Category Archives: Australia news

Cheaper prescriptions plan likely to proceed as Coalition drops attempt to block 60-day dispensing

Posted on by

Patients will be able to buy two months of medicine from pharmacies for price of one, saving more than $1.6bn over four years

Patients with chronic conditions are set to receive two months of medicine for the price of one from 1 September, after the Coalition backtracked on a push to tear up Labor’s 60-day dispensing changes.

The changes, which are estimated to save 6 million Australians up to $180 a year for each medicine, faced a disallowance motion brought by the opposition in the Senate on Thursday morning.

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

Continue reading...

Woman and baby found dead in Rockhampton home

Posted on by

Police say they are investigating ‘sudden death’ of two people after bodies discovered at central Queensland house

Police have launched an investigation into the “sudden death” of a woman and a baby in a central Queensland house.

They discovered the bodies after being called to a house in Bean Street in Rockhampton about 10.502am on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Sexual offence trials regularly rely on ‘rape myths’ and stereotypes of victim-survivors, NSW study finds

Posted on by

Analysis of trial transcripts shows prosecutors and defence still focus on conduct of victim-survivor

Prosecutors and defence lawyers regularly rely on stereotypes about how sexual violence victim-survivors should behave and “rape myths” during sexual offence trials in New South Wales, a study has found.

The study, which undertook the largest analysis of sexual offence trial transcripts in the state in 27 years, found many of the procedural reforms that started in the 1980s to improve the experience of sexual violence victim-survivors in the criminal justice system were working.

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

Continue reading...

Queensland man who says schools should reconsider the cane joins government’s youth justice group

Posted on by

‘If the parents of kids aren’t able to exercise discipline … then the state needs to be disciplining these kids’, says victims’ advocate

On a Toowoomba Facebook group, frustrated residents share regular updates about vehicles stolen, shops robbed and homes burgled. Some post photos of children accused of crimes; the “bleeding hearts” are shouted down.

Amid the emotion, Ken Cunliffe calls for calm and for the community to focus on solutions rather than politics.

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

Continue reading...

Business lobby rejects Coalition’s ‘disingenuous’ claims Labor pursuing big Australia policy

Posted on by

Business Council of Australia wants migration to be more business-friendly and rejects concerns of a surge in arrivals

Big business has sided with the Albanese government by rejecting the “misconception” that migration is higher than normal and the “disingenuous” claim by the Coalition that Labor is pursuing a big Australia policy.

In a report titled Migration Makes Australia Stronger, to be released on Thursday, the Business Council of Australia calls for reforms to make migration more business-friendly and rejects concerns about a surge in arrivals after Covid border closures were lifted.

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

Continue reading...

Mushroom mystery: family lunch leaves Australian town reeling after three deaths in suspected poisoning

Posted on by

As police investigate what looks like a fatal case of food poisoning in Leongatha in rural Victoria, locals recall the victims as kind and community-spirited

In the quiet town of Leongatha in eastern Victoria, a group of family and friends sat down to a Saturday lunch at one of their homes.

Within hours of the meal four of the guests began feeling very unwell and eventually sought treatment at local hospitals.

Continue reading...

Trump’s potential return to White House up to American people, says Kevin Rudd

Posted on by

Australian ambassador to US takes more diplomatic angle after previously saying Trump re-election could ‘fray’ support for US-Australia alliance

The Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, says it is up to the American people whether Donald Trump returns to the White House – an outcome he previously said would “fray” support for the US alliance in Australia.

The former Australian prime minister said on Wednesday that US politics was “a complex beast” and he was focused on keeping on good terms with both sides of the aisle, including former Trump officials.

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

Continue reading...

Coalition will seek to block Labor plan for cheaper medicine after backlash from pharmacies

Posted on by

Opposition won’t support 60-day dispensing policy that allows patients to buy two months of medicine for price of one over concerns community pharmacies will be forced to close

The Coalition has asked the Senate to tear up changes allowing patients to buy two months of medicine for the price of one unless Labor pauses the policy and blunts the impact on pharmacies.

On Wednesday the shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, and Nationals Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, announced that if the Albanese government did not pause the 60-day dispensing policy they would seek to have it disallowed.

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

Continue reading...

Indigenous Australians Agency refutes Jacinta Price’s claim that Uluru statement is 26 pages

Posted on by

Exclusive: Government agency wrote to voice referendum no campaign leader, saying her claim was incorrect and pointing to publicly available one-page document

The National Indigenous Australians Agency has written to Coalition senator and no campaign leader Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to flatly deny her claims that it told her the Uluru statement from the heart was a 26-page document, again confirming it is a one-page document.

It is likely to further escalate tensions in the parliament over the voice referendum, after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described Coalition questions about the Uluru statement as “conspiracy theories”. Prof Megan Davis, the Uluru Dialogue co-chair and architect of the Uluru statement, claimed opponents were seeking to “confuse the mainstream media and our political leaders”.

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

Continue reading...

Archibald prize 2023: Noni Hazlehurst portrait wins people’s choice award

Posted on by

Jaq Grantford’s portrait of the beloved actor and former Play School presenter wins $5,000 prize decided by the public

A realist portrait of television personality and actor Noni Hazlehurst has won the $5,000 people’s choice award for the 2023 Archibald prize, announced at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Wednesday.

