Category Archives: Australia news

Palaszczuk pledges $500m for renewables as Labor sharpens pitch for 2024 state election

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Premier suffered lowest approval rating on record in recent poll but message at Queensland Labor state conference was about unity

The first day of the Queensland Labor state conference was as rehearsed as the government probably hoped, with little infighting or division on display.

In the sugar town of Mackay, where Labor has held the state seat for more than a century, MPs were keen to portray the government as a united front ahead of next October’s election and to keep the focus on three key pressure points: cost of living, health and youth crime.

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Mother dies as father and two children hospitalised after house fire tragedy in Orange

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Firefighters were able to rescue the two young boys but the woman was unable to be revived at the scene

The regional city of Orange will “wrap its arms” around a family after a house fire that took the life of a mother and led to the hospitalisation of a father and two young boys, the local mayor says.

Early Saturday morning, emergency services were called to the home in Orange, in the central tablelands region, and found it engulfed in flames.

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Crossbench welcomes Labor review of student loan ‘quirk’ that added hundreds to debts

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Education minister stands by three-decade high indexation rate of 7.1% but acknowledges need for minor reforms amid backlash

Critics of soaring indexation on student debts have welcomed the education minister’s commitment to look into an accounting quirk in the way loans are indexed which could save graduates hundreds of dollars in repayments.

Hecs debts rise annually with inflation on 1 June, but loan repayments aren’t processed until tax returns are lodged, which can be months later. This means indexation is applied to portions of debts already paid – often by thousands of dollars.

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‘Partial privatisation’: Waterloo South public housing tenants say NSW Labor misled residents

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Having promised to end sell-offs before the election, Chris Minns’ government forced to defend development plans

After the Minns government won the New South Wales election, Norrie May-Welby finally invested in a mod con to her home that would seem humdrum to most: she bought new fly screens.

This, she thought, was the end of seven years spent waiting for the day she would be relocated from her home at Waterloo South public housing estate.

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Labor urged to bring forward single parenting payment changes or ‘have kids going hungry’

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Greens senator says it is ‘heartless’ not to make an interim provision for 8,140 families until eligibility extends in September

The Australian government is under pressure to bring forward the start date for one of its key welfare budget measures to prevent more than 8,000 single parents falling into further poverty during the waiting period.

Expanding the eligibility for the single parenting payment was one of Labor’s flagship announcements in this year’s budget. The payment currently expires when the youngest child of a single parent turns eight, with the parent moving on to jobseeker, which is worth $204 less per fortnight than the parenting payment.

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Marion Barter disappearance: former lover challenged over assertion missing woman is still alive

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Final day of inquest concludes as key witness Ric Blum tells counsel he ‘can’t remember’ details of important conversation with Barter

The former lover of missing woman Marion Barter has been challenged over his assertion to the inquest into her disappearance that he believed she was still alive.

Ric Blum on Thursday told the long-running inquest he had come to that conclusion because Barter had told him “she wanted to separate from her family. She didn’t want anything to do with any member of her family”.

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Ben Roberts-Smith has been dealt a crushing blow. The full fallout is yet to come

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Australia’s most decorated living soldier has had his defamation case dismissed, but questions remain over his future

The 1,800 words of Justice Anthony Besanko’s summary judgment were quietly devastating.

Delivered in less than 20 minutes, the judge’s decision would see Ben Roberts-Smith VC lose what remained of his reputation, his job, and possibly his willingness to live in a country where he was once revered.

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US-China war not inevitable, Albanese says, urging countries to ‘prevent a worst-case scenario’

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Prime minister also seeks to reassure regional nations wary about Australia’s reasons for acquiring nuclear submarines under Aukus pact

Anthony Albanese has warned against “harmful” assumptions that the US and China are heading towards an inevitable war, and called for “practical structures to prevent a worst-case scenario”.

The Australian prime minister said a war in the Indo-Pacific would be “devastating for the world” and used a keynote speech to a regional security summit in Singapore to urge all countries to uphold peace and stability.

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Father charged with the murder of his three-year-old son in Sydney

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The boy was found dead in a unit in Riverwood with his father, Nathan Vikatos, who was arrested in hospital after life-saving surgery on injuries

A father has been charged with murder over the death of his three-year-old son in Sydney’s south-west.

The toddler was found dead alongside his father, 45-year-old Nathan Vikatos, who had serious injuries, inside their Riverwood apartment on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

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Former Australian cricket star Stuart MacGill cries as he is cleared of intimidating woman

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Judge dismisses intimidation charges against 52-year-old who was accused of stalking and verbally intimidating friend’s former fiancee

The former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill has claimed an emotional court victory after a judge dismissed intimidation charges against him.

MacGill, 52, was accused of stalking and verbally intimidating his friend’s former fiancee, Samantha Ford, on a Sydney street and at a nearby pub on February 1, 2022.

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March of the fire ants could reach Sydney’s outskirts by 2035, costing economy up to $1.2bn a year

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Exclusive: Study finds pests could damage crops, and households would incur costs for pesticides, veterinary bills and electrical faults

Failure to stop the spread of an outbreak of invasive fire ants in south-east Queensland could cost the Australian economy more than $1bn a year, including damage to high-value crops, infrastructure and homes.

