Category Archives: Australia news

Triple J Hottest 100: Flume tops Australia’s biggest music poll with Say Nothing

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UK act Eliza Rose places No 2 in the countdown, with Spacey Jane landing at No 3, No 5 and No 6

Flume has taken the top spot in Triple J’s Hottest 100 – Australia’s largest music poll – with his track Say Nothing, a collaboration with the Sydney artist Maya Cumming.

The Sydney-bred music producer, aka Harley Streten, previously topped the countdown in 2016 with his hit Never Be Like You. In 2020, he got to No 3 with Toro y Moi collaboration The Difference, and No 2 with Rushing Back in 2019. Say Nothing was one of three tracks from Streten to feature in the countdown, which was broadcast on Triple J on Saturday.

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Missing radioactive capsule: WA officials admit it was weeks before anyone realised it was lost

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Fire and Emergency Services official says capsule left Rio Tinto mine site on 10 January but was not found missing for 15 days

Western Australian authorities are scrambling to find a missing radioactive capsule that is a fraction of the size of a 10c coin, conceding it was not found missing until more than two weeks after it left a Rio Tinto mine site.

The 8mm by 6mm capsule is a 19-becquerel caesium 137 ceramic source, commonly used in radiation gauges, and was supposed to be contained in a secure device which had been “damaged” on a truck which travelled from the mine site north of Newman in the Pilbara to a depot in Perth.

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Authorities use GPS data to try to find missing device – as it happened

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Perrottet promises easier access to housing for domestic violence victims

NSW domestic violence victims will have easier access to housing through concessions on stamp duty and rental bond loans if the Perrottet government is re-elected, AAP reports.

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Inflation-driven higher education debt increases to hit millions of Australians

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Even under the most conservative scenario, modelling suggests average Help debt will increase by at least $1700 when indexed on 1 June

Millions of Australians with Higher Education Loan Program (Help) loans could face thousands of dollars in extra debt this year as soaring inflation hits the education sector.

Independent modelling provided to Guardian Australia suggests Australians with an average Help debt of $24,770.75 will face an increase of at least $1,700 when it is next indexed on 1 June, assuming, as is likely, that living costs remain high.

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Social platforms set advertising rules on Indigenous voice for Australia’s first referendum in digital age

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Warren Mundine, a leading critic of voice to parliament, is concerned advertising from main referendum campaigns may be removed by platforms

Major online platforms are setting their transparency and misinformation rules for Australia’s first referendum in the digital age, as Warren Mundine, a prominent member of the no campaign, calls for advertising about the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum to run unrestricted.

Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat will require all paid ads for the voice referendum to carry authorisation messages like those at elections, and will fact-check ads and remove those rated as false.

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Australian residents stuck overseas during Covid denied citizenship by government

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Tribunal ruling says there is ‘no leeway’ for woman who was in Saudi Arabia visiting her son when borders shut

The government is denying Australian citizenship to some residents who were trapped overseas by Covid travel restrictions through no fault of their own, an approach criticised as “harsh”.

The administrative appeals tribunal recently ruled on an appeal by Farida Natalwala, an Indian citizen who has lived in Australia for roughly a decade.

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Jim Chalmers says May budget to have ‘much bigger focus’ on tackling entrenched disadvantage

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Exclusive: Treasurer says ‘best way to shift the needle’ is to ‘find out where those challenges are most acute’, and ‘this is something I care deeply about’

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed he will use the May budget to spearhead “a much bigger focus” on entrenched disadvantage in Australia’s most vulnerable communities to ensure people have better pathways to economic participation.

Chalmers told Guardian Australia’s politics podcast he was working with the social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, on a new package that would “identify some of the most vulnerable communities in our country, work out how to empower local leaders and pool our resources and make a meaningful difference to some on the entrenched disadvantage that’s in our country”.

