Queensland human rights commissioner says police must watch for vigilante activity

Police have repeatedly warned against vigilantism but there are growing concerns that recent heightened debate might increase risk

The Queensland human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, says police must closely monitor vigilante activity, amid concern about the role of anti-crime Facebook groups where residents have threatened children or called for violent responses to youth crime.

Debate about youth crime in Queensland last week prompted the state government to override its Human Rights Act to introduce new laws, which will result in children being charged with criminal offences for breaching bail conditions. Experts say there is no evidence to support such a move.

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Veterans paying for service-related healthcare as Australian GPs stop accepting rebate

Lack of timely and affordable medical care is exacerbating chronic health issues and causing mental distress among veterans, advocate says

Veterans are being left to pay for their own healthcare for service-related injuries and conditions as some GP clinics are no longer accepting the veteran white card.

The clinics argue the rebates are not high enough to cover the cost of services, but not getting timely and affordable medical care is exacerbating the chronic health issues of veterans and is causing mental distress, according to one advocate.

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Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636

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Chris Bowen urges Greens to back emissions bill but again rules out ban on new fossil fuel projects

Greens leader says party has already made significant compromises on the safeguard mechanism

Australia’s climate minister, Chris Bowen, has again challenged the Greens to support the government’s reforms to the safeguard mechanism, but flat-out rejected the party’s calls to ban new coal and gas, saying fossil fuels would continue providing one-fifth of Australia’s energy beyond 2030.

However, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, claims the party has already made major compromises by offering to pass Labor’s plan through the Senate, saying the party’s request for no new coal and gas was reasonable if the government wanted to address climate change concerns. It potentially sets up more protracted negotiations or Senate gridlock when parliament returns in March.

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Thousands pay tribute to Olivia Newton-John at Australian memorial service

Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Sir Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey sent video condolences, which were played to the crowd in Melbourne

A host of international stars and dignitaries paid tribute to the late Australian star Olivia Newton-John in at a state memorial service in Melbourne on Sunday.

Thousands gathered at Hamer Hall and video tributes came from Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey.

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Fans and stars farewell Olivia Newton-John – as it happened

Actor and ‘cultural icon’ honoured in state memorial service at Hamer Hall. This blog is now closed

Independent MP Zali Steggall suggests Labor’s take on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is “greenwashing,” following the appearance of Chris Bowen, minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction, on ABC Insiders this morning.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended potential alterations to tax breaks on multimillion-dollar superannuation balances on Sky News this morning.

The fundamentals won’t change. The tax concessionality will still be there, but we do need to consider whether we can afford the degree of tax concessionality for people who’ve got very big balances.

I’m not interested in a war of words with John Howard. John Howard is someone who I respect and he deserves better than to be wheeled out to prop up Angus Taylor’s dodgy arguments or to shore up Peter Dutton’s failing leadership.

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Australian professor and two local researchers held hostage in Papua New Guinea released

Foreign minister Penny Wong says all hostages, including a New Zealand-born Australian academic, have been freed

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has said all hostages taken by a Papua New Guinean criminal gang have been released, including an Australian academic, and will be reunited with their families.

“Thank you to PNG’s Government for its leadership in securing a safe & peaceful resolution,” Wong tweeted on Sunday afternoon.

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Treasurer asks Australians ‘whether we can afford’ tax breaks on biggest superannuation balances

Jim Chalmers defends potential change to super rules for balances over $3m as Coalition vows to oppose it

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has defended potential superannuation changes, asking Australians to consider “whether we can afford” to keep giving large tax concessions to the small number of wealthy people with multimillion dollar balances.

While insisting the Albanese government had made no firm decisions yet, Chalmers claimed it was “not especially controversial” to re-evaluate how tax concessions flowed to people with the highest super balances.

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NSW police says Lidia Thorpe will not be charged for blocking its Mardi Gras float

Social media video shows senator laying in front of police float, temporarily blocking Oxford Street parade

New South Wales police has confirmed it will not charge Senator Lidia Thorpe for temporarily blocking the Sydney Mardi Gras parade on Saturday night.

Thorpe lay down in front of the NSW police float on Oxford Street, momentarily stopping the parade, to boos from the crowd.

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NSW Labor promises disaster warning systems as Coalition pledges more stamp duty changes

Chris Minns says, if elected, Labor will spend $3.3m upgrading early warning systems for floods and fires

New South Wales Labor has pledged to invest in world-leading natural disaster detection technology if it can win the state election as the government announces a major plan to expand its overhaul of stamp duty.

“Sadly, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe in our state,” the NSW Labor leader, Chris Minns, said on Sunday.

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Gambling help services frustrated their ads are being blocked online but wagering ads given green light

Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation says services barred on Google amid rise in wagering adverts and Sportsbet’s partnership with TikTok

Gambling harm services have expressed frustration about their adverts for rehabilitation being automatically blocked online, amid an increase in wagering advertising and Sportsbet’s partnership with TikTok.

Adverts that mention gambling are sometimes automatically blocked by social media companies or search engines to comply with their own advertising rules or government regulations. This is usually done by a combination of algorithms that block certain words as well as human oversight.

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Australia’s defence force faces once in a generation shake-up – but to what purpose?

Key strategists say military needs to focus on maritime and long-range strike capabilities to defend Australia’s interests across a wider region

As the Australian government considers the biggest defence shake-up in nearly four decades, it faces a blunt warning from a key strategist.

Australia’s security outlook has worsened substantially, warns the former defence official Paul Dibb, who carried out the landmark 1985-86 defence review for the then Hawke government. He believes the structure of the Australian defence force needs a significant overhaul to match the times.

