused in groin and scratching his face during attack in Coffs Harbour nursing home, police say

A man has been charged with breaking into an aged care home and allegedly assaulting an elderly woman on New Year’s Eve on the New South Wales north coast.

Emergency services were called to an aged care home in Coffs Harbour at about 2.30am on Monday after reports a woman aged in her 70s had been sexually assaulted, NSW police said on Friday.

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Government to subsidise $79 flights to Cairns from across Australia to kickstart cyclone recovery

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Qantas and Jetstar to offer special airfares, with accommodation deals to come, as Queensland premier insists region is ‘open for business’ after Cyclone Jasper

Images of Tropical Cyclone Jasper’s devastating impact on far north Queensland may have driven away tourists during peak season.

But the Queensland premier, Steven Miles, insists the region is “open for business”, making a $5m pitch to lure visitors back.

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Authorities investigate cause of fire at Sydney e-bike workshop

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Blaze broke out at Croydon building Friday morning, with firefighters highlighting risks from lithium batteries

An e-bike workshop has been destroyed in an early morning fire in Sydney’s inner west, causing road closures along the suburb’s shopping strip.

Residents were woken just before 5am on Friday after the fire broke out at the building on Elizabeth Street in Croydon.

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Biggest male funnel-web spider dubbed ‘Hercules’ found north of Sydney

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Spider measuring record 7.9cm across is almost as big as largest female collected in 2021, which was named Megaspider by Australian Reptile Park

With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail, the largest male specimen of the world’s most venomous arachnid has found a new home at the Australian Reptile Park where it will help save lives after a member of the public discovered it by chance.

The potentially deadly Sydney funnel-web spider dubbed “Hercules” was found on the Central Coast, about 80km north of Sydney, and was initially given to a local hospital, the Australian Reptile Park said in a statement.

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