Category Archives: Australia news

Greens and Australian Christian Lobby form ‘unholy alliance’ to shut down late-night pokies in NSW

Posted on by

Exclusive: The political foes have set aside decades of animosity to ‘work constructively on gambling reform’ after both describing the NSW government’s actions as insufficient

Limited action on gambling reform and record levels of harm have prompted “an unholy alliance” between the Greens and the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), which has pledged to rally support for the progressive party’s legislation.

The offer of support came shortly after NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann announced a bill to force the closure of all poker machine venues from 2am to 10am and remove exemptions for more than 650 pubs and clubs that can operate within this period.

Continue reading...

Over half of Australians support sanctions on Israel and its leaders for ongoing attacks on Gaza, poll shows

Posted on by

Survey finds 57% of respondents agreed government should impose similar sanctions on Israel as those against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine

Australians are supportive of placing tough sanctions on Israel and its leaders for their role in attacking Gaza, with a new poll finding more than half of voters agree the federal government should extend sanctions placed on Russia to Israel.

The YouGov poll, commissioned by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) and released Monday, shows the majority of Australians want Israel to end its assault on Gaza, with 69% agreeing – 53% “strongly” agreeing – the Netanyahu government’s military campaign should stop. Fourteen per cent disagreed.

Continue reading...

Liberal frontbencher backs Hastie on immigration – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

James Paterson says Hastie move to backbench part of Liberals’ ‘debate and contest about ideas’

The sooner the Liberal party can sort out its differences the better but it may take a while after Andrew Hastie’s departure to the back bench, according to one of the rogue MP’s closest colleagues.

But we do have to make sure we go through our processes. We have to make sure we have those debates.

One of the reflections we’ve all had about the last parliamentary term is that there wasn’t enough debate and contest about ideas, that we need to robustly contest policy before we settle on it.

On the back bench, I’ll continue to advocate for things I believe in.

Continue reading...

Hot public holiday expected for Sydney and Brisbane after record rain for parts of NSW and Queensland in September

Posted on by

Warm weather follows deluges in more than a dozen places in NSW and Queensland which topped daily records for the month

Sydney and Brisbane are in for a hot public holiday on Monday, with temperatures set to pass 30C in both capitals.

The warm weather comes after a soaking September on Australia’s east coast smashed monthly rain records across 21 places in Queensland and six in New South Wales following a record-breaking rain in August.

Sydney – sunny, minimum 20C, maximum 31C

Brisbane – sunny, minimum 15C, maximum 32C

Melbourne – shower or two, minimum 12C, maximum 16C

Adelaide – shower or two, minimum 11C, maximum 17C

Canberra – shower or two, minimum 11C, maximum 23C

Perth – sunny, minimum 8C, maximum 21C

Hobart – possible shower, minimum 7C, maximum 14C

Darwin – partly cloudy minimum 25C, maximum 35C

Continue reading...

‘Time is running out’: Sportsbet offered share of $1m in bonus bets if customers gambled on AFL grand final day

Posted on by

Online bookmaker’s offer, one of a series texted during finals, was valid only if customer took up a suggested same-game multi bet

Australia’s largest online bookmaker texted customers offering a guaranteed share of $1m in bonus bets if they gambled on the morning of the AFL grand final.

The messages were among a series texted to a Victorian man’s phone by Sportsbet during the AFL finals series in an apparent attempt to entice him to gamble more.

Continue reading...

‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’ Stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion

Posted on by

BirdLife WA calls consequences of Alcoa’s proposals to clear 11,000ha of jarrah forest ‘irreversible and catastrophic’ for endangered bird

The destruction of Western Australia’s northern jarrah forests for bauxite mining will push a threatened black cockatoo “to and beyond the brink of extinction” if governments allowed it to continue, conservationists have warned.

Mark Henryon, a volunteer with Birdlife Western Australia, said there was a clear choice that would decide whether the endangered Baudin’s black cockatoo would survive. “Baudin’s or bauxite – we can’t have both,” he said.

Continue reading...

Bodies of two women who died in Victorian high country might have been there ‘two or three days’, police say

Posted on by

Police are working to identify the women and ask anyone who had seen two women appearing ‘disoriented’ in the area earlier to contact Crime Stoppers

Emergency services have recovered the bodies of two women who died in “blizzard conditions” in the Victorian high country.

The bodies of the women were found by hikers near a remote hut at Nelse, about 400km north-east of Melbourne, on Friday afternoon. Their deaths are not considered to be suspicious, police said.

Continue reading...

Potential contempt charges in relation to Kyle and Jackie O comments on Erin Patterson still under consideration

Posted on by

Office of public prosecutions says decision has ‘not yet been finalised’, four months after judge referred comments including Kyle Sandilands saying ‘lock that bitch up’

The Victorian office of public prosecutions has yet to rule out contempt charges in relation to comments made on the Kyle and Jackie O Show about the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson, four months after the co-hosts were criticised by a supreme court judge.

Justice Christopher Beale referred the comments to the office for contempt proceedings in June, after Kyle Sandilands made comments including, “just lock that bitch up” and called the case “not strong for her”.

Continue reading...

‘Yeah, nah’: why the Victorian Liberal party has taken an unusual step in the search for future MPs

Posted on by

The state opposition is changing tack in a bid to attract stronger candidates for high stakes seats and avoid an election catastrophe

When the Victorian Liberal party’s state executive met last Thursday, just days before preselections closed in seats held by four retiring MPs, they looked at the list of candidates before them, underwhelmed.

“The view was, ‘yeah, nah’,” said one Liberal source, who requested anonymity to discuss internal party matters.

