Category Archives: Australia news

Erin Patterson showed no sign of liver damage experienced by other mushroom lunch attenders, trial hears

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Victorian jury also sees images appearing to show accused disposing of food dehydrator at tip, and hears from expert who examined lunch leftovers

An expert in emergency medicine who reviewed Erin Patterson’s medical records says her condition was consistent with someone who had a diarrhoeal illness, but there was no biochemical evidence of liver injury.

Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria on 29 July 2023.

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Five vice-chancellors in Victoria paid more than $1m in 2024, prompting claims of ‘largesse’

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Union says universities blaming budget deficits for job cuts while pushing executive salaries ‘into the stratosphere’

Just three of Victoria’s vice-chancellors took pay cuts last year despite growing outside pressure to address “broken” university governance and accusations of “executive largesse”.

The universities’ latest annual reports, tabled in state parliament on Tuesday, showed six of Victoria’s nine vice-chancellors increased their pay or left it unchanged last year compared with 2023.

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Experts warn Trump order demanding cheaper medicines for US could push up Australian prices

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Faced with lower US profits, pharmaceutical companies could demand higher prices elsewhere in the world, or even withdraw products entirely

Donald Trump’s pressure on medicine companies could drive up the cost of Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) or see companies withdraw some medicines from Australian shelves , experts have warned.

The US president on Monday threatened to force medicine companies to lower their prices in the US, giving them 30 days to cut costs or face more severe action in an executive order.

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Australian property bounce after Labor wins second term, early data shows

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More buyers enter the market as auction clearance rates rose to 70% in the week following the election, figures show

Australia’s housing market has surged in the immediate aftermath of Labor’s emphatic election victory, preliminary data shows, while analysts say an anticipated string of rate cuts may see the trend continue.

Auction clearance rates rose to 70% in the week following the election, according to preliminary Cotality data, from 60% in the middle of last month. An auction clearance rate of 70% or above typically indicates sellers are in control of the market.

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Guardian Essential poll: PM’s approval rating surges amid calls to hurry upd housing and health reform

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More than 40% of voters say Labor’s large majority should encourage Anthony Albanese to get more ambitious with policies in key areas

Anthony Albanese’s personal approval rating has spiked off the back of his election win, as an overwhelming majority of Australians call on Labor to rapidly initiate health, housing and energy reform.

More than 40% of voters say Labor’s large parliamentary majority should encourage Albanese to set out an even more ambitious schedule of reform, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. The prime minister’s popularity has risen to its highest level for a year, the poll showed.

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‘A horror movie’: sharks and octopuses among 200 species killed by toxic algae off South Australia

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Karenia mikimotoi algae can suffocate fish, cause haemorrhaging and act as a neurotoxin, one expert says

More than 200 marine species, including deepwater sharks, leafy sea dragons and octopuses, have been killed by a toxic algal bloom that has been affecting South Australia’s coastline since March.

Nearly half (47%) of the dead species were ray-finned fish and a quarter (26%) were sharks and rays, according to OzFish analysis of 1,400 citizen scientist reports.

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Australia news live: Anthony Albanese says Tanya Plibersek ‘very positive’ about new role after being shifted from environment portfolio

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Follow today’s news live

Labor’s Tanya Plibersek has avoided comment about her ministerial desires or expectations, offering little other than general remarks when pressed this morning on the issue of the forthcoming cabinet announcement from Anthony Albanese.

Plibersek, who previously held the environment portfolio, told Sunrise this morning that cabinet decisions were “completely a matter for the prime minister” and that she was just “very grateful” to be on the front bench, and to have won the election, and to get to do “a good job for the government and for the people of Australia” again … and, well, you get the idea.

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Anthony Albanese reveals new cabinet with Tanya Plibersek named as minister for social services

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PM has named his new frontbench, including Michelle Rowland as the new attorney-general, after a factional brawl over positions

Tanya Plibersek has been named the minister for social services as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, revealed his new frontbench after Labor’s emphatic election victory.

