Category Archives: Australia news

Former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten to quit politics and become vice-chancellor of University of Canberra

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Ex-union leader, who led ALP to two election defeats in 2016 and 2019, has announced upcoming retirement

The former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten is retiring from politics to take up the role of vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra.

The one-time union boss will begin his new role in February and will remain in cabinet until then.

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Labor considers an Artificial Intelligence Act to impose ‘mandatory guardrails’ on use of AI

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‘We need more people to use AI and to do that we need to build trust’, says industry and science minister Ed Husic

The Australian government is considering a European Union style Artificial Intelligence Act to regulate minimum standards on high-risk AI across the whole economy.

On Wednesday the industry and science minister, Ed Husic, released a discussion paper proposing 10 “mandatory guardrails” for high-risk AI including human oversight and the ability to challenge the use of AI or outcomes of automated decision-making.

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‘This has been an extreme event’: Tasmanians take stock of damage after record flooding

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Derwent Valley residents say the water rose at a frightening pace in the biggest flood since Meadowbank dam was built

Everything is saturated in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley.

The sodden ground is scattered with debris. Large trees and branches have been moved upriver. It is eerily quiet.

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Call for action to address gambling harm as report finds Australians lose average of $1,600 a year

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Grattan Institute says losses in Australia are double those in the US, and poker machines are more common in Australian suburbs than ATMs

Australians lose almost twice as much from gambling as people in the US, and poker machines – the biggest single source of losses – are more common in the nation’s suburbs than public toilets, ATMs and post boxes, a new report has found.

The Grattan Institute report – A better bet: How Australia should prevent gambling harm – concludes that to limit the damage from gambling, the government needs to not only ban gambling ads but introduce a mandatory pre-commitment loss limit for online gambling and poker machines.

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Australian government won’t back public views of special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia

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Exclusive: Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal ‘all communications’ will be solely attributed to special envoy

The Australian government is seeking to create some distance from its new special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia, suggesting they do not characterise their comments as official government policy.

Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal the instructions the government has given its new special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, including the need to highlight “diverse Jewish Australian identities”.

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Census questions on trans and gender diverse people ‘critical’ and not too complex, health institutes tell Labor

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Health bodies say the questions are needed to fill gaps in much-needed research

Leading health experts have criticised the federal government for suggesting proposed LGBTQI+ questions should be excluded from the census because they were “too complex” – arguing similar questions are already used elsewhere.

Versions of the proposed questions have been answered by 85,000 Australians in existing health surveys administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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‘We are seeking to discriminate’: lesbian group wanting to exclude trans women compares itself to Melbourne gay bar

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Australian Human Rights Commission says Peel hotel’s right to refuse heterosexual people was granted to help gay men achieve equality

A lawyer for a Victorian lesbian group that wants to exclude transgender and bisexual women from its public events has compared its request to a Melbourne gay bar that was granted the right to refuse heterosexual people.

But a lawyer for the Australian Human Rights Commission said the Peel hotel’s exemption had been granted under Victorian state law to help gay men achieve equality, unlike the Lesbian Action Group’s application, which discriminates against transgender women.

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By a nose: Australian science prize goes to team who use odours to distract predators from endangered species

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Researchers discover how to use ‘olfactory misinformation’ to protect native animals and farmers’ crops

Peter Banks’ remarkable road to a prestigious Eureka prize began nearly two decades ago as he watched rodents escape predators and wondered: why were the mice peeing everywhere?

“They were just putting their smell everywhere,” the ecologist said. “And I went, ‘how about if we use that principle of the smell of prey being everywhere to stop predators from finding their food?’”

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Linda Reynolds v Brittany Higgins defamation trial to hear final arguments

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The five-week trial is scheduled to conclude after Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett delivers his last remarks

Western Australia’s supreme court is on Wednesday due to hear the last arguments in the defamation trial brought by the Liberal senator Linda Reynolds against Brittany Higgins, before the judge begins his deliberations.

The five-week trial, which began at the start of August, is scheduled to conclude after Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, delivers his final remarks.

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Australia news live: Murray Watt ‘concerned’ at Iran reaction to ambassador’s social media posts; children removed from AI image database

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IRNA said the foreign ministry summoned the Australian ambassador Ian McConville to Tehran, and condemned the publication of photos on social media. Follow today’s news live

Tehan responds to Asio boss’s accusation his comments on Palestinians have been ‘distorted’

Dan Tehan was also asked about comments from Asio boss Mike Burgess, who used an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday to hit back at people who had “distorted” what he had previously said about the security vetting process for Palestinians seeking to come to Australia.

