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Australian news: federal and state politics, the economy, courts, weather and the stories that matter across the country.
2089 articles · page 18 of 44
A leading constitutional expert has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government of 'grey corruption' over a $6 million grant to a golf club in his electorate, describing the grants scheme as a 'farce' that dressed up political favours as sound public policy.
· 5 sourcesNick Blakey has flown to Melbourne to explore a trade from Sydney, with Geelong his preferred destination, but Gold Coast has entered the race with coach Damien Hardwick set to meet the 26-year-old. Reports from Monday indicate significant progress has been made in negotiations, though no deal is yet finalised.
· 8 sourcesThe Royal Australian Mint has unveiled a new $1 coin collection chronicling five of Australia's most celebrated inventions, from the jaffle maker and baby safety capsule to the black box flight recorder and the wireless technology that underpinned Wi-Fi.
· 2 sourcesThe South Australian government has announced plans to ban the use of good character references for all convicted criminals during sentencing, following a nationwide campaign to abolish the practice. Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the proposed laws are a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence and would prevent the re-traumatisation of victim-survivors during court proceedings.
Coalition MPs have conceded that the party’s newly released immigration policy has not been costed in full by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), despite Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor repeatedly defending the plan as "budget neutral."
· 2 sourcesNew research from the Australian National University, the University of Canberra and the Australian National University indicates that university students may be open to alternative pathways for addressing sexual assault, such as restorative justice, but these options are often difficult to access. The study comes amid renewed scrutiny of how universities handle sexual misconduct, following the Cornell 7 case in the United States.
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has apologised to the Jewish community for what he said was the state government's inadequate response to the rise in antisemitism following the October 7 2023 attacks. In his first major public address to Melbourne's Jewish community since becoming premier, Carroll told students at Mount Scopus Memorial College that it was his personal mission to rebuild the relationship between Australia and its Jewish people.
· 3 sourcesMatildas star Mary Fowler has pulled out of upcoming international friendlies against Germany and Haiti citing unexplained personal circumstances, with reports linking her absence to a visit to Sydney to be with her partner, NRL star Nathan Cleary, as he recovers from a career-threatening broken leg.
· 3 sourcesVictoria recorded 632 drug overdose deaths last year, the highest number since the Coroner's Court began collecting data in 2000, with a sharp rise in fatalities among men aged 45 to 54 driving the state's drug-related deaths to their highest levels since the late 1990s heroin glut.
· 3 sourcesNew data shows a jump in Australian home building in the June quarter, but the Labor government is still about 100,000 dwellings behind the pace needed to reach its 1.2 million home target over five years, and experts caution that deteriorating economic conditions could slow future projects.
· 3 sourcesThe Australian government has announced that current and former Defence personnel may apply to have historical homosexual convictions expunged from their service records, and will issue a formal apology later this year for the persecution of LGBTQ+ members of the Australian Defence Force.
Benjamin Wen, a former Perth child psychiatrist, has been jailed for 10 years and six months for sexually abusing young patients under the guise of routine "puberty checks" at his Cockburn clinic between 2012 and 2016.
· 2 sourcesComedian Dave Hughes says he will stop speaking at Victorian Liberal Party events after the party decided his unpaid appearances could breach the state's political donation laws. A report to the Victorian Electoral Commission raised concerns that the market value of his speaking services constitutes an in-kind donation that exceeds the legal cap.
· 2 sourcesFormer Bishop of Broome Christopher Saunders has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison for sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men over a decade, in a case that has made him one of Australia's most senior Catholic clergymen convicted of child sexual abuse.
· 9 sourcesParinga Estate, the Red Hill South restaurant and vineyard on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, has been awarded a score of 14.5 out of 20 in an updated review by the Good Food Guide, as published by Nine newspapers.
· 3 sourcesAbout 700 people gathered at Bondi Pavilion at dawn on the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel, where Israel's ambassador to Australia drew a direct line between the Nova festival massacre and December's Bondi terrorist attack.
