Category Archives: Australia news

Victorian government pledges $1bn to rebuild hospital to be renamed in honour of Queen Elizabeth

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Maroondah hospital could lose Aboriginal name in change Daniel Andrews says is a mark of respect to Queen’s ‘unwavering commitment to healthcare’

The Victorian government has promised to rebuild a hospital in Melbourne’s east at a cost of more than $1bn and rename it in honour of the Queen if Labor is re-elected in November.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, said on Sunday his government would redevelop and expand Maroondah hospital in East Ringwood to accommodate an extra 9,000 inpatients a year.

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Beachfront homeowners push to extend Collaroy seawall to protect property from erosion

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Northern Beaches council considers plan to add 80 metres of controversial concrete wall as massive swells batter coastal properties in Sydney

What some consider the ugliest wall in Australia could soon be bigger, with residents pushing to extend the Collaroy seawall on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Northern Beaches council has received a new application by five local property owners to build two new sections of the wall in front of their properties to protect the homes from coastal erosion and massive swells.

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Ellen van Dijk pips Grace Brown to win Road World Championships opener

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  • Dutchwoman defends time trial crown in Wollongong
  • Australia’s Brown set blistering early pace on first day of cycling

The sun was shining, the waves were rolling in and a Dutch woman was winning the opening race of 2022 UCI Road World Championships. It was seemingly the natural way of things – a predictable result in a flawless setting on the beachside streets of Wollongong, as Ellen van Dijk defended her women’s individual time trial crown and the Dutch national team won the sixth edition of the race over the past decade.

But if the 35-year-old’s victory on Sunday seemed predestined – her third world title since first winning the discipline in 2013, alongside four European time trial titles – it almost wasn’t to be. Australia’s Grace Brown sat in the hot-seat all day, after starting in the opening wave of riders and setting a blistering pace over a technical, undulating 34.2-kilometre course.

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Australia won’t ban Russian tourists but is considering reopening embassy in Kyiv

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Acting prime minister Richard Marles also flags further military aid after Ukraine’s ambassador requests Hawkei four-wheel drive vehicles

Australia won’t ban Russian tourists from entering the country as requested by Ukraine’s ambassador but is “assessing” whether to reopen the Australian embassy in Kyiv.

The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, also said on Sunday that Australia was considering sending further military aid to Ukraine to bolster existing commitments.

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Australia live news update: Albanese meets King and UK PM ahead of Queen’s funeral; Grace Brown wins silver at Wollongong cycling worlds

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Downing Street frames conversation between Australian PM and the British leader as chat rather than formal bilateral talks. This blog is now closed

China is watching world’s response to Ukraine crisis, Marles says

Marles is asked about what the situation in Ukraine and the relationship between China and Russia may mean for the situation regarding Taiwan. Specifically, Marles is asked what will happen if China moved to reunify Taiwan with the mainland using military force.

The way in which the world has reacted to Russia … has been very impressive, but so, too, has the incredible resistance of the Ukrainian people. People fight for the homeland. It has been remarkable and more than expected.

China will be watching this, as I guess we all are.

I think it says something about where the whole conflict is at. There is a degree of humiliation for Russia in relation to this.

I didn’t imagine when the invasion first occurred that Ukraine would be able to provide the resistance that it has.

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Sydney Swans ready for ‘team of the year’ Geelong in AFL grand final

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  • Swans book place in decider with thrilling win over Collingwood
  • Cats await in Saturday’s premiership decider at MCG

John Longmire always expected his Sydney side to surge back into contention, but the Swans’ coach concedes they will be facing “the best team for the year” in the AFL grand final.

The Swans’ blend of battle-hardened veterans and electrifying young guns have set up a first-ever decider against Geelong just two years after back-to-back bottom-four finishes.

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Anthony Albanese describes ‘very warm’ meeting with King Charles ahead of Queen’s funeral

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Australian prime minister also held informal talks with UK prime minister Liz Truss

Anthony Albanese has described his one-on-one meeting with King Charles ahead of the funeral for Queen Elizabeth as a “great honour”.

“I extended my personal condolences to King Charles but also the condolences of the Australian people,” the prime minister said from London on Sunday morning Australian time.

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Vested interests can’t be allowed to dictate Queensland’s response to the housing crisis

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Developers are being touted as saviours to the state’s housing woes but greenfield development won’t affect affordability

About six years ago, the Brisbane city council sought to forcibly remove a growing number of homeless people staying underneath the Go Between and Kurilpa bridges in South Brisbane.

A few years later, the Queensland government placed a series of large boulders under the Kurilpa Bridge to prevent rough sleepers from returning.

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AFL preliminary final 2022: Sydney Swans beat Collingwood Magpies – as it happened

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Sydney will meet Geelong in the AFL grand final, after the Swans held off a courageous comeback by one point to win a thriller

1st quarter, 10 minutes remaining: Sydney 4.2 (26) to Collingwood 0.0 (0) Swans putting a lot of pressure on Collingwood whenever the Pies have possession, and it’s pressure by Reid on Noble, rushing from standing the mark after giving away a free kick, that forces a kick out on the full on Sydney’s half-back flank. The Swans by contrast are clean with disposal, and a long kick finds Papley on the 50 arc. His set shot goes a long way, straight through.

1st quarter, 13 minutes remaining: Sydney 3.1 (19) to Collingwood 0.0 (0) Heeney has been prominent early, but a kick slews off the outside of his boot as he tries to pump it inside 50. The Pies escape trouble for a time, but get back into trouble as Hickey gets a 50-metre penalty at half-back when the player on the mark doesn’t move back. Hickey bombs it to the goalsquare, Franklin brings it to ground, and Ryan Clarke is there front and centre to snap it home.

