Category Archives: South Australia

Police scour South Australian tip site for head and limbs of man whose torso was found in bin

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The torso of alleged murder victim Geoffrey McLean was discovered at a vacant block at Salisbury South in October

Police scouring an Adelaide landfill site for further remains of a man whose dismembered torso was found in a wheelie bin concede luck will need to be on their side.

Search teams converged on the Uleybury site on Monday with the gruesome task of locating the head and limbs of alleged murder victim Geoffrey McLean, whose torso was discovered at a vacant block at Salisbury South in October.

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South Australia becomes first state to enact Indigenous voice to parliament

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Premier hails ‘momentous legislation for our First Nations people’ while acknowledging it does not have unanimous support in state parliament

South Australia has become the first state to legislate for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

The Labor government’s bill passed the House of Assembly in a special sitting on Sunday.

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South Australian government faces fresh criticism for hosting Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour

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Human rights campaigners argue there is no difference between thwarted Saudi bid to sponsor Women’s World Cup and its rebel golf funding

The South Australian government’s support of a Saudi-backed golf tournament has come under renewed criticism after the kingdom’s failed attempt to sponsor the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

The LIV golf tour, which has reportedly received billions from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, will make its Australian debut at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide next month despite being internationally condemned as an attempt to “sportswash” the regime’s human rights abuses.

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ACT plans hefty restrictions or possible ban on ‘insidious’ sports gambling ads

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Attorney general Shane Rattenbury says territory may take action unilaterally if federal government does not act

The ACT government has outlined plans to legislate hefty restrictions and a possible outright ban on sports gambling ads with senior ministers warning the “pernicious” promotions have caused undue harm to the community.

The confirmation comes as the federal crossbench MPs Monique Ryan and Rebekha Sharkie add their names to a growing list of politicians uncomfortable with the volume of gambling ads and calling for federal government intervention to reduce harm.

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ABC staff to walk off job next week – as it happened

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Acting prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles has spoken to ABC News Breakfast this morning after the $368bn announcement of the Aukus deal yesterday.

In response to the reaction from China accusing Australia, the US and Britain of embarking on a “path of error and danger”, Marles defends making a decision that is in Australia’s national interest:

We are seeking to acquire this capability to make our contribution to the collective security of the region and the maintenance of the global rules-based order.

And one of the issues within our region we are witnessing the largest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of the second world war. And it’s not Australia who is doing that, but that shapes the world in which we live.

We’re completely confident these are in complete compliance with non proliferation.

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Most Australian states face sharp power bill rises, despite government’s intervention

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Energy regulators issue draft default market offer, which set cap for this year’s increases

Power bills for households in three states will rise as much as 23.7% from 1 July if the Australian Energy Regulator’s draft determination, announced on Wednesday, is confirmed. Prices in Victoria may rise by almost a third.

The AER chair, Clare Savage, said the increases were “significant” but they could have been as much as 40% to 50% without the federal government’s intervention in December to cap domestic gas and black coal prices.

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Liberal MP says search for Aukus submarine nuclear waste dump site in his electorate is premature

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Rowan Ramsey ‘amazed’ government starting selection process in 12 months, given 33-year life of Virginia class reactor

Rowan Ramsey, the Liberal MP who faces the prospect of a nuclear waste dump in his South Australian electorate, has said he is “amazed” the government will begin the search in just 12 months for a facility that won’t be required for decades.

The comments come as green groups rally against a key component of the Aukus nuclear submarine acquisition: that Australia is required to dispose of the waste generated by its Virginia class submarines and the new SSN-Aukus submarine.

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Weather tracker: record-breaking heat in Australia

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Australia swelters while in Brazil there have been record downpours

Southern Australia has recorded significant heat over the past week with maximum temperatures widely reaching in excess of 35C (95F), as well as more than 10C above the climatological average. Many stations in the south, across Western Australia and South Australia, recorded temperatures in excess of 40C with Eucla and Red Rock Points recording their highest February temperature of 46.8C on 22 February. Two large blocking high pressure systems south and west of Australia have allowed heat to stall across western and southern parts. This will be pushed further eastwards through this week, although lessening in severity.

In addition to this, many parts of the west coast have had high sea surface temperature anomalies throughout February, about 1-2C above normal. Because of this there is a chance that further cyclogenesis off the north-west coast may take place in the coming weeks – bringing further tropical storms.

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Voice to parliament yes campaign laucnes with pledge to take conversation to the people

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Hundreds of advocates meet on Kaurna land in Adelaide to workshop referendum strategies ahead of official launch

Workshops, a new website and a $5m donation have fuelled the launch of the yes campaign for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

Hundreds of advocates met on Kaurna land in Adelaide to workshop strategies to win the referendum before the launch on Thursday night.

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WA’s Pilbara hits 45C as large swathes of Australia swelter in heatwave

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Extreme conditions in the north of the state with Victoria, NSW and Queensland also experiencing high temperatures

Large swathes of Australia sweltered amid a heatwave on Friday, including in the Pilbara, where temperatures reached 45C.

Sumaoa Bayliss, the manager at the Red Sands Tavern in the northern Western Australian town of Newman – where it reached 44C – said life goes on in the dangerous conditions, albeit under air conditioning.

