Adam Bandt signals new rent freeze push and criticises ‘tax cuts for billionaires’ as Labor aims to get ‘help to buy’ scheme through parliament
New year, new housing fight.
The Labor government may have started the year keen to talk cost-of-living relief and housing solutions, but the Greens have entered 2024 vowing to push the Albanese government to make actual change.
Continue reading...Network Ten describes former Liberal staffer as ‘fundamentally dishonest’ in submissions released by federal court
Bruce Lehrmann’s legal team has accepted their client’s evidence in his defamation trial against Network Ten was “in a number of respects unsatisfactory”, but not to the extent that he is a “compulsive liar” or had raped Brittany Higgins, newly released documents reveal.
In written closing submissions released by the federal court on Friday, Lehrmann’s legal team also said the defence “significantly and unfairly” overstated the “acknowledged problems” with parts of his evidence.
Continue reading...Police say group jumped on the car in Coburg and shattered windows in what union calls ‘horrific planned assault’
A mobile speed camera operator has been injured after his car was attacked by five men in a Melbourne street.
The blue SUV, fixed with traffic cameras in its rear window, was operating on Nicholson Street at Coburg in the early hours of Friday morning when it was attacked.
Continue reading...Albanese yet to reveal government’s stance on South Africa’s case in international court of justice but Coalition says Australia must support Israel’s right to defend itself
The opposition has urged the Albanese government to rule out any support for what it says is South Africa’s “unbalanced” case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ).
The “unprecedented” case brought by South Africa at the beginning of the year will be heard in The Hague on 11 and 12 January with the potential for a provisional ruling within weeks. It accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has called the allegations “a despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the ICJ and urged the court to reject it.
Continue reading...Woman in 70s taken to hospital after kicking accused in groin and scratching his face during attack in Coffs Harbour nursing home, police say
A man has been charged with breaking into an aged care home and allegedly assaulting an elderly woman on New Year’s Eve on the New South Wales north coast.
Emergency services were called to an aged care home in Coffs Harbour at about 2.30am on Monday after reports a woman aged in her 70s had been sexually assaulted, NSW police said on Friday.
Continue reading...Qantas and Jetstar to offer special airfares, with accommodation deals to come, as Queensland premier insists region is ‘open for business’ after Cyclone Jasper
Images of Tropical Cyclone Jasper’s devastating impact on far north Queensland may have driven away tourists during peak season.
But the Queensland premier, Steven Miles, insists the region is “open for business”, making a $5m pitch to lure visitors back.
Continue reading...Blaze broke out at Croydon building Friday morning, with firefighters highlighting risks from lithium batteries
An e-bike workshop has been destroyed in an early morning fire in Sydney’s inner west, causing road closures along the suburb’s shopping strip.
Residents were woken just before 5am on Friday after the fire broke out at the building on Elizabeth Street in Croydon.
Continue reading...Spider measuring record 7.9cm across is almost as big as largest female collected in 2021, which was named Megaspider by Australian Reptile Park
With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail, the largest male specimen of the world’s most venomous arachnid has found a new home at the Australian Reptile Park where it will help save lives after a member of the public discovered it by chance.
The potentially deadly Sydney funnel-web spider dubbed “Hercules” was found on the Central Coast, about 80km north of Sydney, and was initially given to a local hospital, the Australian Reptile Park said in a statement.
Continue reading...Residents of Queens Avenue in Caulfield East are ramping up the fight against the 1km path and vow to ‘fight until the bulldozers come’
For 30 years, Tamara de Silva has woken up to the sound of birds chirping in the trees across the road from her home in Melbourne’s south-east.
“Listening to the magpies and the lorikeets in the mornings, watching them playing around – it lifts your spirits,” she said.
Continue reading...Researchers report drop in incidents of incivility among staff at facilities with eye signs on the walls, but say further measures are needed
Researchers have found a unique way to tackle “sexist” and “humiliating” behaviour by surgeons in operating rooms across Australia.
It is “not uncommon” for surgeons to describe fellow medical staff in the operating theatre as “incompetent”, to roughly grab surgical instruments or to discredit nurses, says Rose Petrohilos, a junior doctor and intern representative for Bairnsdale Regional Health Service.
