Category Archives: Australia news

‘Second-class citizen’: man lifted on to plane as Darwin airport had no ramp for wheelchair users

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Being carried across the gap between the air bridge and the plane risked his, his wife’s and airline staffs’ safety, says passenger

An Australian man has said he was made to feel like a “second-class citizen” by being lifted on to a Jetstar flight in Darwin, as disability advocates call for a complete overhaul of the way airlines treat passengers.

Brad Wszola, 50, suffered a spinal cord injury in 2016. He uses a wheelchair, but was not able to navigate the gap between the air bridge and the plane when boarding a Jetstar flight from Darwin to Cairns on 12 August.

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Star ‘unsuitable’ to hold a casino licence in Queensland, state government says

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Independent review found a ‘serious dereliction’ of anti-money laundering responsibilities

Star Entertainment has been declared unfit to hold a casino licence in Queensland and will be issued with a notice to explain why it should continue to operate in the state.

Former judge Robert Gotterson’s report into the ASX-listed casino operator was released on Thursday after a public investigation into Star’s conduct in Queensland.

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Brittany Higgins kept dress unwashed for six months after alleged rape, court hears

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Higgins tells court she didn’t want allegation against Bruce Lehrmann to be a ‘media frenzy’ and wasn’t sure if making complaint would cost her her job

Brittany Higgins says she left the dress she wore on the night of her alleged rape untouched and unwashed for six months as she attempted to work out whether making a complaint would cause her to lose her job, a court has heard.

Higgins continued her evidence in the ACT supreme court on Thursday, also telling the jury she had felt “pressured from my workplace” to not pursue a complaint against fellow political staffer Bruce Lehrmann.

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Bernard Collaery likens his prosecution by Australia to a ‘Moscow show trial’

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Witness K’s lawyer gives first speech since case against him was dropped, argues for reform of the National Security Information Act

Bernard Collaery has likened his prosecution to a “Moscow show trial” and said the Coalition pursued him and former spy Witness K in an attempt to hide the “dirty linen” of its dealings in Timor-Leste.

In his first speech since the case against him was dropped, Collaery on Wednesday night gave an excoriating assessment of the protracted, secretive prosecution that he said caused immense turmoil for him, his family and friends, and his legal team.

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Australia news live: flood warnings issued as east coast braces for heavy rain and storms

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Kieren Perkins has backed diversity in sport at the national press club and Manasseh Sogavare, the PM of Solomon Islands, is due to arrive in Australia this afternoon on a flight from Singapore. Follow the day’s news live

Fire extinguished in Sydney shopping centre

Maria Kovacic elected NSW Liberals president

The election next March will be hard fought.

Our party will be talking directly to our community, including western Sydney and the regions, about how the Perrottet Government can improve their lives and help their families.

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Optus tells Victorians whose licences were exposed in data breach to register with roads body

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Optus yet to give specific information about what to do next to those who used Queensland driver’s licences or a passport to sign up

Optus on Wednesday wrote to Victorian victims of its data breach whose driver’s licence details have been exposed, telling them they need to register with the state’s roads authority.

The embattled telco also wrote to New South Wales licence holders on Wednesday, telling them that although their licence numbers had been exposed they did not need to apply for new permits because the state uses a dual number system that adds an additional layer of protection against identity theft.

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‘Fear of speaking out’: Queensland police officer’s sexual assaults went unreported for years, inquiry told

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Counsel assisting the inquiry Ruth O’Gorman KC suggests system is ‘stacked against female victims’

A Queensland senior sergeant who was found by an internal police investigation to have committed nine sexual assaults of junior female officers engaged in unchecked problematic conduct for 16 years due to a culture that discouraged complaints, an inquiry has heard.

The commission of inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic violence heard the man’s conduct included touching the breasts of a female subordinate, and following another into a toilet and suggesting he had come “for a blowjob”.

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Anglican archbishop of Melbourne expresses concern about Andrew Thorburn’s resignation as Essendon CEO

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Matthew Guy also criticises debate that led to resignation, after premier says views were ‘appalling’

The Anglican archbishop of Melbourne has joined Victoria’s opposition leader in criticising Andrew Thorburn’s resignation as Essendon chief executive over links to a church condemning homosexuality and abortion.

Thorburn was appointed to the role on Monday but resigned on Tuesday afternoon after sermons by the City on a Hill church, of which he is chairman, were made public.

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Sydney on track for record annual rainfall of 2.2 metres as eastern states brace for flooding

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Flood watch alerts issued for almost 40 waterways in NSW and severe weather warning in western parts of state

Sydney is on track to set a new record for its wettest ever year, with more than two months still to go, as the city braces for another 100mm of rain over the next few days.

The soggy city has recorded 2,129mm of rain between 1 January and 4 October – just 65mm shy of the record set in 1950, when the annual total reached 2,194mm.

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Fraudster who described older people’s super funds as ‘the ultimate jackpot’ pleads guilty

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Jasmine Vella-Arpaci has admitted conspiracy to defraud and conspiring to deal in crime proceeds

A Melbourne woman involved in an international syndicate to defraud millions of dollars from Australian superannuation accounts described older people as the ultimate jackpot.

Jasmine Vella-Arpaci, 24, is the only conspirator to have been charged over the fraud, which led to the group obtaining more than $3m from superannuation accounts and $238,000 from share trading.

