Category Archives: Australia news

One thousand residents urged to evacuate as central west braces for flood peak – as it happened

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Pregnant woman and midwife among 10 rescues in NSW town of Forbes. This blog is now closed

Victorian Labor lead narrows in polls in lead-up to state election

The Victorian election race appears to be tightening three weeks out from polling day, with Labor in danger of slipping in to minority government, AAP reports.

The AMA analysed the documentation these media reports relied on and, like the department, found nothing – not a skerrick of evidence – to support the claims made in headlines splashed across some news organisations.

The AMA has acknowledged consistently that while some fraud does occur, the vast majority of doctors are doing the right thing. And we have seen the mental toll these reports have taken on Australia’s doctors.

The minister has again highlighted the impact of years of cuts and neglect of Medicare, and, while this latest review may identify potential savings that could be made, what Medicare really needs is genuine reform and an injection of new funds.

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ACT police search for young boy after bodies of woman and child found in pond

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Police received a call on Saturday morning from a member of the public who had seen a person in the pond

Police have launched an urgent search for a young boy after two bodies were found in a pond in Gungahlin in Canberra’s north.

ACT police were investigating after the bodies were found in Yerrabi pond early on Saturday.

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Family mourns death of ‘treasured and loved’ Australian man in Ukraine

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Prime minister offers condolences to family and friends of Trevor Kjeldal, describing the news as ‘tragic’

An Australian man has died in Ukraine as the conflict from the Russian invasion continues, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed.

Consular assistance is being provided to the family of Trevor Kjeldal, a Dfat spokesperson said on Saturday.

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Flood waters continue to rise in NSW town of Forbes with peak expected Saturday night

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La Niña brings an increased chance of above average rainfall for Australia’s north and east and a lingering risk of flooding for the months ahead

Flood waters continued to rise in the New South Wales town of Forbes, where there had been 10 flood rescues and more than 237 calls for help in the past 24 hours, including for a pregnant woman.

The woman, whose water broke on Friday, was transported across the middle of the river in Forbes to the town’s hospital by a local volunteer, where she could be cared for by doctors and nurses.

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Daniel Andrews condemns ‘smear and innuendo’ surrounding Victorian anti-corruption investigation

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Victorian premier says ‘I act appropriately at all times’ following questions about his role in awarding two grants worth $3.4m to a Labor-linked union

Daniel Andrews has issued a blistering statement about “smear and innuendo” surrounding an anti-corruption investigation.

The Victorian premier is facing questions about his role in awarding two grants worth $3.4m to a Labor-linked union.

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Sydney axe murderer who Googled ‘what part of body to go for’ before killing partner jailed for 27 years

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The 34-year-old woman killed the man with an axe purchased from Bunnings in a jealous quest for revenge, court hears

A Sydney axe murderer who Googled “what part of body to go for” before killing her partner has been sentenced to 27 years in jail.

The 34-year-old mother, who cannot be named be named for legal reasons, killed her partner with an axe purchased from Bunnings in a jealous quest for revenge.

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Australia’s aged care workers win 15% pay rise and minister says it’s the ‘first step’

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Fair Work Commission accepts that ‘feminised industries’ such as care work have been ‘historically undervalued’

Australia’s aged care workers have won a 15% pay rise, with the possibility of more to come, after the Fair Work Commission accepted the sector’s employees were underpaid.

The full bench of the FWC announced its interim decision on Friday afternoon, having accepted the expert evidence that “feminised industries” including care work “has been historically undervalued and the reason for that undervaluation is likely to be gender-based”.

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Thousands left without natural gas in Lithgow and Bathurst amid cold snap

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Recent flooding is believed to have caused the pipeline outage in central-west NSW and is hampering repair

It could take weeks to completely fix a pipeline outage that has left more than 20,000 New South Wales residents without natural gas during an unseasonal cold snap, with recent flooding believed to have caused the outage as well as hampering its repair.

Residents in the central-west towns of Bathurst, Lithgow and Wallerawang woke up on Thursday to find their homes without natural gas, a day after snow fell in the region and a temperature of 1C was recorded in Lithgow. The towns of Portland and Oberon are also affected.

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Tanya Plibersek to reassess 18 proposed oil and gas projects to consider their climate change impact

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Queensland environment group had asked federal minister to revisit decisions made going back to 2011

Federal environment officials have agreed to look again at 18 proposed new coal and gas projects after a Queensland environment group submitted requests to have the effects of climate change considered.

None of the 18 projects has been approved under the country’s environment law, but have been through a process where the environment minister determines the nature and scale of their likely impacts.

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Alan Joyce to get millions in bonuses despite Qantas bungles

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Airline chief will receive $4m in shares on top of his $2m-plus salary, despite customer fury at service failures

The Qantas boss, Alan Joyce, will pocket millions in bonuses despite customer fury over service failures, lost bags, and cancelled flights, and union anger over staff pay.

Joyce will also stay on as chief executive officer until at least the end of next year, the Qantas chair, Richard Goyder, confirmed at the airline’s annual general meeting on Friday.

