Category Archives: Australia news

One Nation video mocking NDIS condemned as ‘vile’ by disability advocates

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People with Disability Australia and Advocacy for Inclusion have called for Hanson to withdraw the video and apologise

A One Nation video mocking the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which includes offensive depictions of people with a disability, has been condemned, with advocates calling for party leader Pauline Hanson to remove the video and apologise.

The clip, which was posted on Friday, is from the YouTube series Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain, and describes the NDIS as a “scam” and a “rort”.

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Coal seam gas waste plan risks washing ‘5m tonnes of salt into the Murray-Darling Basin’

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Critics say a proposal to dispose of salt from waste brine by burying it in lined landfill is ‘not a long-term solution’

Local landholders and advocacy groups in southern Queensland have criticised the state government’s plans to store millions of tonnes of coal seam gas waste in lined landfills, saying it risks contaminating the Murray-Darlin Basin.

They have also questioned the integrity of the government’s long-awaited waste management action plan for coal seam gas brine, saying it relies on research from oil and gas lobby group the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) and the University of Queensland Centre for Natural Gas, whose donors include Arrow Energy, Australia Pacific LNGand Santos.

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Coalition warned of problems with tool to predict future terrorist crime but continued to use it on offenders

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Exclusive: Morrison government used risk assessment tool known as VERA-2R on 14 occasions after receiving independent report

The Morrison government was warned of serious problems with a tool designed to predict future crime before using it on 14 occasions over three years, including to justify the use of extraordinary preventative detention powers for terrorist offenders who had finished their sentences.

Guardian Australia can also reveal that, in three separate cases, the government failed to disclose to defendants that it knew of deep flaws with the tool being used to assess their likelihood of future offending.

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Liberal senator insists Australia must be ‘ruthless’ in pursuit of US military technology

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James Paterson says regulatory barriers in US could imperil access to AI, hypersonic weapons and other advanced systems

Australia needs to be “ruthless” about prioritising which technologies it pursues under the second pillar of the Aukus pact to overcome “regulatory barriers” in the US, the shadow minister for cybersecurity and countering foreign interference, James Paterson, has said.

The Liberal senator made the comments on the Guardian’s Australian politics podcast, warning that an “absence of consensus” in the US and a “clear plan” in Australia could see it miss out.

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State treasurers propose targeting men to work in care sector to boost productivity

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Board of treasurers’ submission to employment white paper taskforce suggests making training flexible and promoting regional jobs

Targeting men to work in the child, aged and disability care sectors is one idea proposed by the state treasurers to boost productivity, challenge gender stereotypes and address workforce shortages.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will release more than 400 submissions made to the employment white paper taskforce on Saturday.

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Addressing gender stereotypes, workforce shortages and productivity in the care sector by targeting mid-career men for retraining and upskilling.

Making training for the job you want (as opposed to the job you have) tax deductible.

Providing incentives for employers to hire employees from underrepresented cohorts.

Creating pathways for First Nations people to work on major regional projects.

Exploring incentives for university graduates and highly skilled migrants to work in regional areas.

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Tasmanian data breach: schoolchildren’s information among 16,000 documents leaked on dark web

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Minister confirms education department documents breached after third-party file transfer service was hacked

Hackers have released 16,000 Tasmanian education department documents on the dark web including schoolchildren’s personal information, the state government has confirmed.

The state’s science and technology minister, Madeleine Ogilvie, on Friday said thousands of financial statements and invoices containing names and addresses of school students and their parents had been released after the third-party file transfer service GoAnywhere MFT was hacked.

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Queensland police investigate whether disappearance of elderly woman linked to recycling

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Brisbane detectives believe Lesley Trotter has died, and ‘have not ruled out’ potential neighbourhood dispute

Queensland police believe an elderly woman who has been missing for 12 days from inner-city Brisbane has died, and are investigating whether her disappearance is linked to her habit of removing recyclable waste from neighbourhood bins.

Homicide detectives have joined the search for Lesley Trotter’s remains after the 78-year-old last spoke to her family on 27 March and was not at her Toowong home when they visited the following day.

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Investigation launched into whether AFP tried to ‘pervert the course of justice’ in Brittany Higgins case

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Anti-corruption watchdog investigating claims federal police pressured Higgins not to proceed with alleged rape case

The Australian federal police is being investigated to determine whether it attempted to pervert the course of justice in the handling of the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins by her then colleague Bruce Lehrmann.

The Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), the watchdog responsible for probing corruption in federal agencies including the AFP, is also investigating the “potential leaking of documents” related to the case by AFP members to the media.

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Four killed in Canberra crash as Easter break gets off to deadly start

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One person in hospital after two cars collided on Barton Highway, with severe weather warnings across eastern Australia

Four people have died and a major highway out of Canberra has been closed in a fatal start to the Easter long weekend on the roads.

It brings the death toll on the roads to at least eight in two days amid wild weather and stormy conditions.

