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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...Category Archives: Queensland
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
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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.
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.
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
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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.
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
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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.
Continue reading...Australia news live: person ‘likely’ with dementia made call to police before 92-year-old allegedly assaulted by police, Karen Webb says
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- Two NSW police officers charged with assaulting 92-year-old man in Sydney
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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
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- Australian company denies Greens’ accusations it exports parts for Israeli missiles used in Gaza
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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...If home is your ‘castle’, how far can you go to defend it? In Queensland, it’s up for debate
A Katter’s Australian party petition says homeowners should be allowed to use ‘whatever force necessary’ – but experts warn of dangers
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“A Queenslander’s home is their castle” and they should be able to use “whatever force necessary” to protect themselves against intruders.
That’s according to a controversial petition from the Katter’s Australian party MP Nick Dametto to enact “castle law”, which has gained more than 36,000 signatures in support of importing the self-defence doctrine from the US that allows people to kill intruders threatening their homes..
Continue reading...Shannon Fentiman referred to Queensland ethics committee over ‘cross your legs’ stoush – as it happened
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- IT expert wins long-running freedom of information court battle over robodebt documents
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Max-Chandler Mather weighs in on Bandt’s potential legal action against attorney-general
Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier about the ongoing stoush between his party and Labor, with Adam Bandt threatening legal action against the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, over comments on pro-Palestine protests.
Asking me to comment on the specifics of a case like that – outrageous comments by the attorney general, completely baseless and without fact … this is an attempt to distract from the fact that the Labor government is complicit in a genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza.
Continue reading...Politics live: question time claims and counter-claims over Australia’s military ties with Israel
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- Robodebt: national corruption watchdog won’t investigate officials referred by royal commission
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Going fully electric would save households more than $600 a year for next four decades, report says
Households would save an average of $608 a year for the next 40 years if new residential buildings in New South Wales were required to be fully electric, according to a report commissioned by climate organisation 350 Australia.
It cuts energy bills for local residents and small businesses during a cost of living crisis and reduces climate pollution, at almost no cost to councils. It will be low-income people and renters who will benefit most from council-led electrification.
Continue reading...Tiger shark regurgitates whole echidna, leaving Australian scientists ‘stunned’
Mammal was likely swimming between Queensland islands when it ‘just got unlucky and got snapped’ – spikes and all – in apparent world-first
The last thing a group of scientists busy tagging marine animals along the coast of north Queensland expected to see was a shark regurgitate a fully intact echidna – but that is exactly what happened.
In what is believed to be a world-first, researchers from James Cook University, including former PhD student Dr Nicolas Lubitz, were tagging marine wildlife off the coast of Orpheus Island between Townsville and Lucinda in May 2022.
Continue reading...Queensland government to fuel state’s transition to renewable energy with $26bn investment
Premier Steven Miles will announce state’s largest ever investment in green power ahead of next week’s budget
The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, is expected to announce today a pledge in next week’s budget to spend $26bn on renewable energy.
It would be the largest ever investment in green power for the sunshine state, and is about $7bn more than previously earmarked.
$16.5bn towards renewable energy and storage projects
$8.5bn to build a “SuperGrid”, including the CopperString project and renewable energy zones
$500m for network batteries and support of local grid solutions
$192m for the transmission and training hubs in Townsville and Gladstone.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: RBA governor still confident economy will slow without stalling; no-confidence vote for embattled Townsville mayor
Council passes unanimous motion of no-confidence in its mayor Troy Thompson. Follow the day’s news live
Australia’s existing submarines won’t get Tomohawk missile upgrades
Australia’s existing Collins-class submarines will not be fitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of work to extend their life before the Aukus submarines come into service.
For instance, we will consider whether tomahawk missiles can be fitted to the Collins-class submarines.”
The government has also received advice from Defence, in consultation with the United States, that adding Tomahawk cruise missile capability to the Collins class submarines is not viable and does not represent value for money.
The Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines Australia will receive in the early 2030s will come with the Tomahawk as standard equipment. Tomahawk cruise missiles will also be used by Navy’s Hobart class destroyers and the government has agreed in-principle to fit the Hunter class frigates with Tomahawks, subject to a feasibility study. [end quote]
NDS agrees with the government that managing the sustainability of the NDIS is critical — the community expects no less. We need fundamental and systemic reform, and that must be accompanied by proper resourcing for sector transformation.
The system is broken. Training, supervision and retaining highly skilled practitioners to provide quality care is essential, but not adequately covered in the current funding model.”
A continuation of previous workforce trends showing that workforce issues in the disability sector have become entrenched.
The disability sector continues to rely heavily on casual disability support workers, who have a very high turnover.
The biggest variation this year was a in proportion of permanent employees who work full time – with the number of full-time employees growing by 10%, the highest in close to a decade.
Conversely, part-time employment dropped to 70% this year. The increase may be related to the current cost-of-living crisis.
Turnover continued the upward trend growing to 24% this year, while permanent staff turnover jumped to 16%, the highest it has been since this survey began. These figures represent a churn of almost 16,500 individual employees leaving their jobs and over 19,000 new appointments over a one-year period.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: $600,000 speechwriter not responsible for Bill Shorten’s ‘zingers’, Matt Keogh says
Workplace relations minister Tony Burke has conceded role wouldn’t ordinarily be paid that much. Follow today’s news headlines live
For a bit of a change of pace, you may enjoy this essay from Malcolm Turnbull in Foreign Affairs, where he outlines how he believes world leaders can deal with a second Trump presidency.
Turnbull bases a lot of his arguments on his own dealings with Donald Trump while prime minister. He runs through the infamous refugee deal phone call (the transcript of which was leaked) and the trade back-and-forths over tariffs.
The caricature of Trump as a one-dimensional, irrational monster is so entrenched that many forget that he can be, when it suits him, intelligently transactional. Like most bullies, he will bend others to his will when he can, and when he cannot, he will try to make a deal. But to get to the deal-making stage, Trump’s counterparts have to stand up to the bullying first.
I would certainly like to see the performance lifted. I would like to see better outcomes, particularly for the more vulnerable cohorts.
We also have work going on, in response to a parliamentary inquiry into the employment services system, going on in parallel to overseeing this new system.
Continue reading...Bus driver charged over Brisbane CBD crash that fatally pinned 18-year-old to wall
Tia Cameron died after a bus mounted a kerb and pinned her against a wall during peak hour on 8 March
A bus driver has been charged with careless driving over a crash that fatally pinned an 18-year-old woman against a wall in Brisbane’s city centre.
The horror crash unfolded during peak hour on 8 March when the bus mounted a kerb and pinned Tia Cameron against a wall in the CBD.
Continue reading...Brisbane’s homes now second-most expensive in Australia, with average value of almost $1m
Queensland’s capital is second only to Sydney with a median house value of $937,479, as lack of supply bites
For the first time in 25 years, Brisbane is Australia’s second-most expensive city for housing.
The Queensland capital edged out Canberra in May, the latest CoreLogic report shows, with a median house value of $937,479. Sydney continues to have the priciest homes in the country.
Continue reading...Australia news live: Sydney drenched by month of rain in day; man arrested after woman found dead in Darwin
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The Coalition has questioned why the government is using drones to monitor people released from immigration detention.
Cabinet minister Murray Watt confirmed on Insiders earlier that “drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense of monitoring the accommodation that people are living in, in for example ensuring that it’s not too close to schools or other areas that they’re not supposed to be living close to.”
There’s a couple of issues here. One, either Andrew Giles accidentally and casually disclosed a previously secret drone surveillance program operating domestically in Australia in a Sky News interview with your colleague Kieran Gilbert. Or he made it up and it’s not actually happening at all.
And in a fresh statement provided by the Department of Home Affairs to SBS, I understand yesterday afternoon, they refer to using aerial surveillance to look at people’s locations and other buildings in the area.
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