Judge concludes case and reserves his decision after more than four weeks of evidence
Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers have argued on the final day of his high-profile defamation trial that Brittany Higgins told “complete falsehoods” and her allegations were part of a “political hit job” fuelled by her partner.
Justice Michael Lee on Friday concluded the case and reserved his decision after more than four weeks of evidence and submissions.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Justice Lee describes some of Lehrmann barrister’s suggestions about Higgins’ behaviour as ‘simplistic’
Justice Lee has said it is simplistic to suggest a young woman could not have been sexually assaulted because she carried on in a professional manner.
Continue reading...Coalition MP Colin Boyce claimed highest travel allowance of $29,623 for third quarter in 2022, while Adam Bandt claimed $15,309 for plane charter
Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have defended themselves and their colleagues over millions in taxpayer-funded expenses claimed by federal politicians, as political spending again comes under the microscope after the release of long-delayed reports.
The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (Ipea) this week published new reports giving the public insight into how politicians spend public funds on office expenses and travel.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...Indigenous Australians department says it is giving advice on treaty and truth processes, but declines to reveal commission’s status
After the failed voice referendum, the Indigenous Australians department says it is still giving advice to the federal government on treaty and truth processes but the future of the Makarrata commission remains in limbo.
The 2022 budget provided $5.8m to start work on setting up the Makarrata commission, which was to oversee processes for making agreements and truth-telling. During the election, the government pledged more than $27m to establish the body.
Continue reading...Officers obtain court order to test Dorothy James Downie, 55, for drugs after she was charged with murder over Hamilton incident
Police have been granted an order to obtain blood samples as soon as possible from a woman charged with murder so they can be tested for the presence of drugs.
Dorothy James Downie, 55, is accused of fatally stabbing a woman known to her in the Brisbane suburb of Hamilton on Thursday.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Uninsured won’t be left behind in flood clean-up
Australians priced out of insurance or underinsured will not be left behind by the federal government as the flood clean-up begins in far north Queensland.
We’re working through what we can do to assist those people as well to ensure that nobody’s left behind as we make the big clean-up effort.
What we’re experiencing in Australia is part of a global phenomenon with reinsurers and global insurers starting to factor in the impact of climate change.
And the impact of those severe weather events and the risks associated with them and insurance policies.
The products are not considered as discretionary spending but rather essential items.
Continue reading...Multicultural action plan seeks to remove barriers to players and volunteers from diverse communities
Two-thirds of south Asian-Australian cricketers find it challenging to find a club, according to Cricket Australia’s multicultural action plan, which calls for the body’s staff to undergo unconscious bias and cultural awareness training.
The plan – which was released on Friday in Melbourne in the lead-up to the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan – is the result of thousands of hours of consultation with members of local communities.
Continue reading...Steven Miles has delivered on two of the environment movement’s most pressing concerns within a week of being sworn-in as premier
The Queensland government will ban new oil and gas developments in the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre basin’s rivers and floodplains – belatedly delivering on a nine-year-old election commitment to reinstate protections for the state’s pristine channel country.
The state’s premier, Steven Miles, will on Friday announce new environmental regulations for the basin, which is among the world’s last unaltered river systems.
Continue reading...Further testing should be done to reduce the risk of local tank water being contaminated by mercury, expert says
An independent study of rainwater tanks near the Cadia goldmine in central west New South Wales has detected unsafe levels of mercury in some residents’ drinking water, nine months after widespread water testing conducted by NSW Health found no unsafe results.
The results come from an independent testing program conducted by Dr Ian Wright through the Cadia Community Sustainability Network (CCSN), which took water samples from kitchen taps and the top and bottom of rainwater tanks at 42 properties near the mine, between August and November 2023.
Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter
Continue reading...A 74-year-old carer was mistakenly declared dead by Centrelink two times in a case advocates describe as illustrating the ‘devastating consequences of automation’
The Centrelink officer on the end of the phone to Eve* was telling her she was dead. Eve, 74, who receives a carer payment, had called after she noticed an extra $3,000 from Centrelink in her 81-year-old husband’s account in May this year, and she was concerned they had been overpaid.
After calling multiple times, she reached someone from Services Australia who looked up her account history.
Continue reading...Office told that ‘all debts must be offset’ referring to offsetting taxpayers’ arrears against future refunds and credits
The Australian Taxation Office received “clear advice” from the government’s chief legal adviser before launching a campaign to resurrect historical debts that caused widespread confusion and distress.
Meanwhile, the federal government has distanced itself from the tax initiative, arguing that decisions and processes related to the debts were a matter for the ATO.
Continue reading...Reporting what is being directly witnessed by MSF healthcare workers does not indicate loss of neutrality, Natalie Thurtle stresses
An Australian doctor who coordinated medical aid to Gaza has expressed horror at the “huge proportion of children being killed or maimed for life” as the UN security council again delayed a vote on a ceasefire resolution.
Dr Natalie Thurtle, who helped oversee the response by Médecins Sans Frontières until last week, said it was “very confronting for colleagues trying to provide healthcare when it’s possible to be shot through the window of the hospital”.
Continue reading...‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live
‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says
Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.
Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.
The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.
Continue reading...Lehrmann has sued Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten for defamation in the federal court of Australia over Brittany Higgins interview on The Project
Ten’s barrister says network does not have to prove if Higgins had to choose between justice and her job
Collins said it is not the burden of Network Ten to establish that there “were in fact roadblocks to a police investigation, or that Ms Higgins in fact, had to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice”.
Continue reading...Due to his TV ads in the 1980s and 90s, Cozzo’s name became synonymous with the western suburb of Footscray
Melburnians are mourning the death of renowned furniture salesman Franco Cozzo, who has died aged 88.
Cozzo’s family announced his death on social media on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...Officer, who cannot be identified, was charged in November with driving under the influence and high-range drink driving
A senior New South Wales police officer charged with allegedly crashing a work car in Sydney’s NorthConnex tunnel after getting drunk at a work function earlier this year has pleaded not guilty.
The high-ranking detective, whose identity is being kept secret under a court order, was charged in November with driving under influence of alcohol and high-range drink-driving, nearly six months after the May incident.
Continue reading...Man, 37, arrested by police after November 2022 fire at Jordan Shanks-Markovina’s home
A man has been charged over an alleged arson attack on the Sydney home of a popular YouTube personality.
Emergency services responded to the fire in Bondi, in the city’s eastern suburbs, in November 2022, when the property and an adjoining house were significantly damaged.
Continue reading...Estimates show small modular nuclear reactors would provide most expensive power and will not be available until 2030
Electricity generated by solar and on-shore wind is the cheapest in Australia, even after the significant expense of integrating them into the power grid is factored in, according to new analysis from the CSIRO.
Estimates of costs to build small modular nuclear reactors – a technology supported by the Coalition but not expected to be commercially available until at least 2030 – have risen dramatically and would provide the most expensive power, according to the draft GenCost report.
Continue reading...Fyles quit after it was uncovered she owned undisclosed shares in a mining company with interests in the territory
The current treasurer of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler, will be the territory’s new chief minister.
Lawler will replace the outgoing chief minister, Natasha Fyles, who resigned after it was uncovered she owned undisclosed shares in a mining company with interests in the territory.
Continue reading...SA police say a 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene and he is expected to be charged with murder
A woman has been killed and another taken to hospital after they were allegedly stabbed by a stranger at an Adelaide business.
The two women were allegedly stabbed by a man they did not know at a Plympton business in the city’s inner south-west on Wednesday afternoon, South Australian police said.
Continue reading...