Plibersek accuses Mafs of platforming ‘coercive control’ after contestant wanted a woman ‘obedient’ like a dog

Social services minister Tanya Plibersek criticises hit reality TV show Married at First Sight for ‘messaging which encourages control and dehumanises women’

The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, has accused Australia’s biggest media company, Nine Entertainment, of “normalising” coercive control by airing an exchange in which a Married at First Sight contestant says he wants a woman to be obedient like a dog.

Plibersek urged parents not to let their children watch the “dangerous” reality TV juggernaut, which regularly attracts more than 2 million viewers on broadcast television alone.

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Magda Szubanski thanks young fan who dressed as Sharon Strzelecki for Book Week for cheering her up amid chemo

‘I’m really touched,’ Kath & Kim favourite tells 10-year-old, adding that cancer treatment ‘is smacking me around right now’

Magda Szubanski has shared an update about her health from her hospital bed as she continues treatment for an aggressive form of blood cancer.

Szubanski, well-known for her roles in Kath & Kim and Babe, posted a video to Instagram on Sunday to thank a young fan who had “really cheered me up” with her Book Week costume of Szubanski’s Kath & Kim character, the hapless netball fan Sharon Strzelecki.

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Logies 2025: Home and Away’s Lynne McGranger wins gold as Fisk dominates Australia’s TV awards

Soap star wins as her 32-year run playing Irene Roberts ends, while streamers go home mostly empty-handed and Magda Szubanski gives emotional speech as she is inducted into the Hall of Fame

The Home and Away actor Lynne McGranger has won the Gold Logie award for most popular personality on Australian television as she ends her record 32-year run playing the much-loved matriarch Irene Roberts.

McGranger is the longest-serving female actor in any Australian drama, having played Irene for nearly 33 years. She announced her departure in February and her final episode will air mid-August.

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Celebrity chef Peter Russell-Clarke dies aged 89

The host of the 1980s cooking show, Come and Get It, died peacefully on Friday with his wife and children at his side

TV chef, artist and “talented rogue”, Peter Russell-Clarke, has died at the age of 89.

The host of the 1980s cooking show, Come and Get It, died peacefully on Friday with his wife of 65 years, Jan, and his two children, Peter and Wendy and their families, by his side.

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Aacta awards 2025: Robbie Williams’ Better Man and Boy Swallows Universe dominate Australian film and TV prizes

Singer biopic wins best film and best actor for motion capture star Jonno Davies, while Trent Dalton adaptation wins in 12 of its 22 nominated categories

The Netflix adaptation of Trent Dalton’s bestseller Boy Swallows Universe has dominated the annual Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema, Television and the Arts) awards, winning 12 of its record-breaking 22 nominations.

The Aacta president, Russell Crowe, hosted the awards ceremony at Hota (Home of the Arts) on the Gold Coast on Friday, which featured a live performance by Robbie Williams, whose musical biopic, Better Man, collected nine awards on the night.

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Fears for local news diversity if rightwing startup buys Southern Cross regional TV network

Fringe news streaming channel ADH TV, which launched with Alan Jones at the helm, confirms offer for 93 regional free-to-air stations

Diversity of local news may be at risk if a rightwing startup, ADH TV, is given the green light to purchase Southern Cross Austereo’s regional television network, an expert has warned.

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has confirmed it has received an offer from the fringe streaming news channel to buy its 93 regional free-to-air TV stations. The digital broadcaster, which is chaired by the former ABC chair Maurice Newman, was launched in December 2021 with the former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones at the helm.

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Blockbuster: will Victoria’s tough housing market push The Block into the red?

Some predict the TV show will lose money this season as investors exit property and contestants face ‘a buyer’s market’ at auction

Channel Nine’s hit series The Block could be caught in the firing line of Victoria’s flat housing market and investor woes, with one expert predicting the show will make a loss this year.

The properties in the seaside township of Cowes, on Phillip Island, are set to go under the hammer on Saturday.

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Former Channel Seven reporter Robert Ovadia drops legal case against network

Sacked journalist steps away from high-profile legal proceedings for ‘personal reasons’, lawyer tells media

The Seven Network has confirmed its former reporter Robert Ovadia has dropped an unfair dismissal case, only days after it claimed in court that more than 13 women had come forward with complaints about his conduct.

Ovadia had dismissed the claims, saying Seven’s “propaganda unit” was seeking to destroy his reputation, but walked away from the case on Friday afternoon without receiving any payment from the network, it said.

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Anti-gambling ads to ‘swarm’ key Labor seats during footy finals season

Exclusive: Alliance for Gambling Reform to ramp up pressure on Albanese government to impose a full gambling ad ban

Three key Labor seats won at the last election will be targeted by a “swarm” campaign of anti-gambling ads during footy finals season.

The ads, organised by the Alliance for Gambling Reform, will run in the Parramatta, Bennelong and Gilmore electorates in an attempt to pressure the government into a full gambling ad ban.

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Logie awards 2024: ‘television’s most axed man’ Larry Emdur takes gold

Netflix’s Boy Swallows Universe wins big at Australian television’s biggest night, as ceremony broadcaster Seven takes a battering from host Sam Pang

The Morning Show presenter Larry Emdur has reflected on once being “television’s most axed man” after winning the Gold Logie at the Logie awards on Sunday night.

“I’ve never done anything else, and I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” said Emdur, after winning his first Logie in a 40-year career in which he has fronted everything from The Price Is Right to Celebrity Dog School.

