Category Archives: Australia news

Lower house sits late to continue religious discrimination bill debate – as it happened

Posted on by

Debate over religious discrimination bill to continue as House of Representatives agrees to sit late; Brittany Higgins calls for Jenkins review to be implemented; nation records at least 68 deaths from Covid – follow all the day’s news

The Coalition has been sitting on a major report into the state of the care workforce in Australia since September last year, Sarah Martin reports. The report “set out to examine the needs of the care and support workforce for aged, disability, veteran and mental health care”:

I mentioned the Health Services Union’s survey earlier, in the context of the opposition hoping to wound the government over the aged care crisis.

Continue reading...

NSW judge says dispute between neighbours over leaf blowers and 17 CCTV cameras ‘out of all proportion’

Posted on by

Gregory Au fails in bid to impose ‘extraordinary’ restrictions on neighbours’ use of easement providing only access to ‘completely landlocked’ property

A dispute between neighbours involving the use of leaf blowers, 17 CCTV cameras and an easement quickly grew “out of all proportion” and has ended up in a New South Wales court.

“For most people, to live in a well-appointed home on a large block amid the semi-tropical vegetation of the Central Coast hinterland would be a formula for a tranquil and idyllic lifestyle,” NSW supreme court justice Francois Kunc said on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live news updates: PM apologises to Brittany Higgins as parliament acknowledges history of bullying, harassment, sexual assault

Posted on by

Apology for staff and politicians who have experienced sexual harassment, assault and bullying at Parliament House; Daniel Andrews welcomes border reopening, announces free RATs for kids in childcare; anti-vaccine mandate protests continue; Victoria records 9,785 Covid cases and 20 deaths, NSW records 9,690 cases and 18 deaths; Queensland records 5,178 cases and 12 deaths. Follow the latest updates live

The defence minister Peter Dutton has told the Today show he is reserving his right to take legal action against former NSW premier Bob Carr, who doubled down on his claims that Dutton was the “mystery minister” who called prime minister Scott Morrison a “psycho”. Dutton said:

It was not me. I mean, every family’s got this crazy uncle that wakes up from the rocking chair and sort of in a startled way shouts out something and I just don’t know what is going on with Bob Carr. Is he the full quid or not? He’s a bizarre guy. He hasn’t produced any evidence. He’s now saying if it’s not me, then the person needs to come forward to prove my innocence. I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I think he has discredited himself.

He hasn’t produced any evidence and you can’t just make a claim and then back away from it. But that’s what he’s done. I think it’s embarrassing for him and I think most journalists frankly have treated him as a bit of a joke and this sort of relevance deprivation syndrome cuts in for a lot of former politicians as we’ve discussed on the show before.

Continue reading...

Morrison signals attempt to pass religious discrimination bill ‘in the near future’

Posted on by

Coalition faces fierce internal opposition to the legislation while Labor stalls on finalising a position

Scott Morrison has signalled he will seek to legislate the religious discrimination bill “in the near future”, as mounting internal opposition leaves securing Labor support the most viable path to pass the reform.

Morrison appealed for support for the “important bill” on Monday, telling reporters in Canberra that it is “something that should unite the parliament, not divide it”.

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

Continue reading...

Australia to reopen international border on 21 February

Posted on by

Scott Morrison announces all fully vaccinated visa holders will be able to enter, two years after Covid border closure

Australia will open its border for fully vaccinated tourists and all visa holders, a decision branded “bittersweet” by those who have missed funerals in recent weeks due to ongoing restrictions.

Scott Morrison on Monday announced the nation would open to all fully vaccinated visa holders, including tourists, on 21 February, almost two years after borders were first closed.

Continue reading...

Goodbye Ramsay Street? Why we’re not ready for Neighbours to end

Posted on by

The drama won hearts by showing the world Australian suburbia – albeit with regular light plane crashes and bouts of amnesia

When they let you through the security gate at the Neighbours studio, something magical happens. It’s not finding out the food at Harold’s is real, though it is. And it’s not realising the Erinsborough High quad is also where they filmed Prisoner, though that’s true too.

