Category Archives: Australia news

Australian racing industry ‘failing miserably’ to rehome greyhounds as adoption flatlines

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Welfare group says breeding numbers are still too high and surpass the industry’s capacity to rehabilitate the dogs

The rehoming of Australian racing industry dogs has flatlined in the last three years, according to research by the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds.

Just over 2,000 dogs were rehomed annually by industry adoption bodies, a figure that has not increased since 2017-18, a CPG report found.

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First refugee families welcomed to Australia under new community sponsorship program

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Shadi Al Daoud says chance for family to restart their lives on NSW Central Coast with support of local church is a dream come true

Ten-year-old George Al Daoud arrives in Australia with a declaration. “My English is … medium,” he announces, smiling broadly.

George and his family are among the fortunate first to be resettled in Australia under the new Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot, which allows community groups across the country to sponsor new refugees.

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‘Completely laughable’: claims that a mine will create ‘more jobs per hectare’ than the Great Barrier Reef derided

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Clive Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal suggested proposed coalmine is a ‘greater economic powerhouse’

Claims that Clive Palmer’s proposed Central Queensland coalmine would help the Great Barrier Reef – and would generate “more jobs per hectare” – have been derided as “completely laughable” by an environmentalist, economist and First Nations people.

Earlier this month environment minister Tanya Plibersek said she intended to block the coalmine due to its “unacceptable impacts” on the reef world heritage area, which is 10km from the two proposed open cut mines.

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Business lobby joins unions in calling for lift in minimum wages for skilled visa workers

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Business Council of Australia also calls for migrant intake boost as Greens set up Senate standoff to raise wages in female-dominated industries

Big business has agreed with unions that the pay floor for temporary skilled visa workers should be raised to $90,000,in a split with smaller employer organisations that warned this could “kill” migration.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has also called for a two-year boost to the annual migration intake to 220,000 a year in a submission ahead of next week’s jobs and skills summit.

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Albanese outlines plan for nature restoration market prompting calls for more urgent action

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Biodiversity certificates scheme for private landowners gets mixed reception as issues with likened carbon credits system linger

Conservation groups have called on the Albanese government to get on with strengthening the country’s environmental protections after it announced a plan to create a market for nature restoration.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the new scheme would recognise private landholders who restored and managed habitat by granting them biodiversity certificates that could then be sold to other parties.

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Melbourne’s Gertrude Street named second coolest in the world – do you agree?

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The 850 metre-long strip in the innercity suburb of Fitzroy was the only street in Australia to make Time Out’s 2022 list. So what makes it so special?

Tucked away in the leafy inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy lies the second coolest street in the world – at least according to culture and entertainment website Time Out’s newly released 2022 rankings.

But those familiar with the area might be surprised to learn that it isn’t the famous Brunswick or Smith Street that’s taken out the silver medal, it’s their less well-known bisecting neighbour, Gertrude Street.

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Beware Victorian politicians pledging to cure the health system

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A rash of major health announcements is sure to spread further before the state election – but the devil is in the detail

It’s no coincidence that Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, has been standing alongside his health minister Mary-Anne Thomas at 12 of the 13 press conferences he’s held in the past six weeks. Andrews wants health to be – quite literally – front and centre as the state heads to the polls in November.

This is not unusual for the Labor party heading to an election, but unlike previous campaigns, the Victorian Coalition is also pledging to spend billions on the health system, which their leader, Matthew Guy, has described as “sick” prior to the pandemic.

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Scott Morrison received token payments for speeches and plans to join global lecture circuit

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Former PM has confirmed he accepted airfares, accommodation and incidentals for appearances in Seoul and Tokyo, including during a parliament sitting week

Scott Morrison has revealed he received honorarium payments for recent speeches in Japan and Korea, and plans to join the international lecture circuit through a global speakers’ agency.

Morrison confirmed on his register of MPs’ interests that he has become a director and shareholder in a new company offering “advisory services”, and that he accepted business class airfares, accommodation and incidentals for appearances in Seoul and Tokyo – the latter when he was absent from parliament during a sitting week.

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Court lashes Kiribati government over treatment of Australian-born judge

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Kiribati’s court of appeal said government’s latest bid to deport high court justice David Lambourne on national security grounds was ‘far-fetched’

Kiribati’s constitutional crisis is no closer to resolution, with the country’s court of appeal criticising the government for its conduct towards suspended high court judge David Lambourne, an Australian citizen.

In an extraordinary judgment on Friday, the appeals court – consisting of three retired New Zealand judges – upheld an earlier decision that had found efforts to undermine Lambourne’s tenure unconstitutional. Lambourne is a longtime resident of Kiribati and formerly the nation’s solicitor general. His wife, Tessie Lambourne, is the opposition leader.

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Australia news live updates: Greens accuse government of undoing its own climate legislation

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Adam Bandt reacts to Labor’s decision to open 46,000km of ocean to exploration, saying his party will continue to advocate for a moratorium on new coal and gas projects. Follow live

A massive haul of the drug “ice”, with an estimated street value of $1.6bn, has been seized in NSW in the largest discovery of its kind in Australia, AAP reports.

Last month, Australian Border Force officers homed in on a number of sea cargo containers that arrived at Port Botany in Sydney.

There would need a change to the law.. with the Liberals saying they’ll take an oppositional role, the only way that will happen is with the support of the Greens.

