Category Archives: Australia news

Mona’s Ladies Lounge wins appeal in bid to continue barring men from entry

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Tasmania’s supreme court handed down its decision in the discrimination case on Friday, sending it back to a tribunal

Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) has won an appeal in the state’s supreme court in a bid to continue barring men from entering an installation known as the Ladies Lounge.

The exhibit was closed in April after Tasmania’s civil and administrative tribunal ordered the museum to admit men to the female-only space, upholding a Sydney man’s complaint that the museum had discriminated against him on the basis of gender.

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Israel ‘needs to listen’ to international community, Albanese says as Wong calls for Lebanon and Gaza ceasefires

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‘War has rules – even when confronting terrorists,’ Australia’s foreign affairs minister tells UN security council

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has urged his Israeli counterpart to “listen to the international community” amid fears of an escalating conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, also declared that the world “cannot allow any party to obstruct” peace in the Middle East as she pressed for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

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Mirror-like offering by supermarket giants may be stifling vigorous competition, ACCC report says

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Australian Competition and Consumer Commission uses special information gathering powers to examine ‘concerning’ reports from grocery suppliers

Australia’s major supermarkets provide broadly similar products, prices and loyalty programs in an oligopolistic market that may limit incentives to compete vigorously, the competition regulator has found in its interim report on the sector.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also said grocery suppliers had raised “concerning” issues – such as being required to pay rebates for promotions to supermarkets – prompting the regulator to use its compulsory information gathering powers to examine the reported behaviour.

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Walkley-award winning journalist to investigate potential issues in ABC’s Line of Fire reports

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Alan Sunderland to undertake independent review of online article and 7.30 story about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan

The ABC has appointed veteran journalist and media executive Alan Sunderland to undertake an independent review of the broadcaster’s Line of Fire reports about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan.

The Line of Fire reports concern an online article and 7.30 story by one of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, Mark Willacy from the ABC’s Investigations unit.

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Peter Dutton says if Mark Scott had ‘any shred of integrity’ he would resign as University of Sydney vice-chancellor

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Call comes after Scott apologises for university’s handling of antisemitism complaints

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has called for the University of Sydney vice-chancellor, Mark Scott, to resign, saying he would do so if he had “any shred of integrity”.

The university has come under fire for its handling of protest camps set up on campus in opposition to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 attack.

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Three charges including one of rape against high-profile Sydney man withdrawn during trial

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The man is accused of raping five women, with charges regarding a sixth withdrawn on Thursday. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges

A high-profile Sydney man has had three charges against him – including one count of rape – withdrawn for an undisclosed reason and the complainant will no longer appear before the court.

The complainant who alleged the man had assaulted her three times, which led to the charges, was set to be the sixth and final complainant to appear before the New South Wales Downing Centre district court.

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NSW MP Gareth Ward says he went to parliament in his underwear at 4am after being locked out of his apartment

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Member for Kiama denies he was drunk at the time and says some media reports concerning the incident are ‘defamatory’

New South Wales politician Gareth Ward has denied being drunk when he went to state parliament at 4am on a Sunday morning in July, insisting he was simply collecting a spare key after locking himself out of his apartment in his underwear.

The Kiama MP said he made the eight-minute trip to parliament on foot from his Potts Point apartment on the “freezing” morning because he’d been locked out without his phone.

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RBA warns two factors risk increasing number of Australians caught in mortgage struggle

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Vast majority of borrowers servicing their debts but arrears could grow if economy slows more than expected, bank says

The number of Australians in financial stress is “small” but will be “magnified” if the economy slows more than expected or interest rates linger higher for longer, the Reserve Bank has warned.

While overseas challenges – including a faltering Chinese economy – could also upset forecasts, Australia’s financial system continued “to display a high level of resilience”, the bank said in its semi-annual financial stability review.

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ADF may assist Australians in Lebanon but government warns it can’t help everyone flee

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Defence force personnel already deployed to the Middle East may be called on to help in an evacuation operation after Israel said it was preparing for a possible ground operation

Australian defence force personnel who are already deployed to the Middle East may be called on to help in an evacuation operation from Lebanon as fears of a regional war escalate.

Government-wide contingency planning and talks with allies have been under way for “many months”, but there is no indication that a major Australian rescue operation is imminent.

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Man charged with murder after allegedly stabbing rugby league player in Sydney’s Marrickville

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Police arrest 31-year-old man in Concord after Sitaleki Filihiahekava died on Monday evening

A man will face court over the alleged stabbing death of another man on a busy Sydney street.

The 31-year-old was arrested at Concord in the city’s inner-west on Wednesday afternoon and is due to face Burwood local court charged with murder on Thursday.

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Opposition leader calls for university’s leaders to quit – as it happened

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The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has joined an international push “to hold the Taliban to account” under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Wong says:

We know the women and girls of Afghanistan are effectively being erased from public life by the various edicts the Taliban … have issued.

The steps we are taking with Germany, Canada and the Netherlands are unprecedented. We are intending to use the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to which Afghanistan is a party, to take action.

If I can … say again to the Australian Lebanese community. This is a deeply distressing situation for so many of you. I know that there are many Australians in Lebanon. There are many Australians who have relatives, family and friends in Lebanon. I again urge Australians in Lebanon to leave now. There are flight cancelations and disruptions, and there is a risk that Beirut airport may close for an extended period of time.

