Category Archives: Australia news

Indigenous voice a ‘safe and sensible’ legal option that will not impede parliament, experts say

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Change of wording to constitutional amendment increases parliament’s power over the advisory body amid concerns about its authority

Constitutional experts have backed the proposed Indigenous voice as a “safe and sensible” legal option, dismissing concerns that the advisory body would be too powerful.

Several advisers to the referendum process say a change to wording of the constitutional amendment confirms that parliament has power over the voice, and that the advisory body wouldn’t be a so-called “third chamber” as opponents have claimed.

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The Greens face one of the biggest decisions of their political lives as Labor’s climate policy hangs in the balance

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Some Greens want to pass the safeguard mechanism changes and keep fighting on fossil fuels while others want to attack it as a Coalition creation that can’t be redeemed

The future of one of Labor’s signature climate policies – updating the safeguard mechanism to deal with industrial greenhouse gas emissions – hangs in the balance. The government held off pushing it through parliament this week while negotiations continued with the Greens and key independent senator David Pocock over a potential deal to strengthen it.

The design of the policy is not the Greens’ responsibility, but what happens next is largely up to its party room – with the Coalition opposed, the government can’t get its legislation through without their support. The minor party is divided. Its 15 members will meet through the weekend ahead of a potential decision by Monday. It could go either way. Given the party operates on a consensus model that allows time to find common ground, it could also remain unresolved into next week.

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Tobacco-linked organisations and executives fail to declare interests to TGA vaping inquiry

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Known links to tobacco multinationals and vaping lobby groups omitted in submissions to federal government consultation on reform

Organisations and executives with known links to big tobacco and vaping companies have failed to declare them in submissions to a major government consultation on vaping reforms aimed at protecting children from nicotine addiction.

The submission of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) chief executive, Theo Foukkare, to the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s vaping reforms consultation on behalf of the AACS states “no” in response to the question: “Have you or your organisation ever received services, assistance or support (whether monetary or non-monetary in nature) from the tobacco industry and/or e-cigarette industry?”

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Bruce Lehrmann told employer ‘false allegations’ had not hurt his ability to lobby effectively, documents show

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List of ‘friendly’ journalists and other media personalities Lehrmann was ‘outraged’ at also among evidence submitted to the court

The former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann told the tobacco giant he lobbied for that the public revelation of rape allegations against him had “not hindered the relations within my political network” and said he was still able to influence federal policy to “further the business financially”, documents show.

New documents filed in Lehrmann’s defamation case against News Corp, Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson and Samantha Maiden reveal Lehrmann’s correspondence with British American Tobacco Australia, his then employer, in the days and months after Brittany Higgins’ allegations were first made public in February 2021.

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Teenager accused of Blue Mountains rape has conviction overturned

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Decision overturns a nine-month sentence for the sexual assault alleged to have occurred at a house party

A teenage boy accused of raping a girl he knew at a party in the Blue Mountains has successfully appealed against his sexual assault convictions.

The decision overturns a nine-month sentence in youth detention for the sexual assault alleged to have occurred at a house party.

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Albanese hits hustings ahead of NSW election day – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Burney says the solicitor general’s advice supports the ultimate wording of the referendum question which the government released yesterday.

Patricia Karvelas:

I know you’ve said that on the solicitor general’s advice – which the opposition leader is demanding is released publicly – that it’s up to the prime minister.

… But you know about the advice. Does the advice of the solicitor general support the ultimate wording you’ve landed on?

Yes it does.

I am absolutely confident that we have got the words and the amendments correct. They are simple. They are understandable for the Australian public.

I think that the Liberals are looking for excuses, and I think they’ve almost run out.

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Early career essential workers unable to afford house prices anywhere in Sydney and Melbourne

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Study shows workers forced to commute huge distances, live in overcrowded housing or suffer rental or mortgage stress

There is no longer a single local government area across metropolitan Sydney or Melbourne where houses are affordable for early career essential workers, with a growing number of police commuting huge distances and nurses living in cramped share homes.

Essential workers are being forced to move further away from their inner city jobs due to ballooning rents and housing costs. Experts are warning that longer commutes are exacerbating stress and fatigue in industries where levels of both are already high.

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AMA calls for governments to implement royal commission recommendations on Aboriginal deaths in custody

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Exclusive: Medical experts also reiterate calls to raise age of criminal responsibility, saying detention facilities have ‘deeply adverse’ affects on children

The Australian Medical Association is calling on governments to divert people away from incarceration and implement the recommendations of the 1991 Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission.

The AMA has also reiterated its call for states and territories to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, particularly due to the disproportionate impact on Indigenous people.

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NSW election: Labor’s pledges on domestic violence could affect existing services, PBO warns

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Parliamentary Budget Office raises concerns that rollout of programs could lead to cutting of initiatives by Legal Aid and police

Labor’s domestic violence election commitments could “affect the delivery of some services” by Legal Aid and New South Wales police, the independent body charged with analysing the cost of both major parties’ promises has warned.

Labor has made a series of commitments on domestic violence in the lead-up to the state election including funds for a pilot program for specialist sexual violence police in a handful of local areas and the extension of a series of court-advocacy programs.

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Seats to watch: the NSW election is likely to come down to these key electorates

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It looks like being close. The Coalition faces threats on a number of fronts but Labor’s path to victory is uncertain

The New South Wales state election on Saturday shapes as the closest in 16 years. The Coalition government, already in minority, is fighting to hold on after a series of scandals, high-profile resignations and a creaking economy.

It faces threats on a number of fronts: from Labor in Sydney’s west and in the south of the state; and from a clutch of teal and independent candidates in the city’s east.

