Australia

Australian news: federal and state politics, the economy, courts, weather and the stories that matter across the country.

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Australia

Albanese gives three ministers extra staff worth $550,000 amid crossbench accusations of unfairness

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has awarded additional staff to three ministers, Defence Minister Richard Marles, Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain and Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino, at a total cost of $550,000, as crossbench MPs accuse him of failing to play fair over his sole discretion to set staffing levels for all federal politicians. The hires, made between May and October, come amid pressure from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and independent senator Fatima Payman to hand the power to an independent body.

·3 min·2 sources
Australia

Dane Rampe retires, adding to Swans defensive exodus

Veteran Sydney Swans defender Dane Rampe has announced his retirement, ending a remarkable career forged against the odds and further depleting the club's leadership and experience in defence. Rampe, 36, felt he had 'nothing left to give', compounding an exodus that has seen star back Nick Blakey traded to North Melbourne, Harry Cunningham depart as a free agent, and skipper Callum Mills expected to be sidelined for the entire 2027 season with an ACL injury.

·2 min·3 sources
Australia

Former gymnastics hopeful James Ramm named in Wallabies squad for spring tour

James Ramm, who once trained as a gymnast with Olympic dreams, has been called into the Wallabies squad for the first time in six years as the team gathers at Sydney Olympic Park ahead of the spring tour. The 28-year-old utility back, who signed with the Western Force ahead of next year's Super Rugby season after four successful seasons at Northampton, is now in contention for his first Test cap.

·3 min·3 sources
Australia

New book traces Gen Z's romance struggles to 'mass social separation'

A new book argues that young people still want sex, friendship and romance as much as previous generations, but are being kept from them by technology, a dominant culture of individualism and the shrinking of shared social spaces. In Generation Uncoupled, public opinion pollster Dr Daniel Cox describes a 'social malaise' among the young and warns of an 'experience deficit' produced by what he calls 'mass social separation'.

·3 min·3 sources
Australia

Two NDIS managers on leave after IBAC COVID grant cover-up findings

Two senior managers overseeing the $50 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme are on leave while the agency reviews findings from a Victorian integrity probe that found three senior public servants withheld or provided misleading information about COVID-19 business grants to ineligible applicants, which the watchdog estimated cost taxpayers almost $260 million, NDIA chief executive Graeme Head confirmed to Senate estimates on Thursday.

·3 min·3 sources
Australia

Teenage boy from Darwin charged with terrorism offences

A teenage boy from Darwin has been arrested and charged with alleged terrorism offences following a joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police, NT Counter Terrorism Teams and ASIO. Police allege the boy had multiple social media accounts on which he accessed, discussed and reposted violent extremist material; devices found allegedly contained blueprints for 3D-printed firearms. The boy is scheduled to appear in children’s court on Thursday, October 29.

·2 min·2 sources
Australia

Canavan calls $10b EU trade benefit figure fake

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has branded the Coalition “nativist and protectionist” over its resistance to the European Union trade agreement, but Nationals leader Matt Canavan is pushing back and claiming the government’s $10 billion benefit figure relies on pre-Brexit projections. Albanese escalated the political fight by seizing on Liberal backbencher Alex Hawke's warning in a closed-door meeting that opposing the deal would be “nutty”, while Canavan detailed what he called the “fake figure”.

·3 min·7 sources
Australia

Record cohort of 11 Indigenous chefs graduates from National Indigenous Culinary Institute

The National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI) has celebrated its largest graduating cohort to date, with 11 First Nations apprentices completing the commercial cookery program that places talented cooks in Australia's finest restaurants. The 2026 graduates, honoured at a long lunch designed by an alumni chef, represent the culmination of a pathway established by chefs such as Neil Perry and Matt Moran to increase Indigenous representation in high-end kitchens.

·3 min·2 sources