Category Archives: Australia news

Albanese meeting with Chinese premier heralds potential thaw in diplomatic freeze

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Meeting with Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, is first between leaders of Australia and China since 2019

Anthony Albanese has met the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, at a gala dinner in Cambodia, opening the first leader-to-leader dialogue between the two countries since 2019.

The Australian prime minister’s office confirmed on Sunday the two leaders had a brief exchange after arriving at the dinner in Phnom Penh. The last conversation between the leaders of the two countries occurred when Scott Morrison and Li met in 2019.

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Government considers making cyber ransom payments illegal after Medibank hack

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Minister Clare O’Neil says health insurer was right not to pay ransom, even as hackers threatened to release more customer data to dark web

It could soon be illegal for companies that fall victim to data breaches to pay ransoms to the hackers.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, confirmed the government was examining whether new laws were needed to stop ransom payments in the wake of the Medibank and Optus data breaches.

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Anthony Albanese signals to China that Australia is open for dialogue without ‘preconditions’

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Australian prime minister says it ‘would be positive’ if he and Xi Jinping met at Asean summit

Anthony Albanese has sent a clear public signal to the Chinese leadership that Australia is open for dialogue during international summits over the coming days, saying he is prepared to meet his counterpart without “preconditions” .

With the US president, Joe Biden, set to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Bali on Monday, Australia’s prime minister told reporters at the Asean-Australia summit in Cambodia on Saturday a conversation was “not locked in at this point” and he was awaiting “finalisation of any meeting”.

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Albanese meets Ukraine foreign minister, who says it will be a ‘joint success’ when Russia defeated

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Australian prime minister commits to 30 more Bushmasters as Dmytro Kuleba asks for help with energy needs

Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has declared his country will prevail in the war with Russia, and he has told the Australian prime minister “when victory comes, it will be our joint success”.

Having landed in Phnom Penh on Friday night, Anthony Albanese opened his summit season program in Cambodia on Saturday with a meeting with Kuleba on the sidelines of the Asean-Australia summit.

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Medibank hack: Clare O’Neil says new cybercrime operation will hunt down ‘Russian thugs’

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Officials drawn from AFP and the Australian Signals Directorate to form ‘joint standing operation’ against cybercriminal syndicates

Australia has awoken from a cyber “slumber” and will “day in, day out hunt down the scumbags” who have stolen the health data of nearly 10 million Australians, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has said.

After the Russian embassy complained it had not been informed the Australian government would publicly accuse Russian cybercriminals of being behind a hack on private health insurer Medibank, O’Neil did not resile from publicly blaming Russians for the hack.

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PM appoints new special envoy to south-east Asia – as it happened

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PM gives address at Asean summit in Cambodia underscoring Australia’s commitment to partners and to regional values

Infectious diseases specialist Dr Noor Bari says the situation unfolding with the Majestic Princess is serious for more reasons than many believe.

She says that despite cruise line companies upgrading their HEPA/UVC air intake systems, a critical number of cases on board can quickly overwhelm the limited facilities on board.

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Majestic Princess: cruise ship passengers disembark in Sydney after mass Covid outbreak

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Covid-positive passengers told to stay away from public transport after biggest single outbreak since Ruby Princess

The Majestic Princess cruise ship – carrying about 800 Covid-19 positive passengers – has docked in Sydney and passengers have disembarked in the city.

The ship docked at Circular Quay early Saturday morning, having sailed from New Zealand. It will depart Sydney for Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.

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Jacqui Lambie’s instinct is to blow the IR debate up while David Pocock is all ears – that’s why he is the kingmaker

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Lambie has been quick to judge the workplace bill as a union power-grab but Pocock is accumulating ideas around his proposal to split the legislation

When David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie found their way into the Senate’s balance of power, Labor’s chances of passing bills brightened.

Both have a reputation as pragmatists, but when it comes to navigating its complex industrial relations legislation through the Senate by winning one of their swing votes, the government is not spoiled for choice.

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Coal projects in Great Barrier Reef catchments approved without environmental impact statements

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Environmental groups call on Queensland government to end exemptions, with six mining ventures already given green light

At least eight coalmining projects in Great Barrier Reef catchments and floodplains have been exempted from requiring environmental impact statements by the Queensland government, with six already gaining state environmental approval.

A coalition of environmental groups that includes the Australian Conservation Foundation, Birdlife and the Queensland Conservation Council is now lobbying the Palaszczuk government to end such exemptions.

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‘A cop out’: staff condemn NSW parliament’s statement on cultural problems

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Exclusive: ‘Statement of acknowledgment’ fails to recognise Indigenous, culturally diverse or LGBTQIA+ perspectives, say critics

A “statement of acknowledgment” of widespread cultural problems within the New South Wales parliament currently fails to recognise the experiences of Indigenous, culturally diverse and LGBTQIA+ staffers, with one calling it “a cop out”.

A draft form of the acknowledgment, made in response to workplace issues identified by the damning Broderick report, has been circulated ahead of the final to version being delivered in parliament on Tuesday.

