Category Archives: Australia news

Labor governments push for national road-user charging after Victorian EV decision

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Treasurer Tim Pallas says refunds being considered after high court ruled charge was unconstitutional

Labor governments in three states are pressing the commonwealth to consider national road-user charging, after the high court struck down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax.

On Thursday the Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, said the government will consider refunding a tax paid by electric vehicle owners after the high court deemed it invalid, but suggests registration costs could rise or a national levy could be implemented in its place.

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Selesa Tafaifa had spent significant time in solitary confinement before altercation that led to her death, inquest hears

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The 44-year-old Samoan died in Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre after being restrained in handcuffs and placed in a spit hood

A mentally ill woman who died in custody after a confrontation with prison officers had experienced a decline in behaviour around the period she was isolated in the jail’s detention unit, an inquest has heard.

Selesa Tafaifa died in Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre in November 2021 after being restrained in handcuffs and placed in a spit hood. The 44-year-old Samoan woman had become engaged in a physical altercation with guards after becoming upset at not being able to call her family.

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Julia Gillard’s former partner Tim Mathieson convicted after sexually assaulting sleeping friend

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Court hears the woman fell asleep and awoke to find Mathieson sucking on her breast in March 2022

Julia Gillard’s former partner Tim Mathieson has been convicted and fined $7,000 for the sexual assault of a friend that left her feeling so unsafe she moved interstate.

The 67-year-old formally pleaded guilty in the Melbourne magistrates court on Thursday.

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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Sydney pro-Palestine rally to go ahead on Saturday despite premier’s concern over ‘bad faith actors’

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Chris Minns says he believes protesters do not want ‘hate speech within their march’ but final decision on event is up to NSW police

Saturday’s planned pro-Palestine march through the streets of Sydney will go ahead unless police launch an 11th-hour legal challenge amid rising concern about unrest.

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said a final decision on the event would be up to the police while warning the government had been briefed by senior officers who had expressed concern about the event due to “changed circumstances”.

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Majority of Australians support truth in political advertising laws, poll shows

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Australia Institute survey a boost to Labor legislation to tackle misinformation ahead of next federal election

Almost nine in 10 Australians support truth in political advertising laws, with majorities of both yes and no voters concerned about “lies and misinformation” during the voice referendum debate.

Those are the results of a survey of 1,547 voters by the Australian Institute conducted from the close of polls on Saturday evening to Tuesday, which also calls on the Albanese government to come up with new solutions to close the gap.

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More Australians head back to the office and most prefer Thursday or Friday, study finds

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Exclusive: Transport Opinion Survey says in September workers spent 21% of their week working from home, down from 27% in March

As an increasing number of Australians favour the office over working from home, Friday has emerged as one of the most popular days to commute and be among colleagues, new research shows.

On average Australian workers spent just 21% – or between one and two days – of their work week at home during a two-week survey period in September, down from a corresponding data point of 27% in March. This is according to the latest Transport Opinion Survey conducted by the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, based on data from 1,029 respondents, who were also asked about priorities and transport attitudes.

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Pokies venues owned by AFL clubs claim renovations and pay tv subscriptions as ‘community benefit’

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Venues owned by four clubs legally claimed a total of $8.6m in operating costs under Victorian scheme

Poker machine venues owned by AFL clubs have been spending millions of dollars in revenue on themselves – from kitchen renovations to Foxtel subscriptions – while claiming the costs as a community benefit to lower their tax bill.

Eight venues, owned by Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and St Kilda, collectively spent $8.6m on operating costs last year, legally claiming it under the state’s community benefits scheme.

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Albanese says Gaza hospital blast ‘deeply distressing’ as Australia urges against wider regional conflict

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PM condemns ‘any indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians while Penny Wong says spread of conflict would compound ‘risks to Israel’s security’

Anthony Albanese has described the deaths of hundreds of people at a Gaza hospital as “deeply distressing” as the Australian government urged all parties to avoid an escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The prime minister on Wednesday condemned “any indiscriminate attacks” on civilians, while the foreign minister, Penny Wong, warned a wider regional conflict would cause even more civilian deaths.

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Australia cannot be ‘passive bystanders’ in a war between US and China, Richard Marles says

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Defence minister says consequences of a conflict over Taiwan are ‘so grave’ and says status of island must be ‘arrived at peacefully’

A war between the United States and China over the future of Taiwan would be “so grave” that Australia cannot be “passive bystanders”, the defence minister has said.

Richard Marles pushed back at the idea advanced by some commentators – including the former Labor prime minister Paul Keating - that Taiwan is “not a vital Australian interest”.

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Australian-based journalist Kean Wong arrested in Malaysia for editing banned book

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Wong under investigation for sedition over book that was banned by Malaysian government three years ago

An Australian-based journalist has been briefly detained and is under investigation for sedition in Malaysia after editing a book that was later banned by the Malaysian government.

Kean Wong is a Malaysian citizen but a permanent resident of Australia, where he has lived and worked for about 30 years.

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Australian businessman being used as ‘guinea pig’ for reckless foreign interference charge, lawyers say

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Attorney general still yet to consent to Alexander Csergo’s prosecution with never-before-proven charge as time in custody exceeds six months

More than six months after Sydney businessman Alexander Csergo was arrested on allegations he was providing sensitive material to Chinese agents, Australia’s attorney general has still not consented to his prosecution.

