Category Archives: Australia news

Penrith Panthers grand final triumph could damage Betr after it offered gamblers 100-1 odds on win

Posted on by

News Corp-backed firm offered inducements that attracted record fine and criticism from regulator

The finances of News Corp-backed gambling company Betr’ could take a big hit if the Penrith Panthers win the NRL grand final, due to a generous inducement that attracted a record fine and criticism from a regulator.

When the gambling company launched in late 2022, it offered 100-1 odds on the Penrith Panthers winning a third consecutive grand final with bets capped at $10. A Penrith victory is now short odds and a likely outcome according to most analysts.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Archaeology world mourns Damian Evans, who discovered medieval cities near Angkor Wat

Posted on by

Tributes flow for ‘incredibly generous’ Australian Canadian researcher, who used space laser technology to uncover landscapes in south-east Asia

The world-leading Australian Canadian archaeologist Dr Damian Evans, who played a critical role in discovering previously undocumented medieval cities near Angkor Wat, has died from brain lymphoma.

Close friends confirmed Evans passed away on 12 September in Paris, where he was based working for the city’s École Française d’Extrême-Orient.

Continue reading...

Politics live: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she does not believe legacy of colonisation continues to impact Indigenous Australians

Posted on by

Shadow Indigenous affairs minister last spoke at forum alongside Marcia Langton and Josephine Cashman in 2016. Follow live news updates today

We’ll be hearing from Michael Long and the Long walkers very soon.

In other news ahead of us, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will give an address to the national press club and then she is down for an event with the Australian newspaper later this afternoon.

[It’s an issue that’s been identified across international media and domestically, but we need to make sure that there are absolutely no loopholes or ability for people to think that they can operate contrary to Australia’s national interest.

And so we’re making sure that our laws clearly identify and make it clear to any veteran to any firm former service personnel to public servants that have worked in defence that we take the integrity of our information, our national security information and training very seriously, and that we are going to properly regulate any work that they do for a foreign military or companies associated with them so that we’re protecting our national interest.

Continue reading...

Queensland man who died after snake rescue on weekend did not have venom in system

Posted on by

Family of Donald Morrison now believe he died of an underlying medical condition ‘he was unaware of’

A Queensland man who was thought to have died from a snake bite on the weekend when helping a friend did not have any venom in his body, a toxicology report has found.

Donald Morrison, who was in his 60s, was attending a reunion at Koumala state school in Queensland on Saturday when he was reportedly bitten on the arm and chest while removing the reptile that had coiled around his friend’s leg.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Greens accuse Richard Marles of not telling the truth in parliament over disclosure of VIP flights

Posted on by

David Shoebridge says statement calls into question deputy PM’s claim that keeping flight details secret complies with the rules, but Marles insists all his travel accords with ‘the relevant guidelines and security procedures’

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has been accused of not telling the truth in an answer to parliament by claiming he complied with guidelines on the use of taxpayer-funded VIP flights, despite failing to give details of $3.6m of flights he authorised.

Guidelines in place since 2013 oblige the government to make details of flights public every six months. But the former Coalition government ended that practice, citing a pending security review by the federal police, finance department and others.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Three passengers with Covid on board cruise ship grounded off Greenland

Posted on by

Passengers in isolation with virus as Ocean Explorer remains stuck in Alpefjord national park

Three people on board a cruise ship run aground in Greenland’s Alpefjord national park have Covid-19, the ship’s operator, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions, has confirmed, but a passenger aboard says everybody remains in “good spirits”.

The Australian-operated Ocean Explorer, which is carrying 206 passengers and crew, ran aground while touring the national park on Monday, around 1,400km north-east of Greenland’s capital Nuuk.

Continue reading...

Brazilian Indigenous group expresses solidarity with voice yes campaign amid fight with BHP

Posted on by

Brazilian Indigenous leaders who are fighting a class action suit against BHP over a tailings dam collapse say they face similar struggles to First Nations Australians

A group of First Nations Brazilians taking on the mining company BHP say a voice to parliament will give Indigenous Australians a critical avenue they were not afforded – the chance to consult.

The delegation is visiting Australia to meet with politicians this week amid their multibillion-dollar class action suit against the Australian mining firm over its role in the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in 2015.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australian economy adds 65,000 jobs in August, raising prospect of further rate hikes

Posted on by

Unemployment rate remains steady at 3.7% in a sign that the economy could avoid a hard landing as impact of 12 interest rate rises is felt by households

Employers hired almost 65,000 more workers in August, many more than expected, improving the prospects that the economy will avoid a hard landing but also raising the possibility the Reserve Bank may hike interest rates again.

The unemployment rate last month was 3.7%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Economists had forecast the economy would add 25,000 jobs in August, which would have left the jobless rate at July’s reported level of 3.7%.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Voice can close economic gap for Indigenous Australians, says Julian Leeser

Posted on by

Former Liberal frontbencher supports referendum as a way of getting First Nations people ‘to the same starting line’ as other Australians

The Liberal MP Julian Leeser says a voice to parliament is not about “special treatment or privileges” but about getting Indigenous Australians “to the same starting line that other Australians are at”.

Amid rising partisan rancour in the referendum debate, with his own side leading the charge for the no campaign, Leeser told parliament he supported the voice because it was a manifestation of “deeply Liberal and conservative ideas”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Hi it’s Jacinta Price’: Liberal anti-voice mass text campaign branded ‘deceptive’ by teals

Posted on by

Australian Electoral Commission says texts purporting to be from no campaign leader are legal, but MPs say they are ‘predatory’

A Liberal party mass text campaign against the Indigenous voice that encourages voters to sign up for a postal vote on the party’s website has been branded as “deceptive” by teal independent MPs.

