Category Archives: Australia news

‘Respect the facts’: Beijing rejects Australian claims China sonar injured navy divers

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Chinese defense ministry insists its vessel ‘did not conduct any activity that could affect the Australian side’s diving operations’

The Chinese government has accused the federal government of “making trouble” with “rude and irresponsible” claims about the sonar incident that injured Australian navy divers last week.

Beijing overnight rebuffed Canberra’s version of the maritime altercation between two warships off Japan’s coast last Tuesday.

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Free-to-air group rubbishes claims Australian government wants to ‘control your TV’

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Industry feud flares over proposed smart TV laws that will likely mean free local apps feature more prominently than paid services

Australia’s free-to-air broadcasters have hit back at a campaign from the subscription media lobby that claims the federal “government wants to control your TV” through its new laws for smart TVs.

The government’s prominence framework for connected TV devices will likely mean smart TV free-to-air apps such as 10play, 7plus, 9Now, ABC iView and SBS on Demand, are offered ahead of those from paid streaming services such as Netflix, Binge and Stan. It might also affect searches for content.

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Rift widens between NSW and federal Labor as Chris Minns demands state’s ‘fair share’

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Ahead of national cabinet, NSW premier waits for answers from Albanese government on protest policing and infrastructure funding

Tensions between the New South Wales and federal Labor governments are rising ahead of the final planned national cabinet of the year, with the state’s premier, Chris Minns, insisting he was not “whingeing” as he demanded more funding for police and infrastructure.

Minns said the federal government had so far failed to respond to his request for help paying the bill for policing the frequent protests sparked by the Israel-Hamas war, or for the “disappointing” infrastructure cuts unveiled last week.

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Australian retail lobby groups refuse to disclose amount of funding from tobacco and vaping industries

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Representatives for convenience and grocery stores tell Senate inquiry details of any funding were commercial in confidence

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Lobby groups representing convenience and grocery stores have refused to tell a Senate inquiry how much they receive in tobacco and vaping industry funding.

The failure to disclose industry funding follows public hearings into the public health (tobacco and other products) bill earlier in November and comes as concerns are raised about one lobby group having a parliamentary access pass.

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From a quadruple hat-trick to not getting a bowl: Gareth Morgan leaves third grade cricket fans hanging

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The Mudgeeraba Bushman became a global star for taking six wickets in an over, but the world will have to wait to find out if he can extend his run

When a local sports reporter told Gold Coast cricketer Gareth Morgan he was going to write “a bit of an article” for the back page about Morgan’s six wickets in an over the day before, the 44-year-old was surprised.

“I said to him: that’s a little bit over the top for third grade cricket don’t you think?” Morgan recalls.

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Optus gets some clear air but the ghosts of twin disasters will haunt whoever comes next

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Kelly Bayer Rosmarin’s resignation fuels speculation Optus executive and former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian could be top contender for CEO

The departure of Kelly Bayer Rosmarin as chief executive will give Optus some clear air to move past the 14-hour outage, but for whoever comes next as CEO the turbulence won’t be over yet.

Bayer Rosmarin’s appearance at the inquiry into the Optus outage on Friday went fairly smoothly compared with how disastrous it has been for some to face the same fate in the past. Yet it was clear to everyone watching that she was unlikely to last much longer at the helm.

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‘Silly games’: doomsday prepper jailed for arsenal of guns and weapons stashed on Victorian farm

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Judge jails ex-Australian army soldier for at least 15 months, urges him to leave ‘survivalists to their silly games’

A survivalist caught hiding a serious arsenal of weapons including machine guns should leave the zombie killers to their “silly games” a judge has urged, sentencing him to prison time.

Aleziah Tolkein Spiers was caught illegally storing 16 dangerous weapons, including under the floors of a shearing shed on his former father-in-law’s property in central Victoria where he had run survivalist workshops.

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Jet trip followed guidelines, minister’s office says – as it happened

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Australians increasingly relying on credit cards as cost-of-living pressures rise

A survey from comparison site Finder has found an increasing number of Australians are turning to credit cards amid the rising cost of living.

Mounting pressure on households is seeing Aussies borrowing money to keep afloat.

Used responsibly, credit cards can be a great tool for earning rewards such as frequent flyer points and building your credit history.

But relying too heavily on them could cause you to go into a debt spiral which can be hard to bounce back from.

It symbolises the balance between utility and respect for the environment, mirroring our approach to space exploration.

It’s time for Australian science to take the next leap all the way up into space, like our roos do back home. Naming the new lunar rover ‘Roo-ver’ will reflect the Aussie spirit as we launch into this new endeavour.

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Albanese accuses China of ‘dangerous, unsafe and unprofessional’ behaviour in naval ship altercation

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Prime minister declines to confirm if he raised incident in his face-to-face meeting with Xi Jinping

Anthony Albanese has accused a Chinese naval ship of “dangerous, unsafe and unprofessional” behaviour after an altercation with an Australian vessel left one person injured.

But the prime minister has declined to confirm whether he raised the issue face-to-face with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the Apec summit last week, only saying that the government had complained through “all the forums that are available”.

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Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigns after network outage

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Optus parent company Singtel says ‘priority is about setting on a path of renewal for the benefit of the community and customers’

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has resigned as the chief executive of Optus in the wake of the nationwide outage that took down phone and internet services for 14 hours close to two weeks ago.

