Category Archives: Australia news

Hot, windy conditions drive up NSW fire danger again before Wednesday’s cool change

Posted on by

Heatwave continues along the coast and extreme fire danger forecast inland as windy weather picks up

Hot and windy conditions were expected to drive up the fire danger in New South Wales on Tuesday, as the autumnal heatwave continues in parts of the state and more than 30 fires burn.

Extreme fire danger is forecast in the central ranges and greater Hunter areas, where total fire bans are in place.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland to spend $5bn on 1,100km CopperString power line to unlock renewables potential

Posted on by

‘Eureka moment’ project will provide future energy certainty and trigger new minerals processing, Palaszczuk government says

The Queensland government has said it will take control of a $5bn proposal to build a 1,100km power line connecting Mount Isa to the national grid, which it says will “unlock” development of new-economy mineral deposits in the state’s north west.

The project, known as CopperString 2.0, has long been touted as necessary to provide future energy certainty to Queensland’s north-west minerals province, where miners are considering the potential to extract large amounts of copper, cobalt, vanadium, lead, zinc and phosphate.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Female university graduates have bigger Hecs debts but earning less than men, research reveals

Posted on by

Average student debt balance has risen 10% and taking longer to pay off, affecting major life events such as starting a family

Female university graduates in Australia are earning less than men while racking up more debt from their degrees, new research reveals.

The Futurity Investment Group’s university debt report, which surveyed more than 1,000 Australian graduates, found 70% of males earned more than $60,000, compared with 59% of women. Men were also more likely to be earning more than $100,000 (35% compared with 21% of women).

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

NSW Labor vows to fix ‘broken’ environmental offsets system if elected

Posted on by

Spokesperson Penny Sharpe says current system has ‘no red lines’ and party will deliver changes within first 18 months of government

New South Wales Labor has promised to fix the state’s “broken” environmental offsets system if it wins government in March, saying current policies are causing decline of endangered ecosystems instead of avoiding more damage.

“I think there’s a role for offsetting but the current system is skewed the wrong way,” the party’s environment spokesperson, Penny Sharpe, said.

Continue reading...

Share of affordable properties in Australian capital cities has more than halved, analysis shows

Posted on by

The proportion of dwellings listed for under $400 a week has more than halved to an average of just 15% across the country

The share of rental properties listed for under $400 a week has more than halved to 15% across most Australian capital cities over the past year, accounting for just 7.8% of Sydney listings in February.

Research from data provider PropTrack, based on analysis of realestate.com.au found renters seeking a standalone house faced an even tighter market, with less than 5% of Sydney homes listed at under $400 a week.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Voice referendum no campaign’s lack of tax-deductible status ‘discriminatory’, Warren Mundine says

Posted on by

Exclusive: Leading no campaigner has called on government to quickly approve status but his organisation is yet to formally apply

The no campaign in the voice referendum has asked the government to quickly approve its bid to receive tax-deductible donations for its campaigning, applying for the status five months after it was granted to the yes side.

Leading no campaigner Warren Mundine has told the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, it would be “discriminatory” to not give the same tax concessions to both sides. But despite complaints from voice critics that the government had extended deductible gift recipient (DGR) status to the yes side, federal agencies said this week they had not yet received any application from the no side.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Opposition demand funding for yes and no campaigns – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

The RBA board will meet tomorrow to make its decision about raising interest rates (which, if it does so, will be the 10th increase in a row). The board has said it won’t hesitate to raise interest rates again and again to get inflation down to its target band (between 2 and 3%), but the data shows whatever savings buffer some people had after the pandemic is diminishing.

David Pocock told ABC Breakfast TV it might be time to look at how we deal with inflation:

I mean, this is a big question. There’s so many Australians doing it tough. My understanding is that they are simply implementing the rules. I’d like to maybe see some discussion about the rules.

If – you know, to reduce inflation, is the best way just to give money to the banks? You know, there’s surely a better way of locking up some of the cash in the economy, whether it’s putting it into super, raising the GST, I don’t know – but to have politicians criticise what seems to be just the process that has been set up by politicians is one thing.

Continue reading...

Racism in NT police ‘systemic’, senior Indigenous public servant tells Kumanjayi Walker inquest

Posted on by

NT Australian of the Year Leanne Liddle describes consultations to develop an Aboriginal justice agreement as ‘devastating’

A senior Indigenous public servant in the Northern Territory government has told an inquest that she had seen “so many examples of systemic racism in the NT police force” that negotiating a justice agreement for the territory was “one of the most depressing and saddest experiences” of her life.

Leanne Liddle, an Arrernte woman and director of the Aboriginal justice unit in the NT attorney general’s department, developed the Aboriginal justice agreement (AJA) after extensive consultation in Aboriginal communities.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

World’s first openly transgender MP, Georgina Beyer, dies in New Zealand aged 65

Posted on by

The former actor, drag performer, sex worker and radio host pulled off a surprise victory as a Labour MP and later played a pivotal role in decriminalising prostitution

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has led tributes to Georgina Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender MP, who has died.

Friends announced “with the heaviest of hearts” on Facebook on Monday that the 65-year-old had died at a Wellington hospice.

Continue reading...

Ladbrokes fined nearly $80,000 for failing to stem damage from man who stole millions for gambling

Posted on by

Regulator finds firm did not inquire as to source of Gavin Fineff’s funds and instead ‘provided attractive bonuses’

The sports wagering company Ladbrokes has been fined nearly $80,000 for serious breaches of its licence and failing to limit damage caused by Gavin Fineff, a financial adviser who stole millions of dollars from his clients to service his gambling addiction.

