Category Archives: Australia news

‘Like a ghost howling’: ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily to bring heavy rain to Queensland as Townsville residents survey damage

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Premier Steven Miles says ‘we’re not out of the woods’ with BoM weather warnings issued as former category three cyclone downgraded

The cleanup from ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily has begun in north Queensland after the weather system was downgraded to a tropical low.

Damaging winds and rainfall totals from 100-150mm hit the region on Thursday evening but minimal property damage was recorded and no lives were lost.

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BHP and Vale ordered to pay $15bn in damages for 2015 Brazil dam collapse

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Mining companies and their joint venture Samarco ordered by Brazilian judge to pay AU$14.7bn over disaster that killed 19 people

A Brazilian judge has ruled that mining companies Vale and BHP and their joint venture Samarco must pay 47.6bn reais (AU$14.7 bn) in damages for a 2015 tailings dam burst, according to a legal decision seen by Reuters.

Vale, a Brazilian company, and BHP, an Australian listed company, said in separate statements they were not informed by the judiciary about the decision.

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Australian of the Year 2024: pioneering melanoma researchers Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer named as winners

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The scientists are credited with saving thousands of lives with their work on skin cancer and called on advertising to stop ‘glamourising’ tanning

One of the pioneering melanoma researchers named Australian of the Year gave has given an emotionally charged speech about his own devastating cancer diagnosis and told the audience “I don’t want to die”.

Prof Richard Scolyer and his research partner Prof Georgina Long – who were presented with the Australian of the Year 2024 in Canberra on Thursday night – are credited with saving the lives of thousands of Australians whose diagnoses of skin cancer would once have proven fatal but are now largely curable.

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NSW government funds investigations into possible clandestine burials at three Stolen Generations sites

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Search widens beyond Kinchela boys’ home to include Cootamundra girls’ home and Bomaderry infants’ home

The New South Wales government is funding investigations into possible clandestine burials at three Stolen Generations institutions, confirming that the search has widened beyond the notorious Kinchela boys’ home, where multiple sites of possible clandestine burials were discovered last year.

In September, Guardian Australia revealed there are at least nine “suspicious” sites of possible graves on the grounds of Kinchela Aboriginal Boys’ Training Home, one of the most violent and abusive institutions of the Stolen Generations era.

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Labor urged to press on with stalled treaty body after failed voice vote

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Exclusive: Indigenous leader Marcus Stewart says ‘more need than ever’ for Makaratta commission after referendum highlights disparities

The federal government should press on with the stalled Makarrata commission to oversee treaty and truth-telling processes with Indigenous Australians, a key adviser on the voice referendum says, adding there is “more need than ever” for such progress after the defeat of the October vote.

Marcus Stewart, a former co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, said the unsuccessful referendum campaign had highlighted the gaping disparities in health and social outcomes for Indigenous people. He said the renewed focus on those shortfalls should encourage federal and state governments to continue moving forward on treaty and truth – and to bring both yes and no voters with them.

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‘It’s a no-brainer’: what voters in upcoming Dunkley byelection say about Labor’s stage-three tax cut changes

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Victorian electorate will be first test of support for overhaul that shifts more of the benefit to low- and middle-income earners amid cost-of-living pressures

Ilene Jones’s wishlist for a tax cut is simple – more money to spend on school fees, a laptop for her son and groceries.

“It’s just the basics. It’s not extravagant,” she says.

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‘It’s taken a toll’: burnout drives auction of vintage Holdens at Australian museum

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Seven classic cars and naming rights of country’s longest-running museum of the iconic vehicle up for grabs as owners of 30 years say they need a break

The National Holden motor museum will put its name and its classic cars up for auction after failing to find a buyer to take it over.

The closures marks the end of longest, continously running, single-maker motor museum in Australia and the end of a local fixture in the regional Victorian town of Echuca.

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Australia news live: Townsville residents advised to shelter in place ahead of Cyclone Kirrily reaching Queensland coast

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The latest advice from the Bureau of Meteorology is that Tropical Cyclone Kirrily will begin crossing the coast from 10pm tonight. Follow the day’s news live

As we flagged just earlier, wind gusts associated with Tropical Cyclone Kirrily have already begun around the Whitsundays, with gusts over 100km/h.

In a Facebook group for Whitsundays locals, a new resident has asked an innocent question:

Hey there I’m kind of new to town from Melbourne. Does anyone know how to tie my tree down so that it doesn’t blow away?

“I would use fairy lights.”

“If you hop around clockwise on your left leg 3 times and then do a Kangaroo hop to the right, the drop bears will take care of it by having the tree extend it’s roots deeper.”

“If you’re really from Melbourne you would know how to tie down a tree with the windy crap weather down there. Ride a kangaroo to bunnings [and] get some ratchets.”

“From the state of the supermarket shelves I’m guessing everyone is using toilet paper to tie their trees down.”

“Take the leaves off and store inside. The rest will be fine.”

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Tropical Cyclone Kirrily crosses Queensland coast at Townsville

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Kirrily downgraded to category-one storm by BoM after heading inland on Thursday night

Tropical Cyclone Kirrily has crossed the coast of Queensland bringing heavy rain and very strong wind gusts.

The cyclone had been updated to a category-three storm on Thursday afternoon and crossed the Queensland coast at Townsville at 10pm. But it was then downgraded first to a category-two storm and then category one as it made its way inland, the Queensland Bureau of Meteorology said.

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Sussan Ley retreats from comments suggesting Coalition would repeal Labor’s stage-three tax cut changes

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Deputy opposition leader denies promising to roll back Albanese government’s changes and says Labor ‘lied’ about the tax cuts

The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has walked back earlier comments suggesting the Coalition would repeal Labor’s revamped tax cuts that more than double tax relief for Australians on the average income.

