Category Archives: Australia news

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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

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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.

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Christian prayer march along Newtown street was ‘unauthorised protest activity’, police say

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Around 30 men filmed marching down the LGBTQ+ hub of King Street praying and holding rosary beads above their heads

A group of around 30 men staged a Christian protest march on a popular entertainment strip in Sydney’s inner west on Friday night, in what police confirmed was “unauthorised protest activity”.

The men were filmed marching down King Street in Newtown, while praying and holding rosary beads above their heads.

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Police foil plan to bring $1bn worth of cocaine into Western Australia

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Officers duped the alleged criminals into believing they had gotten away with the import, police say

A covert police operation has foiled a billion dollars worth of cocaine entering Western Australia, with officers duping the alleged criminals into believing they had gotten away with the import.

Operation Beech kicked off in November after Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized a record 2.4 tonnes of cocaine allegedly bound for Australia off the South American coast.

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PM says Labor has ‘balance right’ on super tax concessions – as it happened

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Adam Bandt says Greens could support key Labor climate policy if fossil fuels developments paused

The Greens say they could support the Albanese government’s changes to the safeguard mechanism – a key climate policy – if it agreed to pause new fossil fuel developments until the parliament has dealt with planned changes to national environment laws.

Under Labor - no more privatisation. We’ll build the tunnel but we won’t sell it.

Any revenue from tolls goes straight back into public hands to build for the future.

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Tanya Plibersek urges assault survivors to reach out for help after her daughter reveals own story

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In an extract of a new book, Plibersek says her daughter’s experience was part of the reason she didn’t seek the Labor leadership in 2019

Tanya Plibersek has urged survivors of assault to reach out for help after her daughter revealed her own story of sexual and domestic violence.

In an extract from Margaret Simons’ book Tanya Plibersek: On Her Own Terms, published in the Good Weekend magazine on Saturday, the former Labor deputy leader revealed part of the reason she did not run for leader of the party in 2019 was because her daughter was involved in legal action related to the abuse at the time, and would be appearing as a witness in court.

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‘Web of lies’: how scammers are taking advantage of Australia’s tight rental market

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The ACCC received more than 658 reports about rental and accommodation scams last year, with a reported loss of $544,846

Like many, Aven was desperately looking for a house.

Last October, the 21-year-old was frantically applying for dozens of rental properties – attending inspections, putting in applications and becoming increasingly stressed by the string of rejections.

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NSW government called out on net zero goal as own data projects coal and gas emissions until 2050

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Data also shows land sector will absorb more carbon than it emits from 2015 despite passage of laws that make land clearing easier

Labor, the Greens and independent politicians have called on the New South Wales government to explain how emissions projections square with its 2050 net zero goal, after its own data showed pollution from coal and gas extending out to mid-century.

The figures, which are contained within the government’s emissions dashboard, also show the land sector growing as a sink for carbon emissions even after the government loosened land clearing laws allowing farmers to remove more vegetation.

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High temperatures and sunny weather headed for NSW, with parts reaching 40C

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Mercury forecast to top 30C in Sydney over the weekend, before rising to 35C on Monday

New South Wales is expected to swelter through high temperatures in the coming days, with some parts of the state forecast to nudge over 40C.

The mercury expected to top 30C across Sydney over the weekend, before rising again on Monday.

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Bruce Lehrmann could face cross-examination in two weeks over Lisa Wilkinson defamation case timing

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Exclusive: Federal court is expected to sit on 16 March for a preliminary hearing that will focus on the significant delay in filing the claim

Bruce Lehrmann could be called to face cross-examination in two weeks’ time to explain why he did not file defamation proceedings against Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten within the usual 12-month time limit.

The federal court is expected to sit on 16 March for a preliminary hearing in the Lehrmann defamation proceedings, which will focus on the significant delay in his filing of the defamation claim against Wilkinson and Network Ten.

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Toyota accused of greenwashing in Greenpeace complaint filed to ACCC

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Complaint focuses on claims about performance of vehicles and net zero by 2050 plans while company says it is committed to sustainable future

Greenpeace Australia Pacific has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate whether environmental claims by Toyota are misleading or deceptive.

The greenwashing complaint, filed Friday by the Environmental Defenders Office on behalf of Greenpeace, focuses on claims about the environmental performance of Toyota’s vehicles and its net zero ambitions.

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Public servant claims she was ‘screamed at irrationally’ after querying robodebt scheme

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Official tells royal commission she was threatened with losing her job after turning off part of the system without approval

A Department of Human Services (DHS) official has told a royal commission she was verbally abused and threatened with losing her job by a senior public servant after raising concerns about the robodebt scheme.

On Friday the inquiry heard more evidence about what several witnesses have described as a toxic culture within the department that ran the controversial program between 2015 and 2019.

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Australia joins Quad countries to launch new counter-terror talks – as it happened

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Australia, the US, India and Japan join to ‘counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalisation to violence and violent extremism’. This blog is now closed

‘A broken promise writ large’

Opposition leader Peter Dutton was also on the Today show (which has clearly been busy this morning).

They want to tax you on the profit before you actually sell the shares, which is unbelievable. And I think it continues to go from disaster to disaster for the government.

You can’t as a prime minister look people in the eye and tell them one thing and do the complete opposite, a broken promise writ large.

It is a modest change ... It only affects people if you have $3m in your superannuation fund. That’s about 0.5% of superannuants.

We inherited a budget from Peter [Dutton] and his crew which was a trillion dollars in debt. There’s nothing to show for it. We need to be responsible. That’s what we’re trying to do.

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‘Like a little dragon’: new gecko species discovered on rugged Queensland island

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The carnivorous Phyllurus fimbriatus is only found in the wettest, rockiest pockets of Scawfell Island

A new species of gecko that “looks like a little dragon”, with a beaky face and spiny leaf-shaped tail, has been discovered on an uninhabited Queensland island.

The new lizard was found on Scawfell Island, a rugged island about 50km offshore from the north Queensland city of Mackay.

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David Pocock wants urgent action on carbon credit system ahead of vote on key climate policy

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Crossbench senator’s support is crucial if government is to introduce planned revamp of safeguard mechanism

Independent senator David Pocock has urged the Albanese government to quickly implement all recommendations from a review of Australia’s carbon credit system, given it wants to introduce a climate policy that relies heavily on offsets.

Pocock’s is a key vote if the government is to introduce a planned revamp of the safeguard mechanism, a scheme that is meant to reduce carbon pollution from 215 big polluting industrial and resources sites.

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Scott Morrison’s secret ministries used as grounds for Afghan man’s cancelled visa case

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In court challenge, man argues decision by ex-home affairs minister Karen Andrews was not valid as Morrison had displaced her

An Afghan man has challenged Karen Andrews’s decision to cancel his visa in 2021, arguing that Scott Morrison’s multiple ministerial appointments displaced her as home affairs minister and rendered the decision void.

The federal court case, brought by a former employee of the US embassy in Afghanistan who is known as CEU22, indirectly challenges the validity of all visa cancellation decisions made personally by the minister from the date of Morrison’s appointment on 6 May 2021 to the Coalition’s election loss in May 2022.

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