Category Archives: Australia news

Late MP Peta Murphy remembered as ‘brave and loved’ by Anthony Albanese in emotional tribute

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‘It was so true to Peta’s character that she channelled her personal battle with breast cancer into public policy’, PM says

Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Labor MP Peta Murphy, 50, has died from breast cancer. The prime minister struggled to hold back tears as he confirmed Murphy’s passing in a short statement from parliament house on Monday afternoon.

Murphy, the member for Dunkley, attended the final sitting week of the House of Representatives last week before returning home for palliative care. The MP died at home in the company of her parents and siblings and her husband of more than two decades, Rod Glover.

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Inquiry reviews convictions of ‘Croatian Six’ over 1979 Sydney bomb plot

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Judicial inquiry reviewing convictions of group jailed in 1981 over alleged terror plot to blow up Sydney targets

The testimony of a key witness and actions of a corrupt New South Wales police officer will be probed during an inquiry into the 1981 terror plot convictions of a group known as the ‘Croatian Six’.

The judicial inquiry, which began on Monday, will examine the possibility that Crown witness Vico Virkez may have been working for Yugoslavian intelligence services.

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William Tyrrell’s foster father argues ‘lawful’ force used on another child as punishment, NSW court hears

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Foster parents of missing William Tyrrell facing court on assault and intimidation charges of another child who was in their care

William Tyrrell’s foster father rejects claims he grabbed a child by the neck as his lawyers argue he applied medium force to push the youngster down as they tried to get out of a timeout.

The 56-year-old foster father and 58-year-old foster mother returned to Parramatta local court on Monday.

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‘Unacceptable risk’ test to determine if freed migrants go back to detention under proposed law

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Labor hopes to push new laws through parliament this week to allow courts to order the re-detention of migrants or refugees freed after the landmark NZYQ high court ruling

People freed from immigration detention will be re-detained if a court agrees they pose an unacceptably high risk of committing a “serious violent or sexual offence” under proposed new Australian laws.

After a landmark high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention was unconstitutional, the Australian government will this week seek urgent passage of a proposal to allow some of the released migrants or refugees to be re-detained for up to three years at a time.

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Two years after silt and mud trashed them, Northern Rivers schools rise from ruin

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Dave Lee, principal of the newly rebuilt Mullumbimby public school, vividly recalls the emotion of his first visit to assess the flood damage

“My first memories were just the silt and the mud,” says Dave Lees, summoning back his impressions from the day he returned to the Mullumbimby public school campus, the day after it was swallowed by flood waters.

“It was just a brown, smelly, clay-laden, dirty space. It looked like another planet,” the school principal says.

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NDIS funding showdown looms as Shorten seeks new deal with states

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Bill Shorten is due to release a review of the NDIS but says things won’t ‘change overnight’ amid resistance against moving some disability support services responsibilities to states

Bill Shorten is seeking to defuse a growing row with state and territory governments over funding for the NDIS, insisting the federal government does not want to “change things overnight”.

But with a showdown looming at national cabinet this week, disability advocates have urged leaders not to treat the community as “political footballs”.

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Walkley awards to review ‘chequebook journalism’ rules after Bruce Lehrmann rent payment revealed in court

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The journalism foundation board did not say it would withdraw Seven’s shortlisting for the 2023 scoop of the year award for Liam Bartlett’s interview with Lehrmann

The Walkley board will review its rules on “chequebook journalism” after it emerged that the Seven Network paid Bruce Lehrmann’s rent for a year to secure an interview that was later nominated for the 2023 scoop of the year award.

But a statement released on Sunday by the foundation, which oversees Australia’s most prestigious journalism awards, did not reverse or retrospectively invalidate the nomination. As of Sunday evening, Seven’s interview was still listed on the Walkley website as a shortlisted finalist.

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‘Until freedom and justice prevail’: rallies for Palestine march again through Australian capitals

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Also on Sunday, families and friends of hostages taken by Hamas addressed a gathering at a Sydney synagogue

Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters have gathered in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, pledging the rallies will not stop until “freedom and justice prevails”.

For the eighth week in a row, supporters for a free Palestine marched through the Sydney central business district, Melbourne CBD and in Logan, south of Brisbane.

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Brisbane mayor resigns from 2032 Olympics forum and calls it a ‘dysfunctional farce’

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Adrian Schrinner says controversial plans for Brisbane’s Gabba stadium were the final straw and accuses Palaszczuk government of ignoring stakeholders

Brisbane’s lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, has quit the Brisbane 2032 Games delivery forum, saying the Palaszczuk government had “completely lost its way” on the road to the Olympics.

The Liberal National mayor has also withdrawn his support for a $2.7bn Gabba rebuild, insisting there must be better options than demolishing and rebuilding the inner-city venue.

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News live: Australia signs renewables pledge at Cop28; Brisbane mayor quits 2032 Olympics role

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Adrian Schrinner says the Palaszczuk government has ‘completely lost its way’ on road to event as he quits Brisbane 2032 Games delivery forum. Follow the day’s news live

Australia backs COP28 renewables, energy efficiency vow

Now for some more detail on Australia – along with 118 nations - signing a pledge at the COP28 climate summit to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030.

“We know that renewables are the cleanest and cheapest form of energy - and that energy efficiency can also help drive down bills and emissions,”

Australia has the highest penetration of rooftop solar in the world and has a plan to get to 82 per cent renewables by 2030 to deliver cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy.

