Category Archives: Australia news

Warnings issued as wild thunderstorms expected to sweep over South Australia, Victoria and NSW

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Meteorologists say major population centres including Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra should expect power outages and dangerous driving conditions

Millions of Australians are bracing for power outages and dangerous driving conditions as wild thunderstorms sweep across three states.

Thunderstorms were developing over Adelaide and south-east South Australia on Sunday and were expected to track across large swathes of New South Wales and Victoria during the afternoon and evening.

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Triple zero callers now able to livestream emergencies directly to NSW police

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BluLink gives emergency responders access to scene before they have even arrived

Livestreaming unfolding emergencies directly to police is now possible in New South Wales using an innovative technology system.

The statewide rollout of BluLink allows triple zero callers to provide police with GPS coordinates, live video streaming, digital media uploads and text messages via a link sent to them from emergency dispatchers.

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Bill Shorten accuses Greens of NDIS misinformation as he tries to reassure participants over new laws

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NDIS minister says participants will still be able to request funding for support that is not on approved list if it is genuinely needed

The national disability insurance scheme minister, Bill Shorten, has assured participants that under Labor’s changes, support not on a list of approved items could still be accessed if it is genuinely needed.

The comments come as the Greens and disability advocacy groups warn a draft list outlining which supports and services can be funded, and which ones cannot, will leave some participants worse off.

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Four people including police officer injured after car crash and alleged stabbings in Sydney’s south

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NSW police allege 58-year-old driver stabbed his partner with box cutter before Engadine collision and then attacked witnesses who came to help

Four people including a police officer have been injured after a driver involved in a Sydney car crash allegedly stabbed his passenger before lashing out at witnesses who tried to help.

Two vehicles collided at the intersection of the Princes Highway and Old Bush Road in Engadine before 9am on Sunday, New South Wales police said.

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How do you best choose an Australian aged care facility and what do the star ratings mean?

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Experts have questioned why so few homes are rated substandard, given the commission found one in three residents experience neglect, abuse or poor care

The star rating system of aged care homes was introduced in December 2022 to help older people and their families compare the quality and safety of services and providers.

Developed as a recommendation of the royal commission, the system has repeatedly come under scrutiny. Experts and unions have questioned why so few homes are rated substandard, given the commission found one in three residents experience neglect, abuse or poor care; and how homes on the non-compliance register manage ratings of three stars and above.

If you are having issues or concerns with your aged care, call OPAN on 1800 700 600. The National Dementia Helpline is also available on 1800 100 500.

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Mardi Gras board decision to consult queer community on police joining parade hailed as ‘massive win’

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Results of consultation will form independent report and motion will be voted on at annual general meeting later this year

The Sydney Mardi Gras board will vote on whether NSW police force members will march in its annual parade later this year.

In an email sent to members on Friday evening, the board announced three community consultation sessions – two online and one in person – would be held in September to gather feedback.

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Man found dead in Melbourne park last seen by sister seven hours before

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The 28-year-old was last seen by his sister in the Derrimut area of the city’s west with four other men about 9pm on Friday

Police are trying to piece together what happened during the seven hours leading up to the death of a man found in a Melbourne park with apparent stab wounds.

The 28-year-old was last seen by his sister in the Derrimut area of the city’s west with four other men about 9pm on Friday.

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Fresh warning on fire ants in Queensland as suppression efforts struggle to halt spread

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US specialist on invasive species says the densities of the destructive pest are approaching what he has seen in Texas

Parts of Queensland have as many fire ants as Texas – a hotbed of the uncontrolled infestation that costs the US billions of dollars each year, an expert has warned

Dr Robert Puckett is an American specialist on invasive ant species and he’s followed Australia’s efforts to eradicate fire ants since they were discovered in Brisbane 23 years ago.

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Australia’s south-east to face strong winds, storms and hail after unseasonal heat across country

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‘We are moving into a pretty active week,’ meteorologist says, with a number of weather systems moving across the south

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned people to check their forecasts as “really intense warm conditions” expected to break temperature records in some places across central Australia give way to strong winds, storms and hail across the south-east of the country on Sunday.

“We are moving into a pretty active week, as we’d call it,” said Miriam Bradbury, senior meteorologist. “There are a number of weather systems moving through in southern Australia.”

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From cars to coffee machines, here’s how Australian spending habits are weathering the high cost of living

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Retailers like Temple & Webster have slashed their pricing and tweaked their product range to lure gen Z and millennials – and it’s working

Many Australian businesses are feeling the pinch as customers can no longer afford the armchairs, gadgets, clothing brands and new bathrooms they could before the cost of living shot up.

But spending patterns remain uneven, and at times counterintuitive, leading to a mixed corporate earnings season marked by subdued but not collapsing demand.

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NSW woman charged with murder after man’s body found in surfboard bag

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Emergency services visited a Darkwood property, about 67km west of Coffs Harbour, after reports a dead body had been found

A woman has been charged with a domestic violence-related murder, after a man’s body was allegedly found in a surfboard bag at a rural property in Darkwood, west of Coffs Harbour.

