Category Archives: Australia news

Couple accused of murdering Amber Haigh gave differing accounts of final car journey with her, court hears

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Robert and Anne Geeves gave inconsistent details to police about their alleged last trip with the 19-year-old

The married couple on trial for murdering Amber Haigh initially gave police investigators differing versions of their alleged final car journey with the teenager.

Haigh was 19 when she vanished without trace from the New South Wales Riverina in June 2002, leaving behind her five-month-old son.

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Guardian Essential poll: Australians more favourable to Trump and less sure about Aukus

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Survey records 15-point surge in support for Republican presidential nominee since November 2020, with 36% now considering him favourably

Australians are feeling less opposed to a Donald Trump presidency than four years ago, and less sure the Aukus agreement will make Australia more secure, the latest Guardian Essential poll shows.

Trump, who recently survived an assassination attempt, has seen a 15-point surge in support since November 2020, with 36% of polled Australians now considering him “favourable”.

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Labor ignored Bonza’s plea for help, as questions linger over what transport officials knew and when

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Exclusive: Documents reveal what transport minister Catherine King was advised to say in public as budget Australian airline headed for collapse

The Albanese government turned down a plea from budget airline Bonza for financial assistance 10 days before it entered voluntary administration and ultimately collapsed, and new documents have questioned what transport department officials knew and when.

Documents obtained by Guardian Australia through freedom of information laws reveal the transport department prepared a brief on Bonza’s financial assistance request for the transport minister, Catherine King, on 20 April. Ten days later the airline’s planes were repossessed and thousands of passengers stranded across the country.

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Rex forced into trading halt amid questions about the airline’s future

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The carrier promises to respond to reports that it has called in turnaround experts as Anthony Albanese says the airline is ‘important’

Turbulence at Rex Airlines appears to be deepening after the carrier requested a trading halt following speculation it would appoint consultants to turnaround its financial woes.

On Monday, the ASX announced it had suspended trade in the airline’s shares after it had requested the move pending an announcement related to a news article published on Saturday, understood to be a report in the Australian that the airline had appointed turnaround experts from Deloitte.

Rex’s request suggested an imminent related announcement, with the halt in place until the commencement of trade on Wednesday.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said an airline running into trouble was a weekly occurrence in the tough, global industry.

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Australia news live: states amass record debt but ratings agency says it is ‘manageable’; scam losses rise again

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S&P Global projects total state and territory debt to hit $600bn by late 2024. Follow the day’s news live

Peter Khalil on new role as special envoy on social cohesion

As Anthony Albanese unveiled changes to his cabinet ministry yesterday, he also announced three special envoys.

The act of forming that united whole, it really is about the relationships that we have with each other within our city, how we work together, common goals we share, what common ground we have, how that society works effectively …

It’s not just about multiculturalism [and] it’s not just about religious background or ethnicity. It’s much broader than that … We [have] our political beliefs, the intergenerational differences, the socioeconomic differences, and that is really important that we find ways and policies to strengthen our ability to form that united whole society, especially when it’s being threatened with fragmentation through many different challenges that we’re facing.

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‘Spot something missing?’: NSW surfer jokes about leg that great white bit off

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Kai McKenzie was critically injured in the attack but on Monday posted a lighthearted photo of himself in hospital flanked by supporters

A young surfer whose leg was severed as he fought off a three-metre shark has joked about the loss of his limb less than a week after the devastating attack.

Kai McKenzie was rushed to hospital along with his leg when he was attacked at the isolated North Shore Beach, near Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast, on Tuesday.

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Ruqia was murdered by the man she was forced to wed. Her mother has now been jailed over the marriage

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Sakina Muhammad Jan to serve at least 12 months in prison in Australia’s first forced marriage conviction

Ruqia Haidari wanted to marry for love.

Instead, she had an arranged marriage at the age of just 15, with the relationship ending in divorce when she was 20.

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PM calls for Barnaby Joyce to be dumped over ‘bullet’ comment aimed at Labor during anti-wind turbine rally

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Nationals MP apologised after telling anti-renewables protesters to ‘load that magazine’ and that the ‘bullet you have is that little piece of paper’

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says Barnaby Joyce should be sacked from shadow cabinet after the National party MP likened ballot papers to “bullets” during a protest against wind turbines.

Speaking to an anti-renewables rally at Lake Illawarra south of Sydney on Sunday, Joyce compared ballot papers to bullets and urged the crowd to “load that magazine” at the voting booth against the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the energy minister, Chris Bowen.

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Widely advertised hormone test unreliable as fertility prediction tool for women, researchers say

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Experts warn women are making ‘significant life changes’ based on the anti-Müllerian hormone test, which they say is not reliable for many of its advertised uses

Accredited fertility clinics are among companies misleading women about a blood test used to indicate fertility, resulting in women potentially making misinformed health decisions, researchers say.

Dr Tessa Copp, from the University of Sydney’s school of public health, says she and her colleagues are concerned by an increasing number of advertisements that overstate what the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) test is useful for.

