Category Archives: Australia news

Australia politics live: Mehreen Faruqi says housing fund standoff ‘not about playing political games’

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Independent Kooyong MP Dr Monique Ryan said the crossbench was distressed by the past week in parliament:

I can speak for other members of the crossbench because we talk to each other after each question time because we found it distressing, and we wanted to stand to our feet and say that we felt it was conduct unbecoming parliament, and I think if we learn nothing from this, we have to decide as a society whether we want our parliament really to be dragging people who have gone through really difficult experiences through that sort of experience again. It wasn’t ideal. It was – I actually felt it was shameful.

I think there were serious questions that needed to be asked in the face of a minister misleading the Senate and we asked questions about who knew what, when, what was done with that information – all very legitimate questions, and this issue, when it was last in parliament was pursued ferociously by the then opposition and I think we were very careful as we could be with our tone, but to also ask legitimate questions of the government and their ministers, not just around who knew what when but also around the swiftness of the compensation payment, why some evidence in that process was explicitly excluded, and that, you know, the substantial nature of it – all legitimate questions and the right thing to do.

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Legalise Cannabis makes united push for personal marijuana use in three Australian states

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The party’s bill allowing adults to possess and grow small quantities of the drug at home will be introduced across Victoria, NSW and WA

Legalise Cannabis MPs are launching a coordinated push to make marijuana legal for personal use in three states and overhaul what the party says is outdated legislation that unnecessarily criminalises people.

The party’s drug reform bill will be introduced on Tuesday in state parliaments in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia – the jurisdictions where it has representation in the state’s upper houses.

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Miles Franklin award 2023: shortlist revealed for Australia’s prestigious literary prize

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Five first-time nominees are among the six authors competing for $60,000 award for novels that ‘present Australian life in any of its phases’

Five first-time nominees – including a debut novelist – are among the six authors shortlisted for the 2023 Miles Franklin award, Australia’s highest literary honour.

Announced on Tuesday, the six books up for the $60,000 prize are Jessica Au’s Cold Enough for Snow, Robbie Arnott’s Limberlost, Yumna Kassab’s The Lovers, Fiona Kelly McGregor’s Iris, Shankari Chandran’s Chai Time at the Cinnamon Gardens, and Kgshak Akec’s Hopeless Kingdom.

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Is that you, Migaloo? Tourist captures video of familiar-looking whale over Great Barrier Reef

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Second sighting of white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be famous humpback

The second sighting of a white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be Migaloo, the elusive albino humpback who has not been seen in three years.

A tourist flying over the Great Barrier Reef filmed what appears to be a white humpback whale swimming north, as thousands of humpbacks make their annual migration from Antartica to warmer waters to breed.

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Australians far less aware of biodiversity loss than climate crisis, research finds

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But a majority of Australians think more money should be spent on the environment

Half of Australians are unaware of the extent of the nature crisis despite agreeing governments need to do more to support the environment, research by the Biodiversity Council suggests.

Graeme Samuel, the former competition watchdog head who chaired a 2020 review of Australia’s environmental laws, says a campaign is needed to bring public awareness of biodiversity decline in line with the understanding of the climate crisis.

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Hunter Valley bus crash: parents of groom call for stronger seatbelt laws

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John Gaffney, whose son Mitchell married Madeleine Edsell last Sunday, calls for mandatory rule on all buses

The parents of the groom whose Hunter Valley wedding ended in tragedy when 10 guests died in a bus crash when leaving the event have called for stronger seatbelt laws.

John Gaffney, whose son Mitchell married Madeleine Edsell in wine country on Sunday 11 June, has called for seat belts to be mandatory on all buses – something which is not currently the law in New South Wales.

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Australia politics live: Don Farrell warns delaying housing bill could lead to double dissolution election

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Chalmers to herald record job growth

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will no doubt take a dixer on this today – the Albanese government has “had the strongest job growth in the first year of any new government on record”.

The number of Australians with a job is now more than 14 million for the very first time.

Australia’s participation rate is 66.9% – the highest on record, primarily driven by record high participation for women (62.7%).

The share of women in work is at a record high – with the employment to population ration for women at 60.5%.

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Greens and Coalition put Labor’s housing fund in a deep freeze as bill stalls in Senate

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Labor’s Don Farrell warns the government will regard the delay until October as a ‘failure to pass’ the bill

The $10bn Housing Australia future fund will not pass parliament this week, after the Greens and Coalition teamed up in the Senate to delay the bill until October.

The impasse prompted a blunt crossbench message that the Greens were “hurting people” while Labor’s Dan Farrell called the Greens and Coalition “the axis of evil”.

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Historic Indigenous voice referendum bill passes parliament ahead of public vote

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Anthony Albanese calls on Australians to ‘make history’ by supporting Indigenous consultation body

A bill to alter the constitution and enable the Indigenous voice has passed the federal parliament ahead of Australia’s first referendum in 24 years, to be held later in 2023.

The Senate passed the bill on Monday 52 votes to 19, confirming the wording of the constitutional change to be put to the Australian people. The draft legislation passed the lower house last month.

