Category Archives: Australia news

Google to build new AI datacentre on tiny Australian Indian Ocean outpost after signing defence deal

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Military experts say facility on Christmas Island would be valuable asset to monitor Chinese submarine and naval activity

Google plans to build a large AI datacentre on Australia’s remote Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island after signing a cloud deal with the Department of Defence earlier this year, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with officials.

Plans for the datacentre on the tiny island located 350km south of Indonesia have not previously been reported, and many details, including its projected size, cost and potential uses, remain secret.

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Illegal tobacco burns $3.3bn hole in Australia’s tax revenue, crime agency says

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ACIC report says total impact of illicit trade on economy amounted to $4bn in a year amid debate over cigarette excise

The illegal tobacco market has left a $3.3bn hole in the federal government’s finances, with Australia’s national criminal intelligence agency warning organised crime’s dominance of the market is continuing to grow.

The Australian Taxation Office believes the illegal trade now accounts for one in five tobacco sales, which has led to reduced tax revenues despite the government’s excise on legal cigarettes reaching almost $30 for a pack of 20 sticks in September. The excise has increased almost eightfold since 2006, when it was $4.65.

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Sam Groth’s ambition to be premier meant articles on relationship with wife ‘not idle gossip’, News Corp claims

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Court told new privacy laws shouldn’t apply to Herald Sun stories alleging Victorian MP’s wife, Brittany, was underage at start of relationship

News Corp stories alleging Sam Groth began dating his wife, Brittany, while she was underage were far from “idle gossip” given the claims were being “weaponised” by rivals of the Victorian Liberal MP, who aspires to become premier, the publisher has told a court.

The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and Herald Sun editor Sam Weir are being sued in the federal court over a series of articles published in July. Groth is suing for defamation while his wife has launched the first test case of new laws for serious invasions of privacy.

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Pauline Hanson skips parliament to speak at conservative conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

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One Nation leader also seen with Gina Rinehart – and many of her talking points align with mining magnate

Pauline Hanson skipped parliament this week to speak at a conservative conference at Donald Trump’s luxury resort in Florida, where she was pictured alongside Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman.

The One Nation leader, who resided at Mar-a-Lago ahead of her address at the multi-day event run by the Conservative Political Action Conference, lambasted both major parties in Australia during the speech while praising the US administration for deporting immigrants, bombing drug cartel boats and supercharging mining projects. Tickets to CPAC ranged from $US5,000 to $US25,000.

This article and headline was amended on 6 November, 2025, to clarify that tickets to CPAC ranged from $US5,000 to $US25,000 per person.

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Prosecutors asked if manslaughter charge will be considered if Greg Lynn overturns high country murder conviction

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Appeal judges also seek advice on whether motive of former Jetstar pilot would be considered in event of retrial over Carol Clay’s death

The Victorian court of appeal has asked the office of public prosecutions if it would “amend its hand” – including on whether a manslaughter charge would be laid – in the event Greg Lynn was retried over the killing of an elderly camper.

Lynn, 59, was found guilty in June last year of murdering grandmother Carol Clay, but was acquitted of murdering her fellow camper and lover, Russell Hill.

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Footage of guards holding down and putting spit hood on disabled NT prisoner shown at inquest

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Wayne Hunt didn’t receive full medical assessment after seizure in cell and died days later, coroner hears

Confronting footage of a disabled inmate being roughly handled and placed in a spit hood by prison guards after an epileptic seizure has been played at an inquest into his death.

Wayne Hunt struggled and yelled as Northern Territory corrections officers pinned him down, held him tightly by the head and put him in handcuffs and a spit hood, the inquest before coroner Elisabeth Armitage has heard.

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Australia politics live: Greens say secret Nauru deportations ‘not how any democracy should behave’

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Shoebridge accuses Labor of being ‘addicted to secrecy’. Follow today’s news live

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best overnight stories before Krishani Dhanji takes the controls.

Asio chief Mike Burgess gave a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night in which he said there were “at least” three countries whose governments were prepared to carry out assassinations on Australian soil. Asked whether it was too alarming, Burgess said that it was “incredibly important” for Australians to understand the dangers the country faced.

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Prisoners spending entire jail term in police cells as Victoria’s justice system buckles

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Prisoners in police cells often have less access to healthcare and less chance of being visited by family and lawyers

In winter this year, a young Aboriginal man with a history of self-harm who had been remanded in custody in Melbourne was told he would be moving cells.

But he was not shifted across the corridor or to another building nearby: he was driven 300km to the police cells in Wodonga.

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Many GPs ‘nervous’ about bulk-billing rollout under new Medicare scheme

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Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says doctors concerned at being ‘100% reliant on government funding decisions’

Every electorate in the country will have a GP practice that bulk bills every patient after the expanded bulk billing incentive came into effect this month, the health minister has said.

The changes mean four out of 10 practices will be fully bulk billing, as the government vows it will bring the number up to nine out of 10 by 2030.

