Category Archives: Australia news

Voyager take Australia to ninth place in Eurovision grand final

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Fans of song contest hail ‘a brilliant result’ as Perth synth metal rock band perform track Promise in Liverpool

Australia’s Eurovision hopefuls Voyager have performed strongly at the song contest, placing ninth out of a tight field of just 26 acts in the grand final.

The synth metal rock band from Perth delivered a flawless performance of their track Promise, with lead singer Danny Estrin appearing in an 80s car flanked by other band members.

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Australians who lost welfare under 1990s student loan scheme have cause for class action, expert says

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Andrew Grech says action could be pursued if implications of SFSS loans were misrepresented to people when they signed up

Recipients of a dumped welfare scheme that enticed low-income students to trade away their right to welfare have cause to mount a class action, a senior legal expert says.

The Australian government is still chasing $2bn of debt from more than 140,000 former students who signed up to the student financial supplement scheme (SFSS).

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Football Australia expects rainbow symbol clearance at Women’s World Cup

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  • Armbands could highlight LGBTQ+ issues and Indigenous rights
  • James Johnson ‘pretty confident’ after ‘good dialogue’ with Fifa

The chief executive of Football Australia has told the Observer that he is “pretty confident and optimistic” players will be allowed to wear rainbow armbands at the Women’s World Cup, after holding talks with Fifa. In a highly significant development, James Johnson said there had been “meaningful dialogue” between the hosts and football’s governing body and that it was likely to lead to players having greater ability to express themselves.

In an exclusive interview, Johnson also revealed that discussions had taken place over permitting Indigenous First Nation flags to be flown inside stadiums at July and August’s competition in Australia and New Zealand, saying it was an important issue for his country and its team.

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Neo-Nazis clash with police and counter-protesters at anti-immigration rally in Melbourne

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Police use pepper spray on crowds outside Parliament House, where a group of masked men performed the Nazi salute

Neo-Nazi and anti-fascist groups have clashed in Melbourne, with police making several arrests and deploying capsicum spray in a bid to quell the violence.

A group led by the self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell was expected to meet at state parliament at midday on Saturday for an anti-immigration protest, which an anti-fascist group planned to disrupt by rallying 30 minutes earlier, according to multiple posts on social media.

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Jacqui Lambie joins thousands of Tasmanians at rally against $715m AFL stadium

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The senator told the premier Tasmanians have had a ‘bloody gutful’ over the stadium and ‘you can stick it up your bum’

Thousands of Tasmanians have voiced their opposition to a $715m stadium critical to the state’s entry to the AFL, a day after the project brought the Rockliff government to its knees.

Australia’s only state Liberal government was thrust into minority status on Friday after two MPs quit, citing concerns over state debt and government transparency around the planned build on the edge of the Hobart CBD.

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Man, 46, missing and believed dead after shark attack in South Australia

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The search for the surfer continues after paramedics were called to Walkers Rock Beach near Elliston on Saturday morning

A man is missing and believed to have died after being bitten by a shark on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

South Australia Police have confirmed that a 46-year old man was surfing when he was attacked by a shark, and is now missing.

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Australian airlines push back on calls to compensate passengers for delays and cancellations

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Exclusive: Companies say a compensation scheme like the EU’s would drive up air fares in Australia

Australian airlines are pushing back against calls for new laws that would force them to pay cash compensation to passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled, with claims it would force carriers to preemptively raise air fares to fund payouts.

The resistance follows the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, consumer advocate Choice and the Australian Lawyers Alliance all separately raising the prospect of a compensation scheme to rein in airlines arbitrarily changing their schedules, as the government considers its aviation white paper.

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Don Farrell invites Chinese commerce minister to visit SA family vineyard after Beijing meeting

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The pair agreed to ‘step up’ dialogue to resolve outstanding trade issues and confirmed the review of China’s tariffs on Australian barley was ‘on track’

The Australian trade minister, Don Farrell, has invited the Chinese commerce minister to visit his family’s vineyard in South Australia after the pair met in Beijing on Friday night.

Speaking after the talks with Wang Wentao in Beijing, Farrell said he was “very pleased to confirm that we agreed to step up dialogue under our free trade agreement and other platforms to resolve our outstanding issues”.

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No regrets: Fran Kelly says she understands as ABC fails to renew her talkshow for second season

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Exclusive: Host expresses gratitude to national broadcaster and reflects on delivering a ‘fun, warm and intelligent’ run

High-profile ABC host Fran Kelly says she has no regrets, despite her Friday night talkshow Frankly not being commissioned for a second season.

Kelly told Guardian Australia she was grateful the national broadcaster gave her the opportunity to try something different and she understood there were competing interests to juggle.

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Failure to protect nature is a bigger threat to humanity than inflation, Australian scientists warn

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‘For just 10% of the stage-three tax cuts, we could recover every one of Australia’s almost 2,000 threatened species,’ says ecologist

Leading Australian scientists have accused the Albanese government of offering “grossly inadequate” funding to stop environmental decline, and warned that failing to protect nature would lead to “an existential threat greater than inflation”.

