Category Archives: Australia news

Labor’s sexual harassment changes could clog courts with ‘unmeritorious’ claims, Law Council warns

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Costs protection bill would tilt balance in favour of accusers and move financial risk to accused, legal body says

The Law Council of Australia has warned that proposed changes removing cost barriers for applicants in sexual harassment and discrimination cases could result in “arbitrary and unintended consequences” such as clogging the courts with “unmeritorious” claims.

Before a parliamentary inquiry hearing into the bill next Wednesday, the peak legal body said in its submission it was concerned Labor’s bill too heavily tilted the balance towards those accusing sexual harassment and placed the burden of financial risk on those being accused.

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Australia not prepared for how Antarctic ice changes will hit economy, scientist warns

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Exclusive: Prof Matt King says accelerated melting could transform country and affect viability of some agricultural industries

A leading Antarctic scientist has urged the Albanese government to pay closer attention to abrupt changes under way in the southern continent, warning they will affect Australians in ways that are little understood and research into them is drastically underfunded.

The head of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, Prof Matt King, said he found it embarrassing how little was known about the local and global ramifications of changes including a historic drop in floating sea ice cover, the accelerating melting of giant ice sheets and the slowing of a deep ocean current known as the Southern Ocean overturning circulation.

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Child among asylum seekers returned to country of origin after being sent from Australia to Nauru

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Home affairs department confirms eight of the 11 people flown to island nation in September have since returned home

Eight of the 11 asylum seekers taken to Nauru in September – including a woman and child – have returned to their country of origin.

In October Guardian Australia revealed the transfer, the first by Australia to the regional processing centre in nine years, which occurred just months after the last asylum seekers were removed from the Pacific nation.

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Heatwave scorches states from east to west as temperatures soar across Australia

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Heat warnings have been issued to residents in NSW, South Australia and Western Australia about rising temperatures this weekend

A withering heatwave has spread across three states with temperatures in parts of northern Western Australia reaching towards 50C, and the goldmining town of Kalgoorlie still without power after a rare super-cell storm.

Heat warnings have been issued to residents in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia about rising temperatures on Sunday, with the Pilbara in northern WA a hotspot.

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Police hunt alleged $8.7m Melbourne property swindler and warn of ‘pig butchering’ scams

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Detectives believe man is targeting single women – while AFP shines spotlight on romance fraud

Law enforcement agencies are on the hunt for a man accused of stealing millions from property market investors as police warn Australians to be on guard against “pig butchering” scams before Valentine’s Day.

A Victorian man is alleged to have fleeced wannabe property market investors of $8.7m by claiming to be a developer who offers to help people demolish their homes and build townhouses in their place.

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Jobseeker endured 11 weeks without Centrelink payments but was still forced to attend job agency appointments

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Advocates say government failing to meet ‘basic obligation’ to process claims quickly after Tim McCabe spent weeks with ‘no income’

A New South Wales jobseeker says he was forced to complete welfare mutual obligations – including a 50km round trip for job agency appointments and enrolling in training courses – despite receiving no welfare payments for 11 weeks.

Tim McCabe, 60, said he had applied for the jobseeker payment on 1 November after moving off a carer’s payment when his mother died.

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Storms and wet weather forecast for northern Australia with Cyclone Kirrily expected to develop off Queensland

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Heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding forecast across Kimberley, Northern Territory and much of Cape York peninsula

Northern Australia is battening down the hatches as the Bureau of Meteorology warns intensifying activity in the Coral Sea is likely to result in the formation of Cyclone Kirrily.

While the low-pressure system won’t be officially named until it is properly formed, the bureau expects the cyclone to develop off the Queensland coast by Monday.

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Groceries on special fly off Australian supermarket shelves at 70 times normal rate

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ABS data highlights shoppers’ attraction to promotions, as supermarkets giants discount unhealthy food twice as often as healthier items

Supermarket promotional items can sell at up to 70 times their normal rate, analysis shows, in a sign of the market power the grocery giants exert over Australian households that includes a preference to discount junk food.

An upcoming parliamentary inquiry designed to investigate claims of profiteering is expected to place significant focus on grocery specials, while the competition regulator has also suggested it could sue major supermarkets for deceptive promotions. The chains have defended their pricing practices.

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‘I couldn’t hide from it any more’: lockdowns drove Chantelle to the brink, and she wasn’t alone

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Exclusive: Sydney University’s Alone Together study finds one-third of group of young adults had moderate to severe symptoms over the two years of lockdowns

In 2020 Chantelle Fogg was 23 and the primary carer for her teenage brother. She had been stood down without pay from her job in hospitality and was in a marriage that was breaking down.

“I had put up with [a lot] for [many] years … and it wasn’t until I was at home all the time, and it was in my face and I couldn’t hide from it any more, that I decided that I’d had enough,” she said.

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Alleged Russian organised crime suspect charged over explosives and firearms cache in Victoria

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After a lengthy, multiple-agency investigation, officers unearthed guns and ammunition at a Mornington Peninsula property

Three men, including an alleged Russian organised crime suspect, have been charged after a cache of explosives, guns and drugs were seized from a rural Victorian property.

