Marion Barter disappearance: former lover challenged over assertion missing woman is still alive

Final day of inquest concludes as key witness Ric Blum tells counsel he ‘can’t remember’ details of important conversation with Barter

The former lover of missing woman Marion Barter has been challenged over his assertion to the inquest into her disappearance that he believed she was still alive.

Ric Blum on Thursday told the long-running inquest he had come to that conclusion because Barter had told him “she wanted to separate from her family. She didn’t want anything to do with any member of her family”.

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

Continue reading...

March of the fire ants could reach Sydney’s outskirts by 2035, costing economy up to $1.2bn a year

Exclusive: Study finds pests could damage crops, and households would incur costs for pesticides, veterinary bills and electrical faults

Failure to stop the spread of an outbreak of invasive fire ants in south-east Queensland could cost the Australian economy more than $1bn a year, including damage to high-value crops, infrastructure and homes.

A previously unreleased cost-benefit analysis, commissioned by a steering committee managing the outbreak of red fire ants and obtained by Guardian Australia, says that eradication of the species provides “much higher returns” than suppression measures that simply limit its spread.

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

Continue reading...

Lonely hearts ad led another woman to key witness in Marion Barter’s disappearance, inquest hears

Coroner seeking to establish what happened to Gold Coast school teacher, subject of The Lady Vanishes podcast

Ghislaine Dubois-Danlois was 72 and at a low point in her life when she put a lonely hearts ad in a newspaper in 2006. A widow, she was “exhausted” and “wanted to think about something new”.

“I wasn’t looking into the future,” she told a Lismore court via satellite link from her home in Brussels on Wednesday.

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

Continue reading...

Warm winter weather awaits Australians after month of record-breaking cold

After shivering through an unexpectedly cold May, BoM forecasts higher-than-average daytime temperatures, along with colder nights and less rain

Winter is coming … even though it may not feel like it.

With Thursday marking the first day of winter, much of Australia can look forward to a warmer-than-average season, after a historically cold May for much of the east coast.

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

Continue reading...

‘Elevated’ lead levels detected in water at far-north Queensland hospital

Atherton hospital staff were offered blood tests but the state’s chief health officer says he would be ‘very surprised’ if they showed high levels of lead

Lead contamination has been discovered in the water at a new hospital building and at an Aboriginal health clinic in far-north Queensland.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) announced that a number of water samples taken at the new clinical services building at Atherton hospital and at a health facility in nearby Yarrabah contained lead at levels that exceeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended guidelines for safe drinking water.

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter

Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community

Continue reading...

‘Doesn’t make any sense’: call for Queensland home park rent caps to apply to all tenants

Advocates for renters say state shouldn’t play favourites with proposed limits on rent increases

It’s “unfair” that a proposed rent cap for Queensland manufactured home park residents will not be considered for tenants in the wider private housing market, advocates say.

Manufactured home parks are marketed as retirement villages for those over 50, where residents lease the land from the park owner, with rent going towards shared facilities and utilities.

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

Continue reading...

Nationals leader repays Gold Coast travel expense claim he made after he ‘sought the wrong advice’

David Littleproud left parliament early in February to travel to the Gold Coast, three days after he and his spouse settled on a new apartment there

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has repaid travel expenses he claimed after leaving parliament early to travel to the Gold Coast in February.

In a statement Littleproud said he had “mistakenly sought the wrong advice” and “incorrectly” re-entered Queensland in between sitting weeks via the Gold Coast.

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

Continue reading...

Queensland changes laws to accommodate UN prisons inspectors

A UN anti-torture subcommittee suspended its inspections last year after being refused access to some facilities

The Queensland government has passed a bill to remove legislative barriers that prohibited UN officials from visiting places of detention during their visit to Australia last year.

A UN anti-torture subcommittee suspended its tour of Australian detention facilities in October after Guardian Australia revealed Queensland refused access to some mental health facilities that hold people charged with crimes, while New South Wales blocked inspectors from entering all of its detention facilities.

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

Continue reading...

Meteor blazes across north Queensland sky with blast of light and sound

Footage captured from Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria shows growing fireball exploding with a loud boom

The north Queensland sky was briefly set alight on Saturday night as a meteor blazed through the atmosphere, exploded, and came to earth with a tremendous boom.

Footage captured on smartphones, dashcams and security cameras by businesses and residents from Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria circulated on social media on Sunday, showing a fireball growing rapidly in size as it approached the Earth, followed by a blast of greenish-blue light.

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

Continue reading...

Property market revival continues; employment minister dismisses wage price spiral fears – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Birmingham says cost of Coalition’s jobseeker plan is ‘being worked through’

Asked whether the Coalition would support a lift to the jobseeker payment, Birmingham tells David Speers that Peter Dutton has “proposed an important alternative that would help Australians who are willing to and looking to engage in the workforce”.

We’ve outlined an alternative at this stage, David. We are not at an election and not about to firm government in the next two years.

That clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing.

We should expect them to be lifted complete, as we should the tariffs on our wine industry.

Continue reading...

Gas lobby plans ‘national public awareness campaign’ – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

‘Good women’s policy is good economic policy’: Sussan Ley convening women’s economic security roundtable

The deputy opposition leader and shadow minister for women, Sussan Ley, is convening a women’s economic security roundtable today.

Restarting the Career Revive program for older women to retrain and re-enter the workforce.

Greater flexibility in childcare arrangements (for which there are no details, but the rhetoric is consistent with allowing women to use subsidies on alternatives such as nannies).

