Category Archives: Australia news

‘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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Australia’s booming banks should do more to protect customers from scams, advocates say

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More than $95m has been lost to scams so far this year, while the big four are expected to make more than $33bn

With the big four banks tipped to make record profits this financial year, consumer rights advocates are calling for financial institutions to invest more in protecting customers against scams.

Australians have lost more than $96m to scams so far this year, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission estimating that is just the tip of the iceberg as most go unreported.

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‘Astonishing’: cost of Inland Rail doubles to $30bn as review savages Coalition over project

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Dr Kerry Schott warns she is not confident her assessment captures the full extent of cost blowouts and delays

The predicted price tag of the Inland Rail megaproject has almost doubled in two years to more than $30bn, as an independent review savages the former Coalition government’s handling of the plan.

In her independent review of the Inland Rail, commissioned by the Albanese government last year and released on Thursday, Dr Kerry Schott also flagged further delivery delays of at least four years.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton confirms Liberals will campaign against Indigenous voice to parliament

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Opposition leader continues his narrative of calling the proposal a ‘divisive Canberra voice’. Follow the day’s news

Birmingham calls for end to culture wars on ‘fringe issues’

So Simon Birmigham wants the party to modernise, but keep its Liberal values. So essentially ditch the culture wars and get back to Liberal basics – small government, small business, families (although Birmingham argues for inclusive family support now).

Well, it is, in that it concerns only a relatively small numbers of people, frankly, on either side of the debate. And so having, in the lead-up to the Aston byelection, debate ensuing in the Victorian division of the Liberal party around trans rights, Nazis, all of those sorts of things that were being thrown around, was clearly very, very counterproductive.

And I think that’s acknowledged right across the leadership of the Liberal party. And so trying to make sure that, whilst there has to be space to deal with issues where international sporting organisations are making rules and laws, but we shouldn’t take that into into a realm where suddenly there are public protests supported by Liberal MPs or anything that suggests there is a sense of disrespect other than careful, thoughtful policy consideration.

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Peter Dutton confirms Liberals will oppose Indigenous voice to parliament

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Opposition leader says he will actively campaign against the voice, claiming it ‘won’t deliver outcomes to people on the ground’

Liberal leader Peter Dutton will actively campaign against the Indigenous voice referendum, directing his frontbench to oppose the proposal.

Dutton has instead proposed symbolic recognition in the constitution and a legislated voice, both suggestions which have long been rejected by Indigenous communities and the Uluru statement from the heart.

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Queensland government concedes victims ‘may be disappointed’ by police disciplinary bungle

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Mark Ryan says many will be ‘disappointed’ by court decision that may see hundreds of sanctions overturned

The Queensland government has acknowledged victims “may be disappointed” by revelations that hundreds of disciplinary sanctions against police officers could be invalidated by a ruling of the state’s court of appeal.

The court last week found that disciplinary proceedings against two police officers – Det Sen Sgt David Cousins and Sgt William Johnson – had been brought incorrectly and were “invalid”. The court heard that a delegate for the police commissioner failed to appoint a specific officer to act as the “prescribed officer” after referring the allegations to the office of state discipline.

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Can’t get you out of my head: Australian research reveals the science behind earworms

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UNSW professor says there’s a formula for which songs get stuck in our heads and explains how to shake them off

You know when a song is all you think about – and you just can’t get it out of your head?

A new study on earworms reveals what makes a song loop in your brain and how you can shake it off.

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Terence Kelly jailed for 13 years for abduction of Cleo Smith in Western Australia

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Judge acknowledges turbulent upbringing of man who pleaded guilty to abducting four-year-old from family tent in 2021

Terence Darrell Kelly, 37, the man who abducted four-year-old Cleo Smith from her family’s tent at a remote Western Australian campsite, has been sentenced to 13 years and six months in jail.

Kelly pleaded guilty in January 2022 to the single charge of abducting Cleo, and will have to spend at least 11 years and six months in prison before he is eligible for parole.

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Assange supporters welcome ‘significant’ UK prison visit by Australian high commissioner

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Stephen Smith says he hopes to make regular visits to the WikiLeaks founder, who is in Belmarsh prison and faces espionage charges in the US

Julian Assange’s supporters have welcomed the “very positive and significant” prison visit by Australia’s new high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Stephen Smith.

The Wikileaks cofounder remains in Belmarsh prison in London as he fights a US attempt to extradite him to face charges in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as well as diplomatic cables.

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Australia hits peak ‘return to office’, transport experts say

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In what looks to be the new work-from-home normal, the average Australian worker spends 27% or more of their working hours at home

Transport experts believe post-pandemic work habits have finally stabilised and that the return to the office is unlikely to progress any further.

The average working Australian is spending 27% of their working hours at home, calculated across full and part-time employees.

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ABC to review use of TikTok after app banned from Australian government devices

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Ban only applies to non-corporate government entities but may have flow-on effects to other agencies and businesses

The ABC is reviewing its use of TikTok following the federal government’s ban of the Chinese-owned social media app on government-issued devices.

The ban announced by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on Tuesday only applies to non-corporate government entities, meaning a range of government-owned businesses and agencies are not subject to the ban, including the ABC, SBS, Australia Post and NBN Co.