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Greens attack Albanese government’s ‘deeply unsettling’ secrecy on submarine nuclear waste plans

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Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council also warned against cloak of national security to ‘mask inadequate radiation safety protection’

Labor and the Coalition have been accused of taking a “deeply unsettling approach” to transparency around Aukus after the major parties blocked the publication of documents about nuclear safety and waste issues.

The government cited national security concerns when it rejected a Senate order to produce documents, including those about options to manage operational waste from the nuclear-powered submarine program.

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Australia politics live: Lidia Thorpe knocked to ground in struggle with police at anti-trans rights speaker’s Canberra event

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Independent senator attempts to step up to podium after Pauline Hanson speaks in support of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull. Follow the day’s news

Mark Butler says part of the issue is that vaping was allowed to “explode” so it’s a case of putting the genie back in the bottle – but he says the government is determined to do it, so the tobacco industry doesn’t win.

A parent told us last week that they found in their very young child’s pencil case, not a 16/17-year-old but a very young child’s pencil case, a vape that was deliberately designed to look like a highlighter pen. I mean, these things are insidious.

They are causing very real damage not just to the health of very young children but to behavioural issues at schools as well.

This is now the biggest behavioural issue in primary schools. I mean, this is this is an industry shamelessly marketing, not just to teenagers but to young children. When you look at these things, with pink unicorns on them and bubblegum flavors, these aren’t marketed to adults.

This is an industry that is trying to create a new generation of nicotine addicts so they get around all of the hard work. Our country and other countries have done over recent decades to stamp out smoking.

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Queensland tenants and social groups welcome proposal to limit rent increases to once a year

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But expert says limiting frequency of rent hikes without a cap is unlikely to make a difference amid rising rate of homelessness

A proposal by the Queensland government to limit rent increases to once a year has been applauded by the tenants’ union and social organisations who say the measure would ease cost-of-living pressures.

In Queensland, landlords can currently increase rents every six months. Limiting rent increases to once a year would bring the state in line with other Australian jurisdictions like Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

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Labor and Greens could agree to compromise on non-fossil fuel industries in safeguard mechanism

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Greens in internal negotiations over backing down on demand for ban on new coal and gas projects in Labor’s climate policy

Labor could agree to treat existing non-fossil fuel industries – such as cement, aluminium and steel – differently to new coal and gas developments in a bid to reach agreement with the Greens on a signature climate policy.

But it is unclear whether the possible compromise on the design of the safeguard mechanism would be enough to win support for the Albanese government’s plan, which requires major industrial polluting sites to reduce emissions intensity onsite cuts or buy carbon offsets.

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‘I’m here to change the country’: Albanese launches an uncompromising Indigenous voice plan

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Attempting to appease conservatives was pointless and risked failure, the referendum working group told the PM. It appears he listened

It’s on. On Thursday, the Albanese government leapt a major hurdle in the long run to a successful referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament at the end of the year.

After a flurry of late night meetings with his referendum working group – including a robust exchange of views about the amendment and the question, and furious and inaccurate public speculation about concessions and compromises – the final form of words announced on Thursday has not shifted significantly from the one Albanese announced at the Garma festival in July last year.

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Student teachers should spend more time on practical skills, less time on philosophy of education, panel recommends

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An expert panel has outlined plans to radically reform degrees to improve teaching courses and address workforce shortages in Australia

Student teachers should spend more time on practical skills and less time on the history and philosophy of education, an expert panel has recommended.

The teacher education expert panel, set up by the federal government to improve teaching courses and address workforce shortages, released its discussion paper on Thursday, outlining plans to radically reform degrees.

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MP says ‘we as NSW Liberals support asset recycling’ despite premier’s pledge to end privatisation

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Exclusive: Felicity Wilson later told the Guardian a reelected Perrottet government would not privatise more assets

Felicity Wilson, the Liberal MP for the North Shore, has told voters a New South Wales Coalition government would continue asset recycling, spruiking the benefits of privatisation to pay for metro lines, healthcare and schools.

The comments made last Thursday at a candidate forum run contradictory to the premier’s promise not to sell off any more of the state’s assets and come amid political attacks from Labor asserting more privatisations would take place under a reelected Perrottet government.

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Five NSW men charged after methamphetamine worth $15m allegedly found on ‘black flight’ from PNG

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Plane intercepted at airstrip in rural Queensland after police allege aircraft was flown under the radar with 52kg of meth on board

A “black flight” allegedly carrying more than $15m worth of methamphetamine from Papua New Guinea has been halted by Australian federal police in rural Queensland allegedly on its way to New South Wales.

The light aircraft landed at an airstrip in the central Queensland town of Monto to refuel on Tuesday when officers swooped and made five arrests.

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Teals and independents are fighting hard to win a seat in the NSW parliament. Have they done enough?

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Three-horse races and optional preferential voting making calling seats ahead of Saturday’s state election a risky wager

Michael Regan, the independent running for the New South Wales seat of Wakehurst, has told staff he wants his to be the first seat called by the ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, on Saturday night.

By that he means he wants to emulate the blistering win of the independent Zali Steggall, who scored a second term in the overlapping federal seat of Warringah in 2022 with more than 50% of the primary vote.

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Etihad accused of misleading customers with greenwashing in ‘net zero’ ads

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Complaint made to ACCC says airline’s claims of net zero by 2050 are not feasible and company intends to increase absolute CO2 emissions

Etihad has been accused of misleading customers through advertising that spruiked its emissions reductions plans, with Australia’s consumer watchdog now considering action against the airline amid its crackdown on greenwashing.

Aviation emissions advocacy group Flight Free Australia alleged in the complaint that two Etihad advertisements that appeared on digital advertising banners during an A-League football match between Melbourne City and Adelaide United at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on 15 February last year were false or misleading.

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