Category Archives: Australia news

NSW stamp duty refunds expected to attract 2,500 applications as land tax scheme launches

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Coalition’s program allowing choice of annual tax over stamp duty could exceed projection of 6,000 applicants

About 2,500 people are expected to retrospectively apply for refunds to stamp duty paid on new homes bought since the middle of November when the New South Wales government’s land tax scheme officially begins.

New estimates from Revenue NSW suggest almost half of the 6,000 new owners who were expected to apply to have their stamp duty payments waived in favour of a land tax in the scheme’s first year will come within days of its introduction on Monday.

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Federal Labor boasts about jobs growth while 90% of Australian bosses expect staffing shortages

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Expansion in first six months of Albanese government beats record of Kevin Rudd and Bob Hawke administrations

Federal Labor has boasted it has overseen the best jobs growth of any new government in 50 years but chief executives are fearful of finding workers in 2023.

The two sides of the jobs boom in Australia are demonstrated by an analysis released by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and a survey commissioned by the Australian Industry Group which found 90% of CEOs expected staffing shortages this year.

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Painful and invasive racing greyhound breeding technique should be banned, vets say

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‘Horrific’ technique which involves removing the uterus is unnecessary and outdated, animal welfare activists say

Vets want an invasive and painful greyhound breeding technique, which involves removing the uterus, banned across Australia.

About 80% of racing greyhounds in NSW are bred using surgical artificial insemination. The Australian Veterinary Association has released a new policy declaring SAI “must not be performed in dogs”.

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‘I don’t want this to end’: runner hits Melbourne after covering length of Australia in 150 consecutive marathons

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Erchana Murray-Bartlett reaches end of epic journey from ‘tip to toe’ of Australia – smashing women’s record for consecutive daily marathons

Months after starting out from the tip of Cape York, Erchana Murray-Bartlett is set to complete her 150th consecutive daily marathon in Melbourne on Monday, finishing a record-breaking journey through Australia’s eastern states.

Murray-Bartlett set out in August to run more than 6,200km, raising money for the Wilderness Society and awareness of Australia’s extinction crisis – just days before Ned Brockmann began his 4,000km run from the west to east coast.

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Australia news live updates: storm damage in regional Victoria; unemployment likely to have stayed below 4% at end of 2022

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Thursday’s December labour force report will follow several months of ultra-low unemployment rates. Follow the day’s news live

New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has announced he will hold another press conference.

This time with the parliamentary secretary for the Central Coast and member for Terrigal Adam Crouch to make a health an infrastructure announcement at 11.30am.

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Body of US bushwalker, 78, found in NSW national park

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Woman went missing on Friday night and extensive ground, sea and air search located her body on Saturday near Pearl beach on Central Coast

A body found in bushland on the New South Wales Central Coast is believed to be a missing 78-year-old American tourist.

Police were initially notified on Friday night that the woman had gone missing while bushwalking. They were told she was in bushland near Middle Head between Pearl and Patonga beaches.

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‘Blak Greens’ say they won’t support Indigenous voice without treaty negotiations

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Greens take lead from First Nations advisory group, saying they need progress on truth, treaty and voice before they’ll support the referendum

The Greens’ First Nations advisory group has laid out its conditions for supporting the voice to parliament, saying it must be subject to treaty negotiations with the government.

Pending further negotiations with the government, the Greens are holding out on explicitly supporting the looming referendum, wanting further progress on all three elements outlined in the Uluru statement from the heart: truth, treaty and voice.

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Victorian mayor calls on councils to follow lead after banning gambling ads at local sports games

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Tina Samardzija faces opposition from clubs and gaming venues but says children should not be ‘exposed to a message that gambling is normal’

A local mayor in Victoria has encouraged councils across Australia to follow her lead and ban all gambling advertisements at local sport matches rather than waiting for state or federal action.

The City of Monash’s anti-gambling policy, believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, is facing coordinated opposition from local sports clubs that warn they could be forced to close, and from gaming venues that feel unfairly targeted.

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Household solar boom back on track after severe weather and supply disruptions lead to 14% drop in capacity

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December 2022 was third-busiest month on record for solar panel installation partly driven by spiking electricity prices

When record rainfall caused flooding in south-east Queensland last February, Steve McLean’s solar installers were kept off roofs, blowing a $60,000 hole in his firm’s budget and setting back what might have been another record year for his business.

“If we didn’t do a system for five weeks, you can imagine that no one else did … We got absolutely smashed in February and March,” McLean, the owner of Gold Coast Solar Systems, said. “If you take that number out of the marketplace, well, that was disastrous.”

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Church v state: Daniel Andrews’ candid comments after George Pell’s death reflect a long-held stance

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Victorian MPs are adamant the premier’s views are based on principle, not political instincts

Responding to the death of George Pell – a staunch conservative found guilty and then acquitted of child sexual abuse – is inevitably a political minefield. But Daniel Andrews and the Victorian government chose to go where others didn’t.

Mere minutes after the Vatican confirmed the cardinal’s death at the age of 81, the government minister Steve Dimopoulos acknowledged the news could be triggering for survivors of child sexual abuse.

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Firefighters battle blaze in Adelaide Hills as residents of Montacute advised to take shelter

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Bushfire downgraded to ‘watch and act’ on Saturday afternoon as nine firebombers and spotter aircraft tried to contain the spread

Firefighters were battling a blaze in steep terrain in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia on Saturday that threatened the small town of Montacute.

