Category Archives: Australia news

Victorian detective got free tickets to boxing from Mick Gatto, Ibac hearing told

Posted on by

Det Sgt Wayne Dean says on two occasions he shared tickets given to him by the alleged underworld figure with other officers

Victorian police officers received free tickets to boxing events with complimentary food and alcohol after alleged underworld figure Mick Gatto gifted the tickets to a senior detective, an anti-corruption commission hearing has heard.

Det Sgt Wayne Dean confirmed in his evidence before a public Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption (Ibac) hearing on Wednesday that on two occasions Gatto, who he had known since the mid-1990s, provided him free tickets to boxing events in Melbourne.

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

Continue reading...

‘A visionary in many ways’: art world mourns loss of Yolngu artist Mr Wanambi

Posted on by

The painter, film-maker and Mulka Project founder died on Sunday, leaving behind a legacy of boundary-pushing art and an archive of cultural knowledge

The art world is mourning the loss of one of Australia’s most respected First Nations artists, Mr Wanambi, with one of his mentees saying “his passing has changed our entire landscape”.

The Yolngu painter, film-maker and curator died in Darwin on Sunday, more than 1,000km from his home in north-eastern Arnhem Land. He was just 59 years old. His family have requested his first name and image not be published.

Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

Immigration detainees transferred from Melbourne to Christmas Island amid heated protests

Posted on by

Australian Border Force confirms 12 detainees, including one refugee, had visas revoked under Migration Act on character grounds

The Australian Border Force has confirmed the transfer of 12 immigration centre detainees to Christmas Island, 24-hours after a heated clash between police and protesters outside a Melbourne detention centre on Tuesday.

Guardian Australia understands that 12 detainees, including one person whose refugee status has been approved, were woken by guards at the Melbourne International Transit Accommodation centre early yesterday morning and told they would be moved to Christmas Island.

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

Continue reading...

Victorian government delivers a budget that’s a tale of two elections

Posted on by

Analysis: While the budget seeks to repair the damage of the past two years, it’s clear some wounds are yet to heal

Handing down his eighth Victorian budget on Tuesday, the treasurer, Tim Pallas, pitched it at not one but two elections.

The most timely is the federal election. Through the budget, Pallas makes it clear that, whoever wins in May, he expects a greater share of funding for Victoria and is happy to criticise the Morrison government until then.

Continue reading...

Coalition accused of stalling ban on imports made using slave labour

Posted on by

Morrison government wants time to consult business and upgrade IT but campaigners say Australia is lagging other countries

The Morrison government has been accused of stalling action to prevent the importation of goods made using slave labour, as it insists it needs more time to consult business and upgrade IT systems.

Despite repeatedly raising concerns about forced labour practices in China’s Xinjiang region, the government has cited “practical challenges” in a new report explaining why it cannot immediately take up recommendations of a bipartisan committee.

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

Continue reading...

Emails reveal One Nation’s last-minute scramble to find candidates

Posted on by

When Rob Sinclair tried to nominate for One Nation in his local electorate they pleaded for him to run in other states

One Nation was still scrambling to find people to run for this month’s federal election just hours before the close of nominations, telling one prospective candidate to leave the electorate he was running in “blank” on his form while the party desperately tried to fill seats.

The Guardian can also reveal that several of the candidates chosen to run for the party live in other states from the seat they’re standing in, including a husband and wife couple selected to run in separate seats in New South Wales and Victoria.

Continue reading...

Teachers to strike despite plea from NSW government to delay industrial action

Posted on by

NSW public school teachers will walk off the job for the second time in five months on Wednesday

Teachers in New South Wales will go ahead with a planned strike on Wednesday despite an 11th-hour plea from the government for the union to delay action until after the June budget.

Teachers will walk off the job for the second time in five months, amid long-running concerns over wages and conditions. It is the latest in a series of strikes in the state’s public service, with train drivers, nurses and paramedics recently taking such industrial action.

