Authorities catch up with 57-year-old, wanted on drugs charges, after he travelled 150km across the Torres Strait
A wanted British man has attempted to flee Australia on a jetski, travelling almost 150km (93 miles) across the Torres Strait while armed with a crossbow.
The 57-year-old man is subject to an outstanding warrant for drug-related charges in Western Australia.
Continue reading...Home of far-right ‘Identitarian’ raided after he received a large donation from a person sharing the same surname as Christchurch suspect
Austria’s chancellor called Tuesday for authorities to “ruthlessly” investigate possible ties between an Austrian nationalist group and the alleged Christchurch mosque gunman, after it emerged that a prominent far-right activist had received a donation in the suspected shooter’s name.
Martin Sellner, head of the Identitarian Movement of Austria, said on social media that police searched his apartment Monday and seized electronic devices after he received a “disproportionately high donation” from a person named Tarrant the same surname as the suspected Christchurch shooter.
Continue reading...King Island brown thornbill was ranked the Australian bird most likely to go extinct within 20 years
Researchers say they have discovered one of Australia’s most endangered birds in forest in Tasmania, outside its previously known habitat.
Scientists from the Australian National University say the find is a rare piece of positive news for the King Island brown thornbill, which was last year ranked as the Australian bird most likely to go extinct within 20 years if nothing was done to secure its survival.
Continue reading...Two cars seen the morning William disappeared were gone by the time family realised he was missing, coroner told
William Tyrrell’s foster mother has told a coroner she immediately thought “someone has taken him” when the New South Wales town of Kendall fell quiet and the three-year-old boy vanished without a trace.
“I couldn’t hear a thing. It was silent, there was no wind, there were no birds,” the woman said in Sydney on Tuesday at an inquest into William’s disappearance and suspected death in September 2014.
Continue reading...Hong Kong man, 36, allegedly hid camera inside a deodorant stick which his French roommate spotted after she finished showering
A tourist from Hong Kong is behind bars after allegedly hiding a camera inside a deodorant stick in the bathroom of a hostel at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.
The man’s roommate – a woman on holiday from France – had just finished showering when she spotted the camera and a toiletry bag on the sink of their shared ensuite on Monday night.
Continue reading...Al-Jazeera journalist posing as gun campaigner films senior party figures in Washington DC soliciting financial support to help One Nation seize the balance of power
Senior One Nation figures James Ashby and Steve Dickson have been caught seeking millions of dollars of political donations from US gun rights group the National Rifle Association in a bid to seize the balance of power and weaken Australia’s gun laws.
The revelations are contained in an al-Jazeera investigation which used hidden cameras and a journalist posing as a grassroots gun campaigner to expose the far-right party’s extraordinary efforts to secure funding in Washington DC in September.
Continue reading...Pair, given asylum in undisclosed country, faced recriminations in kingdom
Two Saudi sisters who say they were beaten and treated like slaves by their brothers and father have been granted asylum in an undisclosed country.
The women, aged 18 and 20, ran away from their family last September while on holiday in Sri Lanka and have been stranded in Hong Kong since an abandoned attempt to reach Australia, where they hoped to secure asylum.
Continue reading...Australian treasury yields hit a record low in a grim portent for the economy, while the Nikkei falls 3% in wider share selloff
Shares in Asia Pacific have slumped after a key market indicator flashed an “amber warning” that the United States is heading for a recession.
Bond yields also continued to fall across the world with Australian 10-year treasury yields falling to a record low on Monday of 1.756% in what analysts see as a strong indicator of a downturn hitting the resource-rich country.
Continue reading...Nationals MPs have demanded action to underwrite new energy generation before the election
The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has signalled to restive Queensland Nationals that taxpayer backing for a dispatchable energy project is on the way as one of the rebel MPs has warned a decision is necessary before the election.
With cabinet set to consider energy among a range of issues on Tuesday, with the budget looming and the federal election now only weeks way, Taylor told journalists it was “critically important” that Queensland see more competition in power generation, and more dispatchable supply.
