Category Archives: Australia news

Deputy PM says Russia uprising ‘a crack in the edifice’ – as it happened

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O’Neil defends decision to keep Nauru offshore processing open

Home affairs and cyber security minister Clare O’Neil was asked about why the offshore processing site on Nauru is being kept open if the last refugee has been removed on ABC RN this morning.

It is an unmitigated good thing for the country that we’ve transitioned the last asylum seeker off Nauru. This has been a festering sore in Australian politics for more than a decade. And I’m very pleased that our government has taken that approach of making sure that we bring that to a close.

However, it is very important that we maintain our strength on the borders. Offshore processing is a part of our overall approach and that is why Nauru will remain open and on standby.

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Anthony Albanese says government needs to ‘make it clear’ what is at stake in voice referendum

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Prime minister says ‘we have got to explain what it is about’ as he shrugs off polls showing slipping support

Anthony Albanese has shrugged off polling results showing slipping support for the Indigenous voice, but concedes the government needs to “make it clear” what is at stake in the referendum as the campaign begins.

The prime minister is confident of a yes vote in the referendum, expected in October, as he flags the Labor party will swing in behind the official Yes23 campaign to bolster its work.

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PwC to publicly name all staff involved in tax scandal, inquiry told

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CEO Kristin Stubbins says once internal investigation is complete there will be ‘appropriate accountability’ for those found to have acted inappropriately

The consultancy firm PwC will name all staff involved in the tax scandal shortly after it completes an internal investigation.

“This is a comprehensive, detailed investigation and as you can appreciate, we need to get it right,” acting PwC chief executive, Kristin Stubbins, told a parliamentary inquiry on Monday.

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Sexuality a factor in stabbing murder of Anthony Cawsey in Sydney park, inquiry told

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Counsel assisting LGBTQ+ hate crimes inquiry criticises ‘unexplained’ delays in prosecution in the 2009 Centennial Park murder

Sexuality may have played a part in the unsolved stabbing murder of a “charismatic and kind” Sydney man in Centennial Park nearly 14 years ago.

A special New South Wales inquiry into LGBTQ+ hate crimes has examined the case of Anthony Cawsey, 37, whose body was found in the eastern suburbs park in September 2009.

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Major Commonwealth Bank outage prevents some customers from accessing accounts

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CBA says issue resolved without reporting cause, but advises delay in some payments as services brought back online

Commonwealth Bank suffered a major outage on Monday, with customers unable to access their accounts, including transfers and payments, for several hours.

Customers reported not being able to check their account balances or transfer funds in the Netbank app and some said they were unable to make purchases. Credit cards appeared unaffected at the time of reporting.

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Indigenous voice yes campaign to ‘take the high ground’ with funding for thousands of local events

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Public messaging of referendum supporters hopes to offer antidote to ‘fear and misinformation’, yes campaigners say

The yes campaign for the referendum will offer grants of up to $15,000 for a blitz of community functions supporting the Indigenous voice, in a bid to support thousands of events nationwide backing the change.

Other big headline events and an advertising campaign are in the works for the yes campaigners, who will begin ramping up their public messaging from next week in the long run-up to the vote on an Indigenous voice to parliament, widely anticipated to be held in October this year.

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Rex Patrick to challenge denial of FoI requests based on ministerial portfolio changes

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Court to consider rule that keeps large swathes of government documents secret by denying freedom of information requests

The practice of using ministerial portfolio changes to keep large swathes of government documents secret is severely undermining transparency and accountability, the federal court will hear on Monday.

Rex Patrick, who marked himself as a transparency campaigner during his time in the Senate, is mounting a legal challenge against a common method of denying freedom of information requests for documents held by government ministers.

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Five hundred days in solitary: Queensland teenager’s case ‘a major failure of our system’

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Exclusive: Staff shortages at Cleveland youth detention centre led to teenager being confined to his cell for more than 20 hours a day

An Aboriginal teenager with an intellectual disability was likely locked in solitary confinement for more than 500 days at Queensland’s troubled Cleveland youth detention centre, in a situation described to a court as a “major failure in our system”.

Michael*, now 19, spent more than two years on remand at the Townsville centre while the children’s court dealt with charges related to a violent sexual attack on a 16-year-old girl.

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Firm owned by Britishvolt buyer raided by Australian authorities

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Future of UK battery making thrown further into doubt after company founded by David Collard was visited by federal police

A company owned by the buyer of Britishvolt has been raided by the Australian authorities, throwing the future of UK battery-making further into doubt.

Britishvolt, based in Blyth, Northumberland, and which the UK government lauded for its potential role in British battery production and UK-built electric vehicles before it fell into administration, was bought by the Australian entrepreneur David Collard earlier this year.

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‘Unseasonable’ cloud band could double monthly average rainfall in areas of central Australia

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BoM forecasts show system to move from northern WA toward eastern states while alps in south-east could receive more snow

A large cloud band is set to bring unseasonable wet weather to parts of Australia as it moves eastwards across the country this week.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s forecasts suggest a rain band developing over northern Western Australia on Sunday into Monday will move towards the eastern states over the first half of the week.

