Category Archives: Australia news

‘Proud to’: Liberal MP spruiks tougher gambling proposal, but says Coalition plans good ‘first step’

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Exclusive: Keith Wolahan launched ads supporting stronger stance two days after federal election called, but also says Coalition policy important ‘first step’

A Liberal moderate who was part of a bipartisan parliamentary committee that urged the federal government to adopt a total ban on gambling advertising has paid for campaign material, stating he was “proud to” do so, inadvertently highlighting different policy positions within the Coalition.

The Coalition has resisted calls from advocates to take a policy to the election that would ban gambling advertising outright, instead pledging to ban “gambling ads one hour before, during and one hour after live sports broadcasts”.

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Major staff cuts on table at Victorian magistrates court, threatening Allan government’s crime crackdown

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Potential cuts expected to more than 25% of backroom staff, underlining challenge for state government crippled by debt but trying to bolster public safety

The Victorian magistrates court is considering cutting more than a quarter of its backroom staff despite its workload likely increasing as the Allan government presses ahead with “tough on crime” policies.

Leaked documents show it is proposed that 24 out of 92 staff from the courts’ corporate services department are made redundant, including those working in family violence and legal policy areas.

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‘Australia is a landlord’s market’: rents still at record high despite slow growth, report shows

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Kingsford Smith, Bradfield, Sydney, and Warringah in New South Wales and Fadden in Queensland are the five most expensive electorates, data shows

Rents are growing at the slowest rate in four years thanks in part to increased supply, but are still at record highs, Domain’s March Quarterly report has revealed.

It comes as Anglicare Australia launches a heat map showing rental affordability in each electorate, with Kingsford Smith, Bradfield, Sydney, and Warringah in New South Wales and Fadden in Queensland the five least-affordable electorates in the country.

7.7% in Darwin to $700 per week;

6.2% in Perth to $690 per week;

5.1% in Adelaide to $620 per week;

4.8% in Brisbane to $650 per week;

3.6% in Hobart to $570 per week;

3.35% in Sydney to $775 per week;

2.2% in Canberra to $700 per week; and

1.8% in Melbourne to $580 per week.

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Passengers hold on as driverless Metro train speeds through Sydney tunnel with an open door

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Rail union wants network temporarily shut down and an investigation into ‘one of the worst safety incidents we’ve seen’

Passengers held on to handrails after a door stayed open on a driverless Metro racing underneath Sydney, with a transport union later calling for the system to be shut down until safety measures were put in place.

A “door fault” was identified on a train travelling between Chatswood and Crows Nest stations at about 8.01am on Wednesday, the Metro Trains Sydney chief executive, Daniel Williams, said in a statement.

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Doctors in NSW public hospitals threaten three-day strike over pay dispute, defying ban

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State government warns industrial action could halt elective surgeries, as doctors seek pay rise of up to 30%

Thousands of doctors in public hospitals across New South Wales are threatening to strike for the first time in decades as they seek a pay rise of up to 30%, as the state government warns the action could halt elective surgeries.

Doctors have threatened a three-day walkout from public hospitals from Tuesday. It marks the latest medical industrial dispute to potentially escalate into diminished patient care, after Guardian Australia on Wednesday revealed that the mass resignation of public psychiatrists over pay and conditions has led to the closure of the HIV psychiatry clinic at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred’s hospital.

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Queensland’s recovery to ‘take months and years’ after floods sweep across vast interior

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Bureau of Meteorology predicts flooding could continue for weeks as stock losses already estimated at over 150,000

Queensland’s premier has declared “day one” of a recovery that will take years as the state prepares to wake to clear skies that should reveal the vast scale of its outback floods.

But despite forecasts the rain will pass for soaked central and south-west Queensland by Thursday, towns and homesteads could be cut off or at risk of flooding for weeks to come, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior meteorologist, Dean Narramore.

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Australian police will testify at trial of US man linked to Wieambilla shootings

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Arizona allows testimony in the case of Donald Day who is accused of making threats to public figures and the FBI

Australian police officers have been given the green light to testify in the US trial of a man accused of links to the deadly Wieambilla shootings in rural Queensland.

The Queensland officers will be allowed to testify in an Arizona court but will have to stick to “neutral factual” accounts of the incident.

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Melissa Caddick’s duped investors recoup another $3.5m after settlement with auditors

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Investors defrauded by 49-year-old before her 2020 disappearance and death to get back portion of their $23m in losses

Investors defrauded by Melissa Caddick before her disappearance and death will recoup a portion of their $23m in losses after settling a class action lawsuit with her auditors.

Victims have already been repaid $7.25m after liquidators of the dead fraudster sold off her assets in 2023 and 2024.

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Unregistered Sydney practitioner ‘Injector Josh’ accused of administering Botox without qualifications

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NSW Health Care Complaints Commission is investigating the man, who has been the subject of multiple complaints

An unregistered Sydney beauty practitioner who advertises unauthorised Botox injections and “butt lifts” via Instagram and Snapchat is being investigated by New South Wales health authorities.

The man, who performs injectable and invasive cosmetic procedures, goes by the name Injector Josh and uses the social media handles faisalbasim7 and injectorjosh_. He has been the subject of multiple complaints, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) said in a public health warning on Tuesday.

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Guardian Essential poll: Albanese’s approval rating takes a hit but Labor inches ahead of Coalition

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Voters scored both PM and Peter Dutton poorly on key leadership questions including trust, competence and being out of touch

Labor has ticked ahead of the Coalition on a two-party-plus basis in the first Guardian Essential poll of the election period, as Anthony Albanese turns the blowtorch on Peter Dutton in the opening days of the campaign.