A previously unreleased cost-benefit analysis, commissioned by a steering committee managing the outbreak of red fire ants and obtained by Guardian Australia, says that eradication of the species provides “much higher returns” than suppression measures that simply limit its spread.

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Ben Roberts-Smith: calls for uniform to be removed from Australian War Memorial display

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Greens say removal would be ‘first step in correcting the official record’ after federal court dismisses defamation case

The Australian War Memorial is facing calls to remove Ben Roberts-Smith’s uniform from its display, after the federal court dismissed the defamation case initiated by Australia’s most decorated living soldier.

But the Australian Special Air Service Association has argued it was “a very disappointing day” for veterans who had served in Afghanistan, saying the majority who had done the right thing were being “re-traumatised after having gone through a difficult war”.

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Land for 10,000 northern rivers homes flagged in NSW plan to ease housing crisis

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Exclusive: Homes for 7,800 residents in areas worst hit by 2022 floods proposed in near term, with more development later

Land that could hold more than 10,000 homes across 22 sites in the northern rivers has been identified as part of a New South Wales government strategy to deal with the region’s housing crisis.

The draft northern rivers resilient lands strategy will be released on Friday, more than a year after floods devastated the region and saw thousands of people displaced. Many are still unable to return home.

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Labor criticised for apparent ‘backtrack’ on stronger LGBTQ+ legal protections

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Draft changes to party’s platform replace commitment to strengthen laws with ‘almost meaningless’ clause to ‘develop policy’, advocates say

Labor has been criticised for proposing to ditch a commitment to strengthening legal protections for the LGBTQ+ community, with queer advocates saying the party appeared to have “backtracked”.

A consultation draft of changes to Labor’s national platform, released this week, proposes to remove a commitment from the 2021 platform to “strengthen laws and expand initiatives against discrimination, vilification and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics”.

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Marion Barter disappearance: Ric Blum rejects testimony of four other witnesses before inquest

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Key witness asserts other women’s statements are ‘all lies’ and says he believes Marion Barter is still alive

Ric Blum, the key witness at the inquest into the disappearance of Marion Barter, has denied most of the testimony of four female witnesses to a coroner in Lismore, even as more evidence was heard.

“It is all lies,” Blum said as he gave evidence during the New South Wales inquest on Thursday. “People have made up their mind after hearing the podcast.”

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Boy, 15, and man, 58, found dead with bullet wounds inside home in NSW town of Yamba

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A crime scene has been established and will be examined but police do not believe a third party was involved

The bodies of a 15-year-old boy and a 58-year-old man have been found inside a home in Yamba on the New South Wales north coast.

Police were called to Kookaburra Circuit on Thursday afternoon after reports two bodies had been found. A 58-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were found dead at the property, both with gunshot wounds.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation loss bad news for Seven boss as Nine marks ‘day of justice’

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Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, who parachuted the former soldier into a network job in 2015, says ‘the judgment does not accord with the man I know’

For Seven’s chairman, Kerry Stokes, the verdict in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial was all bad news.

The cost of the trial is estimated to be between $25m and $35m and, with the billionaire media proprietor bankrolling the former soldier and Seven employee, Stokes’s legal tab will be significant if he does pick up the bill.

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Australia politics live: ‘absolutely shocking’ for education department to give PwC contracts after tax leak scandal, Faruqi says; Ben Roberts-Smith verdict due today

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Department taken to task for its nine contracts with PwC, two of which were entered into in the past two months. Follow latest updates

Sally McManus responds to RBA governor’s commentary on housing market

Sally McManus spoke to ABC News Breakfast this morning and gave her thoughts on some of RBA governor Phil Lowe’s commentary around the housing market and what he thinks needs to happen.

I think we’re living in two worlds. We’ve got people living in very big houses that have multiple dwellings and they’re landlords. And what they’re doing is when the Reserve Bank governor puts up interest rates, they’re passing on that cost to renters and that’s part of the reason why we’re seeing rents increase.

And I think that that is just basically saying to everyone, look, ordinary people, move in with your parents and grandparents whilst we’re going to say nothing about those CEOs I talked about at companies that actually are the ones that could ease cost of living tomorrow on people but they’re choosing not to because in the end they want to see their bonuses.

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Lonely hearts ad led another woman to key witness in Marion Barter’s disappearance, inquest hears

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Coroner seeking to establish what happened to Gold Coast school teacher, subject of The Lady Vanishes podcast

Ghislaine Dubois-Danlois was 72 and at a low point in her life when she put a lonely hearts ad in a newspaper in 2006. A widow, she was “exhausted” and “wanted to think about something new”.

“I wasn’t looking into the future,” she told a Lismore court via satellite link from her home in Brussels on Wednesday.

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Australian government loses bid to cancel lease for new Russian embassy site

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Canberra’s National Capital Authority terminated lease on block of land in Yarralumla but federal court rules the move was ‘invalid and of no effect’

The Australian government has made an embarrassing backdown in its attempts to turf the Russian government off the site of its new embassy in Canberra.

The National Capital Authority (NCA) last year announced a decision to terminate the Russian government’s lease on a block of land in the wealthy suburb of Yarralumla, where it was building its new embassy.

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