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Australian news: federal and state politics, the economy, courts, weather and the stories that matter across the country.
2062 articles · page 11 of 43
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff is facing calls to apologise after a Facebook post about a public school renaming a Christmas event drew more than 5,400 comments and prompted him to ask the education department to intervene.
The Age has obtained and verified a catalogue of nearly 17,000 social media posts from One Nation candidate Matthew Collins, revealing a fixation with a perceived clash of civilizations between Christians and Muslims, including calls to "decolonise" parts of the Muslim world and references to the crusades. Collins has deleted or locked his accounts since being selected as one of 112 candidates for the party at next month's Victorian state election. One Nation refused to answer detailed questions about the posts, and Collins did not respond to contact attempts. The party is currently polling at a 23 per cent primary vote, according to the Resolve Political Monitor.
Australia's record 214-run win over South Africa in Durban was celebrated from the Kingsmead dressing room to the Oyster Box Hotel, and much of it was filmed: The Test, the Amazon documentary series, has been revived for a fourth season that will follow the team through South Africa, India and England over the next 12 months. But two of the team's most experienced players, Mitchell Starc and Travis Head, say they still have not watched a single complete episode.
Travis Bazzana's breakout rookie season has the Cleveland Guardians locked at 1-1 with the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series, putting the Australian on the verge of a World Series berth. Game three is early Friday morning, 4am AEDT, and the 24-year-old from Turramurra, NSW, has become the man Cleveland fans cannot take their eyes off.
The black-market tobacco trade continues to thrive with criminal syndicates in Cambodia producing counterfeit cigarettes that mimic Australian plain packaging and health warnings at industrial scale, prompting the federal government to push for urgent passage of new laws giving authorities stronger powers to detect and disrupt illegal supply chains.
Independent Senator David Pocock is pushing for a Senate public hearing into the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority's (APVMA) decision to keep the controversial herbicide paraquat on the market. The chemical, which is linked to Parkinson's disease, has been banned in more than 70 countries but remains in use across Australian agriculture. Parkinson's Australia has joined the calls, alongside Queensland farmer Greg Smith, who is living with Parkinson's and has issued a warning against its continued use.
Labor and the Coalition have blocked a vote on a bill that would have banned the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth, with the government arguing criminal justice is a state and territory responsibility. Independent senator Lidia Thorpe introduced the legislation, which also sought to stop children being strip-searched.
Australia's unemployment rate has climbed to 4.7 per cent, its highest level in almost five years, after the economy shed nearly 39,000 jobs in September, a result that has increased pressure on the Reserve Bank to hold off on further interest rate rises.
Victoria's corruption watchdog has found senior public servants provided false and misleading information to then ministers Martin Pakula and Ben Carroll to cover up $285 million in COVID-19 business grants paid to ineligible applicants, and deliberately withheld the scale of the loss from their own department head.
A plan to build one of Victoria's first undercover, automated cattle feedlots at Llowalong, north of Maffra, has sparked opposition from local residents who say the facility would create road safety and odour problems for neighbouring properties. The 2,206-head feedlot would house cattle in enclosed sheds on a 90-day feeding cycles and would require more than 850 truck movements per year, according to opponents.
Austin Waugh, son of former Australian Test captain Steve Waugh, produced a remarkable catch in a Sydney first-grade cricket match last Sunday, leaping high near the boundary and flicking the ball back to a teammate to dismiss Campbelltown Camden opener Bailey Abela. The former captain, who photographed the moment, said it was better than John Dyson's famous 1982 grab.
The Australian Electoral Commission has warned that people using artificial intelligence tools to obtain voting information is an 'emerging concern', as Victorian Labor pledged to offer free abortion care if re-elected. The developments were among several on Thursday as federal politics continued alongside the Victorian state election campaign.
The Albanese government has dropped controversial ministerial powers from its digital duty of care bill, a move Communications Minister Anika Wells says removes a key stumbling block to the legislation's passage through parliament.
Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced Labor's Digital Duty of Care legislation to parliament on Thursday, insisting the laws are not about censorship or surveillance, even as the Coalition and Greens prepare to send the bill to a Senate inquiry. The introduction came a day after the Senate blocked the government's private health insurance rebate changes, which Health Minister Mark Butler has promised to bring back.