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Government tries to block rail union action; PM lays wreath in London – as it happened

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Flood warnings in place for parts of Australia’s south-east. This blog is now closed

In Queensland, a jointly funded $7m package has been announced to back the state’s tourism industry in the wake of increasing extreme weather events.

The federal minister for emergency management, Senator Murray Watt, said the assistance would help Queensland tourism operators build disaster resilience after the extraordinary flood and cyclone events of 2021-2022.

Ensuring our tourism infrastructure is robust and ready for the next inevitable disaster is critical to the ongoing viability of the sector. This will provide funding for impacted tourism businesses to build their resilience and aid their response to future flooding and natural disasters through innovative solutions, including bespoke engineering solutions and improved business response to disasters.

A moderate flood peak was observed along the Peel River at Tamworth on Friday afternoon. Floodwaters from the Peel River combined with the outflows from Keepit Dam and a flood peak from the Mooki River may cause major flooding at Gunnedah and Wee Waa.

Minor flooding is likely along the Namoi River at Boggabri, Narrabri, Bugilbone and Goangra.

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Anthony Albanese lays floral tribute to Queen Elizabeth II before meeting with King Charles

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Australian prime minister says his visit is about ‘commemorating a life well-lived’

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his partner, Jodie Haydon, have laid a floral tribute to Queen Elizabeth II soon after touching down in London.

Albanese, who laid the small bouquet of white flowers at Green Park in Westminster, said his visit was about “commemorating a life well-lived”.

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NSW heads to court to try and block union plan to deactivate Opal readers at train stations

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Application lodged in Fair Work Commission to have action to turn off or short circuit the machines declared unprotected

The New South Wales government is headed to court in a bid to block union plans to deactivate Opal readers at train stations as part of an ongoing industrial stoush.

A section 418 application has been lodged in the Fair Work Commission to have the “destructive action” to turn off or short circuit the machines from Wednesday declared unprotected, the state’s transport minister, David Elliott, said.

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Flood warnings in NSW and northern Victoria as more wild weather expected

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Flood warnings issued for parts of Upper Murray and the Peel, Macquarie and Lachlan rivers in NSW, and Victorian communities along Murray River

Thousands of New South Wales residents were under flood watch as the Bureau of Meteorology issued major warnings across the state on Saturday.

Emergency personnel performed 11 rescues from floodwaters overnight, with more wild weather forecast for the weekend.

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Jacqui Lambie says major parties ‘killing’ Australia and blasts Labor over stage three tax cuts

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Senator tells Festival of Dangerous Ideas the rise of the teals is ‘the breakthrough our country’s been waiting for’

Jacqui Lambie has called for an end to Australia’s major political parties while launching a scathing critique of Labor’s unwillingness to dump the controversial stage three tax cuts.

The independent senator for Tasmania told an audience at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney on Saturday the federal government’s failure to increase jobseeker payments above the poverty line while waving through the tax cuts was emblematic of the “broken” political system.

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‘All high value’: video of raid on Melissa Caddick’s Sydney home shows extensive jewellery collection

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Inquest into disappearance and presumed death of alleged fraudster shown footage of 12-hour raid at Dover Heights mansion in November 2020

As the corporate watchdog and federal police turned Melissa Caddick’s Sydney mansion upside down searching for evidence of her alleged multimillion-dollar fraud, the businesswoman took an afternoon nap.

Earlier on that mid-November 2020 morning, Caddick had shown Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) and federal police officers rows of earrings, bracelets, cufflinks and necklaces from luxury brands including Dior and Stefano Canturi. They were all seized from a safe, her inquest was told.

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Australian farmers fear exports could be hurt by new EU land-clearing laws

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But environmental groups say changes could put sustainable producers at ‘front of queue’

Australian farmers are scrambling to understand the ramifications of new European laws on land-clearing, which could harm exports of products such as beef or paper under stricter environmental controls.

But environmental groups and some in the federal government believe the new laws could help Australian producers with more sustainable farming techniques get to “the front of the queue”, as negotiations continue for a free trade agreement with the European Union.

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Courts lift suppression orders on ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle’s landmark case

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Boyle took unprecedented step of invoking Australia’s whistleblower protections after exposing tax agency’s aggressive debt collecting practices in 2018

The South Australian courts have lifted suppression orders that would have stymied the media’s ability to report on a landmark case launched by tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle.

The decision, which follows an intervention by Guardian Australia, paves the way for media to more freely report on the first major test of Australia’s whistleblowing laws, which will likely have significant consequences for the protections available to others who speak out about government wrongdoing.

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Parts of Australia’s south-east brace for wet, cold and windy weather

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More than a dozen people rescued from flood waters in NSW while severe weather warning issued in western Victoria

South-eastern Australia is bracing for a wet and windy weekend with temperatures expected to drop in most major centres.

A deep low-pressure system is expected to fuel a number of cold fronts, with rain now likely to last into next week.

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Calls for 50,000 new social houses in Queensland before 2032 Olympics

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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces 200 new crisis accommodation units as prelude to upcoming housing summit

Social services organisations have welcomed the Queensland government’s moves to source urgent crisis accommodation for a growing number of homeless people, but warn that only long-term measures can ultimately fix the state’s housing crisis.

The state’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on Friday chaired a roundtable with housing industry groups, local government and the social services sector. The meeting was a prelude to a housing summit next month.

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Labor MP claims rate decisions based on ‘outdated and outmoded data’ – as it happened

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NSW roads impacted by rainfall

Man falls to his death while hiking near Gold Coast waterfall

Emergency services were initially called to Tanninaba Falls around 12.15pm following reports a man falling several metres down a cliff face.

Crews located the man at the bottom of the cliff and was declared deceased a short time later.

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