Merged Australian-UK firm will convert Porsche 911s, Mini Coopers, Land Rovers and Land Rover Defenders into EVs
An Australian startup adding modern technology to classic Land Rovers will become part of one of the biggest electric vehicle conversion companies in the world this week after merging with a British firm.
Melbourne-based Jaunt Motors will partner with Zero EV to create Fellten, which will operate across Australia, the UK and North America.
Continue reading...Climate campaigners welcome move as community pressure over fossil fuel sponsorships and advertising grows
A 37-year partnership between fossil fuel giant Shell and Australia’s national science and technology centre Questacon – which branded and delivered science activities for children – is ending.
Canberra-based Questacon has also confirmed a four-year, $1m sponsorship deal with Japanese oil and gas company Inpex will not be renewed when it runs out at the end of the financial year.
Continue reading...Nearly half of those surveyed (45%) believe it promotes ‘unhealthy’ gambling and a third (34%) say it normalises animal cruelty
Australia’s love affair with the Melbourne Cup appears to be waning, with a new survey finding more than half have “low” or “no interest” in the race that traditionally stops the nation.
Amid growing support for the Nup to the Cup movement, the latest Guardian Essential poll also suggests almost half of those surveyed (45%) believe it promotes “unhealthy” gambling behaviour, with a third (34%) saying it normalises animal cruelty.
Continue reading...US-funded upgrade of Tindal airbase in Northern Territory will allow it to house up to six B-52s, as minister says Australia must remain ‘vigilant’
An expanded Royal Australian Air Force base in the Northern Territory will have space for up to six American nuclear-capable B-52 aircraft as part of a US-funded project that is likely to fuel tensions with China.
Officials in Canberra confirmed that the US-funded aircraft parking apron at RAAF Base Tindal, 320km south-east of Darwin, would be capable of accommodating up to six B-52 aircraft, but said it could also house other aircraft types.
Continue reading...‘Grace always made others feel important and her kindness left an impression on everyone she ever met.’
The family of an Australian woman killed in a Halloween crowd crush in South Korea has paid tribute to the 23-year-old, describing her as the life of the party.
Sydney film production assistant Grace Rached was killed in the Itaewon district of Seoul on Saturday night when more than 150 people died.
Continue reading...Dataset from communications platform ForceNet containing up to 40,000 records may be compromised after breach on external provider
A ransomware attack may have resulted in data related to private communications between current and former Australian defence force members being compromised, with as many as 40,000 records at risk.
Defence confirmed on Monday that a dataset from ForceNet, a communications platform, may have been compromised after an attack on an external ICT service provider.
Continue reading...Initially slated for 2025 at a cost of $200m, the Tarrkarri project is now $50m over budget and will be reviewed early next year
Work on Tarrkarri, slated as “the world’s leading First Nations cultural centre”, has been suspended amid cost blowouts.
The construction of Tarrkarri, which means “the future” in Kaurna, began in December 2021 in Adelaide, and it was due to open in 2025.
Continue reading...Single-use plastic straws, cutlery and cotton buds will be among items banned from Tuesday
Single-use plastic straws and other items will be banned in New South Wales on Tuesday. The decision follows similar action to ban single-use plastic bags earlier this year.
We take a look at what this means for customers and businesses, and how it will be enforced.
Continue reading...Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board’s 2022 annual report found Maeve* took her own life after protection order issued
A Queensland woman who was raped, physically assaulted and subject to financial abuse by her partner, killed herself after being wrongly identified as a perpetrator of domestic violence by police, a coronial study has found.
The 2022 report of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board raised concern that police and support services are missing – or not adequately responding to – key indicators of lethal risk.
Continue reading...Andrews pledges to cooperate with Labor on fixing any loopholes found in visa regime
ABC Radio asks Andrews about reports in the Nine papers of significant gaps in Australia’s visa regime allowing migration agents and fixers to set up so-called visa farms.
I would encourage the Labor government to have a look at the issues in that report and see whether or not there are concerns, there are loopholes and if so I can assure them I will work very cooperatively to get them fixed.
Your department was found to have leaked details of a boat turnback which had come from Sri Lanka on election day this year … and yet you’re criticising this government for … allegedly leaking?
It was a deliberate decision that was taken on the day. And the reason that that decision was taken was because of transparency, and for deterrence ... the issue was that there was a lot of a lot of criticism about discussions of boat arrivals and the fact that we, as a Coalition, were very concerned about whether or not there would be increases in boat arrivals.
Now on election day, when that boat arrived, and I was advised of it early in the in the morning and the prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison would have been advised either before or after – I’m not sure when he was actually advised of that … The decision was taken that in the interests of transparency, the information would be released and it would be released by the agencies responsible because that was the most apolitical way to release that information.
Continue reading...Grattan Institute urges Albanese government to retain strict criteria and annual performance tests
The Coalition’s last round of superannuation reforms has already reduced the number of underperforming funds and cut their fees by an average of 20%.
