Category Archives: Tasmania

Three-metre giant oarfish, ‘palace messenger’ of doom, washes up on Tasmanian beach

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The enormous, serpentine fish, regarded in Japanese folklore as a herald of disaster, usually live deep below the surface and are only sighted when sick or dying

It was a beautiful warm day in north-west Tasmania when a fish with a reputation as a harbinger of doom washed ashore.

Tony Cheesman, who lives in the seaside town of Penguin, was walking his two dogs, Ronan and Custard, along the beach at Preservation Bay on Friday morning when something silvery and surrounded by gulls grabbed his attention.

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Bodies of two women who died in Victorian high country might have been there ‘two or three days’, police say

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Police are working to identify the women and ask anyone who had seen two women appearing ‘disoriented’ in the area earlier to contact Crime Stoppers

Emergency services have recovered the bodies of two women who died in “blizzard conditions” in the Victorian high country.

The bodies of the women were found by hikers near a remote hut at Nelse, about 400km north-east of Melbourne, on Friday afternoon. Their deaths are not considered to be suspicious, police said.

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Tasmanian museum kept and displayed 177 human remains without families’ knowledge, report finds

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University of Tasmania apologises, saying staff have met with families and will consider coroner’s findings

Human specimens were collected, and in some cases publicly displayed, by a museum for decades without the knowledge or consent of families.

The University of Tasmania’s RA Rodda Museum collected remains from coronial autopsies from 1966 to 1991 for teaching and research purposes.

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Murray Watt backs ‘no-go’ zones where development is banned – but not for Tasmania’s Robbins Island

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Environment minister says scientific evidence did not convince government that remote island qualified

Australia’s environment minister, Murray Watt, has backed the creation of “no-go zones” where development will be banned in some places under a revamped nature law, but said Tasmania’s remote Robbins Island – the site of a contentious windfarm proposal – does not qualify.

Watt this week said the Albanese government would accelerate its plan to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act so that legislation was introduced to parliament this year, sooner than previously suggested.

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Labor greenlights contentious Robbins Island windfarm despite fears for endangered orange-bellied parrot

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Environment advocates have called for important migratory shorebird habitat off Tasmania to be declared ‘no-go site’

The Albanese government has greenlit a contentious windfarm proposed for Robbins Island off north-western Tasmania, promising to impose conditions to protect threatened bird species, including the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, announced on Friday that he had approved an application by the renewable energy company Acen Australia to build up to 100 turbines, a 1.2km bridge between the nearly 10,000-hectare island and the Tasmanian mainland, a 500-metre wharf and four quarries.

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Josh Willie named new Tasmanian Labor leader after party officially concedes election defeat

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Leadership spill comes day after Dean Winter bid to form government via no-confidence motion in parliament fell flat

Tasmanian Labor has replaced Dean Winter as parliamentary leader, with Josh Willie elected unopposed to serve as the state’s new opposition leader.

The party, which has been in opposition for 11 years, met for more than seven hours on Wednesday before announcing Willie’s appointment.

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Tasmanian salmon farming expansion on hold as state Liberals order review ahead of parliament showdown

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Premier Jeremy Rockliff attempts to win support from crossbench MPs and survive no-confidence motion when state parliament returns this week

The Tasmanian Liberal party has promised a pause on salmon farm expansion and an independent review of the industry as it attempts to win support from crossbench MPs and survive a no-confidence motion in the state parliament this week.

In a concession to independent MPs critical of the operation of salmon farms in public waterways, the premier, Jeremy Rockliff, on Sunday said he supported the industry but that it was “on notice” after a mass mortality event last summer, and it must “operate transparently and responsibly and meet its obligations to the community”.

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Tasmanian premier vows to end greyhound racing as he woos crossbench to back minority government

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Jeremy Rockliff says ‘it’s time to draw a line in the sand and ensure an orderly exit from greyhound racing in Tasmania’

The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has vowed to end greyhound racing in the state by mid-2029 as he works to shore up support from independents.

The decision comes after a “great” of Tasmanian greyhound racing, Raider’s Guide, was euthanised in late July after falling and breaking its neck at a Launceston track.

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Cold front to dump ‘decent dose’ of rain on drought-affected parts of south-east Australia

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Parched areas of South Australia, northern Victoria and south-western NSW to receive relief later this week

Drought-affected areas in south-eastern Australia can expect a “decent dose” of rain when a cold front arrives later this week, with some places likely to see the best rain of the year so far.

With one low-pressure system already delivering windy and wet conditions to the south-east on Tuesday, a second front – currently sitting off Western Australia – was expected to sweep across the country from Wednesday to Sunday, bringing a welcome band of rain to parched areas of South Australia, northern Victoria and south-western New South Wales.

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Small band of independents offer Liberals and Labor a path to power in Tasmania

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Jeremy Rockliff has begun courting crossbench support, while Dean Winter is open to governing with five-seat Greens plus independents

The independents who hold Tasmania’s political future in their hands have indicated they could support a premier from either major party.

The incumbent Liberals claimed 14 seats at Saturday’s snap election, ahead of Labor on nine.