In a statement released by Optus’s parent company, Singtel, on Monday morning, Bayer Rosmarin said it was an appropriate time to step down, following her appearance at a Senate inquiry into the outage on Friday.

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Search for camera operator and pilot resumes after mid-air plane crash over Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay

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James Rose identified as the passenger on board a Viper S-211 Marchetti jet that crashed into the water

Police and air crash investigators have resumed their search for a pilot and a TV camera operator whose aircraft crashed into the water off Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula.

James Rose, 30, and a pilot were on board one of two light Viper S-211 Marchetti planes conducting a formation flight that collided mid-air about 1.45pm on Sunday.

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Moira Deeming says she’ll lodge defamation claim against Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto in court

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First-term MP says mediation with the party leader failed, as she seeks to return to the Liberal party room

Victorian MP Moira Deeming says she will lodge defamation proceedings against the state’s Liberal leader, John Pesutto, declaring mediation has failed.

The first-term MP was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal party after she took part in an anti-transgender rally in March that was gatecrashed by a group of masked men who performed Nazi salutes.

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One in 10 Australian men report having sexual contact with under-18s, study finds

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UNSW study finds nearly one in six men over the age of 18 had sexual feelings towards under-18s

Francene Reo’s stepdad told her it was therapy. In 1976, the Newcastle supreme court found it was child sexual abuse.

At that time, charging someone for incest was so unusual “they didn’t even know how to word the charges”, she said. Reo’s stepdad spent five years behind bars for his years of severe offending, which took place for 10 years when she was aged six to 16. She didn’t speak about it for decades.

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Australia news live: ‘hunger for justice’ has swept the world, Assange’s father tells Melbourne pro-Palestine rally

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Organisers of Sydney pro-Palestine rallies say they have been attended by 30,000 people, as thousands gather in cities around the country. Follow today’s news updates live

Julian Assange’s father to address pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne

A pro-Palestine rally will be addressed by the father of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, with organisers confident a large crowd is set to attend.

The Australian public are disgusted at the Albanese government’s refusal to call for ceasefire.

We’ve had people come who have never before been to a rally and the following week they return with their relatives and friends.

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‘Absolutely absurd’: lawyers criticise opposition proposal to re-detain immigration cases

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James Paterson refuses to back Peter Dutton’s plan to send people back to immigration detention but pushes alternative method of jailing them

The federal opposition’s home affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, has refused to back Peter Dutton’s suggestion the government could simply re-detain 93 people released from indefinite immigration detention after a landmark high court ruling.

But the Liberal frontbencher’s alternative proposal – to use terrorist-style preventative or continuing detention orders – has been lashed as “absurd” by leading lawyer Greg Barns SC who claimed there was no evidence any of the released detainees were at high risk of reoffending.

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Billionaire miners Andrew and Nicola Forrest buy Australian hatmaker Akubra

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Outgoing chairman Stephen Keir IV says family-owned company ‘thought long and hard about selling business after five generations’

Iconic Australian hatmaker Akubra is changing ownership for the first time in five generations.

Tattarang, owned by Australian businessman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and his wife Nicola, has acquired Akubra from the Keir family, who trace their ownership back 147 years.

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Mulgrave byelection: Labor retains Daniel Andrews’ seat despite swing against Victorian government

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Dandenong mayor Eden Foster leading 54-46 on a two-party preferred basis after Saturday’s byelection

Victorian Labor has retained Daniel Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave despite a significant swing against the government in the former premier’s seat.

The Dandenong mayor, Eden Foster, was leading with more than 40% of the primary vote in Saturday’s byelection, which was down more than 10 percentage points from Andrews’ showing at last year’s state poll.

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South Australian police chief’s son dies after alleged hit and run during schoolies

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Grant Stevens’ teenage son Charlie sustained a brain injury after allegedly being run down south-east of Adelaide, with a man later charged

The son of South Australia’s police commissioner has died in hospital after being struck by a car in an alleged hit-and-run incident during schoolies celebrations.

Charlie Stevens, 18, sustained an irreversible brain injury after being run down about 9pm on Friday in Goolwa, about 90km south-east of Adelaide, an emotional SA police deputy commissioner Linda Williams told reporters.

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‘Straight out of Utopia’: healthcare workers denounce $558m expansion of Albury base hospital

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NSW and Victoria government documents show support for push by doctors to combine the Albury and Wodonga hospitals into one new facility – but that’s not what was announced

A $558m redevelopment of Albury Base hospital jointly proposed by the New South Wales and Victorian state governments has outraged healthcare workers and community groups, who claim both governments misled them during a years-long consultation.

“If I was going to design a system to hide the dismal plans they’ve provided us, I’d design it exactly the way they’ve done it,” says Michelle Cowan from local community group Better Border Health. “These are the oldest tricks in the book. It’s the most cynical exercise so they can say they’ve ticked the consultation box.”

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‘Draconian’ conditions come into effect for 93 foreigners released after being illegally detained by Australia

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Labor says ‘significant number’ of released detainees were convicted of serious criminal offences as experts express concern over rushed bill

All 93 foreigners identified by Australia’s home affairs department as being affected by a recent high court judgment that found they were being illegally detained have now been released.

The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, confirmed on Saturday the 93 people had been released and that all of them would be forced to comply with strict visa restrictions, including wearing electronic monitoring devices.

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