Category Archives: Australia news

Blue Mountains wilderness would be ‘permanently’ changed by raising dam wall, leak reveals

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Draft report says Warragamba dam changes would affect Aboriginal historical sites

A leaked draft report has predicted world heritage areas of the Blue Mountains would be “permanently” changed by a controversial New South Wales government plan to raise a dam wall.

The state government is proposing to raise the walls of the Warragamba Dam by 14 metres to mitigate the impact of floods – a move that environmental activists say would flood Unesco-protected bushland, and endanger 50 historic Indigenous sites.

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Australia must use past success to reset future asylum policy, professor says

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Jane McAdam of the Kaldor Centre for refugee law argues for seven principles to inform new policy and overturn ‘draconian’ laws

Australia can reset and reform its refugee and asylum seeker policy by looking to its past successes and best current practice from around the world, a leading refugee law study centre has found, to create a “principled and pragmatic” approach.

The UNSW Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law has examined best practice refugee policy throughout the world, crafting seven principles as a foundation for “a more positive, long term approach” to how Australia treats those seeking asylum.

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John Setka refuses to resign and says reports he denigrated Rosie Batty are ‘fabricated’

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Victorian CFMEU leader says attacks on him are ‘political smears’ and that he answers to union members

Embattled union boss John Setka has said he will not stand down as CFMMEU Victorian state secretary, plunging the union movement further into crisis.

“There’s no reason for me to resign,” said Setka, who fronted the media Wednesday with his wife, Emma Walters.

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US fought for right to launch fresh case against two Rwandans accepted by Australia

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Exclusive: court documents show US attorney wanted to be able to prosecute pair again for ‘horrendous’ crime, before they came to Australia in refugee swap deal

Two Rwandans accepted into Australia were accused of crimes so “grave” and “horrendous” that the United States fought for the right to prosecute them a second time, court documents show.

The Australian government sparked controversy last month for accepting two Rwandan militants previously accused of murdering tourists in targeted 1999 attacks in the Bwindi Impenetrable national park in Uganda.

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Coalition unlikely to get full tax cut package passed, key crossbencher says

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Centre Alliance demands gas export controls, fearing any tax cut will go into the ‘pockets of overseas energy companies’

The Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff says it is “most unlikely” the Coalition will be able to pass its full income tax cut package in the first week of July when parliament returns, and has joined Labor’s call for the government to split the legislation.

Griff, who is one of two key crossbench senators in negotiations with the government over the $158bn tax cut package, said he was waiting for a response from Treasury and the Coalition after the party outlined its demands on energy policy.

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Labor holds off supporting Indonesian free trade agreement

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ALP had pledged to renegotiate agreement if it won office but will now wait until parliament resume to decide whether to ratify it

Labor is holding out its support for the Indonesian free trade agreement signed off by the Coalition in the previous parliament, as the trade minister, Simon Birmingham, warns against a retreat into protectionism following a meeting of G20 trade ministers.

Speaking to Guardian Australia following the meeting in Tokyo over the weekend, Birmingham said that given trade tensions between China and the US, the country’s signed agreements with Indonesia, Peru and Hong Kong carry additional importance.

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Death in custody: police failed to see Indigenous man no longer needed restraining, coroner says

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Shaun Coolwell died in hospital after being handcuffed and injected with the sedative midazolam

Queensland police and paramedics dealing with an Indigenous man during a violent, drug-induced episode failed to recognise the sudden deterioration of his health, a coroner has said.

Shaun Charles Coolwell died in hospital after being sedated and restrained in his sister’s Logan home, south of Brisbane, in October 2015.

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Unesco advisers raise concerns over plan to raise Warragamba dam wall

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World Heritage centre says proposal would result in inundation of large part of world heritage-listed Blue Mountains wilderness area

Advisers to the United Nations have expressed concerns about a plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall because of its likely impact on the Blue Mountains.

The World Heritage Centre, which advises the UN committee in charge of world heritage properties, published its position on the project on Friday.

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Police excavate Brisbane property in search for US woman missing since July

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Partner assisting with inquiries as cold case disappearance of Priscilla Brooten becomes a homicide investigation

Queensland police are excavating the front yard of a home in Brisbane’s north where a missing American woman lived with her partner.

Priscilla Brooten was formally reported missing in December last year but the 46-year-old was last seen in July, in Bracken Ridge.

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Body of missing Queensland toddler Ruben Scott found in dam

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Divers found two-year-old’s body after searching a large dam near his family’s Cape York home

The body of a toddler missing for days on a remote cattle station on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula has been found near his home.

Ruben Scott was found by divers searching a large dam near the homestead on Koolatah Station on Friday afternoon, police said.

