Category Archives: Australia news

New Murray-Darling Basin Authority boss fails to mention environment in all-staff memo

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Staff raise concerns after incoming chief executive Andrew McConville emphasises agricultural outcomes in introductory letter

The new chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Andrew McConville, has caused consternation after sending an all-staff memo outlining his approach to the job which failed to mention the regulator’s environmental role.

A former chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Producers & Exporters Association (APPEA), McConville was appointed to the top job at the MDBA by the Morrison government just days before the federal election was called.

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Independent MP drops threat to withdraw supply to Perrottet’s minority government

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Sydney MP Alex Greenwich says he will continue work with NSW government after meeting with premier and transgender advocates

Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich has dropped a threat to withdraw supply from the New South Wales government, which is dependent on the crossbench for support.

Greenwich had threatened to leave the minority government out in the cold as a public debate over transgender people’s participation in sport dragged on.

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Solomon Islands PM suggests Australia’s reaction to China security deal is hysterical and hypocritical

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Manasseh Sogavare says he wasn’t told about Aukus pact until it was public while Scott Morrison accuses counterpart of parroting China’s lines

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has accused the Australian government of hypocrisy over his country’s security deal with China, saying the Aukus pact was far from transparent but he “did not become theatrical and hysterical”.

Manasseh Sogavare said Solomon Islands and other countries in the region “should have been consulted to ensure that this Aukus treaty is transparent since it will affect the Pacific family by allowing nuclear submarines in Pacific waters”.

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Scott Morrison suggests ‘remarkable similarity’ between China and Solomon Islands rhetoric – as it happened

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Prime minister responds after Solomon Islands PM says he heard about Aukus pact through media; Labor leader heads to Perth after week in Covid isolation as deputy Richard Marles tests positive; at least 26 coronavirus deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

I’m not sure if voters care about all this debate about debates, but it goes on:

Anthony Albanese agreed to debate Scott Morrison anytime. Morrison wants a debate on Seven and on Nine. The ABC has been cut out, as has the National Press Club.

Well, I think the national broadcaster can have a role here as well and the prime minister thinks that he is the only person who has a say in this.

The national secretaries of the Liberal party and Labor party should sit down, work these issues through, like adults.

I’m up for more debates.

... But I’m not up for the prime minister deciding when, who, how that all occurs. We both need to be involved in this process and the Labor party needs to be engaged so I’m certainly up for more debates.

Well, it’s all relative, I guess, in in terms of what I have to do. So today, this morning, I’ve got a round of interviews. Just the doctor’s advice that when I’m feeling tired – which he advises, and others [are] telling me is the case, that I’ll continue to feel tired and a bit fatigued, particularly over the next week – that I need to be conscious about that, I need to rest when I can and just be a bit sensible.

It’s no use not looking after your health. There’s still three and a bit weeks to go in this campaign. He’s advised that each and every day, if I get that rest, I’ll feel better, and I certainly feel much better today than I did yesterday.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: police feared witness would destroy phone evidence

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Former soldier appeared ‘intoxicated, acting in a belligerent manner’ when confronted with a search warrant, court documents say

Police feared one of Ben Roberts-Smith’s SAS witnesses in his defamation case was going to destroy evidence on his phone when they confronted him with a search warrant in a city hotel late on Tuesday night.

The former soldier, who hours earlier had finished giving evidence to the defamation trial, appeared “intoxicated, acting in a belligerent, unreasonable and aggressive manner”, court documents say.

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Sarah Ferguson to replace Leigh Sales as host of ABC’s 7.30 program

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Former Four Corners presenter has won five Walkley awards in a career with the ABC stretching back to 2008

Investigative reporter Sarah Ferguson will replace Leigh Sales as the presenter of ABC nightly current affairs flagship, 7.30, in July.

Ferguson, who has been reporting from Washington DC for two years, is a forensic long-form reporter and a tough interviewer whose work made headlines when she fronted 7.30 for six months in 2014.

