Category Archives: Australia news

Labor launches new body to evaluate public programs using randomised trials

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Assistant Treasury minister Andrew Leigh says Australian Centre for Evaluation could help save government money and make spending fairer

Mimicking the way pharmaceutical companies use data to develop new drugs could help save the federal government millions of dollars while also making spending fairer, according to the assistant Treasury minister.

Andrew Leigh will use a National Press Club speech on Tuesday to help launch the Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE), a body funded in the May 2023 budget with an initial $10m over four years to design better policies.

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Julie Bishop says no result in Indigenous voice referendum would send ‘very negative message’ to world

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Former Liberal foreign affairs minister says at yes campaign event ‘Australia’s international reputation can be affected by a no vote’

Former Liberal foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop has claimed a no result in the voice referendum would send a “very negative message” to the world about the openness and empathy of Australian society.

Speaking at a yes campaign event in Perth, Bishop strongly backed the voice in her role as Australian National University chancellor.

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Five key moments from Qantas boss Alan Joyce’s Senate grilling

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Outgoing CEO faces fiery questions on the airline’s credibility, executive pay and ‘hoarding’ of flight slots

Alan Joyce has refused to answer questions related to his lobbying efforts, while delivering combative responses to allegations of Qantas misconduct, as he was grilled by a Senate committee on Monday.

At an explosive public hearing of the select committee on the cost of living, which Joyce had to be summonsed to after repeatedly refusing to appear, the outgoing Qantas chief executive defended the record $2.47bn full-year profit he announced just days earlier.

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Josh Murray made donation to NSW transport minister’s campaign before she appointed him as secretary

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Emails released to parliament show former Labor staffer made $500 donation to Jo Haylen’s campaign before party won election

The New South Wales transport secretary, Josh Murray, made a donation to Jo Haylen’s campaign before she picked the former Labor staffer to lead her department.

Limited details of the $500 donation were contained in emails that were released to parliament between members of Haylen’s team discussing talking points related to the appointment of the secretary.

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Services Australia backtracks after ‘unfair’ approach to botched child support assessments

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Commonwealth ombudsman says agency initially planned not to inform people affected by 15,803 potentially ‘inaccurate child support assessments’

Services Australia proposed not to contact past customers affected by 15,803 potentially “inaccurate child support assessments” but backtracked after the commonwealth ombudsman warned this could leave parents out of pocket.

In a statement on Monday the ombudsman revealed that poor IT systems had resulted in errors in up to 47,488 assessments, but Services Australia had wanted to avoid notifying about a third of the caseload, a plan the ombudsman labelled “unfair”.

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Unesco removes ‘hurtful’ document claiming Tasmanian Aboriginal people ‘extinct’

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Inaccurate statement by the International Union for Conservation of Nature made as part of the 1982 process for world heritage status for Tasmanian wilderness area

A UN agency was forced to remove a “hurtful” document that for more than 40 years publicly claimed Tasmanian Aboriginal people were extinct.

The inaccurate claim, stating that “Tasmanians are now an extinct race of humans”, was made as part of the nomination process for the declaration of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and its addition to the world heritage list in 1982.

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CEO grilled at fiery inquiry – as it happened

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Stephen Jones on stage-three tax cuts: ‘very, very few’ young Australians he knows will benefit

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, was asked about the stage-three tax cuts while appearing on ABC RN this morning, and reaffirmed the governments commitment to them:

[The] prime minister made a promise before the election and there’s been no change to our policy.

We’ve made it quite clear that our priorities [are] multinational tax avoidance [and] ensuring we have greater compliance with the existing tax laws before we were to go to Australians and say we think you need to pay more.

Very, very few.

[The] stage-three tax cuts benefit everybody over $45,000 a year and before you jump into it, yes, I know, the greatest benefit flows to the people on the highest incomes, no doubt about that.

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Australia tells big development banks to ‘lift their game’ in the Pacific

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There are concerns the World Bank and ADB are giving contracts to low-price bidders who then demand more when budgets blow out

The Australian government has told big development banks to “lift their game” in the Pacific amid concerns they are approving poor-quality, cut-price projects only for the budgets to blow out.

Largely funded by governments, development banks provide grants and low-cost loans to developing countries to help them build infrastructure and other projects.

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Female scientists found to be almost entirely absent from Australian high school textbooks

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Researchers say ‘alarming’ lack of representation could be contributing to gender gap in the field of Stem

Female scientists are almost entirely omitted from Australian textbooks, a new study has found, with researchers warning the “alarming” lack of representation could be contributing to the gender gap in the field of Stem.

The study, released by the Australian National University (ANU) and Curtin University on Monday, analysed the curriculum of the four year 11 and year 12 Stem subjects taught in Australian schools – biology, chemistry, physics and environmental science.

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Detained Australian writer fears he may die of kidney condition in China jail

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Yang Hengjun has told supporters he is in pain from a cyst on his kidney that remains untreated

Detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun fears he could die in a Chinese prison from a worsening medical condition he says is not being properly treated.

He has told supporters he is in pain from a large cyst on his kidney. The Australian government is being urged to intervene and secure, through diplomatic means, his release to Australia on medical parole.