Continue reading...As the Northern Territory begins its big mop-up after Cyclone Trevor, local authorities have hosed down racism claims concerning evacuation efforts.
Trevor forced mass evacuations before it made landfall on Saturday morning as a category four system, with destructive winds gusting up to 250km/h.
Continue reading...Government clings to power despite big gains from minor parties and independents
Gladys Berejiklian has said she is confident the Coalition will return to government in New South Wales with a razor-thin majority as counting continues after Saturday’s state election.
The premier, who is the daughter of Armenian migrants, reiterated her objection to comments by the Labor leader, Michael Daley, about young Sydneysiders leaving the city and being replaced by “Asians”, which surfaced in the final week of the campaign, suggesting her background had helped her connect with voters.
Continue reading...Residents of Port Hedland and Karratha in Western Australia prepare for Cyclone Veronica, due to hit on Sunday morning
Cyclone Trevor has struck the Northern Territory as a category four system, hammering remote communities with destructive 250 km/h winds and torrential rain.
Continue reading...Sydney man Nathan Sykes accused of making violent threats to Melbourne lawyer and journalist Luke McMahon
An alleged far-right extremist has been charged in Sydney with threatening a Melbourne lawyer and journalist who had written about him.
Nathan Sykes was arrested at his Brighton-Le-Sands home on Friday morning and taken to Newtown police station where he was charged with three counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence; and two counts of using a carriage service to threaten serious harm.
Continue reading...Plan would enable 76,800 low-cost loans each year to those in financial hardship
Labor has pledged $60m for financial services that divert vulnerable borrowers from high-interest payday lenders.
The policy picks up on the recommendation of a Senate inquiry to expand no interest loans schemes to prevent low-income Australians being plunged into a cycle of debt due to unexpected expenses such as medical procedures and broken household appliances.
Continue reading...There’s a good chance Saturday’s poll will produce a hung parliament. Here’s how to make your vote count – and where to buy your democracy sausage
Almost 5.3 million people are enrolled to vote at more than 8,000 voting stations in Saturday’s state election. New South Wales has fixed terms, with elections held on the fourth Saturday in March every four years since 1995. About a quarter of voters cast their ballot before election day in 2015, and this is expected to rise in 2019. Almost 850,000 people had voted by Thursday morning.
Continue reading...Western Australian government to compulsorily acquire properties in deadly Pilbara site, where there are fears for tourists who still visit the area
Landowners who refuse to move from the most contaminated site in the southern hemisphere will have their properties compulsorily acquired by the Western Australian government.
A bill to finalise the closure of the former asbestos mining town Wittenoom in the Pilbara, which was de-gazetted in 2007, was due to be introduced to state parliament on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Mutual obligation overhaul welcomed but government urged not to rely on ‘automated compliance’
The government’s proposed changes to how job seekers are made to look for work while receiving welfare have been mostly welcomed by stakeholders – although it’s also been warned against creating another “robodebt” scenario through an overreliance on automation.
Kelly O’Dwyer announced the biggest overhaul in mutual obligation requirements for 20 years on Wednesday, with the government to free job seekers from having to apply for 20 positions a month, as well as allowing job hunters to look for work online.
Continue reading...Rare creature found at the mouth of Murray River in South Australia
A rare giant sunfish has washed ashore at the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia.
Linette Grzelak posted a picture on Facebook of the sunfish, which was spotted by a couple of fishers on the beach at the weekend.
Continue reading...The prime minister has spoken at Cashmere high school, which lost two students and a former student in Friday’s massacre
We’re going to wrap up the blog. Thank you for following along. Here’s what has happened today:
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ABS data shows capital city prices fell 2.4% in December quarter and 5.1% over 2018
Home prices across Australia’s capital cities fell by 2.4% in the three months to December, trimming the total value of the country’s dwellings to $6.7tn.
Prices fell 5.1% across the whole of 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Residential Property Price Index, released on Tuesday.
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