· 5 sourcesBear's Wine Bar in North Melbourne has received a score of 13.5 out of 20 in the Good Food Guide, according to a review published across Nine newspapers.
· 3 sourcesAn 18-year-old Paralowie man has been arrested and charged with the abduction of a child following an alleged attempted abduction on Monday evening. Police said the man picked up a young girl who was walking with a couple on Niven Drive at Paralowie and carried her a short distance before releasing her.
· 2 sourcesAustralian adults can again access Pornhub after its parent company, Aylo, implemented age-checking via Apple's device-level verification, ending a seven-month block imposed over compliance with national online safety codes.
· 4 sourcesAustralia's High Court has delivered a landmark judgment in the nation's first climate change case, ruling that planning authorities must consider the local environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel projects, including those generated when coal is burned overseas. The 3-2 decision upheld a NSW Court of Appeal ruling that overturned MACH Energy's proposed expansion of its Mount Pleasant coalmine in the Hunter Valley.
· 4 sourcesThe High Court has invalidated approval for a major coal mine expansion in New South Wales, ruling that planning authorities failed to ensure greenhouse gas emissions from coal burned overseas were minimised. The decision has drawn sharp political reactions, with the federal opposition calling for urgent legislative intervention and environment groups hailing a landmark climate precedent.
· 11 sourcesAustralian Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri has endured a difficult 2026 season, going more than a year without a race win and sitting seventh in the drivers championship. But Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, believes Piastri can still become a world champion if he is in the right environment, potentially at McLaren.
· 3 sourcesRichard Morecroft, the former ABC news presenter who became a photographer and conservationist, has died at 70. Nine newspapers have republished a 2022 Good Weekend profile recounting his meeting with partner Alison Mackay on a diving boat at Cape Tribulation in 1990 and their subsequent courtship by fountain-pen correspondence.
· 3 sourcesOpposition Leader Angus Taylor has pushed back against claims from Australia's peak business body that the Coalition's migration policy is a "flat tyre", as the plan to slash net overseas migration to 100,000 per year comes under fire from industry and Labor alike.
· 4 sourcesPolice are preparing a major operation for the second day of the Land Forces international weapons expo at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, after around 2000 anti-war protesters marched through the CBD on Monday night. Meanwhile, beaches in the Town of Cambridge have reopened following the removal of a humpback whale carcass that caused unsafe bacteria levels in the water.
· 3 sourcesA whale watching cruise shifted into an impromptu rescue operation after a jetski capsized, according to reports carried by several Australian news organisations. No further details on the location, those involved or any injuries have been released.
· 3 sourcesThe last complainant in the trial of former broadcaster Alan Jones has begun giving evidence in court.
· 3 sourcesThe federal and NSW governments have committed more than $1.2 billion to upgrade regional roads across New South Wales, including a corridor used to transport wind turbines between Newcastle and Dubbo and routes serving the state's south-west and New England regions.
· 2 sourcesOpposition Leader Angus Taylor has hit back at business sector criticism of the Coalition's plan to cut net overseas migration, while Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume clarified that aged care visas will not be shut down. Separately, Assistant Minister Andrew Charlton dismissed OpenAI's apology over a Medicare data breach as insufficient, pledging Australia will introduce national AI safety standards.
The long-awaited $126 million redevelopment of the Twelve Apostles precinct has officially opened, anchored by the new Keerray Woorroong Visitor Centre, and from October 16 prospective visitors will need to book a timeslot online. The Victorian government has confirmed that from April next year, tourists will also be charged an entry fee, with local residents and traditional owners exempt.
· 6 sourcesFormer patients say they have been physically attacked and experienced sexual misconduct in locked mental health wards across regional Queensland, as advocates call for frequent independent inspections of these facilities. Queensland has not set up an independent body to regularly inspect its locked mental health wards almost a decade after Australia agreed to do so under an international treaty.
Helen Garner's intimate novel "The Spare Room" has been adapted into an opera premiering this week, bringing to the stage her raw account of the three weeks in 2006 when she cared for a friend with terminal cancer.
