Category Archives: Australian education

Australia news live: religious sect allegedly thought 8-year-old diabetic ‘should not use insulin’, court told; Alice Springs curfew won’t continue

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The curfew declaration will conclude at 12.55pm today, local time. Follow the day’s news live

The mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier as authorities meet to determine whether a three-day curfew on the central Australian town will be extended.

He is “still waiting to hear” whether the curfew will be extended – a decision for the police commissioner. Asked whether he believes it should be extended, Paterson says:

It’s obviously worked in the CBD, but we are hearing that it is pushing crime out into the suburbs. So we’ll wait to see what happens. Ultimately, the community gets to have a breath while there’s extra resources and police in town, so we’ll just wait to see what’s decided …

The curfew is a reaction to events over the past week or so, and we can’t continue to put these in. We need to think about the long-term solutions.

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Greens and academics criticise appointment of antisemitism envoy – as it happened

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Flights have been cancelled or delayed out of Brisbane airport this morning as thick smoke blankets the city.

According to the Brisbane airport website, nine domestic flights and two international flights have been cancelled. On social media, the airport wrote that widespread fog across Brisbane was “slowing movements on ground and limiting visibility.”

Flights are still departing but there are delays due to the reduced visibility.

Participants will be able to check accessible scorecards that will show what services DES providers offer and how they rate for quality and effectiveness, helping them make an informed choice when selecting their provider.

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University of Sydney students and staff blast new ‘draconian’ protest crackdown

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Policy demands three days’ notice for demonstrations and approval for use of megaphones or putting up posters

Academics and students at the University of Sydney have blasted the vice-chancellor for a “draconian” protest crackdown that requires explicit permission for megaphones to be used or posters to be put up on campus.

The policy, quietly introduced last week, demands three days’ notice for demonstrations to be held and approval for putting up “materials, banners or structures” on campus, using megaphones or amplifiers, erecting temporary structures and using cooking equipment.

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Why Guardian Australia is investigating Exclusive Brethren schools

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The sect’s OneSchool Global network has received generous support from Australian taxpayers while tightly controlling students and discouraging tertiary study

In the early 1990s, the Exclusive Brethren – now called the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church – set up its own private schooling system.

Now known as the OneSchool Global network, the Brethren schools have 120 campuses across 20 different countries teaching almost 10,000 children. In Australia, the schools operate across six states with 31 separate campuses serving their followers.

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International students left feeling like ‘cash cows’ after Albanese government raises visa fees

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Surprise increase makes Australian visa application fee among most expensive in the world, as new survey finds rising costs putting prospective students off

International students say the Australian government is making them feel like “cash cows” and sending a clear message they are unwelcome after home affairs more than doubled the price of visa applications overnight.

The non-refundable visa fee rose from $710 to $1,600 without prior warning on Monday, making it one of the most expensive in the world and well in excess of competitors New Zealand (A$343), Canada (A$164), the UK (A$932) and the US (A$277).

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Dutton says ‘Australia can learn’ from new British PM’s nuclear stance – as it happened

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‘Pretty clear’ Fatima Payman has been planning to join crossbench for a ‘long period’, minister says

The finance minister and manager of the government in the Senate, Katy Gallagher, is speaking with ABC RN after Fatima Payman’s resignation yesterday.

It’s difficult to go into, you know, when the decision was made – only Senator Payman knows that – but we do know, now that it’s been done, it’s a matter of fact that there had been obviously discussions about her role as an independent senator and for some time.

I think the way these decisions have been made by Senator Payman make it pretty clear that she has been thinking about this for a long period of time, and it was executed this week …

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Senator says PM’s office planted seed about crossing floor – as it happened

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Josh Burns says Labor motion to recognise Palestine as part of the peace process is ‘the bare minimum’

Josh Burns finished with:

This motion before the House is the bare minimum. It says that we support the recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a peace process. That peace process is something that I hold onto and that I have held onto my entire life.

That peace process says that we are all people, above all, and that there has to be a way through this. There has to be a way through this conflict. I wish that we could pull a lever here in Australia and it would all end today, but we have seen time and time again that that is not the case.

There are so many intractable parts of this conflict. I have a degree in this conflict, and I still don’t quite know how to fix it.

I know that there are players who are desperate to end the peace process and to try and disturb any efforts towards peace. I know that trees take years and years and years to grow and can be cut down in a second, and that is what the Middle East has demonstrated over and over again.

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Australian universities clash over proposed international student cap

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Regional and smaller universities say they should be exempt from limits on overseas enrolments and elite capital city institutions should be targeted

Australia’s universities have descended into infighting over a proposed international student cap, with some bodies claiming the government is protecting elite institutions.

The draft bill, announced in May, would allow the education minister to limit the enrolment of overseas students by provider, course or location. To enrol more students, institutions would be required to establish additional purpose-built student accommodation.

