‘Big tree down’: Archie Roach remembered as a truth-teller, healer and First Nations champion

Cathy Freeman, Paul Kelly and Linda Burney among those who have paid tribute to the musician after his death

The Indigenous Australian songwriter and activist Archie Roach has been praised as a “courageous” and “powerful” truth-teller, as leading figures in politics and the arts mourn his passing.

Roach died aged 66, after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones at Warrnambool Base Hospital.

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Australia nears 12,000 Covid deaths with hospitals ‘heaving’ under caseload

Health minister says real number of infections twice what is known, as one in 12 public hospital beds is filled by a Covid patient

Australia is getting closer to chalking up 12,000 Covid-related fatalities, as one in 12 public hospital beds across Australia is filled by someone with the virus.

The nation has recorded three straight days of 100-plus deaths related to the virus.

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Tennis star Ash Barty marries longtime partner Garry Kissick

Retired Australian grand slam winner posts a picture from her wedding day online with the caption ‘husband & wife’

Retired tennis superstar Ash Barty has married her longtime partner Garry Kissick.

The 26-year-old exchanged vows in a private ceremony in Queensland earlier this month.

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Final Neighbours episode watched by 3 million viewers in UK

Australian soap ends after nearly four decades with double-episode special on Channel 5

Three million viewers tuned in to say goodbye to Ramsay Street as Neighbours came to a close after almost four decades of constant drama.

The final episode of the Australian soap aired on Friday night in the UK on Channel 5, with stars including Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie making one last appearance on the show that brought them fame.

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Archie Roach, Australian songman and voice of the stolen generations, dies aged 66

Tributes pour in for musician whose song Took the Children Away became the anthem of the stolen generations

Archie Roach, the Indigenous Australian songwriter whose celebrated song Took the Children Away brought national attention to the story of the stolen generations, has died aged 66.

Roach died at Warrnambool Base hospital after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

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Meteor shower tonight: how and where to watch the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids showers in Australia and New Zealand this weekend

New moon will provide ideal viewing conditions for the Piscis Austrinids, Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids meteor showers this July weekend as cosmic debris from comets enters Earth’s atmosphere, before the Perseid meteor shower peaks in August

The night sky in Australia and New Zealand is set to be illuminated by a trio of meteor showers – the Piscis Austrinids, the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids – that will peak tonight.

The meteor showers coincide with the dark night sky of a new moon on 29 July, providing ideal viewing conditions.

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Woman, 36, charged with murder after eight-year-old boy found dead in Queensland home

Police officers came across the boy’s unresponsive body during an early morning welfare check at the home in Rockhampton

A woman has been charged with murder after an eight-year-old boy was found dead in a central Queensland home.

Police officers came across the boy’s unresponsive body during an early morning welfare check at the home in Rockhampton on Saturday.

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Indigenous voice campaigners say ample detail already available in wake of PM’s stirring speech

Uluru Statement from the Heart advocates praise Anthony Albanese’s Garma festival speech but Coalition wants more details

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, acknowledged we have been here before as a nation: at a crossroads, about to decide a path that will affect the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people for generations to come.

But for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, this time the stakes are so much higher, because the past is littered with the broken promises of politicians.

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Coalition offers qualified support for Indigenous voice as PM reveals referendum wording – as it happened

Anthony Albanese announces draft wording of referendum question in Garma festival speech. This blog is now closed

AFP says reports of human trafficking and slavery reach highest ever level

Reports of human trafficking and slavery to the AFP have increased to their “highest ever reported”, according to new data released today.

This is the first time in Australia’s history where the uptake of a unified training and awareness-raising protocol to combat human trafficking and slavery will be delivered across all frontline agencies and jurisdictions.

This represents a critical step to addressing the scourge of human trafficking in the Australian community and it’s a job the AFP and our partners will work together to combat.

Dr Khorshid was elected AMA president during the first peak of the pandemic and quickly became the voice of reason, of calm and of urgency when needed – lobbying government, and fronting the media, along with hard-working vice-president Dr Chris Moy, to send clear messages about the pandemic.

His leadership was particularly critical during the early stages when there was no vaccine, and the focus was on implementing effective public health measures to ensure the safety of the community and healthcare workers.

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Brisbane teenager built spyware used by domestic violence perpetrators across world, police allege

Jacob Wayne John Keen, 24, is alleged to have created hacking tool when 15 years old and sold it to more than 14,500 people

Police allege that a teenager living in the suburbs of Brisbane created and sold a sophisticated hacking tool used by domestic violence perpetrators and child sex offenders to spy on tens of thousands of people across the globe – and then used the proceeds to buy takeaway food.

Jacob Wayne John Keen, now 24, was 15 years old and living in his mother’s rental when he allegedly created a sophisticated spyware tool known as a remote access trojan (RAT) that allowed users to remotely take control of their victims’ computers.

