Category Archives: Australia news

Boom in unapproved medicinal cannabis products worries Australian experts

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Some patients are taking cannabis for conditions where there is little evidence it is effective, GPs and researchers say

Prescriptions for unapproved medicinal cannabis products in Australia have quadrupled since 2019, with half issued for adults aged 24 and under.

Researchers and GPs’ representatives have questioned whether the boom has led to patients taking cannabis for conditions where there is little evidence it is effective, given large gaps in the data and the role of cannabis manufacturers in promoting their product to practitioners.

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Majority of Australians back sound economic management over keeping promised tax cuts, survey suggests

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Almost half of those polled support axing stage three cuts while one quarter thought they should be kept

Support for the stage three tax cuts remains low with the majority of Australians backing sound economic management over sticking to election promises, a new survey suggests.

The research from the Australia Institute found that high-income earners were particularly likely to support the repeal of the stage three tax cuts, despite being the main beneficiaries of the changes.

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Football Australia under pressure to issue lifetime bans for Sydney fans who made Nazi salute

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Sydney United 58 supports ejected during Australia Cup final with video now being reviewed to uncover others who displayed ‘vile symbols and salutes’

Football Australia is trawling through video footage of the crowd at Saturday night’s Australia Cup final in Sydney after some fans “displayed the Hitler salute”.

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies has called for Sydney United 58 fans who displayed Nazi symbols and salutes at the match to be given lifetime bans.

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Jeff Kennett says Hawthorn racism allegations a ‘bump along the highway’ as WorkSafe investigates claims

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Outgoing president insists AFL club is not in crisis as WorkSafe urges anyone who experienced or witnessed ‘health and safety concerns’ to contact them

Outgoing Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the leaking of racism allegations at the AFL club is “unfair” and he hopes the issue can be resolved by the end of the year as WorkSafe Victoria announced it was investigating the claims.

Kennett said on Saturday night the club was not in crisis and he described the serious allegations as a “bump along the highway”. Kennett was speaking at the club’s best and fairest awards function.

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Current cybersecurity laws ‘absolutely useless’, Clare O’Neil says – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

On Optus, Dreyfus describes the incident as a “wake-up call for corporate Australia” and flags changes to the Privacy Act.

Keeping the very personal data of customers who had ceased to be customers years ago. I have yet to hear a reason why that was going on. And Optus failed to keep the information safe.

Companies throughout Australia should stop regarding all of this personal data of Australians as an asset to them, they should think of it as a liability. This is a wake-up call for corporate Australia.

We will look very hard at the settings in the Privacy Act. I may be bringing reforms to the Privacy Act before the end of the year, to try to both toughen penalties and make companies think harder about why they are storing the personal data of Australians.

That report this morning is simply, in in one of newspapers is wrong. Union officials are not excluded. Any third party seeking to adversely affect public decisions making in corrupt way will be subject to investigation by the commission.

The activities set up under this bill for this commission are directed at the public sector in Australia. It’s not directed at private activity. It’s directed at the public sector and is interaction third parties have with public officials, adversely affecting the way they go about their duties in a formal, honest manner.

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Select group of Optus customers should cancel licences and passports immediately, minister says

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Clare O’Neil says Optus has emailed 10,200 customers who had their records posted online after 10 million people affected in larger cyber hack

The 10,200 Optus customers who had their personal records posted online last week in the wake of the telco’s massive data breach should immediately cancel their driver’s licences and passports, the federal government says.

Optus has written to the 10,200 customers exposed last Monday after 10 million Australians had their records stolen from the telco a week earlier.

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Australia to launch rescue mission for women and children trapped in Syrian detention camps

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Exclusive: More than 20 Australian women and more than 40 children related to Islamic State combatants held in al-Hawl And Roj camps

The Australian government is preparing to launch a mission to rescue dozens of Australian women and children trapped in Syrian detention camps.