It’s clear that the games have become more about over-priced stadiums rather than the promise of vital transport solutions.

The state government’s ham-fisted and foolish attempt to extort Brisbane ratepayers for tens of millions of dollars for a new RNA stadium was the final straw.

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Vacant property taxes, levies and caps on the table as NSW Labor reviews Airbnbs and short-term rentals

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Exclusive: Minns government to place every aspect of housing ‘under the microscope’ as it confronts rental crisis

Vacant property taxes, levies and annual caps will be considered when the New South Wales government reviews regulation of short-term rentals including Airbnbs over the next six months.

The housing minister, Rose Jackson, who will lead the review, hoped to find ways to move some holiday rentals and unoccupied properties on to the longer-term rental market as the Minns government confronts the state’s chronic housing crisis.

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Coles and Woolworths to face Senate scrutiny amid claims of profiteering

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Greens win support for inquiry into effect of market concentration on food prices and pattern of major chains’ pricing strategies

Australia’s big supermarkets will face fresh scrutiny with a Senate inquiry to investigate their market power and pricing decisions, amid concerns they have profiteered during an inflationary period marked by fast-rising food costs.

The Greens have secured cross-party support to set up the inquiry which will examine the effect of market concentration on food prices and the pattern of pricing strategies employed by the major chains, Coles and Woolworths.

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Australia says AI will be used to help track Chinese submarines under new Aukus plan

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Defence minister Richard Marles and counterparts from the UK and US say new technologies will be deployed by militaries

Artificial intelligence, drones, and deep space radar are among the technologies that will be used by Australia and its Aukus allies to counter China’s aggression in the Pacific.

Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, met with his counterparts from the United States and United Kingdom – Lloyd J Austin and Grant Shapps – in California on Saturday to announce the second “pillar” of the Aukus deal.

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Young green sea turtles tracked travelling deep into Sydney harbour and living near humans

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Taronga Wildlife hospital tracked three turtles that had been rescued, with one swimming as far as Longueville

Endangered green sea turtles spend much of their young lives in close proximity to people, including travelling deep within Sydney harbour, new research suggests.

Satellite tracking shows turtles frequenting busy waterways, including the harbour and Parramatta River, around Wollongong harbour, Brisbane Waters near Gosford and up the Hawkesbury River, as far as Cottage Point.

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‘A tsunami of traffic chaos’: the new Sydney motorway prompting calls for a royal commission

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Top expert says bungled opening of Rozelle interchange is bad enough to warrant a formal inquiry into the $20bn WestConnex project

Sydneysiders had been promised “nirvana” would be delivered by the $20bn WestConnex motorway so they are rightly bemused – if not bitter – about how they seem to have ended up in the other place.

The bungled opening of the final stage of WestConnex, the Rozelle interchange, is bad enough that veteran transport experts such as Michelle Zeibots at the University of Technology Sydney say only a royal commission can open the lid on how such debacles can happen.

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Australia and EU in talks about ‘the day after’ war in Gaza and unite on two-state solution

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European Commission vice-president says there must be ‘no role for Hamas in any post-conflict horizon’ during visit to Australia

Australia and the European Union are in talks about “the day after” the war in Gaza and are united on calls to revive a two-state solution, a senior official has said.

But the European Commission vice-president, Margaritis Schinas, added that Hamas had forfeited the right to be part of any political settlement.

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‘Fantastic’ season means high-quality Australian prawns going cheap at Christmas

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Improvements in sustainable aquaculture and good weather conditions result in boon for consumers

Seafood lovers are in for a treat this Christmas with “an abundance” of prawns fuelling reduced prices and industry experts predicting no major cost hikes ahead for the festive season.

The Seafood Industry Australia chief executive, Veronica Papacosta, said Australia has two main prawn sectors – aquaculture prawns, and wild prawns – had both had “fantastic years”.

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Brittany Higgins wore dress she was allegedly raped in to Liberal function weeks later to ‘reclaim it’, court hears

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Former Liberal staffer tells federal court defamation trial she initially thought she could ‘disassociate’ from the alleged rape

Brittany Higgins has told a court she wore the white dress she was allegedly raped in six weeks later to a Liberal function in an attempt to “reclaim it” and “disassociate it from the rape”.

But what was once her “favourite” pencil dress that she “used to wear all the time” was not reclaimed and was never worn again, Higgins told the federal court on Friday.

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Peter V’Landys accuses politicians of ‘outright lies’ as plan to extend Racing NSW chair Russell Balding’s tenure fails

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Racing body will need to scramble to replace chair after Coalition and crossbench team up to try to strengthen oversight

The Racing NSW chief executive, Peter V’Landys, has accused politicians of spreading “outright lies” and “mainly wrong diatribes” during the parliamentary debate that ultimately resulted in the loss of his chairman.

One of the most powerful men in Australian sport, V’Landys is overseen by the Racing NSW board. He has held the position of chief executive for nearly 20 years, 12 of those with Russell Balding as chair.

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Stage set for national cabinet clash over GST – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

The NSW Australian Paramedics Association will take part in a 12-hour strike today, from 7am to 7pm, despite the threat of legal action.

Members will still attend emergency “lights and sirens” jobs as part of an ongoing pay dispute.

We want to assure the public that emergencies will still be attended to, with our focus intensifying on life-threatening cases.

Our decision to limit responses to non-emergency jobs enhances our capacity to manage critical cases.

Facing potential legal repercussions and a substantial fine of up to $20,000 per day, our commitment remains firm.

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