Lawyers for Csergo say he is being used as a “guinea pig” on a never-before-proven charge, and will seek to have him released on bail after prosecutors secured more time to confirm the charge against him.

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Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce avoids Senate inquiry after push to extend probe knocked back

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Coalition motion to reconvene committee fails after Greens and David Pocock side with government

The former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce will not be forced to appear before a Senate inquiry after a Coalition proposal to extend the probe was knocked back by the Greens and David Pocock.

It comes as the federal government announced on Wednesday that the competition watchdog would recommence quarterly flight monitoring before the end of the year.

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High court strikes down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax in ruling that could threaten other state levies

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An array of state charges including waste levies could potentially be unlawful after court overturns 1974 precedent on consumption taxes

Victoria’s electric vehicle tax has been struck down by the high court in a landmark case likely to bar all state-level road user charges and expose other state levies to challenge.

On Wednesday, a majority of the high court ruled in favour of two electric car drivers who argued that the imposition of a tax by the Victorian government per kilometre ​driven was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such excise taxes on consumption.

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Australia politics live: Penny Wong condemns ‘any indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure’ after Gaza hospital blast

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‘Protection of civilian lives must come first and respect for international humanitarian law is paramount,’ Australian foreign minister says. Follow the day’s news live

Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour speaks on the referendum

Just before the house adjourned for the evening on Tuesday, Labor Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour gave a speech about the referendum which is very much worth your time:

I want to say a few things about what led us to the recent referendum and what it means for those first peoples Australians most affected by the outcome, particularly the first peoples Australians in my electorate of Lingiari.

Because of some arcane parliamentary tradition, which I understand derives from English House of Commons, we are obliged to call the making of a speech at this time and in this place a ‘grievance debate’.

The price tag of Israel’s right to defend itself cannot be the destruction of Palestine.

Israel’s right to defend its civilians cannot equate to the annihilation of Palestinian civilians. I hereby call for an immediate ceasefire to come into effect, alongside many world leaders and experts.

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Australia’s child abuse redress scheme case backlog almost doubles in 10 months

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Influx comes after online application process simplified – but it is sparking calls for more funding to cut survivors’ wait times

The backlog of active cases before the child abuse redress scheme has almost doubled in less than 10 months, increasing delays in processing survivors’ claims and prompting renewed calls for greater resourcing.

Data released by the scheme this week shows it is processing 7,823 claims from survivors, a sharp increase on the 4,196 as of 27 January.

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Victoria to outlaw strangulation and consider making animal cruelty a domestic violence offence

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Government says research suggests survivors of strangulation are more likely to be seriously injured or murdered by the same partner

Victoria will make non-fatal strangulation a stand-alone offence and consider including cruelty to animals under the state’s family violence laws.

Describing the act as the “reddest of red flags”, the attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, on Wednesday announced the crimes amendment (non-fatal strangulation) bill would be introduced to parliament.

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Sydney venue moves $26m in pokies profits to NRL club as ‘community development and support’

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Canterbury leagues club has given millions to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs since 2014-15

One of Australia’s biggest poker machine venues has shifted more than $26m in gambling profits over eight years to its parent company – an NRL club – while claiming the payments as a community benefit for a tax cut.

In New South Wales, clubs that donate a percentage of gambling profits to community causes receive a tax concession under a scheme called ClubsGrants, which is under review by the state government after years of sustained criticism.

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Australia must urgently adapt to extreme weather or face soaring premiums, insurers warn

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Exclusive: Assistant treasurer says insurers warned government ‘you’ve got five years’ to reduce vulnerability to climate crisis

Global insurers say Australia is running out of time to reduce its vulnerability to the climate crisis and faces higher premiums for households and businesses.

“They said, ‘you’ve got five years basically’,” said the federal assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, who led a delegation last month to insurance centres in London and Munich.

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‘Like being buried alive’: Australian journalist Cheng Lei on life in a Chinese prison

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Reporter reveals she was arrested for breaking a news embargo, and talks about how she survived months in solitary confinement

Australian journalist Cheng Lei spent almost three years in China’s prison system for breaking an embargo by a few minutes, she has revealed in her first interview after returning home to Melbourne last week.

Cheng, 48, was working as a business reporter for China’s state-run English-language TV station CGTN when she was arrested on 13 August 2020.

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Australia politics live: Albanese accuses Ley of lack of respect for Indigenous voice campaigners in fiery question time

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Albanese highlights ‘concerning’ Coalition voice rhetoric as Dutton targets PM over treaty and truth telling. Follow the day’s news live

‘We’re holding a thorough consultation process,’ Jacinta Allan says

Under the proposal, a government minister will appoint commissioners, though the Greens-chaired integrity and oversight committee will have the power to veto candidates.

A new parliamentary ethics committee

Improvements to mechanisms relating to public interest disclosures about MPs

Updates to the MP code of conduct

We’re holding a thorough consultation process to ensure we achieve the highest standards of conduct and integrity of MPs in all aspects of their work for Victorians.

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