Category Archives: Australia news

Scott Morrison uses Liberal party campaign launch to set up housing battle with Labor

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PM announces spending boosts and ‘game changer’ for first-home buyers ahead of final election campaign week, as he urges voters to stick with government at polls

Scott Morrison has promised Australians a “new era of opportunity” if re-elected, while pitching a fight with Labor over a centrepiece housing policy to allow first home-buyers to tap into their superannuation savings.

Setting up a contrast with Labor for the final week of the election campaign, the prime minister used the Liberal party’s official campaign launch to promise a new super home buyer scheme that would allow people to access up to $50,000 of superannuation savings for the purchase of a first home.

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Josh Frydenberg opposes independents’ call for public hearings and tip-offs in proposed federal Icac

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Treasurer says public hearings would see politicians ‘guilty until proved innocent’, but integrity experts say objections ‘ring hollow’

The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has defended the lack of public hearings in the government’s proposed federal integrity commission, saying he opposes a model that would see politicians “guilty until proved innocent”.

Frydenberg, who is under pressure in his Melbourne seat of Kooyong on the issue of integrity and climate change, said that while he agreed with the need for a federal anti-corruption commission, he disagreed with the independents on two elements – public referrals and public hearings.

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Former Australian Test cricketer Andrew Symonds killed in Queensland car crash

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Symonds, 46, in single vehicle collision late on Saturday, report says, citing statement from family confirming death

World cricket is mourning the shock loss of another Australian great after Test star and two-time World Cup winner Andrew Symonds was killed in a car crash in Queensland.

Former Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor says the man known as ‘Roy’ will be remembered as an entertainer who played the game with a carefree approach and disdain for rules and regulations.

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ACT Senate race: can independents chase down Liberal incumbent?

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Former rugby union star David Pocock and academic Kim Rubenstein hope marginal status will bring Canberra and surrounds more funding

Canberra is one of the most progressive cities in the country. ACT residents are more likely to be highly educated, less religious and better paid than the average Australian, making it an outlier in federal politics.

But for the last 50 years, the two Senate spots in the Australian Capital Territory have been held exclusively by the Liberal and Labor parties. Now in 2022, two high-profile independents are vying to replace the Liberal incumbent, Zed Seselja.

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‘Politics should steer clear’: rainbow flag set to fly over Wimmera

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Four of five councillors vote to fly pride flag on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia

A special meeting of West Wimmera Shire council has overturned a decision against flying the rainbow flag.

The council ruling clears the way for the internationally recognised pride flag to fly above the rural Victorian council region for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) on 17 May.

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Morrison hails close ties with India and Albanese pledges $970m for Medicare – as it happened

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Scott Morrison reiterates new pitch to voters, promising a ‘gear change’, and Anthony Albanese reveals plan to boost primary healthcare. This blog is now closed

Morrison has unfurled his famous boomer dad vibes, snorting at young people using “devices”:

I still remember the mates are used to play with when I was a kid, when I used to go play sport, I used to look forward to it every Saturday and be there with mum and dad, come and be on the sidelines, it is those great
experiences of family life which creates strong families and strong communities.

And by investing in a healthy lifestyles of our children, and doing that with the highly successful sporting schools program, this means we can get more and more about into healthy lifestyles, we need to get them off those phones and get them on the field. I hear some noise from parents who know exactly what I am talking about. And sure, they can have fun with their devices, that has to be on the timing at all the rest of it, you guys struggle without as much as I am sure we all do, but we want them out there running around, we want them living healthy lifestyles.

We have had to come through and toughed it out and push through as hard as we possibly can, and as a Prime Minister and as a government we have had to do that as well.

But as we go into this time of opportunity, and that is exactly what it is, and the kids reminded me of that again this morning, as we go into that time of opportunity, as a government, we change gears, as a Prime Minister, I change gears, and we go and secure those opportunities ahead.

