Category Archives: Australia news

Chris Baghsarian: police hopes fade of finding 85-year-old kidnap victim alive after raid on Dural property

Posted on by

NSW police search ‘makeshift stronghold’ in Wildthorn Ave, Dural after Baghsarian abducted from North Ryde home last Friday in case of mistaken identity

Police say “hope is fading” to find Chris Baghsarian alive as investigations continue into an abandoned and “derelict” house where they believe the grandfather was kept sometime in the past week.

A warrant has been executed and a crime scene has been established at the semi-rural property on Wildthorn Ave in Dural, about 36km north-west of Sydney, after police swarmed the area on Thursday night.

Continue reading...

Alleged Australian IS fighters transferred from Syria to Iraq where they could face death penalty

Posted on by

Dfat says it is aware Australians are among 5,704 detainees transferred out of Syrian prisons and into Iraqi custody

A group of Australian men suspected of being former Islamic State fighters are among more than 5,000 detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq, where they potentially face charges which could carry the death penalty.

Iraq’s national centre for international judicial cooperation confirmed last Friday it had taken custody of the 5,704 alleged former fighters from 61 countries, including citizens of Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

Continue reading...

Sydney businessman falsely claimed security advice given to Chinese spies came from Kevin Rudd, court hears

Posted on by

The former PM is expected to testify in the foreign interference trial of businessman Alexander Csergo

Security and defence advice falsely claimed to have come from the former prime minister Kevin Rudd was supplied to Chinese intelligence agents by an Australian businessman, a jury has heard.

Rudd is expected to testify in the foreign interference trial of businessman Alexander Csergo, which began on Thursday.

Continue reading...

KPMG asks Sydney writers’ festival to delete its name from website after Randa Abdel-Fattah confirmed as speaker

Posted on by

Festival confirmed writer and academic would appear in two sessions in 2026 following disinvitation from Adelaide event

Global accounting giant KPMG has distanced itself from the Sydney writers’ festival, requesting its name be removed from the event’s website where it was listed as a corporate partner.

The move follows the festival scheduling Palestinian Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah to speak at two sessions in this year’s event.

Continue reading...

With Australian private health insurance premiums set to jump by 4.41%, will policies deliver more or just cost more?

Posted on by

The biggest premium hike in 10 years prompts questions, as government incentives continue to drive people to take out cover merely to avoid tax penalties

The government has approved a 4.41% private health insurance premium rise from April – the largest hike in almost 10 years.

With consumers already grappling with cost-of-living pressures, including an interest rate rise earlier in February, more Australians are likely to be wondering whether keeping their private health insurance is worth it.

Melissa Davey is Guardian Australia’s medical editor

Continue reading...

‘I will do you and him in’: Julian Ingram threatened former de facto partner a decade before Lake Cargelligo murders, court documents say

Posted on by

Exclusive: Man accused of triple murders last month previously sentenced to prison after intimidating another partner

Julian Ingram told a former partner he had a “gun and a hole” for a man he assumed to be her new partner and made threats towards her, their child and her mother a decade before he allegedly murdered three people and went on the run, according to court documents.

Last month, Ingram – also known as Julian Pierpoint – allegedly shot dead his pregnant former partner Sophie Quinn, her new boyfriend and her aunt in Lake Cargelligo, about 450km west of Sydney. A large-scale manhunt for the 37-year-old is under way.

Continue reading...

Federal MPs accept free sport tickets from gambling companies amid calls to restrict wagering ads

Posted on by

Tabcorp and Sportsbet provided tickets to at least six Liberal and Labor politicians, register of interests shows

At least six federal Labor and Liberal politicians, including an assistant minister and shadow ministers, have disclosed they accepted free tickets to lucrative sporting events from major gambling companies in the past six months, as the government faces calls to restrict wagering ads and better regulate the sector.

Anthony Chisholm, the assistant minister for regional development and agriculture, has declared twice in recent months taking tickets and hospitality from Tabcorp for major horse race meets in Victoria and Queensland. Sportsbet, Australia’s biggest online bookmaker, also provided tickets to rugby union, the Australian Open or race meets to the Labor MPs Raff Ciccone and Dan Repacholi, Coalition shadow ministers Dan Tehan and Tim Wilson, and Liberal MP Mary Aldred.

Continue reading...

Role of far-right manosphere in homophobic attacks on men to be investigated in Victoria

Posted on by

Exclusive: Greens move to call parliamentary inquiry after series of ‘disturbing’ attacks targeting gay and bisexual men lured via dating apps

The role of “far-right manosphere influencers” in fuelling homophobic attacks where victims were lured through fake dating app profiles before being assaulted is set to be investigated by a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

Aiv Puglielli, the Greens’ equality spokesperson, will on Wednesday move a motion calling on the upper house’s legal and social issues committee to investigate the scale of such crimes, as well as the state’s current response and support available to victims.

Continue reading...

Algorithm-based tool for home support funding is cruel and inhumane, Australian aged care workers warn

Posted on by

Exclusive: Mark Aitken, who worked in the sector for 16 years, said eight times out of 10 he disagreed with the integrated assessment tool

Aged care clinicians and carers say an algorithm-based assessment tool that determines federal home support funding packages is “cruel” and “inhumane”, stripping away clinical expertise and leaving elderly people with inadequate support.

The integrated assessment tool (IAT), introduced in November, is used across aged care to determine eligibility and classification for services, including residential care.

Continue reading...

