Category Archives: Australia news

‘De facto wages cap by stealth’: NSW Greens seek to change Labor’s workplace bill

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New law would restore sweeping powers to the Industrial Relations Commission, including giving it the ability to act like a court

The New South Wales government has been accused of imposing a “de facto wages cap by stealth” as it seeks to rush through industrial relations legislation during parliament’s final sitting week of the year.

Labor’s plan would restore sweeping powers to the Industrial Relations Commission, including the ability to act like a court, which the former Coalition government removed in 2011.

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Australian Christian group fights claim it was linked to leader of Kenya starvation massacre doomsday cult

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Kenyan parliamentary committee report finds Paul Mackenzie, held responsible for more than 400 deaths, was ‘influenced’ by Australians Dave and Cherry McKay, which they vehemently deny

A Christian doomsday cult responsible for the deaths of more than 400 people from starvation and beatings in Kenya was influenced by an Australian religious group, a parliamentary committee report in the east African nation has found.

The report into the Shakahola massacre, tabled in the Kenyan Senate on 19 October, found that the accused leader of the group, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, “was influenced by Dave Mackay and Sherry Mackay [Dave and Cherry McKay] from Australia who are founders of a cult movement known as the Voice in the Desert”.

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Police told sister of missing transgender woman to call fire brigade, Victorian coronial inquest hears

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Angela Pucci Love says she believes police failed to understand ‘the level of risk’ her sister, 28-year-old Bridget Flack, faced

One of Victoria’s top police officers says he is concerned to hear the sister of a missing transgender woman was told to call the fire brigade to search her apartment, saying it is not “proper process”.

Angela Pucci Love, the sister of 28-year-old Bridget Flack who died in 2020, gave evidence on Monday at a coronial inquiry investigating the deaths of five transgender and gender-diverse young people who died of suspected suicide between 2020 and 2021.

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Tasmanian pub posts job ad appealing to ‘alcoholics’ and those with ‘police record’

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Weldborough hotel, ‘desperate’ for staff, is swamped with applicants after unusual advertisement on its Facebook page

A rural pub in Tasmania has turned its struggle to employ staff into satire – and has found itself bombarded with applicants after posting an unusual job ad.

Weldborough hotel, which is based four hours out of Hobart, posted a job listing on its Facebook page. The job ad called for kitchen and front-of-house staff, and noted that it did not matter if applicants had a police record, drug habit or alcoholic problem as the hotel was “desperate”.

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Crossbench MPs question family violence response – as it happened

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‘We have been very clear from day one that we oppose antisemitism’: Bandt

Adam Bandt is asked about a photo the Greens senator and deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi put on her social media, and then took down. In the photo, Faruqi is posing with pro-Palestinian protesters, one of whom is holding a poster which showed an image of Israel being put in a rubbish bin. Faruqi took down the image and issued an apology over the poster appearing on her social media.

I just need to clarify – we have been very clear from day one that we oppose antisemitism.

We’ve been concerned about the rise of antisemitism in Australia for some time. It’s been ongoing for a number of years now. We’ve thrown our weight behind … pushes to tackle antisemitism as well as Islamophobia in this country.

From the beginning, since the attacks on October 7 … we condemned or spoke very, very clearly in parliament, condemning – not only condemning antisemitism, as well as Islamophobia.

But we’ve taken a principled position to this invasion, and we do not believe that the people of Gaza should be collectively punished and we’re seeing a humanitarian catastrophe unfold in front of our eyes. And the there has to be not only a temporary ceasefire, but there needs to [be] a permanent ceasefire and we have called for that.

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‘Serious breach’: social media platform X booted from Australia’s misinformation code

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Company failed to respond to a complaint about the removal of a function to report misinformation during the voice referendum

X [formerly know as Twitter] has been kicked out of Australia’s voluntary misinformation and disinformation code, after failing to respond to a complaint about shutting down channels for users to report misinformation, during the voice to parliament referendum.

The industry association, the Digital Industry Group (Digi), announced on Monday that its disinformation and misinformation independent complaints subcommittee found X had “committed a serious breach of the code and has refused to cooperate with Digi”.

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Bruce Lehrmann admits in court asking for cocaine on evening Brittany Higgins interview aired and lying twice to boss

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Former Liberal staffer’s varying accounts in wake of after-hours visit to Parliament House in 2019 come under intense scrutiny under cross examination at defamation trial

Bruce Lehrmann has admitted under cross-examination in his defamation trial that he lied twice in a letter to his boss and again in an interview he gave to Seven’s Spotlight program.

On the fourth day of proceedings he brought against the Ten Network and Lisa Wilkinson, Lehrmann’s varying accounts of what happened in the wake of his after-hours visit to Parliament House in 2019 came under intense scrutiny.

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Dick Smith criticises Facebook after scammers circulate deepfake video ad

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Businessman warns people to ‘never ever’ purchase from advertisers on Facebook and Instagram after ‘totally fraudulent’ video appears

Australian businessman Dick Smith has urged people to stop buying anything from Facebook or Instagram after a deepfake video of him spruiking an investment opportunity was circulated by scammers online.

Smith posted a message on his personal website on Monday afternoon about the video, which was designed to appear like a segment on A Current Affair, featuring host Ally Langdon apparently interviewing him, Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest.

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Newcastle port: more than 80 arrested after climate protesters continue blockade past agreed deadline

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Groups of protesters took turns paddling out into Port of Newcastle’s shipping lane to maintain a 30-hour blockage

New South Wales police have made more than 80 arrests in Newcastle after protesters blocked a major coal port beyond an agreed deadline.

In a statement Sunday, NSW police said they would allege in court that protesters had entered the harbour channel at the Port of Newcastle after the 30-hour blockage was due to finish “despite appropriate warnings and directions”.