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ANU bought shares in Israeli weapons maker after pledging to stop controversial arms investments

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Exclusive: University says Elbit Systems, whose drones have been used extensively in Gaza, not on any controversial weapons list when shares bought and sold this year

The Australian National University bought $138,000 worth of shares in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer in March, despite an earlier pledge to not invest in controversial arms companies.

The investments in Elbit Systems were made 12 days after Israel shattered a pause in hostilities with airstrikes that killed more than 400 people in Gaza. At the time, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had warned the renewed military offensive was “only the beginning”.

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Albanese government deports two more men to Nauru in secret, infuriating human rights advocates

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Exclusive: Sources say a Sudanese national and another man were chartered to the former regional processing centre last week, joining one other person

Another two men from the NZYQ-affected cohort have been deported to Nauru in a process human rights advocates say is shrouded in secrecy.

Sources told Guardian Australia a Sudanese national, who was detained in the Yongah Hill centre just outside of Perth, and another man held in a different centre were chartered to Nauru last week.

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RBA holds official interest rate at 3.6% while warning of rising house prices and rents

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Reserve Bank’s decision to leave cash rate on hold was widely expected and major banks predict no interest rates cut until 2026

The Reserve Bank has left the official interest rate on hold, as it warned house prices and rents will rise in 2026 after a surprise rebound in inflation.

The RBA’s monetary policy board on Tuesday kept the cash rate at 3.6%, where it has sat since August. Economists and banks overwhelmingly expected no change.

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Albanese government rejects Bruce Lehrmann’s request for legal funding over corruption watchdog raid on his home

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Former Liberal staffer, who denies allegations he misappropriated secret documents in 2019, indicates to court he fears Christmas raids from Nacc

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s request for financial assistance has been knocked back after his home was raided by the national anti-corruption watchdog.

Officials from the National Anti-Corruption Commission searched the 30-year-old’s home in June 2024 over allegations he misappropriated secret documents related to French submarines five years earlier.

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Australians still betting big on Melbourne Cup, despite many saying they’re losing interest in race

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But money spent betting on horse racing overall has sharply declined amid cost-of-living pressures and regulation

Australians say they are losing interest in the Melbourne Cup and the animal welfare campaign against it has never wavered, but the amount of money gambled on the race has barely changed since the pandemic.

Wagering turnover on the Melbourne Cup has fallen only slightly from the $221m recorded in 2020 to $214m last year. The five-year average spend, according to Racing Victoria figures, remains $220m.

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Australian scientist who made global name during Covid wins top prime minister’s prize

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Prof Lidia Morawska says recognition of her research comes at a fraught time – an ‘age of anti-science’

When the World Health Organization announced – incorrectly, as became apparent later – in March 2020 that the Covid-19 virus was not airborne, Prof Lidia Morawska knew she had to do something.

A renowned expert in air quality and health, Morawska, of the Queensland University of Technology, began contacting international colleagues. She eventually gathered 239 scientists globally to highlight the risk of airborne transmission of Sars-CoV-2.

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Nearly 90% of jobseekers unable to get long-term work despite millions spent on private job agencies

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Employment department’s annual report shows just 11.7% of jobseekers ended up with jobs lasting at least 26 weeks last year

Australia’s private employment services are failing to get jobseekers into long-term work, despite costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year, department documents show.

Just 11.7% of jobseekers in Australia found long-term employment through a job provider in the latest financial year, according to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ annual report.

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Disabled NT man died naked in cell wearing spit hood and cuffs, inquest told

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Wayne Hunt was kept in detention after a seizure instead of being taken to hospital, coroner hears

An inmate who suffered a seizure was put in handcuffs and a spit hood by prison guards who left him naked in an “at-risk cell” before he died two days later.

At an inquest into his death in Darwin on Monday, Northern Territory corrections and health departments apologised to the family of Wayne Hunt for the way he was treated and told the coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, that procedural changes would be made.

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Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power – even if they don’t have solar panels

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Labor announces ‘solar sharer’ program for households in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia

Australian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.

The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027.

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‘Diabolical’: why Australia’s teacher shortages are among the worst in the world – and who is suffering most

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Regional and disadvantaged schools are bearing the brunt of the crisis, with almost two-thirds of teachers reporting high levels of stress

Mathew Burt has been principal at Broome Senior High School for less than a decade, yet he’s one of the longest-serving school leaders across the Kimberly.

After spending most of his teaching career in Perth, Burt decided to make the tree change north in 2018 with his wife and two children. He said teacher shortages have hit all of Western Australia but, the more regional you go, the worse the crisis gets.

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The Coalition have a better chance of winning by chasing teal voters over One Nation voters

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Opposition faultlines have opened up over net zero and immigration, but the data shows there’s more to gain targeting moderate electorates

Recent moves by prominent Coalition figures Andrew Hastie and Barnaby Joyce have highlighted a major faultline within the Coalition between conservatives who want to scrap net zero and curtail immigration and moderates who believe they need to regain voters in urban seats where there is strong support for action on the climate emergency.

That fault line ominously shook further on Sunday afternoon, with David Littleproud announcing the National party was officially abandoning its commitment to reach net zero by 2050.

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