Category Archives: Australia news

Murder accused had premonition about ‘terrible accident’ before man found in woodchipper, Brisbane court hears

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Barry Collins says his ex-wife Sharon Graham told him someone was ‘going to get hurt’ while clearing land

Weeks before Bruce Saunders was found dead in a woodchipper, Sharon Graham had a premonition about a terrible accident, a Brisbane court has been told.

Graham, 61, and Gregory Lee Roser, 63, are on trial having pleaded not guilty to murder after the 54-year-old Saunders died when working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

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Clare O’Neil suggests Labor may legislate fines after Optus data breach – as it happened

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The Nationals want to get back to their roots – the regions.

The country party are launching a “regional listening tour” to find out what is affecting people in the country.

Migration is not the only solution to the challenges our regions are up against,” Littleproud said.

We need to look at what can be done now to help those Australians that are already in town.

We know distance is one of the greatest barriers to opportunity. So we’re coming to your town to create this opportunity to share your concerns and help us come up with the solutions.

For example, would a Regional University Centre stop our children from leaving town? Or could paying their HELP debts be the incentive they need to stay where we need them?

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Australian surfer Chris Davidson dies after punch outside pub

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Man charged after 45 year-old former champion found unconscious on ground on NSW mid north coast

A man has faced court over the death of the former surfing champion Chris Davidson who died after being punched outside a pub on the NSW mid north coast.

Police said they were called to Sportsmans Way at South West Rocks just after 11pm on Saturday following reports a man had been punched in the face, fallen and hit his head on the pavement.

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Woman hit by rollercoaster at Melbourne Royal Show while ‘trying to retrieve dropped phone’

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The woman in her 20s received critical head injuries and was taken to hospital

A woman is fighting for her life after being hit by a rollercoaster at the Melbourne Royal Show, reportedly while trying to retrieve a dropped mobile phone.

Police set up a crime scene at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Ascot Vale to determine how the woman in her 20s came to be struck by the carriage about 5:45pm on Sunday.

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Australian soldier alleges torture survival course involved simulated child rape and left him with PTSD

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Exclusive: The defence force’s alleged handling of the training course prompted a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission

A secretive torture training program has caused debilitating and unnecessary trauma to some Australian soldiers by forcing them into shocking acts of humiliation, including the simulated rape of child dolls and masturbating sex toys over bibles, a whistleblower has alleged.

The Australian Defence Force’s alleged handling of the controversial training course, known as Conduct After Capture Level C, has prompted one traumatised ex-soldier to complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission and prepare a federal court case challenging its legality, the Guardian can reveal.

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First ad for yes vote on Indigenous voice asks all Australians to talk about referendum

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‘History is calling’, according to ad from Uluru Dialogue group, which says it’s the start of a ‘journey of nation-building’

The first ad campaign to encourage a yes vote in a referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is an emotive pitch targeted at everyday Australians from different walks of life.

The Uluru Dialogue group has produced the ad to support its voice referendum campaign, “History is calling”. It coincides with one local council making a call for 1,000 volunteers to sign up for a training program to raise support for a yes vote.

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Queensland lab at the centre of DNA testing failures allegedly beset by workplace conflicts

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Exclusive: state government was aware of problems at forensic lab, which included bullying complaints and ‘vendettas’ against managers

Alleged serious DNA testing failures at Queensland’s troubled forensic lab developed alongside a “chronic toxic culture” in the workplace, including a large number of bullying complaints, claims of “vendettas” against managers and staff requiring stress leave.

Guardian Australia can reveal the state government engaged consulting companies, psychologists, mediators and lawyers in an attempt to fix long-running cultural problems at the Queensland Health forensic and scientific services facility.

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Richard Marles condemns Russia’s ‘appalling’ nuclear threat and pledges long-term Ukraine support

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Australia’s defence minister says Vladimir Putin’s threat ‘cannot be allowed to stand’

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has condemned the latest nuclear threat from Russia as “appalling”, and says Australia is preparing to support Ukraine for a protracted military conflict.

Speaking on Sunday, the deputy prime minister said the threat from the Russian president Vladimir Putin last week to use the country’s nuclear arsenal as part of its ongoing war with Ukraine could “not be allowed to stand”.

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Northern NSW towns likely to be isolated for days as floods continue – follow live

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NSW premier reports more than 60 flood rescues and says BoM and SES working around the clock

The Tasmanian government is scaling down its operation at the site where hundreds of whales were stranded on the state’s west coast.

In a statement last night, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said its staff will continue to monitor a “small number of whales” in Macquarie Harbour following the mass stranding this week.

Through extensive aerial and vessel surveillance of Macquarie Harbour we have identified a small number of whales within the harbour precinct.

A number of those are still free swimming. However, we do have a couple that are stranded in shallower waters. We currently have crews responding to those animals and we aim to free them and get them swimming out of the harbour throughout the course of the afternoon.

Given the current flooding, saturated catchments and full dams, this forecast front will likely exacerbate the current riverine flooding with multiple systems anticipated to see prolonged or renewed minor to major flooding.

With catchments wet and many dams at capacity, waterways are very sensitive to rainfall, and further river rises and renewed flooding are likely for the inland catchments.

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Cycling Road World Championships favourite Mathieu van der Poel charged with assault in Sydney

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Dutch cyclist retires early from Wollongong race following alleged night-time altercation with teenagers at hotel

Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel, who was the favourite going into the UCI Road World Championships elite men’s road race in Wollongong, was arrested and charged with common assault on Saturday night following an incident at his hotel.

He started the race on Sunday morning but retired after less than an hour of racing.