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BoM rebranding aimed to overcome ‘negative associations related to the acronym’, internal documents reveal

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In late 2021, the Bureau of Meteorology was telling staff ‘the point of this change is to build trust’ and public trust could ‘save millions of lives’

The Bureau of Meteorology told staff it wanted to avoid the BoM nickname due to “negative associations related to the acronym”, newly released documents about the agency’s aborted rebranding reveal.

That explanation was dropped from a later version of an internal style guide, however, with that document stating the bureau was simply focused on “reclaiming our name”.

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NT federal Labor MP says families need to be more accountable for youth crime

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State proposal to take unsupervised children off Alice Springs streets a ‘Band-Aid solution’ that will fail, Marion Scrymgour says

Federal Labor MP Marion Scrymgour says a Northern Territory government plan to take unsupervised children off the streets at night is “putting a Band-Aid on the situation” and she is calling for traditional owners “to show leadership on the issue”.

Scrymgour has raised concerns about the proposal in which children undertaking “risky” behaviour in Alice Springs at night would be taken into custody for assessment, and removed from their families if they are found to be continuously unsupervised.

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Teal candidates secure top spots on ballot papers ahead of Victorian state election

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Daniel Andrews also listed first in his seat in Mulgrave, while Matthew Guy will appear sixth in Bulleen

Teal independent candidate Nomi Kaltmann will be placed at the top of the ballot paper in the tightly held seat of Caulfield during the Victorian state election, with Daniel Andrews also securing the most coveted spot in Mulgrave.

Kaltmann was one of two teal candidates in Melbourne’s south-east to secure the top spot, after all 88 lower house seats and eight upper house regions had their ballots drawn for the 26 November poll on Friday afternoon.

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Covid cases surge nationally as ‘fourth wave’ hits – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Albanese on Xi Jinping: ‘we will no doubt be at the same meetings’

Will Anthony Albanese meet with China’s president Xi Jinping in the coming week? He’s staying mum.

What I want to see with the relationship with China is cooperation where we can, but we of course will maintain our Australian values where we must. So dialogue is always good, a meeting is not locked in at this point in time. But we will no doubt be at the same meetings. The East Asia summit, the G20, and Apec is going to be a busy time in international diplomacy.

Now this act is just disgusting, targeting women who have had a pregnancy termination is about as cowardly as you can get.

I just want to say to those women this morning, we hear you, we are with you, and we love you. If you need help, please reach out and we are absolutely determined to target the criminals who have done this disgusting act.

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Covid-19 case numbers exploding across Australia as fourth wave takes off

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Chief health officers urge people to take up protective measures as Covid hospitalisations double in some states

The number of active Covid cases has exploded across the country as Australia enters its fourth wave, prompting renewed warnings to protect vulnerable aged care residents.

Jurisdictions collectively recorded more than 58,000 new cases of Covid in the past week, with some states reporting a doubling in the number of people hospitalised with the virus.

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Flood-hit communities on high alert with heavy rain to sweep across much of Australia

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Widespread showers and storms forecast for Sunday could cause rapid river rises and flash flooding in parts of NSW and Victoria

Parts of Victoria and New South Wales could be hit with new flood emergencies as soon as this weekend, with heavy rain forecast to cause rapid river rises and flash flooding while also putting further pressure on already-full catchments.

“Forecast rainfall in coming days will likely push many rivers and creeks back into moderate to major flooding, as well as prolonging existing flood peaks,” the Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

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Deaths of mother and two sons found in Canberra pond being treated as murder-suicide, police say

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No one else was involved, ACT police say, with complex investigation ongoing

The deaths of a mother and her two young children is being treated as a murder-suicide after their three bodies were found in a pond in Canberra’s north, police say.

ACT police recovered the bodies of the mother and her two boys from Yerrabi Pond at Gungahlin last weekend.

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Australia’s consumer watchdog calls for new laws to stop scams and rein in anti-competitive behaviour online

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ACCC report says digital platforms expose users and businesses to ‘harms’ as it pushes for overhaul

Australia’s competition regulator has run out of patience with digital platforms such as Google and Facebook and has recommended new laws to clamp down on scams, address consumer complaints and rein in anti-competitive behaviour.

Releasing its fifth progress report on digital platforms since it began an inquiry in 2017, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has called for industry-specific legislation, saying it has identified “widespread, entrenched and systematic” consumer and competition “harms”.

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Lismore divided as council rejects plan to build temporary homes for flood survivors

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One councillor accused of ‘fear-mongering and smears’ over comments about crisis accommodation residents as families worry about future

A proposal by Resilience NSW to construct 40 modular homes for flood survivors on a sports field in the New South Wales northern rivers town of Lismore has been rejected by the local council, leaving the town divided.

The proposal had been scaled back after an initial plan was voted down by Lismore council two months ago, six votes to five.

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New child removal protections passed but NSW minister says more can be done to end Indigenous ‘over representation’

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Exclusive: Further changes to new legislation requiring social workers to prove they have made ‘active efforts’ to keep families together will be considered in a year

The minister responsible for child services in New South Wales says she wants to do more to address the “over representation” of Aboriginal children removed from their families, acknowledging the community’s frustration at the slow pace of reform.

On Thursday, the government passed a new bill that requires social workers to prove they have made “active efforts” to keep families together before courts can approve the removal of children from their parents.

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