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Young and sick children to be first Australians repatriated from Syrian detention camps

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About 60 wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed IS combatants to be rescued from Roj camp, but some women face arrest upon return to Australia

The youngest, most unwell and most vulnerable of the Australian children currently held in squalid Syrian detention camps will be the first ones repatriated to Australia. But some of their mothers could face arrest – and potential charges – upon return to the country.

The Australian government is currently implementing plans to repatriate about 60 Australian women and children – wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed Islamic State combatants – who have been held for more than three years in the dangerous detention camps in north-east Syria.

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Image of Bruce Saunders’ legs in woodchipper kept murder accused awake at night, court hears

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Gregory Lee Roser denies feeding friend into chipper and told police in 2018 it wasn’t in his nature ‘to be nasty to people’

The image of Bruce Saunders’ legs in a woodchipper kept Gregory Lee Roser awake at night, a Queensland court has been told.

Roser, now 63, told police he “felt responsible” after Saunders died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017. But Roser, in a 2018 police interview played in court on Tuesday, denied feeding his friend into the chipper, saying it was not in his nature.

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‘Shocked and saddened’: Queensland attorney general concerned by police failure to investigate alleged gang rape

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Shannon Fentiman says she will meet with Karen Iles after raising the matter with the police minister

Queensland’s attorney general says she was “shocked and saddened” by revelations that police failed to investigate a series of alleged sexual assaults against a 14-year-old girl, and has raised the matter with the state’s police minister.

Guardian Australia revealed on Tuesday that police failed to investigate the case, lost key documents, and later wrongly told the complainant that her 2004 statement had been destroyed.

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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Banks raise interest rates in response to RBA – as it happened

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Australian dollar drops and shares bounce higher on reserve bank’s dovish move. This blog is now closed

Sexual violence rife on dating apps

Dating apps need to better protect their users after a study revealed high rates of sexual violence, stalking, assault and unwanted sharing of explicit images, AAP reports.

This is highly concerning given the significant and potentially long-term impacts associated with these victimisation experiences.

These impacts include poorer health and wellbeing, including overall life satisfaction, social isolation and lower self-esteem, as well as increased risk of re-victimisation.

Considering the long- and short-term implications for victim-survivors after experiencing these harmful behaviours, there is an obvious need to develop mechanisms for protecting users.

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Dominic Perrottet denies teal threat is behind NSW ministers’ bid to move to lower house

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Pollster and federal independent both say the Liberal government should be concerned about shift towards teals

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has denied his party is mounting a coordinated defence against teal independents by installing high profile Liberal women as candidates in at-risk seats.

Two female upper house ministers have announced their hope to run in the lower house, including the metropolitan roads minister, Natalie Ward, who on Tuesday announced her intention to run in Davidson.

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Andrew Thorburn resigns as Essendon CEO after one day over links to controversial church

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Essendon says City on a Hill’s values are in ‘direct contradiction’ with its own, as Daniel Andrews labels its views on homosexuality and abortion ‘appalling’

Andrew Thorburn has resigned as Essendon chief executive 24 hours after being appointed because his links to a church condemning homosexuality and abortion were in “direct contradiction” to the values of the AFL club.

The Bombers announced on Tuesday afternoon that Thorburn, despite not holding the same personal views as the City on the Hill movement for which he is chairman, felt he could not serve in both roles and had offered his resignation.

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Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer accuses Brittany Higgins of ‘erasing’ details from night of alleged rape

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Steve Wyborn tells court Australians had been ‘sold a pup’ with Higgins’s allegations Lehrmann sexually assaulted her in Parliament House

Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer has told jurors that Brittany Higgins “erased” key details from the night of her alleged rape inside Parliament House, saying the Australian public had been “sold a pup” over the allegations.

On Tuesday the trial of Lehrmann, a former political staffer, over the alleged sexual assault of Higgins inside Parliament House began in Canberra.

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Families of Australians held in Syrian detention camps welcome ‘incredibly exciting’ news of planned repatriation

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One man whose daughter and grandchildren are in the Roj camp says the government has not notified family members of rescue missions

A lawyer for Australians trapped in Syrian detention camps say conditions are “volatile and unsafe” inside the camps as winter approaches, with interruptions to food and water supply, and the need for their repatriation growing increasingly urgent.

Guardian Australia reported on Sunday that the government was preparing an operation to start repatriating more than 60 Australians – widows and children of slain or jailed Islamic State fighters – who are in the al-Hawl and Roj detention camps. About 20 are adults, many of whom say they were coerced or tricked into travelling to Syria by husbands who have since died.

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Victorian boy, 13, has mental capacity to be tried for murder of Declan Cutler, court hears

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Psychologist’s report on behalf of prosecution cites boy’s respect for ‘gang members’ and ‘adherence to an alternative moral code”

A psychologist has found that a 13-year-old Victorian boy charged with murder could be tried for the crime, saying that his respect for “gang members” and “adherence to an alternative moral code” shows he has the mental capacity to understand right from wrong.

The boy, who cannot be named, is one of eight teenagers charged over the murder of Declan Cutler.

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‘Dark ages’: Brisbane lord mayor pushes for Queensland to adopt daylight savings

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Adrian Schrinner promotes economic benefits in latest bid to change clocks, saying state is ‘letting good daylight hours go to waste’

In Hervey Bay, Paul unwittingly switched on Sunday night’s NRL grand final 60 minutes after kick-off. The game he was watching had a half to go but the result had already been decided.

Paul was among those suffering after Queensland’s reluctance to join much of the country in winding clocks forward an hour for the annual introduction of daylight savings.

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