Continue reading...

Two Australian women and four children escape Syrian detention camp and flee to Victoria

Posted on by

The six Australians received no government assistance in their 500km journey from the violent Al-Hawl detention camp to Lebanon

Two Australian women and four children have escaped a Syrian detention camp and made their own way home to Victoria, as pressure mounts on the Australian government to repatriate its citizens.

The two women and four children – the Guardian is not revealing their names or ages – escaped from the notorious al-Hawl detention camp in north-east Syria, travelling more than 500km to cross the Lebanese border, where they were able to obtain Australian documents in Beirut.

Continue reading...

‘Stranded’ aged care or disability patients occupy up to one in 10 hospital beds in Australia, report finds

Posted on by

State and territory treasurers who commissioned the report say it shows need for federal government to pay bigger share of public hospital funding

Up to one in 10 public hospital beds are taken by “stranded” patients awaiting alternative accommodation in aged care and supported disability accommodation, a new report shows – bolstering calls for more federal health funding.

The report on the drivers of public hospital costs was commissioned by state and territory treasurers to inform negotiations on the next national health reform agreement (NHRA) with the commonwealth government.

Continue reading...

Pro-Palestine protesters fight police decision to block Sydney Opera House protest on 12 October

Posted on by

NSW supreme court will have final say over whether demonstrators will be given legal protections during march this month

The Palestine Action Group will fight the New South Wales police in court after their proposed plan to march on the Sydney Opera House was knocked back.

On Wednesday, the group announced its plan to diverge from the normal route of its near weekly rallies over the past two years, and march from Hyde Park to the Sydney Opera House on 12 October to mark two years since 7 October and call for “an end to genocide in Gaza”.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: retired admiral criticises Aukus deal; decision expected in NSW psychiatrists pay dispute

Posted on by

Peter Briggs says relying on overseas construction is ‘folly’; industrial relations commission to rule this morning on government’s stoush with doctors. Follow the latest news live

The former head of Australia’s submarine squadron has urged Australia against outsourcing boat construction overseas, as bureaucrats express confidence the US won’t scuttle Aukus, Australian Associated Press reports.

A parliamentary inquiry yesterday ran the rule over the Geelong treaty, a 50-year Aukus cooperation agreement between Australia and the UK signed in July.

There is no minimum protection in the treaty for a guaranteed work share for genuine Australian industry.

The Collins project has established a viable submarine supply chain within Australia.

Continue reading...

Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they’re becoming unstoppable

Posted on by

Of 200 fires in the past 44 years, half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were in the last decade

Wildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn, £12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the grief and the economic pain in recent years.

As the headlines, the death tolls and the billion dollar losses from wildfires have stacked up around the world, so too have the rising temperatures – fuelled by the climate crisis – that create tinderbox conditions.

Continue reading...

Millions of Australians eligible for 5% first home buyers scheme may be unable to afford repayment

Posted on by

Greens and experts argue policies that let first home buyers spend more than usual only creates more expensive housing – without lifting the proportion of homeowners

Millions of Australians eligible to take up the federal government’s new 5% deposit scheme could be unable to afford mortgage repayments, new analysis has shown.

Data compiled by the Parliamentary Library and commissioned by the Greens shows of the 3.8 million Australians in the top 10 most common professions in Australia, the vast majority would be unable to afford mortgage repayments on the median Australian home without falling into housing stress.

Continue reading...

Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will appeal against her convictions, court told

Posted on by

Lawyers for Erin Patterson confirmed on Thursday that she would appeal against her convictions, after she was sentenced to life imprisonment last month

Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will appeal against her convictions, the Victorian supreme court has heard.

Patterson’s barrister, Richard Edney, confirmed she would appeal during a short hearing in Melbourne on Thursday morning.

Continue reading...

Corporate ‘middlemen’ mask who really profits from Australian fossil fuel projects, report warns

Posted on by

Nominee companies – paid to be listed as shareholders on behalf of unnamed investors – could be reducing accountability over financial support of industry

Three global banks are being paid to obscure who profits from 51 fossil fuel projects in Australia that produce 22m tonnes of carbon emissions each year, according to new analysis.

An analyst who authored the report says it highlights a “massive problem” in Australia that could be reducing the amount of scrutiny investors face for financial support of the fossil fuel industry.

Continue reading...

NSW urged to stop strip-searches of young people after court ruling spotlights police conduct

Posted on by

Supreme court rules police suspicion that a person is in possession of a prohibited drug ‘is not sufficient to conduct a strip-search’

Advocates are calling on the New South Wales government to scrap strip-searches of young people altogether, saying a landmark court ruling found “systemic” issues with the way police have been using their powers.

Justice Dina Yehia handed down her findings in the NSW supreme court on Tuesday in a class action brought by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre against the state of NSW.

Continue reading...

Albanese hopes China’s reported BHP iron ore ban ‘very much short-term’ as ASX dips

Posted on by

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and BHP CEO Mike Henry to discuss reports of Chinese iron ore blockade

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will meet with the boss of BHP amid a shock report that the world’s largest mining company faces a Chinese blockade on its iron ore shipments.

Beijing’s state iron ore buyer has told steelmakers to pause imports of BHP ore, amid hardball negotiations over the price of the crucial resource, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Footprint found in South Australian outback search for four-year-old boy

Posted on by

August, known as Gus, disappeared from his family’s sheep station in state’s remote mid-north on Saturday afternoon

The discovery of a footprint is providing a glimmer of hope before the search for a preschooler on an outback homestead becomes a recovery operation.

Four-year-old August, known as Gus, disappeared from his family’s sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north on Saturday afternoon.

Continue reading...