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Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright faces fresh charges over fatal Northern Territory helicopter crash

NT WorkSafe has charged the celebrity croc-wrangler and his aviation company Helibrook with ‘reckless conduct for operating unsafe aircraft’

Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright and his aviation company have been hit with a slew of new charges over a fatal chopper crash that killed his co-star.

Chris Wilson plunged to his death in a remote area of the Northern Territory in February 2022 while attached to a helicopter owned by Wright and being flown by pilot Sebastian Robinson.

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Australia joins international call for local content quotas on streaming TV platforms

Statement from peak bodies argues independence and viability of global screen industry under threat unless mandatory quotas for non-US content introduced

Australia has joined an international campaign calling on governments to provide better protection for local screen industries in a market dominated by global streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) issued a joint statement with counterparts in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada, demanding regulation to force streaming services to make content that is relevant to local markets where they operate.

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Australian TV shows including Home and Away handed tax breaks in battle against Hollywood

‘We want to see more Australian stories shown on screen,’ arts minister Tony Burke says

Australian television shows such as Home and Away will be able to compete on a level playing field with Hollywood streaming companies such as Netflix, Apple Tv and Disney+, after federal government changes to tax laws in the industry.

Australian producers have long complained that local productions are unfairly disadvantaged because the tax breaks offered to the industry only apply to mega-budget productions that invariably only Hollywood studios can afford in Australia.

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Free-to-air group rubbishes claims Australian government wants to ‘control your TV’

Industry feud flares over proposed smart TV laws that will likely mean free local apps feature more prominently than paid services

Australia’s free-to-air broadcasters have hit back at a campaign from the subscription media lobby that claims the federal “government wants to control your TV” through its new laws for smart TVs.

The government’s prominence framework for connected TV devices will likely mean smart TV free-to-air apps such as 10play, 7plus, 9Now, ABC iView and SBS on Demand, are offered ahead of those from paid streaming services such as Netflix, Binge and Stan. It might also affect searches for content.

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Home and Away actor Johnny Ruffo dies aged 35

Actor and singer was first diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017 and revealed it was terminal last August

Johnny Ruffo, the former Home and Away actor and X Factor contestant, has died aged 35.

Ruffo was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017, and underwent surgery to remove a tumour, but the cancer returned three years later. Last August, Ruffo revealed that his diagnosis was terminal.

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News live: economists wary ahead of RBA rates decision; agriculture minister says Australia is free of lumpy skin disease

Anthony Albanese says increasing the income-free area for jobseeker would have ‘unintended consequences’. Follow live news updates today

PM says he would ‘rather not have’ double dissolution trigger as housing bill to be reintroduced

Anthony Albanese has spoken to ABC Sydney and FiveAA about Labor’s $10bn housing Australia future fund bill, which is going to be reintroduced to parliament, possibly providing a trigger for a double dissolution election.

That doesn’t necessarily provide for an early election, it could go into 2025 – but what it does is mean that can be a focus and you have a joint sitting after a double dissolution is held, but I just want this legislation to be passed … Their spokesperson [Max Chandler Mather] put this in writing in an opinion piece in a magazine, essentially saying that if this is just waved through and happens we won’t be able to continue to door knock and campaign on it. Well, I don’t want to play politics with this – I want to get this done. We have a mandate for it, and the Senate should pass it.

The truth is you do need appropriate development, particularly along public transport corridors … But it’s true sometimes local government can get in the way because people want to oppose anything at all that looks like development. But the truth is we do need to increase housing supply, that’s the key.

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Logie awards 2023: Crazy Fun Park beats Bluey, Sonia Kruger takes gold and Tony Armstrong’s back-to-back win

Host Sam Pang cracks joke at celebrities including Sam Neill, Karl Stefanovic and Jonathan LaPaglia – and takes a shot at broadcaster Channel Seven

Little-known ABC show Crazy Fun Park beat out the enormously popular animation series Bluey for the outstanding children’s program and Channel Seven presenter Sonia Kruger took home the top prize at the Logie awards.

Crazy Fun Park’s win surprised even its creator, Nicholas Verso. He ascended the stage to accept the gong and immediately apologised for besting the competition. “I know everyone comes up and goes, ‘We didn’t think we were going to win’ but seriously, we were up against Bluey,” he said.

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Labor to consider ways to protect ABC and SBS from future funding threats

Michelle Rowland says review into security of national broadcasters will consider options to support their independence

A review into the security of ABC and SBS funding will examine ways to protect the public broadcasters from future threats of privatisation and arbitrary funding cuts, the communications minister Michelle Rowland has said.

Rowland told an ABC Friends dinner the communications department review would consider options to support the independence of the ABC and the SBS and it was open for public submissions.

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Raw footage from Bruce Lehrmann’s Channel Seven interview subpoenaed in defamation case

Lawyers for Network Ten are examining footage from Spotlight interview as they prepare to defend themselves against Lehrmann’s defamation case

Lawyers for Network Ten are examining raw footage of Channel Seven’s recent interview with Bruce Lehrmann as they prepare to defend themselves against his defamation case.

Lehrmann is currently suing Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the federal court, alleging they defamed him by wrongly suggesting he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.

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Joan Sydney, Neighbours and A Country Practice actor, dies aged 83

The English Australian actor, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, died at home in Sydney in December

Neighbours and A Country Practice actor Joan Sydney has died at the age of 83.

The English Australian actor, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, died at her Sydney home on 28 December. Her long-time friend and fellow actor Sally-Anne Upton confirmed the news on social media on Friday.

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