Bus driver charged over Brisbane crash that killed 18-year-old Tia Cameron abused outside court

Insults hurled at Lindsay Selby, who has not yet entered a plea, while leaving Brisbane court after being charged over a fatal CBD bus crash

A bus driver charged after a Brisbane CBD crash in which 18-year-old Tia Cameron died has been abused while leaving court.

Lindsay Francis Selby, 70, was also targeted by some of Cameron’s supporters outside Brisbane magistrates court on Wednesday in heated scenes.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Julian Assange leaves Belmarsh prison after plea deal and will return to Australia, WikiLeaks says

WikiLeaks X account has tweeted that ‘Julian Assange is free’. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘It’s just a lazy delay’

Bill Shorten says a further delay of the Senate vote on the NDIS bill won’t actually lead to any changes:

There’s no good reason on God’s green earth to have another eight weeks of review, which isn’t actually eight weeks.

There won’t be a whole lot of new submissions come in, there won’t be some brand new arguments not considered.

I’m horrified after 12 months of reviewing the NDIS and then another six months of discussing the review including [in] the last three a Senate committee having public hearings calling for submissions.

The opposition has used words never ever said before by them.

Continue reading...

Coldest start to winter in decades in some areas with polar air mass predicted across Australia next week

Many parts of Victoria, NSW and Queensland have shivered through temperatures between 2C and 5C below average, the BoM says

It has been the coldest start to winter in decades for parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and temperatures are expected to remain cooler with a polar air mass predicted to sweep through the entire country in the coming week.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said many parts of south-eastern Australia experienced temperatures in the past week between 2C and 5C below average for winter.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Bloody brilliant’: businessman stripped of far north Queensland island

Double Island returned to state government over leaseholder Benny Wu’s failure to reopen it for tourism

A far north Queensland island has been returned to the state government after a Hong Kong businessman was stripped of a tourism lease for breaching conditions.

Double Island near Cairns was home to a luxury resort that shut down six years ago.

Continue reading...

Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Indigenous leader Rev Dr D Gondarra dies; mass cull ordered to stop NSW bird flu outbreak

Follow the day’s news

Albanese calls Coalition nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has slammed the Coalition’s nuclear power policy, calling it a “fantasy” and saying it was “Peter Dutton and the Seven nuclear reactors.”

What you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy, instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors.

This is just absurd, to have a big buildup for an announcement and then say we won’t give you the details. I’ll make this prediction. All the details won’t be out there before the election. It will be just “trust me”, just the same as Peter Dutton said that [for the] 2030 target when it comes to emissions reduction, “I will let you know all of that after the election.”

Well, our energy policy will and is absolutely focused on driving down prices as we did in government at … this is the important point. And that is because of a range of technologies, not one, nuclear needs to be part of that mix. You need to have every horse in this race. This is a hard race to win. And we want to have every horse in the race. Nuclear is an important one, gas is an important one.

Everyone wants to sort of say there’s one technology this the answer to everything. No. I’m just wondering. It’s a balance of technologies and right now, what is clear is Chris Bowen’s strategy is not getting us to where we need to go.

Continue reading...

‘This is monumental’: Australia takes first step to world heritage nomination for parts of Cape York

‘We want this to be on the bucket list of visitors from around the world because it is so special globally,’ environment minister says

Australia has taken the first steps to nominating parts of Cape York for recognition as Unesco world heritage.

The area features 17,000 year-old rock art – some of the world’s largest – and is home to more than 300 threatened species, including the green sawfish, Cape York rock wallaby and southern cassowary.

Continue reading...

Man charged over alleged Queensland shooting murder lost gun licence three years ago, police say

South Mackay man, 31, charged with murder and attempted murder over Robb Place shootings as police investigate how he allegedly gained access to firearm

A Queensland woman was leaving for a sporting activity when a neighbour allegedly shot her dead in her car in front of two girls.

Ryan Geoffrey Cole, 31, has been charged with murdering the woman and shooting another person who came to her aid in Mackay, north Queensland.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Dutton announces Coalition’s nuclear policy and proposed sites, but no costs

Sites named at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’

I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:

We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.

Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.

So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.

Continue reading...

RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

Continue reading...