That is the conclusion of a Grattan Institute submission to the Albanese government’s review of the Your Future Your Super reforms, which urges it to retain a strict test for underperformance and improve the process for selecting default funds.
Continue reading...As the government develops online safety guidelines, digital rights groups says any approach requiring the use of ID is ‘invasive and risky’
In the wake of the Optus and Medibank data breaches, digital rights groups are urging the federal government to rule out requiring identification documents as part of any online age-verification system, warning it could create a honeypot of people’s personal information and pornography-viewing habits.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is developing an online safety “roadmap”, outlining a way to prevent minors from accessing adult content online by ensuring host sites have verified the ages of users.
Continue reading...Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map charts thousands of projects and activities from 67 donor entities, including Australia and the US
China is funnelling aid to Kiribati and Solomon Islands, while its overall spending in the Pacific region is in decline, the latest Pacific Aid Map reveals.
The Lowy Institute on Monday released its 2022 updated version of the map, an interactive analytical tool that enables users to track aid flow and development funding in the Pacific.
Continue reading...Inquiry into botched Centrelink debt recovery scheme starts its first round of hearings on Monday
Officials from key government departments embroiled in the robodebt scandal and two private debt collection agencies are expected to be grilled when a royal commission kicks off this week.
The inquiry into the botched Centrelink debt recovery scheme will start its first block of hearings on Monday, investigating the establishment, design and implementation of the unlawful program.
Continue reading...Government would have saved $2.6bn if incarceration rate had remained at 1985 level, assistant treasury minister Andrew Leigh says
Taxpayers are each forking out $140 more a year for prisons than would be needed if Australia maintained its 1985 rates of incarceration, according to Andrew Leigh.
The assistant treasury minister will reveal the cost of Australia’s rising incarceration rates in a speech to the Australian Institute of Criminology on Monday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski allegedly pointed finger at senior elder in ‘aggressive’ and ‘disrespectful’ way
First Nations leaders claim Queensland’s second-most senior police officer became angry and aggressive during a meeting with them, pointing his finger at a senior elder and saying “you people” don’t run the organisation.
Amid wider claims of serious and systemic racism levelled at the Queensland police service (QPS) at a state inquiry, the relationship between the organisation and its formal First Nations advisory body appears to have substantially broken down.
Continue reading...Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirms an Australian was among at least 150 others killed in the disaster on Saturday night
An Australian is among the more than 150 people who have died in the South Korean capital after a crowd crush during Halloween celebrations.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it had been notified of the Australian’s death in Seoul on Saturday night, local time.
Continue reading...People have been cleared to return to their homes as flood threat eases in Victoria, but the Bureau of Meteorology is warning of renewed flooding in parts of NSW. This blog is now closed
Chalmers on the size of government debt and making it ‘sustainable’
The treasurer is asked whether the government will consider rethinking taxes like GST and PRRT.
We have already found $22bn in savings, $28.5bn in budget improvements overall. We kept real spending growth flat across the forward estimates. We have got the debt down over the forward estimates. We have let 99% of the temporary revenue surge from higher commodity prices flow through to the budget.
That is good progress when we have shown in doing that … you can move sensibly on all fronts, restraint, trimming spending, sensible tax reform, you can make the budget more sustainable and that will be the task of the two or three budgets remaining in this parliamentary term as well.
We need to work out how do we maintain a focus on Australians with a disability and their families, how do we put them front and centre, and at the same time make sure that spending on the NDIS is sustainable and important part of that is making sure we get value for money for every dollar that is spent in what is a really important, really, really important service that we provide to Australians.
I do understand there is a substantial part of the community that would prefer that that PRRT take was higher.
We haven’t been working up an option to do that to change the PRRT arrangements but the treasury has been commissioned by my predecessor and by his predecessor to do some of this work around the taxing point in the PRRT.
We do want to make sure Australians get a good return for their resources. We need to balance that against the investment that’s been made into the sector. When I get that advice from I will engage in it a meaningful way and I will listen to it.
We have seen I think as you acknowledged in your first question, on this topic, company taxes are up quite substantially. That’s a good thing and we have let that flow through to the budget. The PRRT, there’s a modest increase. I will wait to see what the treasury advises us on the conclusion of the review that my two predecessors put in place.
Continue reading...The opt-in program would be implemented by the end of 2026 in an effort to ease cost of living pressures and support nutrition of students
All Victorian public school students would be provided with free lunches under a major cost-of-living election pledge by the state’s opposition.
The healthy lunches program was unveiled on Sunday, just weeks before early voting opens on 14 November for the state election where more than half of voters are expected to cast their ballot paper before polling day.
Continue reading...Government says process was informed by national security advice, individual assessments and detailed work by security agencies
The Albanese government must assume “full responsibility” if there is any risk to Australians from repatriating women and children from Syrian camps after the fall of Islamic State, Michaelia Cash has warned.
The former attorney general made the remarks following the return of four Australian women and 13 children to Sydney on Saturday.
Continue reading...