Category Archives: Australia news

Australia extreme heatwave: ‘code red’ issued as Port Augusta hits 48.9C

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Severe weather conditions forecast to bring maximum temperatures 8C to 16C above average, as three towns record overnight minimums of 33C

Coping with extreme heat: share your photos

Port Augusta in South Australia has reached 48.9C on Tuesday, as a heatwave sets in across much of Australia threatening more record hot days.

All-time highest minimum temperatures have also been broken in three places. Meekatharra in Western Australia and Fowlers Gap and White Cliffs in New South Wales all registered an overnight minimum of 33C on Monday.

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Councils ask Morrison to pay for citizenship ceremonies on 26 January

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PM says ceremonies must be held on Australia Day, but some councils say they are too small, or too hot

The federal government has been told to put its money where its mouth is on the question of Australia Day. Councils are arguing they should be financially compensated if they are forced to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January.

A day before he launched a rebrand of his Coalition government, Scott Morrison on Sunday said he was “prime minister for standards” as he spruiked a new rule that would force councils to oversee the ceremonies on Australia Day. The government will also ban “board shorts” and “thongs” from those events.

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Australia’s best beaches poll: vote for your top seaside spots #BestBeaches

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Cast your ballot to help determine Australia’s best regional, remote and metropolitan beaches. You can vote once per category.

Beaches have been categorised according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics remoteness region they are within. Can’t see your favourite? Suggest it below - if enough nominations are received, we will add it to the list

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Australia’s global beach ambassador on what makes a great beach

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What tickles your fancy when land meets sea? Brad Farmer recommends choosing your ‘best beach’ discerningly

• Vote for Australia’s best beaches
• Open thread: tell us about your favourite beach

As a child, a day at the beach was pure bliss and the salty, splashing, bucket and spade days went on to form the greatest of lasting memories. Now, as an adult, each time I go to the beach – any beach – the ephemeral experience on this thin strip of sand where land meets sea still fascinates and delights me as a celebration of the senses.

I have my favourites of course, many from those carefree, halcyon days as a sun-kissed kid. But are they the “best” beaches of Australia’s honour roll of 11,761 beaches and does it really matter?

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Danny Lim’s supporters surround Sydney police station to protest against arrest

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Lim’s lawyer, Bryan Wrench, tells crowd the pair will not tolerate ‘political censorship’

More than 150 people have surrounded a Sydney police station to protest against the treatment of sandwich board activist Danny Lim after footage of him being arrested sent social media into a frenzy.

The cult Sydney figure is now considering legal action against police.

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Temperatures to soar as heatwave hits every state and territory

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Much of Australia will bake this week with meteorologists forecasting the hot conditions will last for days in some parts

Every state and territory will bake through a heatwave on Monday with meteorologists saying soaring temperatures will last for days in some parts.

The Bureau of Meteorology said hot days were expected in January but multiple days in a row of temperatures above 40C were unusual.

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Australia too slow in considering Saudi teen’s asylum bid, rights group says

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Human Rights Watch says government should have acted with more urgency to help Rahaf al-Qunun

Human Rights Watch Australia has criticised the government’s handling of a Saudi teenager’s bid for asylum, after the 18-year-old was granted safe haven in Canada.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun fled from Kuwait to Thailand, saying she had been abused by her family and feared for her life if deported back home.

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Tiny Nannup hits the big time with world’s largest wooden pendulum clock

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Western Australian timber town joins Australia’s list of big things thanks to the tenacity of Kevin Bird and his 6m clock

It rains a lot in Nannup. The small timber town in south-western Western Australia, population of just over 1,300, receives almost a metre of rainfall a year. For a builder like Kevin Bird, that means a lot of days when it’s too wet to work.

It could be an opportunity to catch up on the accounts, or even leave off work for the day and read a book. Instead, Bird used his wet-weather days to build the largest wooden pendulum clock in the world.

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Serial Sydney protester Danny Lim arrested for offensive behaviour

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74-year-old previously had a conviction for offensive conduct overturned over sandwich board that mocked Tony Abbott

Sydney sandwich board activist Danny Lim has been arrested and fined for offensive behaviour.

Three police officers arrested the 74-year-old at Exchange Place in Barangaroo about 9.20am on Friday. It’s unclear what the offensive behaviour involved.

