Category Archives: Australia news

NSW supreme court rules in favour of pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Palestine Action Group claims up to 50,000 people will take part in the march which is scheduled to take place on Sunday

Pro-Palestine protesters will be legally protected while marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday after a New South Wales supreme court decision.

In her judgment, Justice Belinda Rigg said “the march at this location is motivated by the belief that the horror and urgency of the situation in Gaza demands an urgent and extraordinary response from the people of the world”.

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NSW supreme court rules in favour of pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Palestine Action Group claims up to 50,000 people will take part in the march which is scheduled to take place on Sunday

Pro-Palestine protesters will be legally protected while marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday after a New South Wales supreme court decision.

In her judgment, Justice Belinda Rigg said “the march at this location is motivated by the belief that the horror and urgency of the situation in Gaza demands an urgent and extraordinary response from the people of the world”.

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Victorians could soon have the right to work from home two days a week under Australian-first laws

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Premier Jacinta Allan to announce proposal that if legislated would make Victoria the first state to enshrine in law the right to work remotely

Victorians could soon have a legal right to work from home two days a week, under proposed Australian-first laws to be introduced to parliament by the state Labor government in 2026.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will use Labor’s state conference on Saturday to announce the proposal, which, if passed by parliament, would make the state the first in the country to legislate the right to work remotely.

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Victorians could soon have the right to work from home two days a week under Australian-first laws

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Premier Jacinta Allan to announce proposal that if legislated would make Victoria the first state to enshrine in law the right to work remotely

Victorians could soon have a legal right to work from home two days a week, under proposed Australian-first laws to be introduced to parliament by the state Labor government in 2026.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, will use Labor’s state conference on Saturday to announce the proposal, which, if passed by parliament, would make the state the first in the country to legislate the right to work remotely.

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Adani promised Australia billions from its Carmichael mine but it hasn’t paid a cent in tax. How did we get here?

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The coalmine generated millions in revenue in its early days but recorded an operating loss – a pattern that would repeat at scale

It was entirely foreseeable, and has resulted in billions of dollars in forgone revenue for Australia.

But just how did policymakers fail to extract a single cent in company tax from Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, even though it opened during the start of a commodity price boom?

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Wet and wintry weekend in store for NSW, with warnings of heavy rainfall and damaging winds

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Weather bureau says bulk of the rain forecast to hit on weekend as a low-pressure system deepens off the coast

New South Wales is heading for a sodden Saturday, with the wet and wintry weather that has been plaguing the east coast expected to ramp up over the weekend.

After a week of intermittent showers, the bulk of the rain was forecast to hit on the weekend as a low-pressure system deepened off the coast, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Sydney: Rain. Saturday max 18C. Sunday max 19C.

Melbourne: Mostly cloudy on Saturday, max 15C. Sunday, mostly sunny, max 18C.

Brisbane: Shower or two. Saturday max 19C. Sunday max 21C.

Adelaide: Partly cloudy on Saturday, max 14C. Sunday, max 17C.

Perth: Rain. Saturday, max 18C. Sunday, mostly sunny, max 29C.

Canberra: Shower or two on Saturday, top 13C. Sunday, cloudy, max 15C.

Hobart: Mostly sunny. Saturday 14C. Sunday max 15C.

Darwin: Sunny. Saturday and Sunday max 31C.

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Decision delayed for pro-Palestine protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge as police warn of possible crowd crush

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Group’s lawyers say demonstration ‘cannot be stopped’ as Christian-led group protesting antisemitism plans rally for same day

Pro-Palestine protesters will have to wait until Saturday to find out if they can legally march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend, but organisers are vowing to go ahead regardless of the court decision.

However, the court heard the protest organisers are willing to postpone the march if police agree to work with them.

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On issues from Aukus to recognising Palestine, Victorian Labor’s base is determined to be heard

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At the party’s state conference this weekend, members and unions will have their say. The question then becomes whether governments – federal and state – will listen

Scrap Aukus. Recognise Palestine. Save public housing. Overhaul childcare. On paper, the urgency resolutions up for debate at Victorian Labor’s state conference this weekend lay out a roadmap for progressive, nation-shaping reform.

But how much sway do grassroots members and unions really have on the increasingly cautious federal and state Labor governments?

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Archibald prize 2025: finger-painted portrait of musician William Barton wins people’s choice award

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Loribelle Spirovski’s painting of didgeridoo/yidaki player wins the $5,000 prize decided by the public, with more than 40,000 votes cast

Artist Loribelle Spirovski has won the 2025 Archibald prize people’s choice category for her portrait of didgeridoo player William Barton, painted entirely with her fingers.

Spirovski, a four-time finalist at the Archibald prize, Australia’s most prestigious portraiture award, won the $5,000 people’s choice category, picked from the Archibald prize finalists each year by the public. This year 40,842 votes were cast for the people’s choice category, the highest number of votes ever received.

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Fears for South Australia’s annual cuttlefish gathering amid deadly algal bloom

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Breeding event known as Cuttlefest takes place in waters off Point Lowly but this year scientists warn the effect of toxic algae could be ‘catastrophic’

As thousands of giant cuttlefish gather in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf, scientists are investigating emergency actions amid fears the state’s toxic algal bloom could be catastrophic for the globally unique natural phenomenon.