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Liberal and Labor leaders court crossbench after snap Tasmanian election delivers another hung parliament

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Parties likely to have same number of seats as last parliament, but premier Jeremy Rockliff declares victory after Liberals secure 3% swing from Labor

Tasmania’s premier and opposition leader have both reached out to independent MPs in the hope of forming government, after Labor lost ground in the early election it brought on.

Saturday’s snap poll, 16 months after the last election, returned another hung parliament with the Liberals so far securing 14 seats and Labor nine, as counting continued.

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Minority government the new normal in Tasmania as voters turn away from major parties

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State’s unusual electoral system makes winning a majority difficult at the best of times. Now, facing another hung parliament, Labor is in a sticky situation

Tasmania has just had its second state election in 16 months, the shortest gap between state polls in Australia since Queensland in 1957.

For some voters it was their fifth trip to the ballot box in less than two years.

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Jeremy Rockliff says he expects crossbenchers will allow Liberals to form government – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Controversial MP Mark Latham says he has “broken no law” as he publicly responds to a former partner’s allegations of domestic violence.

The former federal Labor leader and NSW One Nation leader has described recent reports involving former partner Nathalie Matthews as “false, reckless and irresponsible”.

I have broken no law. The police did not involve themselves in the AVO matter.

I have breached no standing orders of the Legislative Council. The NSW parliament has stringent processes about inappropriate behaviour, and in my six years there, I’ve never been notified of a complaint against me.

The Marine Rescue Batemans Bay and Bermagui crews said sea conditions were favourable last night, but it was quite dark with little assistance from the moon, and they had to navigate around numerous whales.

They are searching an area offshore from just north of Narooma to south of Bermagui under the direction of Marine Area Command and will continue to do so until otherwise instructed.

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Early tallies in Tasmania election point to Liberal gains

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Support appears to grow for incumbent government in election triggered by no-confidence vote

Early voting counts in Tasmania’s election points to the Liberals being in the box seat to rule, with the incumbent government’s vote rising and Labor’s collapsing.

Saturday’s vote, triggered when the minority Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, lost a no-confidence motion in early June, is the island’s second in 16 months.

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Bruce Lehrmann loses bid for interim restraining order against Daily Mail reporter he alleges stalked him

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Former Liberal staffer’s lawyer Zali Burrows told the court Karleigh Smith and a photographer followed her client in a car

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost an application for an interim restraining order against a Daily Mail journalist he alleges stalked him.

Lehrmann has launched legal action in the Hobart magistrates court against Karleigh Smith, a senior reporter at the Mail who is based in New South Wales.

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Tasmanian police officer shot dead at rural property during court-issued attempt to repossess house

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Officer was attending the property to execute a warrant and was shot as he approached the house, police allege

A “devastated” family is in mourning and an alleged offender is in custody after a senior Tasmanian police officer died in a shooting in the state’s north-west.

The police commissioner, Donna Adams, said officers attended a residential property on Allison Road in North Motton at about 11am on Monday to execute a court-issued warrant to repossess the residence. They alleged the occupant of the home fatally shot a 57-year-old male officer as they approached the front of the house.

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Tasmania to hold early election after governor grants embattled premier Jeremy Rockliff’s request

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Barbara Baker agrees to poll despite ‘public interest in avoiding the cost’ because no possibility of alternative government forming

Tasmania will hold an early election on 19 July – just 16 months after last going to the polls – after the state’s governor agreed to a request from the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff.

The announcement followed a dramatic week in which the parliament narrowly supported a no-confidence motion in Rockliff moved by the Labor leader, Dean Winter, and the state’s three main political parties each argued a fresh election could be avoided.

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Former federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer recruited by Rockliff for snap Tasmania poll

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Bridget Archer lost Bass to Labor at the federal election and is a moderate ally of the premier who suffered a no confidence vote last week

Prominent former federal Liberal MP, Bridget Archer, has announced she will contest a snap Tasmanian election for the embattled state government, amid ongoing political upheaval.

The Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, is expected to call an election on Tuesday – only 15 months after Tasmanians last went to the polls – after the state parliament passed a motion of no confidence in him.

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Confusion and chaos reign in Tasmanian parliament with no endgame in sight

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A vote of no-confidence in Jeremy Rockliff’s government has pushed the state to the brink of an election that all the major players agree is a bad idea

Craig Garland, the fisherman turned maverick independent MP from Tasmania’s north-western corner, summed it up best when he told state parliament on Thursday morning he was “a bit confused”.

Garland wasn’t confused about what he was doing – he calmly backed a no-confidence motion in the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff. But he expressed doubts about how the Tasmanian parliament got here, and what lay ahead.

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Families of children killed in Hillcrest jumping castle incident ‘shattered’ after not guilty verdict

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Rosemary Gamble, owner of Taz-Zorb which set up the equipment in Tasmania, had pleaded not guilty to failing to comply with workplace safety laws

The families of the six children killed in a primary school jumping castle incident are angry after the operator who set up the castle was found not guilty of a workplace safety charge.

Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt died after the incident at Hillcrest primary school in Devonport in December 2021.

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