Category Archives: Australia news

Cosmetic surgery: Australian industry under scrutiny after horror cases

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Experts say the sector is infiltrated by dodgy operators cashing in on $1bn obsession with beauty

A huge increase in complications associated with cosmetic procedures has prompted a renewed push for increased regulation in a sector experts say has been infiltrated by dodgy operators cashing in on Australia’s $1bn obsession with beauty.

This week, a paper released by the journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that across the globe almost 200 people suffered blindness after receiving dermal fillers in the past year.

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Angus Taylor pursued by Labor over rising emissions and grassland meetings

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In a combative question time the energy minister suggests the Coalition has an ‘open mind’ on nuclear power

Angus Taylor has flagged the Morrison government has an “open mind” about pursuing nuclear power during a combative question time where the energy minister was pursued about rising emissions and his meetings with officials about the protection of grassland in the south-eastern highlands.

Taylor, who is the minister for energy and emissions reduction, was asked repeatedly by Labor on Tuesday whether emissions had risen in recent years, whether he supported calls by government backbenchers to establish a nuclear industry, and whether he had declared any relevant conflicts when meeting departmental officials.

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Labor supports exclusion orders for foreign fighters – politics live

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Opposition will try to introduce amendments but if that fails it will pass the bill. All the day’s events, live

tl;dr - shut the hell up.

I'm also told @ScottMorrisonMP told backbenchers who have been out and about on issues, including, lately, superannuation, to calm their farms and work through party processes. Words to that effect @AmyRemeikis #auspol

You know what it absolutely is not, and was never, going to be? A third chamber.

I'm told @SenatorMcGrath raised constitutional recognition in today's party room meeting. He asked what the position was. @ScottMorrisonMP and @KenWyattMP told him the voice could be many things & constitutional change wouldn't be radical @AmyRemeikis #auspol

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Two Australians arrested in Bali reportedly linked to cocaine trafficking

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Charges yet to be laid against former Melbourne nightclub promoters William Cabantog and David Van Iersel

Two former Melbourne nightclub promoters are being held in Bali amid reported links to a cocaine-trafficking operation.

The men have been named in media outlets as William Cabantog, 35, and David Van Iersel, 38.

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No ‘reasonable doubt’: inquiry reinforces guilt of convicted baby killer Kathleen Folbigg

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The 51-year-old mother was jailed in 2003 for at least 25 years for killing her four babies

An inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions for killing her four babies has reinforced her guilt, a former New South Wales district court chief judge has found.

Reginald Blanch QC, who presided over the inquiry, has concluded he does not have “any reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Kathleen Megan Folbigg”, in a report made public on Monday night.

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Coalition accused of ignoring bipartisan advice over scrutiny of security powers

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Labor and Centre Alliance fear government will proceed with two key bills without recommended safeguards

The Morrison government is being accused of ignoring bipartisan recommendations and breaching commitments to reform the spy agency’s powers as it prepares a fresh push on national security when parliament resumes on Monday.

Labor and Centre Alliance fear the government is set to ignore advice to improve scrutiny of proposed new powers for the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, to exclude citizens from Australia and to phase out Asio’s detention powers.

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Foreskin reclaimers: the ‘intactivists’ fighting infant male circumcision

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Emboldened by the body-positive movement and a sense of rage, a growing chorus is pushing back against a common custom

The media officer of one of the UK’s top medical schools doesn’t realise she hasn’t muted herself as she puts me on hold.

She sniggers with her colleague as she passes on my request – to speak to an expert on male circumcision – before informing me they don’t have one.

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Greens senator Nick McKim deported from Manus Island

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Tasmanian member says he was asked to leave after trying to visit East Lorengau transit centre

The Greens senator Nick McKim says he was deported from Manus Island because he “simply stood on a public street and asked politely” to see conditions in a refugee and asylum seeker transit camp.

The Tasmanian senator arrived back in Australia on Saturday after he was told to leave Papua New Guinea on Thursday night.

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NSW police to help investigate death of Sydney man Lucas Fowler in Canada

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Canadian police are calling the death of NSW senior police officer’s son and his US girlfriend a double homicide

The New South Wales police have sent two homicide detectives to Canada to assist in the investigation into the death of Lucas Fowler, the son of a senior NSW police officer.

They confirmed on Saturday that Fowler and his American girlfriend, Chynna Noelle Deese, were shot dead on Monday on the Alaska highway, 20km south of Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia.

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AFP adds more confusion about whether ministers consulted over raids

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Federal police say ministers may be ‘notified’ before raids, but outgoing commissioner Andrew Colvin says they are not ‘consulted’

The Australian Federal Police has added more confusion to the question of whether the AFP consults ministers before conducting raids, after its outgoing commissioner, Andrew Colvin, denied that it did so.

