Category Archives: Australia news

Time is a traveller: the Tenterfield Saddler is up for sale

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Building which inspired Peter Allen’s 1972 hit is up for sale, amid calls for the government to step in and preserve it as a cultural destination

The Tenterfield Saddler, immortalised by Peter Allen, is up for sale, and fans of the Australian songwriter are calling for government intervention to preserve its history.

This modest, two-room building was raised in hand-cut local blue granite, timber and tin on the high street of the northern New South Wales town in 1870. Word was that bush poet AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson was a regular customer.

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Turning out the lights: what is the legacy of the Liddell power station?

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In the first of a two-part report, we look at the successes – and the costs – of what once was Australia’s largest power station

Jackson Channon, an electrician at the Liddell power station, counts “three generations of generation” who worked at the Hunter Valley site, including a grandad who drove cement trucks used to build it and parents who first met while on staff.

Come 29 April, Channon will attend the closure of the AGL Energy coal-fired facility, joining hundreds of current and former staff, community members and even artists marking the end of what was Australia’s biggest power plant when it was built 52 years ago.

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Cracking method or recipe for disaster? The science behind Senator Helen Polley’s TikTok microwave egg-in-foil hack

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The Labor senator says she’s been boiling eggs wrapped in foil in the microwave for 25 years or more, ‘and I’ve never had a mishap’

Labor senator Helen Polley has raised eyebrows with an unusual technique for cooking hardboiled eggs.

In an “egg hack” video posted to TikTok, the Tasmanian senator completely wrapped a raw egg in aluminium foil, submerged it in a plastic container of water, and said she microwaved it for six to seven minutes for a hard boil.

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Legal experts criticise suggestions Indigenous voice will have veto power in parliament

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‘No substance in it,’ former chief justice Robert French says, while experts split on whether amendment should include ‘executive government’

Constitutional experts have criticised suggestions the Indigenous voice will have veto power in the Australian parliament, calling such prophecies “doomsdaying” and “distorting” of the truth.

Speaking at the first hearing of the joint select committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice referendum, a string of legal experts said the voice would be legislated to provide representations on relevant matters, akin to advice.

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Australian man who allegedly sold information to foreign spies faces court

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Alexander Csergo, 55, was arrested in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on Friday on one count of reckless foreign interference

An Australian man charged with a foreign interference offence will remain behind bars until Monday after his case was adjourned in Sydney.

Alexander Csergo, a 55-year-old businessman who normally lives overseas, was arrested in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on Friday for allegedly sharing information with individuals who work for a foreign intelligence service, the Australian federal police said in a statement.

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NSW minister calls frontline workers ‘heroes’ after paramedic killing – as it happened

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Kerrynne Liddle says ‘prove it’s not happening’ on child sexual abuse in Alice

Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle, the first Indigenous senator from South Australia, and a name being touted as a contender for shadow minister for Indigenous Australians after Julian Leeser’s resignation.

I think we have to be really careful about politicising this issue, because matters related to any form of assault are sensitive, but important to understand and respond to.

… I think what’s really important though, is it can’t ignore the issue of sexual abuse, but you must also tackle those issues, alongside other issues which include [service] delivery and decision dysfunction.

Do you encourage your leader to temper his language given we haven’t yet seen evidence to say that there is a widespread phenomenon of this?

I say prove it’s not happening. And then we can have a conversation about the kind of language that we can actually use for this.

… You’ve got you’ve got the statistics, which everyone accepts are underreported and underrepresented. You’ve got to have relationships with communities to enable people to start talking about these safe spaces for young people to raise this issue of need to support people to have housing so that young people and older people are not at risk of this.

It’s possible to be optimistic about Australia’s economic future, and to be realistic about a global slowdown.

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Toddler in hospital after vehicle smashes into childcare centre in Melbourne

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The child is in hospital for observation as the 36-year-old driver assists police with inquiries following accident in Sunshine West

A toddler is in hospital after a vehicle crashed into an early learning centre in Melbourne’s west.

Police say 14 kids were inside a play area when the vehicle hit the centre’s front verandah on Link Road in Sunshine West at 10.40am on Friday.

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Swimming Australia CEO Eugenie Buckley resigns with immediate effect

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  • SA on search for third chief executive in less than two years
  • National championships start on Monday on the Gold Coast

Swimming Australia is searching for another new chief executive after the shock resignation of Eugenie Buckley with immediate effect on Friday.

With less than 18 months to go to the Paris Olympics and the national championships starting on Monday on the Gold Coast, Buckley has left “to take up opportunities outside of the sport”, after taking over the top job in swimming in late 2021.

Australian Associated Press contributed to this report

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NSW police breached body-worn camera policies during shooting death of Indigenous man, coroner finds

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Inquest into death of Gomeroi man Stanley Russell urges changes to how officers handle people with an intellectual disability

A coroner delivering findings into the police shooting death of Indigenous man Stanley Russell said officers seriously breached their own policies on body-worn cameras during the incident.

The New South Wales deputy state coroner Carmel Forbes also recommended policy changes on how police handle people with intellectual disabilities, and urged them to clarify rules on when officers need to wear body cameras.

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Paramedic who died in stabbing at McDonald’s in Sydney’s south-west was a young father

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Police arrested 21-year-old man allegedly armed with a knife at the scene in Campbelltown, who is now in custody

A New South Wales paramedic had stopped at McDonald’s during an early morning shift break before he was fatally stabbed outside the fast-food restaurant in Sydney’s south-west on Friday morning.

Police say the 29-year-old father was grabbing a bite to eat with a colleague after finishing a job nearby when he was stabbed at the Campbelltown restaurant. His colleague then called for help just before 5.30am.

