Category Archives: Australia news

Sydney commuters to get free public transport for 12 days in April

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Scheme is an attempt by NSW government to revitalise city centre and compensate for February train shutdown

Sydney commuters will get free public transport for 12 days in April, including over the Easter holidays, as the state government attempts to revitalise the CBD and make amends for last month’s 24-hour train shutdown.

The fare-free period will run from 14-26 April, which includes the Anzac Day public holiday. The announcement is part of an agreement to end a long-running dispute between the New South Wales government and the state’s rail union over pay and workplace conditions.

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‘Terrible plan’: call for Queensland to stop closing Covid testing clinics as case numbers escalate

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Covid-19 infections in the state have increased by more than 50% in the past two weeks

One of Queensland’s leading infectious diseases experts has called on the state government to rethink winding down Covid testing services given the current wave of infections.

On Saturday, Queensland recorded 9,404 new Covid cases, with eight deaths, and 295 patients in hospital, including 19 in ICU.

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Australian scientists solve mystery of moment monotremes migrated

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Fossil analysis is shedding new light on the origins of egg-laying mammals and their arrival on the continent

Researchers have pinpointed exactly how and when echidnas likely arrived in Australia as part of a fossil analysis shedding new light on the origins of egg-laying mammals.

The platypus and four species of echidna are the only remaining living monotremes – mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. New analysis of every monotreme fossil discovered to date has recast the earliest history of the animals.

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Veterans’ affairs minister threatened to quit over budget; Australia reports 30 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Andrew Gee calls backlog of veteran’s compensation payments ‘a national disgrace’; WA teenager among 30 Covid deaths across the country. This blog is now closed

When Bill Shorten parachuted Kimberley Kitching into parliament in 2016, she was no darling of conservatives.

Kitching’s selection was derided by the then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, as a “captain’s call”. The Liberal senator Eric Abetz labelled her “unfit for public office” over adverse findings made by the Fair Work Commission and trade union royal commission.

This government’s going out of its way to poke our Pacific neighbours in the eye whether it’s our belligerent position on climate change, which is a critical issue for Pacific island nations, or whether it’s withdrawing aid, and I’d say support from those nations as well. The government seems to have dropped the ball on it. I think we need a new focus on the Asian-Pacific region.

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Concetta Fierravanti-Wells dumped from Coalition’s NSW Senate ticket

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Liberals Marise Payne and Jim Molan take first and third spots with the Nationals’ Ross Cadell second

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and Jim Molan have been chosen to fill the first and third spots on the Coalition’s New South Wales Senate ticket for the coming election.

The decision by the Liberals on Saturday means the veteran Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who also contested the preselection, will not get a winnable spot on the ticket.

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Veterans’ affairs minister told Barnaby Joyce he was quitting due to budget ‘disgrace’

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Scott Morrison claims minister did not ‘properly understand’ budget process

The Australian veterans’ affairs minister, Andrew Gee, was on the cusp of offering his resignation from cabinet following a major stoush over department funding days out from the federal budget.

In a major attack on the federal government, Gee called a press conference on Saturday morning to announce he would quit the frontbench after being refused $96m in funding before the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, finally intervened.

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Scott Morrison says it would have been ‘weakness’ for him to meet new Chinese ambassador

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Australian prime minister defends level of support for Solomon Islands and rest of Pacific amid tensions over security deal

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says there will be no diplomatic thaw in relations with China until it lifts a block on ministerial meetings.

“So long as China continues to refuse to have dialogue with Australian ministers and the prime minister, I think that’s an entirely proportional response,” Morrison told reporters on Saturday regarding reports he declined to meet China’s new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian.

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147 razor cuts: bloody artwork marking Indigenous deaths in custody wins Australia’s Blake prize

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Wiradjuri artist SJ Norman has won $35,000 prize for Cicatrix (All that was taken, all that remains), which saw him receive 147 wounds in 147 minutes

  • Readers may find images in this story distressing

Wiradjuri artist SJ Norman has won the 2022 Blake prize for an artwork that saw him receive 147 wounds to his back, representing the number of Aboriginal deaths in police custody over the last decade in Australia.

Norman was announced the winner of the $35,000 prize at Sydney’s Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre on Saturday, for his performance piece and photographic diptych titled Cicatrix (All that was taken, all that remains).

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Newcastle stabbing: woman killed and child found covered in blood after alleged domestic violence incident

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Woman, 21, dies after police called to a home unit in Crebert Street, Mayfield

A woman is dead and a man that police say was her former partner is in custody, following an alleged domestic violence-related stabbing in Newcastle.

Local commander Superintendent Wayne Humphrey said a three-year-old child also found at the scene was covered in blood but physically unharmed.

