Category Archives: Australia news

Battery-powered electric vehicle sales plunge by 25% as Australian drivers choose hybrid models

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Australian Automobile Association analysis notes hybrids are exempt from fringe benefits tax until 1 April 2025

Battery-powered electric vehicle sales fell sharply last quarter and may have temporarily peaked as consumers turn to hybrid models that attract tax concessions, according to new analysis.

Quarterly vehicle sales data released by the Australian Automobile Association on Monday reveals petrol-powered cars continued to decline in popularity, with sales falling by 9.16% in the three months to 30 September.

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Fifty-year extension for one of Australia’s biggest CO2 emitters likely after WA ditches emissions-reduction rules

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Extending life of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant on Burrup Peninsula could result in billions of tonnes of climate pollution, critics say

The Western Australian Labor government appears all but certain to give one of Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters the green light to operate until 2070 after it announced it would abolish state emissions-reduction requirements.

Scientists have warned the proposal to extend the life of the North West Shelf gas processing plant on the Burrup Peninsula in the country’s remote north-west is linked to the development of at least three major gas fields and could ultimately result in billions of tonnes of climate pollution being released into the atmosphere.

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‘No stopping’ Suburban Rail Loop after Victorian government inks $1.7bn deal with global consortium

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Terra Verde’s contract demonstrates the ‘huge competitive interest’ from global construction companies, Jacinta Allan says

The Victorian government’s contentious Suburban Rail Loop “cannot be stopped” as a cloud hangs over the rollout of its new public transport ticket system.

Global consortium Terra Verde has been awarded a $1.7bn tunnelling contract for the $34.5bn eastern section of the rail line.

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Jacinta Allan warns against ‘American-style division’ as Indigenous treaty negotiations begin in Victoria

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Premier says ‘misinformation’ and ‘fake news’ should not interfere with efforts to improve society, after opposition MP suggests talks being held in ‘secret’

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has warned against “American-style division” surrounding the state’s nation-leading Indigenous treaty, ahead of negotiations beginning this month.

The First Peoples’ Assembly – Victoria’s democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government in the coming weeks.

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Australia’s heatwave to continue into next week as east coast braces for possible severe storms

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Sydney has a high chance of thunderstorms this week, while Melbourne can look forward to 30C weather on Saturday

The heatwave baking northern Australia with temperatures of up to 43C is expected to continue into next week, with southern parts of the country facing warm weather and possible severe storms.

A severe heatwave warning was current for much of inland Queensland, with highs of 43C at Longreach, Boulia and Richmond and 41C in Mount Isa expected on Sunday.

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Australian parliament still unsafe, Mark Butler says, after rape and stalking among 30 serious allegations reported to HR body

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New support service managed 339 cases of workplace wrongdoing in its first nine months, report shows

The health minister, Mark Butler, says Parliament House is still “an unsafe place to work” after figures revealed there were at least 30 instances of serious wrongdoing – including sexual assault and sexual harassment – reported to its new HR body in the past year.

The “deeply concerning” figures published in the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service’s first annual report, reported by Nine newspapers on Sunday, show it managed 339 cases between 1 October 2023 and 30 June 2024.

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Jamie Oliver pulls children’s book from shelves after criticism for ‘stereotyping’ Indigenous Australians

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Billy and the Epic Escape to be withdrawn worldwide after First Nations groups say fantasy novel trivialises complex and painful histories

Jamie Oliver has pulled his children’s book from sale after condemnation from First Nations communities that the fantasy novel is offensive and harmful.

Penguin Random House UK on Sunday notified the Guardian that Billy and the Epic Escape would be withdrawn from sale in all countries where it holds rights, including the UK and Australia.

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Australia settle on new Test opener as Nathan McSweeney named in squad to face India

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  • South Australian to debut at top of batting order in first match in Perth
  • In-form Josh Inglis also picked as batter in 13-player squad

Australia have settled on Nathan McSweeney to be Usman Khawaja’s opening partner for the start of the blockbuster Test series against India. After an outstanding start to the domestic season, McSweeney has beaten Marcus Harris for the vacant spot in the Australian XI.

McSweeney will become the first Australian player in 47 years to make his Test debut as an opener despite never having batted there at Sheffield Shield level. The 25-year-old top-scored in both innings of the first Australia A match in Mackay when batting at No 4. But he was unable to convert starts – 14 and 25 – in both innings as Australia A closed out a six-wicket win in the second match at the MCG.

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Man arrested following discovery of teenager’s body in bushland in Sydney’s south-west

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The 15-year-old’s body was found in bushland in Wilton early Saturday morning

A man is in police custody as detectives continue their inquiries into the death of a teenage boy in Sydney’s south-west.

The 15-year-old’s body was found in bushland in Wilton at about 7.25am on Saturday.

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Man charged with murder after stabbing death in Adelaide

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Lewis Parkin, 23, was found with life-threatening injuries and taken to hospital after an incident at a unit complex in the CBD

A man who allegedly stabbed another man to death in central Adelaide has been charged with murder.

Police say they responded to reports a 23-year-old man had been stabbed at an accommodation complex on Hindley Street in the Adelaide CBD just before 8pm on Friday.