The biggest changes in the new cabinet include Michelle Rowland, as the new attorney-general; health minister Mark Butler getting the NDIS added to his portfolio; Amanda Rishworth being named the new employment and workplace relations minister; Anika Wells being promoted to the communications portfolio; and Murray Watt taking on the environment portfolio.

Richard Marles – deputy prime minister, minister for defence

Penny Wong – minister for foreign affairs

Jim Chalmers – treasurer

Katy Gallagher – minister for finance, minister for the public service, minister for women, minister for government services

Don Farrell – minister for trade and tourism, special minister of state

Tony Burke – minister for home affairs, minister for immigration and citizenship, minister for cybersecurity, minister for the arts

Mark Butler – minister for health and ageing, minister for disability and the national disability insurance scheme

Chris Bowen – minister for climate change and energy

Catherine King – minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government

Amanda Rishworth – minister for employment and workplace relations.

Jason Clare – minister for education

Michelle Rowland - attorney general.

Tanya Plibersek – minister for social services.

Julie Collins – minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry

Clare O’Neil – minister for housing, minister for homelessness and minister for cities

Madeleine King – minister for resources, minister for northern Australia

Murray Watt – minister for the environment and water

Malarndirri McCarthy – minister for Indigenous Australians

Anika Wells – minister for communications, minister for sport

Pat Conroy – minister for defence industry, minister for Pacific Island affairs

Anne Aly – minister for small business, minister for international development, minister for multicultural affairs

Tim Ayres – minister for industry and innovation, minister for science

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Nurse who treated Joel Cauchi for schizophrenia threw up when told about Bondi Junction stabbings, inquest hears

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Health worker describes 40-year-old as ‘compliant’ and ‘diligent’ patient but recalls 2020 phone call and a possible ‘warning sign’ of mental health relapse

A nurse at the Queensland medical practice where Joel Cauchi was treated for schizophrenia remembers him as a “compliant” and “diligent” patient, telling an inquest she vomited when she learned he had fatally stabbed six people at a Sydney shopping centre.

Cauchi, 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April last year before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.

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Federal election results: Monique Ryan wins Kooyong while Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian takes Bradfield

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Amelia Hamer could only secure small primary vote swing towards Liberals in Kooyong, while Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown holds inner-Brisbane seat of Ryan

The independent MP Monique Ryan has won Kooyong in Melbourne, holding off her Liberal challenger, but Nicolette Boele, another Climate 200-backed candidate, is expected to fall short on Sydney’s north shore.

The ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, on Monday projected that Ryan would maintain her slim lead in the Melbourne seat, where she led by about 700 votes with a few thousand left to count.

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Australia news live: Littleproud says Canavan leadership challenge ‘healthy’; teen caught with knife and fake gun outside AFL match

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Nationals leader applauds his colleague for having the courage to put up his hand. Follow today’s news live

Nationals leader David Littleproud is backing his record to hold on to the party’s top job as he faces a challenge from a fellow Queenslander.

The minor Coalition party faces a leadership tussle after Queensland senator Matt Canavan threw his hat in the ring.

We shouldn’t get upset about democracy taking place.

This is healthy for our democracy.

From my perspective, I still think I have a contribution to make and I want to do so. Someone once said that success isn’t final, failure isn’t fatal and the courage to continue is what matters. Here I am, a Labor MP quoting Churchill on Insiders. That’s where we’ve got to.

Indeed. Can I say, the party has given me great opportunities. Its faith in me, particularly with my faith, allowed me in part to make and break records, I’ve challenged the status quo and conservativism. It provides hope and aspiration for others. I want to be part of that.

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Five arrests after more than a tonne of cocaine allegedly found on motorboat off NSW coast

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The 1,110 blocks of cocaine on board are worth more than half a billion dollars on the street, police said

More than a tonne of cocaine has been seized off the east coast of Australia and five men arrested after police raided a suspicious motorboat.

