Category Archives: Australia news

Culture shock: politics upended in era of identity

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Two worldviews face each other uncomprehendingly – and the flashpoint is the climate emergency

This is the first piece in a new series on what the election result means for the progressive side of politics and the path forward

Political commentators reflexively overinterpret election results. The story we’ve been told is that the Coalition’s win means that “Australian voters” have rejected Labor’s radical plan for reform of the tax-and-spend system, confirming that Australians prefer stability and incremental change.

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Sydney’s Mascot Tower residents resort to crowdfunding for repairs

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Apartment owners have voted for $1m levy to fund initial works on the building, which developed cracks in its support structure

A Go Fund Me page has been established to help apartment owners at Sydney’s Mascot Towers in their efforts to have the building repaired, after it developed cracks a week ago.

The 10-year-old building in Sydney’s south had to be evacuated on 14 June when cracks developed in the primary support structure and facade masonry.

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City of Sydney councillors to vote on declaring climate crisis a national emergency

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Clover Moore says ‘successive federal governments have shamefully presided over a climate disaster’

City of Sydney councillors are set to vote on declaring the climate crisis a national emergency that “poses a serious risk to the people of Sydney”.

If passed, the council will join hundreds of local governments worldwide that have made similar declarations.

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Kristina Keneally says there is ‘no evidence’ medevac laws are not working

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Shadow home affairs minister says Labor would examine government amendments to laws, if necessary

Labor says it is prepared to consider government amendments to medical evacuation laws if necessary, but sees “no evidence” to suggest the laws are not working as intended.

As the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, ramps up pressure on Labor to side with the government to scrap the so-called medevac laws passed against its will in February, Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, said the party was standing firm in support.

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John Setka’s deputy Shaun Reardon quits over ‘irreconcilable differences’ with union boss

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CFMMEU assistant secretary says decision was not made under pressure as Setka faces calls to resign

The controversy surrounding the Victorian construction union boss John Setka has escalated with his deputy, Shaun Reardon, quitting, saying it was “untenable” for him to continue.

The resignation came as members of the CFMMEU were being individually lobbied to support Setka, who faces calls for his expulsion from the Labor party and resignation as Victorian secretary of the union.

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Qantas overhauls frequent flyer program, making economy cheaper

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Move will free up extra 1m seats on high demand routes but business and premium seats will require more points

Qantas frequent flyer point users will spend less getting economy seats but more getting business and first class upgrades under changes announced on Thursday.

In what the airline described as the “single biggest overhaul” to the frequent flyer point system since it was established, the national airline has rebalanced the scales in favour of the cheap seats.

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‘Not welcome’ in Australia: from Tampa refugee to Fulbright scholar, via New Zealand

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New Zealand gave a home, and hope, to Abbas Nazari. He wishes all refugee children could be given the same chance

Abbas Nazari was stranded on a ship in the Indian ocean when he first heard the words “New Zealand”.

Then aged 7, Nazari’s mother, father and four siblings were among 430 asylum seekers, predominantly of the ethnic minority Hazaras of Afghanistan, plucked from a sinking fishing boat by the Norwegian cargo ship, the Tampa. They were later transferred to the HMAS Manoora, where they waited for asylum after Australia refused to accept them; creating an international quagmire over which country would, or should, offer sanctuary on humanitarian grounds.

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Federal court overturns attempt to block medevac transfer from Nauru

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Appearing to set an important precedent, judge rules doctors don’t have to speak to patient to make assessment

The federal court has overturned the home affairs department’s attempt to block the medevac transfer of a critically ill 29-year-old Iraqi man from Nauru, by ruling that doctors don’t have to speak to a patient in order to make a medical assessment.

In a judgement delivered on Tuesday, Justice Mordecai Bromberg found in favour of the refugee, whose lawyers had claimed the department secretary, Mike Pezzullo, had refused to notify the minister of the man’s application for a medical transfer, which would commence the process.

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Coalition awarded $1.4bn in grants in election lead-up – half without an open tender process

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Battleground states of Victoria and Queensland were biggest beneficiaries, receiving $422m and $331m respectively

The Coalition awarded almost $1.4bn in grants through its regional development program in the lead-up to the election, with about half of the funding not subject to a competitive tender process.

The spending included grants made through the Stronger Communities program, a political slush fund that gives every lower-house MP $150,000 to spend on small community projects costing between $1,500 and $20,000. Almost $100m has been paid out under the scheme since it was first announced in the 2015 budget.

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Cracked up: how can apartment buyers guard against a defective purchase?

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The Owners Corporation Network’s advice is blunt: ‘Don’t buy a new apartment over three storeys’

With faults and cracks discovered over the weekend in Sydney’s Mascot Towers apartment complex – and similar cracks in Opal Tower six months ago – the spotlight is back on the quality of New South Wales apartment buildings.

