Category Archives: Australia news

Labor announces boost in taxpayer-funded paid parental leave to 26 weeks by 2026

Posted on by

Leave is set to increase by two weeks a year from the present scheme of 18 weeks at minimum wage and can be split between partners

Commonwealth-funded paid parental leave will be increased to six months over the next four years with the Albanese government hailing the boost as the biggest change to the program since its inception.

In a pre-budget announcement, Labor said that from 2024 the government would add two weeks of paid parental leave (PPL) to the scheme each year until it reaches 26 weeks by 2026. The six months could be split between the parents of a newborn.

Sign up for our free morning newsletter and afternoon email to get your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘If not now, when?’: PM addresses first meeting of volunteers to educate Australians about voice referendum

Posted on by

Sydney’s Inner West council aims to train 1,000 people for a civic education program that could become a model for other jurisdictions

The prime minister has committed to “throwing everything” at implementing an Indigenous voice to parliament at a surprise appearance in his home suburb of Marrickville.

Speaking at a packed Uluru Statement from the Heart summit on Friday night, Anthony Albanese addressed the first meeting of volunteers who have signed up to educate Australians about the voice.

Sign up for our free morning newsletter and afternoon email to get your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Unlicensed driver who killed two young brothers walking home from NSW pool jailed for 13 years

Posted on by

Shane and Sheldon Shorey, aged six and seven, died after Jacob Steven Donn crashed a car in Wellington, in central west NSW, while he was drug-affected

A driver who caused the deaths of two young brothers returning home from the local swimming pool in regional New South Wales has been jailed by a judge who said cars were not playthings.

As a mother and four boys walked along a footpath after visiting the pool in Wellington, she saw an out-of-control red Commodore heading straight for them.

Sign up for our free morning newsletter and afternoon email to get your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland government moves to legislate coercive control as a form of domestic violence

Posted on by

The bill would amend laws to include a ‘pattern of behaviour’ and update the definition of stalking

The Queensland government will seek to broaden the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control, as it moves towards making it a criminal offence in its own right.

The bill, introduced into parliament on Friday, would amend legislation to include a “pattern of behaviour” and update the definition of stalking to reflect modern technology.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Steinway, then the highway: national piano competition forced to flee Shepparton floods

Posted on by

Final round of the competition brought forward to Friday so competitors and others involved could escape imminent inundation

It wasn’t quite the doomed band on the Titanic playing on heroically, but the finalists in this year’s Australian national piano award were faced with an unexpected challenge as the flood water rose around the Riverlinks Eastbank theatre in Shepparton, where the event’s semi-final stage was due to finish on Friday.

“That would be a very dramatic way of putting it,” said Anthony Chen, 27, although he said he had never experienced conditions like it in his musical career.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Covid quarantine centre to reopen for flood evacuees – as it happened

Posted on by

Daniel Andrews says 500 homes have been flooded and another 500 have been isolated. This blog is now closed

An estimated 500 homes are flooded in Victoria with number expected to grow: Daniel Andrews

Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, has been on ABC radio Melbourne this morning, providing listeners with an update on the floods.

Obviously this has been a very, very significant flood event and it’s far from over. There’s a little bit more rainfall but as that weather event passes through, the real challenge is waters continuing to rise and more and more houses being inundated, more and more communities being closed off, becoming isolated, then of course we move to clean up and all of those issues.

We think there’s about 500 homes that are flooded, we think there are another 500 that have been isolated across the state. But I would just say they’re very early estimates and the aerial intelligence gathering choppers are up in the air now ... they’ll be doing all their reports back to the state control centre. So I’d say those numbers are absolutely certain to grow. And indeed, we’re still asking people to leave in some areas. There have been important, important evacuation notices have been issued in a number of communities. So those numbers will go up. That’s why we’ve got nine important relief centres opening and 50 sandbag collection points. There’s an enormous amount of work going on.

Continue reading...

‘Danger period’: Victorians and Tasmanians on high alert as rivers rise rapidly after heavy rain

Posted on by

Evacuation orders in place across Tasmania and Victoria due to flooding, including in parts of suburban Melbourne’s north-west

Flood-hit communities in north and north-west Tasmania are entering a “danger period” as rivers rise, with evacuation orders current for multiple towns and part of Launceston.

Victorian communities also remain on high alert for dangerous flooding, with residents in six towns urged to leave their homes and move to higher ground.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

‘Now is the time’: Richard Marles has met NRL to push for Papua New Guinea team

Posted on by

On visit to Port Moresby, defence minister says ‘it would be so meaningful’ for PNG to become National Rugby League’s 18th team

Australia’s deputy prime minister has held talks with National Rugby League officials to push the case for a Papua New Guinea team, declaring “now is the time” to expand the competition.

Richard Marles, visiting PNG in his capacity as defence minister, said on Thursday that he had “personally spoken with the NRL a number of times about this”.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Lidia Thorpe wants action on treaty and truth before campaigning for Indigenous voice

Posted on by

Greens senator says she won’t put her energy into ‘yes’ campaign until there is ‘concrete progress’ on other elements of Uluru statement from the heart

Greens senator Lidia Thorpe wants the Albanese government to make “concrete progress” on the other parts of the Uluru statement from the heart before publicly supporting Labor’s voice to parliament.

