Category Archives: Australia news

‘Grossly inadequate’: families call for longer sentence over deaths of pregnant Queensland woman and her partner

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Attorney general Shannon Fentiman awaiting legal advice about the possibility of an appeal

A Queensland teenager who struck and killed a couple in a stolen car while he was drunk and affected by drugs could have his sentence appealed.

The families of victims Matthew Field, 37, and his pregnant partner, Kate Leadbetter, 31, said the 10-year jail sentence handed to the 18-year-old was “grossly inadequate”.

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Albanese vows to reconsider Australia’s deportations rules in olive branch to New Zealand

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Jacinda Ardern welcomes ‘reset’ in trans-Tasman relationship after years of tension over visa cancellations on character grounds

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has vowed to consider changing how the government handles visa cancellations in an olive branch to ease longstanding tensions with New Zealand.

The pledge to look at tweaking the scheme prompted the visiting New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to declare the talks in Sydney on Friday allowed for “a reset” in the trans-Tasman relationship.

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Australian visa backlog keeping engineers out of country amid skills shortage

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Wait time for 476 visa, for overseas graduates who want to work or study in Australia for up to 18 months, has blown out to 41 months

Australia’s vast visa backlog is trapping engineering graduates out of the country for up to four years, compounding the skills shortages and causing heartache, frustration and depression among applicants.

The engineering job vacancy rate has increased 97% in 12 months, something the main industry body, Engineers Australia, fears could have a “catastrophic” impact, including by delaying major infrastructure projects relied upon for the nation’s economic recovery.

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‘Unflinching’ debut written ‘for something to do’ during lockdown wins top book prize

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Diana Reid’s Love & Virtue wins book of the year and literary fiction category at Australian Book Industry Association’s annual awards in Sydney

First Nations writers and female authors have dominated the 2022 Australian Book Industry Association’s (Abia) annual awards, with a debut novel by one of the nation’s most promising young writers taking out top honours.

Diana Reid’s Love & Virtue won the Abia book of the year and literary fiction book of the year at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night. Judges praised the novel as “a darkly funny yet unflinching glimpse of early adulthood”. In her review for Guardian Australia, Zoya Patel praised Love & Virtue as “a multilayered page-turner on power, unrequited love and campus rape culture, wrapped in a coming-of-age narrative”.

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Nine airs 60 minutes investigation that Sydney cosmetic surgeon tried to block in court

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NSW supreme court dismisses Dr Joseph Ajaka’s application to force Nine Entertainment to hand over draft story by journalist Adele Ferguson

Nine has broadcast its 60 Minutes investigation into a prominent cosmetic surgeon on Thursday night after Dr Joseph Ajaka lost his second legal attempt to have the program hand over draft copies before it aired.

The New South Wales supreme court dismissed a second application from Ajaka for Nine Entertainment to hand over copies of its investigation by the award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson.

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65,000 year-old ‘Swiss Army knife’ proves ancient humans shared knowledge, research says

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The prehistoric artefacts, all made to a similar shape and template, are found in enormous numbers across southern Africa across vast distances

A 65,000-year-old tool – a kind of ancient Swiss Army knife – found across southern Africa has provided scientists with proof that the ancestors of modern homo sapiens were communicating with each other.

In a world first, a team of international scientists have found early humans across the continent made the stone tool in exactly the same shape, using the same template, showing that they shared knowledge with each other.

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ACT government to decriminalise possession of small amounts of drugs including cocaine and heroin

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Under new laws, anyone found with amount that falls within threshold will be fined, but not charged

The Australian Capital Territory government will decriminalise the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs including heroin, cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine, becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to do so.

In announcing the reforms on Thursday, the ACT health minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith, said it was clear current laws had not worked.

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Money transfer business that was part of exchange rate-fixing cartel fined $1m

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Cartel members given jail sentences in Australian first after colluding to fix dollar and Vietnamese dong exchange rate

An Australian court has fined a money transfer business $1m and imposed jail sentences on members of a cartel that fixed the Australian dollar and Vietnamese dong exchange rate.

It was the first time an Australian court had imposed jail time for such a crime, however federal court judge Wendy Abraham immediately released the four people – Van Ngoc Le, his son, Tony Le, Thi Huong Nguyen and Khai Van Tran – on good behaviour bonds.

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Nation records 59 Covid deaths as NT announces closure of quarantine facility – as it happened

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Two charged after remains found on Glass House Mountains; Victoria’s health workers to receive $3,000 one-off payment; nation records 59 Covid deaths as boosters recommended by Atagi for at-risk children between 12 and 15. This blog is now closed

Capacity mechanism is a priority to bring on renewables, energy ministers say

The first meeting of energy ministers yesterday evening indicated there will be a new intensity in federal-state-territory coordination.

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Channel Ten reporter Tegan George expands bullying claim against network and Peter van Onselen

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George cites social media posts by network’s political editor in updated claim, which Ten and Van Onselen have strenuously denied

The Channel Ten political reporter Tegan George has expanded her bullying claim against the network, alleging it has failed to stop Peter van Onselen from “tormenting” her in social media posts.

In February George accused the Ten political editor of undermining and humiliating her, including by backgrounding other journalists against her, according to the statement of claim filed against the network in the federal court.

