Category Archives: Australia news

GPs ask for all contraceptives to be subsidised and end to abortion ‘postcode lottery’

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Exclusive: ‘We need to do more to improve access to and affordability of the full range of contraceptive options,’ Senate inquiry told

All contraceptives should be government subsidised, Medicare rebates for IUD insertion should be increased and larger quantities of contraception pills should be dispensed at once to make abortion and contraception more accessible, the peak body for general practitioners says.

In its submission to the Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said there were significant barriers to reproductive care, particularly in rural and remote communities.

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‘Dangerous and deluded’: advocates and MPs criticise sporting codes for pushback on gambling reform

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Leading campaigner Tim Costello ‘laughed out loud in disbelief’ at peak body claim existing restrictions ‘had the balance right’

Gambling reform advocates and those harmed by online betting say it is “dangerous and deluded” for Australia’s biggest sporting codes to oppose greater regulation.

Support for tougher restrictions is growing, with Allegra Spender, a federal independent MP, the latest politician to voice concerns about young people being exposed to gambling via advertising.

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More Australian teenagers are sexually active and for one-third it’s unwanted

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Exclusive: National survey of young people also finds fewer than half used a condom during their latest sexual experience

More young Australians are sexually active than in previous years and, while many of them report positive experiences, a national survey of high school students found condom use is falling and there are still high rates of unwanted sex.

The seventh federally funded national survey of Australian secondary students and sexual health on Thursday published findings of its survey of 6,841 students from years 9 to 12 in government, Catholic and independent schools throughout 2021.

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High court may hear ‘bizarre’ immigration case involving Alex Hawke, a former marine and a steering wheel photo

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Exclusive: Albanese government flags it will seek leave to appeal in high court

A “bizarre” immigration case that featured a photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel could be on its way to the high court.

The photograph contributed to a finding that the then immigration minister, Alex Hawke, rushed a visa cancellation decision.

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Australian gun databases plagued by inconsistencies, Hoddle Street massacre detective says

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Graham Kent, who investigated the 1987 shooting, says national register stalled because of ‘competitions between jurisdictions’

A former police officer who investigated Melbourne’s Hoddle Street massacre has joined the push for a genuine national firearms register amid concerns about an existing database that experts says is hindered by inconsistencies between jurisdictions.

The deadly shooting of two young police officers and a neighbour on a remote Queensland property last week has sparked renewed calls for an overhaul of Australia’s firearms databases and the creation of a centralised register.

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Wong says ‘the ice thaws, but slowly’ ahead of talks – as it happened

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Long delays on M7 at Prestons in Sydney

Traffic is banked up on the M7 in Sydney. Chanel 7 is reporting that a truck crash has caused the long delays.

They’re sharing their emotions and their grief because they believe this should never have happened.

It’s really important for us to have that public support. It inspires us to continue to do our job.

They’ve also lost two colleagues … so they are hurting incredibly.

A lot of work to be done to assist them as we move into the future because the pain will never go away.

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Kevin Rudd will be ‘well received in Washington’ as Australia’s ambassador to the US, experts say

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Former PM praised as ‘the best China analyst by far’ by leading US national security council figure

Experts have predicted Kevin Rudd will be “well received by Washington and highly active in policy circles” as Australia’s ambassador to the US, though the nomination has triggered criticism from some Coalition MPs.

Andrew Wallace, a Liberal party MP said the appointment could go down in history as “a foreign policy disaster for Australia with its most important ally” if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, as Rudd called him “the most destructive president in history”.

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Independent inquiry to be held into handling of Brittany Higgins’ allegations against Bruce Lehrmann

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ACT chief minister and attorney general have announced inquiry following claims police pressured director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC not to pursue the Lehrmann case

The ACT government has launched an inquiry into the case of Bruce Lehrmann after explosive allegations the police “aligned” with the defence in his trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins.

The Australian Capital Territory chief minister, Andrew Barr, and the attorney general, Shane Rattenbury, announced the probe on Wednesday, three weeks after prosecutors said they would not pursue a retrial as it would pose an “unacceptable risk” to Higgins’ health.

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Ancient Aboriginal rock art destroyed by vandals in ‘tragic loss’ at sacred SA site

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Archeologist says artwork was ‘unique in Australia’, calling for better protection at Koonalda Cave

Vandals have destroyed a 30,000-year-old artwork at a sacred cave in South Australia, as experts decried the “massive, tragic loss” and expressed frustration at the lack of protection at the site.

The vandals entered Koonalda Cave at Nullarbor Plain and scrawled graffiti across the heritage-listed site, writing “don’t look now, but this is a death cave”.

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Labor candidate calls for minister’s sacking during NSW inquiry into council’s actions

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Canterbury Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour tells committee he’s had a ‘target on my back’ since the pandemic

A New South Wales Labor candidate has accused a parliamentary committee of wasting taxpayers’ money by investigating him for impropriety and called for a government minister to be sacked.

