Category Archives: Australia news

David Littleproud urges Barnaby Joyce to stay in the Nationals amid speculation of a jump to One Nation

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Nationals leader says maverick MP still ‘has a contribution to make between now and when he retires’

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has urged Barnaby Joyce stay in the party after the maverick MP announced his intention to quit and consider “all options” – prompting speculation of a possible defection to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

The former deputy prime minister announced on Saturday he would not stand for his New South Wales seat of New England at the next election. He cited an irreparably broken relationship with the Nationals’ leadership, but would see out the rest of the parliamentary term.

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Guardian Australia’s Ben Smee joint winner of Queensland journalist of the year award

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The Guardian’s Queensland correspondent and three SBS journalists win top award for investigation into children locked up in police watch houses

Guardian Australia’s Ben Smee and a team from SBS have been named joint winners of the coveted journalist of the year award at Queensland’s annual media awards – the Clarions.

Smee, the Guardian Australia’s Queensland state correspondent, and SBS journalists Jennifer Luu, Jodie Noyce and Chloe Angelo, won the top award for their exclusive investigation, In the Box: Inside the Isolation Cells where Australian Kids are Imprisoned. Smee also picked up two other awards at a ceremony on Saturday night.

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Australian banks ignore thousands of customers’ hardship requests

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Exclusive: Automated systems have generated ‘cookie cutter’ responses that fail to account for individual circumstances, financial watchdog says

Banks are outright ignoring or offering “cookie cutter” responses to a rising number of hardship requests from struggling customers, despite repeated regulatory crackdowns.

Nearly 2,900 customers complained their bank had failed to respond to pleas for assistance in 2024-25, new data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (Afca) showed.

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AI chatbots are hurting children, Australian education minister warns as anti-bullying plan announced

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Jason Clare says artificial intelligence is ‘supercharging bullying’ to a ‘terrifying’ extent

A disturbing new trend of AI chatbots bullying children and even encouraging them to take their own lives has the Australian government very concerned.

Speaking to media on Saturday, the federal education minister, Jason Clare, said artificial intelligence was “supercharging” bullying.

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October heat records could tumble in multiple states as hot weather sweeps east through central Australia

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Unusually high temperatures in the low to mid 40s to hit parts of NSW, Queensland and SA, the Bureau of Meteorology predicts

Multiple October weather records could tumble over the weekend as temperatures are expected to rise up to 15C above average across parts of Australia.

Parts of South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT are forecast to experience soaring heat, while parts of the east coast will be hit by severe thunderstorms on Saturday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Queensland anti-renewables group cited nonexistent papers in inquiry submissions using AI, publisher says

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Exclusive: Rainforest Reserves Australia has published submissions naming nonexistent government authorities and a nonexistent windfarm

A conservation charity known for its anti-renewables stance has made submissions to federal and state inquiries that name non-existent government authorities and a nonexistent windfarm, and cite scientific articles that the supposed publisher says don’t exist, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.

Two US-based academics and experts said Rainforest Reserves Australia’s (RRA) claims in submissions about their work were “100% misleading” and “absurd”.

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Weapons maker Saab ‘directly linked’ to human rights breach after missile found in South Australian Indigenous area

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Lawyer hopes investigation for OECD into 2021 find near Australian military testing range sets precedent

The weapons manufacturer Saab was “directly linked” to a human rights violation when a missile it produced was found in an Indigenous heritage area, an investigation for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has found.

The four-year investigation could lead to more companies being held accountable for how their weapons are used by clients, according to human rights lawyers involved in the case.

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Sydney gay nightclub apologises after backlash over ‘Pink Pony’ name referencing lesbian pop hit

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Owner and manager of venue which will be renamed say original decision was ‘error of judgment’ with mention of ‘preferred mix’ described as ‘tone deaf and hurtful’

A new gay nightclub in Sydney that was forced to change its name referencing a song by US lesbian popstar Chappell Roan has apologised for “any hurt caused” to the LGBTQ+ community.

The venue, which was to be named “Pink Pony”, also said nominating its preferred clientele as young gay men was “tone deaf and hurtful”.

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Australia news live: Ley challenges Albanese over Trump meeting; storm warning for Sydney

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The Liberal leader says the prime minister must extract ‘concrete’ results on Aukus and trade. Follow today’s news live

Hume: Ley describing Melbourne as Australia’s ‘crime capital’ just ‘explaining what every Victorian already knows’

The federal Liberal senator for Victoria, Jane Hume, was on ABC Radio National a short time ago speaking about crime in the state.

Sussan and the shadow ministry team are putting together our policy agenda as we speak. It is only five months since the last election, but I don’t agree that there is nothing that a federal government cannot do. In fact, there are plenty of things that a federal government can get involved in to help states tackle crime, whether it be working for consistent bail laws across the country.

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‘We want our stories to be told’: NSW Labor pledges $3.2m to support writing and literature amid AI onslaught

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Stories Matter strategy responds to urgent pressures such as declining reading rates and growing impact of digital media on publishing, minister says

It is a sector that delivers $1.3bn annually to the New South Wales economy and supports up to 22,000 jobs, yet the average writer earns just $18,200 a year from their creative practice.

To counter this stark disparity, the NSW government is launching the state’s first ever writing and literature strategy, and has committed $3.2m to support and expand the sector.

