Category Archives: Australia news

Kylie Moore-Gilbert named as Australian-British academic jailed in Iran since 2018

Posted on by

Cambridge-educated lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University has been in prison in Tehran for almost a year

The third foreign national revealed this week to be imprisoned in Iran has been named by the Australian government as Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Melbourne academic who has published work on the 2011 Arab uprisings and on authoritarian governments.

Moore-Gilbert, a dual UK-Australian national, is Cambridge educated and worked as a lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University. She has been in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for almost a year.

Continue reading...

Ancient Australia was home to ‘strange’ marsupial giants, scientists find

Posted on by

Researchers are building a picture of palorchestids, which had tapir-like skulls and large scimitar-like claws

The “strange” anatomy of a family of giant marsupials that roamed eastern Australia and Tasmania for much of the past 25m years has been revealed in a new study.

Scientists had already figured out that palorchestids had tapir-like skulls and large “scimitar-like claws”, but little was known about the limbs of one of the “strangest marsupial lineages to have existed”, according to the paper published by a group of Australian researchers.

Continue reading...

‘I don’t know how we come back from this’: Australia’s big dry sucks life from once-proud towns

Posted on by

Guardian Australia reports from three communities hard hit by one of the worst droughts in living memory

Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, resulting in desperate water shortages across large parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Dams in some parts of western NSW have all but dried up, with rainfall levels through the winter in the lowest 10% of historical records in some areas.

The crisis in the far west of the state became unavoidable after the mass fish kills along the lower Darling River last summer, but now much bigger towns closer to the coast, including Dubbo, are also running out of water.

Continue reading...

‘It’s impossible to do anything’: Indonesia’s refugees in limbo as money runs out

Posted on by

Australia’s funding cuts force hundreds of homeless refugees to plead to be taken into immigration detention

Once a military command post, the two-storey lime green building in Kalideres, West Jakarta, is now essentially a refugee camp.

More than 400 refugees are temporarily housed here in small dome tents squashed into every room and spilling out into the concrete car park. There is no running water, electricity, bathroom facilities or any certainty of food. A few days ago someone delivered biscuits, but there has been nothing since.

Continue reading...

Asic to decide on possible case against Clive Palmer over Queensland Nickel

Posted on by

Corporate watchdog says criminal investigation is nearly complete and it is in discussions about way forward

A criminal investigation into Clive Palmer and the collapse of Queensland Nickel is nearly finished and the corporate regulator is in discussions with other government agencies about what to do next, federal parliament has been told.

“We are at the point where we are in discussions with other government agencies about the appropriate way forward,” the Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioner, John Price, told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

Continue reading...

Gladys Liu accused of failing to declare $40,000 donation to Liberal party

Posted on by

Labor renews calls for embattled MP to explain alleged links to Chinese Communist party

Labor has renewed calls for Liberal MP Gladys Liu to explain links to Chinese associations despite Scott Morrison labelling the tactic “grubby”.

On Friday the controversy around the member for Chisholm grew after the Herald Sun reported that Liu had failed to file a return declaring a $39,675 donation to the Victorian Liberal party in 2015-16.

Continue reading...

Alleged drug gang thwarted by giant seal in $1bn Australian drug bust

Posted on by

Meth, cocaine and ecstasy found stashed under seaweed off Western Australia after yacht used by alleged smugglers ran aground

Three more men have been charged over a massive A$1bn drug haul found on a tiny island off Western Australia after a yacht ran aground and was abandoned, sparking a search for its occupants.

Police launched a raid on Burton Island off the port town of Geraldton last week, finding Frenchman Antoine Dicenta, 51, and British man Graham Palmer, 34, allegedly with 1.087 tonne of methylamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy in dozens of bags that they had attempted to hide under seaweed.

Continue reading...

Australian natural disasters minister’s complete about face: ‘I believe in climate science’

Posted on by

David Littleproud’s comments to parliament entirely at odds with earlier statement to Guardian Australia

Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, now says he accepts the science on manmade climate change, and “[I] always have”.

Littleproud’s comments to the House of Representatives on Thursday were entirely at odds with a written statement he made to Guardian Australia on Tuesday. In response to questions, Littleproud said: “I don’t know if climate change is man-made.”

Continue reading...

Australia left with few diplomatic levers after three citizens detained in Iran

Posted on by

Canberra’s adherence to a hawkish US policy has undermined its ability to negotiate with the paranoid and sanctions-squeezed regime in Tehran

It was the trip of a lifetime, a globe-trotting adventure halfway across the world, chronicled online for family and friends back home and for followers online.

But in the eyes of the regime in Tehran – squeezed by sanctions and paranoid about the motives of outsiders – the act of flying a drone near a military installation on the outskirts of the Iranian capital appeared as an act of espionage.

Continue reading...

Australian and British bloggers arrested in Iran named as Jolie King and Mark Firkin

Posted on by

Couple left Perth in 2017 and had been documenting their travels as they drove to London before being detained in Tehran’s Evin prison

The Australian couple being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison have been named as Jolie King and Mark Firkin, who were reportedly arrested 10 weeks ago near the Iranian capital.

