Category Archives: Australia news

Netanyahu says Australian PM Albanese’s record ‘forever tarnished by weakness’ after Australian Jewish group urges calm

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Israeli prime minister ignores pleas to resolve dispute with Australia through ‘diplomacy rather than public posturing’

Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored pleas from Australian Jewish groups to calm his feud with Anthony Albanese, further criticising the prime minister and escalating an ugly spat between the two leaders.

Australia’s peak Jewish group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), on Wednesday labelled Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s attack on Albanese as “inflammatory and provocative”, and a “clumsy intervention” which had affected Australia’s Jewish community.

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Woman assisting police after infant found dead in Perth storm water drain

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Police say woman in her 30s ‘receiving appropriate care and support’ after workers made confronting discovery on Monday

A woman is assisting police after a baby boy was found dead inside a storm water drain.

Two workers carrying out routine maintenance made the confronting discovery in Alexander Heights in Perth’s northern suburbs on Monday afternoon.

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Concern Australian doctor ‘pushed’ out as chair of medical insurer board over social media posts on Gaza war

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Dr Stephen Parnis says public comments based on ‘my views and conscience’ in resignation email that has prompted letter writing campaign in his support

High-profile emergency physician Dr Stephen Parnis has stepped down as chair of the board of a leading medical insurance provider in an apparent response to concerns about statements he has made on social media opposing the war in Gaza.

Parnis, a former vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, announced in an email to members of the Medical Insurance Group of Australia (Miga) last Monday that he was giving up his role as chair of the board.

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Here is what actually needs to be done to address Australia’s childcare abuse crisis – and politicians can’t say they didn’t know

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Review after review has made recommendations to government that have never been implemented. It’s time to take childcare safety out of the too-hard basket and commit to real reform

On Friday, state education ministers will meet Jason Clare to discuss the thorny and critically important issues facing the country’s childcare sector.

There could not be a more significant moment for the conversations that we are having about the safety of the more than 1 million Australian children who attend childcare.

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Australia’s peak Jewish group condemns Netanyahu’s ‘clumsy’ attack on Albanese and calls for end to ‘spat’

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Executive Council of Australian Jewry says Australian and Israeli governments should use ‘diplomacy rather than public posturing’

Australia’s peak Jewish group has lambasted Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Anthony Albanese as “inflammatory and provocative”, adding that the “clumsy intervention” showed a “woeful lack of understanding of social and political conditions in Australia” – notwithstanding what the group describes as “unseemly” conduct from Australia’s leader.

The concerned intervention by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) came as Australia and Israel entered the third day of a diplomatic tit-for-tat prompted by Australia’s visa cancellation of far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman on Monday.

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Josh Willie named new Tasmanian Labor leader after party officially concedes election defeat

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Leadership spill comes day after Dean Winter bid to form government via no-confidence motion in parliament fell flat

Tasmanian Labor has replaced Dean Winter as parliamentary leader, with Josh Willie elected unopposed to serve as the state’s new opposition leader.

The party, which has been in opposition for 11 years, met for more than seven hours on Wednesday before announcing Willie’s appointment.

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Victoria’s urgent childcare review recommendations unveiled: major reforms but no ‘silver bullet’ to stop ‘dangerous individuals’

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Allan government commits to accepting all 22 recommendations, with several also directed at federal government

Major reforms to working with children checks, a new database and regulator, more unannounced visits to childcare centres and an urgent rethink of how the entire early childhood education system is funded have been recommended as part of Victoria’s urgent review into the childcare sector.

The review, written by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and senior bureaucrat Pam White, was released in full by the state government on Wednesday.

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Australian novel attracts controversy over fictionalised depiction of gay codebreaker Alan Turing

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Nick Croydon, the CEO of QBD Books, has faced criticism for his thriller The Turing Protocol

A novel written by a prominent book industry figure in which persecuted gay man Alan Turing has sex with a woman and fathers a child has been criticised online for its portrayal of the codebreaker.

The Turing Protocol was released in July and was written by Nick Croydon, the CEO of QBD Books, the largest Australian-owned bookshop chain, where the book is being heavily promoted.

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Australian Book Week is here – and we’d love to see your children’s costumes

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The annual event, which promotes literacy, is celebrating 80 years as part of Australian school life

Book Week is in full swing, marking it’s 80th year celebrating all things reading and literacy for Australia’s schoolchildren.

The theme for the week, which runs from Saturday 16 to Saturday 23 August, is “Book an Adventure”, encouraging children to explore new worlds through stories.

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Netanyahu lashes out at Albanese as ‘weak politician who betrayed Israel’ as diplomatic row escalates

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Israel’s prime minister accuses Australian leader of ‘abandoning’ Jews as tension escalates over visa cancellation and Palestinian recognition

Benjamin Netanyahu has launched an extraordinary broadside against Anthony Albanese, labelling Australia’s prime minister “weak” in a social media post, hours after local Jewish groups called for calm in diplomatic relations.