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Australia’s wholesale power prices double in a year as coal-fired power plants falter

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The jolt in costs is being blamed mostly on more expensive fossil fuels and falling reliability of coal-fired power plants

Wholesale power prices in Australia’s main electricity market continued to rise in the first three months of 2022, more than doubling the cost a year earlier, with the increase blamed mostly on more costly fossil fuels and the falling reliability of coal-fired power plants.

Renewable energy, meanwhile, grew its share of the market to more than one-third, pushing carbon emissions from the largest polluting sector to new lows, according to the quarterly energy dynamics report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).

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Buyers warned about rushing into government’s First Home Guarantee scheme

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Predicted rate rises and falls in property values pose risks to those considering loans with a 5% deposit, experts say

First-home buyers have been warned to plan carefully before taking advantage of a federal government scheme that would allow them to secure property with a 5% deposit, at a time interest rates are predicted to rise.

Experts say the First Home Guarantee scheme could be appropriate for people who plan to stay in one spot for a while and are comfortable riding out a possible property value trough, but warn it could still be risky, especially in regional areas.

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Peter Dutton says Australia should be prepared for war – but are we?

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The defence minister’s rhetoric isn’t matched by reality with five key projects behind schedule, not fit for purpose, axed or facing other problems

Australia’s defence minister, Peter Dutton, said on Anzac Day: “The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and be strong as a country, not to cower, not to be on bended knee and be weak.”

But how does this rhetoric about preparing for war match reality? We take a look at five significant defence projects that are either well behind schedule or have had major problems.

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Frydenberg expects ‘close’ battle to hold seat as Labor cost of living attacks continue – as it happened

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Treasurer ‘not taking anything for granted’ in Kooyong; low wage growth under Coalition ‘not an accident’, says Jason Clare; Jacqui Lambie and Pauline Hanson in dispute over preference deal claims; at least 50 coronavirus deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Jim Chalmers has also been everywhere. Labor’s choice for treasurer has his one message to push, and he’s making sure he gets it into every interview.

This was him following the PM on the Seven network:

You would hear it around Australia and I hear it as I move around Australia. The problem is, if things are going well, he takes the credit; if things are difficult, he never takes responsibility, and we just saw that in that interview as well.

If something is going well, he takes credit. Doesn’t take responsibility for the [things that go wrong].

I have never been a commentator on what the reserve bank should do.

I respect the independence of the reserve bank, and they need to make the judgments they need to make ... in the best interests of the Australian economy, and I have no doubt they will do that.

There’s a big difference between what occurred in 2007 and where we are now, the reserve bank did that last time and the rate was 6.5%, today it is 0.1% and so I think the circumstances of the economic environment we are in now is very different.

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War of words breaks out following new report into Queensland’s housing crisis

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Queensland Council of Social Services says social housing waiting list could blow out by 10,000

The Queensland and federal governments are trading blows over the state’s housing after another report on the crisis.

A new report from the Queensland Council of Social Services (Qcoss) says more than 50,000 households are currently on the waiting list for social housing.

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New investigation into allegations of plagiarism against concussion expert Paul McCrory

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British Journal of Sports Medicine says it is investigating a body of work published by McCrory, its former editor-in-chief

The British Journal of Sports Medicine says it is investigating a body of work published by its former editor-in-chief, neurologist Dr Paul McCrory, in light of “additional allegations of plagiarism” against the world-renowned concussion expert.

The peer-reviewed journal will also review the past four consensus statements published by the global Concussion in Sport Group (CISG), of which McCrory was the lead author, along with a sample of other papers on which he is the first or senior author.

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One Nation directs preferences to Labor in five seats targeting ‘left-leaning Liberals’

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Pauline Hanson says move is in retaliation for Liberals’ decision to preference Jacqui Lambie Network in Tasmania

One Nation has divided its support between the major parties on how-to-vote cards, directing supporters to preference Labor in at least five seats while helping the Coalition in the north Queensland seat of Leichhardt and Braddon in Tasmania.

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, revealed the plan on Thursday, confirming retaliation against select moderate MPs for the Liberals’ decision to preference the minor party behind the Jacqui Lambie Network in Tasmania.