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Online gambling in Australia has ‘exponentially increased’, new report warns

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Australians are continuing to gamble at a ‘new normal’ of elevated post-pandemic levels, researchers say

New research shows an increasing number of Australians are gambling online and entering “risky” territory.

The Australian National University’s centre for gambling research found people have continued to gamble at elevated levels, after spiking post-pandemic.

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Wong announces new digital cable centre to limit China’s influence in Indo-Pacific

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The new centre, staffed by Australians, will enable sharing of information and help Pacific island governments regulate important undersea cables

Australia is stepping up its attempts to limit China’s influence in the Pacific, with the establishment of a new “cable connectivity and resilience centre” designed to boost connectivity for Pacific nations.

The foreign Minister, Penny Wong, will announce the centre while in Japan for the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting alongside counterparts from the United States, Japan and India.

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Youth bail and anti-protest motion voted down at NSW Labor conference

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Critics argued laws were ‘rushed through parliament’ and will result in more Aboriginal children becoming incarcerated

A motion to repeal controversial youth bail and anti-protest laws in New South Wales was defeated at the state Labor conference on Sunday.

The motion was the first opportunity for the youth bail laws, passed by the state government earlier this year, to be debated amongst rank and file party members. The laws make it harder for reoffending 14- to 18-year-olds who commit serious break-and-enter or motor vehicle theft offences to get bail.

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Victorian opposition leader vows to slash cultural heritage ‘red tape’ on residential projects

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In 2023 John Pesutto was booed at the Victorian Liberal state council. This year, most rose to give him a standing ovation

The Victorian Liberals have ramped up their rhetoric on housing, promising to slash planning approval delays to build homes quicker and cheaper if they return from the electoral wilderness in 2026.

The state’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, unveiled a plan to cut “red tape” connected to cultural heritage and what he referred to as Melbourne Water processes at the Victorian Liberal state council on Sunday.

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NSW Labor rejects conference motion to repeal anti-protest and youth bail laws – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Turning to US politics, Greber says:

It’s a massive shift. You can see it in the way the Democrats feel the momentum.

One of my old sources, I used to be a correspondent in DC, one of my old sources it was as if a month ago the doctor walked in and said, “I’m sorry the test results are terrible, you got three months to live.”

They don’t have many options other than hitting people with mortgages to reduce demand in the economy, which by the way has been driven by an awful lot of federal and state government spending.

The RBA needs to get on top of this and unfortunately people who have mortgages will be the ones who are hit hardest.

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Albanese clears out entire home affairs ministry in election-ready cabinet reshuffle

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Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles axed as Tony Burke steps into home affairs role and also takes on role of immigration minister

Anthony Albanese has cleared out his entire home affairs ministry, replacing both Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles with Tony Burke as he reset ahead of the coming election.

In making his announcement, Albanese stressed the “stability” of his cabinet, saying it had been “two years and two months with precisely the same team in place” before this reshuffle. He added when “team members step down … it does provide an opportunity for others to step up”.

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The childcare desert sucking the life out of Australia’s regional towns

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One in three Australians live in an area where there is just one childcare spot for every three or more children, study finds

For psychologist and mother-of-two Tegan Podubinski, a lack of childcare access will leave her community 20 weeks poorer in mental health services this year.

“We have a very limited mental health workforce,” Podubinski told AAP.

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Knife-wielding man shot dead by police in Sydney’s south-west

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The 34-year-old allegedly struck an officer with a knife in Middleton Grange before he was shot

A knife-wielding man has been shot dead in Sydney’s southwest after he allegedly attempted to stab a police officer, who narrowly avoided “catastrophic injuries”.

Emergency services were called to Bird Walton Avenue in Middleton Grange, about 40km from the CBD, about 11pm on Saturday following reports a man was armed with a knife.

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Victoria’s tobacco wars: police investigate suspicious fire that destroyed Melbourne shop

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Firefighters found the building on Bridge Road, Richmond engulfed in flames on Saturday morning

Police are treating as suspicious a fire that destroyed a Melbourne tobacco shop on Saturday morning, after a series of arson attacks on tobacco retailers.

Firefighters found the building fully engulfed in flames after being alerted to the blaze on Bridge Road, Richmond by callers to triple zero at 3.44am.

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Australian surfer who lost leg in shark attack vows to be back in the water ‘in no time’

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Kai McKenzie, 23, expresses gratitude for outpouring of support in first public comments after attack by ‘biggest shark I’ve ever seen’

An Australian surfer whose leg was bitten off by a shark has promised he’ll be “back in that water in no time” as he recovers from surgery.

Kai McKenzie, 23, was surfing off North Shore beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales on Tuesday morning when a suspected three-metre great white shark bit him.

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Coalition has ‘a real chance’ to oust Labor government at next election, Peter Dutton tells party faithful

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Opposition leader receives hero’s welcome at Victorian Liberal state council, talking up Coalition’s prospects for upcoming federal election

Peter Dutton has blasted the beleaguered CFMEU and identity politics as the opposition leader rallies Liberal Party faithful ahead of the federal election.

In a wide-ranging speech at the Victorian Liberal state council on Saturday, Dutton went on the offensive and laid out an alternative vision for Australia during difficult times.

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