On the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday, Colvin was questioned about the recent raids on the ABC and on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst over leaked documents. Colvin was asked whether any government minister was consulted about the raids in advance.

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Bedford man who murdered his family never to be released from prison, judge orders

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Anthony Harvey murdered his wife, Mara Lee, their three children and his mother-in-law in their Perth home

A man who admitted using knives to murder his wife, three young children and mother-in-law has become the first person in Western Australia ordered by a judge never to be released from prison.

Anthony Robert Harvey, 25, killed two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, three-year-old Charlotte and their mother, Mara Lee Harvey, 41, at their Bedford home on 3 September 2018.

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Jacinda Ardern prime minister of Australasia? If only it was that simple | Nicholas Reece

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New Zealand has a long history of outstanding policy innovation and political leadership. Australia could learn a lot from it

The good and the great of Melbourne packed in to the town hall on Thursday evening to hear the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, speak on the topic of why good government matters.

Since the tragic Christchurch mosque massacre, Ardern has come to be seen not just as one of the world’s youngest leaders of a nation, but also as one of the world’s great leaders.

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Festival deaths inquest: police pushed to release protocols after ‘unconscionable’ strip searches

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Counsel assisting coroner says public deserves to know ‘under what circumstances are police entitled to strip search patrons’

The New South Wales coroner will push for the state’s police force to release its strip search protocols as part of an inquest into drug-related deaths at music festivals.

Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer told the court on Thursday that the inquest had yet to receive “police protocols” on when strip searches could be carried out in the state, but that she intended to pursue the matter .

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Yang Hengjun: Australian writer detained in China expected to be charged, lawyer says

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Yang, who has been detained for six months, is expected to be charged with endangering national security

Australian writer Yang Hengjun is expected to be formally charged with endangering national security, according to his lawyer.

Yang, a Chinese public intellectual who has long advocated for democratic reforms in China, has been detained for the last six months in an unknown location in China.

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Found: British author of 50-year-old message in a bottle that washed up in Australia

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South Australian man and his son found the bottle, which was dropped from an ocean liner by 13-year-old Paul Gilmore in 1969

The British author of a message in a bottle that recently washed up on the South Australian coast after more than half a century has been found – and he is currently out to sea, his sister says.

South Australian man Paul Elliot and his son Jyah told ABC radio they found the bottle on the Eyre Peninsula’s west coast recently while fishing.

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Dick Smith says he doesn’t want $500,000 in franking credits he received

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The Australian businessman says he’s ‘so horrified’ by his cash rebate amount and wants the scheme means-tested

The Australian businessman Dick Smith has called for the franking credits system to be reformed after revealing he was once handed $500,000 in cash rebates in a single year.

When Smith was told he would soon receive what he called “ridiculous money”, he complained to the tax office and requested that the agency close down his self-managed super fund.

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Lunar eclipse 2019: from Australia to the UK, stargazers enjoy bright side of the moon

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Photographers from Sydney to Brasilia capture July’s stunning partial lunar eclipse

Stargazers around the world have enjoyed a view of a global lunar eclipse, delighting people from Dehli to Dublin.

The partial eclipse was visible in nearly every part of the world except for North America and the polar climes of Greenland and northern Russia.

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Justine Damond shooting: US police officer Mohamed Noor files appeal

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Former Minneapolis officer is in jail after being found guilty of Australian life coach’s murder and manslaughter

The former Minneapolis police officer who shot dead Australian life coach Justine Damond in an alley has made a move for freedom with his lawyers, citing potential “prosecutorial misconduct”, filing an appeal against his murder and manslaughter convictions.

The appeal comes as Mohamed Noor, sentenced to 12 and a half years behind bars last month, was transferred to a new prison for “his own safety”.

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Why Treasury blaming a lack of ‘job switching’ for stagnant wages may have backfired

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By suggesting switching jobs can even out the power imbalance between employers and employees, Treasury hinted at an obvious solution

Treasury caused consternation in the labour movement on Tuesday by suggesting the best way to win a pay rise might be to switch jobs.

It looked to unions like an attempt to blame workers for their bosses’ failure to grant a pay rise.

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Australian defence department gave contract to US business blacklisted for bribery

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Lock N Climb awarded $25,000 contract when firm’s president still serving court-imposed probation for bribery offence

Australia’s defence department gave tens of thousands of dollars of work to a US firm blacklisted for corruption and bribery.

Defence last year contracted US firm Lock N Climb to provide it with $25,000 of specialist ladders used for aircraft maintenance. The work was awarded through a limited tender process, meaning other firms were restricted from competing for the contract.

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