Category Archives: Australia news

One Nation on track to have its first MP in Victorian parliament

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Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell expected to enter upper house, where Labor needs six crossbench votes to pass legislation

Victoria is set to elect its first One Nation MP, who will sit on an upper house crossbench that will likely be dominated by progressive parties, including up to four Greens.

The Victorian Electoral Commission will distribute preferences in the eight upper house regions on Wednesday. ABC election analyst Antony Green has said it is looking likely that One Nation’s Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell will beat Labor’s James McWhinney for the final seat in Northern Victoria.

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Six people killed at Queensland property, including two police officers ambushed by shooters

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Tactical police shoot dead three suspects at Wieambilla property after the ‘ruthless, targeted execution’ of two officers from Tara and a member of the public

Three people were shot dead by tactical police late on Monday night, ending a six-hour standoff that followed the apparent ambush-style killings of two uniformed officers and a member of the public on a remote Queensland property.

Four officers from Tara had been sent to the property, at Wieambilla in the Western Downs region, about 270km west of Brisbane, to inquire about a missing person.

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Federal Covid plan: some free PCR tests to require referral and number of mental health sessions cut by half

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AMA concerned by ‘significant disincentives’ to virus testing and psychologist body ‘bitterly disappointed’

Some free Covid PCR tests will require referrals and Medicare-supported psychologist sessions will be reduced by the federal government under changes to Covid management that suicide prevention groups have called “baffling”.

The national Covid-19 health management plan for 2023, released on Monday, outlines federal government plans for handling the pandemic next year. The health minister, Mark Butler, said Labor was investing $2.8bn to manage the virus, with measures including vaccine procurement, public information campaigns, hospital funding and plans for aged care and multicultural communities.

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Boy rescued after jumping into Adelaide zoo’s giant panda enclosure to retrieve phone

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The teenager was using his phone to film the animals when he dropped it into their bamboo forest compound

A South Australian teenager has been rescued after he jumped into Adelaide zoo’s giant panda enclosure to retrieve his phone.

The boy was using his mobile to film the animals when he dropped it into the bamboo forest on Monday.

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Senator says plan ‘a Band-Aid on a festering wound’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Severe weather warning for damaging winds in NSW and Victoria

Several children have been injured after a firework shot into a crowd during a Christmas event in Sydney’s northern beaches last night.

An 11-year-old boy was initially taken to Royal North Shore hospital, before being transferred to the Children’s hospital at Westmead for treatment of burns and a chest injury.

An eight-year-old girl was taken to Northern Beaches hospital for treatment of burns and a wrist injury. She has since been released.

Police have been told a 12-year-old boy was taken to hospital by his parents for treatment to minor burns and has since been released, and six other people were treated on scene by NSW Rural Fire Service for minor injuries, and left prior to the arrival of paramedics and police.

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‘Terrible accident’: NSW woman Esther Wallace’s body found after she disappeared on night bushwalk

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Police believe Wallace died of hypothermia after walking through rugged bushland at 1am

The body of Esther Wallace has been found almost two weeks after the 47-year-old bushwalker disappeared in central west New South Wales, with police believing she died after a “terrible accident.

Police found the body at 4pm on Sunday about 2km from where Wallace was last seen at Federal Falls in the Mount Canobolas state recreation area, near Orange.

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Energy users and ex-ACCC boss praise government for staring down ‘bullies of the gas industry’

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Industry argues capping gas at $12 a gigajoule risks future investment but experts say price is top end of range forecast before invasion of Ukraine

Energy users and the former boss of the competition watchdog have congratulated the Albanese government for staring down the “bullies of the gas industry” in a bid to lower domestic energy bills.

The federal government last week announced an energy relief plan that would cap coal and gas prices and deliver $1.5bn in assistance to struggling lower-income Australians.

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Bruce Lehrmann trial: ACT’s top prosecutor complained about Linda Reynolds’ ‘disturbing’ conduct

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Shane Drumgold also says Reynolds’ husband was seen conferencing with Lehrmann’s defence ‘during the course of the entire trial’

The Australian Capital Territory’s top prosecutor privately complained of the “disturbing” conduct of former cabinet minister Linda Reynolds during the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, including her alleged coaching of his defence team, her attempt to solicit transcripts and the presence of her partner in court.

The Guardian revealed this week that the director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, had sent a letter of complaint to the chief of police, Neil Gaughan, on 1 November, just after the trial against Lehrmann collapsed.

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Albanese government looking at laws to force big business to disclose climate efforts

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Jim Chalmers will say global investors increasingly see ‘a new harmony between profit and planet’

Banks and other big businesses will be forced to come clean with the public about what they are doing to cut emissions under plans put forward by the Albanese government.

The government is also looking for ways to crack down on “greenwashing” – or when businesses try to win over consumers by overhyping their environmental practices.

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At least a dozen climate activists face jail time under NSW laws used to lock up Violet Coco

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Exclusive: A string of protesters linked to Blockade Australia have been charged under the legislation

More than a dozen climate activists are facing possible jail time over protests in Sydney’s CBD this year after being charged under the same controversial laws that led to Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco being handed a 15-month prison sentence.