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Kerry O’Brien gives impassioned defence of Indigenous voice to parliament at hearing

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Former ABC journalist tells joint select committee on voice wording that it is a ‘simple and unambitious and unthreatening’ proposal

Prominent Australian journalist Kerry O’Brien has delivered a passionate defence of the Indigenous voice to parliament, saying the nation is at an “absolutely pivotal moment” in demonstrating “our ability to learn the lessons of the past”.

O’Brien was speaking at the first day of hearings of the joint select committee on the wording of the voice referendum.

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Brittany Higgins’ and Grace Tame’s full press club address removed after defamation claim against ABC

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The video, which has been removed from the ABC’s YouTube channel, had 127,000 views by the time Bruce Lehrmann’s claim was filed

The video of Brittany Higgins’ and Grace Tame’s full National Press Club address on the treatment of women has been removed from YouTube after defamation proceedings were lodged against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The ABC has for months resisted legal demands for the video to be removed from YouTube, prompting Bruce Lehrmann to sue in the federal court for defamation last week.

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Thousands of Australian visa decisions may be affected by high court ruling, experts warn

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Advocates fear court’s decision rejecting Coalition-era policy could result in a hasty legislative fix

Migration and legal experts have warned the true number of visa decisions affected by invalid refusals of ministerial intervention is likely to be in the tens of thousands, after the high court rejected bureaucrats’ ability to block applications.

Advocates fear the court’s decision on Tuesday rejecting a Coalition-era policy that cases must show “unique or exceptional circumstances” could result in a hasty legislative fix.

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Constitutional expert gives legal tick to Indigenous voice in parliamentary submission

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Voice will not result in obligations on the executive or parliament, Anne Twomey says in submissions to inquiry

One of the nation’s top constitutional experts has reiterated to a parliamentary inquiry that the Indigenous voice to parliament won’t slow down government decision-making or clog up the courts.

Conservative critics have raised fears the voice could spur ongoing court challenges, but Prof Anne Twomey once again dismissed those concerns in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry probing the referendum.

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TikTok can still access data from Australian government devices via app on personal phones, academic warns

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Data sharing between platforms could limit effectiveness of social media app’s ban from government devices

TikTok could still access information held on Australian government devices if public servants and politicians continue to use the app on their personal mobile devices, according to a legal academic from the University of New South Wales.

Dr Katharine Kemp, who focuses on consumer law and has researched a wide variety of privacy policies for digital apps, said the loophole could limit the effectiveness of the ban on TikTok from government devices.

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Peter Dutton accused of misrepresenting locals’ views on Indigenous voice to parliament

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Residents of Leonora in country WA say the opposition leader was more interested in discussing the cashless debit card

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is being accused of misrepresenting his visit to the Western Australian town of Leonora, with locals claiming he was more interested in their views on the cashless debit card, than canvassing their opinion on the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Dutton said he travelled to communities, including Leonora, about 800km north-east of Perth, seeking grassroots opinions on the voice and this had helped inform the Liberal leader’s decision to oppose the yes vote.

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Melbourne’s new combined addiction and mental health treatment centre ‘a no-brainer’

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The creation of a facility such as the Hamilton centre was a key finding of Victoria’s mental health royal commission

When Benn Veenker first confided in his GP about his struggle with depression and alcohol, he was holding back the full extent of his addictions.

“I was so scared of being able to say to somebody, ‘I can’t get through a day without drinking’,” he remembers.

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Australia’s trade minister hopeful China bans will end but warns against putting ‘all our eggs in one basket’

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Don Farrell has dismissed talk of any Australian policy shift after breakthrough reached on barley exports

The Australian trade minister says he wants a quick return to normal trade with China but has warned exporters not to put “all of our eggs in one basket”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Don Farrell was bullish about the prospect of Australia succeeding in its international challenge against Beijing’s tariffs on Australian barley, saying he thought “we would ultimately win that”.

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Australia news live: Dutton says PM should ‘make sure’ federal police are sent to to Alice Springs; recount ordered for Sydney seat

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Opposition leader says locals are leaving town and tourism numbers are down due to lack of safety. Follow all the day’s news

If the NDIS is improved for people, it will be better for budget, Shorten says

Shorten is being asked about his other portfolio, minister for NDIS. The Grattan Institute yesterday made several recommendations to help rein in the budget, saying the government need to take a hard look at the NDIS.

If we run the scheme better for the person, the participant, the person with severe and profound disabilities. I also think that some of the other anxieties which are about money being wasted, will be dealt with.

We’ve been reforming individual features of the scheme already like getting people who are medically discharged from hospital on the NDIS, not languishing in hospital for months and months. We’ve been reducing some of the legacy cases.

So the budget will no doubt have measures which will be about improving the NDIS for participants but the budget isn’t an end in itself. So we’re doing work right now. There’ll be more work being done, and there’ll be work also finally announced when the review happens.

The bigger piece first of all, is that when the government thinks that someone owes a debt to the government, we’ve got to have a much more methodical transparent process to establish the accuracy of the debt.

The best thing you can do is not make a mistake to begin with – and I mean the government not make a mistake.

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Unemployment rate holds steady as Australian employers add 72,000 full-time jobs

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At 3.5% the unemployment rate remains near its lowest since the mid-1970s

Australia’s jobless rate held steady last month, with employers adding more than 72,000 full-time positions in the latest sign of resilience in the Australian economy.

The country’s unemployment rate for March was 3.5%, seasonally adjusted, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Taking into account the drop of part-time roles of just over 19,200, the net jobs gain last month was 53,000.

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