Many thousands of Australians are believed to have received unsolicited texts from the Liberal party, some sent in the name of no campaign leader Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, branding the Indigenous voice as “risky”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Opposition leader accused of being ‘chief propagandist’ – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

All eyes will be on the high court from about 10am, when it hands down its decision on whether Qantas illegally sacked its ground staff three years ago. The TWU brought the case and Qantas has appealed it all the way to the high court.

You can read some of the previous reporting here:

Continue reading...

Women’s World Cup fuelled uptick in Australian household spending last month, CommBank data shows

Posted on by

Increase in nominal spending contrasts with other recent surveys showing consumer confidence was languishing at depressed levels

Spending on the Fifa Women’s World Cup and a jump in education, insurance and petrol outlays nudged national spending higher last month, according to CommBank data capturing the spending of about 7m households.

The household spending insights index picked up 0.7% to 137 in August. Compared with a year earlier, the index was up 2.3%, improving from the 1.9% annual rise in July.

Continue reading...

High-profile man accused of rape could be named within weeks after change to Queensland law

Posted on by

State parliament votes to bring laws governing the naming of alleged sexual offenders into line with other offences and other states

Lawyers for a high-profile man accused of rape have until 3 October to seek a non-publication order or see their client named under new laws passed by Queensland parliament on Wednesday.

The new laws, which were a recommendation of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce in July 2022, bring Queensland into line with most other states and territories to allow the naming of accused sex offenders after they are charged. Previously, alleged offenders could only be named once they had been committed to stand trial.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland anti-corruption boss seeks ‘urgent’ legal change after high court curbs power to publish reports

Posted on by

Ruling in favour of former public trustee Peter Carne is ‘clearly not in the public interest’ according to CCC chair Bruce Barbour

Queensland’s anti-corruption body has criticised a high court ruling limiting its ability to publish the results of its investigations as “clearly not in the public interest”, joining with the state opposition to demand “urgent” legislative reform.

In a milestone decision announced on Wednesday, the court refused an appeal by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) to release its report on the state’s former public trustee Peter Carne.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland government urged to intervene after police staff in racist recordings go unpunished

Posted on by

Retired officers say a lack of accountability within the Queensland Police Service has allowed racism to fester

Former Queensland police say a lack of accountability within the service has allowed racism to fester after revelations that officers who joked about “beating and burying black people” have not been punished.

On Tuesday there were calls for the state government to intervene in the case, as well as stamp out the process of police investigating police, after Guardian Australia revealed four officers recorded making racist comments had escaped sanction.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Makes your heart drop’: confronting images show dolphins and seals ensnared by NSW shark nets

Posted on by

Exclusive: Minns government forced to release photos as it pushes ahead with the same shark meshing program for coming season

Images of sea creatures including bleeding dolphins and drowned seals that died in shark nets along the New South Wales coastline last summer have been released by the state government as it pushes ahead with the same meshing program for the coming season.

The graphic Department of Primary Industries photos, obtained by a conservationist under information access laws, show animals that died after being caught in the nets at 10 different beaches between September 2022 and April this year.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia to impose sanctions on Iranian state media over broadcast of forced confessions

Posted on by

Penny Wong to announce the Albanese government’s new sanctions against those linked to the oppression of women and girls

Australia will impose sanctions on Iranian state media for broadcasting forced confessions, with the foreign minister, Penny Wong, vowing to take tougher action before the anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s death in custody.

Brushing off claims from the Coalition that the government has been slow to act, Wong will announce on Wednesday that she is introducing new sanctions against those linked to the oppression of women and girls.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

The owner of Bunnings and Kmart is now in the prescriptions business, raising fears over patient data

Posted on by

Doctors and pharmacists concerned that Wesfarmers’ acquisition of InstantScripts could end the notion that ‘health data is sacrosanct’

The integration of a controversial online doctor service alongside Bunnings, Kmart and hundreds of pharmacies in the Wesfarmers portfolio has raised concerns among medical practitioners about potential risks to patient data security.

InstantScripts sprang to prominence during the pandemic, offering an alternative to the GP by generating prescriptions via an online form that was then remotely checked by a doctor. The business covers 300 low-risk drugs that patients can either pick up from a pharmacist or get delivered directly to their home.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

ACCC delays decision on Coles buying milk processing plants from Saputo

Posted on by

Dairy farmers warn the deal could reduce competition and lead to lower prices for producers

The Australian consumer watchdog has delayed its decision on the acquisition by supermarket giant Coles of two major milk processing facilities, which dairy farmers warn would further reduce competition and lower milk prices.

In April, Coles announced it had purchased two fresh milk processing plants from dairy processor Saputo for $105m, subject to regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Continue reading...

Greens vow to ‘keep fighting’ on housing as party takes aim at Labor’s help to buy scheme

Posted on by

Adam Bandt says Greens will continue to ‘use our power’ in parliament to push for rent caps despite agreeing to future fund

Labor’s “Help to Buy” shared equity scheme will be the next housing bill in the Greens’ sights in the minor party’s push for a cap or freeze on rent increases.

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has vowed to “keep fighting” despite the minor party agreeing to pass Labor’s $10bn housing Australia future fund (Haff) bill in return for a further $1bn for public and community housing.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...