The Biodiversity Council, an independent research hub, said the limited funding for environment programs announced this week suggested that environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s promised target of ending species extinctions in the country was “still hollow”.

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Councils call off drag storytime and LGBTQ+ events in Victoria after far-right threats

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Drag performer who had four IDAHOBIT events cancelled said councils felt they could not create a safe environment

Several councils across Victoria have quietly cancelled drag queen storytime and LGBTQ+ events after threats from far-right groups.

Last week Monash council cancelled a drag storytime event scheduled for International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) after angry protesters derailed a council meeting.

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Russian diplomats in Australia refuse to pay $90,000 in traffic fines dating back 15 years

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Exclusive: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is chasing hundreds of overdue fines amid repeated requests to respect the law

Russian diplomats have refused to pay hundreds of overdue speeding, parking and traffic fines dating back more than 15 years, frustrating Australian officials who can only politely ask that they respect local laws.

Freedom of information documents obtained by Guardian Australia indicate the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) is chasing almost $90,000 from the Russian embassy for fines dating back to 2007, despite repeated requests for diplomats to respect the law.

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Alternative reality: two kambo deaths spark soul-searching in Australia’s counter-culture capital

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A fortnight of harrowing testimony at consecutive inquests shines a light on the northern rivers’ alternative therapy scene

The road into Mullumbimby beckons like a promise.

With its palm trees and buskers and its slightly raffish air, “Mullum”, as it is known, has long drawn dreamers and idealists looking for alternative ways of being. People come here to escape, to reinvent themselves, to cast away the past, to be healed.

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Peter Dutton cranks up pressure on Labor to further restrict gambling ads

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Opposition leader joins crossbench in calling for more regulation of betting content during sports programs

Pressure is building on the Albanese government to further restrict gambling advertisements as opposition leader Peter Dutton joins calls from the parliamentary crossbench to regulate betting content.

But Dutton’s call to ban wagering ads during sporting broadcasts was slammed by the peak body for commercial TV, saying the sector was already taking action.

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Australia news live: John Pesutto praises Liberals’ ‘reform journey’ after Moira Deeming party room expulsion

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Controversial MP Moira Deeming expelled from Victorian Liberal party room; ally Renee Heath sanctioned. Follow live

Medicare benefits increase will help all patients, Butler says

The surprise centrepiece of the budget was $5.7bn increased funding for Medicare, including incentives to improve bulk billing for children and concession cardholders.

Rebates aren’t frozen, every rebate on the MBS [Medicare Benefits Schedule] in going to increase next year – the biggest Medicare increase across the board – every single service, for every single Australian.

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Disgraced former NRL player Jarryd Hayne sentenced to four years and nine months in jail

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Hayne was found guilty of assaulting a woman in her suburban Newcastle home on NRL grand final night 2018

Disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for at least three years after sexually assaulting a woman in her home.

The 35-year-old was found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent on 4 April and taken into custody 10 days later when his bail was revoked.

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Peter Hollingworth to cease practising as an Anglican priest to ‘end distress’ for survivors

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The former governor general was last month reprimanded over his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop

Peter Hollingworth has announced he will cease practising as an Anglican priest and will hand back his permission to officiate, citing a desire to “end distress” for survivors and stop “division” in the church.

Hollingworth was last month the subject of serious misconduct findings, delivered after a protracted internal church process, which reprimanded him for his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop in the 1990s.

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Resignations over Hobart stadium plunge Tasmanian government into minority

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Two Liberal MPs have resigned from the party after flagging concerns about the planned $715m Macquarie Point Stadium

The last Liberal state in Australia is set for minority government as two MPs quit amid concerns over building an AFL stadium in Hobart.

Bass MP, Lara Alexander, and Lyons MP, John Tucker, resigned from the Liberal party to sit as independents on Friday.

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Moira Deeming expelled from Victorian Liberal party room after threat to sue leader John Pesutto

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Previously suspended for nine months, Deeming has been accused by colleagues of ‘bringing discredit’ to the party

The controversial MP Moira Deeming has been expelled from the Victorian Liberal party room.

Deeming’s colleagues voted 19 to 11 to expel her during a party room meeting on Friday morning, meaning she will have to serve the remaining three-and-a-half years of her term on the crossbench of the upper house of the Victorian parliament. She remains a member of the broader Liberal party.

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Central Australian schools get record federal funding, as Labor aims to halt public education flight

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Albanese government will spend $28bn on schools in 2023-24, but unions demand more to improve retention rates

Public schools in Central Australia will meet the minimum education funding benchmark for the first time in about a decade under the new federal budget, but the Greens say more needs to be done to close the gap between public and private education.

The Albanese government will spend a record high of $28bn on schools in 2023-24, Tuesday’s budget confirmed, rising to $31.4bn in 2026-27.

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