Category Archives: Australia news

‘Absolutely due to upcoming election’: Australian government releases more refugees from detention

Posted on by

Iranian refugee Hossein Latifi is one of nine people released from Melbourne’s Park hotel a fortnight after 50 others were freed

Iranian refugee Hossein Latifi has been released from Melbourne’s Park hotel, along with nine other people, after nine years in immigration detention.

Latifi was released on Friday – his 33rd birthday. It was the first time in almost a decade he had been able to celebrate outside the walls of a detention centre.

Continue reading...

Almost 400 Queenslanders have waited two years for a decision on domestic violence assistance

Posted on by

Figures tabled in parliament reveal demand on victims of crime fund growing 16% this year

It took Lisa* and her son just three days to receive a disaster support payment after they were forced to abandon their flooded Brisbane home in February.

But Lisa says after fleeing an allegedly physically and sexually violent relationship, she waited eight months for an initial payment from the state government through Victim Assist Queensland (VAQ).

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

Continue reading...

‘Not fit for purpose’: new noise benchmark needed for Melbourne’s third runway, group says

Posted on by

Victorian Transport Action Group says standards recommended by World Health Organization are needed

Melbourne airport must adopt new health-based metrics based on World Health Organization research for its proposed third runway to ensure people aren’t exposed to harmful noise levels, a group of transport experts say.

The $1.9bn proposal for the airport’s 3km third runway, due to open by the end of the decade, will be submitted to the federal government for approval next year.

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

Continue reading...

Australia beat England to win Women’s Cricket World Cup –as it happened

Posted on by

Alyssa Healy soars to the highest score ever in a World Cup final as Australia beat England by 71 runs to lift the trophy

4th over: Australia 11-0 (Alyssa Healy 5, Rachael Haynes 6)

It’s a bit of a cat and mouse game going on so far - the English bowlers are mostly bowling very good line and length and the Australian batters are just waiting on the opportunities for the slightly looser balls to pounce on. It’s a very good over from Shrubsole, just one from it.

Continue reading...

Australia live news updates: Severe weather and flood warnings for Victoria; NSW reports 11 Covid deaths, Victoria records two Covid deaths, WA reports three historical deaths

Posted on by

Dangerous flash flooding possible in East Gippsland; NSW reports 11 Covid deaths and 16,807 new cases; Victoria has two deaths and 9,008 cases; Towke breaks silence over 2007 preselection fight with Morrison

We were expecting to hear from Scott Morrison this morning during his visit to Devils Gate Hydroelectric Power Station in Tasmania.

There’s no media conference yet from that visit, but if and when it does happen we’ll let you know.

Continue reading...

‘A beacon’: Victoria police praise teenager who used watch to signal helicopter during kayak rescue

Posted on by

The 13-year-old boy and a 51-year-old woman were rescued from the Glenelg River near South Australia border in early hours of Sunday

Two kayakers missing in Victoria’s south-west were located after a resourceful 13-year-old used his watch to signal a police helicopter.

The kayakers – a teenage boy and a 51-year-old Mount Gambier woman – failed to return to their rendezvous point near the Keegans Bend Track at Drik Drik about 8pm on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Labor has no plans to increase taxes on Australians if elected, Jim Chalmers says

Posted on by

Shadow treasurer moves to make Labor policy crystal clear after Coalition seizes on ambiguity in Anthony Albanese’s comments

Labor has no plans to increase taxes on Australians and will look to lift foreign aid if elected in May, the shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has said.

The senior frontbencher said on Sunday that federal Labor’s only tax proposal was to crack down on multinational tax avoidance.

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

Continue reading...

Women struggle to get federal government’s $5,000 payment to escape domestic violence

Posted on by

Concerns women in abusive relationships or refuge accommodation face delays and poor communication with service providers

Women escaping domestic violence say they are struggling to access a $5,000 government payment designed to help victims leave an abusive relationship.

Women have reported delays and poor communication with service providers about the escaping violence payment (EVP), which has been allocated $240m as part of the federal government’s $1.3bn investment in women’s safety.

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

Continue reading...

More refugees released from detention ahead of Australian election

Posted on by

Coalition releases detainees as it prepares to face independents calling for more humane treatment of refugees, advocates suggest

Refugee advocates have celebrated the release of at least 18 people from onshore detention centres in Australia, but say the secrecy and lack of notice around their release is a final piece of cruelty from the Australian government.

They have also called for the release of the 33 people who remain in detention.

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

Continue reading...

Coral bleaching under way at Ningaloo reef as Western Australia battles heat

Posted on by

Every photograph of bleached corals a reminder we’re not doing enough to tackle climate crisis, conservationists say

Conservationists say they have have recorded evidence of coral bleaching under way at Ningaloo off Western Australia’s north-west coast.

It comes just as the Great Barrier Reef on the other side of the country undergoes another devastating mass bleaching event.

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

Continue reading...

Bondi beach swallowed by tide waters and other Sydney beaches flooded over

Posted on by

Clovelly beach flooded over, Coogee Surf Club battered and boats ripped from moorings in Manly and Bronte

Huge swells have lashed Sydney, swallowing beaches under tide waters and ripping boats from their moorings inside the harbour.