More than 20 Australian women and more than 40 children – the widows, sons and daughters of slain or jailed Islamic State combatants – remain within the al-Hol and Roj detention camps in north-east Syria.

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Anti-corruption body could examine Scott Morrison over Coalition’s ‘sports rorts’, Labor suggests

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Attorney general Mark Dreyfus insists new commission ‘is not an exercise in political payback’ and says it could tap phones of federal politicians

The new federal anti-corruption body could investigate Scott Morrison and the Coalition’s sports rorts scandal, the attorney general has said, while conceding some legal experts are opposed to holding public hearings only in “exceptional circumstances”.

Mark Dreyfus said on Sunday the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) would be able to tap politicians’ phones, including encrypted apps, as long as it had a warrant. Unions would not be exempt from the commission’s ability to interrogate third parties, he added.

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‘Socialism sucks’ stickers on display as CPAC Australia stokes fears of Indigenous voice

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Speaker after speaker – after wheeling out standard complaints about progressive politicians – poured scorn on the voice concept

Saturday’s CPAC conference in Sydney showed Australia’s political right is gearing up for a fight against the government’s proposed Indigenous voice to parliament – and highlighted the potential political perils of Anthony Albanese keeping many details of the constitutional change out of the public arena for now.

The Conservative Political Action Conference filled a small corner of the International Convention Centre, bringing a mixed assortment of federal senators, rightwing media personalities and international guests together for an audience of around 900. A hodge-podge of topics boiled down to broad grievances around “cancel culture”, “shadow banning” and “wokeism”; speakers variously criticised the “conservative cowardice” of Coalition politicians, the mainstream media and talk of “white privilege”.

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Peter FitzSimons to step down as ARM chair as Abetz attacks republic campaign’s ‘elitism’

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The author and journalist says his exit will pave the way for younger, more diverse voices

The chairman of the Australian Republic Movement, Peter FitzSimons, has announced he will step down from the role, paving the way for younger, more diverse voices to take the reins.

But the Australian Monarchist League says a change of leadership won’t revive the campaign or change how “elite” it is.

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Tony Abbott tells CPAC an Indigenous voice to parliament would promote ‘discrimination’

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Former Australian prime minister, senator Jacinta Price and former senator Amanda Stoker attack voice at conservative conference

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has claimed the Labor government’s proposed Indigenous voice to parliament would “institutionalise discrimination” in a speech to a conservative political conference that focused heavily on criticisms of the Aboriginal consultation body.

The Coalition senator and Warlpiri woman Jacinta Price, who also spoke at CPAC in Sydney, described the voice as “racial separatism”, telling attendees they would be “called a name” if they opposed the change. Former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker described the concept of the voice as “terrifying”.

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Australian woman deported from US says border agency told her questions about abortion were policy

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Madolline Gourley says a special agent in the office of professional responsibility told her the questions she was asked were in line with Customs and Border Protection procedures

An Australian woman says the US border agency told her that asking travellers about terminating a pregnancy is in line with their policies after she was detained at an airport and then deported.

Madolline Gourley says she was asked whether she’d had an abortion while detained at Los Angeles airport in June. It came days after Roe v Wade – the landmark court case that legalised abortion – was overturned in the United States.

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Peter FitzSimons to step down as ARM chair; protesters picket CPAC – as it happened

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FitzSimons says a new generation is stepping up to lead republic campaign. This blog is now closed

‘I managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong’: Price

Price has bragged that her first speech to parliament ended in Penny Wong fleeing the chamber.

I managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong.

I put it to Wong we need to co-design an Asian voice to parliament.

So that policies that affect Asian Australians can be their responsibility and any time I need expert advice on how to better improve Wong’s life, I can consult with the Asian voice.

I thought ‘thank you Lord for strategically placing me after my Labor colleague to deliver my first speech’.

There could be no better contrast.