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Labor dumps attempt to modernise business records after $2bn budget blowout

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Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones blames ‘failure of planning and oversight’ by previous Coalition government

The Albanese government is abandoning an attempt to modernise the way businesses record public information such as the identity of company directors, after a review found the Coalition-era project would run more than $2bn over budget.

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, is now considering the review’s call to instead spend a further $515m returning registry functions to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and investing to improve data integrity in other ways.

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Woolworths’ free naturopath consultations raise concerns among peak health bodies

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Exclusive: experts fear the cost-of-living crisis is forcing people to forgo evidence-based healthcare

Hundreds of free appointments with naturopaths have been booked through Woolworths subsidiary HealthyLife, as peak health bodies warn people are forgoing more expensive, evidence-based care due to the cost-of-living crisis.

In March HealthyLife launched telehealth consultations with general practitioners, dieticians, nutritionists and in-house naturopaths, alongside home delivery of pharmaceutical products through its partner SuperPharmacy.

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Firefighters fear being ‘overwhelmed’ by rise in battery fires after fatal Sydney blaze

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A NSW fire and rescue superintendent said the death of a man in a Sydney fire on Saturday night was part of a ‘marked increase’ in such incidents

Firefighters say they fear being ‘“overwhelmed” by increasing numbers of battery fires, after the death of a Sydney man in a house fire on Saturday night was linked to toxic smoke from burning lithium batteries.

The 54-year-old man was eating downstairs in his Punchbowl unit in Sydney’s west with two women when the fire broke out. He tried to extinguish the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but when firefighters arrived he was found unconscious on his bathroom floor with soot on his mouth, having inhaled toxic smoke.

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Bridget Archer says it is ‘irresponsible’ to cast doubt on integrity of voice referendum after questions over crosses

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Shadow minister Jane Hume calls it an ‘inconsistency’ that a cross on a ballot paper will not count as ‘no’

The Liberal MP Bridget Archer has warned it is “irresponsible to cast doubt on the integrity” of the Australian Electoral Commission, after senior members of the Coalition and some no campaign groups raised concerns over whether crosses count as valid votes in the voice referendum.

On Sunday, the shadow minister for finance and special minister of state, Jane Hume, called it an “inconsistency” that a tick would count as yes but a cross would not count as a no.

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Rumours of a Queensland coup are premature – but Palaszczuk’s popularity is waning

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The deputy premier, Steven Miles, called speculation about a challenge ‘rumours and gossip’

Annastacia Palaszczuk has never faced a serious threat to her leadership.

In 11 years as Labor leader – the past eight as premier – there have been no attempted coups or plots, or Canberra-style white-anting by ambitious rivals. Most senior ministers are part of the furniture. Backbenchers rarely vent their concerns, even privately.

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Three US marines killed in aircraft crash in Australia during training exercise

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The Osprey aircraft crashed in the Northern Territory’s Tiwi Islands on Sunday morning

Three United States marines have been killed and at least five more injured after a defence aircraft crashed over the Tiwi Islands off the Northern Territory coast during a training drill.

The US Marine Corp said the MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft was carrying 23 American personnel when it crashed during a routine training exercise about 9.30am local time on Sunday on the remote Melville Island, 80km north of Darwin. It was reportedly on its way to the Tiwi Islands when the crash occurred.

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Michael Long begins long walk for Indigenous voice to parliament: ‘The hatred’s got to stop’

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AFL legend wants Australians to join recreation of his Long Walk of 2004 which ended with a meeting with then PM John Howard

The AFL legend Michael Long has declared it high time for Australia to embrace Aboriginal people as he embarked on a walk to Canberra in support of an Indigenous voice to parliament.

Recreating his Long Walk in 2004, the son of two stolen generations members will trek hundreds of kilometres in the lead-up to the referendum.

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Pilbara native title case: the fight to decide if Fortescue pays compensation to Indigenous owners

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The Yindjibarndi people say WA and Andrew Forrest’s mining company must pay for the destruction of sacred country and community

In the heart of the Pilbara, two cultures and two systems of law have collided in the red dirt – and in a bitterly contested native title case being fought in the federal court.

To the Fortescue Metals Group – the mining company founded and chaired by billionaire Andrew Forrest – and the state of Western Australia, that red dirt means one thing: iron ore.

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PwC urged Labor to delay multinational tax transparency laws, Senate submissions reveal

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The firm joined the other big four consultancies in calling for the world-leading regime to be postponed or watered down

PwC, the other big four consultancies and the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia were among the entities that urged the federal government to delay and water down proposed multinational tax transparency laws.

Australia’s proposed country-by-country reporting would make it a world leader in tax transparency, compelling multinationals to publish detailed location-specific information about their revenue, expenses and effective tax rate to deter profit shifting and tax avoidance.

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NSW surfer bitten by great white shark faces further surgery and long rehabilitation, family says

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Father-of-two Toby Begg, 44, is in a serious but stable condition in hospital following serious injuries ‘from his hip to calf and lower legs’

A surfer bitten by a great white shark at a Port Macquarie beach on Friday faces “many surgeries and has years of rehabilitation ahead of him”, his family has said as he recovers in hospital.

Father-of-two Toby Begg, 44, was attacked by the great white, estimated at 4m long, as he surfed at Lighthouse beach on Friday morning.

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