Category Archives: Australia news

Australia news live: Christine Holgate says she was ‘bullied’ and Australia Post chairman fabricated evidence

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Holgate says she was ‘humiliated’ by prime minister Scott Morrison; man dies of coronavirus in Queensland. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Australia won’t purchase Johnson & Johnson jab
• AstraZeneca blood clotting: what is this rare syndrome?
• Andrew Laming blocked from recontesting next election
• More than half of Australians think vaccine rollout is too slow

Wow, it’s been a busy few hours! With that, I’m going to hand you over to Michael McGowan to take you through the rest of the afternoon.

Christine Holgate gave some evidence about executive bonuses. It is a little confusing and we’ll come back to it, because even the senators seem a little confused about what is being said. And it’s important we get it right, so I’ll head back over the transcript to see what she was saying there.

Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has the question call now. She says she has been very moved by Holgate, and what she went through. She asks whether she thinks the questioning on the 22 October estimates hearing was fair.

Holgate:

In all honesty, I didn’t consider whether it was fair or not fair. I absolutely respect and Senator Carr, forgive me but you’ve asked me many tough questions over my time with you (“that’s my job,” Carr says)...and I was about to say ‘that’s your job’.

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AstraZeneca blood clotting: what is this rare syndrome and how is it caused?

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Evidence is growing of a link between the Covid-19 vaccine and a deadly thrombosis – and theories are emerging as to why

Since rare but severe clotting was seen in some people following vaccination with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, researchers worldwide have been grappling to understand why the clotting syndrome, known as “thrombosis with thrombocytopenia” (clotting with a low platelet count), occurs.

Most cases of these clots occurred in veins in the brain (a condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST), though some occurred in other veins, including those to the abdomen (splanchnic vein thrombosis). It has a high death rate.

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Girl’s appendix bursts at Adelaide hospital after waiting eight hours for surgery

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Parents describe overcrowded emergency room and South Australian premier admits situation ‘not good enough’

A young girl’s appendix ruptured as she waited for hours in a crowded hospital emergency department in Adelaide, prompting an official investigation and an apology from the South Australian premier.

Annabelle and David Oates took their seven-year-old daughter, Audrey, to the Women’s and Children’s hospital in March after their GP diagnosed her with acute appendicitis.

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NSW police passed up SA offer to take statement alleging sexual assault against Christian Porter

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Request to travel interstate to take accuser’s statement was rejected in March 2020 because it was not deemed essential, documents reveal

The New South Wales police passed up an offer by South Australian police to take a statement alleging sexual assault against Christian Porter – apparently without putting the option to the victim – new documents reveal.

The documents, produced to the NSW Legislative Council after a motion by MP David Shoebridge, reveal how a request to travel interstate to take the statement was rejected in March 2020 because it was not deemed essential.

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Body found on Barrington riverbank believed to be elderly woman missing in NSW floods

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Empty car belonging to Adele Morrison, 78, was pulled from swollen river in March during torrential rain on mid-north coast

A body believed to be an elderly New South Wales woman whose empty car was pulled from flood waters has been found washed up on a riverbank.

Adele Morrison, 78, was last seen at a shopping centre in Gloucester after leaving home in Port Macquarie on 16 March, as a one-in-100-year flood event began on the mid-north NSW coast.

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Bees bounce back after Australia’s black summer: ‘Any life is good life’

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Australia’s bushfires were devastating for bee populations. But steady rain and community efforts are seeing the return of the pollinators

You could say that Adrian Iodice is something of a stickybeak neighbour. On Iodice’s once-lush bushland property, nestled within the Bega Valley of New South Wales, there stands a majestic rough-barked apple tree that the beekeeper used to, every now and then, jam his head into.

In the hollow of the trunk lived a flourishing wild colony of European honeybees that Iodice had been keeping an eye on for years. “I’d have a chat with them,” he laughs. “Stick my head in and see how they’re getting on in life. They were very gentle bees; they never had a go at me.”

