Category Archives: Australia news

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

Posted on by

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’

Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

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”.

Continue reading...

Union says insurers ‘bleeding the system dry’ in backlash to NSW bid to limit workers compensation claims

Posted on by

One insurer spent $85,000 of public money to fight $5,000 knee surgery claim, says Unions NSW

The Minns Labor government is facing strong pushback against workers compensation changes designed to curb claims for psychological injury, with educators and the peak union group criticising the bill’s failure to address underlying issues.

The government wants to limit the ability of New South Wales’s 4.5 million workers to claim compensation by raising the psychological injury threshold required for compensation and making it harder to receive lifetime payments.

Continue reading...

Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students

Posted on by

Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000

Tim Winton knows what it’s like to be the first in a family to go to university – “what a breakthrough that is, the kind of opportunities it provides”.

It was at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, studying arts, that he wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, launching a four-decade writing career.

Continue reading...

Victorian Labor party members to push for ‘immediate’ federal recognition of a Palestinian state

Posted on by

Exclusive: Labor Friends of Palestine to move three ‘urgency resolutions’ at weekend conference, but PM maintains no immediate plans for the move

Victorian Labor members will use this weekend’s state conference to demand the federal government “immediately” recognise a Palestinian state and impose sanctions on Israel – in what will be their strongest push to date on the issue.

It comes after Anthony Albanese on Sunday described civilian deaths in Gaza as “indefensible” but reiterated he had no immediate plans to recognise a Palestinian state and insisted further steps were needed to reach a two-state solution.

Continue reading...

‘Changed my life’: hepatitis treatment offers hope but not enough receiving care, report finds

Posted on by

People like David Clune have been saved by medical breakthroughs, but many still don’t know the risks or can’t access doctors

In 1989 David Clune was a young dad with four children when he was diagnosed with hepatitis B and C. Being told he wouldn’t get to see them grow up “was like a spear went through my heart”, he remembers.

Clune is not sure how he contracted the virus. However, entering state care in New Zealand at the age of 10, he experienced abuse and neglect as he was cycled through eight different homes, three youth detention centres, one adult remand centre and a psychiatric hospital, and was exposed to shared needles for tattooing and drugs.

Continue reading...

YouTube makes last-ditch attempt to lobby government against inclusion in under-16s social media ban

Posted on by

Google to host major event featuring popular YouTubers inside Parliament House as PM downplays tech giant’s legal threat

YouTube is making a last-ditch effort to persuade the government not to include it in the under-16s social media ban, objecting to what it says is an “abrupt policy reversal” and arguing the video service is not a social media platform.

Google, YouTube’s owner, will host a major event featuring popular YouTubers inside Parliament House this week, as a final decision looms on which tech platforms will be off-limits for children.

Continue reading...

Two Australians on board boat intercepted by Israel while trying to transport aid to Gaza, Dfat confirms

Posted on by

Officials in Tel Aviv are liaising with authorities and ‘stand ready to offer assistance’, Australian government spokesperson says

A boat carrying two Australians has been intercepted by Israeli troops, Israel’s foreign ministry has confirmed, as a pro-Palestinian activist group claims its crew have been subjected to “unlawful” detention while attempting to transport aid to Gaza.

The Handala, registry name Navaren, led by the activist group the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was roughly 50km from the Egyptian coast and 100km west of Gaza when intercepted, an online tracking tool set up to plot the ship’s course showed.

Continue reading...

Albanese accuses Israel of ‘clearly’ breaching international law but resists push to recognise Palestinian state

Posted on by

‘Quite clearly it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered,’ PM tells ABC’s Insiders

Australia has no plans to imminently recognise a Palestinian state, Anthony Albanese says, cautioning further steps must be met for a two-state solution despite growing pressure inside the Labor party for the government to follow through on its long-held commitment.

The prime minister has also accused Israel of a breach of international law in blocking aid into Gaza, saying “you can’t hold innocent people responsible” for the actions of Hamas, and warning that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “losing support” internationally.

Continue reading...

Triple J Hottest 100: Never Tear Us Apart by INXS voted best Australian song ever

Posted on by

More than 2.6m people voted in radio poll to find the most loved homegrown hits of all time

Never Tear Us Apart by INXS has been named the best Australian song of all time in Triple J’s poll of the country’s favourite homegrown hits.

The 1987 song topped the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs, a spin-off of Triple J’s annual poll of the year’s most popular tracks. The poll, which aired on Saturday, was open to Australian releases from any time in history.

Continue reading...

Woman allegedly stabs colleague with scissors in attack at InterContinental Sydney hotel

Posted on by

The 31-year-old was charged with attempted murder after alleged attack that left co-worker with upper body wounds

A woman has been charged with attempted murder after she allegedly wielded scissors in a stabbing attack against her co-worker in a luxury hotel in central Sydney.

Emergency services were called to the InterContinental Sydney on Macquarie Street at 2.20am on Saturday after reports of an assault.

Continue reading...

Law professor who claimed ‘Blak’ activists were leading University of Melbourne to ‘destruction’ sues for discrimination

Posted on by

Exclusive: Dr Eric Descheemaeker files court application against university after 2023 email to Melbourne law school dean leaked last month

A University of Melbourne law professor who wrote an email saying the institution was dictated to by “‘Blak’ activists” who were leading it to “destruction” is suing Australia’s top-ranked university for discrimination.

