Category Archives: Australia news

Push for wider Barilaro appointment probe; state funeral for Judith Durham – As it happened

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Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro is expected to appear at the parliamentary inquiry on Monday to answer questions about his appointment to a US trade job. This blog is now closed

Hastie ‘open-minded’ about visiting Taiwan

Hastie is asked if Australia could be doing more to help Taiwan.

We should be talking with everyone, we should be maintaining good relationships with everyone, and that’s true of Taiwan, as it is of China.

I’m open-minded to going there. I have a very full dance card... with a young family and enough travel as it is, but certainly I’m on the record that I would like to visit Taiwan at some point.

They have invited me... I will wait and see.

The advice I received from Defence as assistant minister for defence was that we were going to cover that gap with the life of type extension for the Collins class. They are still a regionally superior submarine.

The question is how quickly can we deliver a nuclear submarine or several of those boats to the Royal Australian Navy. That’s why I’ve said again, several times over the last month that Richard Marles as defence minister needs to be focused on delivering those submarines as quickly as possible. Every single day he should be thinking about it. When he wakes up he should be thinking about submarines. When he goes to bed, when he is asleep, he should be dreaming about submarines. We need political focus on delivering these submarines for our country.

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Veteran Australian political journalist David Barnett dies aged 90

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Barnett spearheaded the first official Canberra bureau of Australian Associated Press more than 50 years ago

Veteran federal political journalist David Barnett, who spearheaded the first official Canberra bureau of Australian Associated Press more than 50 years ago, has died aged 90.

Barnett became the national newswire’s first bureau chief in 1971 overseeing two journalists in what is now called Old Parliament House.

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NSW Liberals pass preselection reforms to prevent repeat of election fiasco

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Senator Andrew Bragg praises party for ‘modernising its mechanics’ after the state branch adopted his motion

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Senator Andrew Bragg has heralded the passage of reforms by the New South Wales Liberal party as important to avoid a repeat of its preselection fiasco before the 2022 election.

The state party’s annual general meeting on Saturday adopted the NSW senator’s proposed reforms requiring the party to publish and follow a timetable for preselections within 12 months of an election.

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Unbreakable Nick Kyrgios thunders into Citi Open final after defeating Mikael Ymer

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  • Australian Wimbledon finalist goes unbroken in semi-final 7-6 (7-4) 6-3
  • Kyrgios has made five semi-final appearances from past six events

Nick Kyrgios is “super excited” after continuing his career-best season by powering into the final of the Citi Open in Washington.

Backing up from his gruelling tournament workload so far – the Australian maverick finished off Reilly Opelka in their round of 16 clash on Friday then saved five match points in an epic quarter-final win over Frances Tiafoe yesterday – Kyrgios calmly dealt with Sweden’s Mikael Ymer in straight sets to swagger into another decider.

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Opposition calls for Australia to develop missiles, warning ‘lucky country’ era is over

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Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie warns of ‘bleak’ outlook in region as Chinese embassy condemns Australia’s ‘finger-pointing’

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The shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, has called for Australia to develop and operate its own missiles, warning the era of the “lucky country” is over.

On Sunday, Hastie argued Australia needs greater deterrents given the “very bleak” strategic outlook, with a “rising China” displaying “revisionist and expansionist ambitions”.

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Labor to advocate for ‘significant’ pay rise for Australia’s aged care sector, Anika Wells says

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Albanese government says it is committed to pay for any increase ordered by Fair Work Commission, with unions calling for 25%

The Albanese government will advocate for a “significant, meaningful” pay rise for workers in the aged care sector, according to the aged care minister, Anika Wells.

The comments on Sunday come ahead of a submission from the federal government to the Fair Work Commission case considering unions’ call for a 25% pay rise to reflect the increased value of aged care work.

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Gold medals flow again for Australia as Kurtis Marschall defends pole vault title

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  • Marschall rounds off successful day at Commonwealth Games
  • Wins on athletics track, in diving, gymnastics and lawn bowls

Australia rediscovered their winning feeling on day nine of the Commonwealth Games as Kurtis Marschall successfully defended his gold medal in the men’s pole vault to conclude a day on which the nation added a further nine golds to their tally.

While Australia stalled on day eight in Birmingham, the golds came with a rush from early until late on Saturday, moving onto 59 in the medal table, nine ahead of nearest rivals England who reached the half century mark with two days of competition remaining.

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National Indigenous Music awards 2022: stars pay tribute to Archie Roach in emotional ceremony

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Incredible lineup of First Nations acts perform at the Amphitheater in Darwin’s botanic gardens

An emotional tribute to the late, much-loved Gunditjmara-Bundjalung songman Archie Roach was at the heart of the National Indigenous Music awards in Darwin on Saturday night.

Led by Emma Donovan and Fred Leone, a group of artists gathered on stage to pay tribute to their beloved Uncle Archie, who died last week after a long illness aged 66.

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Judith Durham, Australian singer and vocalist of The Seekers, dies at 79

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Melbourne-born entertainer rocketed to international fame in the 1960s with hits including The Carnival is Over, A World of Our Own and Georgy Girl

Judith Durham, the Australian singing great and vocalist of The Seekers, has died aged 79.

Durham released a number of solo albums but was best known as the voice of folk music group The Seekers, who she performed with from 1963 until 1968, when she left to pursue a solo career.