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More than half of Australia sweats through heatwave as BoM forecasts more scorching temperatures

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BoM expects hot weather to continue across parts of Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory next week

More than half of Australia is sweating through a heatwave, with scorching temperatures in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory expected this weekend.

Huge stretches of outback across northern Australia had been warned by the Bureau of Meteorology to expect heatwave conditions stretching into next week.

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NSW regulator chose to reveal content of Sydney’s mystery beach balls on day of US election

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After debris balls were widely reported to be tar, testing coordinated with EPA revealed they were consistent with human-generated waste, or ‘likely lumps of fatberg’

The NSW environment watchdog allegedly knew for more than a week that thousands of mystery balls that washed up on Sydney beaches last month were probably consistent with human-generated waste before it made the news public as US election results dominated headlines.

A statement from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) on Wednesday revealed the balls comprised fatty acids, petroleum hydrocarbons and other organic and inorganic materials – including traces of drugs, hair, motor oil, food waste, animal matter and human faeces.

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Jamie Oliver apologises after his children’s book is criticised for ‘stereotyping’ First Nations Australians

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Exclusive: Publisher takes responsibility for the failure to consult Indigenous groups, who say the fantasy novel trivialises complex and painful histories

Jamie Oliver says he is “devastated” by the offence he has caused to First Nations people and has issued an apology, after calls by Australia’s peak body for Indigenous education for the British celebrity chef to withdraw his children’s book from sale.

Oliver is in Australia promoting his latest cookbook, Simply Jamie, but it is his decision to join a growing flock of celebrity children’s book authors with a 400-page fantasy novel for primary school-age children that has come under fire.

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Man charged with murder after woman’s body found in unit on NSW’s mid north coast

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Police found woman’s body at unit in South West Rocks, about 30km north of Kempsey, after they were called there at 8am on Friday

A man is set to face court charged with murdering a 70-year-old woman on the New South Wales mid north coast.

Police found the woman’s body at a unit in South West Rocks, about 30km north of Kempsey, after they were called there at 8am on Friday.

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Blockbuster: will Victoria’s tough housing market push The Block into the red?

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Some predict the TV show will lose money this season as investors exit property and contestants face ‘a buyer’s market’ at auction

Channel Nine’s hit series The Block could be caught in the firing line of Victoria’s flat housing market and investor woes, with one expert predicting the show will make a loss this year.

The properties in the seaside township of Cowes, on Phillip Island, are set to go under the hammer on Saturday.

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Trump’s tariff threats a ‘clear and present danger’ to Australia, Arthur Sinodinos warns

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Former ambassador to US says president-elect’s vow to slap up to 60% tariffs on imports from China would have knock-on effects on Australian economy

Donald Trump’s threats of hefty tariffs on imports – especially from China – pose a “clear and present danger” to Australia that must be taken seriously, according to a former Australian ambassador to Washington, Arthur Sinodinos.

Speaking to Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast, the former Liberal senator and adviser to prime minister John Howard, who was ambassador through Trump’s final year in the White House, warned that the US president-elect’s talk of slapping tariffs of 10-20% on foreign goods and as much as 60% on goods from China cannot be dismissed as bluff.

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Ian Botham saved from crocodile-infested waters by Ashes rival Merv Hughes

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  • Former England cricketer was on fishing trip in Australia
  • ‘At the end of the day Crocodile Beefy survived,’ he jokes

Ian Botham, the former England cricketer, has survived a fall into crocodile-infested waters on a fishing trip in Australia’s Northern Territory after he was rescued by his close friend and Ashes rival, Merv Hughes.

Botham, 68, got his flip-flops tangled in a rope as he tried to board a boat and fell into the Moyle River during the pair’s four-day fishing trip.

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Labor’s plan to re-impose ankle bracelet and curfew regime ‘very likely’ to face legal challenge, advocates say

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Measure alongside bill to facilitate removal of non-citizens criticised as heavy-handed proposals ‘that interfere with fundamental rights’

Legal challenges against the Albanese government’s plans to re-impose ankle bracelets and curfews on non-citizens released from indefinite immigration detention are “very likely” as the home affairs minister tries to contain the fallout from a scathing high court ruling.

Tony Burke introduced a bill on Thursday to facilitate the removal of non-citizens from Australia, including paying third countries to accept people released from immigration detention, which would pave the way for cancellation of their bridging visas and possible re-detention.

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Real estate agent who published identity of NSW tenant after one-star Google review broke privacy laws, commission finds

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Noonan Real Estate Agency in Sydney forced to apologise after it disclosed renter’s full name, occupation and financial circumstances to global audience

A New South Wales real estate agent who exposed the personal details of a tenant who left a bad Google review broke privacy laws, Australia’s information commission has found.

After the tenant, who has not been named for legal reasons, gave Noonan Real Estate Agency a one-star review in 2021, the agency responded by disclosing his full name, occupation and financial circumstances, according to a written decision.

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‘It was just coming through the window’: wave of water rushes into Sydney homes after pipe bursts

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Resident in the suburb of Como says water was ‘literally spraying all around’ after pipeline to Woronora Dam burst

A quiet Sydney street was thrown into chaos on Friday as residents described a wave of water rushing through their windows from a burst pipe.

Sydney Water said network technicians were assessing a leak on the main when it burst at Binya Place in Como, a suburb in the city’s south, on Friday afternoon.

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