Liam Alexander Hall named as man accused of attempted Invasion Day bombing in Perth

Posted on by

Liam Alexander Hall is the first person to be charged with terrorism offences in Western Australia

A Perth magistrate has lifted a suppression order on the identity of Liam Alexander Hall, a 32-year-old man accused of attempting to bomb an Invasion Day rally in Perth.

Magistrate Lynette Dias told the court on Tuesday that openness of the court is fundamental in the administration of justice.

Continue reading...

Tony Burke ‘taking advice’ from security agencies about Australian women and children in Syria seeking to return

Posted on by

Temporary Exclusion Orders allow the home affairs minister to stop a person entering for up to two years, but there is a high bar for the powers

Home affairs minister Tony Burke is “taking advice” from security agencies on whether Australian women and children in a Syrian detention camp should be temporarily banned from returning, but it is unclear how many in the cohort such an order would apply to.

On Monday night, 34 Australian women and children – the wives, widows and children of dead or jailed Islamic State fighters – left from the al-Roj camp, in north-eastern Syria, after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.

Continue reading...

Taunts, harassment and assaults: landmark report finds racism at Australian universities is ‘systemic’

Posted on by

Survey by Australian Human Rights Commission found universities failed to meet duty of care, while complaints processes were ‘Kafkaesque’

Racism is “systemic” at Australia’s universities, according to a landmark report found students have mocked their Palestinian peers with shouts of “terrorism”, some students have been followed by campus security and First Nations students have been compared to “petrol sniffers” in lecture halls.

The report also found Jewish students were fearful to attend classes, with one harassed for wearing their kippa walking to class and another who described people screaming “send them to the camps” at a group of Jews on campus.

Continue reading...

NDIS plans will be computer-generated, with human involvement dramatically cut under sweeping overhaul

Posted on by

Exclusive: Staff were told of major changes to the way NDIS funding and support plans will be made during a recent internal briefing

Funding and support plans for national disability insurance scheme participants will be generated by a computer program and staff will have no discretion to amend them, under a major overhaul of the NDIS to be rolled out next year, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Under the changes, human involvement in deciding support for NDIS participants will be dramatically reduced.

Continue reading...

Australia’s heaviest betters undeterred by key gambling reform, research shows

Posted on by

Exclusive: Report finds ban on credit card use for online wagering results in most gamblers switching to transaction account payments

One of the Albanese government’s flagship gambling reforms, a ban on using credit cards for online wagering, had the least impact on Australia’s heaviest betters, new research shows.

The ban saw most gamblers swap their form of payment to transaction accounts and left open a range of loopholes dedicated wagerers could exploit, according to a report by the e61 Institute.

Continue reading...

Sea World helicopter pilot ‘had a breakdown and took cocaine’ before crash, inquest told

Posted on by

Ashley Jenkinson, who died in the crash on 2 January 2023, was seen inhaling a white powder at a New Year’s Eve party

Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

A helicopter pilot involved in one of Australia’s worst air disasters had a mental “breakdown” and used cocaine the day before making tourist joy flights, a coroner has heard.

Ashley Jenkinson, 40, was among four people who died when his Sea World chopper collided midair with another outside the Gold Coast theme park on 2 January 2023.

Continue reading...

Bid by Gina Rinehart’s company to build helipad set to be blocked by City of Perth

Posted on by

Hancock says facility is ‘modern necessity’ but opponents argue the noise would disrupt local businesses

Gina Rinehart’s company has claimed helicopter pads are a necessity of modern business as it fights to install one at its new headquarters in West Perth.

The City of Perth on Tuesday recommended councillors block the request from Hancock Iron Ore to install a helipad as it redevelops its offices.

Continue reading...

Hundreds potentially affected by Victoria police weapons searches that breached law

Posted on by

Exclusive: wide-ranging police powers used to conduct non-compliant searches that resulted in 33 people being charged or fined

Victoria police will inform the state’s anti-corruption watchdog that it did not comply with the law when it used wide-ranging powers to search people for weapons on 23 separate occasions dating back eight years.

The non-compliant searches resulted in 33 people being charged or fined, all of whom will be contacted by police and informed of the problem.

Continue reading...

Western Australian farmer dies trying to protect property from fast-moving bushfire

Posted on by

Man in his 60s was fighting large blaze near Ravensthorpe, about 500km south-east of Perth

A farmer working frantically to protect his property from a fast-moving bushfire has died after his vehicle was engulfed in flames.

The man aged in his 60s was operating a front-end loader as he tried to create a fire break at West River, about 500km drive south-east of Perth on Monday afternoon.

Continue reading...

Get shucking: South Australians urged to eat oysters and donate shells for reef restoration project

Posted on by

Shrimp soundtrack will be played under water to lure baby oysters in program aimed at fighting algal blooms

South Australians are being urged to feast on local oysters and then donate the shells to restore native reefs, which will filter ocean water and help fight harmful algal blooms.

The program will also involve lumps of limestone being sunk in the ocean, with a soundtrack of snapping shrimp playing on underwater speakers to lure baby oysters in.

Continue reading...

Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children

Posted on by

Exclusive: Legislation would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures until child can give informed consent, bringing state in line with ACT

Victoria will become the first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, with legislation to be introduced to parliament to ensure procedures are deferred until patients are old enough to consent to them.

The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, will on Tuesday introduce the health safeguards for people born with variations in sex characteristics bill, which if passed would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures and treatments on intersex infants and children until they can provide informed consent.

Continue reading...