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Victorian Greens say 30% of homes in new developments should be cheaper for first-time buyers

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Party to announce election policy to build 200,000 affordable and public homes and reintroduce social housing levy on developers

A plan to build 200,000 affordable and public homes will be at the heart of the Victorian Greens election campaign, with its leader, Samantha Ratnam, claiming major parties have “given up” on addressing the housing crisis due to their relationships with developers.

The party will on Saturday launch its election platform, proposing the reintroduction of a social housing levy on property developers and a requirement that 30% of homes in large developments are set aside for first-home owners.

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Renting to the highest bidder: calls for federal laws to ban practice amid Australia’s cost-of-living crisis

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It’s a landlord’s market, as hundreds queue to rent properties with negotiable prices that many simply can’t afford

Peak housing bodies are calling for nationally consistent rental laws to crack down on bidding wars putting pressure on tenants in a shrinking market.

Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have introduced reforms to ban rent bidding – the process of negotiating the price of a rental by advertising a property within a “range” or without a fixed cost.

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Liberal party emails supporters claiming Labor wants to give noncitizens voting rights

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Some noncitizens can already vote in Australia, a parliamentary committee is considering extending that to permanent residents from New Zealand

Liberal party headquarters have seized on a routine review of Australia’s most recent federal election to claim Labor wants to give noncitizens voting rights.

An email sent to Liberal party supporters has urged people to write a submission to the electoral matters parliamentary committee, claiming Labor wants to extend voting to New Zealand citizens living in Australia.

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NSW redevelopment plan poses ‘very real threat’ to Sydney’s Central station, National Trust says

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The Trust’s state conservation director wrote letters to the public and organisations citing concerns over the plan’s scale and impact

The National Trust has criticised the New South Wales government’s plan to revamp and reimagine Sydney’s Central station, claiming that the scheme “presents a genuine and very real threat to Australia’s greatest station”.

The trust’s NSW conservation director, David Burdon, wrote to members of the public and organisations for “help in saving the iconic Sydney Central station”, citing concerns over the scale and impact of the plan that would build over a portion of the heritage-listed site.

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Powerhouse Parramatta: entertainment centre ‘masquerading’ as a museum has high flood risk, inquiry finds

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NSW parliamentary committee releases scathing appraisal of decision to build $1.34bn project on site with ‘very real flood risks’

The New South Wales government’s controversial $1.34bn Powerhouse Parramatta project is in danger of becoming an entertainment and events centre “masquerading” as a museum, and the ongoing risk of flooding to a priceless collection still has not been comprehensively addressed, according to the findings in a NSW upper house inquiry.

Tabled in parliament on Friday, the committee report also delivered a scathing appraisal of the state government’s contentious decision to dismantle Victorian mansion Willow Grove to make way for the Parramatta museum, saying it had “robbed Parramatta of its rapidly dwindling heritage”.

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Labor’s deal with gas exporters will lock in high prices, consumer groups say

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Agreement raises concerns transition to lower emissions energy sector will be harder and more expensive

Energy user groups have condemned the Albanese government’s agreement with gas exporters saying it will lock in high prices that will force businesses to close, hurt households and hobble the transition of the electricity sector off fossil fuels.

The resource minister, Madeleine King, on Thursday said the government had signed a new agreement with the big gas exporters from eastern Australia that would ensure there was sufficient supplies to meet local demand.

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Australia’s CMO warns further Covid waves ‘highly likely’ – as it happened

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The minister for sport, Anika Wells, is speaking to ABC Radio about an announcement to expand the government’s scope to help people in sport report racism, abuse and mistreatement.

It comes after a range of high-profile cases in elite sport, including the damaging review into Hawthorn Football Club which contained allegations of serious mistreatment of First Nations former players, as well as the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report into the culture of gymnastics, the findings in Swimming Australia’s review of the treatment of female swimmers and the Do Better report.

It absolutely is concerning ... it’s shocking and certainly action will be taken.

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