Category Archives: Australia news

Former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull says leaders must stand up to bullies after being lashed by Donald Trump

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US president’s late-night social media post came after Turnbull criticised Trump’s leadership as ‘chaotic’

Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said leaders should “not give in to bullies” after he was lashed by Donald Trump in a late-night social media post.

Taking to Truth Social platform just before midnight Sunday night in Washington DC, the US president said Turnbull led Australia from “behind” and did not understand China.

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Russia warns Australia deploying peacekeeping troops to Ukraine would lead to ‘grave consequences’

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Russian embassy in Australia says western boots on the ground is ‘unacceptable’ and statement is not a threat but a ‘warning’

Russia has warned the Australian government that deploying troops to Ukraine as part of an international peace keeping operation would lead to “grave consequences”.

The Australian government is considering a proposal to send peacekeepers to the war-torn region as part of a “coalition of the willing” designed by European leaders. The troops would enforce any peace deal struck between the two nations.

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Sydney caravan a ‘fake terrorism plot’ by criminals hoping to cause fear for personal benefit, police allege

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‘The caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals domestically and from offshore,’ AFP deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett says

Federal police say a caravan with explosives found in Sydney earlier this year was “never going to cause a mass casualty event” and was a “fake terrorism plot”.

The Australian federal police deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said on Monday investigators now believed the caravan incident was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit.

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Peter Dutton defends attending Hemmes fundraiser as Cyclone Alfred approached Queensland

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Opposition leader says critics seeking ‘political advantage’ after Murray Watt says Dutton ‘sold out his constituents’ by attending Sydney soiree

Peter Dutton has defended his decision to attend a lavish fundraiser in Sydney as then Tropical Cyclone Alfred approached Queensland last week, claiming those criticising his decision were seeking “political advantage”.

The opposition leader’s Monday morning interview on Sky News came after Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt claimed Dutton had “sold out his constituents” by not staying in his Dickson electorate.

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Almost 230,000 properties without power as ex-tropical cyclone brings more dangerous rain

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South-east Queensland and northern NSW face further heavy downpours

More than 230,000 households and businesses are without power and flash flooding alerts have been issued for coastal areas in the aftermath of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

The warnings follow heavy rain across southeast Queensland overnight and are clustered around the Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan and Ipswich council areas.

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Labor was warned its perceived ‘one-sided’ Israel support over Gaza raised social cohesion concerns

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Exclusive: Department told minister in November 2023 Palestinian and Muslim communities were ‘extremely angry, hurt and betrayed’

The home affairs department warned the government as early as November 2023 that its perceived one-sidedness in support of Israel during the Gaza conflict left Palestinian and Muslim Australians feeling “extremely angry” and “betrayed” , as well as concern about social cohesion, documents reveal.

A November 2023 briefing document to the then immigration minister, Andrew Giles, was obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws. It discussed “social cohesion measures”, including a $25m package announced in October 2023 to strengthen resilience and improve support to Australian Palestinian, Muslim and other communities in Australia after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war waged by Israel in Gaza. A total of $52.8m had been approved for social cohesion measures relating to the conflict, according to the document.

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Twelve soldiers remain in Lismore hospital after army trucks rolled in northern NSW

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Two personnel in serious condition after accident near city lashed by torrential rain brought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland.

Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, part of the 7th Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in northern Brisbane – just after 5pm on Tregeagle Road, 9km south-west of Lismore.

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NT police commissioner ousted amid jobs-for-mates scandal

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Michael Murphy outed himself as subject of Icac investigation that found he had mismanaged a conflict of interest

The Northern Territory’s police commissioner has been given his marching orders after a jobs-for-mates scandal uncovered by a corruption watchdog.

Michael Murphy outed himself as the subject of an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation that found improper and unsatisfactory conduct against an unnamed public official who had mismanaged a conflict of interest in the recruitment of a senior officer.

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Trump pick for Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia would be ‘crazy’ if Taiwan tensions flare

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Nominee for undersecretary for defense policy says Aukus deal to deliver Virginia class submarines could leave US sailors ‘vulnerable’

One of Donald Trump’s top picks for the Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia under the Aukus agreement poses a “very difficult problem” for the US and could endanger its own sailors.

Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy – the number three post at the US Department of Defense – has previously admitted he is “skeptical” about Aukus and said this week he is worried selling submarines to Australia could leave US sailors “vulnerable” because the vessels won’t be “in the right place in the right time”.

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Australia’s smaller airports rife with vulnerabilities, former Qantas security head says, after alleged gunman boarded Jetstar flight

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Much of the security is on the passenger side of the terminal, Geoff Askew says, not on the tarmac

Australia’s smaller and regional airports are rife with security vulnerabilities, industry insiders have warned, after the dramatic citizen’s arrest of a teenager who allegedly boarded a Jetstar flight with a shotgun and ammunition.

Police charged a 17-year-old Victorian boy with a range of offences, including unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, orchestrating a bomb hoax and possessing a firearm.

