Category Archives: Australia news

Labor attacks Josh Frydenberg for failing to meet banking royal commission deadline

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Labor claims that although six of the recommendations have been implemented, the government has fallen behind their set timeframe

Labor has attacked treasurer Josh Frydenberg for falling behind on the government’s promised timetable for turning the recommendations of the banking royal commission into law.

On Friday, to coincide with the first anniversary of royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s final report, Frydenberg said the government was “on track to meet the accelerated timetable” to implement royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s 76 recommendations.

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Jacqui Lambie says people scared and confused by Coalition’s cashless welfare card plan

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Senator says after visiting remote Indigenous communities that many there feel they have not been properly consulted over new card

Independent senator Jacquie Lambie says “the government has a problem” with the rollout of its controversial cashless debit card, after her fact-finding visit to the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Lambie visited several remote Aboriginal communities to “get a view from the ground on how the card is functioning, before voting on the government’s proposed changes for its future”, she said. Most of the people she spoke to “didn’t know any change was being proposed at all”.

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Wuhan coronavirus grown by scientists in Melbourne – video

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Scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne have grown the novel coronavirus from a patient sample, which they plan to share internationally under advice from the World Health Organization to provide data to fight the virus.

The virus has also been grown in cell culture in China, but the breakthrough in Melbourne will allow accurate investigation and diagnosis of the virus globally. The project comes from a collaboration between the Royal Melbourne hospital and the University of Melbourne

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‘New underclass’: Labor warns on Australia’s reliance on short-term migration

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Large numbers of easily exploited temporary migrants could have a ‘corrosive’ effect, says Kristina Keneally

Australia’s reliance on temporary migration is creating a new economic underclass that risks having a “corrosive” effect on the nation’s society, Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, says.

In a major speech to the Curtin institute on Thursday night, Keneally will step up Labor’s attack on the government for its reliance on temporary migration, saying current trends could see as many as 3 million people – or 12% of the population – living in Australia on a temporary basis.

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Canberra fires live updates: capital of Australia faces renewed bushfire threat – latest news

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Huge fires to the south smother city with smoke amid weather forecast for heatwave and searing temperatures as Scott Morrison prepares to address National Press Club today. Follow live news and latest updates

From Tuesday night. A lot of ACT residents are comparing this fire to the devastating 2003 blaze.

Just a reminder of where we’re at. On Monday, a defence helicopter landed in the Namadgi national park, south of Canberra, and accidentally sparked what authorities have called the city’s “most serious” bushfire threat since the city’s devastating 2003 fires.

Tuesday saw dramatic images of the fire approaching Canberra’s southern suburbs, but conditions eased throughout the evening and the fire was downgraded from emergency level to watch and act just before midnight.

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Josephine Cashman sacked from Indigenous advisory body after letter published by Andrew Bolt

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Indigenous affairs minister says Cashman’s membership of advisory group on voice to parliament is untenable after letter is used to discredit Bruce Pascoe

The Aboriginal businesswoman Josephine Cashman has been sacked from her government advisory role, after allegations that she provided a faked letter from a senior Aboriginal leader as part of a campaign to discredit the author Bruce Pascoe.

In a brief statement the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Ken Wyatt, said Cashman’s actions were “not conducive to the constructive and collaborative approach” needed on the advisory council on an Indigenous voice to parliament.

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Jacinda Ardern lets phone call from Scott Morrison go to voicemail – video

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The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, lets a phone call from her Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, go to voicemail during a press conference. Ardern was speaking about the idea of cooperating with Australia on an evacuation of citizens from Australia and New Zealand from coronavirus-hit Wuhan, China

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Coronavirus: China premier Li Keqiang visits Wuhan as death toll hits 81 – live updates

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World Health Organization chief travels to Beijing as more than 2,700 cases reported in China. Follow the latest news about the outbreak.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $10m (£7.6m) to tackling the virus.

The money will be split between China and countries in Africa.

One supermarket shopper was unfazed by the visit to Wuhan of China’s prime minister Li Keqiang, Keith Zhai from Reuters reports.

While Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivering his speech in a Wuhan super market, this auntie in front can’t stop getting her groceries done. “Nothing can stop me from buying veggies” #coronarvirus video from internet pic.twitter.com/A7CePMfis0

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Federal government withholds water funding from NSW in Murray-Darling standoff

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Minister disappointed that New South Wales did not submit Murray-Darling basin resource plans

The federal government is withholding millions of dollars from the New South Wales government for failing to complete water resource plans for the Murray-Darling basin.

In a letter to the state’s water minister, Melinda Pavey, the federal water resources minister, David Littleproud, raised concerns the 20 plans had not been submitted.

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Sydney light rail temporarily suspended after car collides with a tram

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Police allege the motorist failed to stop at a red light before hitting the tram

One of Sydney’s new trams derailed on Sunday after being struck by a motorist who police allege drove through a red light.

The collision between the tram and a car temporarily shut down a busy Sydney street on Australia Day. South Dowling Street at Surry Hills was closed in both directions for about 90 minutes following Sunday’s accident, which occurred just before 5pm.

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Coronavirus outbreak: China promises tougher crackdown to stop spread – as it happened

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Officials announce new measures to contain disease, including wildlife trade ban and bus suspensions, as confirmed death toll reaches 56

Jonathan Ashworth, the UK’s shadow health secretary, urged the government to reassure the public it is sufficiently prepared as the NHS is already struggling in the flu season.

