Category Archives: Australia news

Singtel rejects Optus claims it caused network outage; gillnet fishing banned in Great Barrier Reef – as it happened

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Labor MPs furious over ‘one political party’ pitting Jewish community against another

Labor MPs are still furious over the motion Peter Dutton moved in question time on Wednesday, where he linked anti-semitism with the release of detainees, including some criminals, after the high court decision which deemed indefinite detention to be unconstitutional.

As a leader of the Jewish community and someone who represents a large Jewish community, I’ve always thought it was extremely important to act in the interests of the community.

And that means working across the political aisle. It means working with people like Allegra Spender, who represents the largest Jewish community in Australia, and of course with my friend Julian Leeser, who I will always stand with members regardless of what political persuasion they have, in order to act in the interests of the Jewish community.

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Queensland government to moving to establish peak youth justice body as crime issues dominate

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Exclusive: Palaszczuk government expected to begin process of establishing peak body amid pressure to crack down on youth crime

Queensland is looking to establish a youth justice peak body as the issue threatens to become a major sore point for the Palaszczuk government ahead of next year’s election.

Guardian Australia understands the state government will launch a competitive tender process and seek expressions of interest from multiple organisations across the sector.

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Sydney swim coach Paul Frost jailed for at least 24 years after grooming and sexually abusing 11 students

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A judge found the 48-year-old deliberately created a culture that facilitated his offending at a swimming school between 1996 and 2009

A swim coach who groomed and sexually abused 11 young students over more than a decade will have to spend 24 years in jail before he is eligible for parole.

Paul Douglas Frost was sentenced on Thursday after being found guilty of 43 offences over the abuse of children at a swimming school in Sydney’s southwest between 1996 and 2009.

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In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

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Whistleblower David McBride loses bid to stave off trial over public interest defence

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ACT supreme court says law provides no duty to members of the military to act in the public interest

David McBride has lost a bid to stave off his trial after again failing to convince a court that soldiers have a duty to act in the public interest.

On Wednesday, the ACT supreme court delivered a blow to McBride as he prepared for his jury trial over the alleged leaking of confidential military information to journalists.

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NSW Catholic school sparks four-day week debate with ‘learn from home’ Mondays for senior students

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Opportunity to learn from home will ‘set students up for success’, principal of Chevalier College says

Parents at a regional Catholic college in New South Wales are welcoming a proposed change to the school week that would mean seniors spend Mondays at home.

Chevalier College, based in the southern highlands, has announced a proposal that would see students in years 10 to 12 learn and work from home on Mondays, a move the principal says would “set students up for success”.

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‘Desensitised’: calls for better education after research suggests Victorian boys less likely to stop harassment

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Study of students finds marked drop from Year 7 to Year 9 in proportion of those willing to intervene

Chanel Contos, a sexual consent education advocate, says teenagers may be getting so desensitised to porn that it’s affecting their reaction to sexual harassment, with research suggesting male students become less likely to intervene when a female classmate is targeted as they reach Year 9.

The study of Victorian school students by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (Anrows), released on Wednesday, found that 20.2% of Year 7 boys intended to intervene when sexual harassment was taking place. However, just 12.8% of those in Year 9 shared that attitude.

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Head injuries in Australia rise nearly 7% after Covid dip, new report finds

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The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found head injuries were responsible for 17% of all injury deaths, with falls, transport and assault the leading causes

Every four minutes an Australian is hospitalised with a head injury, with cases rising nearly 7% after dropping during Covid-19 lockdowns and disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable Australians, new data shows.

A report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Aihw) published on Thursday has found in 2020-21, head injuries accounted for more than one in five of all injury emergency department presentations.

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Australia must stop giving ‘leeway’ to Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, UN expert says

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UN special rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories points out ‘grave risk’ of genocide and Australia’s responsibility to ‘prevent atrocity crimes’

A United Nations expert has met with a senior member of the Australian government and urged it to stop giving “leeway” to Israel, arguing Australia has a responsibility to “prevent atrocity crimes” including genocide.

Francesca Albanese held talks with the assistant minister for foreign affairs, Tim Watts, on Wednesday and expressed her concern “as strongly as she could” about what she saw as Australia’s inadequate response to the escalating bloodshed in Gaza.

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Nearly one in three children on Queensland’s serious repeat offender list under protection order

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Government urged to do more to support young people in residential care to ‘break the cycle of offending’

Nearly one in three children on Queensland’s serious repeat offender index is under a child protection order, new figures show.

As of 30 June, 133 of 452 serious repeat offenders had child protection orders, which are made when the children’s court decides a young person needs to be protected from harm.

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Australia’s overuse of antibiotics found to be driving rate of drug-resistant infections

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Report finds more than one-third of population had at least one antimicrobial prescription subsidised by Australian government in 2022

Australia’s continued overuse of antibiotics is driving common and potentially dangerous infections to become increasingly resistant to drugs, including last resort treatments.

