Category Archives: Australia news

Scores of bushfires burn out of control in NSW and Queensland as temperatures soar

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Hot and windy weather has created volatile conditions along parts of Australia’s east coast

Parts of Australia faced an unprecedented bushfire threat on Friday evening as more than 100 blazes burned across coastal New South Wales and Queensland.

Communities on NSW’s mid-north coast and the far north coast were battling the worst of the conditions, which were described by authorities as “uncharted territory” and that led to a dramatic, orange-red glow descending on the fire-threatened city of Port Macquarie.

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Claims of exploitation of Aboriginal artists ‘intentionally fabricated’, art dealer says

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John Ioannou confirms visit from NT police and denies allegations made against him by the APY artists collective

A private art dealer in Alice Springs has said allegations that he had taken elderly Indigenous artists from their communities to paint for him and that one was being forced to paint away a $20,000 debt for her son were being “intentionally fabricated”.

The dealer, John Ioannou, contacted Guardian Australia through a friend to provide his defence to allegations made against him by the APY artist collective in a letter to the federal ministers for Indigenous Australians and the arts, and the South Australian premier.

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Labor’s election review reads like a disaster movie – with a few clues for the stunned survivors | Katharine Murphy

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There is no definitive roadmap from the reviewers, but a couple of dangerous ideas are floated

The forward sizzle about the release of Labor’s campaign review was focused on the obvious conflict point – how Bill Shorten would absorb the post-mortem. Would the review be scathing about the former leader’s lack of popularity, attributing the lion’s share of the blame for the election loss to him? Would Shorten then strike back, setting the framework for a contested term, and another election loss?

The reviewers met with Shorten privately early on Thursday, before the review went to the national executive, so the former leader was briefed ahead of the public unveiling. Shorten then responded publicly to the review before it was released, framing it on his own terms, and his own terms were clear as a bell. In the world of second chances, “were the universe to grant re-runs” the former leader would do things differently and, by the way, he’d be around for the next 20 years.

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Ken Wyatt promises greater penalties for art dealers exploiting elderly Aboriginal artists

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Minister says he does not believe Indigenous artists are choosing to seek better economic opportunities in working for private dealers

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, says he intends to take stronger sanctions against private art dealers or “carpetbaggers” who are exploiting vulnerable and elderly Aboriginal artists in central Australia.

Speaking on ABC radio in Alice Springs on Wednesday, Wyatt said he thought the current system, under which dealers voluntarily join the Indigenous Art Code (IAC), was not working.

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Bodies found in north Queensland in search for missing Townsville couple

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The woman, 32, and man, 24, were reported missing after failing to turn up to their jobs on Monday

Two bodies, believed to be a missing couple, have been found in far north Queensland.

A woman, 32, and a man, 24, both from Townsville, were reported missing in the Cairns area on Monday after failing to turn up to their respective jobs.

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Asean summit: US condemns Chinese ‘intimidation’ in the South China Sea

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National security adviser Robert O’Brien says Beijing has bullied smaller nations by militarising resource-rich waters

The US has condemned Chinese “intimidation” in the South China Sea, alleging it has bullied smaller south-east Asian nations by militarising the resource-rich waters and seeking to control the global trade route.

Speaking at an Asean-US summit in Bangkok, the US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said China’s sweeping exclusive claims in the South China Sea – already rejected by the court of arbitration – were illegitimate and a form of realist imperialism.

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CCTV footage key to inquest of Bernard Gore who died trapped in Westfield stairwell

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Tasmanian man’s body was found in a fire stairwell at Bondi Junction shopping centre three weeks after he disappeared

As Bernard Gore’s wife of 50 years waited to meet him in a Sydney shopping centre, she had no idea her husband was trapped nearby in a fire stairwell where he would later die.

Angela Gore, surrounded by her children, cried silently as an inquest heard how her husband’s body was found kneeling forward – as if he’d fallen off a nearby chair – in the stairwell at Westfield Bondi Junction in early 2017.

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Labor calls for immediate aged care funding boost following scathing report

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Health minister Greg Hunt promises ‘significant package’ for aged care but won’t commit to figure

Labor has launched a new campaign targeting the government over aged care funding, as the health minister, Greg Hunt, commits to delivering a “significant package” for the sector before Christmas.

Setting a deadline of 11 November when parliament returns, opposition leader Anthony Albanese said the “aged care, action now” campaign would gather signatures from across the country calling for immediate funding to address a crisis in the sector.

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Five-year-old boy facing deportation from Australia because of mild disability

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Family appeals to immigration minister David Coleman to stop their deportation to Bangladesh

A five-year-old boy born in Australia is facing deportation to Bangladesh with his family after their visa applications were refused because his “mild disability” would be a burden on the medical system.

Dr Mahedi Hasan Bhuiyan arrived in Australia on a student visa in 2011. He and Rebaka Sultana married the next year in Bangladesh and she joined him in Australia in 2013. Later that year their son, Adyan, was born at a Geelong hospital.

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NSW police shoot man dead after he allegedly threatened officers with an axe

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Police forced their way into Erina home after seeing flames coming from side of the house

New South Wales police officers have shot dead a man they say was wielding an axe and threatening them during a house fire north of Sydney.