It is a first-time Archibald win for Melbourne artist Jaq Grantford and the second portrait the artist has painted of Hazlehurst.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

High-profile man accused of Toowoomba rape to find out if he can access alleged victim’s old phone data

Posted on by

Prosecutors to consider request from man’s lawyer to access six months of data, despite pair not knowing each other until date of alleged offence

Prosecutors in the case of a high-profile man accused of rape will decide within a week how much data from the alleged victim’s mobile phone can be disclosed to the defence.

The crown had sought an explanation from the defence about its request for a data download and has now been provided with an answer.

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

Continue reading...

Zimmermann becomes Australia’s first billion-dollar fashion label after private equity acquisition

Posted on by

Brand founders Simone and Nicky Zimmermann retain minority shareholding and say they and current management will continue to run the label

Zimmermann has become Australia’s first billion-dollar fashion label after a majority acquisition by private equity firm Advent International.

The label’s founders, sisters Simone and Nicky Zimmermann, have retained a minority shareholding in the brand and said the company would continue to be run by them and current management.

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

Continue reading...

Darling-Baaka River at Menindee faces more fish kills as temperatures rise

Posted on by

Exclusive: Dead fish are again appearing in the stressed Darling-Baaka at Menindee, as a fisheries department report reveals the river’s poor state

The Darling-Baaka River at Menindee is on the brink of another environmental catastrophe, with dead fish already appearing along 30km of the river compromised by the last fish kill in March, according to experts.

The office of the chief scientist is due to report by 31 August on the causes of the March disaster, which killed millions of bony herring (also known as bony bream) and thousands of other native fish and carp.

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

Continue reading...

Passenger train was 100km/h over speed limit before deadly crash north of Melbourne, report finds

Posted on by

Driver and a rail worker were killed when the XPT train derailed in February 2020 at Wallan, Victoria on its way from Melbourne to Sydney

A passenger train was travelling at more than 100km/h over the speed limit when it derailed north of Melbourne, killing its driver and a rail worker.

The NSW Trainlink XPT passenger train was on its way to Melbourne from Sydney on 20 February 2020, when it came off the tracks at Wallan.

Continue reading...

Commonwealth Bank posts record $10bn profit amid rising stress for borrowers

Posted on by

Annual results for CBA are 6% higher than previous year, buoyed by expanded profit margins during interest rate hikes

Australia’s biggest lender, Commonwealth Bank, has posted a record $10.16bn cash profit, even as more of its customers succumb to rising borrowing rates, prompting a sharp increase in bad debts.

The bank’s 2022-23 results were 6% higher than a year earlier, buoyed by expanding profit margins generated during a period of fast-rising interest rates.

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

Continue reading...

French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes

Posted on by

Institution used concerning approval procedures for hundreds of studies, review says

A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies.

The Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or IHU, is a large clinical research centre in the south of France. It was founded by Prof Didier Raoult, who was also director of the centre until August 2022, when he stood down ahead of the release of findings from a government audit that found the institute conducted trials “likely to constitute offences or serious breaches of health or research regulations”.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Pocock claims Labor adopting Coalition’s ‘gas-led recovery’ and doing bare minimum on climate crisis

Posted on by

Follow today’s live news updates

Doctors press Labor over NT gas projects

More than 2,000 doctors, GPs and health professionals have now signed a letter to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, demanding the government reconsider subsidising the Middle Arm project and “intervene to prevent gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, acknowledging that the emissions cannot be fully offset”.

We do not want these industries to be established in Darwin due to the risk they pose to the population and the risk they pose to the whole of Australia by driving the climate crisis.

We would like governments around Australia to put the health of their people first and understand the principle of first do no harm when considering the approval of projects like this.

Continue reading...

PwC scandal: Australian Tax Office tried to get federal police to investigate in 2018

Posted on by

Tax office tells Senate committee it did not have the investigative powers to secure enough evidence from consultancy firm, hampering efforts to persuade federal police to investigate

Repeated efforts by the Australian Tax Office to convince federal police to investigate PwC in 2018 failed because it did not have “the investigative powers” to secure key evidence.

For the first time the ATO has published a detailed timeline of the PwC scandal that confirms years of frustration at the firm allegedly withholding information about how it helped multinational companies avoid paying tax.

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

Continue reading...

Australia to officially resume use of term ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’, reversing Coalition stance

Posted on by

Labor is vowing to strengthen its objections to ‘illegal’ Israeli settlements ahead of next week’s national conference

The Australian government will reinstate the term “Occupied Palestinian Territories”, vowing to strengthen its objections to “illegal” Israeli settlements before next week’s Labor party national conference.

Some delegates at the national conference in Brisbane are expected to agitate for the party to take a stronger position and commit to a timeframe to recognise Palestinian statehood.

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

Continue reading...

Lehrmann case shouldn’t shake faith in justice system, police union says

Posted on by

Association chief urges community to come forward with complaints as fallout from Sofronoff inquiry into prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann continues

The police union says the Bruce Lehrmann case was “like no other” and shouldn’t deter complainants from coming forward or having faith in the justice system.

The fallout from the Sofronoff inquiry report continued on Tuesday, following the ACT government’s extraordinary criticisms of inquiry head Walter Sofronoff KC over the premature leaking of the report to journalists.

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

Continue reading...