Category Archives: Australia news

Investment in Indigenous community health key to reduce diabetes rates

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Calls for greater funding in local health services as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer from high rates of type 1 and 2 diabetes

Australia needs to invest in local community-led health providers to reduce rates of type 2 diabetes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the peak body for Indigenous health services has said.

Thirteen percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 18 have been diagnosed with diabetes – three times the national rate for non-Indigenous people, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

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Home affairs cyber survey exposed personal data of participating firms

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Shadow minister says leak of ‘sensitive’ information after research into the Optus and Medibank hacks was ‘deeply ironic’

The home affairs department exposed the personal information of more than 50 small business survey participants who were sought for their views on cybersecurity, Guardian Australia can reveal.

The names, business names, phone numbers and emails of the participants in the survey were published on the parliament website in response to a question on notice from May’s Budget estimates hearing.

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Chocolate prices soar as cost of cocoa rises 25%

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World heads into a potential third year of supply deficit as major growing regions inundated by flooding

In bad news for chocolate lovers, confectionery makers are increasing prices as cocoa beans trade at near decade highs with no respite on the horizon.

Food companies have been grappling with rising costs for the main chocolate ingredient, with cocoa prices up more than 25% in a year amid widespread flooding in some of the world’s main growing regions.

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Australia news live: voice support strong in Victoria because state ‘about ideology not common sense’, Nampijinpa Price says

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No campaign ‘offers no solutions and no vision’: young Indigenous leaders

The youth declaration urged Australians to educate themselves on the change, claiming “the no campaign offers no solutions and no vision for our young people’s futures, or our families and communities”.

We are excited that our Uluru Youth Dialogue, as the leading and only youth-led campaign, will be at the forefront of this referendum working alongside the senior leaders of the Uluru Dialogue.

These statistics are important. They paint a picture of a media debate that has shut out young people and their voices. Especially the voices of First Nations young people.

It is our future. Young people are crucial to this movement. We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, carrying forward the spirit and legacies of warriors before us.

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Businessman linked to Stuart Robert not to face inquiry because he has ‘severed all ties’ with Australia

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John Margerison was due to front parliamentary committee hearing into government contracts but his lawyer says he now lives overseas

A businessman with links to former Liberal MP Stuart Robert will not face a parliamentary committee inquiry because he has “severed all ties” with Australia, his lawyer says.

The joint committee of public accounts and audit (JCPAA) is investigating how government contracts are awarded. It has heard allegations – which Robert strenuously denies – that lobbying firm Synergy 360 proposed a structure that would benefit Robert financially.

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Brittany Higgins, her fiance and dog under ‘serious threat’ from online harassment, police allege

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David Wonnocott charged with using carriage service to menace and threaten to kill

A man accused of menacing Brittany Higgins, her fiance and their dog online posed a “serious threat” to their wellbeing, court documents allege.

David William Wonnocott, 49, is charged with using a carriage service to menace and threaten to kill in separate incidents relating to Higgins and the New South Wales politician Alex Greenwich.

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‘The Barbenheimer effect’: Barbie and Oppenheimer smash Australian box office records

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Both blockbusters broke a variety of opening weekend records, in a double feature that’s enticing film lovers back to cinemas

The “Barbenheimer” effect has taken its hold over the Australian box office, with the release of blockbuster movies Barbie and Oppenheimer breaking a slew of local cinema records across their first weekend.

The Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie movie has made $21.5m at the box office since the film opened on Wednesday night. It was the biggest opening weekend for a movie released in Australia in 2023, more than double the nearest rival, The Super Mario Bros Movie, which collected $10.5m in ticket sales.

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Former Liberal MP denounces radio station after being named as complainant behind harassment allegations

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Lucy Wicks has asked for privacy after Sydney radio station 2GB named her as the person who made a complaint against NSW MP Taylor Martin

Former federal MP Lucy Wicks has criticised Sydney radio station 2GB for naming her as the Liberal figure behind a formal complaint against a state MP that included allegations of harassment through “demeaning, degrading, and abusive texts”.

Wicks released a statement on her social media on Monday asking for privacy, saying she had been left “distressed” after learning the host of the station’s breakfast program, Ben Fordham, had named her as the person behind the complaint against Taylor Martin made last week.

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Two men accused of importing $61m of cocaine hidden in yacht at Townsville

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Matthieu Anthony Rees and Rachid Kachour arrested at ACT apartment after federal police seize 247kg of cocaine

Two men have been accused of importing more than $61m worth of cocaine by sea after Australian federal police seized 247kg of the drug allegedly hidden in a yacht in Queensland.

Matthieu Anthony Rees, 44, and Rachid Kachour, 55, both from Griffith in the ACT, were arrested at their apartment on Thursday as part of an investigation into cocaine seized from a yacht moored in Townsville.

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Indigenous voice opponents’ call for more detail is a furphy, Noel Pearson says

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Indigenous leader says referendum will be won if yes campaign can ‘find the better angels’ in Australian community

The Indigenous leader Noel Pearson says politicians’ calls for detail on the voice to parliament are disingenuous and a “furphy”, stressing it would be the job of those very MPs to help design the body after the referendum.