· 3 sourcesAustralian Theatre for Young People's production of the two-hander musical Islander sees Georgia Laga'aia and Rebecca Ordiz play more than 25 characters between them, in a show that reimagines a Scottish musical as a celebration of Samoan culture.
· 3 sourcesAfter the NFL's debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground drew thousands of American visitors, Melbourne business and sports figures are calling for the city to play a bigger role in Australia's international branding, arguing that national tourism campaigns have long ignored the state in favour of outback icons, the Great Barrier Reef, and Sydney Harbour.
· 3 sourcesMore federal public servants were retrenched in 2025-26 than in the previous three years combined, with total retrenchments nearly quadrupling to 1328, new Australian Public Service employment data shows, yet only 20 of those exits were involuntary.
Australian capital cities are holding vigils on Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, while pro-Palestine gatherings are also expected. Overseas, a housing protest in Barcelona turned violent after masked demonstrators set cars on fire, a British man was arrested over an alleged plot involving a US airbase, and the White House defended a controversial remark by former President Donald Trump.
· 4 sourcesFunding for Ask Izzy, an online directory used millions of times by Australians seeking food, housing and emergency assistance, was cut in the May federal budget. Now a coalition of 24 major charities including Mission Australia, Foodbank, OzHarvest and St Vincent de Paul have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demanding the government restore the $2 million a year that keeps the service running.
A Perth private paramedic collapsed in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Tuesday after being shown footage of a head-on crash he allegedly caused by driving on the wrong side of the road with unauthorised lights and sirens on his personal car. Jack Dunn, 30, managing director of Rescue Recovery 1, faces charges including aggravated dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists has issued a fresh warning to patients, saying some are still failing to declare they are taking GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic or Mounjaro before surgery, after a study found users faced an 11-fold increased risk of regurgitation or pulmonary aspiration under general anaesthetic.
The Reserve Bank of Australia does not aim to stop prices from rising, according to a detailed explainer that addresses a common public confusion. The RBA wants inflation of 2.5 per cent each year, meaning the general price level will continue to climb, just at a more moderate pace.
The federal government handed Anthropic a draft of its data centre guidelines while negotiating a deal in which the Claude chatbot maker agreed to follow them, and its own briefing notes record that it consulted the company on the rules' development, documents released under freedom of information laws show. Anthropic denies having any influence on the final document.
· 4 sourcesSeveral businesses have cut their ties with a fitness influencer who has been charged with domestic violence offences, according to coverage published across the Australian newspaper network on Tuesday.
· 4 sourcesTax changes announced in the May federal budget are set to affect a broad swathe of Australians planning for retirement, with financial advisors warning that many long-established strategies are no longer viable under the new rules.
· 3 sourcesA Guardian Australia investigation has revealed that unmarked communal graves are being used to bury impoverished Australians at Rookwood Cemetery in western Sydney, in some cases without notifying families. The revelations have prompted widespread political condemnation and an urgent review from the New South Wales government, while cross-party calls grow for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to establish a uniform national standard.
· 2 sourcesRichard Morecroft, who anchored the ABC's nightly NSW news bulletin for almost two decades, has died at the age of 70 following a cancer diagnosis.
· 5 sourcesSeveral Australian news outlets, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAtoday, are reporting that Matildas star Mary Fowler is taking leave from the national team. No official statement from Football Australia, the Matildas or Fowler has been released, and the reason for the absence and its duration are not yet known.
· 4 sourcesAustralia's Rugby League World Cup campaign faces an unusual threat: not New Zealand, Tonga or Samoa, but the November 1 contract deadline that will see 11 players, including Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Latrell Mitchell and Sam Walker, hit the open market mid-tournament.
· 3 sourcesJaymie Graham, now the coach of North Melbourne, has shared the personal reasons behind his decision to retire from AFL football at age 25 after a 37-game career with West Coast. In a revealing interview, Graham said he and his partner Kasey had taken in his five-year-old sister Candy, and he had become a father to son Hudson, fundamentally shifting his priorities away from the game.
· 3 sources