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‘Holding cell’: Melbourne family with disabled son stuck in ‘transitional’ housing for a decade

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Rosalie Dow asked department for modifications to home but was told the policy was to transfer dwellings – which is yet to occur

When Rosalie Dow moved into transitional housing in Melbourne with her two young children in 2013, she thought it would only be for a few months.

Dow’s son, Mayer, was two, and showing signs of what would soon be diagnosed as Coffin-Lowry syndrome, a rare and often debilitating genetic condition with complications including intellectual disability, seizures, hearing impairment, sensory and behavioural issues, and an inability to walk.

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Missing radioactive capsule sparks urgent health alert in Western Australia

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Hazardous material experts searching for 8mm by 6mm capsule believed to have fallen from truck as it was travelling from Pilbara to Perth

A tiny radioactive capsule with the potential to cause skin burns has gone missing as it was transported from a mine in Western Australia.

Hazardous material experts are searching for the 8mm by 6mm capsule, which is believed to have fallen from a truck as it was travelling the 1,400km between a mine site north of Newman in the Pilbara and a depot in Perth.

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Linda Reynolds sends formal defamation complaint to Brittany Higgins’s partner David Sharaz

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Lawyers for the Liberal senator threaten to take case to WA supreme court as they pursue an apology and damages over tweets

The Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has sent a formal defamation complaint to David Sharaz, the partner of former government staffer Brittany Higgins, over tweets her lawyers claim caused damage that “cannot be underestimated”.

Lawyers for the Reynolds have threatened to take the case to Western Australia’s supreme court as they pursue an apology and damages from the journalist, claiming he made “inaccurate and professionally damaging” criticisms of her online.

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Linda Reynolds sends formal defamation complaint to Brittany Higgins’s partner – as it happened

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Ukrainian loss would embolden leaders in Pacific region, ambassador says

The ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, stresses that the reason Australia’s assistance needs to continue is because it’s in Australia’s interests to support the Ukraine:

The reason why we need to keep up and step up that assistance because this war in Ukraine is disrupting everything. It’s really undermined security, regionally, globally.

It’s having a major impact on your partners here in the region. Look at Indonesia. I mean, they are really suffering from the lack of food that can get on their market. They have 275 million people to feed and they really rely on grain from Ukraine, which now they have a hard time getting hold of as the prices have surged. We’ve seen the impact on the energy markets on the volatility of the commodity markets.

What’s important is that Australia continues to support Ukraine. We are truly thankful for what Australia has done so far, especially the last package which was announced in October where another 30 Bushmasters were allocated and the troops which are now in Britain have already been able to train Ukrainian soldiers. It’s really a big help.

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US activist investor who accused Adani of ‘biggest con in corporate history’ dares Indian group to sue

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Hindenburg Research accusations denied by Adani as ‘baseless’ while activist investor claims legal action will reveal accounting fraud

The US investor targeting Indian conglomerate Adani Group over what it claims is the “biggest con in corporate history” has dared the company to sue, given it would open the coal producer to further scrutiny.

Hindenburg Research’s report has already wiped billions of dollars of value from the sprawling empire of Gautam Adani, the world’s third richest man, and drawn in the contentious Carmichael coal and rail project in Queensland.

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NSW plan to offer emissions offsets with car registration sends wrong message, critics say

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Government told to focus on boosting uptake of electric vehicles, public transport, cycling and walking rather than offset ‘gimmick’

Drivers in New South Wales will be offered the chance to buy carbon offsets when they renew their car registration in a step critics have described as a “gimmick” that could undermine efforts to cut transport emissions.

The NSW treasurer and energy minister, Matt Kean, announced the scheme on Friday saying it would give people “looking for practical ways to take action on climate change” more ways to cut their emissions.

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Food, feed and fuel: global seaweed industry could reduce land needed for farming by 110m hectares, study finds

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Scientists identify parts of ocean suitable for seaweed cultivation and suggest it could constitute 10% of human diet to reduce impact of agriculture

An area of ocean almost the size of Australia could support commercial seaweed farming around the world, providing food for humans, feed supplements for cattle, and alternative fuels, according to new research.