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Western Australia election: Liberals fail to attract swing required as Labor secures third-term victory

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WA Labor will hold a third term in office, with the early vote count showing the Liberals failing to gain traction with any significant swing

• Western Australia has one story about the gas industry. It won’t accept dissent from ‘over east’

Labor will govern for a third term in Western Australia, with the Liberal Party failing to attract the swing required to threaten Roger Cook’s majority.

Polls predicted a 12-13% swing could put up to 11 seats in reach of the Liberal party.

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Six seriously injured in ADF trucks that crashed near Lismore in northern NSW

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One truck rolled several times into a paddock and another tipped onto its side, attempting to avoid the first vehicle, at around 5pm on Saturday

Thirty-two people were involved in an incident in which two Australian defence force vehicles rolled off the road at Lismore on Saturday that has left 13 injured, some seriously.

Emergency services were called to the scene in northern New South Wales shortly after 5pm with initial reports that 22 people had been injured. NSW police said on Sunday that 13 personnel were injured. Six are in a serious condition.

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Gold Coast residents told to ‘take shelter now’ as NSW authorities search for man missing in Cyclone Alfred flood waters

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Almost 100,000 homes in Queensland and NSW were without power on Friday evening as cyclone crawled towards the coast

Millions of people are sheltering from Tropical Cyclone Alfred as it crashes into the coast of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales bringing destructive winds and heavy rain.

The slow-moving weather system was finally expected to make landfall after speeding up overnight on Friday and into Saturday morning as it moved towards Brisbane.

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Mark Butler calls Australia’s private hospitals and insurers to urgent meeting amid Healthscope financial crisis

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Health minister convenes meeting after reports second-largest private hospital operator risks voluntary administration

The health minister, Mark Butler, has convened an urgent meeting with the chief executives of Australia’s private hospitals and health insurers amid warnings the second-largest private hospital operator, Healthscope, is facing a financial crisis.

The Australian Financial Review reported this week that Healthscope had retained insolvency experts KordaMentha to prepare a contingency plan in case it is placed into voluntary administration.

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Struggling live music sector needs watchdog to crack down on anti-competitive practices, inquiry says

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Report urges changes to Australia’s consumer law to stamp out extreme dynamic pricing and improve transparency of fees and charges

A parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s struggling live music sector has recommended the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission monitor the industry for anti-competitive conduct and urged a crackdown on “extreme dynamic pricing”.

The final report, Am I Ever Gonna See You Live Again, concluded consumer law should be amended to improve transparency in fee and charging practices for concert tickets, and stamp out “conduct that distorts, manipulates or undermines consumer choice, without necessarily being misleading or deceptive, such as practices that create an undue sense of urgency or scarcity”.

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Tropical Cyclone Alfred live updates: wind and rain intensify as category 2 storm nears south-east Queensland and northern NSW

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BoM path track map predicts TC Alfred will cross coast on Saturday near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today

Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as cyclone bears down

We have a news story this morning about the impact the cyclone is already having on life in Queensland.

Fallen trees and giant stands of bamboo blocked the single road to our farm until the army and council brought heavy machinery to clear a path some time after.

We were without running water or power for days, maybe weeks, the packing shed a makeshift kitchen where we ate meals cooked off a gas barbecue and drank instant coffee made with rainwater and UHT milk to the hum of a generator.

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Teenager charged after allegedly boarding Jetstar flight with ‘large gun’ at Avalon airport

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Police charged 17-year-old with unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, orchestrating a bomb hoax and possessing a firearm

A teenager who allegedly tried to force his way on to a commercial flight at a Victorian airport before being dramatically overpowered by passengers was due to face court on Friday charged with a string of offences.

Police were called to Avalon airport near Geelong, in Victoria, on Thursday afternoon after reports a male wielding a firearm had attempted to board the Jetstar flight.

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‘You just hope for the best’: rarely seen froglets – the length of a grain of rice – released into small patch of Victorian wilds

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Exclusive: More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs set free in a high-altitude forest to bolster dwindling population

More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs have been released in Victoria’s east as part of a record-breaking conservation breeding program.

Zoos Victoria’s reintroduction of 3,000 tiny froglets and 40 adult frogs into the high-altitude forests of the Baw Baw plateau, about 120km east of Melbourne, was the largest in its breeding program for the species.

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Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as Tropical Cyclone Alfred bears down on Queensland

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Disability employment provider Help asked jobseekers to perform telephone appointments before later clarifying they were voluntary

Private employment agencies across Queensland have given jobseekers the impression they still need to perform their mutual obligations, despite there being a pause across large swaths of the state while it prepares for Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

The mutual obligations scheme forces jobseekers to complete tasks such as applying for jobs or attending training, or risk their payments being stopped.

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Surface tension: could the promised Aukus nuclear submarines simply never be handed over to Australia?

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The multi-billion dollar deal was heralded as ensuring the security of the Indo-Pacific. But with America an increasingly unreliable ally, doubts are rising above the waves

Maybe Australia’s boats just never turn up.

To fanfare and flags, the Aukus deal was presented as a sure bet, papering over an uncertainty that such an ambitious deal could ever be delivered.

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