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Anthony Albanese becomes first Australian PM to march in Sydney Mardi Gras

Dressed in open-necked shirt and jeans, premier joins 12,500 paraders on original route of Oxford Street

Amid the rainbow tulle, sequins and sparkles of Sydney’s 45th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade emerged the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in a simple open-necked shirt and jeans.

Albanese is the first sitting prime minister to join the parade, which celebrates and continues to push for equality for the LGBTQIA+ community.

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Ukraine urges Australia to reopen embassy; Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras returns to Oxford Street – as it happened

Sydney Opera House among buildings lit up with Ukraine’s national colours amid vigils to mark year since Russia’s invasion. This blog is now closed

Asked about what the government is doing to make this an inclusive debate, especially for, as Lidia Thorpe mentioned, the progressive no side, Burney says:

The work towards a positive referendum, of course, has been guided by our First Nations working group and engagement group. But I want to reach out across the parliament, which is [why it is] so fabulous to be here with Zoe this morning in Goldstein, to make sure everyone is involved and clear on what we are really talking about.

What we are asking people to do later this year is vote yes or no in a referendum that will create a First Nations or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to the parliament. It will have two jobs. It will make sure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have an involvement in the things that the parliament decides, and it will also recognise the extraordinary history of this country, 65,000 years in our nation’s birth certificate. It is no more complicated than that.

I think by and large it’s a really positive mood, and Linda saw this morning we had 40 or 50 volunteers, people who worked on my campaign and people who really believe in participatory democracy, coming along at 7.30am in the morning to talk to the minister about the voice and the referendum process.

I held an event in the electorate earlier this week, we only gave people a couple of days’ notice and we had 200 people come to hear Marcus Stewart, who is on the referendum working group, talking about the voice as well.

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Troy Johnston death: Indonesian man arrested after Australian Rio Tinto worker dies in Bali bar

Perth man dead after altercation in South Kuta bar

An Indonesian man has been arrested and police say will be charged with murder after the death of an Australian man in a Bali bar.

Local media reported that on Wednesday night Perth man Troy Johnston, 40, was drinking at Uncle Benz cafe in South Kuta.

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Sydney hits peak LGBTQ+ as Mardi Gras parade returns to Oxford Street

Hundreds of thousands of people expected to line the parade’s famous route, which last ran along the street in 2020 due to Covid

The first time Michael Gardiner realised he shouldn’t be ashamed of his sexuality was marching in the Mardi Gras parade in 2004 – he and his then wife dressed in matching fluffy bunny costumes. He had come out as gay just days earlier to his wife, Theresa Leggett.

“I was petrified about what it meant to be gay … It got to a point where I thought it would be better to end my life, but Theresa wasn’t going to have a bar of that,” he says.

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Queensland becomes first Australian state to introduce pill testing in move away from ‘1950s drug policy’

Health minister Yvette D’Ath says state will introduce pill testing at mobile and fixed sites following success of trials in Canberra

Queensland will become the first Australian state to roll out pill-testing sites in an attempt to curb the harmful effects of illicit drugs.

The move will shift the country more in line with global standards on harm minimisation, one advocate says.

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Corruption watchdog warned NSW government of risks around plan to fast-track rezoning of land for housing

Independent Commission Against Corruption warned ‘a favourable rezoning’ of large swathes on Sydney’s fringes could deliver windfall to developers

The New South Wales corruption watchdog advised the state’s department of planning that its decision to fast-track large areas of land for rezoning for new housing carried with it a number of risks, Guardian Australia can reveal.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption warned that “a favourable rezoning” under the plan to rezone large swathes of land on Sydney’s fringes “could deliver a significant windfall to an applicant” and that this could prompt applicants to attempt “various lobbying techniques”, including “direct approaches to the minister”, and “using or cultivating personal contacts” within the department.

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Powerpoint and politics: inside Queensland Labor’s shock decision to lock up children for breaching bail

Government claims a bipartisan approach to respond to community concerns, but experts warn of increased pressure on the buckling youth detention system

At a community crime forum in Toowoomba last week, the Queensland police minister, Mark Ryan, announced the government’s new youth bail plan – an “intensive supervision” program involving police doing home checks and patrols.

It didn’t go down well. Ryan was hounded by attendees and mocked for factual comments that most people on bail do not reoffend.

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‘Snail rail’: ACT chief challenges Albanese government to upgrade Canberra-Sydney train line

Exclusive: High-speed rail advocates support call from Andrew Barr, saying even gradually beginning track duplication could cut travel times in half within a decade

ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, has challenged the federal government to upgrade the snail-like Canberra-Sydney train line, calling for cheaper upgrades as a “no brainer” even if a true high-speed line has to wait.

Noting that the federal government has earmarked the Newcastle-Sydney corridor as the first priority for its new High Speed Rail Authority, Barr even raised the prospect of developing part of a Canberra corridor at the same time.

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Adelaide Writers’ Week withdrawals ‘sad’ and ‘unfortunate’, director Louise Adler says

Adler defends ‘courageous spaces to air opposing views’ as major sponsor and three Ukrainian writers pull out over comments from other invited authors

The Adelaide Writers’ Week director, Louise Adler, has vowed not to be dissuaded from creating space for “courageous” discussions of literature and opposing views, despite high-profile withdrawals and calls for her resignation.

Three Ukrainian writers and a major financial sponsor have withdrawn from next month’s Adelaide festival event in response to social media comments by two writers appearing at the event, Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd.

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