Category Archives: Australia news

Australia to pay controversial US prisons operator $4.6m for 52 days of transition work on Nauru

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MTC, which has been accused of ‘gross negligence’ that allegedly led to gang rape, will be paid during same period as previous contractor Canstruct

The Australian government will pay $4.6m to a controversial US private prisons operator for 52 days of preparatory work ahead of its expected takeover of the offshore processing regime on Nauru, despite a range of serious allegations made against the company abroad.

The US-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC) has been accused in civil suits of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures that allegedly led to the gang-rape of a woman in detention, the murder of two retirees by escaped prisoners, and the months-long solitary confinement of a US citizen wrongfully held in immigration detention. It has also paid a multi-million dollar fine over a government bribery scandal.

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Suggestion Queensland man fell into woodchipper by accident ‘didn’t make sense’, murder trial hears

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Property owner Sharon Beighton tells court she thought ‘where’s Bruce?’ before being told 54-year-old had fallen into woodchipper

Sharon Beighton was initially in shock when told Bruce Saunders had fallen into a woodchipper during a “terrible accident” on her property in 2017.

But Beighton later thought it did not make sense after she asked Gregory Lee Roser questions about the incident, the Brisbane supreme court heard on Tuesday.

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Victorian upper house MP Fiona Patten reveals kidney cancer diagnosis

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Reason party leader says she still plans to fight November state election after undergoing surgery next month

Victorian MP Fiona Patten has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer after a tumour was recently discovered on her kidney.

The Reason party leader will undergo a nephrectomy – the removal of the affected kidney – in early October and still plans to contest the state election on 26 November.

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Vales Point coal-fired power station in NSW could be polluting in breach of clean air laws

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Environment groups question whether ageing station’s exemptions from some pollution standards are valid

Environment groups say an ageing coal-fired power station in New South Wales that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars may be operating in breach of the state’s clean air laws.

This week Delta Electricity announced it sold the 1,320-megawatt Vales Point power station, located in the state’s Hunter region, to Sev.en Global Investments, owned by Czech billionaire Pavel Tykač.

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Thousands of outstanding NDIS legal appeals to be reviewed by new taskforce, Bill Shorten says

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Former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes will lead independent body aimed at blitzing massive backlog of cases

A new independent body will review thousands of outstanding national disability insurance scheme legal appeals in an attempt to “cut the bullshit” for participants and applicants, the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, has said.

Speaking to a disability advocacy group seminar on Tuesday, Shorten said the situation was “repellent and repugnant” for people with disability, who had been forced into an “opaque” appeals process.

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World’s top cosmetic surgeons to discuss reported side-effects of enzyme used to dissolve facial fillers

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After dozens of patients revealed complications to Guardian Australia, the use of hyaluronidase to be raised at international conference

The world’s leading cosmetic surgeons will this week discuss reported side-effects of an enzyme used to dissolve facial fillers, after dozens of patients revealed complications to Guardian Australia.

Earlier this month, the Guardian spoke to more than a dozen patients who claimed to have suffered serious pain and side-effects after being injected with an enzyme called hyaluronidase to fix medical or aesthetic issues arising from prior cosmetic injections.

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Greens urge Labor to redirect fossil fuel subsidies to renewables in budget – as it happened

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Victorian government commits $1bn to emergency departments in Melbourne’s north

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has vowed to expand two of the state’s busiest emergency departments in Melbourne’s north, in a pre-election $1bn health pledge.

We know there is pressure in the system.

This means more emergency department space, more emergency department patients being treated and a stronger and better health system for millions more.

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Moves as smooth as silk: scientists uncover Australian ant-slayer spider’s hunting secrets

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With stealth followed by speedy acrobatics, Euryopis umbilicata can successfully catch banded sugar ants twice its size

A mid-air cartwheel, the judicious use of sticky silk and a quick rappel down a tree, all in the blink of an eye: researchers have identified how the Australian ant-slayer spider captures prey twice its size.

The acrobatic behaviour of the Australian ant-slayer spider, Euryopis umbilicata, as it hunts and eats banded sugar ants has been documented by scientists for the first time.

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‘Bigger and better than ever’: Australia’s rural shows bounce back after tough years

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Sponsorship and community engagement are surging after two years of pandemic cancellations

Australia’s rural agricultural shows are making a comeback, with sponsorship and community engagement surging after two years of pandemic cancellations.

According to Agricultural Shows Australia (ASA) executive officer, Katie Stanley, of the more than 580 shows nationwide, 430 were cancelled due to Covid in 2020, and 273 in 2021.

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Labor urged to axe $1.9bn in ‘zombie’ fossil fuel subsidies promised by the Coalition

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Exclusive: Morrison government announced support for coal and gas projects in ‘gas-fired recovery’ but didn’t formalise contracts, PBO analysis reveals

Labor is being urged to axe nearly $2bn in handouts to fossil fuel developments that the Parliamentary Budget Office found were promised under the Coalition but have not been contracted.