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Rising Covid cases force some schools in NSW and Victoria to return to remote learning

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State governments leave schools to decide on response as Covid outbreaks lead to widespread teacher shortages

Major staffing shortages have forced schools in New South Wales and Victoria back into remote learning as the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2 sees Covid cases rise.

NSW recorded 23,702 new Covid cases on Friday and seven deaths, with rates of infections in the state highest among those aged 10-19 years old. Victoria recorded 9,244 new cases and nine deaths.

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Future of popular NSW walking track through sacred site in doubt after floods

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Wollumbin track reopening delayed after floods, while hikers asked to reconsider climb out of respect for Indigenous sacred place

The fate of one of northern New South Wales’s most popular walking tracks remains uncertain after authorities chose to delay a controversial decision regarding its future for the fourth time.

Situated near the flood-hit town of Murwillumbah, Wollumbin national park previously attracted more than 100,000 visitors a year, and its summit is renowned as the first place in Australia to catch the sunrise.

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‘I was lost’: Kyiose faced homelessness after arriving in Australia from Myanmar – and he’s not alone

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Half of all respondents say they had experienced homelessness exacerbated by language issues and other systemic barriers

Kyiose Han did not know where to go when his brother kicked him out of home two years ago. Aged 17 at the time, Han, an orphan, had only recently arrived in Australia from Myanmar.

He had no job, no money and knew very little English.

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With numbers falling, the NSW government needs all the support it can get

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Analysis: Dominic Perrottet looks to the crossbench to help his minority government

It was purely coincidence that on Friday morning two ministers in the New South Wales government appeared at the opening of a new $341m hospital in Concord alongside the Drummoyne MP John Sidoti.

But the timing was fascinating.

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Coalition urged to terminate Canstruct contract to end financial ‘black hole’ on Nauru

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There is little sense keeping refugees on island at great expense following New Zealand resettlement deal, human rights groups say

The government must end the “moral and financial black hole” on Nauru by ceasing its contract with Canstruct and returning those on Nauru to Australia in the wake of the New Zealand refugee resettlement deal, human rights groups say.

Asked on Friday whether it would end the Canstruct contract for “garrison and welfare services”, the government declined to answer.

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A week of own-goals leaves Victoria’s opposition bruised

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Analysis: the Coalition’s week began with swagger and ended in a whimper after series of stumbles

A week ago, the Victorian opposition was quietly confident.

After struggling to gain any political momentum amid the pandemic, the opposition leader, Matthew Guy’s consistent and disciplined messaging on the triple-zero call response crisis appeared to be cutting through.

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Australian journalist Chen Lei to face court in Beijing on Thursday, sources say

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Lei, who was detained in 2020, was arrested and charged with illegally supplying state secrets overseas – but her family have denied wrongdoing

An Australian journalist will face court in Beijing next Thursday on state secrets charges, after being detained for more than 19 months, sources close to the case say.

Cheng Lei, who worked as a television anchor for Chinese state media for a decade before being detained in 2020, was formally arrested a year ago on allegations of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.

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Bangladesh v Australia: ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – live!

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*Local time. So half an hour to the coin toss if the rain stays away. It’ll be 43 overs per side. Promising.

The umpires are wandering around the middle in their fetching pink cagoules. It looks blustery so hopefully the rain blows on through. 4.08pm local time is the cut off to get a game in.

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Australia news live update: 26 Covid deaths as Atagi recommends fourth jab; sanctions for Belarusian president; Lambie says refugee deal ‘a line in the sand’

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Jacqui Lambie says she did not regret supporting repeal of medevac laws; PM announces $58m funding for endometriosis care and treatment, and $81m for Medicare-supported genetic testing; new sanctions on Belarusian president and Russian propagandists; Peter Dutton says Australia has ‘fantastic’ relationship with Solomon Islands; nation records 26 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news live

And Victoria has reported 9,244 new cases and nine deaths overnight:

NSW has reported 23, 702 new Covid cases overnight and seven deaths:

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Great Barrier Reef authority confirms unprecedented sixth mass coral bleaching event

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Aerial surveys show almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat, prompting scientists to call for urgent action on climate crisis

The Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a sixth mass coral bleaching event, the marine park’s authority has confirmed, with aerial surveys showing almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat.

The Guardian understands a United Nations mission currently under way to check the health and management of the reef will be briefed on the initial findings of the surveys as early as Friday in Townsville.

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Star casino senior manager admits ‘knowingly misleading’ regulator on gambling junkets

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Inquiry hears building approval submission for a private gaming room failed to mention a window allowing junket operator to receive cash from players

A senior casino manager has admitted “knowingly misleading” the New South Wales gaming regulator about how gambling junkets operated inside a private high-roller wagering room at The Star Sydney.

Graeme Stevens, group compliance manager at Star Entertainment Group, resumed evidence on Friday at a royal commission-style inquiry into whether the gaming giant’s Sydney casino should keep its licence.

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