Category Archives: Australia news

African swine fever: the deadly virus that has landed on Australia’s doorstep

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The deadly virus wreaking havoc in Asia has been detected in Timor-Leste, just 680km north of Darwin

One month ago a particularly virulent strain of African swine fever – which has been wreaking havoc in Asia since it was detected in China last year and could potentially kill up to 25% of the world’s pig population – landed on Australia’s doorstep.

The disease was detected just 680km north of Darwin, in Timor-Leste. Australian biosecurity agencies which had been screening major airports and mail distributors for illegally imported pork products redoubled their efforts.

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Peter Dutton: China accuses home affairs minister of ‘shocking’ and ‘malicious’ slur

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Minister says Australia’s issue is with the Communist Party of China, not the Chinese-Australian community

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has launched a wide-ranging attack on the Chinese Communist party, accusing it of engineering a series of cyber-attacks on Australian targets, stealing intellectual property and muzzling free speech.

The comments prompted a sharp rebuke from the Chinese government overnight, with China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, telling reporters during a press conference that he hoped “Australia will reject the cold war mentality and bias, and work to advance bilateral relations and mutual trust”.

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More than 50 homes destroyed by NSW bushfires as rain offers hope of respite

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About 40 fires have been burning across NSW, destroying homes and killing an elderly couple

At least 52 homes have been destroyed in bushfires which swept across northern New South Wales, killing an elderly couple and leaving locals devastated.

There was much-needed rainfall overnight, with about 16mm falling in some fire-affected areas, but the wet conditions mean the use of heavy machinery by crews has had to be suspended for the day.

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Murdoch University sues whistleblower after comments on international students

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University also demands names of journalists who spoke to Gerd Schröder-Turk, after comments on Four Corners

Murdoch University is suing an academic whistleblower and demanding the names of journalists he spoke to and the dates of their interactions, court records show.

One of Australia’s leading integrity experts, AJ Brown, says the university’s actions highlight the “huge imbalance” in power between whistleblowers and large employers and shows protections for those who speak out “remain something of a mess”.

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Coalition refuses to say how much Scott Cam is being paid as ‘national careers ambassador’

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Labor criticises government for hiring The Block star, claiming it’s cut $3bn from vocational education since coming to office

Labor has blasted Michaelia Cash for refusing to say how much taxpayers are paying The Block star Scott Cam to promote vocational education in his new role as “national careers ambassador”.

At a press conference on Thursday the skills and employment minister said Cam’s pay for the 15-month role was “commercial in confidence” but suggested spending was “about outcomes” and reflected the fact the government had secured “one of the highest profile people in Australia”.

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Bushfire that razed homes in NSW town Rappville may have been deliberately lit

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Rappville blaze, which destroyed at least 10 homes, described as a ‘bastard act’

Police will investigate a suspicious blaze that destroyed at least 10 homes in a rural hamlet in northern New South Wales.

Authorities believe the fire that ripped through the Rappville this week may have been deliberately lit, in what the NSW emergency services minister, David Elliott, has described as a truly “bastard act”.

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Asylum seekers approved for medevac transfers detained in Port Moresby

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More than 50 men, including Benham Satah, who witnessed murder of Reza Barati, have been held for two months

Asylum seekers who have been approved for medevac transfers to Australia are among 52 men who have been locked up in Port Moresby detention without access to phones or lawyers for the past two months.

Among those detained is Benham Satah, the Kurdish Iranian man who witnessed the murder of Reza Barati in 2014, and who was allegedly about to be transferred to Australia for care.

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Australian Christian Lobby backs sacking of employees with no ‘Christian sexual ethic’

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ACL director Martyn Iles says businesses should have greater powers to hire and fire, but denies Christians have a ‘special vendetta’ against LGBT people

The Australian Christian Lobby has backed calls for religious businesses such as aged care providers to gain more powers of hiring and firing employees who do not conform to religious teachings.

In a debate at the National Press Club on Wednesday the ACL director Martyn Iles backed calls from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for greater powers to fire employees who don’t conform to a “Christian sexual ethic” but claimed Christians don’t have a “special vendetta” against the LGBT community.

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‘We good now China?’ South Park creators issue mock apology after ban

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Facetious statement comes after reports that show was banned in China after episode critical of the country

South Park’s creators have responded with a mock apology to reports that China has censored the programme, ridiculing the country and comparing President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.

The “apology” from Trey Parker and Matt Stone comes after reports on Monday that China had scrubbed all episodes, clips and content related to the long-running comedy cartoon from Chinese streaming and social media platforms in response to a recent episode that was critical of the country.

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Brisbane man who lured girl from toy section of Kmart to be sentenced

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Sterling Mervyn Free molested seven-year-old in bushland before dropping her back at North Lakes shopping centre

A 27-year-old father of two daughters faced a sentencing hearing on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl after stalking her in the toy section of Kmart at a shopping centre in Brisbane last year.

