Category Archives: Australia news

Leaked Brittany Higgins material to be raised in federal court hearing of Bruce Lehrmann defamation case

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The federal court will consider the audio and text messages of Higgins and her partner David Sharaz published by several media outlets

The leaking of private material linked to Brittany Higgins is to be raised in the federal court on Friday during a hearing of the defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann against several media outlets.

An audio recording of Higgins, her partner David Sharaz and two Network 10 journalists, along with text messages sent from Higgins to various parties, have been published by multiple outlets over several weeks.

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Paul Keating sent explosive email to Labor cabinet two hours before attack on Aukus, FOI documents reveal

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Exclusive: Former PM directly warned cabinet ministers over China, the Pacific and US hegemony prior to his pointed speech at the National Press Club

At 10.45am on Wednesday 15 March, an explosive email landed in the inboxes of all of Anthony Albanese’s cabinet ministers.

“Dear cabinet colleagues,” wrote Paul Keating, Labor luminary turned chief Aukus critic.

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$15,000 more a year: homeowners brace as interest rate hikes bring ‘mortgage cliff’ closer

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Rate rises mean that households with an average $576,985 mortgage will have to find an extra $1250 a month

Jack Lynch and his partner moved out of Sydney to the picturesque but cheaper Blue Mountains to become homeowners in 2021, and promptly locked in a cut-rate, fixed-rate loan.

The couple, in their early 30s, are now bracing for that loan to expire, and for repayments to increase by more than $2,000 a month.

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Major newspapers could face a $40m hit if governments follow Victoria in abandoning print advertising

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Data highlights total government spending on print as experts say Daniel Andrews’ move will be watched

Major metropolitan newspapers could lose up to $40m in advertising revenue if state and federal governments follow Victoria’s lead and pull their print advertising.

In 2022 state and federal governments spent about $40m placing government ads in major capital city newspapers, and another $5m on digital advertising on news websites like heraldsun.com.au and theage.com.au, according to media agency data collected by Standard Media Index.

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Australia in ‘retail recession’ as inflation and rate hikes hit spending, says report

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With spending expected to dip again in the June quarter, Deloitte forecasts a broader ‘consumer recesssion’ later this year

Australia is the midst of a “retail recession” as inflation and higher interest rates erode the buying power of consumers, according to a report by Deloitte Access Economics.

Retail turnover once inflation is stripped out sank 0.6% in the March quarter, or twice the pace of the retreat in the final three months of 2022. The June quarter is also likely to post a drop in retail sales, making it three consecutive quarters of decline.

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Data reveals significant drop in proportion of specialist appointments funded by Medicare

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Patient advocates say more needs to be done to reduce out-of-pocket costs and improve the health literacy of Australians

The level of Medicare coverage for specialist medical appointments has fallen steadily and significantly over the past two decades and is well below that of GP visits, data shows, prompting calls for reform from patient advocates.

Medicare data published on Thursday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reveals that the proportion of subsidised fees varies widely depending on the type of appointment.

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How gentrified is your postcode? Search our map of Australia’s capital cities

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Exclusive: A third of suburbs in Sydney and Adelaide are already highly gentrified, and other capitals are on a similar trajectory

More than a third of Sydney and Adelaide suburbs and a quarter in Brisbane are affordable only to the most wealthy, and Hobart and Melbourne are following a similar path, analysis of census data on income and housing costs has found. Almost half of Darwin suburbs are either at risk or already well on the way to being “gentrified”, with a similar figure in Perth.

Researchers at the Australian Urban Observatory, who created a gentrification index from the data, say many of the areas most at risk of being gentrified are relatively recent greenfield areas in what were once outer suburbs, where many lower income families were able to find affordable housing. These families now run the risk of being displaced even farther afield.

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Australia news live: budget and minimum wage hike not to blame for rising interest rates, Chalmers says

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Treasurer points finger at inflation, adding ‘people are under pressure and the global economic conditions are not helping either’. Follow live

Parts of Victoria and South Australia are being warned to expect heavy rainfall today.

The heavy rain that’s already hit Western Australia is sweeping across the country, with South Australia’s Riverland and Murraylands warned to brace for heavy rainfall to last until Friday.

We want to see productivity get going. We have had the worst decade, I think, in productivity growth in the last 60 years in the previous decade so there’s a lot of work to do. We can’t turn that around in one year.

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Fraser Island no more: K’gari’s official name change corrects a historic wrong

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Queensland government reinstates name at ceremony attended by hundreds of traditional owners

Queensland’s iconic Fraser Island has had its name reinstated to K’gari in a historic ceremony attended by hundreds of traditional owners and government officials.

It’s a fitting title for the world’s largest sand island, with K’gari (pronounced gurri) translating to paradise in the local Butchulla language.

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Australian economy grew 0.2% in first three months of the year, the slowest since Covid lockdowns

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Jim Chalmers says higher interest rates and cost-of-living pressures are squeezing household budgets and slowing the economy

Australia’s economy slowed in the March quarter as households dipped into savings to keep spending amid a record run of interest rate rises and imports rose faster than exports.

The country’s gross domestic product expanded at a quarterly rate of 0.2% in the first three months of the year, and by an annual rate of 2.3%. Economists had expected GDP growth of 0.3% for the quarter and 2.4% for the year.