No, stepping into that Nunawading studio is a wormhole to a simpler time, where no one has a real job, drama is just drama, and the people next door have become good friends.

Continue reading...

Australia politics news live updates: Peter Dutton hits out at Bob Carr over text message claims as row deepens

Posted on by

Barnaby Joyce ‘has some explaining to do’, Michael McCormack says; defence minister denies claims he was behind messages that branded the prime minister a ‘complete psycho’. Follow all the day’s news live

Communications minister Paul Fletcher is telling ABC radio about the restoration of funding to the national broadcaster (see Amanda Meade’s story, linked in a previous post).

The ABC will have to detail their levels of Australian content and other key services.

Continue reading...

‘To get out is an absolute struggle’: landmark study sheds light on Australians sleeping rough

Posted on by

Homelessness report reveals health and discrimination issues as authors call for new national strategy

Leigh Jorey was pretty successful in his mid-30s. A panel beater by trade, he’d completed an apprenticeship, owned his own tow truck company, and worked at it hard. His success didn’t stop him becoming homeless. In fact, it may have contributed to the problem.

Under pressure, Jorey began to turn to less healthy ways of coping, which led him into a downward spiral.

Continue reading...

Australia news live update: at least 45 Covid deaths recorded nationally; Qld says using ADF to evacuate aged care facilities ‘a last resort’

Posted on by

Nation records at least 45 Covid deaths with 28 in NSW, nine in Queensland, six in Victoria and one each in South Australia and Tasmania; Scott Morrison addresses relationship with Barnaby Joyce ahead of deputy PM facing colleagues in Canberra this week after leaked text message savaging the prime minister. Follow all the day’s news live

Speers starts listing the leaders who have accused Scott Morrison of being a liar: Barnaby Joyce, the former prime minister, French president Emmanuel Macron. He asks whether this, plus problems in managing the pandemic, will make it harder to campaign with Scott Morrison at this year’s federal election?

Andrews:

We always knew that we would have our work cut out for us. This is a particularly difficult time in Australia and globally. We always knew that would be the case. Can we do without distractions? Absolutely. It is predictable that the opposition leader and Labor are going to go for a personal attack on the prime minister, of course it is...

Circumstances are very different now. He is a great campaigner. He was a great campaigner in 2019 and he connected very well with Australians.

“... out in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, all of the states across Australia. We all need to be doing that. It has been an incredibly difficult time for everyone and we all have to make sure that we are properly connecting.

You can understand the interest legitimately though. Trust matters, integrity matters. You are asking the Australian voters to re-elect a prime minister who has been called a liar, not just once and not just by his now deputy prime minister who even offered to resign over this. It is a pretty big deal.

Look, integrity is absolutely important and I’m not going to dismiss or attempt to dismiss any of that. But I would also say, too, that we are coming up to a federal election in the next couple of months and what Australians will be asked to decide on is who is going to lead that country, and that includes not just the issues that we are discussing today potentially tomorrow...

But it is a big part, minister, as to whether we can trust him?

Look, I would say to the people of Australia that my experience of Scott Morrison is that he has always been respectful and willing to listen to my point of view, but he has also got a very strong record, and that is as immigration minister, as treasurer and as the prime minister. Let’s put this into some context as well, that Scott Morrison has been the prime minister during a particularly difficult time in Australia...

Continue reading...

Neighbours needs good friends to survive after UK network axes iconic soap

Posted on by

Network Ten to pause filming after Channel 5 announces it will stop airing the show in August

The Australian soap Neighbours, which launched the international careers of countless local stars including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Margot Robbie and Guy Pearce, has been axed in the UK in a move likely to sound the death knell for the iconic show.

The UK’s Channel 5 announced it would no longer air the program and unless it is picked up by another UK broadcaster the show will end its record-breaking 36-year run in August.

Continue reading...

Tracking echidna poo unearths largest ever sightings of elusive species across Australia

Posted on by

Researchers and citizen scientists found the animal to be active in every state and territory, even in densely populated cities

Citizen scientists have helped researchers track Australia’s widespread but elusive echidna population – and their poo – to discover the spiny mammal is more the man about town than realised.

