A 23-year-old worker has died after he fell 20 metres when a roof collapsed on a building being constructed at Curtain University in Perth, Australia.
Two other men were taken to hospital, one with serious injuries, following the incident on Tuesday
Continue reading...Josh Frydenberg’s budget relies on tax cuts and business incentives, but rests on some optimistic assumptions. Follow all the reaction and coronavirus news
Meanwhile, once upon a time
I know it is a bit much for her to be morally consistent but. https://t.co/jKpD1iHTu7 https://t.co/UmUUfDSMfe pic.twitter.com/U7WUbxPPXP
High from being retweeted and quoted by Donald Trump, who proved he had learned more about the seriousness of Covid by forcing public employees to drive him around in a sealed vehicle, and then removing his mask for a photo op, Miranda Devine continues to do Australia proud, making even a Fox News host raise an eyebrow
"It's incredibly selfish of older people or neurotic people who are timid & afraid & won't come out of their basements to confine children & young people to miss out on the most important part of their lives" - Fox News is now straight up blaming old & vulnerable people for Covid pic.twitter.com/mLhiwDHmrN
Continue reading...Former Western Australia premier Colin Barnett calls legislation ‘patronising’
The former premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett has blasted the federal government’s proposed foreign relations bill as “complete overkill”.
Appearing on the ABC’s Q+A on Monday night, the former WA Liberal leader was asked about the intention of the legislation to be considered by parliament, which would give the federal government power to veto agreements that state and local governments and universities enter into with foreign governments.
Continue reading...Labor grills the Coalition on aged care and the PM discusses the foreign relations bill. This blog is now closed
That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news you can follow our other live blog here.
Here’s what we learned today:
#breaking Sports rorts: 70% of grants from separate fund went to Coalition seats, Greens say #auspol #sportsrorts https://t.co/iej3ex14JO
Continue reading...Coalition to introduce laws to prevent Australian governments and universities making ‘detrimental’ deals with foreign powers
The Morrison government will pursue new powers to stop state, territory and local governments and universities entering agreements with foreign governments that it considers detrimental to Australia’s foreign policy objectives.
The government will introduce legislation next week empowering the foreign affairs minister to review and cancel agreements – such as Victoria’s decision to sign up to China’s belt and road initiative – if the commonwealth judges the arrangement adversely affects Australia’s foreign relations.
Continue reading...In contrast, letter in English on same issue said university had ‘unequivocal commitment to freedom of expression’
The University of New South Wales has been criticised for issuing a letter in Chinese that differs from a letter in English explaining its deletion of a tweet that was critical of China’s human rights abuses.
On Wednesday, the vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Ian Jacobs, apologised for the university’s deletion of a tweet that quoted Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch and an adjunct academic at the university.
Continue reading...Women represent about 67% students in the heavily affected fields of humanities, social sciences, media and communications
Women account for two-thirds of the students in the university courses facing the biggest increase in fees under the Australian government’s proposed overhaul, according to new analysis by the Greens.
The government has proposed to more than double the student contributions for humanities, social sciences, media and communications courses – with yearly fees increasing from $6,804 to $14,500 – although this does not apply to current students.
Continue reading...Dan Tehan wants all schools to provide in-person teaching to children whose parents want it. Follow live
The NRL season will recommence in late May, but it’s still unclear in what form it will happen.
#BREAKING: The NRL has announced a competition restart date of May 28. #9News pic.twitter.com/e5uwbe0fAj
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson is calling for road blocks on the Great Ocean Road to force people to stay home this long weekend. @Kieran_Gilbert
Continue reading...Political prisoners, including the University of Melbourne academic, have overwhelmingly been excluded from furloughing
Iran has temporarily freed 70,000 prisoners from jails around the country out of fear coronavirus could spread through prisons unchecked, but British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has not been released.
Political prisoners have overwhelmingly been excluded from the furloughing of prisoners, with other dual nationals such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-born British aid worker, remaining imprisoned despite growing concerns for their health.
Continue reading...An over-reliance on China and the emerging pandemic have forced reevaluation of university’s offerings, vice chancellor says
The University of Tasmania will slash hundreds of courses from its curriculum as part of a major overhaul driven in part by an “over-reliance on China” and the impact of the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, the university’s vice chancellor Rufus Black told staff the university was “facing sustained headwinds” to being sustainable, and would cut the number of courses on offer from 514 to fewer than 120 by next year.
Continue reading...Vanessa Teague reported on a dataset of Medicare and PBS payments that was supposed to be anonymous but wasn’t
A prominent university professor has quit after the health department pressured her university to stop her speaking out about the Medicare and PBS history of over 2.5 million Australians being re-identifiable online due to a government bungle.