Research from the University of NSW in 2015 found that 85% of new apartment buildings had defects at completion – mostly with waterproofing and fire detection systems – and the certification system had “broken down”.

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John Setka threatens to halt CFMMEU donations to Labor and vows to pursue leakers

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Union boss says he will mount a legal challenge against moves to expel him from Labor party

The embattled union boss John Setka has threatened to halt CFMMEU donations to Labor, said he would mount a legal challenge against moves to expel him from the party and has indicated he will investigate who had leaked against him from the union’s national executive.

The federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has said he plans to expel Setka at a 5 July national executive meeting over claims the CFMMEU Victorian secretary denigrated anti-domestic violence advocate Rosie Batty in a conversation with union colleagues.

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Keneally backs medevac laws after Dutton claims Labor may help repeal bill

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Peter Dutton says legislation creates ‘broad power’ to overrule minister but Keneally says this has been ‘misconstrued’

Kristina Keneally has reaffirmed Labor’s support for the medevac legislation after Peter Dutton claimed the opposition is looking to repeal or amend the law which facilitates medical transfers from offshore detention.

On Sunday the home affairs minister said that more than 30 people have come to Australia under the medevac bill and gave new details about the refugee swap deal with the United States, including that two Rwandans accused of murder are the only people to have come to Australia under the deal.

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Australian-based company’s PNG mine could pose big environmental risk

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Gold and copper project for Sepik region also has potential to cause social conflict and unrest, report says

A gold and copper mine proposed for the Sepik region in Papua New Guinea by an Australian-based company threatens to destroy the health of a major river system, poison fish stocks and cause violent unrest, a report has found.

The Chinese-owned company, PanAust, says the Frieda river project could have a 45-year life span and generate A$12.45bn in tax, royalties and production levies for the PNG government and landholders.

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Lobbyist firm Barton Deakin says it ‘strongly supports’ introduction of watchdog

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Barton Deakin voices support for reforms designed to bolster transparency and integrity

One of Australia’s biggest lobbyist firms has said it “strongly supports” the introduction of an independent commissioner to investigate and oversee the sector.

The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption is currently probing the weaknesses in the regime governing NSW lobbyists, and its chief commissioner, Peter Hall, has warned reforms are now “overdue”.

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Robot sex expert on honours list plans college with Fraser Anning to teach ‘Trumpism’

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Adrian Cheok, who was made a member of the Order of Australia, has been censured for ‘aggressive, belittling’ language towards colleagues

A robot sex expert and former far-right candidate who was awarded a Queen’s Birthday honour for “significant service to international education” says he is setting up a graduate school with Fraser Anning which will teach classes on “Trumpism” and “Bannonism”.

Prof Adrian Cheok was also accused in an open letter by organisers of a 2017 academic conference of using “aggressive, belittling” language towards another professor. In a separate incident, he also labelled another academic as “psycho … old, fat and balding” and said he worked at a “tin pot university”, according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Nothing new in Coalition’s nuclear awakening. No wait, perhaps there is

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Could this be the catalyst for the Coalition of 2019 to reconnect itself with the position it adopted in 2007 for sound reasons?

Fair warning before we kick off this weekend. Increasingly, I’m reaching that stage of my professional life where I can be heard muttering, and sometimes shouting, I’m too bloody old for this.

My long-suffering colleagues in the Canberra bureau of Guardian Australia have absorbed bouts of muttering and shouting over the past few weeks as various Nationals and some Liberals have lined up post-election to support a new inquiry into nuclear energy, as if this might be a light bulb moment.

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‘Long live love’: Blanche d’Apulget pays tribute to Bob Hawke in memorial service – politics live – politics live

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Party greats, members of former PM’s family and those who knew him best led the public service at the Sydney Opera House

The Guardian brains trust are going to show you a few more photos from Mike Bowers, and a couple more bits and bobs from the day, so I will leave you in their very, very capable hands.

Politics Live will be back, with parliament, in just a few short weeks.

The crowd here has had a singalong and toasted to Bob – there’s a lot of love in this little Brisbane pub.

There is also a lot of love in the Opera House, where David Marr has been watching the service and crowd along with Mike Bowers.

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Christchurch massacre: Brenton Tarrant pleads not guilty to all charges

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Trial to be held in May 2020 for Australian man who faces 51 murder charges, 40 of attempted murder and one terrorism charge

Australian Brenton Tarrant has pleaded not guilty to all charges in relation to the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.

Tarrant, 28, is facing 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of engaging in a terrorist act. The trial, estimated to take six weeks, will go ahead on 4 May, 2020.

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