New polling shows a majority of Queensland voters want spending cuts to repair the state budget, but only 13 per cent believe One Nation would be the best party to manage the economy, despite the party's primary vote steadying above 20 per cent. The LNP government leads on economic trust at 35 per cent, followed by Labor at 21 per cent, with 22 per cent undecided.
Plans are underway for a blockbuster Bledisloe Cup clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2027, as Rugby Australia and the Victorian government finalise negotiations for a Test that could draw more than 90,000 fans. The match would be the second Test of a three-game series, bolstering what is already seen as Australia's best chance in years to end New Zealand's 24-year hold on the trophy.
Hawthorn has been rated a perfect 10 and the Western Bulldogs a near-perfect 9.5 in an analysis of this year's AFL trade period, which saw several high-profile players including a dual Brownlow medallist and a Coleman medallist find new homes.
Gary Waddell, the Australian actor celebrated for his raw, rough-as-guts characters who graced countless film and television productions, has died at the age of 74.
Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport has opened to commercial passengers, with a Jetstar flight to the Gold Coast becoming the first to take off from Australia's newest major airport on Sunday. The opening, decades in the making, marks the start of round-the-clock operations intended to complement Sydney's curfew-constrained Kingsford Smith Airport.
More than 600 people attended the Melbourne launch of former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg's memoir on Wednesday evening, with the event fuelling speculation among Liberal party figures that the book is a precursor to a political comeback.
An audit by Victoria's Auditor-General Andrew Greaves has identified a $1.5 billion investment need to maintain and replace the state's aging fire truck fleet over the next decade, with only $390.4 million in allocated funding leaving a shortfall of more than $1 billion. The report, released Wednesday, found nearly 60 per cent of fire trucks operated by the Country Fire Authority and Fire Rescue Victoria were more than 15 years old, exceeding internal replacement recommendations.
The AFL integrity unit has opened an investigation into the hospitalisation of Carlton players Lachie Cowan and Will Hayward after a weekend house party, a significant escalation in the controversy engulfing the club. Reports suggest Cowan is likely to be charged with bringing the game into disrepute and face a two-match ban, while Hayward is expected to avoid suspension.
The AFL trade period concluded with Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs gaining the most ground, according to a column by Jake Niall. In a period described as a rare outbreak of honest and rational negotiation, Zach Merrett completed his long-awaited move to Hawthorn, and Ben King also joined after the Suns chose not to match a seven-year, $9 million offer. Side deals and draft capital moves reshaped the next season's landscape, with Hawthorn positioned as a leading contender for 2027.
The Rugby League World Cup got underway at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night with a frenetic first half between hosts Australia and New Zealand, the teams heading to the break level at 10-10. Debutant winger Jack Bostock and Tom Trbojevic each scored from long-range intercepts for the Kangaroos, turning what looked like certain Kiwi tries into points at the other end. Kotoni Staggs was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul late in the half, leaving Australia to start the second period a man short.
Former and current members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, formerly the Exclusive Brethren, have described it as a controlling sect rather than a religion, detailing how dissenting members are excommunicated, shunned by family and monitored by church authorities.
A Brisbane widower told a stunned courtroom on Wednesday that he hopes the teenager who killed his wife in a high-speed crash will one day find someone who loves him as much as he was loved. Jean-Paul Franzidis was speaking at the sentencing of the now-18-year-old driver for the manslaughter of Rosemary Franzidis, 69, who died on November 7, 2024 when a stolen car driven at more than 130km/h struck her vehicle as she returned home from morning Mass in Brisbane's north.
Thomas Murfett, 63, has described how he circled Muchea airfield looking for a safe landing spot on Saturday morning after sensing something wrong with his home-built RV-6A, before the aircraft stalled and crash-landed in a paddock near the Brand Highway.
The final question on Wednesday's Higher School Certificate English Advanced exam used a fishing metaphor to prompt students to reflect on the importance of wonder, absorption and play for human flourishing, rather than merely achieving outcomes.
Western Australia's parliament descended into chaos during question time when Higher Education Minister Tony Buti said Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas had privately backed the government's controversial three-way university merger, a claim Zempilas repeatedly rejected as a lie.
Outgoing Coalition frontbencher Jonno Duniam has used his final speech to parliament to warn the Liberal Party against mimicking One Nation, urging colleagues to return to their roots and stay the course as the party struggles in the polls after two successive election defeats.
