Category Archives: Australia news

Warm July breaks dozens of longstanding Australian temperature records

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Many weather stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart clocked their highest July temperatures ever as the country’s winters get hotter

Dozens of longstanding temperature records tumbled across Australia during a warm July.

Across the country maximum temperatures were overall about 1.2C above the long-term averages in July and all capital cities except Canberra were warmer than average, Bureau of Meteorology data shows.

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Australian Border Force raid home in Sydney’s south amid reports nuclear isotopes found

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Road blocked off in Arncliffe with hazmat officers, but authorities refuse to comment on whether nuclear material was found at the address

The Australian Border Force has raided a home in Sydney’s south amid reports nuclear isotopes have been found.

ABF officers were understood to be at the unit in Kelsey Street in Arncliffe executing a search on another matter when they discovered the potentially hazardous materials.

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University of Sydney gambling research centre bankrolled by casinos is ‘troubling’, experts say

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Institution says companies won’t ‘constrain or edit’ research, but public health expert Sean Cowlishaw calls funding relationship ‘unprecedented’

Public health experts have criticised the University of Sydney for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from some of the world’s biggest gambling companies and casinos, which are bankrolling a new research centre that will examine their conduct.

But the researchers and the university believe the partnership will produce more useful research that limits consumer harm, and one of the gambling companies involved has warned against “emotional rhetoric” from critics.

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Catholic church uses death of paedophile priest in bid to stop survivor suing NSW diocese, court hears

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Church claims it cannot get fair trial over alleged abuse by the notorious David Joseph Perrett in legal tactic that has drawn widespread criticism

The Catholic church is seeking to use using the death of a “prolific paedophile” priest to permanently prevent a dying Indigenous man from seeking justice for alleged abuse suffered on camping trips in rural New South Wales.

Two survivors are suing the church’s Armidale diocese for the alleged abuse by notorious priest David Joseph Perrett during camping trips from an Aboriginal mission in the mid-1970s.

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Days numbered for skiers this winter as Australia’s alpine resorts dry up

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Data shows a long-term decline in average and peak snow depths in the Australian alps, but direct causes are not easy to unpick

There are still about two months left in the usual ski season but snow levels are less than impressive at many of Australia’s alpine resorts.

James Wilson, a Sydney student, visits the snow twice a year. His trip to Thredbo this season was “the worst I’ve ever had anywhere”.

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Chief of NSW’s largest council wants developer tax to build swimming pools and libraries

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Blacktown’s Kerry Robinson warns rates would need to rise by 40% to pay for community facilities for more than 250,000 expected new residents

The chief executive of New South Wales’ largest council is calling for a new tax on developers to pay for social infrastructure such as swimming pools, warning the alternative would be to raise rates in urban fringe communities by 40%.

The Blacktown city council chief executive officer, Kerry Robinson, said his council had “no funding source” for libraries or community meeting places to accommodate the more than 250,000 people who are expected to move into the sprawling local government area in western Sydney over the next two decades.

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Australia’s oversupply of wine tops 2.8bn bottles in wake of China trade dispute

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New report suggests glut will last years, even if Beijing drops tariffs early, while prices of Australian red wine grapes plummet by more than half

Australia has an oversupply equivalent to more than 2.8bn bottles of wine – a little more than 100 bottles per person – after the trade dispute with China slashed exports to the biggest consumer of Australian wines.

The excess wine is being stored in large steel vats in wineries across Australia, equating to 859 Olympic wine-filled swimming pools.

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Electrical union wants Australia’s net zero targets boosted by ‘substantial’ investment and state ownership

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Exclusive: Influential leftwing unions to tell Labor’s national conference party it must seize ‘most significant economic opportunity since the Industrial Revolution’

Australia’s shift to net zero emissions should be accelerated by “substantial public investment” in renewable electricity including expanded state ownership, influential leftwing unions will argue at Labor’s national conference.

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) will use the party conference to call on the Albanese government to seize the “most significant economic opportunity since the Industrial Revolution” to drive down power prices for households and create secure, well-paid jobs for thousands of Australians.

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Five species face immediate concern of extinction, scientific committee warns Labor

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Further 41 species on course to be declared critically endangered, complicating Albanese government’s zero extinctions target

Five species, including Tasmania’s Maugean skate, could jeopardise the Albanese government’s zero extinctions target, according to a scientific committee that provides advice on endangered species.

A further 41 species are on course to be declared critically endangered, sparking alarm from environment groups at the pace at which plants and animals are reaching the most urgent status on the threatened list.

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Search for Indonesian sailor continues as rescued Australian surfers contact relieved families

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Officials hope Fifan Marongo who went missing off Aceh on Sunday has safely stranded on an island on the western side of Sumatra

Indonesian authorities plan to continue a search for a missing sailor, after the other six people in a boat lost in remote waters off Aceh on Sunday were rescued on Tuesday.

Four Australians and two other Indonesian crew were safely recovered from the sea. They survived 36 hours in the water on surfboards they had brought for a beach holiday.

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Australian Associated Press contributed to this report

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Australia news live: authorities given stop and search powers near Qld border in bid to stop fire ants; Matildas public holiday not on national cabinet agenda, PM says

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Agricultural officers given power to stop and search cars and trucks near the Queensland-NSW border. Follow the latest news live

Search efforts continue for third Indonesian crew member

Search efforts are continuing today for the third Indonesian crew member who remains missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Indonesia.