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Husband walks in on wife being allegedly sexually assaulted at Sydney aged care home

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José says he hasn’t been able to sleep since alleged assault, which was described as ‘cuddling’ in incident report

A man who walked in on his 70-year-old wife with dementia being allegedly sexually assaulted by a fellow resident at her Sydney aged care home has blamed under-staffing for failing to properly monitor residents.

The 75-year-old man, José, said he has not been able to sleep properly since the alleged 20 March assault on his wife, Shannon, and that he wants answers about why his wife was able to wander off alone down a corridor and into the man’s room.

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How we stay together: ‘We’re the middle-aged couple walking down the street holding hands’

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Angela Kitzelman and Don Jarmey joke their secret is having ‘no goals’, a philosophy that’s worked for the pair over more than three decades

Names: Angela Kitzelman and Don Jarmey
Years together: 36
Occupations: public servant and lab technician

“If you can travel together successfully, that is a sign of a strong relationship,” says Don Jarmey. “If you can sit for 41 hours on a bus from Istanbul to Budapest with about 2 metres of snow outside, where the bus stops three times in that 41 hours and you still love each other at the end, then yeah.”

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Australia’s Covid vaccination relying on opaque private contracts worth millions

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Lack of transparency over deals with private consultants, logistics companies and healthcare contractors adding to ‘layers of confusion’ over rollout

The Australian government is funnelling millions of dollars to private contractors for its beleaguered Covid vaccine rollout using opaque deals – some of which are hidden from the public and ignore transparency standards.

The government is relying heavily on contractors to aid its vaccine rollout, including multinational consultants PwC and Accenture, logistics companies DHL and Linfox, and healthcare contractors Healthcare Australia, International SOS, Sonic Clinical Services and Aspen.

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NSW coroner asks police to review 1979 Luna Park Ghost Train fire evidence

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The coroner says she has received an application for a fresh inquest into the fire that killed six boys and a man in Sydney

The New South Wales coroner will consider a fresh inquest into a fatal fire at Sydney’s Luna Park in 1979 after allegations the blaze was linked to an underworld figure.

Seven people including six boys were killed in the blaze while riding the theme park’s ghost train.

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Scott Morrison recites from God Save the Queen after death of Prince Philip

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Australian prime minister says he hopes Queen Elizabeth will ‘find great comfort in your faith and your family’

The Australian prime minister and governor general have paid tribute to Prince Philip, who has died aged 99, saying he was “no stranger to Australia” having visited the country more than 20 times.

Scott Morrison said Australians sent their love and deepest condolences to Queen Elizabeth and the royal family. He stated Philip “embodied a generation that we will never see again”.

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NSW food delivery taskforce ignored riders’ safety concerns, advocates say

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Taskforce initiated after five riders died on the job recommends ‘refining the App’ and offering free mobile phone holders

A taskforce set up to improve safety after five delivery riders died on the job in the space of two months has suggested only minor changes to the industry, according to a draft of its report to be released next week.

The action plan has been criticised for “caving to the demands” of delivery companies by not setting any enforceable actions, and not mentioning the impact of time pressure, wages and working conditions.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Scott Morrison announces 20m more Pfizer vaccine doses after problems with AstraZeneca-led rollout

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Vaccine rollout faces delays as authorities scramble to secure alternatives to AstraZeneca such as Pfizer for under-50s over blood clot fears. Follow updates live

Labor MP Josh Burns has criticised the government for failing to deliver vaccines to aged care staff and residents, noting the issue is unrelated to fresh concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine causing blood clotting in those under 50.

Burns’ comments follow reports in the Guardian this morning that the federal government is expected to miss a self-imposed target on delivering “pop-up” hubs to vaccinate critical aged care staff and has given no details on the proposal to workers, despite multiple requests for information and meetings from the nursing union.