The Canterbury Bankstown mayor, Khal Asfour, has been called as a witness by the upper house committee, which is looking into allegations of impropriety at Canterbury Bankstown council.

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Brian Houston believes he did the ‘right thing’ not going to police after father admitted molesting boy

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Hillsong founder maintains it was victim’s explicit wish for incident not to be made public or for there to be an investigation, court hears

The Hillsong founder, Brian Houston, believes he did the “right thing” not going to police after his father told him he had molested an underage boy three decades earlier.

Houston maintains it was the victim’s explicit wish not for the incident to be made public or for there to be an investigation by authorities.

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Graham Arnold likely to sign new Socceroos deal after ‘best coach’ rating at 2022 World Cup

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Arnold to meet Football Australia chiefs in early January as L’Equipe puts him in top spot following last-16 achievement

Graham Arnold will sit down with Football Australia chiefs in early January to thrash out a new deal that is expected to see him remain in charge of the Socceroos, with the coach’s bargaining power having received a fillip after he was named the best coach of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Highly regarded sports newspaper L’Equipe put the out-of-contract Australian in top spot on its rankings, above the likes of Lionel Scaloni of Argentina and France’s Didier Deschamps.

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New Zealanders’ path to Australian permanent residency eased by ditching income and health checks

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Move expected to help clear backlog of about 11,500 applications and could ease process for up to 300,000 Kiwis

The Australian government has lowered the bar for New Zealanders who have applied for permanent residency.

Under changes announced by the home affairs department, New Zealanders who applied on or before 10 December for a subclass 189 visa will no longer face hurdles related to income, period of residence and health conditions.

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Football Australia issues lifetime bans to Melbourne Victory fans after pitch invasion

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Two Melbourne Victory fans involved in the AAMI Park pitch invasion that resulted in Melbourne City goalkeeper Thomas Glover being injured have received life bans from Football Australia.

Saturday night’s violence forced the abandonment of the A-League Men derby.

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New Victorian Liberal MP tells Labor to ‘get out of churches’ and rails against ‘failed socialist experiment’

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Fellow Liberal new arrival Evan Mulholland calls for prison sentences to be scrapped for some drug offences

New Victorian Liberal MP Renee Heath has railed against the Labor government, claiming it needed to “get out of classrooms, get out of churches”, while her party colleague Evan Mulholland has used his first speech in parliament to call for the scrapping of prison sentences for some drug offences.

The pair were among the first newly elected MPs to address parliament for the first time on Tuesday evening, following the November election that delivered the Andrews government a fourth term.

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Non-essential activity on Murray River banned in South Australia with flood waters to peak at Christmas

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The Riverland faces its worst flooding in half a century as communities await the slow-moving disaster

A total ban on non-essential activity on the Murray River in South Australia has been put in place, as the Riverland faces its worst flooding in half a century.

Flood water from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria has been flowing down to the state for weeks, merging into the Murray River, with the peak predicted to hit at Christmas.

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Labor to allow 19,000 refugees to stay permanently in Australia from early 2023

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Decision grants people on temporary protection visas rights to social security and reunion with family members

The Albanese government will, in early 2023, allow 19,000 refugees to stay permanently in Australia, granting them rights to social security and reunion with family members.

The decision affects people who hold temporary protection visas (TPVs) and safe haven enterprise visas (SHEVs) who arrived to Australia by boat before 2014, having since spent at least a decade in limbo.

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‘Starting to warm up’: Chinese state media welcomes Wong visit after Coalition’s ‘stupid’ policies

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Foreign minister says in Beijing she will press for detained Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun ‘to be reunited with their families’

Chinese state media is urging Australia to resist being “swayed by Washington” and to “show verbal goodwill and substantial actions” on the eve of Penny Wong’s visit to Beijing.

Two state media outlets published editorials that may give an indication of the Chinese government’s wishes for the next steps in what the Australian government calls a “stabilisation” of the relationship.

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Greens push for federal ‘right to protest’ law after NSW jailing of Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco

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Senator David Shoebridge hopes to ‘rebalance the scales of justice’ after states crack down on activists

A series of harsh state-based laws cracking down on climate activists could be overridden by a federal “right to protest” bill being pushed by the Greens.

After the jailing of climate activist Deanna “Violet” Coco in New South Wales this month, the party says the commonwealth has the power to overturn the series of state laws passed in recent years that experts say curtailed the right to protest in Australia.

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Union fury over Labor decision to split aged care pay rises – as it happened

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Crossbench say Australia needs to ‘get cracking’ on Cop15 commitments

More reactions are coming in after the close of the biodiversity Cop15 – which leading scientists have called “vastly more important” than the Cop27 climate meeting, because it decides the “fate of the living world”.

We need to get cracking on implementation to deliver on commitments.

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