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

Continue reading...

Expert warned against wrist X-rays used by AFP to prosecute children as adult people smugglers

Posted on by

Radiologist James Christie’s court evidence said technique had no scientific validity and was never intended to assess age

An expert radiologist says Australian federal police continued to use wrist X-rays to prosecute children as adult people smugglers after he had given unequivocal evidence of the technique’s unreliability, something he now says was “just wrong” and akin to “child abuse”.

Last week, six Indonesian boys won a major case overturning their convictions as adult people smugglers in 2010 amid the highly charged political atmosphere around border protection.

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

Continue reading...

Who shot the dog? The canine killing that could play a crucial role in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial

Posted on by

Identity of Afghan special forces member who killed stray dog could prove critical in newspapers’ defence

Amid allegations of war crimes, of murder, and of domestic violence, the seemingly inconsequential but bizarre death of a dog has dominated days of evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial.

It has done so because the identity of an Afghan special forces member who shot the stray dog – accidentally injuring an Australian soldier – during an SAS mission in July 2012 could prove critical in an allegation of murder made against Roberts-Smith in the newspapers’ defence.

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

Continue reading...

Shock interest rate rise shows Australia’s economic exceptionalism is fading

Posted on by

RBA’s decision is, in the words of one economist, ‘a radical revision’. Could this turn a plateauing of property prices into a rout?

In a world of economic shocks, the questions left by Tuesday’s surprisingly large increase in the official interest rate include what will bring the next thunderbolt.

After all, not one of 32 economists surveyed ahead of the Reserve Bank’s monthly meeting predicted the board would emerge with a 25 basis point cash rate increase, finally liberating it from the record low 0.1% it had hovered at since November 2020.

Continue reading...

Election 2022 live updates: RBA chief warns interest rates could hit 2.5% as Labor seizes on ‘cost of living crisis’

Posted on by

Scott Morrison defends economic ‘shield’ after RBA lifts cash rate target from historic low; Philip Lowe says more interest rate rises to come; Jim Chalmers says central bank decision ‘a very serious development’; nation records 41 Covid deaths. Follow the latest updates live

Scott Morrison doesn’t get sick of the “silly” photo ops [silly photo opportunities being how the question was framed], he tells Melbourne radio’s Neil Mitchell, because he “doesn’t see them that way”.

He then gives a hero-gram to tradies.

I don’t fit in those ways, what I see is [being] out and about and doing what Australians do every day.

... What I enjoy doing is standing there with an apprentice who shows me what they’re learning, and then I’d have a go at it.

Continue reading...

AFL accepts it could have made public its report on female umpire abuse

Posted on by
  • Leaked report contained allegations of sexual harassment
  • League wanted to take private steps to remedy problematic culture

The AFL has acknowledged it “could have” publicly shared a leaked report detailing what it called “unacceptable experiences” of sexual harassment alleged by female umpires across Australia.

Acting chief executive, Kylie Rogers, has written to stakeholders amid the fallout of the now-public report to explain that, despite receiving it in late 2021, the AFL had chosen not to publish it in favour of taking private steps to remedy the problematic culture surrounding women and girls in umpiring.

Continue reading...

Temperatures to drop in eastern Australia as ‘polar cold’ sweeps north

Posted on by

Cold front will spread through Victoria and the western and southern parts of NSW midweek, hitting western Queensland by Thursday

Average temperatures are set to drop by 5-6C in some parts of Australia’s eastern states this week as “polar cold” sweeps north from Tasmania and up to Queensland.

The cold front will spread through Victoria and the western and southern parts of New South Wales midweek, hitting western Queensland by Thursday. It will then move to south-east Queensland and north-east NSW by early next week, resulting in a 3-4C drop below-average temperature in this region.

Continue reading...

