Category Archives: Australia news

Nearly 2,000 Australian children have lost parents to Covid

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For every 100 Covid-related death in Australia, around 13 young people lost one or both of their parents, ANU study finds

Nearly 2,000 Australian children have lost a parent to Covid-19 during the pandemic, according to new data.

A global study by the Australian National University (ANU), based on 2021 data, has estimated that for every 100 Covid-related death in Australia, around 13 young people lost one or both of their parents.

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Burning native forest wood waste for electricity shouldn’t be classed as renewable energy, Senate report suggests

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Climate bill inquiry says government should consider establishing a transition authority for coal and gas workers

A Labor-led committee has recommended the government consider changing a controversial law classifying electricity from burning native forest wood waste as renewable energy after the Senate votes for its climate change legislation.

The Senate committee inquiry into Labor’s climate change bill also recommended the Albanese government consider how to help with “transition arrangements” for fossil fuel workers affected by the shift to a cleaner economy.

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Big business and unions reveal shared policies on three big ticket items ahead of jobs summit

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Business Council and ACTU agree on need to boost paid parental leave, reform migration skills lists and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition

Big business and unions have agreed on three big ticket items ahead of the jobs and skills summit, including a boost to paid parental leave.

The Business Council of Australia and Australian Council of Trade Unions released their shared policies on Thursday, which include the need to extend paid parental leave, reform migration skills lists and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition.

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Australian house prices falling at fastest rate since 1980s as ‘sharp’ downturn widens

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CoreLogic says every capital city except Darwin fell in August, with Sydney dropping 2.2%

Every capital city in Australia except Darwin is now in a housing downturn, according to a new report, with values falling at a trajectory not seen since the 1980s.

CoreLogic’s home value index shows national housing values are falling rapidly, after rising about 29% during a period of sharp growth.

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Cosmetic surgery in Australia to be monitored by enforcement unit to improve patient safety

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Medical regulator and board agree to strengthen industry standards after review revealed unsafe practices and misleading advertising

Cosmetic surgery practitioners will be policed by a dedicated enforcement unit for the first time in Australia as part of an industry-wide crackdown by the national regulator.

The $1bn industry will undergo significant reform after an independent review highlighted cases of misconduct.

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Sydney train strikes: Dominic Perrottet bets the house on a public relations war

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The NSW government is hoping that frustrations over disruptions will turn sentiment against the rail union

Dominic Perrottet’s 11th-hour decision to press the nuclear button in the long-running dispute with rail workers is a high-risk gambit. The New South Wales premier has bet the house on his ability to win a public relations war against the union.

For months, the state government has insisted that rail strikes that have crippled Sydney’s transport network are “politically motivated”.

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Labor urged to improve work rights for people on bridging visas amid skilled migration push

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Call comes as one government MP says jobs summit focus must not detract from dealing with massive backlog of humanitarian visas

The government is being urged to look at improving work rights for people on bridging visas already in Australia, and not to neglect the backlog of humanitarian visas amid calls for an increase to the skilled migration intake.

There is widespread expectation the government will boost Australia’s skilled migration intake from around 160,000 people a year to 200,000 people, with consensus among unions and industry that the cap needs to be lifted.

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Australia news live: PM pays tribute to Gorbachev as ‘one of the true giants of the 20th century’

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Anthony Albanese will meet with premiers and chief ministers today for the national cabinet in Sydney

Jobs summit should support apprenticeships in female-dominated trades, independents say

Independents are calling for more investment in female-dominated trades like textiles and floristry ahead of the government’s jobs and skills summit to be held tomorrow.

This jobs summit must not become fixated on getting only the high-vis industries out to work and leave the pink workforce at home yet again … We have women who want to work. We must enable them.

There’s been too narrow a view of what are the apprenticeships and trades, it’s been a very bloke-centric approach.

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Queensland police who arrested author Chelsea Watego did not also approach ‘aggressive white man’ at scene, tribunal hears

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Indigenous academic alleges treatment by two officers during 2018 arrest amounted to unlawful discrimination on basis of her race, a claim the officers and state government denies

Two Queensland police officers who arrested and handcuffed prominent First Nations writer and academic Chelsea Watego have told a tribunal they did not also approach or investigate an allegedly “aggressive white man” who was also the focus of nightclub security guards at the time they arrived.

The Queensland civil and administrative tribunal heard this week that police arrested Watego, a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman, within 18 seconds of arriving at the front of The Beat nightclub in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 2018.

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Sydney train strike: NSW premier says ‘this ends today’ as he threatens to tear up industrial agreement

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Dominic Perrottet says he will meet the rail union in court if workers reject government’s final offer

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has issued a sensational ultimatum to the state’s rail workers, vowing to tear up their industrial agreement and meet the union in court unless they accept his government’s final pay offer.

Amid the latest round of chaos on the state’s rail lines on Wednesday, a visibly angry Perrottet said that after 58 meetings he would no longer bargain with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) over a new enterprise agreement.