The search continues for a crew member who is still missing.

Our thoughts are with them and their loved ones.

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Pauline Hanson wins appeal against $250,000 defamation finding awarded to Brian Burston

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Burston, a one-time senator for One Nation, was ordered to pay his former leader’s legal costs for the initial defamation case and appeal

Pauline Hanson has had a legal victory after overturning $250,000 in defamation damages awarded after she made claims about the conduct of a former New South Wales senator in her One Nation party.

Hanson was ordered to pay damages in October after the federal court said her comments on Nine’s Today program in March 2019 were “seriously damaging” to Brian Burston’s reputation.

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Home test that checks if an abortion has worked reduces follow-up surgery, study finds

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A successful Australian trial of a urine test to detect whether an abortion has worked will be welcomed by rural and remote patients, say clinicians

A home test that checks whether a drug-induced abortion has worked is not only safe but reduces rates of unnecessary follow-up surgery, an Australian-first study has found.

People who attend clinics to access medication to terminate a pregnancy, known as a medical abortion, usually need to see a doctor 14 days later and may undergo a blood test to examine levels of a hormone known as hCG, along with an ultrasound to rule out complications.

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PwC did not disclose any conflicts of interest before winning aged care auditing contract

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Consulting firm’s contract to audit the Morrison government’s workforce bonus program remains suspended, department confirms

PwC Australia did not disclose any real or perceived conflicts of interest to the federal government before it was awarded a $2.3m aged care contract that has been suspended since June amid a continuing investigation.

The firm was contracted by the Department of Health and Aged Care to audit the Morrison government’s workforce bonus program, which provided two pre-election payments in 2022 worth up to $800 to attract and retain staff in the struggling aged care sector.

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Matildas brand more valuable than any other national sports team, marketing expert says

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Australian women’s football team has seen a five-fold increase in value since the start of the 2023 World Cup, analysis shows

The Matildas are Australia’s most valuable national sporting team and the worth of their brand has increased fivefold since the start of the 2023 World Cup, new analysis shows.

That brand will only increase in value over the coming days if they continue on their winning stomach-knotting run, although they do face a challenge in retaining momentum after some of the euphoria subsides, given their irregular playing schedule.

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Australia’s vaping crackdown to be enforced with new laws

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Exclusive: After announcing most forms of vaping would be banned, the Albanese government will legislate changes and boost agencies’ powers

Australia’s ban on non-therapeutic and single-use vapes will be underpinned by new laws – rather than a focus on regulation – in a development that has been welcomed by public health experts.

The Albanese government announced in May that it would outlaw the importation of non-prescription vaping products in the biggest smoking reforms in a decade.

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‘He was petrified’: Australian surfer drifts at sea for 37 hours after boat capsizes off Indonesia

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Elliot Foote’s father Peter Foote says his son floated through the night alone on a surfboard in ‘amazing’ survival story

The father of one of the Australian surfers who were missing at sea off the coast of Indonesia has spoken of the 37-hour ordeal, saying his son was “petrified” as he drifted on a surfboard through the night.

Elliot Foote, his girlfriend Steph Weisse and friends Will Teagle and Jordan Short were in a small boat that capsized in the sea during a storm near Pinang island off Aceh on Sunday night.

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Opposition refers minister to Ibac – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Warren Mundine said he has kicked two people off his no campaign group Recognise a Better Way, one of which for allegedly making an antisemitic comment.

I’ve actually kicked several people off our campaign in regard to their comments and I intend to keep on doing that.

That’s just between us and the couple of people we had sent off. I don’t appreciate racist comments … All they know is I got rid of them and I don’t accept any racial comments from anyone in regard to these issues.

… It wasn’t particularly about Aboriginals, one was a very antisemitic comment and I’m not gonna wear that crap.

When I talk about treaties, when I talk about constitutional recognition, it is in regard to treaties that are signed between the commonwealth government and First Nations peoples.

… I believe in treaties between the First Nations and the commonwealth and at that, and I put it in that context.

I was involved in the beginning … and then after it got further down the track in regard to [what] it was looking at, [then I said] I don’t support that.

It has to be the First Nations, it has to be the traditional owners who make those agreements. I can’t speak for other people’s country, and they can’t speak for my country.

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Vandals damage Indigenous birthing tree sacred to Victoria’s Djab Wurrung people

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Police investigate vandalism of tree that was set to be demolished for major road project before large protests in western Victoria

A sacred Indigenous birthing tree that was once at the centre of large protests in western Victoria over Aboriginal cultural heritage rights has been vandalised with a pro-highway message and had three drill holes cut into its trunk.

Police are investigating after the tree – sacred to the Djab Wurrung people – was vandalised near Buangor, about 180km west of Melbourne. The Djab Wurrung people have been fighting for four years to prevent the destruction of the birthing trees as part of a major state government road project.

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Missing Australian surfers found alive off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province

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Elliot Foote, Steph Weisse, Will Teagle and Jordan Short and two Indonesian crew have been found but one crew member is still missing

Four Australians who went missing when their boat encountered poor weather off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sunday have been found alive.

Steph Weisse, Will Teagle and Jordan Short were found floating in the water on surfboards on Tuesday.

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