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Yamba shooting: man found dead with son, 15, had firearms licence reinstated

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NSW police minister hopes coronial investigation sheds light on ‘terrible’ circumstances that led to the deaths of Wayne Smith and son Noah

A firearms licence was reinstated to a man just months before he shot dead his teenage son and himself, in another horrific domestic violence incident that has left a small community in New South Wales reeling.

The bodies of 58-year-old Wayne Smith and 15-year-old Noah were found at their home in Yamba in the northern rivers on Thursday, in an apparent murder-suicide.

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Interest rate pain felt ‘unevenly’ but that’s not a reason to avoid rises, Philip Lowe says

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The Reserve Bank governor says rates will keep being lifted if necessary, despite 'significant financial pressure’ for some

Philip Lowe concedes interest rate pain is being felt “unevenly” across Australia but he says that is not a reason to avoid using the one tool the Reserve Bank has to tame inflation and raise rates further.

The RBA governor has also warned against the idea that all workers should be compensated for inflation, saying “we have to make sure that higher inflation doesn’t translate into higher wages for everybody”.

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Morrison government’s $4m grant to group accused of ‘extreme religious practices’ was likely unlawful

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There is no evidence politicians knew of the allegations against the foundation when the grant to WA group the Esther Foundation was announced

The Morrison government gave $4m to an organisation accused of “extreme religious practices” – including exorcisms and gay conversion – on the same day the Australian government solicitor (AGS) advised the grant would “likely be without lawful authority”.

The former prime minister Scott Morrison announced the grant for Western Australia’s Esther Foundation in the lead-up to the 2019 election, declaring the organisation had “completely, completely captured” his heart.

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Australian man arrested over alleged drunken rampage in Indonesia freed from jail

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Noosa man Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones tells news conference he is ‘relieved’ after being released

An Australian man arrested for an alleged drunken rampage in Indonesia has been freed from jail.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, was detained in April after he was accused of assaulting people during a naked rampage near a surf resort on the island of Simeulue, off the coast of Sumatra in Aceh province.

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Political point scoring over latest RBA rate rise won’t help those feeling the ‘painful squeeze’

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How high must rates go to choke inflation? Blaming Labor’s budget, price-gouging businesses or the national wage increase isn’t an answer

The Reserve Bank is all about “seeking to keep the economy on an even keel” as it cranks up interest rates to crush inflation – but the effect of multiple rate rises is anything but even.

The central bank again surprised most economists and investors on Tuesday by hiking its cash rate another 25 basis points to 4.1%.

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Bureau of Meteorology puts Australia on ‘El Niño alert’

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Update warns there is a 70% chance of the climate system developing before the end of this year, raising the risk of heatwaves and bushfires

The Bureau of Meteorology has placed Australia on “El Niño alert”, warning there is now a 70% chance of the climate system developing before the end of this year.

El Niño tends to reduce rainfall and push up daytime temperatures in winter and spring, increasing the risk of bushfires, heatwaves and coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.

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Losing bidder for Myki system upgrade tells Daniel Andrews tender process was ‘flawed’

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Government defends processes and the US company that won the tender, saying it has ‘reputation for delivering successful projects’

A losing bidder for the contract to overhaul Victoria’s Myki system has written to the state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, to claim his government ran a “flawed” tender process and questioned whether the chosen company will be able to provide the technology it has promised.

Senior executives at Cubic wrote to Daniel Andrews last week, detailing their “serious concerns about possible errors in the tender process” for the public transport ticketing system.

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RBA interest rates: Reserve Bank increases cash rate by 25 basis points in attempt to quash inflation

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RBA decision to raise Australia’s cash rate by another 25 basis points brings the official rate to 4.1%, its highest level in 11 years

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates for a 12th time in just over a year, judging the risk of inflation staying too high for too long outweighed the added financial stress that will hurt households and businesses.

The decision to hike by another 25 basis points brings the cash rate to 4.1%, its highest level in 11 years. Economists and markets had slightly favoured no change for this month.

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Kathleen Folbigg says her freedom is ‘a victory for science and especially truth’

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Former prisoner says she is eternally grateful to her friends and will always think of, grieve for and love her children

Kathleen Folbigg says she will always grieve for her children and has called her pardon and release from prison after 20 years, a victory for science and truth, as questions turn to the legal lessons to be learned and reforms enacted in its wake.

In a video from the home near Grafton of her longtime friend and advocate, Tracy Chapman, Folbigg said she was extremely humbled and grateful.

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Central bank going ‘rogue’, senator claims – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Burke says the loophole only applies to where the business has agreed on a minimum rate of pay:

The loopholes are really simple … which is, if an employer agrees with their workforce and registers, this should be the rate of pay.

You shouldn’t then be able to go to a labour hire company and completely undercut what you’ve just agreed to.

Yesterday was one of the one of the strangest debates I’ve ever found myself in – because business was running a passionate campaign against a policy that the government is not proposing, that the government’s not going to do. And to me, it would sound like a bad idea anyway.

Effectively the way business were arguing yesterday – there was someone on PM yesterday afternoon, claiming that somehow this would prevent hairdressers from being able to pay different rates of pay for the people in their employment. Just not true.

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