Legal settlement reached after Acciona alleged it was misled over the complexity of the project and demanded $1.1bn
The consortium building Sydney’s eastern suburbs light rail project will receive up to $576m extra from the New South Wales government under a settlement deal which takes the total cost to $2.7bn.
The light rail linking the CBD to Randwick and Kingsford was originally meant to cost taxpayers $1.6bn.
Continue reading...Keith Pitt and James McGrath behind move, saying ‘we have to be able to investigate all options’
A group of Queensland Liberal National party MPs reportedly want parliament to consider the feasibility of nuclear power in Australia.
The energy source is banned as a source of power but several Coalition MPs will put forward a motion in the Senate to create a committee to investigate using nuclear power in the energy mix.
Continue reading...Kristina Keneally will become the shadow home affairs minister and Jim Chalmers will be shadow treasurer
Anthony Albanese has unveiled Labor’s new shadow ministry, saying the “outstanding new team” will hold the government to account and develop a fresh policy agenda to take to the next election.
The former New South Wales premier Kristina Keneally is the big winner from the opposition leader’s cabinet shake-up, taking the position of shadow home affairs minister after she secured a spot on Albanese’s leadership team as deputy Senate leader.
Continue reading...Rwandan community doesn’t want genocide victims’ families living in Australia to experience additional trauma
Celestin Ngoga knows what happens when Rwanda’s traumatic history comes hurtling into the present.
He’s been on European streets with genocide survivors when they encountered their attackers by chance. It can happen in English classes, he says, or on the train, or in shopping centres.
Continue reading...Police investigating whether deaths of mother and four children in Monday’s crash were part of a murder-suicide
Thirteen people have lost their lives in crashes on Queensland’s roads this week.
The death of a 20-year-old woman in a crash on the New England Highway near Crows Nest on Friday comes at the end of a dreadful week for the state.
Continue reading...Former prosecutor says US was confident when charges were brought that the two men were part of a Hutu rebel group
The attorney who brought charges against two Rwandan men recently resettled in Australia says the United States was “certain” they were members of a Hutu rebel group that was later designated a terror group by the US government.
The comments again raise questions about how the pair managed to pass Australia’s tough and vigorously applied character and security checks, under which others have been deported for minor offences or historical associations with criminal groups.
Continue reading...Everything pointed to a Labor win in the 2019 election. But it is only a pretence that we are in the certainty business
The federal election wash-up is a quaint sort of ritual. There are, inevitably, explosions of feelpinion about why one side won and the other side lost. The victors rush to write the first draft of history, and on the losing side there is a frenzy of backside covering and jostling for future advancement, masquerading as deep insights about who failed to do what and when.
All of it, the initial download – masters of the universe versus the vanquished – is inherently unreliable because the protagonists are unreliable. They are still processing what has happened and they are positioning for the next thing, because that’s how the psychology of politics works. Everything is refracted through post-campaign decompression and self-interest.
Continue reading...Coordinator general releases decision to approve the coal mine’s management plan for bird
The Queensland government has signed off on Adani’s black-throated finch management plan, one of two state approvals the company needs to begin preparatory construction for its Adani coalmine.
Queensland’s coordinator general published the decision on Friday morning.
Continue reading...‘Other than being a bit cold and a bit smelly he still had a full appetite,’ rescuer says
A miniature donkey has caused a stink after falling into a large septic tank, sparking a challenging rescue north of Brisbane.
Firefighters were called to a Morayfield property on Thursday night after its panicked owners called to say their donkey had tumbled into the concrete tank and was wedged firmly inside.
Continue reading...‘There never seems to be any consistent rule or fairness,’ specialist migration lawyer
A 28-year veteran of migration law whose Rwandan clients have all been denied Australia’s protection says the resettlement of two members of a violent Hutu rebel group shows a “frustrating” double standard.
Australia’s deal with the US to take in two former members of the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda, once designated a terrorist group by the US, has prompted consternation among some experts and lawyers. The pair were languishing in US detention after the collapse of a case against them for the slaughter of tourists in Uganda in 1999.
Continue reading...Two men accused of killing tourists were resettled despite being members of a group on a terrorist exclusion list, as judge in their case brands them ‘dangerous’
Two Rwandans who were let into Australia under a secret US aslyum deal could have been rejected under Australia’s strict and vigorously enforced character test, a migration law expert has said.