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Singer Judith Durham dies; Penny Wong calls for restraint on China’s exercises; 89 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Independent review recommends home buybacks for NSW flood victims. This blog is now closed

NSW residents warned to avoid fire in Croydon and Ashfield

Fire and Rescue NSW is advising residents living near a structural fire in Croydon and Ashfield to stay inside and avoid the area.

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Mystery man dubbed ‘The Gentleman’ found in North Sea may have spent most of his life in Australia

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Breakthrough in the decades-old cold case comes after scientists conducted an isotope ratio analysis of the man’s bones

Perth scientists have breathed life into a decades-old German mystery of an unknown man’s body found floating in the North Sea, by using a new forensic technique that revealed he may have spent most of his life in Australia.

The man, dubbed “The Gentleman” by investigators in 1994 after his body was found by police off the coast of the Helgoland, a German archipelago, was weighed down by cast iron cobbler’s feet.

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John Tingle, journalist and founder of NSW Shooters party, dies at 90

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Daughter and ABC presenter Laura Tingle pays tribute to her father who she says was her ‘greatest urger-on, fan and critic’

John Tingle, a journalist, broadcaster and founder of the Shooters party, has died aged 90.

Tingle’s daughter and ABC journalist Laura Tingle posted the news of his death on Saturday morning and paid tribute to her father.

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Wallabies captain Michael Hooper withdraws from tour, citing ‘mindset’

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  • Australian captain out of Argentina tour for personal reasons
  • Coach Dave Rennie says Hooper has shown ‘true courage’

Captain Michael Hooper has withdrawn from the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship Test against Argentina 24 hours before kick-off, saying he isn’t in the “right mindset” to lead or represent the country.

The tireless flanker had been named to lead the side in his 122nd Test on Sunday morning (AEST) but will now return to Australia, missing both matches against the Pumas. Fellow Test centurion James Slipper will captain the side in Mendoza, while Fraser McReight will replace Hooper in the number seven jersey.

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Decathlon silver and bronze but Australia go without Games gold for first time

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  • England close gap on medal table with Australia remaining on 50
  • Golubovic and Dubler finish second and third in decathlon

Australia began day eight of the Commonwealth Games with 50 gold medals, a metaphorical bat raised towards the pavilion with hopes of more to come. Instead, after such a dominant opening week, the Australian team stalled for the first time and were unable to add to their golden tally in Birmingham.

Host nation England promptly closed the gap on the medal board with a swag of golds to sit on 47, trailing by just three with as many days to go. But the one-day drought did not mean the day was a complete disappointment for Australia.

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In Australia’s welfare sector obligations are ‘mutual’, but profits flow only one way

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As jobseekers face ‘humiliating’ tasks to maintain payments, vast network of job agencies rakes in hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars

Two words make the money go round in Australia’s multi-billion dollar welfare-to-work industry: mutual obligation.

When someone loses their job and applies for the dole, they are sent to an outsourced job agency to get help looking for work. It triggers a payment to the provider – and the possibility of more to come.

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Great Barrier Reef’s record coral cover is good news but climate threat remains

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The world heritage site still has some capacity for recovery but the window is closing fast as the climate continues to warm

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The Great Barrier Reef is one of the planet’s natural jewels, stretching for more than 2,300km along Australia’s north-east.

But as well as being a bucket-list favourite and a heaving mass of biodiversity across 3,000 individual reefs, the world heritage-listed organism is at the coalface of the climate crisis.

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Coalition used private contractor to collect intelligence on Nauru asylum seekers

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Exclusive: asylum seekers in the offshore detention centre who had contact with Australian journalists, lawyers and advocates were closely watched, documents reveal

The Australian government used private security contractors to collect intelligence on asylum seekers on Nauru, singling out those who were speaking to journalists, lawyers and refugee advocates, internal documents from 2016 reveal.

Intelligence officers working for Wilson Security compiled fortnightly reports about asylum seekers “of interest”, including individuals flagged as having “links with [Australian] media”, “contact with lawyers in Australia” or “contacts with Australian advocates”.

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Splendour in the Grass attenders told to monitor for symptoms of meningococcal disease after Sydney man’s death

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Music festival organisers say they are notifying patrons after two infections reported in people who visited Byron Bay site

Authorities have told people who attended Splendour in the Grass to be on alert for symptoms of meningococcal disease, after reporting that one man who attended the festival had since died of the disease.

Two cases of meningococcal have been confirmed in people who attended the Byron Bay music festival, including the man in his 40s from Sydney, who died this week.

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Only ‘ideology or fear’ would push a government to attack ABC, Anthony Albanese says

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PM marks public broadcaster’s 90th birthday with a defence of its importance and thinly veiled attack on former government

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Only a government ruled by ideology or fear would attack the ABC, Anthony Albanese has said at the 90th birthday celebration of the public broadcaster in Sydney.

In a thinly veiled attack on the former Coalition government’s fraught relationship with the ABC, the prime minister on Friday evening said a strong independent broadcaster was vital to democracy and brought Australia together as a nation.

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‘This joint is important’: Linda Burney issues ultimatum over future of Redfern’s National Centre of Indigenous Excellence

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Minister for Indigenous Australians says negotiating organisations have one week to agree on future of community centre

Linda Burney has given the organisations negotiating the future of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern one week to determine the future of the social and community hub, before the government intervenes.

In a heated community meeting on Friday, the minister for Indigenous Australians said her priority was for the tenants of the George Street facility to be given permanency, for the centre to stay open, and for its 50 staffmembers to keep their jobs.

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