Paying superannuation on paid parental leave.

Helping older women who face relationship breakdown achieve financial security, including through access to superannuation.

The Liberal party can be the party of choice for women – we must be – and that is why we are going to meet them where they are in life with new ideas and real solutions that help them.

I want the women of Australia to know that the Liberal party that Peter Dutton and I lead will be back in your corner – we will support your career choices, we will look at ways to help you as you manage your work-life balance and we will help you secure your financial independence.

I don’t think anyone would question when you’ve got something like the debt ceiling being negotiated in the United States …

In terms of the relationship between the countries and the strength of the relationship, as allies, that’s all there; and I think anyone who knows what negotiations with the debt ceiling are like in the United States understands exactly why President Biden’s been in a situation to make a decision like this.

Continue reading...

Stuart Robert hands in official resignation, triggering byelection in Queensland seat

Former Coalition minister had been under pressure from Labor after failing to attend parliament during budget week, despite still being an MP

Former Morrison government minister Stuart Robert will not return to the federal parliament after he officially resigned from politics by way of letter.

Robert announced his intention to resign on 6 May but did not give a date of when it would happen. He did not travel to Canberra for the budget week sitting, although staff were seen packing up his office.

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

Continue reading...

MP questions referendum wording – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Quad still a priority, White House says

Despite the postponement of Joe Biden’s visit, the White House says that partnerships like the Quad remain a priority.

Revitalizing and reinvigorating our alliances and advancing partnerships like the Quad remains a key priority for the President. This is vital to our ability to advance our foreign policy goals and better promote global stability and prosperity. We look forward to finding other ways to engage with Australia, the Quad, Papua New Guinea and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in the coming year.

I think he will obviously be working very hard for this not to happen. We’ve danced this dance before, as the phrase goes …

I think we’ll get to a good place and I think that’s why he’s wanting to stay there, to focus on just that.

Continue reading...

Meaghan Scanlon promoted to housing minister in surprise Queensland cabinet reshuffle

Yvette D’Ath reportedly set to swap portfolios with attorney general Shannon Fentiman as Palaszczuk government dips in polls ahead of state election

Queensland’s environment minister, Meaghan Scanlon, will be promoted to housing minister in a cabinet reshuffle aimed to revitalise three critical portfolios ahead of next year’s state election.

Senior government sources told Guardian Australia that Scanlon will replace Leeanne Enoch as housing minister, under changes to be announced on Thursday.

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

Continue reading...

Anglicare asked to review procedures after royal commission finds it failed to report sexual assault

Organisation found to have ‘lacked a trauma-informed approach’ and failed to support disabled woman appropriately

Anglicare has been urged to immediately review its response to allegations of sexual abuse after a royal commission found it failed to report a woman’s assault to police and did not undertake a proper investigation.

The disability royal commission heard last April that Niky* – who lives with a developmental disability – was sexually assaulted by another person with a disability at an Anglicare respite centre in Queensland in 2018.

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

In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

Continue reading...

Peter Hollingworth to cease practising as an Anglican priest to ‘end distress’ for survivors

The former governor general was last month reprimanded over his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop

Peter Hollingworth has announced he will cease practising as an Anglican priest and will hand back his permission to officiate, citing a desire to “end distress” for survivors and stop “division” in the church.

Hollingworth was last month the subject of serious misconduct findings, delivered after a protracted internal church process, which reprimanded him for his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop in the 1990s.

Continue reading...

Facebook blocks Rockhampton mob leader as Queensland MP prepares to meet with him

Indigenous community says the plan to meet with Torin O’Brien only legitimises his offensive views

First Nations people in central Queensland say the state government is inflaming local tensions by pushing ahead with plans to meet with the former leader of a far-right “patriots” group, who was booted off Facebook after leading a mob to surround the Rockhampton home of an Indigenous teenager.

Guardian Australia on Tuesday revealed that the ringleader of the group, Torin O’Brien, is the former president of a group that regularly posted offensive anti-Islam content online.

Continue reading...

Rockhampton mob ringleader was head of ‘patriots’ group that posted anti-Islam content

Torin O’Brien led a far-right group that was deregistered as an incorporated association in 2015

The ringleader of a Rockhampton mob that surrounded the home of an Indigenous teenager on Sunday was previously the national leader of a far-right “patriots” group, which regularly published anti-Islam content online.

Torin O’Brien, a former One Nation candidate, posted the names and photographs of the two Aboriginal young people, believed to be teenagers, on Facebook last week and called for locals to attend their address on Sunday.

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

Continue reading...

Queensland urged to prevent youth crime at its roots following Maryborough tragedy

Fatal car crash shows a different approach is needed to keep the community safe, leading children and human rights advocates say

Queensland can only prevent youth crime by setting tangible goals to improve children’s lives from their earliest days, the state’s leading children and human rights advocates have warned.

Speaking after a three-car crash in Maryborough on Sunday that led to the deaths of three women, Queensland’s human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, said the tragedy showed a different approach was needed to keep the community safe.

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

Continue reading...

Brisbane man sentenced to 14 years’ jail for attempted murder of ex-girlfriend

‘He said “I’m going to kill you” and that’s when I saw the axe,’ Mari Buci told the jury of the attack

A man found guilty of attempted murder after attacking his ex-girlfriend with a hatchet in a Brisbane has been sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Good Samaritans came to the aid of Maria Buci after Cameron Turgay Bardak ambushed her in a CBD car park in July 2020, a court had heard

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

Continue reading...