Category Archives: Tasmania

Doctor’s ‘grossly irresponsible prescribing’ played direct role in two deaths, Tasmanian coroner finds

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Dr David Jackson gave ‘effectively an unlimited supply for a drug binge’ to one addict, inquest finds

A former medical practitioner who was the subject of multiple red flags played a direct role in the deaths of two patients through grossly irresponsible drug prescribing, a coroner has found.

Nicholas Brown, Matthew Winwood, Toni Wiki and Belinda Kemp, who were all drug dependent, died in Tasmania between September 2016 and August 2017.

In Australia, the Opioid Treatment Line is at 1800 642 428 or call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015. In the UK, Action on Addiction is available on 0300 330 0659. In the US, call or text SAMHSA’s National Helpline on 988

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‘That’s a bad combination’: why Australia may be in for a slushy snow season

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Snow arrives in time for the start of ski season, but climate change and El Niño mean it may not stick around for long, experts say

There was optimism across Australian alpine resorts this week as their social media channels filled with footage of snow flurries that arrived just in time for the opening of the ski season this weekend.

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said the Instagram account of Perisher, the southern hemisphere’s biggest ski resort in Kosciuszko national park in New South Wales, as hands swept the fresh snow from outdoor tables.

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Wild weather unleashes thunderstorms across south-east Australia, triggering flash flooding

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Wet weather batters parts of Queensland, NSW and Tasmania amid warnings of heavy falls on Friday

Wild weather more typical of summer than the last days of autumn has caused chaos in south-eastern Australia, unleashing a string of severe thunderstorms.

Heavy rainfall accompanied by 500,000 lightning strikes across Queensland and New South Wales triggered widespread flash flooding, road closures and travel disruptions.

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Record-breaking May warmth soon to blow away as cold front moves towards eastern Australia

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Daytime temperatures on Friday were 10 to 14C above average in four states

Record-breaking warm temperatures for the start of May in many parts of the country will be washed out by a cold front bringing rain, thunderstorms and much cooler weather.

A high-pressure system dragged warm northerly winds across south-east Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said.

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Labor senator deletes Anzac Day Instagram post after mistakenly including raunchy rap song

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Images in Helen Polley’s post included a marching band, people laying wreaths and ex-serving members giving speeches set to a track by US rapper Chingy

A federal Labor senator has deleted a social media video which mistakenly included audio of an explicit rap song over a carousel of photos of Anzac Day commemorations.

Senator Helen Polley, a former shadow minister and current chair of parliament’s committee on law enforcement, posted a video compilation of images paying respect to Australia’s defence forces.

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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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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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