Seaweed farming is a nascent industry globally but the research says if it could grow to constitute 10% of human diets by 2050 it could reduce the amount of land needed for food by 110m hectares (272m acres) – an area twice the size of France.

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Labor flags law reforms to stop cases involving national security being cloaked in secrecy

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Bernard Collaery welcomes proposed changes as attorney general recognises importance of open justice and public interest

The federal government has flagged amendments to national security laws to ensure that the near total secrecy that hid the prosecution and imprisonment of a former Australian intelligence officer cannot happen again.

The former government faced persistent criticism of its use of the National Security Information (NSI) Act to enforce extreme secrecy in cases of clear public interest, including the prosecutions of Bernard Collaery, Witness K and the former military lawyer David McBride.

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Lidia Thorpe joined anti-voice Coalition senators to push for inquiry into Indigenous bodies

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Exclusive: the Greens senator blames an ‘administrative error’ for the move in November before being forced to withdraw by Adam Bandt

The Greens senator Lidia Thorpe put her name to the establishment of an inquiry into Indigenous bodies pushed by some of the Coalition’s most strident opponents of the voice, before being forced to withdraw by the Greens leader, Adam Bandt.

Thorpe has blamed an “administrative error” for the move in November, when she briefly teamed up with the Nationals’ Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Liberal James McGrath, among others, to ask the Senate for a year-long inquiry, which would run throughout the voice referendum debate.

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Boy struck by lightning at beach near Wollongong

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Paramedics administered CPR to 10-year-old, as Bureau of Meteorology issues severe thunderstorm warning for eastern NSW

A 10-year-old boy was struck by lightning at a beach near Wollongong on Thursday.

New South Wales Ambulance said the accident happened at Barrack Point near Wollongong after a storm cell hit the area on Thursday evening.

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Adani’s Queensland coalmine cited in US investor’s claims of ‘biggest con in corporate history’

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Scathing allegations, which company rejects as ‘baseless’, will hamper access to Wall Street but surging coal price will ease burden, experts say

The ability of Adani Group to raise money will be curbed after scathing allegations in a report by an activist US short-seller, although surging coal prices that underpin the Indian conglomerate’s contentious Queensland operations will help alleviate some pressure, analysts say.

Adani, which operates the Carmichael coal and rail project via its rebranded subsidiary Bravus, is the target of US investment firm Hindenburg Research, which alleges the company has engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme”.

A private company called Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings with ties to Adani paid A$147m for unspecified “work in progress” assets from the Australian operations, without a detailed description.

The same private company paid A$155m for the right to use the rail facilities at the Queensland operation.

The private Carmichael company also received A$100m from an Adani subsidiary to pay off debt.

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‘Nothing to celebrate’: Invasion Day rallies draw thousands but participants divided on voice

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Attendees at the Sydney rally say the strong opposition to the voice to parliament by organisers was shaping how they will vote

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Thousands of people attended Invasion Day rallies across Australia on Thursday, where First Nations speakers called for action on deaths in custody, and end to the removal of Aboriginal children and – in many locations – made a case against an Indigenous voice to parliament being enacted before a treaty.

The referendum on a constitutionally enshrined First Nations advisory body, as first proposed in the Uluru statement from the heart, is due to be held later this year and was a prominent topic at Thursday’s events, which are held each year to mourn and protest Indigenous dispossession on what is officially Australia’s national day.

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Thousands attend Invasion Day rallies on Australia’s national holiday as colonisation debate rages

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With Australia increasingly uneasy about celebrating its national day, recognition of Indigenous people in the constitution has become a new flashpoint

Tens of thousands of people have marked Australia’s national day by attending protest rallies in cities across the nation, amid a rising political and social reckoning with the country’s colonial history.

Australia Day – 26 January – commemorates the landing of the British first fleet of convicts at Sydney Cove in 1788, the beginning of the settlement that entrenched European colonisation of the Australian continent.

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