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Nephew of slain gangland figure Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad shot dead in ‘tit-for-tat’ attack, police say

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A 23-year-old man aged was shot at his home in Belmore in Sydney’s south-west, police say

The nephew of slain gangland figure Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad has been shot dead at his Sydney home in what police are calling a “war” around drug supply and organised crime in the city’s south-west.

It is the third fatal shooting in recent weeks, and the second this week, in what police have dubbed a spate of “tit-for-tat” incidents, starting with the murder of Ahmad in late April.

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Albanese says Morrison broke faith with US by delaying Labor’s Aukus briefing

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Biden administration reportedly said defence alliance needed bipartisan support, but opposition was not told until day before it was announced

Anthony Albanese says the prime minister, Scott Morrison, broke “faith and trust” with the US by waiting four-and-a-half months to brief Labor on the Aukus deal, a claim the Coalition has criticised as “misleading” and “reckless”.

Albanese was responding to a report in Nine newspapers that the Biden administration would only consider the project if it had bipartisan support.

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Queensland floods: rain easing but major flood warnings remain

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Authorities are urging Queenslanders to monitor alerts and avoid flooded roads as rivers expected to peak

Rain is easing across Queensland but major flood warnings remain in place for some parts of the south-east.

Between 200 and 300 millimetres fell across the state over the past 48 hours, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Saturday, but the rain dropped away on Friday night with only 10 to 20 millimetres falling over a six-hour period.

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From anti-vaxxers to revolutionaries: what do the minor parties running for the Senate stand for?

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Find out what the lesser-known groups in the Australian election are after – before you cast your vote

The Coalition, Labor and the Greens (plus the wave of independents) are getting most of the headlines in this election. But your ballot papers will also be full of candidates representing parties you might not know much – or anything – about.

From the big-spender ads of the United Australia party and the re-election desires of One Nation, to a bunch of micro-parties representing niche interests, Australia’s democracy and elections are a rich tapestry – and it takes all types to make a campaign.

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Election preferences: do you need to think strategically before voting in the lower house?

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With prominent independents creating unusual contests in some seats, voters may be confused about how to allocate preferences. But there is a simple solution

The increasing number of credible campaigns from independents in the federal election is making for some intriguing contests, and in some seats may raise questions for voters about where to place their preferences, as well as their primary vote.

The role of preferences in Australia’s election may at times seem complicated, but what voters need to consider is really quite simple (in the lower house, at least).

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Marist Brothers appointed known child abuser as principal of Melbourne school in 1980, court told

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In lawsuit brought by victims, Catholic order disputes extent of its knowledge of Gregory Vincent Coffey prior to his appointment

A Catholic order made the “unthinkable” decision to appoint a known child abuser as the principal of one of its Melbourne schools, allowing him to molest boys in his office unchecked on a “regular basis”, a court has heard.

The Marist Brothers are being sued over the abuse of a series of boys at the Immaculate Heart College in Preston in the 1980s by Gregory Vincent Coffey, the school’s first lay principal and a former Catholic brother.

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‘Sick of it’: why so many Australians are voting early this election

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A drawn-out campaign and potential Covid risks are leading a record number of voters to cast their ballots before 21 May

A record number of Australians are voting early in the 2022 federal election, with many saying they’re “sick” of the drawn-out election campaign and want to avoid expected queues on 21 May.

Some 314,095 Australians cast their ballots on the first day of early voting this year, almost three times the 120,000 people that voted on day one of pre-poll in 2019.

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It’s unprecedented for Dutton to label a Chinese spy ship sailing outside Australia’s territory an ‘act of aggression’ | Daniel Hurst

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International law experts say ‘this is not an act of aggression and is in fact fairly standard activity for navies’

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, has called the presence of a Chinese spy ship off the coast of Western Australia “an aggressive act” but his department was far more sober in its assessment and international law experts have poured cold water on the claim.