Our position is that workers should be able to bargain collectively at whatever level they choose.

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Nick Kyrgios pitted against good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis in US Open first round

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  • Australian doubles partners drawn against each other
  • Pair have never played each other before on main tour

Nick Kyrgios has been handed a heart-pulling first-round encounter at the US Open, drawn against his great friend Thanasi Kokkinakis in an all-Australian blockbuster. And in a Flushing Meadows men’s field without Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal will open his bid for a 23rd grand slam title against Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata when the main draw kicks off next week.

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis – the “Special Ks” when they play together as a doubles team – have been pitted against each other in a tough quarter, which also features Russia’s No 1 seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev.

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How an Indigenous Australian artist ‘astonished’ a giant of American art

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Sol LeWitt never met Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who began painting in her 80s, but he was blown away by her work. A new AGNSW show celebrates their unlikely link

He was one of the 20th century’s pioneers of modern American art; she was the Anmatyerre artist who put Australian desert painting on the world stage.

Sol LeWitt and Emily Kame Kngwarreye never met, yet one had a profound effect on the work of the other, and led to one of the largest collections of Utopia art outside Australia. LeWitt became a huge fan of Kngwarreye, and of the distinct style produced by the Indigenous Australian artists working in Utopia, Northern Territory.

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Victorian fire brigade moves to strike out large parts of commander’s sexual harassment claim

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Commander Donna Wheatley alleges she was groped and had a senior officer expose his genitals

Victoria’s fire service is attempting to strike out large parts of a sexual harassment and assault claim launched by one of its highest-ranking female fighters on the basis of the time she took to come forward with the complaints.

Last year commander Donna Wheatley – one of the first women to reach the senior rank within Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) – went public with allegations of harassment and gender discrimination across her 20-year career.

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Northern Australia could have dangerously high heat most days of the year by 2100, study finds

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New research also says southern parts of the country may experience deadly heatwaves annually by that time

Tropical regions including northern Australia could experience dangerously high heat levels most days of the year by 2100, while southern regions of Australia may experience deadly heatwaves annually, new research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, suggests that even if the world meets the Paris agreement of limiting global warming to 2C, exposure to dangerous heat will “likely increase by 50-100% across much of the tropics”.

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Don’t let ‘low bar politics’ hold back Indigenous voice, advocate to say in Lingiari lecture

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Thomas Mayor compares current fight for constitutional recognition to 1960s Wave Hill walk-off that led to land rights

Australia should reject “low bar politics” and act with the courage of Indigenous land rights leader Vincent Lingiari to fight for constitutional recognition and a voice to parliament, Thomas Mayor will argue in the annual Lingiari lecture.

The Torres Strait Islander man, Uluru Statement from the Heart advocate and maritime union member will give the annual oration at the Freedom Day festival in the remote Northern Territory community of Kalkaringi on Friday evening.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton labels robodebt royal commission and Morrison ministries inquiry ‘witch-hunts’

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Qantas engineers begin industrial action today

Qantas engineers will delay their shifts by one minute as an industrial action strategy, according to the ABC.

The one-minute strike is to protest Qantas’s inaction over negotiations for a 12% pay rise over four years, equivalent to 3% a year, and is designed to send a message to management: patience has run out.

The engineers’ strike over wages comes on the same day Qantas releases its annual profit results and in the same week management attempted to win back customers disgruntled over delays and lost baggage with $50 travel vouchers.

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Triage nurse tells inquest into WA girl’s sepsis death that exhausted staff were ‘under pressure’

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Jacqueline Taylor tells court she was running desk alone with 96 patients on afternoon Aishwarya Aswath presented

A nurse who inspected Aishwarya Aswath at a Perth hospital has told an inquest into the girl’s death that her triage score was appropriate but says time constraints prevented a more thorough assessment.

Seven-year-old Aishwarya died of sepsis in April last year, hours after presenting to the Perth children’s hospital emergency department with a fever and unusually cold hands.

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Man with alleged mafia links allowed to gamble in Queensland after he was barred from other casinos, inquiry hears

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Man became a top 10 player at the Star Gold Coast after being banned from Melbourne and Sydney casinos

Star Entertainment allowed a patron barred from casinos in two states and allegedly linked to the Italian mafia to continue gambling in its Queensland venues for years, an inquiry has heard.

The man became one of the top 10 players at the Star Gold Coast after he was banned from the Crown Melbourne in 2014, and New South Wales police barred him from attending The Star, Sydney, seven months later.

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First government-backed pill testing clinic finds 40% of ‘cocaine’ contained no coke

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Canberra service examined 70 samples in August with 25% of potential users discarding drugs once made aware of what they actually contained

Australia’s first government-backed pill and drug testing service has found a majority of samples were tainted with other substances, with a quarter of people choosing to ditch their drugs after getting them checked.

In its first month of operation, Canberra’s fixed-site CanTest health and drug checking clinic examined 70 samples, with 18 people discarding their drugs once the results were in.

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Qantas posts $1.9bn loss but revenue jumps 54% as air travel surges after borders reopen

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Airline’s loss halves on back of revival in travel as company announces share buyback of up to $400m

Qantas has posted a full-year underlying pre-tax loss of $1.86bn after border closures and travel uncertainty as the Covid-19 pandemic weighed on earnings.

The airline’s net loss after tax for the year to 30 June narrowed to $860m, compared with $1.7bn the year before.

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