Category Archives: Australia news

‘We’ve made a mistake’: Peter Dutton backs down on work from home policy

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The Coalition has also walked away from plans to sack 41,000 public service employees, raising questions about how it will pay for major election policies

The Coalition spectacularly reversed its policy to restrict work from home arrangements and sack 41,000 government employees, walking away from plans to make major changes to the public service.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has admitted he “made a mistake” and “got it wrong” with the unpopular plan, backing down on the signature policy and raising questions about how the Coalition will pay for major election promises it said it would fund with savings from cutting the public service.

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Rainbow lorikeet is our most commonly spotted bird, Australia’s largest citizen science event finds

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About 57,000 people participated in the Aussie Bird Count, with the lorikeet joining the noisy miner and magpie in the top three spots

The rainbow lorikeet and its colourful plumage has topped Australia’s largest citizen science event as the most numerous bird recorded across the country.

More than 4.1m birds were counted as part of BirdLife Australia’s annual Aussie Bird Count, a week-long event which involved 57,000 participants across the country last October.

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Rainbow lorikeet

Noisy miner

Australian magpie

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

Welcome swallow

Galah

Silver gull

Australian white ibis

House sparrow

Little corella

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Rainbow lorikeet is our most commonly spotted bird, Australia’s largest citizen science event finds

Posted on by

About 57,000 people participated in the Aussie Bird Count, with the lorikeet joining the noisy miner and magpie in the top three spots

The rainbow lorikeet and its colourful plumage has topped Australia’s largest citizen science event as the most numerous bird recorded across the country.

More than 4.1m birds were counted as part of BirdLife Australia’s annual Aussie Bird Count, a week-long event which involved 57,000 participants across the country last October.

Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

Rainbow lorikeet

Noisy miner

Australian magpie

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

Welcome swallow

Galah

Silver gull

Australian white ibis

House sparrow

Little corella

Continue reading...

Victoria police pay $90,000 to climate protester who claimed head was slammed into wall, door and ground

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Exclusive: State makes no admissions as it settles case with activist who alleged police misconduct during 2019 arrest at Melbourne mining conference

A climate protester who alleged their head was repeatedly slammed by members of Victoria police’s riot squad in 2019 has reached a settlement with the state.

Timothy Buchanan, 39, alleged their head was slammed into a metal wall, the ground and a glass door that their head was then used to open, during their arrest at a protest at an international mining conference in Melbourne.

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Man charged after allegedly attempting to open plane door on flight to Sydney

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Australian federal police say the man, 46, allegedly tried to open the rear emergency exit door of the plane from Malaysia on Saturday

A Jordanian national has been charged after he allegedly attempted to open the doors of a Sydney-bound plane mid-flight.

Australian federal police (AFP) said the man, 46, allegedly tried to open the rear emergency exit door of the plane, travelling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night.

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Port of Darwin operator says Albanese and Dutton are treating it like ‘a political football’ in election

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Labor and Coalition would both end Chinese company Landbridge’s long-term lease of strategically important asset

The Chinese company that controls the Port of Darwin has accused Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton of treating it like “a political football” in the middle of a federal election campaign.

Federal Labor and the Coalition have both announced that if elected on 3 May they would end Landbridge’s long-term lease of the Port of Darwin, arguing it is strategically important and should be controlled by an Australian entity.

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Cameraman injured after football kick; PM visits flood-hit Queensland – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Poll points to risks in key seats for Labor

We’ve made it to a week into the election campaign. So who’s winning?

At the end of week one, it was clear that Albanese won more days than Dutton and therefore won the week. But there are still four more to go, and anything can happen in an election.

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Is Anthony Albanese worried Jacinta Allan’s poor standing will hurt his election chances in Victoria?

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The PM has so far avoided the Victorian premier on his campaign trail. It has some state Labor MPs worrying she could be made a scapegoat

During the 2022 election campaign, Anthony Albanese waited until the 30th day to hold a press conference with the then Victorian premier, fearing Daniel Andrews’ association with Covid lockdowns.

When the two finally appeared together, Andrews didn’t hold back. He launched into an impassioned tirade against Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg, revisiting the fraught themes of the pandemic, while Albanese stood beside him, visibly uneasy. After that, Andrews largely stayed off the campaign trail.

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$500,000 stolen in Australian super fund data breach

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Super industry’s peak body says majority of hacking attempts stopped but money lost by a small number of customers

Hackers have targeted Australian superannuation funds this week, with a small number of customers losing a combined half a million dollars, and compromising some members’ data, the industry’s peak body says.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) said in a statement on Friday that hackers attempted to breach the cyber defences of a number of superannuation funds last weekend. While the majority of attempts were stopped, several companies were affected, it said.

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Albanese declares Chinese-controlled Port of Darwin should ‘be in Australian hands’

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PM says two options on table: for an Australian-owned company to take control, or for port to return to being a government asset

The Labor government is on the hunt for a buyer for the port of Darwin despite the Chinese-owned company who holds the lease insisting it is not for sale.

Anthony Albanese revealed the plan after calling in to local Darwin radio on Friday afternoon in a deliberate attempt to get ahead of a similar announcement the Coalition made on Saturday.

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Man accused of Cassius Turvey murder ‘is lying through his teeth’, court told

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Jack Brearley says his co-accused delivered fatal blows to 15-year-old but his version is challenged under cross-examination

A man accused of murder who blamed his co-accused for the death of Indigenous teenager Cassius Turvey has had his version of events challenged while giving evidence in his defence.