The assessment comes as an American judge who heard their US asylum case insisted they were “dangerous” and had posed a threat to the safety of the US.
Continue reading...The CBD reached just 10.6C while Ballarat also had its coldest May day in 19 years
Melbourne has shivered through its coldest May day in nearly 20 years, with snow falling in Ballarat and widespread icy roads making conditions slippery.
The CBD reached just 10.6C on Wednesday, making it Melbourne’s coldest May day since 2000.
Continue reading...RepuTex modelling suggests surge in state schemes and rooftop solar will reduce wholesale prices, making gas- and coal-fired power less competitive
Australia is on track to achieve 50% renewable electricity by 2030 even without new federal energy policies, according to modelling by the energy analysts RepuTex.
The analysis, to be released on Wednesday, suggests that a surge in renewable energy driven by state schemes and rooftop solar installations will reduce wholesale prices from $85 per MWh to $70 over the next three years.
Continue reading...Indigenous community welcomes plan but warns against prioritising symbolism over action
Western Australia will become the first state in Australia to permanently fly the Aboriginal flag outside every police station as part of an attempt to address long-standing divisions between police and Indigenous communities.
The proposal forms part of WA police’s first ever reconciliation action plan, released on Tuesday, which also includes a promise to increase Indigenous staffing levels in the organisation, develop protocols for delivering a Welcome to Country at police events, and “look into the feasibility of offering Aboriginal language lessons to staff”.
Continue reading...Australia to discuss Pacific investment bank and infrastructure amid concerns over Chinese influence
Australia is set to sound out the Solomon Islands on its infrastructure wish list and pitch its new Pacific investment bank, amid growing concerns over Chinese regional influence and debt-trap diplomacy.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is expected to arrive in the capital, Honiara, on Sunday for a day-and-a-half bilateral visit before he heads to the United Kingdom and Singapore.
Continue reading...Twenty-seven-year-old to face court accused of ‘particularly horrendous attack’
A homeless man has been charged over the death of Courtney Herron, who was brutally murdered in a Melbourne park two days ago.
Victoria police said the man, 27, of no fixed address, had been arrested on Sunday and charged overnight with one count of murder, and would appear in Melbourne magistrates court on Monday.
Continue reading...Victoria police said Herron, who had no fixed address, was killed in Royal Park on Friday night
Courtney Herron, a 25-year-old woman of no fixed address, has been identified as the victim of “a horrendous bashing” on Friday night that occurred before she was found dead in Royal Park in Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria police say.
The latest victim of violence directed at a young woman alone on Melbourne’s streets at night, Herron’s death has horrified Melbourne.
Continue reading...Australian science agency says there are a ‘negligible number of human deaths’ from snake bites in Australia
The popular suggestion that Australia is home to the world’s deadliest snakes is largely a myth, with the risk of bites and death far greater across Asia, Africa and South America, the nation’s science agency has said.
Herpetologist Ruchira Somaweera from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said the myth was born a few decades ago and came out of a study of the relatively high toxicity levels found in Australian species, such as brown snakes.
Continue reading...The body, yet to be identified, was discovered in the area between the Melbourne Zoo and Royal Children’s hospital
A woman’s body has been found in Melbourne between the Melbourne Zoo and the Royal Children’s hospital, in what police have described as a “horrendous crime”.
They have cordoned off a large section of the Royal park in Parkville, encompassing North Park Tennis Club and the Flemington Road Cricket Oval, as well as Elliott Avenue.
Continue reading...Treasurer signals new infrastructure for renewable zones, and says Coalition will pursue climate policy it took to the election
Josh Frydenberg says Australia needs to roll out new infrastructure in the coming term of government to support renewable energy zones, and has declared that the “inevitable” transition to low-emissions sources creates an opportunity for the country.
In his first wide-ranging interview since holding his Victorian seat last weekend, where he was subjected to a concerted campaign from the Greens and the climate-focused independent Oliver Yates, Frydenberg told Guardian Australia the Coalition would implement the $3.5bn climate policy it took to the election rather than pursue a reboot.
Continue reading...