Last month, a 2023 email written by Dr Eric Descheemaeker to the then head of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) was leaked and posted around the university’s Parkville campus. In the email, in response to the announcement of a cultural safety review at the university, Descheemaeker said MLS was “celebrating the ‘noble savage’” and likened it to an “ideological re-education camp”.

Continue reading...

‘Ignoring hot flushes is wrong’: study challenges assumptions about perimenopause symptoms

Posted on by

Research notes lack of interventions for perimenopausal women despite finding that hot flushes and night sweats can be as severe as for those of menopause

Almost 40% of women going through perimenopause experience moderate to severe hot flushes and night sweats but have no treatment options, new research has found.

The study, published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, explored differences in symptom prevalence by menopausal stage among women aged 40-69 years.

Continue reading...

Albanese government to lift ban on working with PwC Australia as police investigation continues

Posted on by

Exclusive: Finance minister to consider feedback from senators before making decision final

The finance department has found consultancy firm PwC Australia is an ethically sound company and recommended the end of a long-term ban on it working with the government, despite an ongoing police investigation into the company.

But the firm, which sold its entire government consulting business for just $1 at the height of a scandal over the misuse of confidential Treasury information, will not be able to tender for government work until at least 2028 due to a non-compete clause with its spin-off, Scyne Advisory.

Continue reading...

NSW police actions should be examined in Tammy Shipley’s death in custody, lawyer argues

Posted on by

Court asked to consider whether the coroner has jurisdiction to examine Shipley’s arrest

The actions of New South Wales police during the arrest of an Indigenous woman who later died in custody should be examined, given officers did not identify her “acute mental illness”, a court has heard.

Tammy Shipley died in prison while being held on remand at Silverwater women’s correctional centre in December 2022.

Continue reading...

Australian actor Rebel Wilson sued by production company behind her own film

Posted on by

UK-based AI Film has accused the actor of deliberately sabotaging The Deb’s release by making alleged threats and defamatory claims

The legal drama surrounding The Deb, Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut, has made landfall in Australia, with one of the production companies behind the venture filing a lawsuit against Wilson in the New South Wales supreme court this week.

UK-based AI Film, represented by Australian legal firm Giles George and high-profile barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, accused the Pitch Perfect Australian actor of deliberately sabotaging the film’s release, alleging threats and defamatory claims had caused the production company financial and reputational damage.

Continue reading...

Albanese says Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza ‘cannot be defended or ignored’ in strongest condemnation yet

Posted on by

The prime minister did not, however, follow French president Emmanuel Macron’s lead with a commitment to recognise a Palestinian state

Anthony Albanese has condemned Israel for “the killing of civilians, including children” seeking aid, but stopped short of saying Australia would recognise a Palestinian state, as France has committed to doing.

In the Australian government’s strongest condemnation of Israel yet, the prime minister said the killings and denial of aid “cannot be defended or ignored”.

Continue reading...

Australian tourist found dead in Thai hotel room was on phone when he died, police say

Posted on by

The 21-year-old was discovered by housekeeping staff on holiday island Phuket

An Australian tourist has been found dead in a Thai hotel room, one day before his flight home.

The 21-year-old was discovered by housekeeping staff at a hotel on holiday island Phuket on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Labor and Greens unite to condemn One Nation senators for snubbing acknowledgment of country

Posted on by

Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy says stunt by Pauline Hanson’s party was ‘incredibly childish’ and disrespectful

Labor and the Greens have united to condemn One Nation senators for turning their back on parliament’s acknowledgement of country statements, describing them as “incredibly childish” and “hurtful” stunts.

One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, stood in the chamber as the Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, government Senate leader, Penny Wong, and Greens leader, Larissa Waters, all made statements criticising the rightwing minor party’s “deliberate acts of disrespect”.

Continue reading...

Australia’s largest private hospital operator to close majority of psychology clinics to be ‘flexible, sustainable’

Posted on by

Seventeen of Ramsay Health Care’s 20 clinics will close by the end of August, with only Cairns, Charlestown and Joondalup to remain operating

Ramsay Health Care, Australia’s largest private hospital operator, has announced it will be closing the majority of its psychology clinics, described by the peak body as “very sad news” for those needing mental health care.

The hospital network said it would progressively close 17 out of its 20 clinics by the end of August, in order to transition Ramsay Psychology to a “more flexible and sustainable model”.

Continue reading...

Australia warned it could face legal action over ‘wrongful’ fossil fuel actions after landmark climate ruling from world’s top court

Posted on by

Vanuatu climate change minister says ICJ opinion gives Pacific island nations ‘much greater leverage’ in dealing with partners such as Australia

Australia could face international legal action over its fossil fuel production and failure to rapidly cut emissions, Vanuatu’s climate minister says, after a potentially watershed declaration by the world’s top court.

An International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion published in The Hague on Wednesday found countries had a legal obligation to take measures to prevent climate change and aim to limit global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, and that high-emitting countries that failed to act could be liable to pay restitution to low-emitting countries.

Continue reading...