Bondi and Clovelly beaches were flooded over and waves battered the walls of the beachside Coogee Surf Club on Saturday morning.

Continue reading...

Heat on Kennett as Rioli goes public with racism claims at Hawthorn

Posted on by
  • Indigenous star says president’s comments to wife were “final straw”
  • Rioli says ‘gaslighting’ at club hastened his retirement in 2018

Jeff Kennett has come under increasing pressure to step down as president of AFL club Hawthorn after revelations about treatment of star indigenous player Cyril Rioli that led to the four-time premiership star’s premature AFL retirement in 2018 at the age of just 28.

In a report in The Age on Saturday, Rioli said he will not return to the club while Kennett remains in his post. The four-time flag hero’s stance is the result of a series of issues that Rioli said fractured the relationship between Hawthorn and its Indigenous players during his time there between 2008 and 2018.

Continue reading...

NDIA boss apologises after staff used social media posts to challenge woman’s eligibility

Posted on by

CEO Martin Hoffman says he regrets the practice and ‘it was a single case’ that will not be repeated

The National Disability Insurance Agency boss, Martin Hoffman, has apologised after his staff used the social media posts of a woman applying for the scheme to challenge her eligibility.

Guardian Australia revealed on Friday that NDIA staff had created an “intelligence report” including examples of the woman’s Facebook and LinkedIn posts dating back as far as 2015.

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

Continue reading...

Morrison and Modi witness trade deal signing; Australia records 25 Covid deaths – as it happened

Posted on by

Australian states and territories report 25 Covid deaths; damaging winds hit parts of NSW along with hazardous surf and abnormally high tides. This blog is now closed

Some more on the refugees who have been released. AAP reports 20 refugees were released from detention on Friday night, including ten from Melbourne’s Park Hotel:

It comes three weeks after 13 refugees were released from detention centres in Melbourne and Brisbane.

At the time, advocates said nine men were released from the Park Hotel, along with one other in Broadmeadows and three men in Brisbane.

Continue reading...

NSW protest bill leaves Labor wedged between a roadblock and a hard place

Posted on by

Sydney media’s reactionary momentum machine can help explain crackdown on climate activists

On Wednesday night, as the New South Wales parliament debated a bill that makes blocking roads in the state a jail-worthy offence, the independent MP for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, asked, rhetorically, what had prompted the government’s urgency to pass the legislation.

The bill had been introduced into the parliament late on Wednesday afternoon, with the Coalition providing a one-page brief and no forewarning to the crossbench.

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

Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce’s drought envoy texts to Scott Morrison should be released, information watchdog rules

Posted on by

It is the second ruling of its type this week after the prime minister’s office also ordered a search for text messages from QAnon supporter Tim Stewart

The prime minister’s office has been ordered to search for text messages from Barnaby Joyce to Scott Morrison reporting on his work as drought envoy, in the second ruling this week on freedom of information battles involving Morrison’s phone.

On Wednesday, the information watchdog ordered the PMO search Morrison’s phone for text messages from his friend – the prominent QAnon supporter Tim Stewart – after the PMO refused a request made by Guardian Australia.

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

Continue reading...

Analysis: Australia’s busiest state government goes into hibernation

Posted on by

Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy are stuck at home – but that hasn’t made Victorian politics that much quieter

Both of Victoria’s political leaders were stuck at home this week – Daniel Andrews having tested positive for Covid-19 and Matthew Guy as a close contact of his nine-year-old son.

But it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference if they weren’t.

Continue reading...

Abolition of advisory body criticised after Morrison government promises $5.9bn for Queensland dams

Posted on by

Former judge Anthony Whealy says size of funding promises justifies keeping body to scrutinise water projects

The costs of the federal government’s commitment to fund dams in Queensland without the scrutiny of a now-abolished national advisory body should be a cause for concern for the community, a former supreme court judge says.

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce disbanded the National Water Grid Advisory Body this week, claiming it was “an appropriate time for it to conclude its work”.

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

Continue reading...

Morrison government’s advertising spend tops Coles and McDonald’s

Posted on by

Coalition spent $145m on advertising last financial year, with defence recruiting and Covid vaccines among biggest campaigns

The federal government spent more money on advertising last financial year than McDonald’s and Coles, new research suggests, prompting calls for greater oversight on taxpayer-funded public campaigns.

A new paper from progressive think tank the Australia Institute scrutinises government spending on “campaign advertising” – a repeated series of ads to promote important messages.

Continue reading...

NSW flood victims to be relocated to Queensland to make way for Byron Bay tourists

Posted on by

As Easter visitors arrive in the northern rivers, at least 60 people will be moved to alternative accommodation

Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

At least 60 flood victims in temporary housing in the New South Wales northern rivers will be relocated across the border to make way for tourists travelling to Byron Bay for the Easter holidays.

Widespread flooding in the northern rivers region has resulted in 28,000 people being relocated across the region.

Continue reading...