Category Archives: Australia news

Two killed by freight train in Sydney as attempted track rescue ends in tragedy

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A woman was being helped off Berowra tracks by a man when both of them were struck, police said

An apparent train track rescue has ended in tragedy for two people in northern Sydney.

A woman, aged in her 30s, was being helped off the tracks at Berowra by a man, aged in his 20s, when they were both hit by a freight train about midnight on Friday, police said.

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NSW Liberals propose weakening unfair-dismissal protections under new industrial relations platform

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The policy platform, to be considered later this month, also seeks to abandon annual wage rises for middle and high income earners on award safety nets

The New South Wales Liberals are set to adopt an industrial relations policy to water down unfair-dismissal protections and abandon annual wage rises for middle and high income earners on award safety nets.

The policy, to be considered at the state council annual general meeting later in February, is an ambitious blueprint for reforms to the federal Fair Work Act likely to spark a hostile reaction from unions over weakening worker protections.

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Paedophile deported from Australia worked as lifeguard in the UK

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Dean Carelse, a South African, was convicted in Queensland and left the country after being refused a visa before getting a job at Butlin’s in England

A convicted pedophile who was deported from Australia was working as a lifeguard at a holiday camp in the UK until his background was uncovered by reporters.

Dean Carelse, 43, was convicted in 2022 of more than 20 offences including indecent treatment of a child under 16, possessing child exploitation material and grooming a child under 16.

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US military stockpiling supplies in Australia in readiness for any confrontation with China

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American war planners used joint Talisman Sabre exercises to position equipment in northern Victoria

When US and Australian troops practised amphibious landings, ground combat and air operations last year, they drew headlines about the allies deepening defence cooperation to counter China’s growing military ambitions.

But for US war planners preparing for a potential conflict over Taiwan, the high-profile Talisman Sabre exercises had a far more discrete value: they helped create new stockpiles of military equipment that were established in Australia after the drills ended in August, US officials said.

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Sydney Harbour shark bite: NSW Ambulance apologises after staffer leaked photo of victim’s injuries

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Family of Lauren O’Neill told ‘we believe a NSW Ambulance staff member was responsible’ for leak after St Vincent’s hospital launched investigation

A New South Wales ambulance staff member is responsible for leaking an image of a shark bite victim’s injuries from inside the hospital, the state’s health department has revealed.

NSW Ambulance said in a statement on Thursday afternoon it had apologised to the family of Lauren O’Neill over the incident.

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‘Deliberate lie’: education lobby group says ‘landmark’ school agreement falls short of 100% funding

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Federal and WA state governments’ public school funding deal dismissed as ‘not good enough’ by Australian Education Union

Education experts say a “landmark” deal to fully fund Western Australia’s public schools by 2026 is “not good enough” and still lets the state government “off the hook”.

The “statement of intent”, announced on Wednesday by education minister, Jason Clare, would increase funding for Western Australian public schools by $1.6bn over the next five years, with $770m coming from the commonwealth.

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New Zealand to be briefed on Aukus – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC RN, and says news that the inflation rate has plunged to a two-year low of 4.1% is “welcoming, encouraging progress”.

… We know that people are still under pressure and we need to not be complacent about it. We need to continue to work as we have with our three point plan, having the surplus, making sure we deal with cost of living pressures without putting pressure on inflation, and dealing with … supply-chain issues as well.

With parliament resuming next week, this is a wake-up call that 2024 is the last chance for meaningful democratic reform ahead of the 2025 election …

Australians should go to the next election with strict political donation disclosure laws, truth in political advertising laws in force and information about who’s meeting ministers made public as a matter of course.

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Kurtley Beale trial: ‘convince him he is guilty’, alleged sexual assault victim wrote in taped call note

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Rugby union star has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting woman at Beach Road Hotel in December 2022

A woman accusing rugby star Kurtley Beale of rape made hand-written notes to herself before confronting him with the allegations in a secretly recorded phone call, a court has heard.

One of the notes mentioned trying to “convince him he is guilty and not innocent”, the court heard on Thursday.

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Wong signals Labor wants to resume UN agency funding to ensure ‘fewer children are starving’ in Gaza

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Australian foreign minister says UNRWA is only organisation that can provide substantive support to occupied Palestinian territories

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has signalled that resuming Australia’s funding to a key UN agency delivering aid to Gaza is the only realistic route “if we are serious about trying to ensure that fewer children are starving”.

Wong has directed Australia’s humanitarian coordinator, Beth Delaney, to “lead urgent work coordinating with like-minded partners as well as UNRWA” to work out the next steps, after more than 10 countries suspended funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

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Australia Post apologises after workers underpaid by $5.6m over 10 years due to ‘payroll errors’

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Postal service says 3,600 current and former employees will receive any owed pay with interest and super where applicable

Australia Post has apologised after admitting to “payroll errors” that saw 3,600 employees underpaid by $5.6m over a decade.

The postal service says affected workers still employed by the corporation will have their outstanding wages added to their next pay cheque.

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Medicare turns 40: is Australia’s ‘little green card’ keeping up with changing health needs?

