Category Archives: Australia news

Australia news live: Penny Wong urges Australians to leave Lebanon; Chalmers says housing pipeline ‘not where we want it to be’

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The foreign minister says in video message there is a ‘real risk’ that conflict in the region would seriously escalate. Follow the day’s news live

Indigenous Australians ‘frustrated’ at slow progress

Indigenous Australians are “somewhere between disappointed and frustrated” at a lack of traction on socio-economic targets, after a scorecard found most aren’t being met.

You see those datasets that again reinforce what we heard even at the beginning of the year, and that is governments are not moving fast enough on this, it’s frustrating.

It’s not about finding a new pathway – certainly that’s not what the productivity commission is saying. It’s saying: share the decision-making – this is commonsense, governments talking to the people about the issues that impact them, and the solutions to solve that.

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Two people found dead on yacht in Sydney Harbour amid concerns fumes detected aboard

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Bodies of a man and woman aged in their 50s or 60s found on 47ft yacht moored at Cammeray on Sydney’s north shore

Two people have been found dead on a yacht moored in Sydney’s north, amid concerns fumes were detected aboard.

The bodies of the man and woman were found on Wednesday night after emergency services conducted a welfare check at a mooring at Tunks Park, Cammeray, located on Sydney’s north shore.

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Lures and violent threats: old school cheating still rampant at Australian universities, even as AI rises

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Integrity experts say sites offering cheating services to students are hard to trace, and some are run by criminals willing to make threats of violence

Kane Murdoch’s job takes him, his colleagues and his family to some frightening places.

“A comment … threatened to gang-rape my wife and decapitate me,” he wrote on his blog in April. Members of his team and their families had also been threatened with violence as a direct result of their work, he said.

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Labor’s planned anti-scam laws are too complicated, too lenient and too slow, advocates say

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Federal government’s promise to force banks to reimburse scam victims criticised as ‘too vague’ and ‘a mess’

The government’s proposed reforms to laws on financial scams let the banking system off the hook, are inferior to policies applied overseas, are complicated for victims and will not be legislated before Australians lose many more billions of dollars, according to consumer advocates.

The scathing criticism comes after an address by the assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, who vowed on Wednesday to force banks, telcos and social media platforms to reimburse scam victims if their systems prove inadequate, as techniques used by fraudsters grow increasingly sophisticated.

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‘Deeply troubling’ trends found in first Closing the Gap report since voice referendum defeat

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Malarndirri McCarthy suggests bipartisan approach needed for ‘positive change’ as report shows key Indigenous measures sliding backwards

The number of Indigenous Australians imprisoned, taking their own life and losing children to out-of-home care have all increased in the first Closing the Gap report since the voice referendum was defeated.

Not only were key measures to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians sliding backwards, prompting concern from leaders, but parties to the national agreement for closing the gap still cannot agree on an approach to measure priority areas.

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One in five Australians improvised period products due to cost barriers, survey finds

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Report finds period poverty is spread across income brackets but affects more Indigenous people and people with disability

About three in five people with periods have struggled to afford menstrual products and one in four have worn a tampon or pad for more than four hours in the past year due to cost, an Australian survey of more than 153,000 people has found.

In its second triennial report on period poverty, charity Share the Dignity found that periods were still having a substantial impact on the ability of women, girls and gender-diverse people who menstruate to study, work and play sport without interruption, due to cost, pain and stigma.

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Australia news live: Coalition claims Labor education reforms a ‘school funding war’; NZ bushwalker’s body recovered from Tasmania hiking trail

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Follow the day’s news live

Murray Watt says advice needed from administrators to determine government support amid administration

Murray Watt, the newly-appointed minister for workplace relations, also weighed in on the Rex Airlines administration on ABC RN just earlier.

In terms of equity stakes or other financial government support, we’ll make those decisions once the situation becomes clearer through the administrator.

This would only be activated if the company is unable to repay entitlements to any workers who are retrenched, and let’s hope it may not get to that.

But also, our department would be providing employment support to workers who do lose their job to ensure that they can get back into work as quickly as possible.

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Australian government scrambles to clarify stance on Golan Heights after Wong references ‘Israeli town’

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Foreign minister’s ‘alarming’ phrasing echoes sovereignty recognised only by Israel and the US under the Trump administration, Palestine advocates say

The Australian government has insisted it still regards the Golan Heights as occupied territory after Penny Wong described the site of a weekend attack as a “northern Israeli town”.

The foreign minister’s statement was met with a flood of comments online asking why she had effectively recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – which Israel seized from Syria in the six-day war in 1967 – and not described it as occupied.

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‘We could have all been dead’: Wieambilla shooting survivor blames police for failing to warn of danger

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Survivor Victor Lewis and victim Alan Dare’s widow Kerry demand changes and accountability in testimony to Queensland inquest

A survivor of the Wieambilla massacre whose friend was shot and killed while standing next to him has demanded answers about why police failed to warn of the danger.

Victor Lewis travelled to the property with his friend Alan Dare to investigate a fire, and was standing shoulder to shoulder with Dare when he was shot and killed.