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Wet and cold weather brings snow to Australia’s Alps

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Winter has set in and forecasters predict clear frosty nights and chilly icy mornings for south-east

A cold front crossing through south-east Australia is bringing a snow dump and a chilly, wet week after a mild start to winter.

Temperatures won’t rebound to June averages until the end of the week, according to Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Climate protesters block coal shipments in three states as Minns warns against ‘dangerous’ situations

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Blockade Australia’s coordinated action targets ports in Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne

Climate protesters have disrupted coal shipments and motorway traffic at ports in Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne.

A climate protester has suspended herself from a rail bridge at the Newcastle coal ports, blocking trains, as coordinated protests were mounted at ports in Melbourne and Brisbane. The woman was livestreaming her solitary protest online and police were on site.

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Australia needs to reduce emissions to net zero by 2038 to do ‘fair share’ to contain global heating, analysis shows

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Exclusive: Researchers say government’s climate schedule needs to be brought forward by a decade to keep heating to 1.5C

Australia’s fair share of action to give the world a chance of keeping global heating to 1.5C would mean reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2038 – more than a decade ahead of the government’s schedule, according to new scientific analysis.

To stay on track to keep global heating of 1.5C within reach – a goal the climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen has described as vital – Australia’s 2035 target would need to see a cut of 90% on 2005 levels by 2035, the analysis says.

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‘No time to waste’: getting Australian homes off gas crucial for meeting net zero targets, report says

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Grattan Institute analysis recommends governments help households transition to electric, and ban new gas connections for homes and businesses

Getting households off gas for heating and cooking would cut energy bills and improve people’s health, and is necessary for Australia to have any hope of reaching net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050, a new analysis says.

The report by the Grattan Institute, a Melbourne-based thinktank, called on state and territory governments to set dates for the end of gas use and launch campaigns to encourage and help households become “all electric”, running on renewable energy.

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More than 60% of staff at Queensland detention centre quit amid record influx of young people

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Use of solitary confinement due to chronic staffing shortages at Cleveland detention centre has detrimental effect on children, advocates say

More than 60% of the workforce at the troubled Cleveland youth detention centre in north Queensland quit during the past three years, data obtained by Guardian Australia shows.

The figures supplied by the youth justice department show total staff numbers at the detention centre have declined since mid-2020, about the same time the state enacted laws designed to lock up more children.

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Greens renew push for rent freeze as housing bodies say ‘time is of the essence’ to pass Labor bill

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Nick McKim to introduce private member’s bill in Senate to promote market intervention

The Greens will continue to push for a national freeze on rents and interest rate rises, declaring there is more the Albanese government can do to address Australia’s housing cost crisis.

Their call comes as the country’s peak housing bodies call for the debate deadlock to be broken and for Labor’s Housing Australia future fund to be passed this week.

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Indigenous voice no campaign using Lisa Wilkinson comments about Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to fundraise

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Coalition senator emailed supporters asking if they heard about the attack on her from the ‘woke celebrity and voice activist’

The no campaign for the Indigenous voice referendum is fundraising off the back of comments made by The Project host Lisa Wilkinson about the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, in a leaked recording of conversations with Brittany Higgins.

It comes as anti-voice organisations gear up for the referendum campaign to officially begin, with one leading conservative lobby group seeking donations to reach “millions” of homes with phone calls and direct mail.

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David Van to take leave from parliament as more former Coalition colleagues call for him to resign altogether

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The senator – who denies any wrongdoing – resigned from the Liberal party on Saturday and claimed he has been denied procedural fairness

Victorian senator David Van will take leave from parliament this week as more of his former Coalition colleagues call for his resignation from parliament altogether.

Van resigned from the Liberal party on Saturday after he was dropped from the federal party room by leader Peter Dutton and stripped of organisational support in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations being raised against him.

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AFL and NRL teams pay tribute to Hunter Valley bus crash victims as nine people remain in hospital

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Sporting teams, friends and family used weekend to mourn the victims as fundraising effort tops $600,000

Nine passengers remain in hospital almost a week after the horror bus crash in the Hunter Valley as the fundraising effort to support victims and their families tops $600,000.

Sporting teams, friends and family used the weekend to mourn and pay tribute to the victims up and down eastern Australia.

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No pets allowed: NSW pushed to act on ‘urgent’ need to make rentals more animal-friendly

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Animal Justice party will put forward an amendment to the government’s bill that further strengthens laws allowing renters to own pets

The New South Wales government is being pushed to make rentals animal-friendly sooner as pet owners find it increasingly hard to find a home and pounds see an influx of renters giving up their pets.

Labor promised in the lead-up to the election that it would make it easier for renters to own pets, with plans to give landlords 21 days to respond to a renter’s request to own a pet. If the landlord refuses within the timeframe, they must put their reason to the yet to be established rental commissioner for a final decision.

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Senator David Van resigns from Liberal party

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Resignation follows multiple allegations of inappropriate behaviour which Van has rejected

Senator David Van has quit the Liberal party but will remain in parliament.

Peter Dutton removed Van from the Liberal party room this week after multiple inappropriate touching allegations were made against Van, with Dutton urging him to leave parliament altogether.

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