Category Archives: Australia news

Infamous Captain Cook statue in controversial pose removed from Queensland street

Posted on by

Eight-metre-tall statue in pose some liken to a Nazi salute will be moved from Cairns to the Atherton Tablelands

A statue of a Captain James Cook with an arm raised in a position that some liken to a Nazi salute has been removed from a main street in Cairns.

Demolition contractor Martin Anton hopes to be the unlikely saviour of the controversial statue, which had been used to advertise a topless bar, after reportedly buying the statue for a token $1.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden: invasion of Ukraine shows need for free and open Indo-Pacific

Posted on by

Leaders of US, India, Japan and Australia meet in Tokyo for Quad summit Beijing claims is an attempt to contain China

The turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underlined the need for a free Indo-Pacific region, Joe Biden has said at a meeting with regional partners that Beijing has condemned as part of a US-led attempt to contain China.

Biden and the leaders of a loose alliance known as the Quad – India, Japan and Australia – reaffirmed their commitment to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific during talks in Tokyo on Tuesday. The comments came one day after the US president said Washington would be ready to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan, prompting China to accuse him of “playing with fire”.

Continue reading...

PM says ‘no change’ on Taiwan – as it happened

Posted on by

Prime minister confirms Australia to host Quad summit in 2023 after Tokyo meeting; 68 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Marles is also asked about petrol prices, which are rising again:

It is difficult. We’re facing a cost of living crisis. As a government, we’re willing to say that in a way the former government was not. What ultimately underpins is it we’ve had the longest period of wage stagnation since records were kept.

What underpins that is a decade of lost productivity. What that’s we need to change. It doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve been clear about that. But the job does start overnight and we’re on the pathway right now to making sure that we revitalise Australian industry, we give people the skills they need so they can get the good jobs out there.

I think China is going to continue to be a difficult relationship for us. From an Australian point of view, we understand the complexity of the relationship.

It is our largest trading partner, but China is seeking to shape the world around it in ways we have not seen before, in places like the South China sea. But [also] in increased strategic competition in our region, in the Pacific, and we’ve seen the agreement they have signed with the Solomon Islands.

Continue reading...

Labor’s jobs summit to focus on pay deals and productivity in bid to lift wages

Posted on by

Expert says collective bargaining is a ‘minefield’ for employers and simplifying it should be a focus of the forum

More immigration, improved skills policy and simplifying collective bargaining have emerged as three top demands from employers for the new Labor government’s jobs summit.

Experts suggest the forum could also pave the way for reforms including wage theft legislation, which was dropped from the Coalition’s industrial relations bill, and action on union demands about insecure work.

The better off overall test so hypothetical patterns of work don’t prevent pay deals being approved;

The requirements for the FWC to be satisfied that genuine agreement has been reached;

The requirement for employers to explain the terms of a proposed pay deal to employees prior to the vote.

Continue reading...

High number of invalid votes in culturally diverse seats prompts concerns after federal election

Posted on by

Big disparities in the informal vote across the nation spark fresh questions about compulsory preferential voting

More than one in 10 votes were ruled invalid in the multicultural seat of Fowler, raising serious questions about whether explanations of Australia’s compulsory preferential voting system are getting through.

Fowler, in Sydney’s south-west, has one of the highest non-English-speaking populations, many of whom have come to Australia as refugees from countries with very different political systems.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Election day press release about asylum seeker boats ‘a disgrace’, Richard Marles says

Posted on by

Acting prime minister says information released by Liberal party about Sri Lankan boats being intercepted should not have been made public

The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, says the issuing of an election day press release about the interception of an asylum seeker boat was a “disgrace” and has demanded an explanation from public servants.

The media release paved the way for a last-minute scare campaign run by the New South Wales Liberals, which pushed texts to voters across key electorates, warning them the only way they could maintain secure borders was by voting Liberal.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Why are monkeypox cases suddenly emerging across the world and could the virus have mutated?

Posted on by

Data prior to current outbreaks suggested resurgence of the disease, with waning immunity from smallpox vaccination contributing to spread

The sudden emergence of monkeypox in several countries has raised questions about how the virus, which is most common in central and west Africa, has managed to spread.

Many health experts have said the monkeypox cases in 12 countries are not cause for panic, given the virus is much less infectious than illnesses like Covid and rarely fatal, but it is highly unusual.

Continue reading...

Nationals could dump Barnaby Joyce over net zero stance with Peter Dutton set to lead Liberals

Posted on by

Sussan Ley or Jane Hume likely to be deputy Liberal leader as Coalition continues to grapple with election fallout

The National party will spill its leadership positions next Monday as the Liberals debate whether Peter Dutton’s deputy should be Jane Hume or Sussan Ley.

As the Coalition continues to grapple with the fallout from Saturday’s election rout amid conflicting views about how to reposition in response, Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister before leaving for Tokyo and his first meeting with Joe Biden and key regional allies.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia to stand with Pacific islands on climate crisis and ‘respect’ region, Penny Wong says

Posted on by

New foreign affairs minister tells Pacific leaders Australia ‘will listen because we care’ after reports China may be seeking security agreement with Kiribati

Australia’s new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will seek to improve relations with Pacific island countries, flagging an early visit to the region and promising to be “a generous, respectful and reliable” partner.

China’s new security deal with Solomon Islands was a point of political dispute during the Australian election campaign and there are now reports that Beijing could be planning to strike a similar agreement with Kiribati.

Continue reading...

Lynette Dawson seen with bruises on throat before she disappeared, Chris Dawson murder trial hears

Posted on by

A colleague at childcare centre where Lynette Dawson worked tells court she saw bruises in January 1982

Chris Dawson’s wife Lynette was seen with bruises around her throat three days before she disappeared in 1982, a Sydney court has been told.