On Thursday, Ley clarified that the opposition’s position is to “support the existing stage-three arrangements” but denied promising to roll them back in a bid to head off a Labor campaign that the Coalition will claw back low and middle-income tax relief.

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Captain Cook statue sawn off and Queen Victoria monument defaced in Melbourne on eve of 26 January

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Both monuments reportedly spray-painted with ‘The colony will fall’ in apparent protest against Australia Day date

Victoria police are investigating “criminal damage” to a century-old Captain Cook statue in St Kilda in an apparent protest over the Australia Day public holiday.

Another statue, of Queen Victoria near the Melbourne city centre, was doused in red paint.

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Australia’s wholesale power prices fall by almost half as carbon emissions drop

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Grid faces fresh strains as heatwave roasting inland Queensland and NSW extends to Sydney

Wholesale power prices across Australia’s main electricity market almost halved at the end of 2023 compared with a year earlier, stoking hopes households may soon see smaller bills.

Spot prices in the National Electricity Market (Nem) that serves the eastern and southern states fell to an average of $48 a megawatt-hour in the December quarter, down 48% on the previous year, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) said in a report released on Thursday. Carbon emissions also dropped to record lows.

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Albanese promises to double tax relief for average income Australians in stage-three overhaul

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Prime minister to use National Press Club address to defend new plan as the ‘right thing to do’

Anthony Albanese has pledged to more than double tax relief for Australians on the average income in a suite of low and middle income tax cuts paid for by trimming benefits to high income earners.

At the National Press Club on Thursday the prime minister will defend Labor’s plan by arguing it will still deliver “a tax cut for every taxpayer” and that modification of the stage-three tax cuts was “the right thing to do” in changed economic circumstances.

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Tropical Cyclone Kirrily forms as category one storm with Queensland coastal crossing likely on Thursday

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BoM warns of damaging winds, intense rainfall and flash flooding for some areas as residents urged to prepare and monitor forecasts

Tropical Cyclone Kirrily has officially been declared, developing into a category one storm in the Coral Sea, the Bureau of Meteorology has announced.

The storm is “expected to continue strengthening as it tracks west south-west towards the Queensland coast”, the BoM said on Wednesday evening.

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Three dead after being pulled from water off Phillip Island – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Morrison to take up separate position at Dyne Asset Management

As we brought you just earlier, Scott Morrison will be taking up a role with international advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies after his resignation from politics late February.

Well, firstly, I think we should be quite thoughtful of which category we’re talking about for farmers. If you’re talking about fruits and vegetables, we are in material deflation and have been for about four months … That is because of demand and supply in Australia. It’s a domestic product, it’s subject to demand and supply. It is causing pain for many of those farmers. But hopefully that situation will change with regard to the new year.

… We buy directly [where we can] from farmers, and we try and smooth out the price that they get so that they can plan and manage their business effectively.

But when you look at the red meat index, it does look like it’s trending up based on what’s happening offshore. So these things do flow through …

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Andrew O’Keefe avoids jail time for assault and drug possession convictions

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Judge tells court assault was ‘violent and degrading’ as former TV host ordered to serve 18 months on community corrections order

The former TV host Andrew O’Keefe has avoided jail despite being found guilty of “violent and degrading” domestic attacks.

The broadcaster was hit with three sets of charges over multiple incidents in 2021, including assault causing actual bodily harm, breaching a domestic violence order and possession of the synthetic stimulant drug mephedrone. O’Keefe denied the charges.

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In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

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Asbestos found in mulch at new sites across Sydney following earlier Rozelle parklands discovery

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Hazardous material found in mulch at railway substations in Dulwich Hill, Canterbury and Campsie and alongside Prospect Highway, authorities say

Asbestos has been found in garden mulch at new locations in Sydney’s inner-west and west after the discovery of contamination at the Rozelle parklands earlier this month prompted wider testing.

The Transport for NSW (TfNSW) secretary, Josh Murray, confirmed on Wednesday that asbestos had been detected in recycled mulch used at three railway electricity substations as well as in landscaping works along a highway.

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Stage-three tax cut changes will have minimal effect on inflation, economists predict

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Banks say tax tweaks approved by Anthony Albanese’s cabinet may slow pace of RBA interest rate cuts and further reforms are needed to fill budget shortfalls

The Albanese government’s changes to the stage-three tax cuts won’t reignite inflation, although they may slow the pace of Reserve Bank interest rate cuts and more reforms are needed to close future budget gaps, economists say.

Cabinet has approved a revision to the cuts, legislated in 2019, that extends tax relief to those earning less than $45,000 a year to be paid for by reducing the benefit to higher-income earners, with full details still be formally released.

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WA police seize 30 tonnes of gold-bearing ore at back yard refinery allegedly linked to bikies

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Police charge 20 people with a total of 56 offences in three-day Kalgoorlie operation as part of crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs

Western Australian police say they have busted a backyard gold refinery in Kalgoorlie, seizing more than 30 tonnes of gold-bearing ore that was allegedly stolen from the region’s mines.

Investigators believe the alleged racket was connected with outlaw motorcycle gangs, and the gold-bearing ore was stolen with the intention of refining and laundering the gold to gain cash to purchase illicit drugs that would be sold to the community.

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Alice is among a growing number of Victorians battling this flesh-eating ulcer. Scientists say they now know why

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As Buruli ulcer cases rise in Victoria, Australian researchers say they have finally solved the ‘transmission enigma’

When Alice Mika was bitten by a mosquito last summer in Melbourne’s west, she didn’t think anything of it.

Then, a small raised bump appeared on her ankle more than five months later and wouldn’t go away. She saw her GP who prescribed antibiotics, believing it to be a spider bite.

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