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Summer pause: cold weather forecast for south-east Australia to bring snow across Alps

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Sharp temperature drops expected in SA, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania on Friday while north-east faces heatwave conditions

Break out the winter woolies. Temperatures across Australia’s south-east are set to plummet with some areas expected to experience their coldest February days in two decades on Friday.

A strong cold front is pushing up from southern Australia and is forecast to sweep across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania on Friday.

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Endangered shark sold as flake in South Australia fish and chip shops, study finds

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Calls for better food labelling as investigation claims that only around one-third of fish is flake, with served species including rare narrownose smooth-hound

Fish and chip shop customers in South Australia are eating threatened and imported shark species labelled as “flake” with less than a third of servings meeting seafood labelling standards, according to an investigation by the University of Adelaide.

The Australian Fish Names Standard says only two types of shark – gummy shark and New Zealand rig – should be sold as flake in Australia.

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South Australian universities to allow use of artificial intelligence in assignments, if disclosed

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Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia adjust policies

Universities should stop panicking and embrace students’ use of artificial intelligence, AI experts say.

South Australia’s three main universities have updated their policies to allow the use of AI as long as it is disclosed.

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Activists call for immediate halt to duck and kangaroo hunting after Murray Darling floods

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Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have increased kangaroo harvest quotas for 2023 but impact from floods yet to be assessed

Animal welfare advocates are calling for a moratorium on commercial and recreational shooting of wildlife affected by the devastating Murray-Darling floods.

Wildlife Victoria has called for the “immediate cessation” of the Victorian government’s kangaroo harvesting program and a moratorium on the annual duck hunting season, which usually begins in March.

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Police find elaborate underground bunker in Adelaide allegedly used to grow cannabis

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Two men charged with drug and money laundering offences, as well as theft of electricity, after officers raid Coromandel East property

Two men have been arrested after police uncovered an elaborate underground bunker allegedly used to grow cannabis in Adelaide’s south.

Officers attended a semi-rural property in the suburb of Coromandel East on Monday where they discovered the bunker’s entrance.

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Firefighters battle blaze in Adelaide Hills as residents of Montacute advised to take shelter

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Bushfire downgraded to ‘watch and act’ on Saturday afternoon as nine firebombers and spotter aircraft tried to contain the spread

Firefighters were battling a blaze in steep terrain in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia on Saturday that threatened the small town of Montacute.

About 59 firetrucks were on the ground by Saturday afternoon, with six firebombers and other spotter aircraft trying to control the fire.

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Concerns over use of ‘cheap and easy’ offsets – as it happened

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More than 80% of council areas declared disasters in the past four years, Watt says

Murray Watt was hesitant to attribute the individual disaster in the Kimberley to climate change, unlike his colleague Chris Bowen. But he said the overall pattern of increasing disasters was “undoubtedly climate change”:

I don’t think that you can point to one particular event and say it’s due to climate change, but there is no doubt that we are seeing before our eyes is climate change happening. We know from all the scientists that we’re going to be facing more of these intense events more frequently.

I was actually advised yesterday by our agency that just in the last 12 months we’ve seen 316 of Australia’s 537 council areas disaster-declared: that’s about 60% of the council areas in the country. And if you go back four years to the black summer, 438 council areas in Australia have been disaster-declared, which is over 80%.

A lot of people aren’t aware but the wet season in northern Western Australia … generally doesn’t begin until later this month. So their wettest months actually tend to be February and March rather than starting as early as January. So to have this amount of water come through the system this early in the wet season is a concern.

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Smells like dead rats: crowds flock to catch a whiff of blooming corpse flower in Adelaide

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Titan arum emits a foul smell to lure pollinators, but at the botanic gardens it attracts thousands of visitors to witness the rare flowering

A corpse flower, which emits a stench that can travel for kilometres to lure flesh flies, sweat bees and carrion beetles, has just bloomed in the Adelaide Botanic gardens.

It only blooms once every few years, and only for about 48 hours, to attract insects that have already wallowed in the pollen of another corpse flower.

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Australia live news update: fifth child airlifted to hospital with irukandji jellyfish sting; Albanese and Dutton trade insults over Indigenous voice

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Federal opposition leader wants Labor to legislate its preferred model before referendum is held this year. This blog is now closed

‘I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation’

Peter Dutton is asked about whether the prime minister has been given a copy of his letter – Anthony Albanese has said he has not received it – and Dutton says a copy has been provided to the prime minister’s office and he expects “he will respond in due course”.

I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Certainly not racist. It’s not being opposed to reconciliation. It’s all about, frankly, just being informed about what it is they’re being asked to vote on. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask the prime minister to provide that.

I’ve met with the prime minister and I’m grateful for the meetings that we’ve had and he knows that I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation.

I’m speaking of millions of Australians, we’re asking you the reasonable questions.

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River Murray fish kill concerns grow as flood waters peak in South Australia

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Authorities are confident peak flows have reached the state but worry a blackwater event may follow

While flood waters look to have peaked in South Australia, authorities are concerned about the potential for a blackwater event that may lead to fish kills along the River Murray.

Flows at the border into South Australia had not increased for the last seven consecutive days with authorities confident peak flows had reached South Australia and would work their way downriver.

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