Category Archives: Australia news

Body of missing eight-year-old boy found in Canberra pond

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ACT police do not believe any other party involved after previously discovering bodies of mother and brother in Yerrabi Pond on Saturday

ACT police have recovered the body of an eight-year-old boy who was missing after his mother and brother were earlier found dead in a Canberra pond.

Officers had been searching since Saturday for Pranav Vivekanandan in the water of Yerrabi Pond and the surrounding bushland at Gungahlin in Canberra’s north.

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Body found of second man who died when ute was swept off causeway in NSW floods

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Floods crisis continues across NSW and Victoria although waters are subsiding in parts of the country including Forbes and Wagga Wagga

The body of a second man who died when a ute was swept into New South Wales flood waters last week has been found in the southern tablelands, as towns throughout the state and in Victoria remain on high alert.

NSW police confirmed on Sunday that police divers had found the man’s body after the ute was swept off a flooded causeway in Bevendale, about 280km south-west of Sydney, on Monday.

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Bob Brown accuses Tanya Plibersek of putting industry above environment on Tarkine trip

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Environment minister visited Tasmania for two days and insists she’s taking mine decision seriously but Brown wanted her to visit rainforest with him

Bob Brown has accused the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, of prioritising industry over the environment by not accepting his invitation to tour Tasmania’s takayna/Tarkine rainforest when she visited the site of a controversial mining proposal.

Plibersek visited Tasmania last week to meet with representatives and workers from the minerals company MMG about its proposal to build a tailings waste dam and pipeline infrastructure in rainforest near the town of Rosebery in the state’s north-west.

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Renters in NSW would be able to transfer bond between properties under Labor election proposal

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State opposition leader Chris Minns also pushes for tighter rules around evicting tenants without reasonable grounds

Almost a million renters in New South Wales would be able to transfer their bond from one property to the next and couldn’t be kicked out of their homes without reasonable grounds given, under a plan proposed by state Labor.

The pledge ahead of the 2023 election comes amid soaring rents in Sydney and rising accommodation costs in regional areas, with NSW’s median rent increasing from $386 to $420 a week between 2016 and 2021.

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Muslim student allegedly forced to watch offensive cartoon of Muhammad at Melbourne school

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Victorian education department investigating after teacher accused of playing ‘explicit and blasphemous’ video to class

A Melbourne school has been accused of forcing a Muslim student to watch a cartoon depicting Muhammad in class, prompting an investigation by the state government.

A teacher at the college, in Melbourne’s north, allegedly played an “explicit and blasphemous” cartoon to the class that depicted the prophet Muhammad, according to the student’s father. The Victorian education department is investigating the incident.

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Nick Kyrgios settles legal case with Wimbledon spectator

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Player donated to Great Ormond Street and apologised to Anna Palus for saying she was drunk during final

Nick Kyrgios has settled a legal case with a spectator he accused of having “about 700 drinks” during this year’s Wimbledon final.

Kyrgios had complained to the umpire about the behaviour of Anna Palus during his four-set defeat by Novak Djokovic on Centre Court.

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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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