Category Archives: Australia news

Tasmanian parliament to expand to 35 lower house seats amid concerns about ministerial burnout

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Citing huge workloads for MPs, premier will introduce bill to increase House of Assembly, reversing 1998 reduction

The number of MPs in Tasmania’s lower house of parliament is set to increase by 40% after the new Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, responded to concerns about politician burnout and a shallow ministerial talent pool.

Rockliff made a surprise announcement on Wednesday that he would table legislation this year to increase the size of the House of Assembly from 25 to 35 members at the next state election, due in 2025.

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Deaths from drug use rose in first year of pandemic to rate not seen since Australia’s late 1990s peak

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There were 1,842 drug-induced deaths in 2020, equivalent to five deaths a day, report finds

Five Australians died due to drug use per day in 2020, rates similar to a national peak in the late 1990s, according to the annual Drug Induced Death report.

Released by the Drug Trends program at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre on Thursday, the report found there were 1,842 drug-induced deaths in the first year of the pandemic.

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Refugee children handed anti-illegal migration playing cards, Australian charity says

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Cards branded with Australian government’s ‘Zero Chance’ logo and QR code to border force website distributed in Indonesia

Playing cards adorned with the Australian government’s “Zero Chance” campaign against “illegal migration” were distributed to refugee children in Indonesia by people trespassing on school grounds, the charity running the school alleges.

The playing cards were allegedly given to children during break time at the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre in west Java.

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Scenes of chaos witnessed at Queensland hospital in the hours before boy’s death

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Five-year-old Hiyaan Kapil died early on Monday after being sent home from the Logan hospital

A patient has described chaotic scenes at an emergency department in the lead-up to the death of a five-year-old boy, who was discharged from a hospital south of Brisbane while still visibly sick.

Hiyaan Kapil died in the early hours of Monday morning, after being sent home from the Logan hospital at about 10pm on Sunday night.

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Australia ‘louder than we should have been’ in criticising China says former Asio chief

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Sharp critique from Duncan Lewis comes as Chinese foreign minister embarks on ‘extraordinary’ Pacific island nation tour

Australia’s former intelligence chief Duncan Lewis says Australia has been “rather louder than we should have been” in public criticism of China when a better approach, given escalating regional tensions, should have been “speak softly and carry a big stick”.

Lewis has told the Australian National University’s national security podcast Australia had been at the forefront of China criticism in recent years “when we might well have been better to have been one back and one wide”.

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Election 2022 live: Dai Le dismisses eligibility concerns; doctors welcome Covid booster expansion as 41 deaths recorded

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Eligibility for fourth dose of Covid vaccine extended; ‘don’t think we’ve got a better choice’ for Liberal leader, Dave Sharma says of Peter Dutton; at least 41 coronavirus deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s developments

The SMH has some interesting lines from the Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who says his party were punished for being “too focused on themselves”.

While Gilmore remains on a knife-edge, the former state government minister said he was not surprised by the outcome of the election, warning the Liberal party that it needed to refocus on community concerns:

The party has been too introverted and too focused on itself.

It has to recognise its broad-based appeal is not sectional interest. The party exists for the community … there’s no such thing as a “heartland” in Australian politics.

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New affirmative consent campaign tackles issue head-on, experts say

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‘Make No Doubt’ videos aim to provide young people with tools to give and ask for consent, launched one week before NSW law change

Party pashes, drunken encounters and booty-call texts – these are some of the scenarios featured in a campaign being rolled out on social media before new affirmative sexual consent laws coming into effect in New South Wales next week.

It is hoped the short, simple videos – depicting scenes that young people could find themselves in – will equip the target group of 16- to 24-year-olds with the tools to give and ask for consent, and respect when someone says “no”.

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‘Itchy, yucky, unpleasant’: wet weather brings leech invasion to NSW suburbs

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Residents tell of close encounters with the blood-sucking creatures which are spreading because of high rain and humidity

Relentless rainfall has sparked a leech invasion in New South Wales, with no reprieve in sight for already damp dwellings.

The blood-sucking creatures have been attracted into suburban areas, where higher than normal rainfall and humidity are providing suitable conditions to feed.

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Sydney woman found guilty of murdering her mother and staging a home invasion

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Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez strangled and stabbed her mother, but continues to deny any involvement

A woman found guilty of murder has wiped away tears as she continued to deny strangling and stabbing her mother to death two decades ago.

“I don’t understand, I didn’t do it,” Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez said to her legal counsel in the New South Wales supreme court on Wednesday.

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High-risk people eligible for second Covid booster vaccine under new Australian guidelines

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From Monday about 1.5 million aged 16-64 qualify for fourth dose after updated advice that excludes people without serious risk factors

People with medical conditions or disabilities that increase the risk of severe Covid-19 will be eligible for a fourth vaccine dose after updated advice by Australian health authorities.

From 30 May about 1.5 million more people aged 16 to 64 will be eligible for the fourth dose, the interim health minister, Katy Gallagher, announced on Wednesday.

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Australia players raise ethical concerns over cricket tour to Sri Lanka

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  • Country in midst of economical crisis and political unrest
  • Australia due to play two Tests, five ODIs and three T20s

Australia’s cricketers have raised ethical concerns about touring Sri Lanka but will support a decision from officials to precede with next month’s tour. Australia are due to fly out to Sri Lanka next week, with the island country in the midst of an economical crisis and political unrest.

Sri Lanka was placed under a curfew early this month after protests turned deadly, and while those have been lifted rising inflation and shortages of key resources remain problematic.

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China’s Pacific plan is ‘clear’ but so is Australia’s intention to be regional partner of choice, Penny Wong says

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As China pursues Pacific-wide security pact, foreign minister says ‘after a lost decade we’ve got a lot of work to do to regain Australia’s position’

Australia has responded to reports that China is pursuing a Pacific-wide security pact with almost a dozen nations, stating that while Beijing’s intentions were clear “so too are the intentions of the new Australian government” to be the partner of choice in the region.

China will seek a regional deal with 10 Pacific island nations covering policing, security and data communications cooperation when the foreign minister, Wang Yi, hosts a meeting in Fiji next week, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

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Albanese insists ‘we will determine our values’ after Chinese premier reaches out to new PM

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Prime minister in Tokyo says no ‘serious person’ had believed Coalition line that a Labor government would adopt a softer approach towards Beijing

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says his government will not bend to demands from China to reset the strained relationship despite overtures from Beijing in the wake of Labor’s election win.

Speaking after a meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue (Quad) in Tokyo on Tuesday, Albanese confirmed the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, had sent a congratulatory letter to him following Saturday’s election win. The letter was first reported by Chinese state media Xinhua on Monday.

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Delayed response to drug use report due to ‘competing views’, NSW premier says

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Dominic Perrottet insists government will respond shortly to the ‘complicated issues’ raised by 2018 inquiry into ice addiction

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has conceded there are “competing views” in his cabinet over a landmark inquiry that recommended the complete decriminalisation of drug possession.

Perrottet said his government would respond “very shortly” to the findings of the special commission into ice addiction – commissioned in 2018 – after the Guardian revealed there was still no response to the report.

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Infamous Captain Cook statue in controversial pose removed from Queensland street

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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.

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

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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”.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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