Essential’s “2PP+” measure, which allows voters to remain undecided, put Labor ahead 48% to 47%, with 5% undecided. The survey of 1,100 people was of a piece with recent major polls from Newspoll, Resolve and YouGov, which showed small movements toward Labor in recent weeks.

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Australian house prices hit new peak as rate cut drives buyer demand

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Tougher conditions for first home buyers – and renters, who are now often spending more than those with mortgages

National home prices hit a new peak in March as February’s rate cut reignited buyer demand, according to separate reports from Australia’s leading property analytics companies.

Property values increased 0.4% over the month – the second consecutive month of growth in the national index, CoreLogic reported, after a brief three-month decline where values dipped 0.5%.

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Cadia goldmine operators fined $350,000 for breaches of NSW clean-air laws

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Testing had previously revealed the mine was emitting more than 11 times the legal limit of dust containing heavy metals

The operators of Cadia goldmine have been ordered to pay $350,000 in fines and convicted of three offences after a prosecution by the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority.

Cadia Holdings Limited, trading as Cadia Valley Operations, pleaded guilty to three offences under the environmental protection act relating to breaches of clean air regulations at the mine in central west NSW.

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Peter Dutton’s plan to move to Sydney instead of Canberra if elected ‘arrogant’, Labor says

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Opposition leader confirms he would move into Kirribilli House if elected PM – a statement Anthony Albanese says shows ‘a fair bit of hubris’

Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher has accused Peter Dutton of “arrogantly measuring the curtains at Kirribilli House” and disrespecting the national capital.

Peter Dutton has confirmed he and his family would move into Sydney’s Kirribilli House – a harbourside mansion overlooking the Opera House – rather than the Lodge in Canberra if elected on 3 May.

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Ben Roberts-Smith demands defamation retrial citing alleged recording of Nine investigative journalist

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Federal court hears Nick McKenzie allegedly told a witness that Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife and her friend were ‘actively briefing us on his legal strategy’

Ben Roberts-Smith has argued his case should be retried because there was a “miscarriage of justice” caused by the alleged “misconduct” of Nick McKenzie, the Nine journalist whom Roberts-Smith unsuccessfully sued for defamation.

In an interlocutory application, published by the federal court in Sydney on Monday, Roberts-Smith claimed that McKenzie “engaged in wilful misconduct in the proceedings by improperly and unlawfully obtaining and retaining information concerning [Roberts-Smith’s] legal strategy concerning the trial that was confidential and privileged”.

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Baulkham Hills stabbing: woman arrested and three children in hospital after alleged attack in Sydney suburb

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Two girls, boy in stable condition and 46-year-old woman under guard in hospital after alleged attack in Baulkham Hills

A mother has been arrested after she allegedly stabbed her three children multiple times in their home in Sydney’s north-west.

New South Wales police Det Supt Naomi Moore said on Monday that the children’s father woke to yells in their Baulkham Hills home, and secured the kitchen knife from his partner.

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Super fund took more than 500 days to approve death benefit for grieving widow, Asic says

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Landmark report makes 34 recommendations to overhaul the superannuation sector, citing delays, poor customer service and ineffective procedures

An unnamed superannuation fund took more than 500 days to approve a death benefit payment to an Indigenous woman grieving the loss of her husband and ignored her concerns about financial hardship and a confusing claims process.

The “distressing” case has been highlighted by the financial regulator as one of many “poor industry practices” by funds that have had “devastating impacts” on members experiencing “deep grief, vulnerability, frustration and genuine suffering”.

A “landmark” report released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) on Monday has made 34 recommendations to overhaul the superannuation sector. The report investigated the conduct of 10 trustees, which are responsible for 38% of all member benefits in Australia.

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Dutton flip-flops on proposals for three separate referendums if Coalition wins election

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Opposition leader floats – then walks back – polls on Indigenous recognition, four-year parliamentary terms and stripping citizenship of dual nationals

Peter Dutton has floated – then quickly walked back – proposals for three separate referendums if he wins office, shutting down ideas he had raised to change the constitution for Indigenous recognition, four-year parliamentary terms and stripping citizenship of dual nationals.

The opposition leader had told The Australian newspaper in an interview published on Saturday that he was open to referendums on the three issues if there could be bipartisanship found with the Labor party. “I hope at some stage there will be common ground,” Dutton told the newspaper.

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Bowen says Dutton ‘making it up as he goes’ on gas plan as experts question lack of detail

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Opposition leader promises to release secret modelling within days as former ACCC chair urges Coalition to explain how they would lower prices

Energy minister Chris Bowen claims Peter Dutton is “making it up as he goes” with his gas plan, as experts question how a Coalition government would force gas producers to sell to Australians at cheaper prices.

In his first public comments on Dutton’s plan to bring more gas into Australia’s energy market, Bowen claimed the Coalition was simply dusting off a plan created under the former Morrison government.

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Queensland premier warns worst flooding yet to come after NSW man swept away by rising waters

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Man had been attempting to cross a causeway through rising flood waters that have now cut off a campsite, stranding more than 20 people

Police have resumed the search for an elderly man who was swept into a flooded river on Saturday night, as authorities warn more heavy rain could isolate inland parts of New South Wales and Queensland for up to six weeks.

Flood warnings remain in place for vast areas of eastern Australia, after a record-breaking rain event.

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Magnificent, rare worm with its own campaign song: the giant Gippsland earthworm

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This immense worm moves slowly and gracefully underground and can grow to the length of an outstretched arm

The giant Gippsland earthworm already has an upbeat campaign song.

“I am a real worm, I am an actual worm,” bangs the chorus of Doctor Worm, a late-90s novelty hit by the American indie rock band They Might Be Giants.

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