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Return of the ten pound Pom as South Australia moves to fill post-pandemic job vacancies

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The 2022 scheme is more limited – and expensive – than the original but is billed as a big step in reopening the backpacker market

The so-called ten pound Pom scheme has been reborn as a tourism campaign to bring British backpackers back to Australia in the wake of the pandemic.

After the second world war, the Australian government lured hundreds of thousands of Britons over the seas with a £10 ticket to boost the population and supply post-war industries with workers.

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Trent Zimmerman says moderate MPs ‘prevailed’ over Barnaby Joyce on net zero emissions

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Liberal MP tells North Sydney candidates debate that moderates won commitment despite opposition from Nationals

Liberal party MP Trent Zimmerman says he and fellow moderate MPs “prevailed” over the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, in securing a net zero climate target, saying the Nationals leader was opposed to the policy.

Zimmerman, a key Liberal party moderate facing a serious challenge to hang on to the North Sydney electorate from the independent Kylea Tink, told a Sky News debate on Thursday that he would push for “stronger” emissions targets if the Coalition was re-elected.

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Australia’s foreign minister denounces China’s ‘secret’ security deal with Solomon Islands

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Marise Payne says other members of the ‘Pacific family’ share concerns but she rejects claims her government ‘dropped the ball’ in the region

Marise Payne has denounced the “secret” terms of China’s security deal with Solomon Islands, while insisting “no document signed and kept away from public view” would change Australia’s commitment to answering Pacific countries’ needs.

The foreign affairs minister said the agreement was “not transparent” – unlike Australia’s existing security treaty with Solomon Islands – and was also being hidden from other Pacific countries.

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Solomons PM could use Chinese police to stay in power, key provincial adviser fears

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Celsus Irokwato Talifilu says ordinary people also worried about being caught in a conflict between China and the US

A key adviser to the premier of the most populous province in Solomon Islands has expressed concern that the China-Solomons security deal could enable the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, to use Chinese armed police and military personnel to quash democratic dissent and hold on to power for years to come.

Celsus Irokwato Talifilu, who is an adviser to Daniel Suidani, the premier of Malaita province, said that while it was “fair” that Australia, the US and other regional partners had focused their attention on the prospect of a military base on the islands, the major fear for many in Solomon Islands was the erosion of democracy.

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In 2019 inequality was a big federal election issue. Now it’s off the radar

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How does your area compare for housing stress, socioeconomic disadvantage and income? In the first of a series about Australian electorates, we look at inequality and wealth

In the 2019 election, inequality was a major campaign theme. In the run up to polling day, the then Labor leader Bill Shorten declared inequality killed hope and created a fault line in politics by fostering a “sense of powerlessness that drives people away from the political mainstream, and down the low road of blaming minorities, and promising to turn back the clock”.

Back then, Labor promised to pursue measures like the abolition of franking credits – characterised by Shorten as “unsustainable largesse for high-income earners” – and curbs to negative gearing. These policies raised the revenue underpinning Labor’s then antidote – projected increases in social spending in areas like health and education.

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Christian Porter denied justice plea from Indonesians jailed in Australia when they were children

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Former attorney general refused to refer cases to WA court of appeal, despite an earlier ruling finding a miscarriage of justice in a similar case

The former attorney general Christian Porter rejected a plea for mercy from six Indonesians who said they were wrongly jailed as children using unreliable evidence, telling them they had no chance of success despite their lawyers pointing to a landmark ruling years earlier finding a miscarriage of justice in a similar case.

The six Indonesians, then aged between 13 and 17, were detained on a series of people smuggling boats in 2009 and were prosecuted by the commonwealth and jailed as adults in maximum security prisons in Western Australia.

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‘Housing in Australia is broken’: only 1.6% of private rentals are affordable for those on minimum wage

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Anglicare’s annual snapshot calls for 50% rise in rent assistance payments, more social housing and changes to tax system

Only 1.6% of private rental properties in Australia are affordable for minimum wage earners and all but zero for those on benefits, Anglicare’s annual snapshot has found.

The Rental Affordability report, released on Thursday, took data from the rental listings on realestate.com.au over a single weekend and assessed whether those properties were affordable – costing no more than 30% of a household budget – for people on low incomes.

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