The comments came as the acting Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, continued the opposition’s call for detail on the voice.

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Australia’s road toll continues to rise with most states falling behind safety goals

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Victoria recorded the biggest increase in road deaths in the last year, followed by NSW

Australia’s road toll continues to rise with 37 additional lives lost in accidents compared to the previous 12 months, despite a nationwide target to halve road deaths by 2030.

The latest report into road deaths by the Australian Automobile Association found the greatest rises in fatal accidents were recorded in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia, and only one state or territory was on track to achieve national safety goals.

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Fire ants breach Queensland containment zones six times as authorities try to stop march to NSW border

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Experts say pest eradication program is underfunded and it is a ‘matter of time’ before ants move beyond Queensland

Fire ants have breached containment zones in south-east Queensland six times in the past six weeks, triggering the expansion of biosecurity controls at the New South Wales border.

The imported red fire ants – considered one of the world’s worst invasive species – were detected at a site at Tallebudgera last week, about 5.5km from the NSW border. The find was the farthest south the pest has been detected in Queensland.

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Collingwood condemn racist messages sent to Port’s Rioli after Saturday night clash

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Magpies CEO Craig Kelly said ‘abhorrent and disgusting’ racist remarks were directed towards Willie Rioli

Collingwood and Port Adelaide have condemned “abhorrent and disgusting” racist messages sent to Power forward Willie Rioli after round 19’s thrilling contest between the two clubs.

The Magpies won by two points at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night to surge two games clear on top of the AFL ladder. Rioli kicked one goal from 11 disposals and is set to face scrutiny from the league’s match review officer over an off-the-ball strike on Nathan Murphy.

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Greenacre shooting: three in hospital after early-morning ‘targeted attack’ in Sydney

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Three people were found injured in two parked cars, NSW police said, and two are in a critical condition in hospital

Three people have been taken to hospital after an early morning shooting in Sydney.

NSW police superintendent Simon Glasser said police believed it was a targeted attack, with shots fired into two stationary vehicles. They are looking for at least one man in relation to the shooting.

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Tensions emerge between state and federal governments over Australia’s energy grid roadmap

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Exclusive: disquiet points to jockeying among jurisdictions and impatience over the rollout of renewables

Cracks in the unity of the nation’s energy ministers have emerged amid disquiet over a review of power grid plans and an effort by the federal government to force carbon offsets from big new gas fields on to the states.

Almost two weeks on from a gathering of energy and climate ministers in Tasmania, senior officials expressed concern about how the review of the integrated system plan (ISP) – the grid’s roadmap – would be handled. One concern was that the federal energy minister, Chris Bowen’s department would be handling the review.

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Billionaire climate activist Mike Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie to separate

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The couple pledged in 2021 to spend $1.5bn of their approximately $25bn personal fortune on projects to tackle the climate crisis

Software billionaire and high-profile climate change activist Mike Cannon-Brookes, the founder of Australian company Atlassian, is separating from his wife, Annie.

Cannon-Brookes married the American fashion designer Annie Todd in January 2010 and the pair have four children together.

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‘Tragic accident’: tech entrepreneur presumed dead after boat incident off Sydney Harbour

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Body of art dealer Tim Klingender, 59, found amid debris from fishing boat at base of The Gap but Andrew Findlay, 51, still missing

Police will continue the search for a second man lost overboard in a fishing boat accident off Sydney Harbour on Thursday, but say they do not believe he could have survived.

The body of the art dealer Tim Klingender, 59, was found on Thursday, after his borrowed fishing boat was discovered overturned and broken up on the rocks at the base of The Gap off South Head, near the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

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Man charged for alleged harassment of Yumi Stynes, who has received threats over sex education book

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The 23-year-old was arrested at Balmain police station and charged with one count of use carriage service to menace, harass or offend

Police have arrested a man who allegedly threatened author Yumi Stynes, the co-author of an educational book aimed at helping teenagers understand sex and sexuality that was recently removed from shelves at Big W after staff members were abused.

Stynes – co-author of Welcome to Sex: Your No-silly Questions Guide to Sexuality, Pleasure and Figuring it Out – has reported receiving death threats and violent, graphic, racist abuse from critics of her book.

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USS Canberra: US navy ushers new warship into service at ceremony in Sydney

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US and Australian navy chiefs and dignitaries present as littoral combat ship with a crew of 50 has colours hoisted to the mast

The first US warship to be commissioned in a foreign port has been ushered into service in Sydney with US and Australian navy chiefs and dignitaries on hand for the ceremony at Garden Island.

The USS Canberra, a littoral combat ship with a crew of 50, had its colours hoisted to the mast on Saturday as its company of servicemen and women cheered the addition to the fleet.

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Family of Iranian woman who fled death penalty should have asylum case review, court rules

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The woman managed to secure a safe haven visa but not her parents and brother, who escaped with her to Australia

The family of a woman who fled Iran after facing the death penalty for escaping an arranged marriage has been granted the chance to stay with her in Australia.

Despite an Immigration Assessment Authority decision to deport the woman’s parents and brother, the federal circuit court has ruled the trio should have their application for asylum reviewed.

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