A new DemosAU MRP poll projects Labor would win a clear majority of House of Representatives seats if a federal election were held now, despite receiving only 27% of the national primary vote. The poll, conducted for Capital Brief from August 4 to September 19 with a sample of 9,740, shows Labor winning 84 of the 150 seats, well over the 76 needed for a majority. One Nation's seat projection fell sharply from 60 in a previous MRP poll to 24 in this one.
Resources minister Madeleine King has told the National Press Club that Australian industry will remain reliant on gas for the foreseeable future, and has defended the national gas reservation scheme as a measure that will push down power prices. She stopped short of putting a price tag on gas under the proposal or predicting when households and businesses would see financial relief.
Greens leader David Shoebridge has warned the Ukrainian-Australian community not to alienate the minor party during a tense meeting over its opposition to military aid for Ukraine, as internal divisions deepen with Senator Sarah Hanson-Young breaking ranks to support arming the country. Shoebridge is scheduled to meet Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko on Friday in an effort to contain the backlash.
A New South Wales coroner has found that a wait of at least 305 days for mental health support likely contributed to the death of an inmate who took his own life in his cell at Junee Correctional Centre.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has undercut Treasurer Jim Chalmers in a move that deepens signs of strain in their working relationship, as Labor faces mounting pressure from a resurgent One Nation and growing economic discontent.
A Coalition-Greens-One Nation alliance has effectively killed the Albanese government's plan to wind back private health insurance rebates for Australians aged 65 and over, with the Senate discharging the bill on Tuesday. Health Minister Mark Butler has vowed to reintroduce identical legislation on Thursday, calling the move an "absolute travesty."
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has told the Senate that a hidden recording device found in the shower facilities of a Royal Australian Navy ship may have captured footage that was uploaded online before the device was discovered, prompting an investigation by military police and civilian authorities.
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has announced new laws forcing large gas exporters to reserve 20 per cent of extracted gas for the domestic market, a move aimed at addressing high energy prices in eastern Australia but which has drawn a cautious response from Western Australia, where a longstanding 15 per cent reservation policy already exists.
Four rural doctors have written to South Australia's health minister warning that a new six-month birthing trial at two Mid North hospitals is "unsafe" and "unsustainable", with the rotating model taking effect this week amid ongoing midwifery shortages.
Resources Minister Madeleine King has said nationalising the Perth-based heavy rare earths company Northern Minerals is an option for the government, as China-linked investors continue to defy federal orders to sell their stakes in the strategically sensitive miner.
Wallabies coach Les Kiss has moved star prop Angus Bell to the bench for Saturday's Bledisloe Cup rematch with the All Blacks in a bid to avoid a second-half fade-out, while first-choice playmaker Carter Gordon faces a fitness test that will shape next month's Nations Championship campaign.
The City of Perth has reappointed former chief executive Garry Hunt for a 12-month term, stepping into the role left vacant after the council sacked Michelle Reynolds. The appointment was endorsed at a special council meeting on Tuesday night.
The Australian government will introduce its Digital Duty of Care Bill to parliament this week, legislation that would make platforms legally responsible for creating a 'safe online environment' protecting users from 'seriously harmful material and conduct'. Researchers are warning the bill's definition of serious harm is fundamentally flawed and could block vital drug and sex education content, undermining the government's own public health strategies.
The gap in health spending between metropolitan and rural Australia has blown out to $9.23 billion, an increase of almost $2.7 billion in two years, according to a report warning that millions of country residents face chronic doctor shortages and poorer health outcomes.
The federal government has announced consultation on reforms that could see perpetrators of financial abuse held liable for tax and social security debts they create as a form of coercive control, with courts potentially given greater flexibility to transfer such debts to the abusive spouse in family law proceedings.
A mother charged over the alleged criminal neglect of a baby boy found dead inside a motel room in Adelaide had previously been reported missing in New South Wales five years ago with another child, police have said.
The Northern Territory government will permanently legalise pepper spray for self-defence and allow 16- and 17-year-olds to buy and carry it with parental authorisation, following a trial that Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said had a "99 per cent success rate."
The NSW Supreme Court jury trying former Sydney police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has been told he previously visited the Bungonia farm where he allegedly tried to sink the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in a dam, months before the couple were killed.