The spectacular annual cephalopod meet-up takes place in a kaleidoscope of colour off the coast of Whyalla from late May to August, attracting thousands of tourists from Australia and overseas.

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Worsening Closing the Gap measures spark Indigenous calls for ‘real power shift’

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Latest report delivers bad news on targets including adult imprisonment rates, children in out-of-home care, suicide and childhood development

Without changing the approach to Closing the Gap, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will continue to “pay the price”, Indigenous organisations say.

Just four of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met, according to the latest data from the Productivity Commission.

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Canada to recognise Palestine at UN general assembly, joining France and UK in push for new state

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New Zealand and Australia were signatories to a declaration that indicates they could follow suit in the coming months

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has announced his country plans to formally recognise Palestine during the UN general assembly in September, after France and 14 other countries co-signed a declaration that pointed towards a wave of future recognitions of an independent Palestinian state.

Canada’s plans follow similar announcements by France and the UK to formally recognise Palestine, while New Zealand and Australia were also signatories to a declaration that indicates they could follow suit in the coming months.

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Mushroom lunch murderer Erin Patterson prevented from selling house by court order

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Prosecutors granted restraining order under the confiscation act to stop the triple murderer’s Leongatha property being sold or otherwise dealt with

The property at the centre of a deadly mushroom lunch has been restrained by the court after Erin Patterson was found guilty of triple murder.

Victorian supreme court Justice Michelle Quigley granted the confiscation application over Patterson’s Leongatha property on 23 July after a closed court hearing.

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Victorian coroner calls out family violence failures after husband ambushes wife with hatchet

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‘It is critical that specialist family violence services make contact and offer support to people who use violence in a timely manner,’ coroner says

Family violence services are regularly failing to contact offenders who have been referred to them for support, a Victorian coroner investigating the death of a woman who was murdered by her estranged husband has found.

The coroner, John Cain, also found that more research should be done into “fixated threat” family violence murderers, given risk assessment tools used by police were largely inadequate in predicting homicides.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

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One in three students fail to meet Naplan benchmarks as disadvantaged fall behind

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Results found four in 10 students performed below expectations in grammar and punctuation, indicating they struggled to recognise verbs and pronouns in sentences

One in three students have failed to meet Naplan benchmarks, this year’s test results have showed, as thousands of disadvantaged students continue to fall through the cracks.

This year’s tests were taken in March by 1.3 million students across years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to measure literacy and numeracy proficiency, with results released on Wednesday by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara).

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Children to be banned from having YouTube accounts as Albanese government backflips on exemption

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Labor reverses earlier decision to exempt Google-owned platform from national social media youth ban in move communications minister says will make ‘positive difference’

Children will be banned from having YouTube accounts from December, with the federal government backflipping on an earlier decision to exempt the video platform from the national under-16s social media restrictions.

The decision, to be confirmed by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the communications minister, Anika Wells, on Wednesday, is likely to set off a furious reaction from the Google-owned YouTube, which will hold a major event for politicians in Parliament House on Wednesday night.

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Pro-Palestine protest group says ‘we will see them in court’ after police block Sydney Harbour Bridge march

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Sydney-based group say weekend demonstration ‘must go ahead’ despite police knocking back application

Organisers of a pro-Palestine protest have vowed to fight the New South Wales police in court after police decided to not facilitate a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend.

On Tuesday afternoon, the deputy police commissioner, Peter McKenna, said police had rejected an application from the organisers proposing a route across the bridge to the US consulate, citing safety risks as the reason. But he said police were open to negotiating alternative routes.

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Law professor at centre of leaked email controversy claims University of Melbourne suspended him because of his political opinion

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Exclusive: Dr Eric Descheemaeker also alleges Australia’s top-ranked university will sack him unless ‘restrained from doing so’, court documents show

A University of Melbourne law professor who claimed “‘Blak’ activists” were leading the prestigious institution to “destruction” alleges he has been suspended because of his political opinion.

Guardian Australia on Saturday revealed that Dr Eric Descheemaeker is suing Australia’s top-ranked university for discrimination. The legal action comes after a 2023 email written by Descheemaeker to the then head of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) was leaked and posted around the university’s Parkville campus last month.

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Mary Kostakidis tells court Zionist federation racial discrimination case is ‘embarrassing’ and too vague

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Exclusive: Federation head says in response that former SBS newsreader’s attempt to strike out case is ‘without foundation and should be rejected’

Mary Kostakidis has asked the federal court to strike out an “embarrassing” Zionist Federation of Australia racial discrimination claim on the grounds it fails to identify which race, ethnicity or nationality was offended by her social media posts about Israel.

The journalist’s interlocutory application said the claim is “embarrassing” because it is so ambiguous it could include ethnic Arabs who follow the Jewish faith or “a Jewish person who is ethnically Swedish”.

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Sydney mayor Clover Moore says pro-Palestine march across Harbour Bridge would be ‘powerful symbol’

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NSW Labor MP Anthony D’Adam rejects premier’s claim march would cause chaos and says it should take place in ‘two to three weeks’

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The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, has said a pro-Palestine protest involving a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge would be a “powerful symbol” and should go ahead at some point “if the community sentiment is significant enough”.

A New South Wales Labor MP has also rejected the premier’s claim a march across the bridge would cause chaos and urged police to facilitate the demonstration “within two to three weeks”.

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