Virgin Australia plane makes emergency landing – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Ex-Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives at a Toowoomba court

Bruce Lehrmann arrives at a Toowoomba court for a committal hearing into allegations he raped a woman in 2021.

Continue reading...

Climate 200 names nine new Coalition seats where it hopes to replicate teal wave at next election

Exclusive: After months of speculation the fundraising giant has identified more electorates where independent campaigns meet its criteria for support

Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.

After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

One man dead and two rescued after yacht capsizes on Great Barrier Reef

A snapped keel is believed to have caused the vessel to overturn off Lady Elliot Island near Gladstone, Queensland

One man is dead and two others have been winched to safety after their yacht capsized, triggering a major search and rescue operation off the central Queensland coast.

A snapped keel is believed to have caused the vessel to overturn off Lady Elliot Island near Gladstone early on Sunday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Minns ‘really sorry’ final Vivid drone show cancelled with 20 minutes notice; Malinauskas welcomes ‘exciting’ panda news

The current pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, will return to China this year. Follow the day’s news headlines

Labor ‘continuing to consult’ on Makarrata commission, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

Treaty process is undergoing at the various states and that’s appropriate. With regard to Makarrata, we’re continuing to consult on those issues. said.

Indigenous leaders, of course, were very disappointed by the referendum result. I’ll attend Garma once again this year and sit down with people and talk about a way forward.

Continue reading...

Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened

This blog is now closed

The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.

I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?

This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.

Continue reading...

Environmental groups apply to take Tanya Plibersek to high court over coalmine approvals

Minister should have assessed climate damage that would be caused by two large developments, advocates say

Conservationists will ask the high court to examine whether the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, should have assessed the climate damage that would be caused by two large coalmine developments.

The Environment Council of Central Queensland has sought special leave in Australia’s highest court to appeal against the federal court’s dismissal of what is known as the Living Wonders case.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Queensland Labor shelves reforms to stop faith-based schools discriminating against gay teachers

Exclusive: Disabled people, DV victims also at risk after broken promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws, advocates say

The Queensland government will renege on its promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws before the October state election – a move advocates say will leave women fleeing domestic violence, people with disabilities and members the LGBTQ+ community at risk.

Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that the state government was considering watering down reforms proposed by a review of the 33-year-old act.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: person ‘likely’ with dementia made call to police before 92-year-old allegedly assaulted by police, Karen Webb says

Follow the day’s news live

Chalmers asked about findings that jobseekers unable to afford ‘basics of life’

The treasurer Jim Chalmers was up on ABC News Breakfast just earlier, asked about new Anglicare data showing Australians on income support are “structurally unable to afford the basics of life”.

This is the primary motivation for the substantial cost of living relief that we’re providing in the budget. Whether it is the tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, help with student debt and cheaper medicines, plus the increases to jobseeker – which were in the budget before last – all of these are important ways that we can not just understand and acknowledge the pressures that people are under, but actually respond to them.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Dutton suggests Coalition won’t provide 2030 emissions target before election5; Qld state budget announcement today

Opposition leader says Coalition will ‘make our announcements in relation to our targets in due course’. Follow today’s news headlines live

Murray Watt says the opposition has “started the new climate wars” after Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt, two senior Nationals, called for Australia to pull out of the Paris agreement. You can read more on this from Karen Middleton below:

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt said:

We’re back to the same old climate wars in the Coalition. I saw overnight that [Joyce and Pitt] openly called for the Coalition to pull out of the Paris agreement. They’ve spent the last couple of days trying to paper over the cracks in the Coalition, saying that they can withdraw the target without withdrawing from the agreement. Now it’s out there in the open for everyone to see. And you can set your clock by Barnaby Joyce causing new climate wars within the Coalition. It’s seem like we’re back to the bad old days.

We’re on track to get to 42%, which is only 1% short of the 43% target.

Continue reading...

Queensland premier says ‘no update’ on anti-discrimination reforms – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Brisbane Christian school issues apology two years after gender contracts

A Pentecostal Christian school has expressed regret for introducing a controversial student gender and sexuality contract two years ago.

We regret any distress or concern which was caused to students, parents and guardians of students or prospective students of the college.

We are working closely with all of our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers and we are providing support to the industry in responding to the Avian Flu cases in Victoria.

Continue reading...