Court documents seen by the Guardian show a string of activists linked to climate group Blockade Australia have been charged under the laws, which introduced a two-year jail sentence for protests that block major roads, bridges or tunnels in New South Wales.

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MPs’ Pacific islands tour to show bipartisan support – As it happened

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Senior politicians from both major parties to travel to Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau this week. This blog is now closed

The Bureau of Meteorology expects scattered showers expected over South Australia.

Meanwhile the heatwave that has settled across northern Australia is expected to ease.

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Sky News host Chris Smith suspended after allegations of inappropriate behaviour at Christmas party

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Company says ‘the welfare of our staff is our absolute priority’ and it will ‘take these allegations very seriously’

Sky News host Chris Smith has been suspended after accusations that he behaved inappropriately toward colleagues after the broadcaster’s Christmas party over the weekend.

Smith was with other Sky News Australia employees at The Establishment in Sydney. He reportedly joined colleagues at The Ivy Sunroom at midday on Saturday for the formal event before going on to The Establishment. After concerns about his behaviour were raised with senior executives, he was stood down immediately.

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Former NSW premier Mike Baird appointed chair of Cricket Australia

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Baird will take over from February with his predecessor stepping down and taking the chief executive’s job with HBF

Former New South Wales premier Mike Baird has been appointed as the new chair of Cricket Australia.

Baird will take over as the organisation’s new boss from February, with his predecessor Lachlan Henderson stepping down after moving back to Perth.

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‘Toxic rhetoric’: marriage equality plebiscite offers ugly lessons for Indigenous voice to parliament referendum

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Support and self-care will be vital during the campaign, which could stir up ‘perfect storm for fear and hate’

From the age of five Keenan Smith knew they felt different, lacking the sense of ease other children in country Australia took for granted and bristling at being pushed towards rough and tumble sports and toy trucks and guns.

“I didn’t like the same things that boys would use in that age group, things like sports and those traditionally gendered things,” the Wirangu, Mirning and Kokatha person says.

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HSC fail: NSW investigates how Higher School Certificate results published early

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NSW education minister Sarah Mitchell blames ‘IT issue’ and says she asked Education Standards Authority for an explanation

An investigation is underway into how students’ Higher School Certificate results were published early.

New South Wales HSC graduates were able to see their “preliminary” results on Saturday morning. The results will not be officially released until Thursday.

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Australia imposes sanctions on Iran’s morality police and 13 Russians and Iranians

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Penny Wong announces Magnitsky-style sanctions to punish Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The Australian government will use human rights sanctions to punish “egregious human rights violations and abuses” by Iranian and Russian perpetrators.

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, announced the Magnitsky-style sanctions (named for the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison after exposing corruption in Russia) have been imposed on 13 Russian and Iranian individuals.

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Australia’s mountain mist frog declared extinct as red list reveals scale of biodiversity crisis

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Experts describe it as a ‘beautiful endemic rainforest species’, one of several that have not been seen for decades

The mountain mist frog, a species once found across two-thirds of Australia’s wet tropics, has been declared extinct on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list.

The last recorded sighting of the frog, most commonly found near Thornton Peak, north-west of Cairns, was in April 1990. It is believed to have been wiped out by chytrid fungus, a disease that attacks the skin and has destroyed amphibian populations across the globe, though a reduction in its natural habitat due to rising temperatures driven by greenhouse gas emissions may have also played a role.

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Chris Bowen defends energy price relief plan – as it happened

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Households expected to save around $230 on average after national cabinet agrees to energy price cap scheme. This blog is now closed

Mountain mist frog’s call preserved on Songs of Disappearance

Sticking with the mountain mist frog, which has just been declared extinct, a kind reader has just sent me a Spotify link to a recording of its calls, as part of a collection called Songs of Disappearance. The frog has not been seen for 20 years.

We know what’s causing this crisis: habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change. We know the solutions to the crisis: stronger environment laws, stronger climate action and increased investment in habitat protection and restoration.

The Albanese government is heading in the right direction by instituting an overhaul of our flawed national environment law, but it must not delay or cut corners.

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Bruce Lehrmann case: judgment reveals why contested allegation he tried to kiss Higgins was admitted as evidence

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Chief justice Lucy McCallum has released a judgment made during the trial following objections from Lehrmann’s defence

A judge described evidence alleging Bruce Lehrmann previously “made a pass” at Brittany Higgins as “plainly relevant” to allegations that he raped her in Parliament House weeks later, a newly released judgment shows.

Chief justice Lucy McCallum on Friday released a judgment made during the high-profile Lehrmann trial following objections from Lehrmann’s defence, which argued against the admissibility of evidence about an alleged prior attempt to kiss Higgins.

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Australian tax office and police raid 35 businesses as part of crackdown on sales-suppression software

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Raids were part of an international crackdown on those suspected of supplying and using illegal tax-avoiding tools

Police and the Australian Taxation Office have raided 35 businesses across five states as part of an international crackdown on the use of software to avoid paying tax.

The ATO said the raids, conducted with the Australian federal police, targeted businesses suspected of supplying and using illegal electronic sales suppression tools (ESST) in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

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