Never before considered an “urban” native like common ringtail possums or brush turkeys, their apparent prolificacy in metropolitan areas suggest echidnas should be taken into consideration when establishing biodiversity policies in cities, researchers say.

Continue reading...

Australians ingest a credit card’s worth of plastic a week – so what’s it doing to us?

Posted on by

Citizen science project mapping microplastics menace in hope of halting spread

Head down to Sydney’s Manly Cove on a weekend, and you might see groups of people crouching diligently on the sand. They’re not searching for shells or bloodworms, but something just as visually striking, not least because it shouldn’t be there: coloured pieces of hard plastic, fragments of polystyrene foam and fibres from fishing line.

For the last three years, a group of volunteers has been surveying the beach each month for microplastics, as part of the Australian Microplastics Assessment Project.

Colloquially known as Ausmap, the citizen science project has collected more than 3.5m pieces of microplastic from more than 300 beaches around the country, ranging from Thursday Island in the north to Bruny Island, off Tasmania’s south-east coast.

Continue reading...

Victoria reports 41 Covid deaths, Qld 21 and NSW 18; anti-vaxxers protest in Canberra – as it happened

Posted on by

Firefighters in Western Australia battle two emergency-level bushfires. This blog is now closed

NSW case numbers are in, and there have been 8,389 new Covid-19 cases detected over night from PCR and rapid antigen tests.

Sadly, 18 more lives have been lost overnight.

Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce called Scott Morrison ‘a hypocrite and a liar’ in leaked text message

Posted on by

Joyce said he did not ‘get along’ with the PM in message dating from before his return to the Nationals leadership

Barnaby Joyce labelled Scott Morrison “a hypocrite and a liar” in a private text message, sent before he returned to the leadership of the National party.

In another blow for the embattled prime minister, the leaked text, seen by Guardian Australia, was forwarded to the former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins by a third party.

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

Continue reading...

Australia live news updates: inside Victoria’s $1.4bn Covid package; at least 81 coronavirus deaths recorded

Posted on by

Australia records at least 81 deaths from Covid-19; Victoria announces $1.4bn health package; government sought Labor support to wave religious bill through unamended; police attempt to clear ACT anti-vaccine protest camp – follow the day’s news

Albanese also called for the federal minister who sent the “psycho” texts to just come forward already. (He would love that, wouldn’t he!)

Well, it’s time for someone just to come forward and fess up as to who sent that text message. We know that one-half of the exchanges was Gladys Berejiklian.

And, for me, it wasn’t the personal abuse that is there and the character assessments. The most damning indictment of the prime minister was the premier of New South Wales at the time who was doing a job each and every day on the bushfire crisis, saying that the prime minister was more concerned about politics than he was about people at that time.

I’ve been asked this and I give the same answer I gave yesterday. The government should put in a submission supporting a wage increase. That’s what we did when we were in government for social and community service workers. And that led to a substantial pay increase, which has led to retention in that workforce. If we don’t deal with the issue of wages, then we won’t be able to retain a workforce in the aged care sector. The other thing we need, of course, is we need more workers and more carers, but we need a nurse in every nursing home, 24/7. We used to call them nursing homes for a reason – because nurses were there. It’s extraordinary that we have these aged care facilities that can go for considerable periods of time without having a nurse right there when they’re needed.

But not putting a figure on a proposed wage increase – isn’t the prime minister right when he says nobody knows how much it will cost the government, and therefore taxpayers?

No, the prime minister is not right. The prime minister is wrong. The prime minister is wrong by not supporting a nurse being in every nursing home.

The prime minister is wrong by not saying to the Fair Work Commission that he supports a wage increase for the aged care workforce.

Continue reading...

Qantas boss Alan Joyce compares Western Australia border restrictions to North Korea

Posted on by

Chief executive takes a swipe at state premier Mark McGowan saying: ‘I think we should all be a bit outraged by it’

Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, has compared Western Australia’s ongoing border closure to the totalitarian state of North Korea.