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Saudi woman fleeing family flies to Canada after gaining asylum

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Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, fled to Thailand last week accusing her family of abuse

An 18-year-old Saudi woman who said she was abused by her family and feared for her life if deported back home has left Thailand for Canada, which has granted her asylum, officials said.

The fast-moving developments capped an eventful week for Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun. She fled her family while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in an airport hotel to avoid deportation and grabbed global attention by mounting a social media campaign for asylum.

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Lawyers given just 36 hours to respond to Dutton’s child sex offender register plan

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Law Council president Arthur Moses says legal profession would be very troubled if proposal is rushed for political purposes

The government has allowed Australia’s peak legal body just 36 hours to respond to its public child sex offender register proposal, a move the Law Council has labelled “absurd”.

Peter Dutton announced on Wednesday the government was considering establishing a register which could include the postcode, name and photo of child sex offenders. Reaction was mixed, but Dutton said the government would be asking for the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including child advocacy groups and legal representatives.

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Teenage Australian boy killed in Austrian avalanche while skiing with family

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Sixteen-year-old dies after he and his mother were swept away while skiiing at St Anton am Arlberg

A 16-year-old Australian boy has been killed in an avalanche in Austria, local police said.

The boy was skiing with his parents and 14-year-old brother at St Anton am Arlberg, western Austria, on Wednesday, when he and his mother were swept away by the avalanche, local news reports said. His mother was able to escape unhurt, but the boy was buried in 2m of snow.

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Fraser Anning billed taxpayers for staying at brother’s Queensland hotel

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Exclusive: senator claimed expenses for two trips to Babinda in 2018, where his brother owns a hotel

Fraser Anning claimed a taxpayer-funded accommodation and meals allowance for staying at his brother’s hotel in the regional town of Babinda.

The independent senator’s use of taxpayer funds for travel has been under scrutiny since he announced he would bill the public to travel from Queensland to a far-right rally in St Kilda on Saturday.

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Rahaf al-Qunun: Labor says Saudi refugee should be resettled in Australia

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Bill Shorten urges Scott Morrison to accept Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun now that the UN has validated her refugee claim

Labor has said the Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun should be resettled in Australia now that her refugee claim had been validated.

The party’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, told ABC radio on Thursday Bill Shorten had written to Scott Morrison urging him to accept Qunun.

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Suspicious packages sent to US, Pakistani and other consulates in Melbourne

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Diplomatic headquarters in Canberra also targeted as firefighters remove bags labelled ‘Danger asbestos’

The United States, Pakistani, Swiss, Indian, South Korean and New Zealand consulates in Melbourne are among a number of foreign diplomatic headquarters across the city and in Canberra targeted with suspicious packages.

The deliveries on Wednesday sparked an emergency “hazardous material” response and, in some cases, evacuation.

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Rahaf al-Qunun: Saudi teenager given refugee status by the UN

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Australia to consider asylum request after home affairs minister says she would not get ‘special treatment’

Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has been found to be a refugee by the United Nations, and the Australian government will now consider her asylum request, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

The 18-year-old woman barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room on Sunday to prevent her forcible return to Saudi Arabia, where she claims her family will kill her because she has renounced Islam.

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After centuries of being written about, Indigenous people are staking claim to their own stories

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After centuries of being written about, Indigenous Australians are reclaiming their own stories

Ninety-six-year-old Wes Marne has been telling stories, he says, “since Moses played fullback for Jerusalem”.

But the Aboriginal elder worries about the future of storytelling.

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Two Irish nationals facing murder charges over Sydney death

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Man allegedly assaulted in inner west on 29 December died in hospital on Monday night

Two Irish nationals are facing murder charges after a man assaulted in Sydney’s inner west died in hospital.

Christopher McLaughlin, 24, and Nathan Kelly 21, were charged with reckless grievous bodily harm in company and affray after emergency services found the 66-year-old injured on the side of the road at Summer Hill on 29 December.

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Rahaf al-Qunun: Saudi woman under UN protection as Australia urges asylum claim

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Thai authorities say 18-year-old will not be forced to return with her father to the Middle East, where she claims her family will kill her

An 18-year-old Saudi woman who barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room to prevent her forcible return to a family she claims will kill her, has been taken under the protection of the UN high commissioner for refugees in Thailand.

The Australian government said on Monday night Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun’s situation was “deeply concerning” and it had lobbied the Thai government and the UNHCR to allow her to formally claim asylum.

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