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‘They belong to Waramungu’: New Zealand museum agrees to return items to Indigenous Australians

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Warumungu people in Northern Territory negotiate return of four objects collected by anthropologist Baldwin Spencer in the early 1900s

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Four objects from the Warumungu people will be returned from a New Zealand museum to country in the Northern Territory.

Two hooked boomerangs (wartilykirri), an adze (palya/kupija) and an axe (ngurrulumuru) were collected by well-known anthropologist Baldwin Spencer and telegraph operator James Field.

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Turtle concern: Australian businessman denies threatening to sell Conflict Islands to China

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Ian Gowrie-Smith says he was frustrated the Australian government did not respond to urgent funding request for turtle conservation

The owner of 21 tropical islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea says he never threatened to sell them to China and his main aim is to save the turtles that nest there.

Ian Gowrie-Smith, an Australian businessman and investor, bought the Conflict Islands, which lie less than 1,000km from the Australian coast, almost two decades ago.

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Time is running out on the Murray-Darling plan. Should Tanya Plibersek reach for the big guns?

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NSW and Victoria have dragged their heels and now risk the federal government taking over Australia’s most important river system

State governments which have dragged their heels on delivering on their commitments under the Murray-Darling Basin plan are now risking a federal government takeover of water policy after June 2024.

They must judge whether the federal water minister, Tanya Plibersek, will be prepared to reach for the cudgels that are built into the Murray-Darling Basin plan and take over administration of Australia’s most important river system.

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Australia has a golden opportunity to expand solar energy manufacturing

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World’s desire to wean off over-reliance on China could be a boon for local producers, according to the Australian PV Institute

Australia has a golden opportunity to expand its solar energy manufacturing capacity as the industry booms and nations scramble to cut their over-dependence on China, a report by the Australian Australian PV Institute Institute says.

The country is installing 4GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity a year already but meeting just 3% of that from a local supplier, Adelaide’s Tindo Solar. That annual installation tally, though, is predicted to triple by 2050, particularly if Australia becomes a major supplier of hydrogen produced by renewable energy for export.

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Australian air travellers waiting more than three months for passports as Covid delays persist

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Australia Post offers a priority service for $225 but there are fears it will just push those already waiting further into a backlog

Thousands of Australians are heading into school holidays anxiously waiting for new passports to arrive, with longer wait times for first-time adult and children’s passports amid ongoing delays.

The Australian Passport Office (APO) continues to see unprecedented demand post-Covid, receiving up to 15,000 applications per day and experiencing around six weeks of work in the processing queue.

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Technical glitch: frustrated AFL fans served episodes of Border Security instead of grand final

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Seven West Media says the issue was unique to certain web and mobile platforms for which it does not have broadcast rights

Instead of watching the AFL grand final kick-off on Saturday some frustrated fans found themselves watching episodes of Border Security due to a glitch with Seven’s streaming service.

People who planned to watch the game remotely on 7plus began posting on social media about the technical issue, which saw them served episodes of the popular reality show instead of the game.

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AFP investigates $1m ransom demand posted online for allegedly hacked Optus data

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Attorney general Mark Dreyfus has been briefed by the privacy commissioner about hack and is seeking ‘urgent’ meeting with telco

The Australian federal police is investigating after the data of millions of Optus customers exposed during a recent hack was allegedly put up for sale online.

On Saturday morning a post appeared on a data market from a user claiming to be in possession of the information obtained from the breach with a demand for $1m in Monero cryptocurrency.

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PM speaks out against discrimination; Penny Wong calls on China to rein in Putin – as it happened

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Dozens of flood warnings across NSW after state lashed by heavy rainfall overnight. This blog is now closed

Wong highlights decline in the UN’s Human Development Index

Despite inheriting the biggest debt in our nation’s history, the new Australian Government is determined to play its part in supporting the development of other nations, particularly in our region.

We are alarmed that, for the first time, the UN’s Human Development Index has declined for two consecutive years – in 2020 and 2021 – and the impact of this decline has been most severe on women and girls, with nearly half a billion women and girls now living in extreme poverty. And the global food security crisis is increasingly grave.

The Australian parliament I serve in is ever more reflective of our modern nation, both enriched by their diversity. And this follows the collective decision of the Australian people to turn the page and write a new future for themselves. Newly elected parliamentarians have origins from across the world and Indigenous Australians have been elected in record numbers and serve in the ministry in record numbers.

The new Australian government is determined to make real progress on the national journey of healing with Indigenous Australians, the First Peoples of our continent. And as foreign minister, I am determined to see First Nations perspective at the heart of Australian foreign policy, and this week I have been encouraged by discussions with other countries on their own journeys. I am humbled to be guided in these efforts by First Nations colleagues.

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Five-year-old boy dies after car washed away in flood waters in NSW’s central west

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Emergency services rescued four people clinging to trees after two vehicles became trapped in floods

A five-year-old boy has died after the vehicle he was travelling in was washed away in flood waters in New South Wales’ central west.

Two vehicles became trapped in flood waters on the McGrane Way at Tullamore, north-west of Parkes on Friday night.

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Fears for Indigenous rock art as construction begins on WA’s Burrup peninsula

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Ex-chair of Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation says hydrogen plant, gas facility and proposed urea plant are all threats to cultural sites

Traditional custodians fighting to protect ancient rock art on the Burrup peninsula have raised concerns that construction work has begun at multiple sites despite the federal government ordering a cultural heritage assessment of the area.

The peninsula in northern Western Australia is home to industrial operations including of the country’s largest gas producer Woodside, the Yara Pilbara ammonia plant and a proposed urea plant by Indian company Perdaman.

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