Detectives said they were tipped off about the purchase of a 13-metre-long boat with a large sum of cash in Sydney’s Sutherland shire on 28 April.

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Koalas face death, attacks and starvation as blue gums chopped down in Victoria

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The state government is aware of koala welfare problems but says it has ‘no cost-effective’ solutions

Thousands of koalas are being displaced each year as blue gum plantations are cut down in Victoria, worsening overcrowding in nearby forests and exacerbating the risk of injury and death during bushfires.

An estimated 42,500 koalas live in blue gum plantations in south-west Victoria, data shows. Between 8,000 and 10,000 hectares of plantation are harvested each year, making thousands of koalas homeless.

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NSW forestry agency should be shut down for repeatedly breaking law, critics argue

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Forestry Corporation says suggestion that it can be compared to a criminal bikie gang is ‘ridiculous’

A former magistrate and one of Australia’s most experienced scientists have launched an extraordinary attack on the New South Wales government’s logging agency, describing it as effectively a “criminal organisation” that should be shut down after a string of court convictions.

Prof David Heilpern, a NSW magistrate between 1998 and 2020 and now the dean of law at Southern Cross University, said the state’s Forestry Corporation should be “disbanded” as it was was no longer fit for purpose.

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NSW woman faces court after being charged with murder of two grandsons

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The 66-year-old appeared at Parramatta court on Saturday after being charged with murdering her grandsons aged six and seven

Two young boys might have been murdered hours before officers were called to their semi-rural home and found their bodies in separate bedrooms, police allege.

Details of the boys’ deaths, which have shocked the small community of Coonabarabran in north-west NSW, were revealed as their grandmother and accused killer appeared in court for the first time.

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Man arrested after body found in Sydney home, police say

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Investigators believe the deceased man, 65, who was found at a Homebush West property, and the arrested man, 31, were known to each other

A man has been charged with murder after the body of an older man was found in a suburban granny flat.

Investigators are still trying to work out the relationship between the pair.

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‘A lot of pride and joy’: the First Nations team representing Australia at the Venice Biennale of Architecture

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These seven architects hope to show First Nations design and connection to Country at the world’s most prestigious architecture exhibition

Australia’s participation in next year’s Venice Biennale remains under a cloud. With Creative Australia holding fast to its decision to cancel its commission of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino, it’s becoming increasingly likely that the Australian Pavilion might remain dark in 2026.

It is an added weight for the First Nations team who have unveiled their new creation inside the pavilion as part of Venice’s other biennale: the Venice Biennale of Architecture, held every other year in the Giardini.

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Ultrasound diagnosis could lead to faster treatment of endometriosis

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New guidelines call for non-invasive test methods to be offered to patients to avoid long waits for surgical diagnosis

People showing symptoms of endometriosis should be offered diagnosis options such as ultrasound so they receive treatment sooner, according to updated guidelines.

Endometriosis can take years to be diagnosed, as it has previously meant waiting for a surgical procedure to make the diagnosis.

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Queensland government held 21-minute consultation on puberty blocker ban at same time it announced decision

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Exclusive: Legal challenge launched as expert says an alleged failure to conduct ‘genuine’ consultations could lead to ban being overturned

The legality of Queensland’s ban on puberty blockers has been questioned after it was revealed the state government undertook 21 minutes of internal consultation at the same time as a press conference announcing the decision.

According to one administrative law expert, an alleged failure to conduct “genuine” consultation could lead to it being overturned in a legal challenge launched this week.

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Man charged with manslaughter of four-week-old baby brought to hospital with multiple broken bones

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Man, who police say is a family member, granted bail after being charged nearly two years since boy’s death

A family member charged with manslaughter nearly two years after the “abhorrent” death of a four-week-old baby has been granted bail.

Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Friday morning over the July 2023 death of the boy in Wagga Wagga.

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