“History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” read a post on X from the account of Israel’s prime minister, on Tuesday evening Australian time.

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WA government put ‘very rosy spin’ on report into Woodside emissions at Murujuga, scientist’s private email says

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Report part of a project used in lobbying effort to dismiss UN concerns that industrial emissions were damaging 50,000-year-old ancient rock art

The Western Australia government “put a very rosy spin” on a summary report of a project checking if pollutants from Woodside were damaging 50,000-year-old rock art, according to a private email sent by the lead scientist.

In an email released to the ABC, Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Project lead scientist Prof Ben Mullins, of Curtin University, said the WA government had “insisted” on writing the summary report, despite a contract saying that Curtin should write it.

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NSW daily rainfall could ‘nudge triple figures’ with wet weather forecast to intensify

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Flood concerns along east coast and severe weather warning for west coast amid national cold snap

Daily rainfall in parts of New South Wales could hit triple figures this week, as Australia’s east and west coasts brace for more wet and cold weather.

Several places along the NSW coastline saw rainfall of more than 50mm overnight into Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, which warned that the wet weather would persist and intensify on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Newborn baby found dead in Perth storm water drain placed there in recent days, police say

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WA premier describes ‘horrifying scenario’ after workers found child’s body while cleaning drain on Monday

A newborn baby boy found dead in a suburban storm water drain was placed there in recent days before being discovered, police have said.

The horrifying discovery of the infant’s body was made in Alexander Heights in Perth’s north on Monday afternoon.

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Israel’s foreign minister revokes visas of Australian representatives to Palestinian Authority

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Penny Wong calls decision, which follows Australia’s refusal of a visa for the far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, ‘unjustified’

Israel’s foreign minister has revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority, citing Australia’s “unjustified refusal” to grant visas to Israeli figures and its intention to recognise Palestinian statehood.

In a post to X on Monday night, Gideon Sa’ar said the decision was made following the Albanese government’s cancellation of Simcha Rothman’s visa on Monday ahead of his speaking tour this month.

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Dead infant found in Perth stormwater drain

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Police said multiple resources were deployed to Alexander Heights after they received reports about 1pm

The body of a dead infant has been found in a stormwater drain in Perth, Western Australia police have confirmed.

Police said multiple resources were deployed to the suburb of Alexander Heights after they received reports about 1pm on Monday.

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Far-right Israeli politician barred from Australia ahead of speaking tour

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Simcha Rothman – a supporter of plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza – was scheduled to appear at events in Sydney and Melbourne

A far-right Israeli politician, who has described Palestinian children in Gaza as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank, has been denied entry into Australia ahead of an upcoming “solidarity tour”.

Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.

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Outback Wrangler star asked colleague to take paralysed pilot’s phone from hospital after fatal crash, court told

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Reality TV star Matt Wright has pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice

Reality TV star Matt Wright told an associate to collect the phone of a severely injured pilot following a fatal helicopter crash, a jury has heard.

The Outback Wrangler star has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in the Northern Territory supreme court in Darwin.

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Young Australians may endure worse lives than their parents, ‘worried’ productivity chief warns

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Productivity Commission chair urges ‘growth mindset’ to solve looming problems for future generations ahead of economic summit, while reiterating call to limit AI regulation

Young Australians may endure worse lives than their parents, the nation’s productivity chief has warned.

Danielle Wood, chair of the productivity commission, said young people are facing a future of lower wages, increased costs and the impacts of climate breakdown without major government action to tackle major economic challenges.

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Northern Beaches hospital agrees settlement after claims newborn left with lifelong disabilities

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Exclusive: Child was born via emergency caesarean at 25 weeks after mother says hospital initially failed to diagnose her appendicitis, court documents show

Sydney’s Northern Beaches hospital has settled outside court with a family after claims their baby was born by emergency caesarean at 25 weeks and left with lifelong disabilities.

Court documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal the baby’s mother presented to the hospital’s birthing unit in 2022, complaining of lower abdominal pain on her right side. The woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – says she was sent home without being given an ultrasound or undergoing any further investigation.

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Cost of Victoria’s renewable energy transmission plan projected to double

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Higher energy bills to cover the increased transmission costs could be offset by more renewable energy in the grid, state government says

One of Australia’s largest renewable energy transmission projects has expanded zones for solar, battery and wind developments with the cost of connection to almost double.

The latest version of Victoria’s 2025 Transmission Plan, released by state government agency VicGrid on Sunday, revealed a 200,000-hectare increase in the area available to developers.

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