Speaking on 3AW on Friday, Joyce lamented there wasn’t a plan in WA for when the state would re-welcome domestic travellers after the initial reopening date of 5 February was scrapped indefinitely last month.

Continue reading...

Albanese demands Colbeck ‘resign today’ as nation records 82 Covid deaths – as it happened

Posted on by

Albanese says aged care services minister ‘must resign today’; CMO says ‘we are past the peak’ of Omicron as nation records at least 82 Covid-19 deaths, with dozens of cases in ICU; bushfire emergency warning issued for East Rockingham. This blog is now closed

Speaking of the ongoing Covid aged care crisis, health and aged care minister Greg Hunt is defending the government’s handling of the situation, telling ABC radio that 99% of aged care workers are now double-vaccinated:

We have over 99% vaccination rate amongst aged care workers, one of the highest rates in the world; 91% vaccination rate for residents. We’ve been able to have one of the lowest rates of loss of life in aged care in the world ...

But it is immensely hard for so many. The mental health impacts of people being locked down in aged care, which is a protective mechanism for them, but at the same time it has a huge impact on their quality of life.

If they can’t endorse [federal environment minister Sussan Ley] they should get out of the way and let the federal executive ensure we can get things done.

Continue reading...

Row erupts over wreck in US waters identified as Captain Cook’s Endeavour

Posted on by

Rhode Island archaelogists denounce Australian National Maritime Museum announcement as ‘premature’ and driven by ‘Australian emotions or politics’

A 22-year partnership between US and Australian researchers to identify James Cook’s ship the Endeavour has descended into a row after the Australian Maritime Museum announced the discovery.

The museum’s chief executive, Kevin Sumption, announced on Thursday he was satisfied that a shipwreck in waters off Rhode Island in the US was “the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history”.

Continue reading...

What’s the price of a loaf of bread? A whole lot of political trouble

Posted on by

Scott Morrison this week admitted he didn’t know how much staples cost. Given similar questions have undone other politicians perhaps he was wise not to take a stab

Australians have been talking about foodstuffs this week after the prime minister was unable to nominate the price of a loaf of bread when quizzed during his National Press Club appearance.

A Sky News journalist on Tuesday asked Scott Morrison if he had “lost touch with ordinary Australians”. Could the PM, for instance, name the price of “a loaf of bread, a litre of petrol and a rapid antigen test?” Morrison stated that he “wasn’t going to pretend to you that I go out each day and I buy a loaf of bread and I buy a litre of milk”.

Continue reading...

Australia news live updates: Morrison’s jobs goal prompts reaction while handling of Covid in aged care under scrutiny

Posted on by

ACTU’s Sally McManus says PM’s plan to lower unemployment rates doesn’t necessarily mean better pay or security – follow all the day’s news

Morrison is asked about the question he was unable to answer yesterday - the cost of basics like bread and petrol and, in this day and age, rapid antigen tests. Morrison says he “didn’t hear” the question about RATs.

To be honest, I heard bread and milk on the question yesterday, it was a pretty robust and torrid time at the press club yesterday, I must admit I didn’t hear the question about rats, that’s the honest truth. Didn’t hear it. It’s about $15-$20 and they can be less than that ... if it gets above that they will be coming after those who are price gouging, so to be honest I didn’t hear that part of the question, I heard bread and milk and for the record, it depends which bread.

Little milk comes from a cow anymore, there are so many different things that people have available but if it’s two, three bucks, you can get petrol from $1.60 to $1.80. That’s what it is. It’s one of those old things they do with the press club to make a bit of a headline.

No, I haven’t had the opportunity to do that but I appreciate what Gladys said yesterday in our own dealings with each other ... I think we work very positively and I think we work very well together as a premier and PM to do very great things from New South Wales in particular ... I can’t speak to the other things that are all anonymous and she doesn’t recollect it but it’s certainly not a conversation we have ever had.

People say nasty things about the prime minister all the time, they say nasty things about people in the media – just switch on social media. You will get yourself quite a giggle and I get one all the time. It goes with the job.

Continue reading...