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Climate protesters arrested at Port of Newcastle blockade – as it happened

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‘The biggest transformation in our country’s history’

Chris Bowen has been talking about Labor’s plans for reducing emissions, but he’s pressed on the fact that the government has been approving new coalmines and gas projects, which add to global emissions.

The way I see this, David, you can enter into a discussion with your international counterparts which we are doing which is us saying to them, “We will continue to be a reliable energy supplier but we want to work with you on your decarbonisation because we have advantages that you don’t have. We can provide renewable energy.” That is an important conversation to have.

Frankly the approach of others is more a slogan than a policy. We are making the biggest transformation in our country’s history and that involves both domestic policies and strong international engagements, as I will be doing over the next couple of weeks and we have been doing all the way through.

It will be treated in the budget statement of risks and liabilities in the normal fashion. But this is the right policy for the right times to ensure emissions come down and reliability goes up.

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Moderate Dave Sharma wins NSW Liberal Senate spot after beating both Peter Dutton-endorsed candidates

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Liberal leader Peter Dutton had endorsed Andrew Constance and Zed Seselja for the seat opened up by Marise Payne’s resignation

Former Wentworth Liberal MP Dave Sharma is returning to parliament after emerging victorious in the NSW Liberal Senate race in what was largely a conservative field.

Sharma beat fellow moderate Andrew Constance, who was billed as the front runner, and hard-line conservative and former junior minister in the Morrison government, Zed Seselja, to take the seat opened up by Marise Payne’s resignation.

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‘Urgent’ calls for biosecurity funding after fire ants cross Queensland border into NSW

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Authorities working to chemically eradicate three nests after ‘one of world’s worst super pests’ found in South Murwillumbah

Authorities are rushing to contain the spread of fire ants after the invasive species crossed the Queensland border into New South Wales for the first time since the infestation began in 2001.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries confirmed on Saturday that three red imported fire ant nests had been found in South Murwillumbah, 13km from the Queensland border in the state’s north-east.

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Bone cows bred in Australia provide base material for dental grafts

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Use of cattle from country free of mad cow disease means product is safe, experts say, and patients can still donate blood

Bone cows, specially bred in mad cow-free Australia, are being used instead of human donors for dental and medical bone grafts.

While bovine grafts have been tested for spinal fusion, foot reconstructions and to fix skull traumas, the Australian versions are predominantly used in dental work to strengthen degraded jaws before tooth implants.

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Cop28: Australia to bring evidence it can meet 2030 climate target but pressure builds over fossil fuels

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Chris Bowen says country ‘reaping the economic opportunities’ of clean energy as emissions projection improves

The Albanese government will head to a major UN climate summit in Dubai furnishing new evidence that Australia is all but on track to meet its 2030 emissions target, but facing calls that it must do more to limit the country’s fossil fuel exports.

A snapshot of an upcoming emissions projections report released by the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, suggests Australia will likely cut its CO2 pollution to 42% below 2005 levels by 2030 – nearly in line with the government’s 43% reduction target.

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Bondi businessman accused of selling secrets to Chinese spies claims prosecution ‘will fail’

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Writing from prison, Alexander Csergo says investigators have found ‘no evidence’ and fallout from case will embarrass Australia

A Sydney businessman accused of selling secrets to China has claimed from prison that the case against him is a false police narrative based on no evidence and the prosecution “will fail”, embarrassing Australia.

In his first public words written from prison, where he has been remanded for more than six months ahead of an expected trial, Alexander Csergo claimed that despite months of investigation prosecutors had found “no evidence of espionage, or classified or confidential information” being handed over.

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How the climate credentials of Australia’s big banks stack up

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ANZ stands out as ‘laggard’ while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have restrictions on facilitating bonds for fossil fuel clients

There is a growing gulf between the climate policies of Australia’s big banks, with some pledging to severely limit future financing for fossil fuel projects, while others have left the door open, according to an analysis of updated lending policies.

Part of the discrepancy lies in the banks’ approach to arranging bonds, which are used by companies to access financing along with, and sometimes instead of, a direct loan.

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Australia and Philippines begin joint patrols in South China Sea as regional tensions rise

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Richard Marles says two countries committed to a peaceful region where ‘sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected’

Australia and the Philippines have begun joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China.

The three-day exercises follow discussions earlier this year on joint patrols to underscore what the countries say is their commitment to closer cooperation and a rules-based order in the region.

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NSW police accused of ‘killing’ music festivals by charging excessive fees

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Greens MP and Australian Festival Association say NSW force charging much more than other states to patrol equivalent events

New South Wales police have been accused of “price gouging” and operating a “rort” that threatens the viability of music festivals, by charging tens of thousands of dollars more than their counterparts in other states to patrol the events.

The Greens MP Cate Faehrmann told NSW parliament this week that a recent festival that played across three states paid $107,852 for policing for 16,000 people in NSW, but just $45,000 for 14,000 people in both Victoria and Queensland.

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Peter Dutton backs age verification for viewing online pornography

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Opposition leader says graphic videos are ‘playing into the minds’ of young Australians, particularly boys

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has backed calls to implement age verification for viewing pornographic material online.

Dutton says graphic pornographic videos are playing into the minds of young Australians.

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Perth fire downgraded but extreme weather conditions expected for weekend

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Residents warned not to return to fire-affected area as bureau forecasts wind gusts of up to 80 km/h and 39C heat

Firefighters battling a blaze that has destroyed 18 homes in Perth’s outer northern suburbs will face extreme weather conditions across the weekend.

Wind gusts of up to 80 km/h and temperatures of 39C are forecast in Perth by the Bureau of Meteorology, with the fire danger also rated as extreme in parts of the city on Saturday.

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