A major government report on antimicrobial use, published on Wednesday, found more than one-third (36.6%) of the population had at least one antimicrobial prescription subsidised by the Australian government in 2022, up from 32.9% in 2021.

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Australia has three months to find host city for Commonwealth Games 2026

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Peak body wants Australia to keep the event but talks are under way with other countries and about changing the Games’ format

Australia has three months to find a 2026 Commonwealth Games host city as three other candidates emerge for the event.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) hierarchy said on Wednesday that finding an Australian host for the 2026 edition remains the priority while appealing for government support.

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Politics live: cyber chief takes leave as defence department announces recall over ‘workplace matter’

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And here is the standard of some of the “debate” among senior parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, Australia’s sense of social cohesion is at its lowest recorded ebb.

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Australia’s critical infrastructure under regular and rising attack from hackers, ASD warns

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Signals Directorate says infrastructure of interest to malicious actors because of its broad attack surface and connected systems

Just days after a major ports company was forced to shut down operations due to a cyber-attack, the Australian Signals Directorate has issued a strong warning that Australia’s critical infrastructure is under regular targeted and opportunistic cyber attack.

DP World Australia, the country’s biggest ports operator, closed its Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle port operations after detecting unauthorised access on its network on Friday.

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Whistleblower David McBride’s trial delayed slightly over key public interest argument

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Former military lawyer has pleaded not guilty to five charges in ACT supreme court over decision to leak material that was used as basis for ABC series on war crimes

David McBride’s trial has been slightly delayed to allow him a second chance to argue he was duty-bound to act in the public interest while leaking confidential military information to journalists.

Meanwhile, Australia’s intelligence agencies are supporting an effort to keep some material involved in the case secret, including from jurors, saying its disclosure could jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia”.

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Immigration detention: Labor to rush through emergency legislation after high court ruling

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Home affairs minister says it’s ‘garbage’ that legislation could completely reverse high court decision that led to 81 leaving immigration detention

Labor is set to rush through emergency legislation this week to deal with the fallout of the high court’s decision that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.

The move follows demands by the Coalition that parliament “should not rise” until legislation is passed, upping pressure on the government by demanding a response even before the high court gives its full reasons.

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Wages grew by 1.3% for Australian workers in the September quarter amid tight labour market

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Wage price index increase in line with expectations as Fair Work minimum wage decision helped pay packets close gap with inflation

Australians’ wages grew in the September quarter as decisions by the Fair Work Commission and a tight labour market helped pay packets close the gap with inflation.

The country’s wage price index rose 1.3% in the quarter alone and 4% compared with the September quarter a year ago, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

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NSW police say they have busted ‘biggest criminal network in Australia’ with links to Lebanon

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Strike Force Tromperie targeted syndicate allegedly linked to movement of $1bn through firearm, drug, tobacco and money laundering offences

Australian police say they have disrupted if not eliminated what they allege is “the biggest criminal network or enterprise in Australia” following 43 raids that resulted in 28 arrests.

A year-long investigation involving New South Wales police, the NSW Crime Commission and Australian Border Force targeted the activities of the syndicate hailing from Lebanon.

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‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan

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Albanese government move to make states pay at least 50% of new infrastructure project bills receives pushback from premiers

State Labor leaders are at odds with the Albanese government over its plan to split the cost of building nationally significant infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the federal minister for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, announced it would no longer be “the default” for the federal government to pick up the bulk of the tab for new roads, rail and other major projects.

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Australia politics live: students protesting over climate crisis ‘are being the adults’, Adam Bandt says

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Shorten reiterates support for two-state solution

Patricia Karvelas then raises with Bill Shorten what was said on Q+A last night, when Nasser Mashni, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, argued that hopes for a two-state solution “ended years ago”.

Oh, no, our policy has been to support a two-state solution.

There was a policy which we developed many, many years ago about respecting the security of Israel and the right of Palestinians to have a say in controlling their own land. I don’t think that’s a radical policy.

I think it’s unexceptional what the foreign minister said. We’re in very close step to the United States and other western nations. We’ve called for humanitarian pause, but we completely recognise that Israel’s dealing with Hamas who don’t want to negotiate, so the idea that we want an enduring peace, as Penny said, of course, is what we want.

We all know we’re a long way off that and Hamas should be prevailed upon by world opinion to hand back the hostages to say that they’re going to stop trying to kill Israelis and destroy Israel.

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Australia and other western governments ‘paralysed’ in response to Gaza conflict, says UN expert

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Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, tells National Press Club many leaders are ‘muttering inaudible words of condemnation’

A United Nations expert has accused Australia and other western governments of paralysis over the Israel-Gaza crisis, saying leaders are either “muttering inaudible words of condemnation” or staying silent in fear.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a speech in Canberra on Tuesday that “violence begets violence” and warned that Palestinian children were being left “without hope” for their future.

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