Proposed mandatory closing times will still allow 361 venues to remain open after 2am, data suggests
More than 360 Victorian poker machine venues will be allowed to stay open past 2am, with experts warning proposed reforms to force 4am closures will do little to tackle gambling harm.
The Andrews government on Sunday announced widespread proposed gambling reforms, which include requiring all venues to close for at least six hours each day, from 4am until 10am.
Continue reading...Object at Green Head, 250km from Perth in Western Australia, could be from an Indian space rocket, experts said, but police say it is not hazardous
A giant metal cylinder has washed up on a beach in Western Australia, baffling locals and posing a mystery to police.
The huge copper-coloured cylinder was reported to police by local residents on Sunday, having washed up on a beach near Jurien Bay sometime earlier.
Continue reading...PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY face scrutiny as critics warn core functions of democracy should not be outsourced
The amount of taxpayer money given to the big four consultancy firms for management advisory services has increased by more than 1,270% in a decade, according to new analysis from the Centre for Public Integrity.
The analysis comes as the big four face intense scrutiny after disclosing the misuse of government information and multiple conflicts of interest, as well as concerns that taxpayers are being ripped off for work the public service once conducted itself.
Continue reading...Former competition watchdog Allan Fels tells parliamentary inquiry federal government must act now to avoid conflicts of interest. Follow the day’s news live
Divers are trying to retrieve hundreds of drones that plunged into Melbourne’s Yarra River over the weekend due to a technical error.
The drones were part of a light show for the Matildas’ game against France on Friday night but fell into the river due to a technical glitch. The retrieval operation began on Sunday and is continuing on Monday.
We want to see all drones taken back out of the river because we know if they are left there they will leach chemicals which can damage the environment.
We want investors to come into the market to take advantage of the great demand for rental accommodation.
But we don’t want to stifle that by putting unnecessary burden (on landlords).
Continue reading...NSW police say man found dead at Bowenfels home was wanted for serious offences dating back to 2021
A man wanted for domestic violence and weapons offences has died during a siege in which shots were fired at officers near Lithgow, New South Wales police say.
NSW police confirmed the 29-year-old was found dead when they gained entry to the property in Bowenfels at around 9am on Monday.
Continue reading...Victim was reportedly running on Orchid Beach, on what used to be called Fraser Island, when four dingoes inflicted wounds
A woman has been left with injuries to her lower body after being bitten by a pack of dingoes on Queensland’s K’gari.
She was flown to Hervey Bay hospital in a stable condition with wounds to her limbs and torso after suffering “multiple bite wounds” about 9am on Monday, the Queensland Ambulance Service said.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Lawyers for Network Ten are examining footage from Spotlight interview as they prepare to defend themselves against Lehrmann’s defamation case
Lawyers for Network Ten are examining raw footage of Channel Seven’s recent interview with Bruce Lehrmann as they prepare to defend themselves against his defamation case.
Lehrmann is currently suing Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the federal court, alleging they defamed him by wrongly suggesting he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Mining company engaged a private law firm to investigate when directors became aware of an anonymous letter about the executive chairman
Fortescue Metals ordered a review into an anonymous allegation about the behaviour of its executive chair, Andrew Forrest, after a whistleblower tipoff, but cleared him of wrongdoing.
The company said in a statement it engaged an independent law firm that had not previously represented Fortescue or its billionaire founder to investigate the issue.
Continue reading...Yes and no camps have been writing their competing essays, to be published by AEC on Tuesday
Supporters of an Indigenous voice to parliament say they are “ready to prosecute their simple, hopeful message” and will submit the official yes case to the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday.
The yes and the no camps have been drafting their competing essays, limited to 2,000 words each, with the two documents to be published online by the AEC on Tuesday.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...The no campaign plans to tap into the ‘unheard majority’ in Sydney, believing there is a bloc of socially conservative religious voters ripe for its messages
The no campaign in the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is targeting migrant communities and parts of Sydney that voted strongly against marriage equality in the 2017 postal vote, Warren Mundine has said.
The campaign believes there is a cohort of religious and socially conservative voters who are open to its messaging on implications of the voice.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Government funding since landmark education review released ‘has gone to those least in need’, says national convenor of Save Our Schools
Real government funding to private schools has increased almost twice as much as funding to public schools in the decade since the landmark Gonski review recommended changes designed to fund Australian schools according to need.