She has also called for this month’s budget to include $40m funding for treaty and truth.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

More than half of NSW MPs own more than one property

Posted on by

High ownership of multiple residences among state MPs has prompted accusations they are ‘blind’ to the escalating rental crisis

More than half of MPs in the New South Wales lower house own multiple residential properties, prompting concerns the state’s politicians are “blind” to record increases in rental prices.

Amid a fresh push for reform to the rental market, an analysis of MP disclosure records show landlords are disproportionately represented on Macquarie Street.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Victoria’s 208 LGBTQ+ suicides to be outlined for the first time in new report

Posted on by

Exclusive: Coroner suspects ‘undercount’ as a decade of suicide data is released to the public

More than 200 LGBTQ+ Victorians have died by suicide in the past decade, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by the state’s coroner.

In a report to be released on Friday, the coroner’s court of Victoria identified 208 deaths by suicide – recorded between 2012 and 2021 – of people who are LGBTQ+.

Continue reading...

Aboriginal man laid to rest in moving ceremony 90 years after he was killed by police at Uluru

Posted on by

Family of Yokun call for government apology and compensation as university says sorry for storing remains

The families of an Aboriginal man shot and killed by police at Uluru 90 years ago, have finally laid his remains to rest at the base of the rock in a deeply emotional ceremony, with his descendants calling for an apology and compensation from governments and police.

The partial remains of Pitjantjatjara man Yokun were repatriated to the place where he was shot and killed in 1934 by mounted constable Bill McKinnon.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Victoria and Tasmania hit by flooding; NT triple murderer sentenced to life in jail

Posted on by

Seventy flood warnings in place across Victoria, with 10,000 people without power and 40 schools and childcare centres shut. Follow the day’s news live

‘Walk the talk Labor’: Spender urges government to help households decarbonise

Independent MP Allegra Spender has taken to social media to urge the Albanese government to take action supporting Australian households as they decarbonise:

Our families and businesses are hurting. Sovereign risk is not a defence when the super profits are being made because of a war.

Continue reading...

Proposed levy on Queensland’s vacant homes backed by advocates

Posted on by

Greens bill will see investors pay 5% levy on all residential property left vacant for more than six months

The Queensland Greens say their proposal to tax investors for vacant homes could see tens of thousands of properties returned to the rental market during a nationwide housing crisis.

The bill, introduced into parliament on Thursday, proposes charging investors a 5% levy of the “capital improved value” of all residential property and land that has been vacant for six months or more in a year.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

Policy of secrecy leaves authors with ‘no inkling’ works are being set for NSW’s year 12 exams

Posted on by

Delia Falconer and Nikki Gemmell latest writers to find out their works were selected for the HSC – after the exams

When roughly 60,000 year 12 students sit down to do their final English exam in New South Wales each year, they have no idea what texts they’ll be asked to analyse.

Likewise, the authors of those texts are neither asked nor warned by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) – an increasingly controversial policy as students sometimes take to social media to vent their post-exam frustration directly at them.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Residents given a spray as Queensland government hoses down flood threat with free water offer

Posted on by

Authorities announce plans to reduce Wivenhoe dam level to mitigate flood risk, with residents encouraged to start hosing

Residents of south-east Queensland have been encouraged to break out their gurneys and let loose with the hose as the government reduces the level of Wivenhoe dam due to an increased risk of major floods.

The state’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said lowering the dam level from 90% to 80% capacity would increase its effectiveness for flood mitigation in coming months.

Continue reading...

Northern Territory moves to raise age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12

Posted on by

Government says authorities will refer children under 12 and their families to parenting and behavioural change programs to break the cycle of offending

The Northern Territory government is seeking to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old to 12 years old.

The Labor government introduced the legislation to parliament on Thursday, saying authorities would now refer children under the age of 12 and their families to intensive parenting and behavioural change programs to break the cycle of offending.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Self-insemination performance artist could be forced to pay security on Australia Council’s legal costs

Posted on by

Lawyers for Casey Jenkins, who alleges council’s withdrawal of funding was discriminatory, says ‘security for costs’ order is ‘cynical’

The Australia Council is attempting to get a court order that may force an artist to stump up a down payment on its sizeable legal costs, in a two-year court battle over the national arts funding body dropping its support for a performance documenting self-insemination.

Lawyers for the performance artist Casey Jenkins told the federal court the council’s application for a “security for costs” order appeared to be based on a cynical and misguided premise, and the body was covered by commonwealth government insurance to fight the case.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Graphic film of Bali bombings at Kuta memorial ‘ripped our hearts apart’, son of terror victim says

Posted on by

Australian government says it will formally register concern over gruesome film shown to hundreds at ceremony in Indonesia

A graphic, gruesome film screened at Kuta’s ground zero monument marking the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings has upset and angered some friends and relatives of the dead.

The Australian government said on Thursday it would formally register its concerns with Indonesian authorities over the event.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce called on to apologise for Nazi Germany comparisons over Indigenous voice

Posted on by

Nationals MP said he was concerned about the government wanting to ‘reinsert racial distinctions’ into the constitution

Barnaby Joyce has been accused of making “ahistorical comparisons to Nazi Germany” in an interview about the Indigenous voice to parliament, with Labor MP Josh Burns calling on the former deputy prime minister to apologise.

Joyce stood by his comments, made in a Sky News interview, saying he was concerned about the government wanting to “reinsert racial distinctions” into the constitution. But a leading civil rights and Holocaust expert chided the National party MP for his remarks.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...