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Labor hails 15% pay rise for aged care workers – as it happened

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Fair Work Commission announces 15% increase after accepting sector’s workers are underpaid. This blog is now closed

‘Cybercrime is now big business’: defence minister

We just brought you the cybersecurity minister, Clare O’Neil,’s comments on ABC News following the release of the cybercrime report.

In part we’re living more of our lives online. The pandemic has accelerated that.

Cybercrime is now big business. The average impact for small businesses is $40,000 per incident so you can say that there’s a lot of money to be made by cyber criminals.

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Cyberspace ‘a battleground’ as reports of cybercrime in Australia jump 13%

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Fraud, online shopping and banking among most commonly reported crimes, but ransomware ‘most destructive’, ASD says

The number of reports of cybercrime in Australia had shot up by 13% to 76,000 in a year, or one every seven minutes, even before a series of high-profile privacy breaches hit the headlines.

These threats are imposing an increasingly heavy cost on businesses, with the average loss per cybercrime rising by 14% to $39,000 for a small business and $62,000 for a large business.

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Australia’s richer areas more likely to have people working from home in pandemic, analysis finds

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Census data shows Sydney’s northern suburbs had highest WFH proportion, with lowest in regional areas such as Maryborough in Victoria and Taree in NSW

Areas with higher incomes in NSW and Victoria were more likely to have a higher percentage of people working from home during the pandemic, according to a Guardian Australia analysis of census data.

The data provides further evidence of how differently people in areas with different socioeconomic backgrounds experienced the pandemic.

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Two former defence leaders paid almost $800,000 to review Australia’s military capabilities

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Review by Sir Angus Houston and Stephen Smith will respond to increasing challenges in the Pacific and make recommendations ‘for the next decade and beyond’

Two former defence leaders are being paid close to $800,000 combined to carry out a major review for the Albanese government, including a confidential update delivered this week.

Contract records show the former chief of the Australian defence force Sir Angus Houston is being paid $470,000 for his work on the defence strategic review, while the former Labor defence minister Stephen Smith will receive $306,496.

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Proposed work-from-home tax changes would mean lower deductions or more paperwork

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If adopted, Australian Tax Office draft guidelines would cut 80c flat rate to 67c and affect tax returns from next July

People working from home would lose hundreds of dollars in tax deductions if new draft guidelines released by the Australian Tax Office are adopted.

Under the proposed changes, those working from home would not be able to claim expenses such as internet, electricity and mobile separately using the popular shortcut method, which sets out a flat rate for hours worked at home, rather than calculating the actual costs.

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Insurance firms must lower premiums as government funds disaster prevention, minister says

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Murray Watt says Canberra is funding disaster mitigation infrastructure and ‘expects the insurance industry to fulfil its end of the bargain’

Insurance companies need to reduce premiums for customers in disaster-prone regions now the federal government is investing heavily in infrastructure to minimise loss during extreme weather, the emergency management minister, Murray Watt, says.

Ahead of confirming funding on Friday for 34 new mitigation projects to reduce the impact of coastal erosion accelerated by the climate crisis, Watt used an insurance industry conference to put the sector on notice.

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US group campaigning against Australia’s reversal of recognition of West Jerusalem as Israeli capital

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StandWithUs places ad in the Weekend Australian and asks readers to email Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong about issue

A US-based pro-Israel group has launched a campaign against the Albanese government’s decision to revoke recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital – and now plans to expand its operations in Australia.

But the campaign has sparked accusations that the Los Angeles-based organisation was “trying to trick the Australian government into thinking that the only way to be pro-Israel was to follow the Trump playbook”.

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Australia news live: Ed Husic says government must intervene in gas market; Pocock backs fossil fuels super profits tax

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Industry minister says gas companies are ‘not picking up the signals’. Follow all the day’s news live

Gas supply not a problem, ‘glut of greed is’, industry minister says

Husic:

This is not a shortage of supply problem; this is a glut of greed problem, that has to be basically short-circuited and common sense prevail.

The pricing mechanism is the one that I think needs to be seriously examined.

The LNG exporters are offering gas to the domestic market at prices they couldn’t reasonably expect on the international market.

We have the ACCC looking at that [code of conduct] and that code of conduct is to help better guide the way in which these contracts get negotiated … in terms of the other areas, we want to work through that internally.

If you look at what the treasurer has said over the last few days, he is examining those type of options and again that will be in the mix of things he thinks through.

I think the bigger focus long-term is the price mechanism.

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Queensland offers $1m reward in pursuit of man in India suspected of Toyah Cordingley’s murder

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The 24-year-old’s body was found on a beach north of Cairns in 2018, prompting international manhunt

A $1m reward is on offer to help catch a man who police suspect may have murdered Toyah Cordingley on a Queensland beach before fleeing to India.

It has been four years since the 24-year-old was found in the dunes of Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, after what police have called “a personal and intimate attack”.

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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Zachary Rolfe bragged about injuring innocent man, Kumanjayi Walker inquest told

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‘Treated him to the old illegal shoulder charge,’ Northern Territory police officer wrote in text message, inquiry hears

A Northern Territory police officer who fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker bragged about injuring a man wrongly suspected of escaping custody, an inquest has heard.

Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on 9 November 2019.

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