Victoria’s treasurer delivers health-focused budget and promises return to surplus

Posted on by

Tim Pallas announces new hospitals, clearing of a surgery backlog and hiring of thousands of healthcare workers

The Victorian government will spend $12bn to repair its Covid-battered health system with the treasurer, Tim Pallas, confident that the worst of the pandemic is behind the state and a return to surplus will happen in the near future.

Pallas’s eighth budget, handed down on Tuesday, includes $2.9bn worth of new health infrastructure. This includes $900m to build a hospital in Melton, in Melbourne’s west, which will include a 24-hour emergency department and an intensive care unit, along with maternity and mental health services.

Continue reading...

Reserve Bank interest rates: RBA lifts official cash rate to 0.35% in first rise since 2010

Posted on by

Central bank raises rate by 0.25 percentage points in a move that will stoke cost-of-living debate ahead of federal election

The Reserve Bank of Australia has lifted its official cash rate for the first time in more than 11 years in its first intervention in a federal election since John Howard lost office in late 2007.

The central bank lifted its cash rate target from the record low 0.1% it had hovered at since November 2020, during the depths of the Covid pandemic. It was raised more than expected to 0.35%, and the RBA signalled more rises to come.

Continue reading...

In an election budget, Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas is fighting a war on many fronts

Posted on by

Analysis: To fight his way back to surplus, Pallas relies on economic growth rather than spending cuts or increased taxes

Inflation, a Covid comeback, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Josh Frydenberg “short-changing” his home state – these are the major battles Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, faces as he plots a narrow course towards a small budget surplus within four years’ time.

To fight his way back to surplus, Pallas is relying on economic growth – fuelled by the state’s speedy bounceback from a Covid-19 recession and a full-to-overflowing $21bn-a-year infrastructure pipeline, which itself contains significant potential pitfalls – rather than cutting spending or increasing taxes.

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

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison says Labor ‘wants the government to own your home’ despite praising similar schemes

Posted on by

Prime minister previously suggested shared equity schemes could reduce mortgage stress or upfront cost of buying a house

Scott Morrison has criticised Labor’s new housing policy, saying the opposition “wants the government to own your home”, despite praising similar schemes in the past.

Ahead of an anticipated interest rate rise on Tuesday, the prime minister has deflected questions about the impact of rising interest rates on mortgage holders, saying Australians have been preparing for a rate hike from the current historically low level of 0.1%.

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

Continue reading...

Mike Cannon-Brookes buys up AGL shares in bid to block energy giant’s demerger

Posted on by

AGL says it’s determined to go ahead with the merger despite the purchase, which has made Cannon-Brookes the company’s largest single shareholder

AGL Energy, Australia’s biggest electricity generator, says it remains determined to pursue its plan to split despite a bid for a blocking stake by technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In a second tilt at the company in three months, Cannon-Brookes bought 11.28% of the AGL shares through his family’s Grok Ventures firm, making him the largest single shareholder.

Continue reading...

ABC misses out on final leaders’ debate; key independents back call for robodebt inquiry – as it happened

Posted on by

Channel Seven to host final debate of election campaign; crossbenchers back call for royal commission into robodebt scandal; Scott Morrison focuses on cost of living concerns; Anthony Albanese marches for May Day in Brisbane; Sally McManus would support wage increase for public sector workers; 13 Covid deaths recorded across the nation. This blog is now closed

Labor is still on the campaign sell for its first homeowner policy.

Jason Clare faced questions ranging from, “Is this too small to have an impact?” to, “Won’t it drive up house prices?”

Continue reading...

Australian researchers uncover clue to rare and severe response to Covid in children

Posted on by

Breakthrough could improve diagnosis and lead to development of treatment for condition that has baffled doctors for two years

In the first months after Covid emerged, doctors were baffled by rare and severe responses to the virus in some children, whose symptoms included lung disease, blood clotting and heart damage.

Two years later and researchers led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute [MCRI] in Melbourne have uncovered the proteins involved in these acute inflammatory responses in children.

Continue reading...