From 2012 to 2021, per student funding to independent and Catholic schools rose by 34% and 31% respectively, while funding to public schools increased by just 17%, according to parliamentary library data provided exclusively to Guardian Australia. In Queensland, the growth in government funding to independent schools per student has been nine times greater than to public schools.
Continue reading...For months, the state government has defended conditions inside Cleveland, in the face of accounts by guards, judges and children documenting problematic practices
In a Townsville courtroom last month, a senior manager at the Cleveland youth detention centre sat in the witness box to answer questions about the prison’s systematic use of solitary confinement.
For months, the state government has defended conditions inside Cleveland, in the face of accounts by guards, teachers, youth workers, court documents, judges and children documenting problematic practices.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Fifteen-year-old boy charged with assault by police after incident in Queensland in early hours of Sunday
A British backpacker has been stabbed by a teenager at an Australian beach resort, according to local media reports.
Police were called to Hastings Street in Noosa, on the Queensland coast, in the early hours of Sunday after a 25-year-old man was allegedly attacked by a 15-year-old boy after an argument.
Continue reading...Agriculture Victoria says it is ‘working with local veterinarians and experts to investigate the cause of multiple sudden horse deaths at three properties’
The mystery deaths of at least 10 horses on three separate properties in Victoria has prompted an urgent investigation by state authorities.
Agriculture Victoria on Sunday confirmed 10 horses had died suddenly on properties on the Mornington Peninsula, in south-east Melbourne and south-west Victoria since 4 July.
Continue reading...Premier Daniel Andrews says reforms ‘will provide the strongest gambling harm preventions and anti-money laundering measures in Australia’
Mandatory closing hours, slower spin times and smaller spending limits will be used to minimise gambling harm in sweeping gambling reforms across Victoria.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, and the gaming minister, Melissa Horne, announced a series of reforms for electronic gaming machines in the state on Sunday.
Continue reading...Four-day operation results in 1,107 domestic violence charges being laid against 592 people. Follow live
‘Textbook fiscal policy’ from Labor about getting economy ‘in nick’
Chalmers is asked whether it’s possible to control inflation without the unemployment rate growing further.
Remains to be seen.
We’ve got the budget in better nick, not the expense of the economy but in addition, and cost-of-living help is targeted in out-of-pocket health costs, electricity, rent and some particular pressure points. We found $40 billion of savings over two budgets compared to zero in savings in the last Liberal budget.
So all of those things are about get getting the economy in nick at the same time we provide help for people to get through through a difficult period.
The point that Michele Bullock was making in that speech, which, again, I think is relatively uncontroversial, is that as the Reserve Bank forecast and the treasury forecasts, have inflation moderating in coming months, they have a tick-up in unemployment. I’ve been upfront. The challenges in the economy are unsubstantial, globally and domestically, I think the slow-down is expected in the forecasts to be significant. That will have implications for the unemployment rate, which is the point that Michele Bullock was making.
Continue reading...Deputy prime minister Richard Marles says byelection swing to LNP was ‘half the average swing you would expect against a sitting government’
Senior members of the Albanese government insist they are not troubled by Labor’s loss in the Fadden byelection, as they seek to reassure Australians their main focus is on the cost-of-living crisis.
The Liberal National party retained the safe Gold Coast seat on Saturday in a byelection caused by the resignation of former minister Stuart Robert. There was a swing of about 2.4% to the LNP after preferences.
Continue reading...Accused, 51, due to face court on Monday after one woman killed and another woman, 22, taken to hospital in a stable condition
A 51-year-old man will face court charged with murder and attempted murder after a siege in suburban Adelaide that followed a woman’s death.
Another woman, 22, was seriously injured in the alleged shooting incident on Saturday afternoon before the standoff with police in Campbelltown.
Continue reading...Plans to have historic 1297 edition back on display in Canberra by the end of next year have been revealed
Australia’s 1297 edition of Magna Carta, bought in 1952 for £12,500, is now worth $35m.
The precious document, the “foundation stone of constitutional and parliamentary government”, is in storage at Parliament House in Canberra while a new display case is built.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Cameron Caldwell wins retiring member Stuart Robert’s seat with Labor candidate Letitia Del Fabbro conceding less than 90 minutes after polls closed
The Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, has been given some breathing room with the LNP comfortably retaining its safe Gold Coast seat of Fadden.
Labor, which had debated whether to even run a candidate in the poll, went into the byelection expecting the LNP to win – it was always about by how much.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...