Annette Leary gave evidence in Dawson’s murder trial on Monday saying she had seen Lynette Dawson with the bruises at the Sydney children’s centre where they both worked.

Continue reading...

Mark McGowan accuses travelling press pack of ‘bullying’ Anthony Albanese and reporting ‘lies’

Posted on by

In a blistering attack in Perth, the Western Australia premier also took aim at Peter Dutton, labelling him a conservative ‘extremist’

Western Australian premier Mark McGowan has launched a blistering attack on members of the federal press gallery who followed Anthony Albanese’s election campaign, accusing them of reporting “lies” as well as “bullying” the new prime minister at press conferences.

McGowan, who joined Albanese for several media events in Perth during the six-week campaign, said he was “shocked and appalled” by some in the Canberra-based media pack, who attracted ongoing criticism from Labor supporters and veteran journalists for interjections and combative questioning.

Continue reading...

Pollsters breathe sigh of relief after accurately predicting Labor’s election victory

Posted on by

Major polling companies changed methods after 2019 failure but two-party preferred measure misses Greens and independents

Australia’s major opinion polls all accurately predicted Saturday’s Labor election victory, in a boost to pollsters’ reputations after the industry-wide failure at the 2019 election.

Surveys measuring voter sentiment throughout the campaign pointed to a Labor win, with the polls tightening in the final week before Saturday’s election.

Continue reading...

New Zealand will push Anthony Albanese on ‘501’ deportation policy, Jacinda Ardern says

Posted on by

Prime minister said it was helpful that new Australian leader had already acknowledged issues causing friction

New Zealand will continue to push the conversation on Australia’s “problematic” deportation policy with the incoming government under Labor leader Anthony Albanese, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said.

“There is obviously a really strong relationship, regardless of leader, regardless of party,” Ardern said at a post-cabinet briefing on Monday. “The very nature of New Zealand and Australia’s relationship is strong and enduring.”

Continue reading...

PM has ‘frank and very positive’ call with Johnson – as it happend

Posted on by

Anthony Albanese has spoken to the British prime minister on his flight to the Quad meeting in Tokyo after being sworn in, along with four senior ministers; Monique Ryan says ‘work begins anew’ after Josh Frydenberg concedes; Dave Sharma concedes Wentworth; nation records at least 11 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

And lastly, Ryan is asked what her view will be if Peter Dutton wins leadership of the Liberal party:

From my point of view, I’m a sort of centrist politician and I have been elected in that way by the people of Kooyong.

Taking the Liberal party further to the right I don’t think would resonate well in Kooyong. And I think members of other electorates around Australia would have that concern as well.

I think that the population of Australia expects better from its government.

This is a government that hasn’t held women safe in its own workplace. It’s a government that has seen an increase in homelessness from women over 50.

Continue reading...

Former Victorian orphanage carer, 81, jailed for sexually abusing five boys

Posted on by

William Parker Skelland abused children at Burwood boys’ home in 1973 and 1974

A former carer at a Victorian boys’ orphanage in the 1970s will spend at least four years in prison for sexually abusing five of the young children.

William Parker Skelland, 81, was living in the UK in 2019 when he was arrested for his crimes and extradited back to Australia to answer for them.

Continue reading...

NSW government told it cannot dock pay of MP charged with sexual abuse

Posted on by

Former minister Gareth Ward, who has professed his innocence, has already been suspended from parliament

The New South Wales government has been told it cannot strip suspended MP Gareth Ward of his pay, staff or other entitlements without enacting new legislation, a step it should not take because it “may be vulnerable to legal challenge”.

Ward, the MP for Kiama, was suspended from the state’s parliament in March after he was charged over allegations of sexual abuse against a man and a 17-year-old boy. The suspension came after legal advice found the government could not expel Ward from the parliament.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

The election revealed a shift in climate sentiment – but what will it mean for policy?

Posted on by

Labor’s climate plan is designed to limit the political risk of a scare campaign – but there are already calls for it to go beyond its headline commitments

It will take a while to untangle all the threads that led to Saturday’s extraordinary result, but there is little doubt this was the climate election Australians have long been told was coming.

A surge of Greens and Climate 200-backed teal independents turfed heartland Liberal MPs who were part of a government that claimed to be acting on emissions but wasn’t, pumped vast sums into fossil fuels and was considered a global blocker on addressing global heating.

Continue reading...

Lismore braces for more flooding amid storm warnings for south-west Western Australia

Posted on by

Northern NSW continues to be hammered by rain and Queensland’s south-east back on flood watch

Lismore residents are being warned they could be hit with more floods as rain continues in northern New South Wales.

The region has already endured repeated severe flooding in recent months and the Bureau of Meteorology said more could be on the way after rain over the weekend.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

UN denounces ‘homophobic and racist’ reporting on monkeypox spread

Posted on by

Some media portrayals of cases among African and LGBTI people fueling blame, agency says, as infections reported in Europe, US and Australia

The United Nations’ Aids agency has called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak.

UNAIDS said “a significant proportion” of recent monkeypox cases have been identified among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

Continue reading...

World leaders respond to Anthony Albanese’s Australian election victory

Posted on by

Pacific leaders welcome Labor’s plan for action on climate while one French minister says defeat of Scott Morrison ‘suits me very well’

World leaders have congratulated Anthony Albanese on his election victory in Australia, while former heads of government in the Pacific have urged him to “make a radical shift towards strong and urgent climate action”.

One French minister was barely able to conceal his glee at the Coalition’s loss, while Fiji welcomed Labor’s “plan to put climate first”.

Continue reading...