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Scandal-hit PwC announces new Australian boss – as it happened

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States will ‘do their own things’ on rent caps: Collins

Speers asks for what evidence Collins is referring to. The minister points to research by Graeme Samuel, former boss of the ACCC, which she referred to in parliament this week and again reiterates the talking point:

The overwhelming evidence suggests that it doesn’t work. States and territories will do their own things in terms of this. What we are being asked to do here is have eight different jurisdictions make these decisions at the same time and we have been told very clearly from those jurisdictions that they won’t be doing this. Some states have already ruled out both freezes and caps. What we’ve been asked to do is simply not achievable and we won’t commit to something that is not achievable, David.

When you look at the evidence that has been cited by others, the evidence shows that it reduces supply significantly by up to 15%. The other thing that it shows is the quality of the stock diminishes over time, so I will look at the data and the evidence and the data and the evidence says that it doesn’t work.

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Australian earless dragon last seen in 1969 rediscovered in secret location

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Victorian grassland earless dragon was once common west of Melbourne but numbers declined due to habitat loss and predators such as feral cats

A tiny earless dragon feared to be extinct in the wild has been sighted for the first time in more than 50 years – at a location that is being kept secret to help preservation efforts.

The Victorian grassland earless dragon, Tympanocryptis pinguicolla, has now been rediscovered in the state, according to a joint statement issued by the Victorian and federal Labor governments on Sunday.

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The pandemic pie peak has passed but we’re far from the demise of an Australian classic

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Consumption of meat pies has fallen back to pre-Covid levels, reflecting a return to normal patterns rather than a long-term crisis, experts say

One of Australia’s favourite foods, the meat pie, was reported to be an endangered species this past week, with headlines warning the “iconic” food was “dying out”, and reports citing falling sales. But reports of its death may be somewhat exaggerated.

While meat pie sales have dipped to their lowest levels since 2019, it could be a case of the nation recalibrating its pie-eating habits after Covid-19 lockdowns sent demand for frozen pies into overdrive.

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Australian Anglican schools left exposed as insurers refuse to indemnify church against child abuse claims

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State governments fear lack of insurance means churches will withdraw out-of-home care and youth homelessness services

Private insurers are refusing to cover Anglican schools in southern Queensland for child abuse claims, leaving individual schools and dioceses financially exposed for the past two years.

The increasing rate of refusal comes after reforms made it easier for survivors to bring child abuse claims.

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Fast-growing BYD launches Dolphin EV, Australia’s cheapest electric car. Here’s how it compares

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Latest vehicle from Build Your Dreams, which in less than a year has become the counry’s second-biggest electric vehicle seller, has a starting price of $38,890

Many Australians haven’t heard of BYD, the Chinese brand now selling the country’s cheapest new electric car.

BYD, or Build Your Dreams, is the biggest threat to Tesla globally and has garnered a cult-like following that’s translating to sales success locally.

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Anthony Albanese says Russia must end Ukraine invasion as pro-Putin protesters march on Kirribilli House

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Sydney protest was held over the decision to block the building of a new Russian embassy near Parliament House in Canberra

Anthony Albanese has renewed his call for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine as Russia was plunged into crisis and pro-Putin protesters marched on Kirribilli House in Sydney on Saturday.

The protest was held over the decision to block the building of a new Russian embassy near Parliament House.

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Queensland police search for prospectors who went missing at gold fossicking area

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Michelle Lyn Melbourne and Nikita May Bennett’s ute found at Seven Mile Diggings locked with their mobile phones inside

Police are searching for two prospectors missing in rural Queensland after their car was found locked with mobile phones inside.

Officers on Saturday launched a public appeal to help find the missing women, 54-year-old Michelle Lyn Melbourne and 36-year-old Nikita May Bennett.

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Home affairs withheld serious concerns about crime prediction tool during Benbrika case, court hears

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Judge suggests there may have been ‘interference with administration of justice’ and government officials could be referred ‘to relevant authorities’

The Department of Home Affairs deliberately withheld information that raised serious questions about the reliability of a future crime prediction tool because it wanted to keep using it on other offenders, the Victorian supreme court has heard.

The supreme court justice Elizabeth Hollingworth is considering whether convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika should be subject to an extended supervision order while he is held in immigration detention, and the conditions of such an order.

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Albanese says Russia should withdraw from Ukraine; Australia sanctions three MH17 culprits – as it happened

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Australian prime minister says ‘it is Russia and its involvement that keeps this war going’. This blog is now closed

Forced property sales on the rise in outer Sydney as interest rate hikes start to bite

My colleagues, Peter Hannam and Nick Evershed have this report on the rise in forced property sales as interest rate rises begin to bite.

Sydney’s outer suburbs are showing signs of rising numbers of distressed property sales with higher interest rates the likely cause, a trend that can be expected to spread to other capitals, according to property data group Domain.

Distressed listings as a share of the national market remain low, at about 2.8% across the capital cities, compared with a record 5.1% in late 2018.

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