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Uluru statement campaigners welcome Albanese’s referendum commitment

Campaign director Dean Parkin says the prime minister flagging set referendum question brings ‘level of clarity’

Key players in the Uluru Statement from the Heart campaign have welcomed the PM’s commitment to a referendum question on an Indigenous voice to parliament and a form of words in the constitution, saying the proposal is almost identical to the wording they had put forward in 2018.

The From the Heart campaign director, Dean Parkin, said the announcement is a very promising step forward in a long campaign for change.

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Karnal bunt and khapra beetle: seven threats to Australian biosecurity

Along with foot-and-mouth disease, there are other pests and diseases that could damage our economy and rural communities

The tiny barbarians are at the gates and Australia’s biosecurity measures have been tested. First, the Covid-19 outbreak demonstrated the ease at which an incursion of a new disease or pest can cause havoc on livelihoods and the Australian economy.

Then foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) spread to Bali, elevating the threat of a virus that hasn’t been here since 1872. FMD is a highly contagious virus and an outbreak would be disastrous for our livestock sector, significantly affecting our ability to export meat, live animals, dairy products and wool.

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Nathan Cleary facing five-week ban after send-off for dangerous spear tackle

  • Penrith star sent off for dangerous throw in 34-10 loss to Parramatta
  • Cleary unlikely to return until semi-finals of Panthers’ title defence

Star playmaker Nathan Cleary will go into Penrith’s finals campaign cold after receiving a five-game suspension for his spear tackle on Parramatta’s Dylan Brown.

Cleary was sent off for the first time in his career in Friday’s 34-10 loss to the Eels and won’t play again during the regular season. He was handed a grade-three dangerous throw charge by the NRL’s match review committee on Saturday morning.

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Anthony Albanese reveals ‘simple and clear’ wording of referendum question on Indigenous voice

Prime minister uses Garma festival speech to suggest Australians should be asked a simple yes or no question on enshrining a voice in the constitution

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the Australian people should be asked a “simple and clear” yes or no referendum question regarding whether an Indigenous voice to parliament should be enshrined in the constitution.

“We should consider asking our fellow Australians something as simple as ‘Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’” Albanese said in a landmark speech at the Garma festival in Arnhem Land on Saturday.

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Rupert Murdoch’s flagship Australian newspaper deletes story on sex life of British royal

The Australian’s online youth section, The Oz, published salacious gossip about a royal based on an unverified online rumour site

It is known as the most conservative newspaper in Australia but on Friday Rupert Murdoch’s national masthead ventured into the surprising territory of highly salacious and unsubstantiated gossip about the British royal family.

Minutes after the Guardian asked the editor-in-chief of the Australian, Christopher Dore, to comment on why the unusual article purportedly about a royal’s sex life had been published, it was taken down.

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‘Momentum is building’: high hopes for an Indigenous voice to parliament as Garma festival starts

Anthony Albanese is first prime minister to visit Arnhem Land festival since Malcolm Turnbull in 2017

Momentum is building for an Indigenous voice to be enshrined in the constitution, an Uluru Statement from the Heart leader says, as the annual Garma festival begins in the Northern Territory.

The opportunity for a voice to parliament has arrived and if it is missed it may not return for another generation, Wiradjuri man Geoff Scott warned on Friday.

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Karen Andrews links June asylum seeker boat arrivals to Labor policy – as it happened

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Business Council calls Albanese government the most engaged she’s seen

Westacott, the council’s chief executive, told ABC Radio:

I can’t remember a more engaged government than this. I have had call after call after call from ministers.

When you add up all those little things it makes a big difference.

We need to rebrand Australia as a place we want people to come to work.

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Queensland Health to review medical costs for sexual assault victims by end of year

Organisation says fees for treatment of injuries, MRIs and STI testing for people without medicare would be reassessed

Queensland Health has committed to reviewing medical costs billed to sexual assault victims who are ineligible for Medicare by the end of the year, following reports one victim was charged $800 for pathology tests.

It comes after reports by Guardian Australia prompted Queensland Health to pledge not to charge sexual assault victims without access to Medicare for rape kits.

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Sisters of African descent suspended from Victorian private school for not tying hair back

Amayah and Safhira Rowe say hair requirement of Highview College in Maryborough causes them pain

Two secondary students have complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission after being suspended from a private regional Victorian school over “disgusting” uniform requirements.

Year 10 and 11 students Safhira and Amayah Rowe were sent home from Highview College in Maryborough on Tuesday after refusing to wear their hair tied back – a school policy – because they said it caused them pain. They both wear their African hair in braids.

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Australian tourist in serious condition after falling into thermal sinkhole in New Zealand

The 2m-wide hole opened up suddenly on a footpath at Whakarewarewa tourist village in Rotorua, in central North Island

An Australian woman has been seriously injured after she fell into a geothermal sinkhole that opened up in a popular tourist village in New Zealand.

The woman fell into the two-metre-wide fumarole when it opened suddenly on a footpath near the entrance of Whakarewarewa thermal village in Rotorua, in central North Island.

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