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Australia politics live: Labor caucus endorses Payman suspension; Watt says no plan to ban live cattle exports

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PM calls for ‘a long-term solution in a peace process’ between Israel and Palestine. Follow today’s news headlines live

Shorten says he thinks Labor party is trying to give Senator Payman ‘space and time’

Bill Shorten continues:

I see why people feel so strongly. They can feel so strongly about the hostage is not being returned, or the deaths in Gaza. People could feel also very strongly about the near million deaths in Sudan.

I can get these very incredibly strong issues. And if you come from particular communities, they’re even more intense, although that doesn’t need to be the prerequisite.

Before I deny something, what’s your source?

No, I don’t believe that.

… Because I wasn’t there and I don’t believe it. I actually think the prime minister, Senator Wong and the leadership are handling a complicated issue pretty well.

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International students should make up no more than a third of university cohort, RMIT vice-chancellor says

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Foreign visa holders account for more than 35% at Australia’s prestigious Group of Eight institutions

International students should not exceed a third of any university cohort and it is “damaging to the sector” for foreign students to make up 50% of students at any given institution, RMIT’s vice-chancellor, Prof Alec Cameron, has said.

The proposal to cap international student numbers was raised last month by Deakin University’s vice-chancellor, Iain Martin, as an alternative to the draft framework which would allow the federal education minister to implement different enrolment limits depending on the university or course.

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Labor hikes international student visa fees as sector warns of ‘death by 1,000 cuts’

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Australia’s charge out of step with competitors – ‘why would you waste that much money when you have more surety of going to the USA?’

The Albanese government has more than doubled the international student visa application fee from $710 to $1,600 in the latest measure to reduce arrivals to Australia.

The government announced the move on Monday, confirming pre-budget speculation in the tertiary education sector that fee hikes will be used in addition to the international student cap as a means to clamp down on net migration.

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Australia politics live: Plibersek says protecting koala habitat one of the conditions for approving Rinehart-backed gas project

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Follow the day’s news live

The Queensland government plans to establish a new greater glider forest park as part of a $200m plan to reform the state’s timber industry.

The premier, Steven Miles, will today announce he will ban logging in between 50,000 and 60,000 hectares of high value ecosystem within the Eastern Hardwoods region in Wide Bay, north of Brisbane.

In addition, a new park to protect the greater glider will be established in the south-east Queensland bioregion.

The state government will also appoint an advisory group to develop a 30-year plan for the sector. It will include representatives from the timber industry, forestry experts, the conservation sector, First Nations peoples, the Australian Workers’ Union, construction sector and outdoor recreational groups.

Queensland’s timber industry is the backbone of the housing and building sectors.

That’s why I’m doing what matters to support timber workers and the industry to continue building our state, while also increasing our protected area estate.

The terms of reference released today map out our priorities as a government – that is, timber supply security, environmental protections, jobs and diverse employment opportunities.

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Job threat for Australian university staff as claims international student cuts are being weaponised

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Leading experts have described Labor’s controversial migration policy as a ‘recipe for chaos’ set to hit campuses

University staff have been threatened with deep job cuts because of the federal government’s proposed international student cap, raising concerns the controversial policy is being weaponised as an “excuse” to slash jobs.

The draft bill, introduced to parliament last month, would give the education minister powers to set a maximum number of new international student enrolments. Leading policy experts have described it as a “recipe for chaos”.

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Newington College head blasts parents for ‘behaviour inconsistent with our values’

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Michael Parker criticises ‘deliberate negativity’ of a ‘very small group’ but does not refer directly to opponents of controversial plans to admit girls

The headteacher of the top Sydney school embroiled in a row over becoming co-educational has written to parents and alumni expressing disappointment with a group of people within the school’s community “whose behaviour is inconsistent with our school culture and our values”.

The email, which the Guardian has seen, was sent by the head of Newington College, Michael Parker, on Monday.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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‘Woke mumbo jumbo’: Sydney barrister says he will lobby King of Tonga in fight against Newington College coed shift

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Exclusive: Dallas Morgan sends impassioned email to old boys updating them on ‘embarrassing saga’ and telling them to ‘never give up’

A Sydney barrister and Newington College old boy leading the fight against the private school’s coed shift has sent an impassioned email to alumni, detailing his plans to fly to Tonga this week to lobby King Tupou VI on the issue.

In his email, Dallas Morgan also lamented that “transgender midgets” could have their fees subsidised and said he hoped the king – whose father is also a fellow former student of the school – would oppose the coed transition.

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

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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.

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University of Sydney orders students protesting in support of Gaza to leave after almost two months

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Spokesperson says ‘the encampment has taken over this shared space to the exclusion of others’

The University of Sydney has ordered students protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza to leave a controversial encampment that has been on the campus since April.

A university spokesperson said on Friday that it had told the encampment’s leadership “we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space”.

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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.

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