The officers had forced their way through the front door of a home at The Entrance Road in Erina about 10.20pm after noticing flames coming from the side of the house.

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Antarctic marine park: conservationists frustrated after protection bid fails for eighth time

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Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources unable to agree on plan backed by Australia, France and EU

Conservationists have expressed frustration that an international commission for protecting marine life in Antarctica has failed for the eighth consecutive time to create a marine park across 1 million sq km on the continent’s east.

Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) could not agree on the proposal, backed by Australia, France and the EU, that would have protected habitat for penguins, seals, whales and seabirds.

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Australians are yelling in grief and frustration – but will Scott Morrison act?

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The deficiencies in the mental health and aged care systems are distressing realities that need to be confronted

The facts on suicide in Australia, the Productivity Commission informs us, are stark. Every year, 3,000 people end their own lives, more than eight people every day. It is the leading cause of death for young adults, and suicide rates in Indigenous communities are more than double the rest of the community. This picture has been static for a decade.

Some people with mental illness are plagued with suicidal ideations, and for some that ends in tragedy, but as Scott Morrison’s suicide prevention adviser, Christine Morgan, told me earlier this year, a substantial proportion of people who take their lives in Australia never present to clinicians with depression or another illness.

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To the moon and back with the eastern curlew

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Ultra-endurance athlete, aerodynamic wonder … and facing extinction. Why the bird who flies 30,000km a year needs Australia’s mudflats

• Vote for your favourite in the 2019 bird of the year poll

The ascent is vertical. Up, up and into the jet stream. If the conditions are not right up there it will come back down and wait. But if there is a good tailwind in the right direction it will begin an epic journey that will take it around the curvature of the Earth; from the Arctic Circle to the southern hemisphere.

Using the sun and stars as a compass, and navigating by the Earth’s magnetic field, recognising landmarks, the far eastern curlew will fly nonstop to the Yellow Sea, where it fuels up on the mudflats of north-east China.

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Australian aluminium smelters ‘not sustainable’ due to high power costs, Rio Tinto says

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Warning comes a week after company flagged it may close its New Zealand smelter

Mining giant Rio Tinto says its Australian Aluminium smelters, which employ more than 2,600 workers, are not sustainable at current power prices.

The company runs three smelters in Australia, which are under financial pressure due to the high price of electricity, which makes up about a third of their costs, and the low price of aluminium due to a flood of cheap supply coming from Asian competitors.

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Qantas 737 cracks: airline pulls three Boeing planes from service

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Aircraft grounded after hairline cracks found between wing and fuselage

Qantas has pulled three of its Boeing 737 planes from service after finding hairline cracks but have said they will not ground all 737s they fly.

Three planes have now been affected by cracks in the “pickle fork” structure between the wing and the fuselage. On Thursday, the aircraft engineers union said the airline should ground the entire 737 fleet.

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Police officers abused Afghan women in Sydney traffic stop, watchdog finds

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Video footage shows 24-year-old woman and her stepmother being pulled over and belittled by two officers

Two New South Wales police officers have been found to have engaged in serious misconduct after they racially abused and belittled two Afghan women at a traffic stop in western Sydney.

On Thursday the Law Enforcement and Conduct Commission released a series of investigations into police conduct in the state, including video footage of a 24-year-old woman and her stepmother being pulled over by police in April.

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Hang-glider killed and another critical after crash near Byron Bay

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Passenger – reported to be Irish tourist, 26 – winched off cliff at Lennox Head by helicopter

One man is dead and another, believed to be an Irish tourist, is in a critical condition after a hang-gliding accident on the New South Wales north coast.

Emergency services were called to the Pat Morton lookout at Lennox Head near Byron Bay about midday on Wednesday after reports of a crash.

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Beautiful one day, pitiful the next: is ‘philausophy’ a new low for Australian tourism ads?

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As the concept of philausophy is unleashed on an unsuspecting world, please share your views on the good, the bad and the frankly odd campaigns in Australian tourism history

The word “philausophy” did not exist until Wednesday and, depending on its reception, may not exist for much longer.

The latest international campaign from Tourism Australia has landed, with its awkward, crow-barred pun already dividing audiences in the same way that it inelegantly divides the word “philosophy” itself.

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Hundreds of koalas feared burned alive in out-of-control bushfire near Port Macquarie

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Blaze around Lake Innes and Lake Cathie in northern NSW has destroyed more than 2,000 hectares and spread smoke haze to Sydney

Hundreds of koalas are feared to have died in an out-of-control bushfire in northern New South Wales which has raged unchecked for days in the heartland of their prime habitat.

The blaze, reportedly caused by a lightning strike near Port Macquarie, has burned more than 2,000 hectares, including an important koala breeding ground.

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Anthony Albanese can’t afford to lie low – and he faces a gruelling uphill journey | Katharine Murphy

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The Labor leader wants blue-collar workers to know he knows they exist, isn’t ashamed of them and has them front of mind

Anthony Albanese would be better off if he could wave a cheery goodbye and retreat from the political fray until budget time next year, re-emerging after Labor as a collective has finished absorbing the May election loss, written all the books and all the blogs and the think pieces, completed the close inspection of the navel, and worked out where it wants to reposition itself.

But Albanese doesn’t have that luxury.

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