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Medicare’s universality under threat as chronic disease, mental illness and an aging population increase out-of-pocket costs, experts say

When Dr Brian Morton became a trainee general practitioner in 1977, healthcare bills were the number one cause of personal bankruptcies in Australia.

On more than one occasion Morton provided treatment to patients who couldn’t afford to pay. “If someone turned up, you wouldn’t turn them away,” he says.

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Australia’s property market upswing continues as house prices and rents rise again

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Home values rose 0.4% in January and rents increased 0.8%, but the housing market remained varied around the country

The Australian housing market upswing continued in the first month of 2024 with property values rising another 0.4%.

As house prices rose, renters continued to feel pain, with the national rental index recording its biggest monthly rise since April. Rents were up 0.8% in January, after a 0.65% rise in December.

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‘Literally off the charts’: global coral reef heat stress monitor forced to add new alerts as temperatures rise

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Three new levels added by US Coral Reef Watch after ‘extreme’ unprecedented heat, with highest alert warning of ‘near complete mortality’

The world’s main system for warning about heat stress on the planet’s coral reefs has been forced to add three new alert categories to represent ever-increasing temperature extremes.

The changes introduced by the US government’s Coral Reef Watch program come after reefs across the Americas were hit by unprecedented levels of heat stress last year that bleached and killed corals en masse.

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Court orders temporary halt to logging in Tasmanian forest ahead of swift parrot case

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Bob Brown Foundation wants logging banned in area of forest south of Hobart, claiming it is breeding habitat for endangered bird

Conservationists have won a temporary injunction to stop logging in an area of forest south of Hobart they say is breeding habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot.

The Tasmanian supreme court granted the injunction on Wednesday afternoon pending a hearing of the legal challenge brought by the Bob Brown Foundation.

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Australia and top allies in talks over UN aid funding in Gaza

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Albanese government is yet to publicly outline conditions to reinstate funding to UNRWA but it is unlikely to move before US or UK

The Australian government is in talks with close allies including the US and the UK to consider conditions to reinstate funding to a key United Nations agency delivering aid in Gaza.

The talks come after Australia and other donor countries met with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, in New York to discuss the investigations into UNRWA staffers over alleged involvement in the 7 October attacks on Israel.

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Cost of negative gearing and other rental deductions soaring, Australian treasury data reveals

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The latest ranking of revenue foregone shows the usual suspects topping the list

Concessions for superannuation cost the federal budget almost $50bn a year while rental deductions, much of them for negative gearing, have jumped by more than half in three years, the annual treasury summary of tax expenditures shows.

The ranking of revenue foregone in 2023-24, released on Wednesday, was headed by many of the usual groups, finding for example that shielding taxpayers’ main residence from capital gains taxes, saved them a combined $47.5bn for the year, up about a third from 2018-19.

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Australia news live: murder charge laid after ‘long, sad journey’ for disappeared 23-year-old’s family

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Ms Bernard, a Kowanyama woman, was last seen at Archer River quarry on 10 February in 2013. Follow the day’s news live

Update on Queensland flooding

Senior BoM meteorologist Angus Hines spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier to provide an update on the rain and flooding in Queensland.

Last night the rainfall totals were between 50mm and 120mm which is still a very significant dose of rain, but bear in mind this time yesterday we were talking about 300mm leading to widespread flooding.

We could see these rivers with elevated levels for the next several days, as it will take a while for those flood waters to drain out, long past when the rainfall conditions have cleared up.

The goal for the AI taskforce is to be a trusted source of expert advice and assistance for the Law Society, and through it, for the solicitor profession across NSW. Its members will be drawn from the law, justice system, academia, and government.

The work of the taskforce will enhance the Law Society’s work to ensure that NSW leads the way in harnessing the best that AI has to offer for the legal profession while mitigating the risks.

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Australia’s inflation rate retreats to two-year low fanning hopes next RBA move will be a rate cut

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CPI came in at 4.1% in the December quarter, easing from the September quarter pace of 5.4%

Australia’s inflation retreated to a two-year low in the December quarter as food and fuel prices increased at a slower pace, fanning hopes the next move by the Reserve Bank will be an interest rate cut.

The consumer price index came in at 4.1% in the final three months of 2023 compared with a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had expected CPI to come in at 4.3%, easing from the September quarter pace of 5.4%.

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Turtle deaths surge in Moreton Bay as advocates decry ‘loosey-goosey’ waterway policing

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Exclusive: Locals say ‘huge penalities and fines’ needed after deaths increased almost 90% in one year

Turtle deaths in a key south-east Queensland habitat have increased 87% in a single year and there are concerns that uncontrolled boating, four-wheel driving and discarded crab pots could result in more fatalities.

The annual turtle death toll average in the Bribie Island area – which includes Beachmere to Caloundra, Pumicestone Passage and Bribie Island – had been at 36 for a decade.

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Vape stores clustered around schools and in the most disadvantaged suburbs, Australian study finds

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Almost nine out of 10 the shops are within walking distance of schools, WA audit discovers

Vape stores are concentrated around schools and in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, Australian researchers have shown for the first time in an audit of dedicated shops in Western Australia.

The study led by researchers from the University of Notre Dame Australia and published on Wednesday in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health found almost nine out of 10 vape stores were within walking distance of schools.

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