It is not the first time such Chinese vessels have been in Australia’s exclusive economic zone. So, given we are a week out from an election and the Coalition wants the narrative refocused through a “we live in uncertain times” lens, let’s put the politics aside and step through the facts.

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Australian federal election 2022: Albanese seizes on PM’s ‘bulldozer’ admission; Chinese spy ship off WA coast ‘an act of aggression’, Dutton says

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Opposition leader says ‘bulldozers wreck things’ after prime minister blames pandemic for how he has governed country; Chinese spy ship spotted off Western Australia; Marise Payne and Penny Wong debate foreign policy at National Press Club; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news

On what Anne Ruston said, here is some of what Scott Morrison said about the 5.1% figure on 11 May:

Anthony Albanese says that he wants wages to go up by 5.1% and he thinks that Australians don’t know what the impact of that would be on their interest rates, on unemployment or on inflation in the cost of living.

He thinks Australians don’t get the link between these things. He thinks he can just say what he likes and you can have your cake and eat it.

I think you’ll find that the government has been very clear in its condemnation of the comments by Mr Albanese, not because of the figure that he put out there specifically, but the fact that he’s just chosen to put a figure out there you know, without bothering to consult, take advice, you know, there’s no science around it.

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Craig McLachlan allegedly threw tantrums and threatened Rocky Horror Show cast members, court told

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Defence barrister tells defamation trial McLachlan had ‘tendency to get angry easily’

Craig McLachlan has been portrayed in court as an allegedly powerful and angry lead actor who threw tantrums, threatened cast members and physically abused actresses.

Defence barrister Michael Hodge QC on Friday took a defamation trial jury through several incidents in which McLachlan, 56, was alleged to have been furious at supervisor directions, musicians missing cues and fellow actors changing their performances without notice.

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Weather tracker: deadly floods follow week of torrential rain in Australia

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Analysis: Queensland flash floods have cut off communities and killed one woman, swept away in her car

Torrential rain has been hitting eastern Australia since Monday, with rainfall totals on the north-east coast widely achieving in excess of 100mm. In Yabulu, north of Townsville, there was major flooding on Tuesday as 196mm of rain fell within 24 hours. This was not the highest total recorded, however, with 244mm of rain falling on Tuesday at Mourilyan, near Innisfail on the Cassowary Coast.

The threat of heavy rain sank south across Queensland to the south-east, reaching Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday; stations in the south-east recorded up to 100mm, with a station in Dayboro recording 161mm. A further 100-150mm of rain fell on Friday across the south-east.

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Hundreds escape flood waters in Queensland as state lashed by severe thunderstorms

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More than 700 roads cut or affected by floods with intense rainfall set to continue in region between Caboolture and Gladstone

Hundreds of Queenslanders have fled to higher ground or been rescued from flood waters with thousands on alert on Friday night as severe thunderstorms lash the state’s south-east.

Intense rainfall has hit Brisbane, Ipswich, the Lockyer valley, Darling Downs, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay-Burnett, Bundaberg and Gladstone, the result of a massive low-pressure trough.

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Builders and bulldozers: Anthony Albanese rubbishes Scott Morrison’s late attempts at change

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Prime minister says ‘I haven’t got everything right’ as opposition leader urges ‘if you want change, change the government’

A buoyant Anthony Albanese declared himself a “builder” on Friday as he scoffed at Scott Morrison’s pledge to learn from mistakes he made as a “bulldozer” throughout the pandemic – a late attempt by the prime minister to recast his character in the final days of the election campaign.

With his personality and record under siege from Labor, Morrison has promised to change his leadership style and admitted he had lessons to learn from his first term as PM.

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Evacuations as more than 500 roads cut by south-east Qld flooding – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services says it’s had to rescue people in low-lying areas where water has risen quickly.

QFES says most people rescued haven’t had “situational awareness” of the unfolding event or made the “decision to turn around.”

If it is flooded, forget it. We have lost far too many lives on the roads this year and in previous events.

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