We’ve not had any federal aged care providers in Macnamara receive their vaccinations or have any indication on what day they are going to be having them, not to mention the staff that are still vulnerable and haven’t been vaccinated.

The frustration that Australians rightly have is that the promises that have been made have not been made by the Labor Party, they’ve been made by Greg Hunt, they’ve been made by Scott Morrison, they’ve been telling Australians that they’ve got it under control, that all is well, they are going to be vaccinating Australians and they haven’t been.

Related: Australia’s aged care nurses still in the dark about promised ‘pop-up’ vaccination hubs

Women need more information about contraceptive options, experts said, after concerns over rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca Covid jab prompted a debate over side-effects caused by certain forms of the pill.

On Wednesday the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that evidence that the jab could be causing a rare blood clotting syndrome was growing stronger. As a result the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that healthy people under the age of 30 who were at low risk of Covid should be offered a different vaccine if possible.

Related: Contraception blood-clot risk: ‘public need better access to advice’

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Tens of thousands of Australians left in the lurch as AstraZeneca Covid vaccine advice changes

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Doctors say their phones have been ‘running hot’ and some states bar anyone under 50 getting the AstraZeneca jab

States and territories have been left scrambling to respond to government advice recommending against vaccinating anyone under 50 with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, leaving tens of thousands of people in the lurch.

On Friday, New South Wales halted its AstraZeneca rollout entirely for several hours while patient consent forms with the latest information about the rare risk of severe clotting associated with the vaccine were added. The state’s rollout for people aged 50 and over has since resumed.

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The 474 deaths inside: tragic toll of Indigenous deaths in custody revealed

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Guardian Australia database tallies the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who have died in police and prison custody since 1991

At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police and prison custody since the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody handed down its final report in 1991, new research has revealed.

Guardian Australia has spent the past three years tracking Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths in custody for the Deaths Inside project.

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UK ministers silent on AstraZeneca vaccine shipment to Australia

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Downing Street will not confirm or deny report that more than 700,000 Covid jabs were sent after EU blocked export

British ministers and officials did not deny that more than 700,000 shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine were secretly dispatched from the UK to Australia a few weeks ago as the EU blocked the drug’s export.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 717,000 AstraZeneca doses were dispatched in late February and March from the company’s British operations – also during a period when the EU was demanding the vaccine from the UK.

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Australian Covid vaccine rollout in disarray as AstraZeneca doses given blood clot warning for under-50s

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Australian government yields to expert advice that Pfizer should now be the preferred coronavirus vaccine for adults under the age of 50

Australia’s vaccine rollout has suffered a major shock, with an advisory slapped on the AstraZeneca vaccine warning people under 50 it may cause extremely rare but potentially deadly blood clots.

On Thursday evening, the Australian government announced it had accepted expert advice that Pfizer should now be the preferred vaccine for under 50s, who will be warned AstraZeneca should only be taken if it is clear the benefits outweigh the risks.

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Scale of onboard fire revealed as damaged Antarctic ship MPV Everest tries to avoid rough weather

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Captain heads for Fremantle at reduced speed after blaze engulfs supply ship’s port engine room and destroys two inflatable boats onboard

Dramatic images have revealed the scale of a fire that erupted on the Antarctic supply ship MPV Everest on Monday while the ship was days away from returning to Australia.

No one was injured but the captain changed course for the closest Australian port at Fremantle, Western Australia, after the fire engulfed the port engine room and destroyed two inflatable rubber boats stored on the deck.

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‘We will respond in kind’: China’s ambassador warns Australia not to join Xinjiang sanctions

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Cheng Jingye hosted a media event at his residence in Canberra that included a two-hour video conference with officials in Xinjiang

China’s ambassador to Australia has warned that Beijing would respond “in kind” if Canberra followed other countries in imposing sanctions against its officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

The ambassador, Cheng Jingye, said people should not be under the illusion “that China would swallow the bitter pill” of meddling in its internal affairs, nor attempts to mount a “pressure” campaign.

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