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New Zealand-born woman abused in Australian state care wins appeal against ‘501’ deportation

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Tribunal finds her offending was ‘directly related’ to factors including sexual abuse when she was in the care of Australian authorities

A New Zealand-born woman has successfully appealed being deported from Australia under its controversial “501” migration law after a tribunal found her offending was directly related to being abused in Australian state care as a child.

The woman, whose name is withheld, arrived in Australia when she was seven years old with her mother and two siblings, and has lived there for several decades.

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Watchdog won’t investigate AFP reliance on flawed technique to prosecute Indonesian boys

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Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity says complaint about federal police not about corruption so does not fall within its remit

Australia’s law enforcement integrity watchdog refused to investigate Australian federal police who relied on a deeply flawed technique to use false dates of birth on sworn legal documents to prosecute Indonesian children as adult people smugglers.

Earlier this year, the Guardian used a trove of internal documents to show how police relied on deeply flawed evidence to alter the dates of birth given to them by Indonesian children found crewing asylum boats in 2009 and 2010.

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Cold or mould: Sydney tenants told to keep windows open throughout winter

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Agent says tenants must ensure ‘adequate ventilation’ after record-breaking rains spread mould earlier in the year – even as bitter cold arrives

Tenants in Sydney have been told by their real estate agency it is “critical” they regularly open windows during winter to restrict the spread of mould.

CobdenHayson emailed tenants on 1 June with recommendations “to help you prepare for the winter season”.

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Albanese says cost of living concerns will be ‘front and centre’ of cabinet meeting

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Inflation, energy prices and wages growth on Labor’s agenda as pressure builds to provide relief to low income earners before October budget

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says a cabinet meeting on Thursday will consider how best to respond to the cost of living crisis facing Australians amid warnings inflation will significantly worsen this year.

The meeting of his new inner ministry comes after the Reserve Bank this week lifted the official cash rate by 50 basis points to try and get on top of rapidly growing inflation. All of the big four banks have passed on the rate hike to mortgage holders.

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Five Eyes must ramp up fight against rising organised crime, AFP commissioner warns

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Pandemic has contributed to ‘destabilisation of world order’ leading to weaponisation of technology, Reece Kershaw says

The Australian federal police commissioner has urged his Five Eyes counterparts to ramp up the fight against organised crime, declaring the pandemic has fuelled “the destabilisation of the world order”.

Reece Kershaw issued a rallying call for closer coordination on law enforcement as he addressed colleagues from the US, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, who have been visiting Australia for talks since Monday.

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Scientists report ‘heartening’ 30% reduction in plastic pollution on Australia’s coast

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CSIRO researchers say efforts to raise public awareness have quickly led to improvements in the environment

The amount of plastic pollution on Australia’s coast has decreased by up to 30% on average as a result of work by local governments to reduce litter, according to research by Australia’s science agency.

Scientists from CSIRO surveyed 183 coastal sites in six Australian states for plastic and other litter, such as glass, in 2018-19.

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‘Overdiagnosis’: some breast cancer treatments may have been unnecessary, study suggests

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Exclusive: Patients tell of screening and surgery they believe they didn’t need, and the effect this has had on their lives

When Jenny* had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she believed the major surgery to remove her breast, although traumatic, had saved her life.

She described feeling “rage” when at a follow-up appointment three years later, she said to her surgeon, “I would probably be dead by now” if she had not received the surgery, to which he replied: “Probably not.”

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Youpla funeral fund collapse: minister seeks advice on compensating victims

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Stephen Jones says he needs to know scale of problem before committing to redress scheme

The new minister for financial services has asked Treasury for advice on how to compensate Indigenous people who were victims of the collapse of the funeral expenses fund Youpla.

Stephen Jones, who was sworn in last Wednesday after Labor’s election victory, stopped short of committing the Albanese government to compensating the victims, telling Guardian Australia he first needed to understand how big the problem was.

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Australia live news update: Wong condemns ‘reckless’ North Korea missile launches; Nine overturns order to hand over drafts

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NSW Appeals Court throws out order requiring Nine Entertainment to hand over draft material; foreign affairs minister labels North Korean ballistic launches ‘reckless and destabilising behaviour’; stripping dual nationals of citizenship unlawful, high court rules; National Disability Insurance Agency chief resigns; Victoria records 25 Covid deaths, Queensland 15, NSW records 10 deaths, WA records eight, ACT records one. Follow all the day’s news

China’s warning to Australia

China has warned Australia to stop “provocations” or face “serious consequences” after the federal government said a Chinese jet plane was intercepted, the AFP and Guardian staff report.

The Australian military plane seriously threatened China’s sovereignty and security and the measures taken by the Chinese military were professional, safe, reasonable and legal.

We can trace Australia’s celebrated connection to the space industry back to the 1950s and as a nation we have to build on that legacy.

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Australia’s consumer watchdog launches legal action against Airbnb for alleged misleading prices

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ACCC is seeking compensation for Australian customers who were quoted accommodation prices in USD but charged in AUD

The consumer watchdog has launched legal action against Airbnb for allegedly misleading thousands of customers into believing accommodation prices were in Australian dollars when they were actually in US currency.

In a statement filed with the federal court, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is seeking compensation for the customers, who it claims were misled from at least January 2018 until August 2021 because the prices displayed to some Airbnb users did not mention that they were in US dollars, with reference to the foreign currency in the fine print.

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