Please do not wait for a preferred route. Please take the first option you can to leave. We continue to monitor the situation closely. We have been working with partners on contingency plans now for many months but I again say to anyone who any Australian who is in Lebanon: please leave now.

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Albanese government to launch storybook to teach children from culturally diverse backgrounds about consent

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My Superhero Voice, which will be available online, is careful not to single out a particular religion or culture

The Australian government will launch a storybook aimed at teaching children from multicultural backgrounds about body safety and consent on Wednesday, but experts say “there is still more to do”.

The book, titled My Superhero Voice, is part of the government’s One Talk at a Time campaign, aimed at preventing child sexual abuse. It was developed by the National Office for Child Safety and consulting agency Cultural Perspectives.

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Contraceptive pill available over the counter for more women in NSW after ‘huge success’ of trial

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No requirement to go to GP for new prescription for pill, as long as it has been taken for at least two years

More women in New South Wales will have easier access to the oral contraceptive pill as a trial designed to reduce pressure on the state’s healthcare system becomes permanent.

Under the changes, from Saturday women will be able to get a resupply of their pill from a certified pharmacist without needing to go back to the doctor for a new prescription – as long as they have been taking the medication for two years.

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Several Labor MPs ‘open’ to reforms to negative gearing to address housing crisis

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Some politicians welcome a fresh and bold response to address affordability, while others wary of resurrecting a debate lost at the 2019 election

Some Labor MPs say the government shouldn’t be afraid of considering reforms to negative gearing, with several caucus members saying they were “open” to fresh and bolder responses to the housing crisis.

But others are wary of reopening a debate lost at the 2019 election, calling for caution amid concerns of an election scare campaign.

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NSW public housing official allegedly told woman she would get a home faster if she had sex with him

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Exclusive: Woman says she was ‘desperate’ to find a home for her and her child and was ‘preyed’ on by the staffer

Police are investigating a Homes New South Wales employee, who is alleged to have propositioned a woman on the waitlist for public housing, claiming that if she had sex with him he would arrange for her and her child to get into a home faster.

The woman, who is a survivor of domestic violence and had fled in order to escape her ex-partner, said the man sent her explicit text messages from his work phone and picked her up to take her for sexual encounters in his work car.

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‘A very brave thing to do’: all-nude play about boomers v gen Z to premiere at Sydney’s Griffin theatre

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An influencer on the run crashes a community of naturalists, in one of five new Australian plays premiering at the theatre in 2025

Boomer naturists will face off with a gen Z influencer in an all-nude comedy at Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company next year, one of five new Australian plays premiering in its 2025 season.

Naturism, by Sydney playwright Ang Collins, is a comedy about a gen Z eco-influencer (played by Camila Ponte Alvarez) on the run who crashes a remote, off-grid bush eco-paradise created by a group of nudist baby boomers. The entire cast will perform nude for most of the play’s duration.

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Man jailed for pretending to rob Sydney jewellery store in $2.8m insurance fraud plot

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Shanel Tofaeono tied up store employee whose hands were ‘shaking so much due to fear’, judge says

A man who pretended to rob a luxury jewellery store and tied up a terrified employee as part of an alleged $2.8m insurance fraud plot has been jailed for his crime.

Shanel Tofaeono, 39, was part of a wider scheme allegedly headed up by jeweller Michel Germani to stage a robbery of his Hilton hotel store in Sydney’s CBD in January 2022.

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Greens MP invokes Whitlam in public housing push – as it happened

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Plibersek approves three coalmine expansions

We have more on environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s approval of three coalmine expansions on Tuesday from Graham Readfearn here.

There’s a range of everyday common health conditions that are unnecessarily blocking up our emergency departments and contributing to those wait times to see our precious general practitioners.

We would love to see more GPs. Who doesn’t love their local family doctor? My wife and I and our children certainly do. But we all know how difficult it is to not only find one, find one that bulk-bills, but find one that hasn’t closed their books and can take an appointment. That’s not just in the bush, that’s in our major capital cities as well, whether it’s after 6pm or on a weekend, when your local pharmacy is open.

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Rightmove rejects third bid from Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group

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Australian company says it is frustrated that UK property website has refused to engage over £6.1bn offer

Rightmove has rejected a third bid from Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group and said the offer was “unattractive” and undervalues the UK’s largest online property portal.

On Wednesday Rightmove confirmed that its board had “unanimously rejected” the non-binding cash-and-shares offer put forward on Monday, which valued the company at £6.1bn.

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‘It’s a deadly gamble’: NSW urged to act on ‘growing threat’ of nitazenes amid push for drug-checking services

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Exclusive: Legalise Cannabis party MP calls on government to recognise that powerful synthetic opioids ‘aren’t just another drug’

The New South Wales government will be asked to formally recognise the powerful synthetic opioids called nitazenes as a “growing threat” as it faces calls to introduce drug-checking services.

The Legalise Cannabis party MP, Jeremy Buckingham, will move a motion in state parliament on Wednesday night to acknowledge that nitazenes are an emerging problem, including for people who don’t typically take opioids.

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