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Controversial FoI changes sparked after staff complained getting emails every 5 minutes may ‘jam something’

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Attorney general says online regulator received nearly 600 freedom of information requests in a short period of time from an ‘automated generator’ and ‘this is why the system is broken’

The eSafety commissioner’s freedom-of-information staff worried one email every five minutes might “jam something”, according to documents which reveal the under-siege feeling that sparked controversial new proposals to clamp down on FoI in Australia.

The Labor government’s unpopular bill to impose charges for FoI requests and dramatically curtail what information could be released seems set to fail after the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, said the opposition would vote against it – although the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said she remained “absolutely committed” to the proposal.

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‘Conflicts of interest’ behind Australian parliamentary official’s $315k retirement payment, report finds

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Barrister finds ‘multiple procedural failures’ in payment to Cate Saunders, who had ‘close’ relationship with former DPS secretary

An independent “fact-finding mission” into a $315,126 retirement payment to a senior parliamentary department official has found “multiple procedural failures” including overpayment, a disregard for specialist advice and “excessive pressure” applied in the payment’s timing.

The report by Sydney barrister Fiona Roughley SC, released Thursday, found there were “conflicts of interest” and “conflicted persons” within the Department of Parliamentary Services involved in the decision-making process.

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From protest laws to deaths in custody, Minns’ rush to claim the conservative high ground is clumsy and costly

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At almost every opportunity, the NSW premier chooses a conservative path: get the cops on side and let nobody fault Labor’s toughness on crime. It’s not working

There is a lesson for Chris Minns in the NSW supreme court’s declaration that police powers to deal with protesters near places of worship are invalid: laws curtailing civil liberties should never be rushed.

They should certainly not be pushed through in an atmosphere of panic and incomplete facts such as existed in the fevered days after the now notorious Dural caravan incident.

Anne Davies is Guardian Australia’s NSW state correspondent

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Queensland’s 10-cent container refund scheme referred to crime and corruption commission

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Parliamentary inquiry into Containers for Change recycling program reveals allegations of bullying and conflicts of interest

Ten allegations against Queensland’s container recycling scheme have been referred to the state’s corruption watchdog after a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday revealed allegations of bullying and conflicts of interest.

A parliamentary committee revealed claims that the board coordinating the state’s Containers for Change is “dominated” by Coca-Cola and Lion, with several submissions to the inquiry claiming that the two beverage companies have an incentive to reduce the number of containers being recycled in order to lower their costs.

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Three Australians accused of premeditated murder in Bali villa could face the death penalty

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Melbourne man Zivan Radmanovic, 32, was fatally gunned down in a Bali villa in June

Three Australians accused of shooting a Melbourne man in a Bali villa are set to be charged with premeditated murder, an offence punishable by the death sentence.

Melbourne man Zivan Radmanovic, 32, was fatally gunned down in the bathroom of Villa Casa Santisya near Munggu Beach, in Bali’s Badung district in June.

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Australians took more than $1.4bn from their super last year for everything from weight loss to dental work

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Watchdog says some business and practitioners are taking advantage of the compassionate release of superannuation process

Australians withdrew more than $1.4bn from their superannuation accounts for compassionate reasons in the last financial year, with much of that used to fund medical procedures ranging from dental work to weight loss treatments.

Of the 112,400 applications in 2024-25 for compassionate super access, 93,500 were made on medical grounds, up from 71,900 the year prior. There was a particularly sharp rise in applications to use superannuation to fund dental services, with the number doubling in two years to 32,875 requests.

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Australian tropical rainforest trees switch in world first from carbon sink to emissions source

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Researchers say carbon emissions change in Queensland tropical rainforests may have global climate implications

Australian tropical rainforest trees have become the first in the world to switch from being a carbon sink to an emissions source due to increasingly extreme temperatures and drier conditions.

The change, which applies to the trees’ trunks and branches but not the roots system, began about 25 years ago, according to new research published in Nature.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

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Westpac makes it harder for younger customers to earn advertised interest rates

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Bank joins smaller competitors in changing interest-related restrictions on some accounts – despite RBA leaving interest rates unchanged in September

Westpac is tightening conditions on its savings account for younger customers as growing numbers of banks make it harder to earn advertised interest rates on their deposits.

The bank has joined smaller competitors in changing interest-related restrictions on some accounts – despite the Reserve Bank of Australia leaving interest rates on hold in September.

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‘Big John’ Fisher’s Australian takeaway: get the right visa next time

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British social media star sent back by border force after apparently arriving on tourist paperwork but with several appearances scheduled

British social media personality “Big John” Fisher has cut short a tour and appearances in Australia after saying he was detained by immigration officers for arriving on the wrong visa.

Fisher, who is famous for his love of Chinese takeaway and reviews of fast food and has almost 700,000 followers on Instagram, said he was held for four hours by Australian Border Force officers after arriving in Perth on Tuesday.

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Candace Owens: Australia’s high court backs minister’s decision to deny visa to US rightwinger

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Home affairs minister’s 2024 decision to reject visa application for planned speaking tour on character grounds upheld

Australia’s high court has unanimously backed the government’s 2024 decision to refuse the rightwing provocateur Candace Owens a visa to enter the country.

The full bench of the court ruled on Wednesday that the minister’s denial did not infringe an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

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