Sterling Mervyn Free lured the girl from the Westfield North Lakes shopping centre, molested her in bushland and dropped her back to the centre more than an hour later.

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NSW hidden donations: opposition declares ‘crisis of confidence’ in planning system

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New South Wales Labor calls for more planning reforms after Guardian revelations about undisclosed political donations

The New South Wales opposition has warned of a “crisis of confidence” in the state’s planning system following revelations that 13 corporations hid their donations from the state’s planning authorities.

A Guardian investigation on Monday found some of Australia’s biggest companies – including Woolworths, Caltex, Origin Energy and AMP – had failed to declare sizeable donations to planning authorities while seeking to develop or approve property in the state.

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Australia urged to act quickly to get families out of Syrian refugee camps

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As the US moves to withdraw troops the window to safely move children and women is rapidly closing, families say

Family members of Australians held in detention camps in northern Syria have begged the Australian government to “act urgently” to bring their relatives to safety, as a US withdrawal from the region overtly greenlights a Turkish military offensive.

Kamalle Daboussy, whose daughter Mariam and three grandchildren are in Al-Hawl camp in north-east Syria, told the Guardian “the window is rapidly closing” to bring women and children caught in the camps to safety.

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Australian and British bloggers Jolie King and Mark Firkin released by Iran

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Australia’s foreign affairs minister says all charges against the couple have been dropped

British-Australian woman Jolie King and her Australian boyfriend, Mark Firkin, have been released from detention in Iran, with the couple saying they are “happy and relieved” to be back in Australia.

On Saturday, the Australian foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, told reporters: “It is with some enormous relief that I announce that they have been released and returned.”

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Former Reserve Bank governor says interest rate cuts have ‘done everything they can do’

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Ian Macfarlane says Australia facing the ‘most perplexing and difficult’ era for monetary policy ever

Former Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane has weighed into the debate over interest rates, believing any further cuts will have very little power to do anything useful.

The central bank cut the official cash rate to a record low of just 0.75% this week, the third reduction in a matter of months.

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Reserve Bank warns climate change posing increasing risk to financial stability

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RBA says it is becoming increasingly important for investors and institutions to actively manage carbon risk

Australia’s central bank has delivered a clear warning that climate change is exposing financial institutions and the financial system more broadly to risks that will rise over time if action isn’t taken.

The RBA’s financial stability review, released Friday, concluded that while climate change is not yet a significant threat to financial stability in Australia, it is becoming increasingly important for investors and institutions to actively manage carbon risk.

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Fossilised partial skeleton of new winged dinosaur found in Queensland

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The pterosaur, which had a four-metre wingspan, lived about 90 million years ago and was capable of crossing continents

In the heart of Queensland, palaeontologists have found the fossilised partial skeleton of a new winged dinosaur species capable of crossing continents.

The pterosaur, with a four-metre wingspan, may have lived about 90 million years ago.

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Captain Cook’s legacy is complex, but whether white Australia likes it or not he is emblematic of violence and oppression | Paul Daley

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British and Australian regret over Cook’s treatment of Indigenous people would go a long way to enhancing understanding of the continent’s shared history

The British government has issued an oh-so-carefully worded expression of “regret” for the killing of Māori in Aotearoa, today’s New Zealand, at the point of first contact during Lieutenant James Cook’s “voyage of discovery” 250 years ago.

Regrets! The old empire certainly has had cause for a few when it comes to the violence it has meted out to the indigenes of the places it took during Britain’s colonial expansion.

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Calls to cut pre-poll voting amid claims it is eroding ‘integrity’ of elections

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NSW Nationals, Coalition MP Paul Fletcher, LNP MP Julian Simmonds and independent MP Bob Katter urge cut to number of pre-poll voting weeks

The New South Wales Nationals and the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, have joined growing calls for the length of pre-poll voting before federal elections to be shortened.

In a submission to the inquiry examining the 2019 election, Fletcher warned the record number of Australians voting in pre-poll was eroding the “integrity and quality” of the electoral process.

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Helena Broadbent on triple zero call before being flung from ute, court told

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Pregnant Melbourne woman told emergency services her partner, William Wilson, had a hammer, police say

A triple zero operator heard an argument, screaming and then silence during a call from a pregnant woman killed when flung from a ute allegedly driven by her partner, according to police.

Helena Broadbent, 32, suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” when she fell backwards out of the Mitsubishi Triton in suburban Melbourne on Saturday and died in hospital after delivering a baby girl by caesarean.

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Jock Palfreeman to learn fate on Monday as parole sparks protests in Bulgaria

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Judges ‘vilified’ as release of Australian found guilty of murder divides legal system

Jock Palfreeman is likely to learn on Monday whether he will be free to leave Bulgaria after serving almost 11 years in prison for murder, a crime the Australian says was committed in self-defence.

Bulgaria’s highest court was scheduled to hear an appeal against his parole – granted last month – on 23 October but, amid a rising tide of populist protest over the decision to release him, it has brought forward the hearing to 7 October.

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