About 59 firetrucks were on the ground by Saturday afternoon, with six firebombers and other spotter aircraft trying to control the fire.

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Bushfire in Adelaide Hills; PM says ‘we’ve got the balance right’ on climate policy changes – as it happened

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Firefighters prepared for a long night battling an out-of-control blaze near Montacute in the Adelaide Hills. This blog is now closed

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has responded to the admission of the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, that he wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party.

At a press conference just finished in Townsville, Albanese said had been in PNG but had seen the statements from the NSW premier.

I have observed his statements. That’s a matter for him, and then for others who’ll make judgments based upon the premier’s explanation.

These banknotes were sent to our Majura Forensic Facility to undergo specialist fingerprint development in a purpose built machine.

This is an extremely powerful and sensitive process where precious metals such as gold can actually enhance the fingerprints of individuals that have touched the exhibits, such as banknotes.

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George Pell lying in state in Vatican’s St Stephen of the Abyssinians church

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Around 20 people were seen kneeling in prayer in the church – typically used for baptisms and weddings – prior to funeral for Australia’s most senior Catholic

George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, is lying in state in a closed dark brown wooden coffin behind the walls of the Vatican as preparations continue for his funeral, which will be blessed by Pope Francis.

Pell, who was the subject of damning findings by Australia’s child abuse royal commission, is in a coffin on the floor of the small church of St Stephen of the Abyssinians, inside the Vatican walls.

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Knives out: a raucous party, a Nazi uniform and a Liberal Party mystery

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While questions remain after Dominic Perrottet’s Nazi uniform admission, the internal anger at the premier is real and multifaceted

It’s the biggest mystery in New South Wales politics: who was behind the rumours of a damaging photograph of Dominic Perrottet that began circulating in the weeks before he revealed that he wore a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party?

When it comes to uncovering the culprit, one Liberal party source said: “It’s a bit like that movie Knives Out – there are about 20 people who it could’ve been and they all had a motive.”

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In Australia’s severe rental crisis, asylum seekers are increasingly desperate for a place to live

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Each week about 150 people are coming to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in housing distress, but only 40 can be accommodated

Asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly at risk of homelessness as the rental crisis continues to bite, with more than 70% of people who turn up to a leading asylum seeker support charity in housing distress unable to be placed in accommodation.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has shifted resources since the pandemic to provide emergency accommodation for asylum seekers who are sleeping rough or at immediate risk of homelessness.

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Queensland urged to end its ‘failing’ shark nets and drum lines program

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Scientists call on government to replace lethal control measures amid criticism of its use of federal money at the Great Barrier Reef

Scientists are urging the Queensland government to remove shark nets and traditional drum lines from coastlines, saying “ineffective” lethal methods are inhumane, amid criticism of the state’s use of federal money for measures at the Great Barrier Reef.

Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist at Humane Society International, said Queensland’s lethal shark control program is “failing” on both environmental and public safety fronts and should be “discontinued”.

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‘Utterly disgraceful’: new federal court rules limiting access to documents criticised by media union

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While the court says rules are designed to protect respondents from early reporting of allegations, MEAA president says decision ‘goes against the concept of open court’

New federal court rules barring media from accessing documents until the first directions hearing have been labelled “utterly disgraceful” and a breach of the concept of “open” justice.

Enacted in mid-December by federal court judges without consulting the media and published on the gazette Thursday, the rules appear designed to protect respondents against reporting of allegations at the earliest stages of a case.

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Banksia Hill: autistic teenage girl ‘treated like a dog’ at detention centre, class action alleges

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Girl, first detained at 13, suffered ‘extremely traumatic’ restraining with handcuffs, leg shackles and spit hoods, court document claims

An autistic teenage girl detained at Banksia Hill Detention Centre was forced to use underwear stained with menstrual blood and sleep on a mattress covered with “excrement and saliva”, according to a legal document filed in support of a class action against the West Australian government.

The affidavit by lawyer Stewart Levitt alleges the girl was fed meals through a grille and was forced to “earn” her bedding. She felt like she was being “treated like a dog” and responded by sleeping on the concrete floor of her cell and pretending she was a dog, the document states.

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Doctor temporarily banned over thousands of potentially ‘incomplete’ colonoscopies in Albury-Wodonga

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Almost 2,000 patients of surgeon told by health authorities they may need to have procedures repeated to ensure they do not have cancer after an investigation by regulators

A surgeon who performed hundreds of potentially “incomplete” colonoscopies in the Albury-Wodonga region has been temporarily banned from practising medicine.

Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt will remain registered as a GP and specialist surgeon in Australia, but cannot perform any medical procedures or treat patients according to conditions imposed on Friday.

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Australia on track for 2023 migration boom as arrivals dwarf Treasury forecasts, ex-official says

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Former immigration department deputy believes government has ‘significantly underestimated’ net migration

Australia is on track for net migration of more than 300,000 people this year, more than 25% higher than Treasury forecasts, due to a surge in arrivals, according to a former top immigration official.

Abul Rizvi, the former deputy secretary of the immigration department, said that Treasury forecasts of a 235,000-person annual boost to population from migration – the long term pre-pandemic average – have “significantly underestimated” net figures.

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