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Darwin shooting: man charged with four counts of murder

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Four men died and a woman was injured in this week’s shooting rampage in Darwin

Northern Territory police have charged the man suspected of a shooting rampage in Darwin with four counts of murder.

Four men died and a woman was injured after being shot in the leg on Tuesday night.

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AFP signals journalists could face charges for publishing secrets

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Acting AFP commissioner denies the government directed the investigations, which have led to raids on the ABC and News Corp this week

The Australian federal police have all but confirmed that ABC and News Corp journalists could be charged for publishing protected information after two dramatic days of raids which prompted outrage and drew international attention to Australia’s draconian secrecy laws.

The acting AFP commissioner, Neil Gaughan, held a press conference on Thursday to contain political fallout, denying suggestions the police had waited until after the federal election to execute warrants and claiming no contact had been made with the executive since they informed home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s office when the investigations started.

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George Pell appeal: prosecutor struggles to answer judges’ questions

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Christopher Boyce accidentally says victim’s name, which is suppressed, during Thursday’s hearing

Prosecutor Christopher Boyce struggled through questions from three judges presiding over the appeal of Cardinal George Pell, finding it difficult to answer their inquiries about the victim’s evidence and the case.

Pell, 77, is appealing his conviction on four charges of an indecent act on a child under the age of 16, and one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16. On Wednesday his legal team, led by Bret Walker SC, argued it was improbable that Pell assaulted two 13-year-old boys after presiding as archbishop of Sunday solemn mass at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996, and then a few weeks later assaulted one of the boys again.

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Quietly and confidently, George Pell’s barrister tried to unravel the prosecution’s case | David Marr

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The appeal court judges listened intently as Bret Walker SC ransacked the English language to try to prove his point

Rule number two on these occasions is not to trust the look in their eyes. Judges are masters of disguise. Baleful can be applause. Smiles can be the kiss of death.

But the verdict at the end of the first day of George Pell’s appeal has to be that the bench is listening to the case being argued on his behalf by Bret Walker SC with a little more than respect.

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Family and friends mourn as first victim of Darwin mass shooting named

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PhD student and taxi driver Hassan Baydoun was shot while taking a meal break in apparently random attack

Details of the victims of a mass shooting in Darwin have been revealed as Northern Territory police say they expect to soon lay charges against the alleged gunman.

One of the victims, a PhD student and taxi driver Hassan Baydoun, had never met the accused gunman, his cousin says.

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Darwin shooting: Northern Territory police order parole review after rampage

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Police say alleged gunman, who was on parole and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet, may have been looking for someone

The Northern Territory chief minister has announced a review of every person currently subject to electronic monitoring after a man wearing one of the bracelets allegedly killed four people in an hour-long rampage through Darwin on Tuesday.

The NT police chief, Reece Kershaw, said on Wednesday police believed the alleged gunman, a 45-year-old, was searching for someone who was interstate. Police said at least some of the victims may not have known the gunman.

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George Pell’s lawyer says timing of offence is ‘critical matter’ in appeal

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Cardinal George Pell has appeared in a Melbourne court to appeal his conviction on charges related to child sexual abuse

Cardinal George Pell’s lawyer Bret Walker SC has told three judges presiding over his client’s appeal that the timing of Pell’s offending was a “critical matter” in deciding whether his conviction should be overturned.

Walker is appealing Pell’s conviction on three grounds, the key one being that the jury came to an unreasonable verdict based on the evidence before them during the trial.

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Witnesses describe panic and carnage in Darwin during hour-long shooting rampage

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First reports of a man firing shots came at motel just outside the city centre about 5.50pm

Witnesses of a shooting in Darwin that left four people dead and a woman injured have described scenes of panic after the gunman went on an hour-long rampage.

Northern Territory police arrested the suspected shooter, described as a Caucasian man aged 45, wearing high-vis workwear, on Tuesday night. He remained in hospital under police guard on Wednesday.

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Darwin shooting: at least four people dead and two injured

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Northern Territory police say a 45-year-old suspect is in custody as witnesses report seeing gunman with a pump action shotgun open fire at motel

At least four people are dead and two injured in a mass shooting in Darwin’s city centre.

NT police have arrested the suspected shooter, described as a caucasian man about 45-years-old, wearing high-vis workwear.

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People smuggling at top of Peter Dutton’s agenda during Sri Lanka visit

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Home affairs minister to hold high-level meetings and says Australia will help country rebuild after Easter terrorist attacks

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, will hold high-level meetings in Sri Lanka on Tuesday, with people smuggling at the top of the agenda.

Dutton is due to meet Sri Lanka’s president Maith­ripala Sirisena, prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministerial counterpart in Colombo on Tuesday.

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