A lengthy investigation led officers to a property at Tyabb on the Mornington Peninsula on Wednesday where they dug up six storage cases of sophisticated explosive devices.

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Flood warnings prompt evacuations in NT as Queensland braces for incoming cyclone

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Bom says it’s still ‘too early to say’ how strong a potential cyclone may be and when it could reach land

Far north Queensland is bracing for a second natural disaster in about a month while flooding has forced people to flee their homes in the Northern Territory.

Meanwhile, a swathe of Western Australia is enduring temperatures approaching 50C.

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Police hunt for attacker after taxi driver and food delivery driver stabbed in Sydney suburb

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According to a police spokesperson the same man was involved in both the attacks in Redfern

A 38-year-old taxi driver and a 25-year-old food delivery driver were stabbed in two separate incidents in a Sydney suburb, with police now appealing to the public for information.

Emergency services were called to the intersection of Walker and James streets in Redfern before 11pm, where they found a 38-year-old taxi driver with injuries to his chest and hand.

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Fire ants detected south of Byron Bay after gardener raises alarm

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NSW authorities are working to determine how long the pest has been in the area and how they arrived

Invasive fire ants are continuing their march south, prompting a plea for vigilance, after a nest was detected at Wardell, south of Byron Bay, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries says.

A gardener raised the alarm on Friday after disturbing the nest and being bitten, suffering what was described as blistering pain.

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Labor MP condemns Netanyahu’s rejection of Palestinian state as a step toward apartheid

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Julian Hill labels Israeli prime minister’s position ‘appalling’ as he calls for financial consequences for Israeli settlers

Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration he rejects any moves to establish a Palestinian state after Israel’s offensive in Gaza has been labelled “appalling” and a step toward “apartheid” by influential Labor MP Julian Hill.

Hill has called for a suite of measures to respond, including financial consequences for Israeli settlers and an international push to fast-track recognition of a Palestinian state. The left faction convener argued that the “vast majority of the world recognises Israeli sovereignty only within the 1967 borders”.

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‘We’ve got to break them up’: farming groups say supermarkets use market power to distort prices

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Claim comes amid state and federal inquiries into Australian grocery sector and what producers say is a widening gap between wholesale and shelf prices

Farming groups have accused the major supermarkets of using their power to distort the market, leading to elevated prices for shoppers and low prices for producers.

The claim comes amid falling global prices for agricultural goods that have failed to dent grocery bills, and growing scrutiny of supermarket pricing practices through newly announced federal and state parliamentary inquiries.

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Linda Reynolds seeks advice on bid to freeze Brittany Higgins’ assets in France

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The former minister aims to apply order in France where her former staffer, whom she is suing for defamation, now lives

Linda Reynolds says she is awaiting advice on whether a bid to freeze Brittany Higgins’ assets could apply in France where the former Liberal staffer she is suing now lives.

The Western Australian senator is suing Higgins, and her partner David Sharaz, in the state’s supreme court over social media posts that contained a list of complaints against the former defence minister.

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BoM forecasts category three storm – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Victoria police recover over $600,000 worth of drugs in raids

A man has had to let go of his prized Lego collection yesterday after police seized more than $600,000 worth of 1,4-Butanediol – a chemical that mirrors the drug GHB when ingested.

34kg of iodine – a precursor to methylamphetamine.

32kg of hypophosphorus acid – a precursor to methylamphetamine.

Illegal steroids.

Methylamphetamine.

A handgun.

An extendable baton.

Ammunition.

Three digital devices.

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‘We’ll do better’: NSW transport boss apologises for missed email on Rozelle parklands asbestos

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‘It was unfortunate this discovery was over a holiday period,’ Howard Collins says while warning of further traffic delays at Rozelle interchange

The head of Transport for New South Wales has admitted it wasn’t good enough that it took a week for the department to respond to reports of potential asbestos in mulch at the Rozelle parklands.

The TfNSW coordinator general, Howard Collins, said the department was “so grateful” to the member of the public who alerted the agency to the asbestos contamination on 2 January.

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Faulty ebike battery sparks fire that guts Sydney apartment

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Several people lucky to escape North Bondi blaze that has prompted a warning about lithium-ion batteries

Several people have been lucky to escape after a faulty ebike battery sparked a fire that engulfed a Sydney beachside apartment.

The ebike had been left to charge in the bedroom of a North Bondi unit overnight, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) said on Friday while warning of the risks posed by lithium-ion batteries.

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Queensland cyclone warning: premier urges residents on parts of coast to prepare for potential ‘severe impact’

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Storm brewing in the Coral Sea could develop into a cyclone and hit the coast mid-next week, BoM weather update says

The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, has urged residents of parts of the state to be prepared for an incoming cyclone, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of a potential “severe impact” if it hits the coast mid-next week.

On Friday morning, the BoM forecast that there was a 55% chance a storm brewing in the Coral Sea would develop into a tropical cyclone to be named Kirrily by late Sunday, rising to 75% on Monday. It could become a category three system or even stronger before hitting land.

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