During testimony on Thursday at the West Australian supreme court, Jack Brearley, 24, told a jury that prosecutors had it wrong and he did not strike the 15-year-old in the head with a metal pole in Perth’s eastern suburbs on 13 October 2022.

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MCG admits ‘breakdown’ in security after guns allegedly smuggled into game

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Men arrested at Melbourne sporting venue allegedly carrying loaded firearms after passing through upgraded security

The MCG has blamed a “breakdown in the thoroughness” of security screening procedures after two men allegedly carrying loaded firearms were able to access a blockbuster match between Collingwood and Carlton.

Police alleged the weapons were found after a search by officers at the ground, as a crowd of 82,058 fans watched the Magpies defeat their arch-rivals on Thursday night.

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Environment watchdog confirms Sydney’s mystery beach balls likely came from sewage treatment plants

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NSW EPA investigation finds debris that washed up on Sydney beaches in 2024 ‘consistent with a land-based sewage source’

Authorities investigating mystery balls of debris that closed beaches in Sydney and the south coast in recent months have determined that they likely originated from Sydney Water’s land-based sewage treatment network, the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said on Friday.

“The development comes after a comprehensive scientific and technical investigation found similarities between the makeup of the debris balls and samples taken from several of Sydney Water’s major wastewater treatment plants, including those at Malabar and Bondi,” the EPA said in a statement.

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Tony Mokbel freed on bail by Victorian court after ‘Lawyer X’ scandal

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Court of appeal rules Mokbel to be released, saying there is a ‘strong chance’ his convictions will be quashed

The organised crime figure Tony Mokbel will be released on bail as a consequence of the “joint criminal enterprise” Victorian police entered with Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo, a court has found.

The Victorian court of appeal ruled on Friday that Mokbel should be released and that there was a “very strong” chance his remaining convictions would be quashed.

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Tasmania’s Dark Mofo is back with a bang – and a car crash: festival announces 2025 program

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After a year off, the often controversial art festival returns, having signed a new three-year funding deal with the state government

A two-hour performance work involving an artist and a stunt driver culminating in a head-on car crash, a man being crushed by sand in a giant hourglass, and an open invitation to scream, are among some of the artworks heading to Tasmania’s Dark Mofo festival, which is back this winter after taking a fallow year.

The annual art festival, created by David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) and well known for its often controversial, confronting and humorous spirit, was called off last year so organisers could take stock of “changing conditions and rising costs” to ensure its future. Many festivals around Australia have been cancelled in the last two years, including Dark Mofo’s summer equivalent, Mona Foma, which finished in 2024 after 16 years.

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RPA hospital closes HIV psychiatry clinic with 200 patients after staff resignations

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Exclusive: Former staff tell Guardian Australia some HIV patients have since required acute mental health care, as hospital also loses specialist pain and eating disorder support staff

The resignation of psychiatrists from Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred hospital has led to the closure of an HIV psychiatry clinic with 200 patients, as well as a loss of specialist psychiatrist services for patients in the pain clinic and the most unwell eating disorder patients.

Minutes from a Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) and Balmain hospital medical staff council on 10 February, seen by Guardian Australia, also contain slides from a presentation about psychiatrist resignations that state “there is no HIV psychiatry clinic”.

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‘Game on’: Kim Williams has ‘no doubt’ a Coalition government would initiate a review of the ABC

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ABC chair backs public broadcaster after Peter Dutton’s comments warning it would need to demonstrate ‘excellence’

The chair of Australia’s public broadcaster says he has “no doubt” a Coalition government would initiate a review of the ABC, but that the organisation has nothing to apologise for in its quest for “excellence” and “efficiency”.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt within the event of Mr [Peter] Dutton acceding to office that there would be a very early call for an efficiency and, apparently, an excellency review for what the ABC does. Game on,” Kim Williams said during a speech at the Melbourne Press Club on Thursday.

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Brisbane woman charged with murder after allegedly giving terminally ill partner lethal dose of pain medication

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Police say David Mobbs was in ‘last stages of his life’ with motor neurone disease and had been in and out of hospital before his death

A pensioner has been charged with murder after being accused of administering a lethal dose of prescription medication to her terminally ill partner.

Kylie Ellina Truswell-Mobbs, 50, was arrested more than a year after the death of David Ronald Mobbs, 56, at Alexandra Hills, in Brisbane’s south-east, in December 2023.

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Australia election 2025 live: PM dines with Greg Norman as nation braces for Trump tariffs; Howard says Coalition are election underdogs

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Golfer has been used before as a diplomatic bridge to US president. Follow today’s news live

Peter Dutton is in Western Australia for his first visit to the mining state of this campaign, and has come bearing a $600m announcement for roads which are critical to mining and agriculture.

He will spend the day in WA and Perth, before it’s expected he’ll return to the east coast late tonight or early tomorrow.

All candidates were made aware that if they were not coming tonight then they would be represented by an empty chair. This notice was given in advance.

The Liberals have failed to announce a 2030 or 2035 emissions target, committing only to net zero by 2050. The fate of the climate will be determined by cumulative emissions, so this lack of short or medium term targets is deeply problematic.

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Newborns treated with antibiotics respond less well to vaccines, study shows

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An Australian study found that babies with early exposure to antibiotics had lower levels of antibodies against jabs in later infancy

Babies who are treated with antibiotics as newborns have reduced immune responses to vaccines in later infancy, likely due to changes in the gut microbiome, new research suggests.

The Australian study tracked 191 healthy babies from birth, finding that those who received antibiotics in the first few weeks of life had significantly lower levels of antibodies against multiple vaccines at seven and 15 months.

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