The PBO analysis, commissioned by the Greens, found the Morrison government announced $1.93bn in support for coal and gas developments that had not been formally committed.

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Guardian Essential poll: Australians divided on whether King Charles should be head of state

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Survey respondents split 50-50 but women, older voters and Coalition supporters more likely to back new monarch, poll suggests

Australians are divided over whether King Charles III should be the country’s head of state, with the latest Guardian Essential poll suggesting a 50-50 split between those who support the new UK monarch and those who do not.

The survey of 1,075 people, taken after Queen Elizabeth II’s death, gives little hope to the republican cause with fewer than half of the respondents (43%) supporting Australia becoming a republic – a figure that has barely moved over the past five years.

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‘Chicken or chicken?’ Qantas ditches vegetarian meals on some domestic flights

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Airline says it changed menu during Covid but critics say ‘one size fits all’ alienates passengers and is a sign of decline

Qantas has stopped offering vegetarian meals on some domestic flights, leaving one irate traveller to suggest it is a further sign that the airline is in decline.

Environmentalist Jon Dee was flying from Adelaide to Sydney on Sunday night when he was told there was only chicken pie on the menu.

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‘End of an era’: how the Queen’s funeral was seen around the world

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From Melbourne to Paris, New York to Delhi, the solemn events in London resonated around the globe

As the doors to Westminster Abbey opened to allow guests to take their seats, across the other side of the world, Australians sat down in front of their TVs to watch the historic event.

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Australia news live: former senator Rex Patrick demands explanation for freedom of information delays

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Patrick will use the federal court to demand the information commissioner explain the lawfulness of her office’s delays in reviewing freedom of information decisions. Follow the day’s news live

The NSW government and the transport union will be meeting this afternoon behind closed doors after the union announced yesterday they’ll be withdrawing their plans to shut down the Opal card system.

Last week the union announced their plans to shut down the Opal card system indefinitely as part of their ongoing dispute with the state government.

[W]e know that higher interest rates will tend to depress residential and commercial property prices but there is considerable uncertainty about the magnitude and even the timing.

Not only can declining property prices have implications for economic activity, but also for financial stability as we outlined in the April financial stability review.

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Burning world’s fossil fuel reserves could emit 3.5bn tons of greenhouse gas

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The world will have released more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, analysis found

Burning the world’s proven reserves of fossil fuels would emit more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, easily blowing the remaining carbon budget before societies are subjected to catastrophic global heating, a new analysis has found.

An enormous 3.5tn tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be emitted if governments allow identified reserves of coal, oil and gas to be extracted and used, according to what has been described as the first public database of fossil fuel production.

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Backlash grows over decision to scrap Victorian hospital’s Indigenous name in favour of Queen Elizabeth II

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Daniel Andrews defends plan to change name of Maroondah hospital from Woiwurrung word that celebrates the natural environment

Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly has accused the Andrews government of making a hospital in Melbourne’s east “culturally unsafe” for Indigenous Australians after it vowed to rename the site in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, dumping its Indigenous name.

In a pre-election pledge on Sunday, Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, promised to rebuild the Maroondah hospital, in East Ringwood, at a cost of $1bn and rename it to pay tribute to the Queen.

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Origin Energy to quit Beetaloo gas project but green groups warn environmental threat remains

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Sale will come at a loss but distance company from both environmental controversy and Russian oligarch

Origin Energy will sell its stake in its Beetaloo Basin gas project at a loss and review all its other exploration permits in a move that will distance it from an environmental controversy and end its association with sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Chief executive Frank Calabria said gas remained “a core part of our business” but getting out of gas exploration would free up money to “grow cleaner energy and customer solutions, and deliver reliable energy through the transition”.

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Farmers prepare to be cut off by flooding in north-west NSW

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Homes in Gunnedah inundated and residents in Wee Waa region warned to move livestock and machinery to high ground

Farmers in north-west New South Wales are preparing to be cut off after the Namoi River broke its banks, inundating rural towns and sparking several flood rescues.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings for the river, including major flooding at Wee Waa and Gunnedah after the river peaked early on Sunday.

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Public servant Amy Brown sacked over hiring process that led to John Barilaro’s New York trade role

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Former head of Investment NSW set to receive 12 months’ salary after being terminated from high-profile job

The department secretary responsible for handing John Barilaro a lucrative $500,000 New York trade job has been sacked.

After weeks of speculation about Amy Brown’s future amid a long-running controversy over the now-abandoned appointment, the state’s senior public servant Michael Coutts-Trotter confirmed on Monday that Brown’s employment had been terminated.

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Moses Kibet wins Sydney marathon in record time on Australian soil

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  • Cosmas Matolo and Chalu Deso Gelmisa come second and third
  • All three better previous fastest time in Australian races

Kenyan Moses Kibet has claimed a historic victory in the Sydney marathon as the top three finishers all bettered the previous fastest time on Australian soil.

Kibet clocked a winning time of two hours, seven minutes and three seconds on Sunday, crossing the line just two seconds ahead of countryman Cosmas Matolo.

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