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As many as 360 workers sacked at Rex with hundreds more jobs to go

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Employees reportedly told the airline will no longer operate flights between capital cities

As many as 360 staff at Rex Airlines have been sacked already and hundreds more are on the chopping block after administrators were called in to run the embattled carrier, with remaining staff told they may not get paid until a new buyer is found.

It comes amid speculation that Asia-based private equity firm PAG, which funded Rex’s $150m expansion to jet operations, was considering becoming the airline’s new owner out of administration.

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Amber Haigh’s crying baby was cuddled and consoled by Anne Geeves during police interview, court hears

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When detectives asked Anne Geeves, who has pleaded not guilty to her murder, if she had caused harm to missing teenage mother, she swore ‘on the baby’s grave’ she’d done nothing wrong

Within days of Amber Haigh going missing, police told Robert and Anne Geeves they were suspects, interrogating the couple in individual recorded interviews on the teenager’s last known movements.

Haigh was 19 when she vanished from the New South Wales Riverina in June 2002, leaving behind her five-month-old son.

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Jury hears Nelomie Perera’s screams before alleged murder in front of children

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Dinush Kurera has pleaded not guilty to murder and assaulting his son after wife’s 2022 death in Melbourne home

The screams of a mother’s final moments alive while her estranged husband allegedly hacked her to death in front of their children have been played to a Victorian jury.

“Help me, help me,” Nelomie Perera yelled in a recording captured on her watch, which was played to Melbourne’s supreme court.

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Rex has entered voluntary administration. What happens next to the embattled regional airline?

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Virgin Australia has offered to rebook Rex passengers due to travel on now-grounded capital city flights on an equivalent Virgin service free of charge

There is uncertainty about the future of Rex – Australia’s third-largest airline – after it entered voluntary administration and grounded all of its flights between capital cities.

The Albanese government held crisis talks with Rex on Tuesday and appeared willing to step in to save parts of the airline’s operations.

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Rex airlines enters voluntary administration with all flights between capital cities grounded

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Federal government says Rex ‘will have a future’ with minister suggesting Labor will step in to save troubled company

All Rex flights between capital cities have been grounded and the airline has entered voluntary administration just hours after the Albanese government suggested it would intervene to ensure the nation’s third-largest carrier didn’t collapse.

Late on Tuesday, EY – formerly known as Ernst & Young – announced it had been appointed as administrators of the company, and that the airline’s Boeing 737 operations between capital cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane had been grounded, with Virgin Australia stepping in to offer impacted passengers rebooking “free of charge”.

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Collingwood to fight fresh racism allegations by former head of First Nations strategy

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Calls for reigning AFL premiers to be stripped of points as the club faces fresh racism allegations in court

Collingwood will defend themselves against serious allegations of racism filed in court, insisting the club has acted lawfully.

The AFL has been urged to strip the Magpies of premiership points should explosive claims be proven.

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Damage from catastrophic Victorian floods ‘exacerbated’ by bad decisions and systemic failures, inquiry reveals

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Preparations, emergency warnings and recovery grants found lacking following long-running investigation into 2022 disaster

A major investigation into catastrophic floods reveals confusion about preparations, failures in emergency warnings and clunky access to recovery grants.

Flood waters lashed Victoria in October 2022, displacing thousands of residents and destroying hundreds of homes.

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‘Plan ahead’: thousands of Sydney commuters to face travel chaos as opening of new metro line delayed

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Revised launch date yet to be announced as NSW government awaits go ahead from Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator for new $21.6bn subway line

Thousands of Sydney commuters will have their travel plans thrown into disarray from next week due to a delay to the planned opening of the $21.6bn Metro project.

The transport minister, Jo Haylen, on Tuesday apologised to passengers as she confirmed the government was yet to secure approval from the national rail safety regulator and had not determined a new start date for the metro service.

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Housing approvals fall to lowest level in 12 years despite Labor’s pledge of 1.2m new homes

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Approved dwellings drop 6.5% in June amid high interest rates and building costs as CoreLogic rues ‘dismal result’

New dwelling approvals in Australia have sunk to their lowest in 12 years, as developers battle high interest rates and rising labour and material costs.

For the year to June, 162,892 houses and apartments secured approval, down 8.5% on the previous year and the least since 2011-12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Tuesday.

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Australian universities accused of awarding degrees to students with no grasp of ‘basic’ English

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In the first part of a Guardian series, academics say universities have turned a blind eye to language shortcomings because of the revenue generated from international student fees

International students who cannot speak “basic English” are walking away from Australian universities with prestigious degrees, academics say, a situation one described as “mind-blowing” .

More than a dozen academics and students who spoke to Guardian Australia, most on the condition of anonymity, said the universities’ financial reliance on foreign students over many years had hollowed out academic integrity and threatened the international credibility of the sector.

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Fears NSW renters could be mass-evicted ahead of proposed law change

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Advocates welcome premier Chris Minns’s move to ban no-grounds evictions but worry about renters in the meantime

Rental advocates are warning about mass no-grounds evictions in New South Wales between now and the end of the year unless the state government acts to stop dodgy landlords.

Over the weekend, the state Labor government announced it would introduce legislation to stop no-grounds evictions in September. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said he hoped it would be passed and come into effect by the start of 2025.

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