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Man shot dead by police in NSW after he allegedly stabbed officer

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Two constables in serious but stable condition in hospital after allegedly being threatened with knife at a Newcastle home

Police have shot dead a man in Newcastle after he allegedly stabbed an officer with a knife.

The man died at the scene and has yet to be identified.

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Pilot walks away from light plane crash near train tracks in Queensland

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AirMedpatient transfer plane forced into emergency landing in Brisbane rail corridor with cause unknown

A pilot was left with only minor injuries after their light plane crash landed on to a rail corridor south of Brisbane.

The aircraft, an AirMedpatient transfer plane, was forced into an emergency landing just after 6.10am on Friday in Hillcrest, with only the pilot on board.

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If yes campaign for Indigenous voice loses ‘racists will feel emboldened’, Marcia Langton says

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Working group member shares Liberal Bridget Archer’s concern Coalition’s no campaign in danger of running ‘adjacent to racist views’

The Coalition’s no campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament will be in danger of running adjacent to racist views, a prominent member of the government’s referendum working group, Prof Marcia Langton, has said.

On Wednesday, the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, ended months of speculation by announcing he will actively campaign against the Indigenous voice referendum, and directing his frontbench to oppose the proposal. Backbenchers will be free to vote according to their conscience.

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At least three senior Liberals pushed back against Indigenous voice opposition in shadow cabinet meeting

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Exclusive: Simon Birmingham, Marise Payne and Paul Fletcher spoke out against plan as Julian Leeser proposed allowing MPs a free say

At least three leading Liberal moderates – Simon Birmingham, Paul Fletcher and Marise Payne – spoke out in a shadow cabinet meeting against the party’s plan to oppose the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Guardian Australia understands the meeting considered an alternative stance put forward by the shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, to allow all members a free say on the voice at least until a parliamentary committee could consider calls to amend the constitutional alteration bill.

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Value of Australian lithium exports tipped to match thermal coal in five years

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Revenue from mining key metal used in EV batteries to triple by 2027-28 while thermal coal exports set to fall by more than 70%

Exports of Australian lithium – a key metal used in batteries – are expected to earn as much as sales of thermal coal within five years, as the world increasingly embraces clean energy and the market value of fossil fuels falls.

New data released by the Australian government forecasts local lithium production will double and the industry’s revenue will triple by 2027-28 compared with last financial year.

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Crypto exchange Binance has Australian financial services licence cancelled by Asic

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Regulator says Binance must cease trading by 21 April after it incorrectly classified hundreds of retail customers as wholesale investors

Australia’s financial regulator has cancelled the local financial services licence of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.

Earlier this year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) found Binance had incorrectly classified hundreds of retail customers as wholesale investors.

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Australian media companies reject proposed privacy law reforms

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Coalition of organisations says changes would have ‘devastating impact on press freedom’ and are not in public interest

Media companies have rejected a proposal to reform Australian privacy law, warning that the changes – including a right to sue outlets for serious invasions of privacy – are not in the public interest and would harm press freedom.

The Right to Know coalition warns the attorney general’s department’s proposal, released in February, would have “a devastating impact on press freedom and journalism in Australia without any clearly defined need or benefit”.

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Pat Dodson takes leave from Senate – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Former Tasmanian Liberal premier condemns party’s opposition to voice

Tasmania is the last Liberal state government left in the country and its former premier has taken to social media this morning to speak out against the federal party’s decision to oppose the voice to parliament.

Should the Liberal party maintain its opposition to the voice it will simply accelerate its increasing irrelevance.

I have asked for Cyber Security NSW to issue advice to NSW government employees, to implement this change as soon as possible.

I will no longer be using TikTok.

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Man charged with stalking after car crash that killed woman and three boys

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No charges have been laid over the crash itself which happened late Tuesday night

A 32-year-old man arrested after a car crash that killed a woman and three young boys in rural NSW has been charged with domestic violence offences.

Police investigating the crash near the NSW Riverina town of Leeton have charged a man with domestic violence-related offences.

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Police appeal for return of platypus spotted travelling on Brisbane train

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Two people were seen boarding the train with the animal wrapped in a towel

A platypus believed to have been taken from the wild and transported on a Brisbane train urgently needs to be returned to its natural environment, officials say.

Two people were spotted boarding the train at Morayfield on Tuesday with a platypus wrapped in a towel, Queensland police said.

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‘Regional’ visa pushed by Coalition MPs actually allows migrants to move to cities

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Exclusive: Sussan Ley, Dan Tehan and Anne Ruston claim win for rural Australia over decision to speed up processing of 887 visa, but it lets holders choose where to live, including cities

Liberal frontbenchers Sussan Ley, Dan Tehan and Anne Ruston publicly lobbied the government for priority processing of a particular type of visa on the grounds it would allow migrants to settle in regional areas – but in fact the visa allows applicants to settle permanently in cities.

For months, the trio have complained that thousands of key workers, including in healthcare, were “being unfairly denied prioritisation” of their skilled regional visas, “effectively encouraging skilled workers to move to the city”.

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