In 2016, Vanessa Teague, a cryptographer from the University of Melbourne, and two of her colleagues reported on a dataset, published on an open government data website by the federal government, of 2.5m Australians’ Medicare and PBS payment history dating back to 1984 that had supposedly been de-identified so people were anonymous.
Continue reading...Protesters from University of Queensland Liberal National Cub – disendorsed by the LNP – yell at performers, leaving children in tears
A rightwing University of Queensland student group has been caught on film attacking a drag queen storytelling event at a Brisbane library.
In videos posted online on Sunday, the small group of students can be heard yelling “Drag queens are not for kids” at the event at the Brisbane Square library on Sunday morning. The event was organised with Rainbow Families Queensland and was hosted by two drag performers, Queeny and Diamond.
Continue reading...They are at the centre of debates about freedom, nationalism and democracy, yet their individual voices are rarely heard
Chinese students in Australia have been accused of trying to stifle freedom of speech on campus, of attacking pro-democracy protesters and of undermining the quality of education at our top universities which are increasingly dependent on the money they bring.
They stand at the centre of many of our political debates as we navigate the increasing influence of China in our region, its attempts to infiltrate our politics and institutions, and Australia’s increasing economic dependence.
Continue reading...The announcement by Bond University and RMIT follows the royal’s interview about his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
Two Australian universities have severed ties with a business mentoring charity founded by Prince Andrew after the royal’s train-wreck interview about his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Pitch@Palace program – founded by the prince in 2014 – supports entrepreneurs and start-up companies and gives them the opportunity to pitch their idea to business leaders at places including Buckingham Palace.
Continue reading...University writes to students on exchange in Hong Kong as campuses become focus of battles between police and protesters
The University of Sydney has urged Australian students on exchange in Hong Kong to return home as pro-democracy protests intensify on university campuses, the ABC is reporting.
The university has written to students after Hong Kong University and other institutions suspended classes for the last few weeks of semester.
Continue reading...‘Do we simply get gagged?,’ asks Greg Mullins as NSW and Queensland bushfires rage on. All the day’s events, live
Greg Mullins continued:
This is very frustrating for this group of emergency chiefs, because had we spoken back in April, one of the things we would have said was try to get more aircraft on lease from the northern hemisphere, this is going to be a horror fire season.
We are only going to have seven of those large air tankers you saw at Turramurra saving homes the other day. They can be a decisive weapon. I have just come back from California - they had about 30 on one fire. But because the fire seasons are overlapping with the northern hemisphere, they are not available when we need them most.
On the meeting the former fire and emergency chiefs have been seeking with the prime minister and other responsible ministers about Australia’s fire preparations since April, Greg Mullins said:
I wrote to the prime minister on two occasions. I didn’t expect a response to the first letter in April, because of the election in May. I wrote a couple of months later, or a few months later, there was a response, saying he was unable to meet and a message saying minister Taylor would be in touch.
When I was able to speak to minister Taylor’s office, I did point out that he was probably not the right minister to speak to, with minister Littleproud, maybe the finance minister, but definitely the PM – he was unable to assist with that.
This government fundamentally doesn’t like talking about climate change.
I will probably say ... that is all I will say about that.
Continue reading...University also demands names of journalists who spoke to Gerd Schröder-Turk, after comments on Four Corners
Murdoch University is suing an academic whistleblower and demanding the names of journalists he spoke to and the dates of their interactions, court records show.
One of Australia’s leading integrity experts, AJ Brown, says the university’s actions highlight the “huge imbalance” in power between whistleblowers and large employers and shows protections for those who speak out “remain something of a mess”.
Continue reading...Cases of British-Australians Kylie Moore-Gilbert and Jolie King, and King’s Australian partner, Mark Firkin, were revealed last week
Iran’s judiciary has confirmed it has detained three Australian citizens, alleging they were arrested for spying and taking images from sensitive areas.
Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaeili confirmed the arrests in a press conference in Tehran.
Continue reading...Backdown comes after university intervened to have its governing body sign off on Ramsay Centre degree despite it never being considered by its academic senate
The peak union for university academics and staff has been forced to drop legal action against the University of Wollongong over its approval of the controversial Ramsay Centre-funded western civilisation course.
The National Tertiary Education Union announced on Friday that it had withdrawn its action in the New South Wales supreme court over what it had described as the “unlawful” approval of the degree by the university late last year.
Continue reading...The income threshold for repaying university fees has dropped to just $45,881. Here’s what you need to know
On Monday, the Hecs (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) repayment threshold fell by more than 11%.
From now on, anybody earning over $45,881 a year will have to start repaying their student loans – effective immediately. It was the largest percentage drop in the threshold in more than 20 years and the second largest drop in the history of the scheme.
Continue reading...