Fineff has pleaded guilty to multiple fraud-related offences in the New South Wales district court and is awaiting sentencing. He lost more than $8m to sports gambling, with much of that money belonging to friends and clients, some of them elderly and vulnerable.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Labor approves $9.5m for ‘facts of the voice’ but says it is not funding de-facto yes campaign

Posted on by

Coalition ‘concerned government is putting fingers on the scales’ and independent David Pocock says information should be fact-checked

The Albanese government has authorised $9.5m of spending for a voice civics and awareness campaign to include the “facts of the voice” but insists it is not funding a de facto yes campaign.

The new $9.5m was contained in the “decisions taken but not announced” section of October’s budget, revealed in a legislative instrument made by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, on Thursday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Calls to increase allowances for Indigenous carers to keep children connected with culture

Posted on by

Ensuring First Nations siblings remain in contact must also be a priority, former Victorian Aboriginal children’s commissioner says

Victoria’s former Aboriginal children’s commissioner has called for increased allowances for kinship and foster carers in a bid to increase the pool of First Nations people looking after children in out-of-home care, and ensuring they remain connected to culture.

Andrew Jackomos, who held the commissioner role for five years between 2013 to 2018 and was the first person to hold an Aboriginal children watchdog role, has also appealed for greater safeguards to ensure Indigenous siblings in the out-of-home care system remain in contact.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Armed man shot dead by police in Sydney’s south-west

Posted on by

Officers responding to alleged domestic violence attack were threatened by man with two knives, police say

An armed man has been shot dead by police at the scene of an alleged domestic violence attack in Sydney’s south-west.

A critical incident investigation is under way after the 29-year-old was fatally shot in the chest in William Street at Yagoona shortly before 9am on Sunday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Victoria’s bail laws to be loosened after being labelled ‘complete, unmitigated disaster’

Posted on by

State’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, says Andrews government has ‘no plans to weaken the laws’ for offenders who pose a serious community safety risk

Victoria’s contentious bail laws, which doubled the imprisonment rate of Aboriginal women, are set to be loosened within months, as the opposition warns the changes must not lead to violent offenders being released into the community.

The Coalition has signalled a willingness to offer bipartisan support for the wide-ranging reforms but warned the government must put “community safety first”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queenslanders to be banned from dumping solar panels in landfill under new recycling program

Posted on by

More than 25m panels are expected to be installed across the state over the next decade

Queenslanders would be banned from dumping solar panels in landfill within the decade in order to reduce electronic waste under a proposed recycling expansion program.

The Palaszczuk government on Sunday announced its draft e-products waste action plan, which outlined the proposal to ban the dumping of solar panels within five to 10. The plan also aims to encourage the repair and reuse of household electronic products like fridges and mobile phones.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Plagued by scandal’: Albanese blasts Perrottet’s government as NSW Labor launches election campaign

Posted on by

Prime minister received hero’s welcome as state opposition pledged $93m to hire 1,000 apprentices and trainees in the public sector

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has launched a scathing attack on the New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet’s government, saying it is “plagued by scandal” and slamming its “deficit of character”.

Despite a series of public appearances with Perrottet in recent months in which he has been complimentary of the Coalition premier, Albanese used the official launch of the NSW Labor campaign on Sunday to issue a searing broadside on the government three weeks out from the state election.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese among 50,000 marching across Sydney Harbour Bridge for WorldPride

Posted on by

March helps draw to a close 17-day festival, which will wrap up on Sunday evening with a concert in the Domain

More than 50,000 brightly-dressed people marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday morning in support of pride and recognition of the long fight for equality for the LGBTQI community.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, helped lead the march alongside a number of “78ers”, the term given to those people who took part in Sydney’s first Mardi Gras as an act of protest close to 50 years ago.

Continue reading...

Labor hits back at Coalition attacks on super changes – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Coalition will return ‘fiscal discipline’ to economy: Taylor

Taylor then outlines the Coalition’s basic pitch ahead of the next election: everything stays the same – and more austerity.

The first thing we will do when we get back into government is to re-establish the fiscal guard rails and the discipline that comes with it for ministers, bureaucrats and everybody. That is how you do this. Tax won’t be the focus. It will be making sure the economy grows faster than ever.

When it comes to tax, you describe all of the tax concessions as a hit list. Does that mean you think the system is perfect, nothing should ever be touched on tax?

No, we think the stage-three cuts need to go in place.

Is there any tax concession you would not touch?

Well, David, you asked about the fiscal guard rails. The key to this is to have budget balance as an objective in the budget. Labor has taken that out of the budget. As I said to you last time I was on this program, you need to make sure the economy grows faster than your spending. Now, Labor has taken these objective ace way. So they have lost all discipline.

Continue reading...

Daniel Duggan says he faces ‘gross injustice’ if extradited to US in speech from Sydney prison

Posted on by

The former US marine pilot urges his audience to ‘say no to politically charged extraditions of Australian citizens’

In a speech from prison, the Australian pilot Daniel Duggan has said he faces a “gross injustice” if extradited to the US and, potentially, a “cruelly long sentence”, warning Australia against acquiescing to the demands of powerful countries.

The address, dictated by Duggan from his prison cell to his legal team, and read on his behalf on Saturday night in Sydney, urged his audience to “say no to Australia being a political lackey to any foreign government, as allies can be dangerous too”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

UK, US or a hybrid? Intense speculation as Australia’s $170bn nuclear submarine choice looms

Posted on by

UK and Australian ministers have been hinting at a trilateral design for the eight boats, but all options are still on the table in Australia’s biggest defence purchase

Australia is set to within a couple of weeks learn some basic details about a program that could cost more than $170bn and will run for decades.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, this week warned against opting for a new UK design. For now though, the Aukus submarine program is a “black box”, says Tom Corben, a foreign policy and defence research fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...