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Victoria passes laws banning stealthing and requiring affirmative consent

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Consent can include a nod, or reciprocating a move such as removing clothes, as well as verbal cues

Victoria has adopted an affirmative consent model, shifting scrutiny off victims and back on to perpetrators of sexual violence.

Under new laws, which passed Victorian parliament late on Tuesday, a person must have a clear and enthusiastic go-ahead for their belief in consent to be reasonable.

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Australian Monarchist League appoints former Liberal senator Eric Abetz as chairman

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The group aims to fight the Labor government’s plans to hold a referendum on a republic, should it win a second term

The Australian Monarchist League has called on the services of former Liberal senator Eric Abetz as it aims to fight the Labor government’s plans for a republic.

The staunch monarchist lost his seat at the May federal election after being demoted to third spot on the party’s ticket, ending a 28-year senate career.

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Rural Victorian town left without bulk-billing doctor after clinic closes doors

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Thousands of patients in Mildura region in state’s north-west are unable to access medical records or GP care

About 15,000 patients in and around the rural city of Mildura in Victoria’s north-west have been left without a bulk-billing doctor and are struggling to access their medical records.

The Tristar medical group, which owns the Mildura clinic, went into voluntary administration in May, and after the sale of the clinic to another medical group fell through earlier in August, the clinic has closed its doors.

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Sydney braces for train and bus strike tomorrow as unions meet with NSW transport minister

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Combined rail unions say industrial action would be halted until end of September if government agrees to pay rise

As Sydneysiders brace for yet another day of disruptions on the train network on Wednesday, the heads of the state’s rail unions will be locked away with the New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, in a bid to finally end a months-long industrial standoff.

The meeting – held amid another round of industrial action by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) – marks the latest flashpoint in a protracted battle between a government beset by industrial strife and a union movement increasingly determined to flex its muscle.

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Woman fatally struck by car in Alice Springs was lying on highway, police say

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Death is the 11th pedestrian fatality on Northern Territory roads in the past 18 months, majority of which have been Indigenous people

A woman lying on a highway in central Australia was killed when she was hit by a car, authorities say.

Northern Territory police said the 21-year-old woman was struck in Alice Springs’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

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The Teacher’s Pet podcast: husband guilty of murder in four decade-old Australian cold case

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Hit podcast examines Chris Dawson’s extra-marital affair with teen student and 1982 disappearance of wife Lynette Dawson

An Australian former teacher who was the subject of an investigation by a wildly popular true crime podcast has been found guilty of the 1982 killing of his wife.

The New South Wales supreme court on Tuesday found Christopher Dawson, 74, guilty of murdering his former wife Lynette Dawson, who he had wanted to leave so that he could pursue an uninterrupted relationship with a teenage schoolgirl known in the trial as JC. Dawson pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence.

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Chris Dawson found guilty of murdering wife Lynette in Sydney 40 years ago

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Supreme court verdict in case that was the subject of popular Teacher’s Pet podcast will be appealed, Dawson’s lawyer says

Christopher Dawson has been found guilty of murdering his former wife four decades ago on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Dawson, 74, had been accused of killing Lynette Dawson in 1982. Her body has never been found and Dawson has always maintained he was not involved in her disappearance.

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Academics welcome Australian Research Council overhaul following controversial grant decisions

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Researchers and Greens raise concerns about ‘national interest test’ introduced by Coalition which Labor has signalled will remain

The Australian Research Council, the national body responsible for administering non-medical research funding, will be reformed in a development welcomed by the research community after grant delays and longstanding accusations of political interference.

The federal education minister, Jason Clare, announced on Tuesday a review of the agency, which administers around $800m in funding each year to Australian researchers.

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Lawyer reveals dementia diagnosis after guilty verdict – as it happened

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Independent calls for PM to ‘protect’ potential Icac from government interference

The independent MP Helen Haines, has called on the prime minister to “protect” a potential federal Icac from any future government interference.

We need more detail around how it will be funded to make sure, in subsequent governments, that the powers of this commission can’t be eroded away. And we need to make sure that the broad definition of corruption can really capture anyone who attempts to improperly influence government decisions.

The other part of it that I haven’t seen, and I would like to see, is what the government plans to do to encourage a pro-integrity culture. And I haven’t seen anything about that thus far.

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Amid the grandstanding, Sydney’s new stadium leaves same issues unresolved

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The Allianz Stadium has been rebuilt at a cost of $800m but the harbour city still lacks the right grounds in the right places

Walking into Sydney’s new Allianz Stadium feels a bit like walking into an old house with new fixtures. Everything is a bit brighter and works a little better – the couch somehow feels closer to the TV and that pesky leak in the roof has stopped – but the foundations are much the same.

That isn’t all that surprising given the architectural firm that designed the old 42,500-capacity venue is the same firm that designed the new 42,500-capacity venue. But it does prompt a query: if a stadium is demolished and rebuilt to look strikingly similar, was it rebuilt at all? If the New South Wales government had not spent $828m on it, could we say it had really happened?

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