Category Archives: Australia news

Rushed consultation for NSW coercive control laws could result in flawed legislation, experts say

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Domestic violence advocates warn drafted laws could be discriminatory if pushed through by government

Domestic violence and legal experts say the New South Wales government’s attempt to push through new coercive control laws before the end of the year could result in flawed legislation that unwittingly discriminates against migrant and First Nations communities.

The state’s attorney general, Mark Speakman, released a draft of the new laws on Wednesday with consultation open for six weeks.

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Australian birthrate falls to lowest in over a decade

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Data shows average age of mothers has increased, though stillborn and neonatal death rates remain unchanged

Australia has seen its lowest birthrate in more than a decade but stillborn rates have remained stubborn, based on the latest mothers and babies data.

In 2020, there were 295,796 babies born to 291,712 mothers. This represents a fall from 66 women per 1,000 giving birth in 2007 to 56 per 1,000 in 2020, according to the Australia’s mothers and babies report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], published on Friday.

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Medicare reforms are essential for creating fairer national abortion system, say advocates

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Health experts are calling for Medicare item numbers for abortions and pregnancy counselling ahead of women’s safety ministers’ meeting

Medicare item numbers for abortions and pregnancy counselling along with specific funding for reproductive health are needed to create a fairer national abortion system, according to MSI Australia, formerly known as Marie Stopes.

State and federal women’s safety ministers are meeting on Friday for the first time since the Albanese government was elected. A 10-year plan to end violence against women and children, gender equity issues and the need for a specific plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are expected to be discussed.

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Plea for Queensland to resume publishing vaccination status of Covid fatalities

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Experts say data could help convince public to get booster shots as state’s Covid hospitalisations reach record levels

A leading infectious disease expert has questioned why Queensland has stopped releasing the vaccination status of Covid fatalities, as the state struggles to convince residents to get booster shots, despite record hospitalisations from the virus.

Queensland has the lowest rate of Covid booster shots in the country, with less than half the state having received a third dose.

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Labor resists calls to close border to Indonesia after foot-and-mouth viral fragments detected in SA

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Agriculture minister Murray Watt says federal government confident new biosecurity measures enough to protect livestock industry

The federal government is resisting calls to close Australia’s border to Indonesia over the foot-and-mouth disease threat, after more fragments of the potentially devastating livestock virus were detected in South Australia.

The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said he was confident that new federal biosecurity measures would be sufficient to keep out foot-and-mouth disease, which could threaten Australia’s entire meat industry, as farmers call on the government to not overreact.

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Australia news live: childcare workers announce strike; election violence in PNG; Frydenberg joins Goldman Sachs

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Childcare workers have voted to strike in September, after years of poor pay and conditions

Linda Burney says she’s ‘not going to be rushed’ on Indigenous voice referendum

Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, is on ABC radio speaking about the enshrinement of the Indigenous voice in the constitution.

This is not just symbolic, it is going to have real impacts on the lives of First Nations people.

I am not going to be rushed into timelines. We are going to do this properly.

I would find it incredulous for people not to support what is a very generous and gracious ask.

Remember that this is an advisory body only. It is not usurping the sovereignty of the parliament. Is is not a third chamber.

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Victoria demands AEMO maintain minimum gas storage levels as supplies dwindle

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Gas supplies at the Iona storage facility have fallen due to high demand amid the state’s price cap

The national market operator needs to implement “immediate measures” that address the state’s gas shortage crisis, Victoria’s energy minister says.

Lily D’Ambrosio said the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) must establish a viable plan to control gas supply levels at national storage facilities after it was revealed that the Iona facility near Port Campbell recently dropped to record lows.

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Albanese labels Morrison’s comments about not trusting government ‘astonishing’

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PM accuses his predecessor of making ‘nonsense throwaway conspiracy’ claims about the UN at a church in Perth

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has accused his predecessor Scott Morrison of making “nonsense throwaway conspiracy” claims about the United Nations that were unworthy of a national leader.

Albanese branded Morrison’s comments during a church sermon on the weekend as “astonishing”, after the defeated Coalition leader said: “We don’t trust in governments. We don’t trust in the United Nations, thank goodness.”

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Former advisor tells inquiry John Barilaro expedited change to New York trade job

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Joseph Brayford tells inquiry former NSW deputy premier wanted to turn trade roles into ministerial appointments ‘ASAP’

Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro fast-tracked a cabinet submission to turn the senior trade jobs now at the centre of a political scandal into ministerial appointments, instructing a staff member to get it done “ASAP”, an inquiry has heard.

A transcript of evidence given by former advisor Joseph Brayford to the parliamentary inquiry probing Barilaro’s appointment to a $500,000-a-year New York trade posting also suggests Barilaro planned to discuss the change with his ministerial colleagues in the NSW government.

On Thursday the committee running the probe released a transcript of evidence given by Brayford in a secret hearing held earlier this week.

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Health department defends Australian Covid vaccine ads criticised as ‘very hard to find’

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Health expert says health videos contain key messages but it’s difficult to find and share them

The Department of Health has defended its $11m advertising campaign for Covid vaccine boosters in response to concerns the communication began too late and is not prominent enough.

The health minister, Mark Butler, last month launched a six-week winter advertising campaign to encourage Australians to get vaccinated for Covid and influenza, and to raise awareness of antiviral medication for those who contract Covid.