A 35-year-old woman was arrested on Friday afternoon in Nambucca Heads and taken to Macksville police station where she was charged with the murder of a 62-year-old man.

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AGL breached rules 16,000 times in wrongly taking welfare money from hundreds of people, court rules

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Landmark federal court judgment could trigger proceedings against three other energy retailers

AGL breached Australian energy rules more than 16,000 times through its use of the government-run Centrepay system to wrongly take welfare money from almost 500 people years after they ceased being customers, a court has ruled.

The landmark federal court judgment could trigger proceedings against three other energy retailers, which were referred to the regulator following a Guardian investigation into failures of the Centrepay system.

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Government gives itself power to pay any non-citizen to leave Australia

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Exclusive: Greens decry expansion of scheme to ‘all non-citizens’ – including those whose asylum claims were rejected after arriving by air – as a ‘bribe’

The federal government has quietly given itself the power to pay any unlawful non-citizen to leave Australia or for foreign countries to resettle them, in what the Greens have labelled an attempt to “bribe” asylum seekers.

New regulations made on 15 August expanded the return and reintegration assistance program (RRAP), which currently pays up to $7,500 cash plus expenses to people on bridging visas, or those who arrived by boat, to leave Australia.

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Melbourne zoo welcomes rare southern white rhino calf to the world

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New male baby of near-threatened species born at Werribee open range zoo to be named in public competition in coming weeks

A very large bundle of joy was quietly delivered to a Melbourne zoo last Sunday as a southern white rhino gave birth to a male calf.

Mother Kipenzi, 11, and father Kifaru, 15, welcomed their 60kg baby into the world in the early hours of 18 August, Werribee open range zoo announced.

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NSW Liberal Andrew Bragg claims some party colleagues may be ‘playing footsies with nimbys’

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Moderate senator says the idea of new developments in established suburbs does not sit well with some Liberals

New South Wales Liberal frontbench senator Andrew Bragg has accused some of his party colleagues of “playing footsies with nimbys” for blocking real estate developments in Sydney’s suburbs that he says would help ease the housing crisis.”

The shadow assistant minister for home ownership told Guardian Australia that some Liberals were encouraging a not-in-my-back yard attitude to expanding housing stock in some metropolitan areas and obstructing measures that could help increase supply.

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Australia’s ski season could melt away early as snowfall drops to nearly half the average

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August should mean peak snow depth, Jindabyne worker says, but early blast of spring threatens ‘catastrophic’ premature end to season

Australia’s snow season has begun to melt away early as unseasonable warmth cuts snowfalls to almost half the average for this time of year, experts say.

A global-heating fuelled early blast of spring weather means the season may have peaked early, with snow fields melted by warm temperatures and washed away by showers.

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NSW judge faces ban after scathing report criticises his handling of sexual assault trial

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Report finds that during trial Judge Robert Newlinds repeatedly called crown case ‘hopeless’ and vilified the alleged sexual assault victim

A judge could be pulled from hearing criminal cases after a watchdog found he abused his power when criticising New South Wales’s top prosecutor and vilifying a sexual assault complainant.

A report found that district court Judge Robert Newlinds publicly criticised the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in his judgment on a sexual assault case in 2023, suggesting the trial had been run in a way unfair to the accused.

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Australia news live: winter heat record set in South Australia; NZ suspends import of all Australian tomatoes

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South Australia has notched up its hottest winter day on record. Follow the day’s news live

David Anderson says it was ‘the right time for me’ to resign from ABC

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, is speaking with ABC RN after yesterday’s announcement of his resignation.

And I think the right time for the ABC. It is something I had thought about now for months, and went away on leave, spoke to [ABC chair] Kim [Williams] a lot. Kim tried to get me to change my mind. [I] came back from leave with it, certain in my mind that I was making the right decision.

We’ve got a long lead time for the board to find a new managing director, and I’ve been asked to and I agreed to stay on until that person starts, which could very well be April next year.

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Melbourne’s e-scooter wars escalate as neighbouring councils unite in support after city centre ban

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Merri-Bek, Darebin and Moonee Valley mayors back e-scooter hire schemes after Melbourne city council ejects the vehicles from the CBD

Victoria’s e-scooters wars have ramped up, with mayors in Melbourne’s north uniting to back e-scooter hire schemes after the mayor banned them from operating in the inner city.

The mayor, Nicholas Reece, succeeded in banning the rentals in the city council area, arguing the e-scooters presented an unacceptable safety risk and that Melbourne’s city needed a reset.

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NSW hit by magnitude 4.8 earthquake felt as far south as Canberra

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More than 2,000 people reported feeling the quake, which struck 120km northwest of Newcastle, causing windows to blow in and a chimney to topple

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has hit New South Wales, causing windows to smash and a chimney to fall over.

The quake – revised down from a magnitude 5 – hit Denman, 120km northwest of Newcastle in the upper Hunter region. It struck at 12.02pm on Friday, with a depth of 10km, and is the largest to hit the area in 20 years.

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