He told the Guardian:

The NHS is currently under immense strain this winter with staff already working flat out and hospitals overcrowded. We need urgent reassurance from ministers they have a plan to ensure we have capacity in place to deal with Coronavirus should we need to,

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Coronavirus: Australia considers evacuating citizens caught in China amid lockdown

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Chief medical officer says Australia is ‘incredibly well prepared to isolate and deal with’ any more cases

Australia’s chief medical officer has warned there will likely be more cases of the deadly coronavirus confirmed in the country, as the federal government explores plans to evacuate Australian citizens from the pandemic’s epicentre in central China.

Prof Brendan Murphy, Australia’s chief medical officer, said more cases of 2019-nCoV were likely, following the confirmation of four cases.

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Coronavirus: Xi Jinping warns of ‘grave situation’ as spread accelerates through China – live

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More than 1,280 infected in China as officials try to stem spread of virus which has reached Europe, the US and Australia. Follow the latest news

In China, 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have now raised their public health alert to level 1, the highest level, according to Global Times. This enables measures such as quarantining.

Sichuan province has announced a ban on group gatherings. Individuals are not allowed to organise gatherings and restaurants are being prevented from hosting them. Anyone who had prior reservations has been told to cancel.

Chinese tourism continues to be affected by the spread of the virus.

All domestic and foreign tour group operations are to be suspended from Monday. The move follows the closure of Shanghai’s Disneyland, and all tourist sites in the popular Sanya city.

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Ken Wyatt says Australia Day should stay on 26 January

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Minister says that instead of rallying to move the date, Australians should engage in a new generation of ‘truth telling’

The federal government frontbencher Ken Wyatt says Australia Day should remain on 26 January but commemorations around the country should mark both the “good and the bad” of the nation’s history.

Wyatt, the first Indigenous man to be minister for Indigenous Australians, told Nine newspapers “dark beginnings” must be recognised in communities across the country.

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Bushfires, ash rain, dust storms and flash floods: two weeks in apocalyptic Australia

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As the country lurches painfully from one extreme weather to another, residents are fearful of what they will face next

In Australia this summer, talking about the weather inevitably leads to talking about the apocalypse.

“When’s the plague of locusts going to arrive?” jokes one Sydney resident after hearing reports that her city is to receive another storm of giant hailstones on Friday afternoon, just a day after it sweltered in temperatures of 40C and toxic smoke kept people stuck indoors, away from the respite of the beach.

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Australia fires live: homes feared lost in NSW bushfires as six firefighters reported injured – latest updates

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Six volunteer firefighters reportedly taken to hospital with ‘serious injuries’ in truck rollover, names of three US firefighters killed in C-130 crash released, and Sydney covered in thick smoke haze. Follow the latest news and live updates

Thank you to the 41 firefighters from across the US who have arrived today to assist in managing Victoria’s ongoing and significant fire threat. Following briefing and training sessions, they will join local crews fighting fires in East Gippsland. pic.twitter.com/GZgT0zFe5C

Agriculture Victoria’s count of the number of animals killed in the Victorian fires has reached 6,422, the Weekly Times reports. Most of the losses were in the north-east, mainly in the upper Murray, where 5,440 animals – including 3,292 beef cattle and 1,735 sheep – were killed.

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Fire raining on beaches, red skies and a billion animals killed: the new Australian summer | Brigid Delaney

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Climate change has stopped being something to argue about. When you breathe in the ash and feel the pain in your heart, you can no longer deny it

Sometimes you can see the end of the old world and the beginning of the new one as clearly as a seam. Transformations that were once barely perceptible, recognisable only after the fact, this summer have become akin to a crossing. You can see the line as you step over it.

It’s the first summer of this new decade. Welcome. It’s the summer of ash washed up on the beaches, like a long, deranged message unfurled from its bottle. It’s the summer of a billion animals killed by flames and starvation, it’s collapsed biospheres, charred forests, epic dust storms, hailstones and racing clouds carrying fire.

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Australia fires live: Canberra airport closed, reports of air tanker crash in NSW bushfires – latest updates

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ACT residents near bushfire south of Canberra told to seek shelter as contact lost with large water-bombing plane fighting New South Wales bushfire. Follow latest news and live updates

There’s a steady stream of people arriving at the Moruya Showgrounds, which has been re-opened as an evacuation centre. For a lot of people, it’s becoming a home away from home.

One woman from Congo, just south of here, told me it was her third time here since New Years Eve.

The sky is looking ominous outside the Moruya showground where our reporter on the ground, Michael McGowan, captured this image.

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Christian Porter defends Bridget McKenzie over $36,000 grant to sport club she belongs to

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Attorney general claims being a ‘paper member’ of the shooting club raises no issue for the minister

Christian Porter has defended Bridget McKenzie after the revelation she approved a $36,000 grant to a shooting club of which she is a member, claiming being a “paper member” of a club raises no probity issue.

The attorney general made the comment to 6PR Radio on Wednesday, continuing the government’s defence of the Nationals deputy leader and former sport minister after a scathing auditor general’s report found she had skewed the $100m sports grant program towards marginal seats.

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Former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull says Trump is the world’s ‘leading climate denier’

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Turnbull says US president is ‘actively working against global action to reduce emissions’

Donald Trump is the world’s “leading climate denier”, the former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said.

Turnbull, who lost the prime ministership in August 2018 in part because of his own party’s opposition to his plans to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, made the comments to BBC Newsnight on Tuesday (Wednesday morning, Australian time).

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