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Jock Campbell handed Wallabies call-up as Rory Arnold returns for Argentina Tests

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  • Full-back on 36-man list for next month’s two-match tour
  • Lock Arnold one of three overseas-based players in squad

Full-back Jock Campbell has earned his first call-up while lock Rory Arnold returned to the Wallabies fold for their two-Test Rugby Championship tour of Argentina. Coach Dave Rennie will reveal a 36-player squad on Thursday ahead of their first Test against the Michael Cheika-coached Pumas in Mendoza on 7 August (AEDT), with the second in nearby San Juan a week later.

The Australians are looking to rebound after losing the three-Test series against England, going down 21-17 in the decider last Saturday in Sydney.

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Australia news live updates: Greens aim to ‘improve and pass’ Labor climate bill; Andrews rules out mask mandates as nation records 90 Covid deaths;

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No change in Operation Sovereign Borders policy

Clare O’Neil is asked about the desperate situation in Sri Lanka, where many people are trying to find a way out.

Operation Sovereign Borders is Australian government policy.

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Mortgage holders should brace for short-term pain as RBA signals steady interest rate rises to tackle inflation

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Philip Lowe says reserve bank looking for its ‘neutral rate’ which could see cash rate almost double in coming months

Mortgage holders should brace themselves for interest rate rises of at least another 1.15 percentage points before the end of the year as the Reserve Bank of Australia attempts to hose down inflation before it takes hold of the economy.

The RBA governor, Philip Lowe, said he believed inflation was on track to hit 7% by the end of 2022, with an unemployment rate of 3.5% but said the bank was confident inflation would return to the “target range” of between 2% and 3% in a “short while”.

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Foot-and-mouth disease: Australian airports to step up precautions as farmers grow anxious

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Agriculture minister says disinfectant mats will be installed to prevent arrival of the disease, which is spreading in Indonesia

The federal government will install acidic disinfectant mats at airports as part of an expanded suite of biosecurity measures to prevent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) entering Australia from Indonesia.

The new precautions come as viral fragments of the disease were detected in food products arriving from China.

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Jennifer Down wins 2022 Miles Franklin award for Bodies of Light

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Book prize judges have praised ‘ethical precision’ of Melburnian’s second novel, a poised unpacking of the horrors of institutional failure

Jennifer Down missed the call telling her she’d won the Miles Franklin. She was in a hotel room on a Zoom call for work, and rang back later with no idea of the news waiting for her. “I was quite speechless,” she tells Guardian Australia. “I was so shocked.” We get that a lot, the chair told her dryly.

Bodies of Light is the Melbourne writer’s second novel. Her debut and subsequent short story collection saw her named best young Australian novelist by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2017 and 2018, and she’s been awarded several fellowships. But the 31-year-old is still processing the “immeasurable impact” of the $60,000 prize – the country’s richest literary award, alongside the Stella – on her writing life. It goes deeper than book sales and overseas readers, though both are now likely.

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Daniel Andrews apologises for ‘disgraceful behaviour’ of Labor MPs after scathing Ibac findings

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Victorian premier pledges reforms after Operation Watts finds public funds ‘misused’ and codes breached

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says he takes full responsibility for the “disgraceful” conduct uncovered in a damning report into Labor branch stacking, as he apologised to the public and vowed to implement sweeping reform.

The report of Operation Watts – a joint investigation between the state’s ombudsman and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) uncovered widespread misuse of taxpayer resources for political purposes and a “catalogue” of unethical behaviour in the Victorian branch of the Labor party including nepotism, the hiring of unqualified people for public roles and using those roles for political party work.

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Anthony Albanese stops short of calling for Australians to work from home amid Covid surge

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Prime minister says people should stay home if they are sick but there is no prescriptive position on working from home

Anthony Albanese has stopped short of calling for Australians to work from home if they can, as the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, advised yesterday in the face of the rising Covid wave, saying the nation needed a “balance” to also consider the interests of business.

Despite numerous questions across a radio interview and a press conference about the latest recommendation from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee that employers should allow working from home if feasible, the prime minister did not directly make that request himself.

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Redbubble ordered to pay Hells Angels more than $78,000 for using logo without permission

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Motorcycle club wins second copyright infringement case against online merchandise company in three years

Online merchandise store Redbubble has been ordered to pay the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club more than $78,000 for selling items depicting the club’s logo without permission, in the second ruling against the company in three years.

Redbubble is an online marketplace that allows users to upload images to be printed on merchandise such as stickers, mugs, T-shirts, masks and other items, which are then offered for sale.

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Queensland police misidentify domestic violence victims as attackers, inquiry told

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Inquiry hears no effort was made to communicate with deaf woman wrongly identified as a perpetrator

Queensland police regularly misidentify the victims of domestic violence, with a lawyer telling an inquiry that a woman was subjected to a protection order due to scratches she inflicted in self-defence when her partner was strangling her.

In another case, officers wrongly identified a deaf First Nations woman as a perpetrator despite making no effort to communicate with her, a lawyer from the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service told the inquiry.

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Victorian spoke of wanting police to kill him before he was shot dead, inquest hears

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Coroner told Gabriel Messo attacked his mother before being shot three times by a police officer in 2020

A Victorian man who was shot dead by police after violently assaulting his mother told a social worker that he wanted an officer to kill him so his pain would end, an inquest has heard.

Gabriel Messo, who had bipolar disorder, was shot in the chest three times by a police officer at John Coutts Reserve in Gladstone Park, in Melbourne’s north, on 16 July 2020.

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