Continue reading...Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones says concerns should have been raised about scheme that appeared to be selling ‘worthless investment products’
Chief executive of HyperVerse does not appear to exist
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has questioned why Australia’s consumer watchdog did not issue a consumer warning against the HyperVerse crypto investment scheme in line with a number of overseas regulators.
A Guardian Australia investigation has revealed widespread losses to the HyperVerse scheme, which escaped regulator attention in Australia despite one overseas authority warning it was a possible “scam” and another describing it as a “suspected pyramid scheme”.
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Continue reading...Potential ‘loophole’ in state’s non-lethal strangulation laws could be closed by a statutory definition similar to that used in Western Australia, experts say
Domestic violence experts have raised concerns about a potential “loophole” in Queensland’s non-lethal strangulation laws, after a man argued in court he had not restricted a woman’s breathing when he executed a chokehold designed to cut off the blood flow to her brain.
The state made choking and strangulation a standalone offence in 2016, saying at the time that the act was “a pivotal moment that reveals an escalation in the seriousness of the violence committed against a person”. Research shows that domestic victims of non-lethal strangulation are seven times more likely to be subsequently killed.
Continue reading...Rank-and-file members say joining the ICJ case accusing Israel of genocide would send a ‘powerful signal to the world’
Rank-and-file Labor party members are urging the Albanese government to intervene in and support South Africa’s case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ), pointing to Australia’s previous support of Ukraine in a similar case against Russia.
The first hearing in The Hague is set for 11 and 12 January with a provisional ruling possible within weeks. Israel has responded to the allegations and urged the ICJ to reject it.
Continue reading...Expert says if you see a snake you should leave it alone and call for a professional catcher
When Tennille Bankes walked into a toilet cubicle in Goondiwindi, Queensland, she was greeted by the scaly tail of a spotted black snake peaking out beneath a closed lid.
The wildlife carer and snake catcher was called by police to the public bathroom after a local, surprised by the reptile, summoned them for help.
Continue reading...Police concerned for autistic man who went walking near Halls Gap and has not been seen since calling family from lookout on Wednesday
Crews in Victoria are searching for a 20-year-old hiker missing in the Grampians national park after he called his family from a scenic lookout.
Jack went on a hike near Halls Gap in the Grampians/Gariwerd park about 250km west of Melbourne on Wednesday, Victoria police said in a statement on Thursday.
Continue reading...Albanese government would need to couple any increases in unemployment benefits and pensions with savings, experts say
Addressing competition issues and increasing unemployment benefits and pensions are ways the Albanese government could tackle cost-of-living pressures but they would have to be coupled with savings to avoid reigniting inflation, economists say.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Wednesday said he had asked Treasury and the finance department to develop “further propositions” for providing cost-of-living relief by the May budget.
Continue reading...Pair taken by ambulance to Katoomba hospital after emergency at Echo Point amid storm chaos
Two people have been taken to hospital after being struck by lightning while visiting a popular scenic site in the New South Wales Blue Mountains.
Other visitors were forced to seek shelter from a major storm while rescue crews searched several walking tracks in the area looking for stranded bushwalkers.
Continue reading...Festival will be free of fossil fuel sponsorship for the first time in decades after the departure of Chevron as a sponsor last year
Fossil fuel company Woodside has now severed all ties with the arts company behind one of the largest fringe festivals in the world, after sustained complaints and protests over several years from performers, producers and audiences.
A Woodside spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday a philanthropic agreement with Artrage, one of Western Australia’s largest arts companies which produces the annual Fringe World festival, had been discontinued.
Continue reading...Two men, who have been denied bail, claim three boys were trespassing in Mareeba when they allegedly assaulted and handcuffed them
A pair of alleged vigilantes have been charged with assaulting and handcuffing three boys they believed to be trespassing in an industrial area in Mareeba, near Cairns.
A 36-year-old man and a 27-year-old man, both from Biboohra, have been denied police bail over the incident, involving three boys aged 12 to 14 on 23 December.
Continue reading...NSW Health issues warning after multiple people who visited CBD were hospitalised for pneumonia caused by legionella bacteria
Sydneysiders have been urged to stay alert for symptoms of legionnaires’ disease after seven people were hospitalised after contracting the respiratory illness over Christmas and the new year.
New South Wales Health issued an alert on Wednesday afternoon, warning those who had been in the Sydney CBD area in the past 10 days to monitor for symptoms, which can include fever, chills, cough and shortness of breath. The disease can lead to severe chest infections.
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