I won’t talk about what Mike Burgess may or may not be talking about when he says that. As you know, we had the prime minister also leave an important sentence out of what Mike Burgess said in the parliament, which basically distorted what Mike Burgess was saying. But I’ll leave that up to Mike Burgess, because our issue has never been with [him]. Our issue is with the prime minister …

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Rob Stokes declines role on committee to run NSW Liberals after being named by federal executive

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Former NSW minister Stokes had not been told about committee, its composition or terms of reference ahead of the public announcement, source says

The federal Liberal executive did not tell former New South Wales planning minister Rob Stokes that he would be named as part of a three-person committee it wanted to run the state division for almost a year.

The senior party figure refused the position after the federal team demanded the state executive appoint a temporary committee of three to run the troubled division which failed to nominate candidates for some NSW councils.

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NSW minister admits child protection system will continue using motels hours after suggesting ban

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Kate Washington tells hearing ‘accredited providers’ will continue with hotel and motel placements for children removed from families

The minister in charge of New South Wales’ troubled child protection system has admitted that vulnerable children will continue to be housed in hotels and motels – just hours after suggesting such emergency accommodation would be banned.

The state’s families minister, Kate Washington, told a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that “accredited providers” would continue to operate hotel and motel placements for children who had been removed from their families due to abuse or neglect.

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Regulator may take action against three energy retailers over alleged misuse of Centrepay system

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Australian Energy Regulator weighs up enforcement options against AGL, Origin and Ergon Energy after landmark court win

The national energy regulator is weighing up whether to take new action against three retailers for their alleged use of the Centrepay system after a landmark court win against AGL.

The Australian Energy Regulator won a major case in the federal court against AGL in August after alleging the energy giant used the government-run payment system to wrongly take welfare money from almost 500 customers for years after they ceased being customers.

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‘A symbol of our nation’: waratah among 20 more species added to Australia’s threatened wildlife list

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The fresh listings bring the total number of endangered plants, animals and ecosystems to almost 2,250

Twenty more plants and animals, including a type of waratah, have been added to Australia’s list of threatened wildlife, bringing the total number of endangered species and ecosystems to almost 2,250.

The fresh listings come as the government faces a battle to pass legislation for a new national environment watchdog in the Senate, while Labor has also been under pressure from the Greens and Coalition about delays to a broader package of reforms to the country’s environment laws.

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Elle Macpherson refused chemotherapy after secret breast cancer diagnosis

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Supermodel says she is in remission after being diagnosed seven years ago and rejecting traditional medicine

Elle Macpherson has said she was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago but is now in remission despite refusing chemotherapy.

The Australian supermodel and actor, who rose to fame in the 1980s, is publishing a memoir – Elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself – in which she says she took a holistic approach to the illness, going against the advice of 32 doctors.

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Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz put French home up for sale for $690,000

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The house near Bordeaux, which has a pool and is set in more than an acre of land, is being sold to pay legal fees

Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz have put their French home on the market, weeks after flagging that the property had to be sold to fund mounting legal fees.

An advertisement for the house, east of Bordeaux, shows it is listed for $690,000.

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Duo rescued from stricken yacht off NSW coast say it ‘could have got worse’ – but one is already planning next boat trip

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Sailors enjoy meat pie and dry land after being saved following 19-hour ordeal

The two people rescued from a yacht off Sydney’s coast have said they are very glad to be back on dry land and were treated to a meat pie and cup of coffee after spending 19 hours clinging to their stricken yacht.

But one of the pair – 48-year-old Lisa – has said she will be back out on the ocean as soon as Thursday.

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Sky News’ Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ 2021 media statement, court told

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Lawyer for Linda Reynolds tells defamation trial Credlin was told ‘completely rework wherever you see fit’

The Sky News columnist and former chief of staff to Tony Abbott Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ statement given to media in 2021, after her rape allegations were made public, a court has been told.

In closing arguments to Western Australia’s supreme court, where Linda Reynolds is suing Higgins for defamation, Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett on Tuesday said Higgins had a “visceral hatred” towards her former employer and exaggerated how long she had to wait for counselling support following her rape allegations to “suit” her narrative.

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NT Labor makes history appointing Australia’s first Indigenous woman to lead a major political party

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Nunggubuyu woman Selena Uibo is NT Labor’s new leader, with an almost entirely Aboriginal caucus

After a crushing defeat, Territory Labor has appointed the first Aboriginal woman to lead a major party in the nation’s history.

The member for Arnhem, Nunggubuyu woman Selena Uibo, has taken up the top job alongside an almost entirely Aboriginal caucus.

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London workers slower to return to office than New York or Paris, study says

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Office attendance in UK capital similar to levels in Toronto and Sydney, thinktank finds

Workers in London have been slower to return to the office than those in other global cities such as Paris and New York, a report has found.

London was near the bottom of the pack, with office attendance similar to levels in Toronto and Sydney, according to research by the Centre for Cities thinktank, which surveyed employees and employers in six big cities.

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