Firkin and King, who also holds a British passport, have been blogging a globe-trotting adventure since 2017 as they endeavoured to drive from Australia to London. Despite diplomatic efforts to keep their cases from public attention, the pair was named overnight on social media.

Continue reading...

Australia’s secretive billionaire David Teoh steps into media spotlight

Posted on by

Teoh, who despite running one of Australia’s largest telcos has managed to maintain anonymity, runs gauntlet of media

Finally, the reclusive billionaire emerged. David Teoh, estimated to be worth $3bn, made his debut before the cameras on a fine spring day outside the federal court in Melbourne on Wednesday.

As he stepped into the witness stand shortly after 3pm, Teoh gave away the extraordinary level of anonymity he’d been able to maintain even while running one of Australia’s biggest telecommunications companies, TPG.

Continue reading...

Three Australians, two of them dual British citizens, held in Iran

Posted on by

Two British-Australian women believed to be in prison, while location of Australian man is unknown

Three Australian citizens – two of whom also hold British passports – have been arrested and detained in Iran.

A female British-Australian academic who has been teaching at a university in Australia was arrested several months ago, sources confirmed to the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Environment officials sensitive about Angus Taylor grasslands meeting, emails show

Posted on by

Before the meeting an official asked about the Taylor company being investigated for alleged illegal land clearing

Department of the environment officials were acutely sensitive about meeting Angus Taylor over critically endangered grasslands while his family’s company was being investigated for alleged illegal land clearing in New South Wales, according to internal emails.

The information is revealed in correspondence that had previously been partially redacted from documents obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws in June this year.

Continue reading...

Labor labels Coalition’s drug-testing plan ‘demeaning’ – politics live

Posted on by

Scott Morrison accused of trying to force jobseekers to pee in a cup because he wants to pick fights with the opposition. All the day’s news, live

George Brandis has been spotted in the building.

We are not sure why our man in London is here, but no doubt it is all very terribly important.

Pauline Hanson is speaking to Sky News about a speech she is giving on family law reform, where she is calling for 50/50 joint custody of children, from the moment of separation.

Continue reading...

Peregian homes destroyed after ferocious bushfire rips through Sunshine Coast community

Posted on by

Firefighters fear significant property losses, with scores of blazes still burning in Queensland and NSW

• Mass evacuations as bushfires threaten more homes – live updates

Hundreds of people are holed up in evacuation centres on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast as crews wait to see how many homes have been lost to a ferocious fire, while firefighters in New South Wales are still battling out-of-control fires near the border.

There are fears of significant property losses, with a destructive blaze still burning out of control at Peregian Beach and Peregian Breeze Estate, south of Noosa.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison says he is ‘puzzled’ by opposition to welfare drug testing

Posted on by

PM defends drug testing proposal, which is struggling to attract support in parliament

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says he is “puzzled” by the widespread opposition to the idea of drug testing welfare recipients, as the government struggles to win over Senate support for the plan.

Saying he believed that drug testing those on Newstart and Youth Allowance could help people address substance abuse problems and get into the workforce, Morrison emphasised the proposal was a trial.

Continue reading...

Australia launches emergency relocation of fish as largest river system faces collapse

Posted on by

There are doubts the Noah’s Ark plan for the Lower Darling will be enough to prevent more mass fish kills

Faced with a looming ferocious summer with little rain forecast, the New South Wales government has embarked on a Noah’s Ark type operation to move native fish from the Lower Darling – part of Australia’s most significant river system – to safe havens before high temperatures return to the already stressed river basin.

Researchers have warned of other alarming ecological signs that the Lower Darling River – part of the giant Murray-Darling Basin – is in a dire state, following last summer’s mass fish kills.

Continue reading...

Why do Dubai’s princesses keep trying to run away? – podcast

Posted on by

Ola Salem discusses the divorce case of Princess Haya, who fled to London. Why do royal women keep trying to escape the emirate? Plus John Marsden on the growing trend of toxic parenting

Over the summer, Princess Haya, the estranged wife of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, asked an English court for a forced marriage protection order relating to their children and a non-molestation order after the breakdown of their marriage.

The Guardian reporter Haroon Siddique describes the court scene to Rachel Humphreys, while the journalist Ola Salem discusses previous attempts by two other princesses to flee the Dubai royal family, and looks at why this case is so significant for women in the emirate.

Continue reading...

Crossbench senator pushes to fix ‘shameful’ historic wrong against Timor-Leste

Posted on by

Centre Alliance’s Rex Patrick wants to overturn the decisions that limit Australia’s exposure to international courts

The crossbench senator Rex Patrick will push to fix a historic wrong stemming from the “shameful” treatment of Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations by overturning decisions that limit Australia’s exposure to international courts.

In 2002, the then Howard government decided to limit Australia’s acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the international court of justice and international tribunal for the law of the sea.

Continue reading...

‘Show some spine’: Jacqui Lambie returns to parliament with John Setka ultimatum

Posted on by

The Senate powerbroker warns if the union boss does not resign, the Coalition’s ‘ensuring integrity’ bill will pass

The Senate powerbroker Jacqui Lambie has returned to Canberra following the parliamentary break with one message.

Either union boss John Setka resigns, or the government’s controversial ‘ensuring integrity’ bill will pass, with her vote.

Continue reading...