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Riverina irrigator fined $150,000 for illegally extracting $1.1m of groundwater

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The Natural Resources Access Regulator is also prosecuting the alleged theft of water by another irrigator near Wentworth on the Murray

A Riverina irrigator has been convicted and fined more than $150,000 for taking $1.1m worth of water from an at-risk groundwater source in south-western New South Wales during a period of drought between July 2017 and June 2020.

Dean Troy Salvestro pleaded guilty to five charges against sections 91G(2) and 60C(2) of the Water Management Act 2000 in a judgment handed down in the NSW land and environment court . Four of the charges concerned breaches of bore extraction limits and one charge was for taking water not in accordance with an access licence allocation.

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Wet Easter weekend expected as cold trough heads across Australia

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Sydney and Melbourne could both see showers, while thunderstorms are forecast in Queensland

Australians can expect a cooler and wetter Easter long weekend than normal this year as a cold trough makes its way across the country.

In Sydney, Good Friday should begin with a sunny morning and reach a maximum of 26C, but showers or even a thunderstorm are likely to hit in the afternoon.

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Payday lender Cigno’s cash prize lottery raises concerns of consumer groups

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Past incarnations of the company which charged exorbitant fees for small loans were pursued in the courts by Asic

Payday lender Cigno is offering lottery-style cash prizes in a revamped business that is raising concerns from consumer groups it will target vulnerable Australians.

The Gold Coast company, which built its business on offering emergency cash to struggling households, has been pursued in the courts by the corporate regulator over past incarnations that charged exorbitant fees for small loans.

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Townsville pushes build-to-rent scheme in bid to address rental crisis

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Experts say there’s little evidence that a privately-owned single landlord development would increase housing affordability

Local authorities in Townsville are seeking $40m in government funding to support a 1,000 unit build-to-rent scheme that the local council says could help tackle the rental crisis in the northern Queensland city, where the number of homes available for rent for less than $400 a week has halved in the past three years.

However, critics say there is little evidence to suggest this method, which sees developers act as landlords and let directly to tenants, will increase affordability.

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Australia news live: seizure of $270m worth of heroin is Queensland’s biggest; RBA interest rates decision due

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Australians will find out at 2.30pm AEST whether the Reserve Bank will pause its interest rates hikes after 10 consecutive rises. Follow the day’s news live

Australia’s new high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, says becoming a republic is “inevitable” even if Australians are proud to have the British monarch as their head of state.

In his first interview since taking up the post, Smith told the Times newspaper that most British people would be “indifferent” to Australia getting rid of the monarchy and it would not damage the countries’ relationship.

There is a lot of affection and respect for the monarchy in Australia.

That affection and respect hasn’t gone away because of Australia contemplating from time to time what it should do about its constitutional arrangements.

My personal view is it’s inevitable. But how that’s progressed is entirely a matter for the Australian government of the day.

Our public-sector workers do a great job serving their fellow Victorians and we’re proud to support them. In addition to wage increases, workers will be able to obtain a sign-on bonus while productivity improvements will bring the potential for further advancement of conditions.

The policy provides fair outcomes for employees while being responsible as we deal with the types of budget challenges faced by families, businesses and governments across the world.

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Medicare fraud and non-compliance costing taxpayers up to $3bn, review finds

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Government-commissioned report argues structural reform is essential and requires a simpler, clearer billing system

Medicare fraud and non-compliance by doctors is costing taxpayers between $1.5bn and $3bn a year, a conservative estimate that will only increase without system reforms, according to a government-commissioned independent review.

The review into Medicare compliance, led by health economist Dr Pradeep Philip, was commissioned following ongoing concerns about waste and wrongful billing practices.

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Thousands of New Zealand nurses register to work in Australia seeking better pay

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Losing more nurses from workforce already facing shortages and burnout could reduce quality of patient care, union organiser says

Thousands of New Zealand nurses are registering to work in Australia in pursuit of better pay and conditions, amid staffing shortages and industrial action in their home country.

Almost 5,000 New Zealand nurses have registered to practise in Australia since August, a spokesperson from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia confirmed on Tuesday. While not every nurse who registers will make the move, they make up about 8% of the approximately 65,000 nurses registered in New Zealand.

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Police scour South Australian tip site for head and limbs of man whose torso was found in bin

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The torso of alleged murder victim Geoffrey McLean was discovered at a vacant block at Salisbury South in October

Police scouring an Adelaide landfill site for further remains of a man whose dismembered torso was found in a wheelie bin concede luck will need to be on their side.

Search teams converged on the Uleybury site on Monday with the gruesome task of locating the head and limbs of alleged murder victim Geoffrey McLean, whose torso was discovered at a vacant block at Salisbury South in October.

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Australia-wide ban of TikTok on government devices announced as senior politicians quit the app

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Prohibition of Chinese social media app follows similar bans in other western countries

The Australian government has banned the use of Chinese social media app TikTok on government devices, following similar bans in other western countries.

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said he had authorised the secretary of his department to issue a mandatory direction to prohibit the TikTok app on devices issued by commonwealth departments and agencies.

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