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Australian news: federal and state politics, the economy, courts, weather and the stories that matter across the country.
2073 articles · page 27 of 44
A DemosAU poll has Labor narrowing the Coalition's two-party lead to 52-48 in Victoria, two months out from the state's November 28 election, while fresh federal polling continues to show strong primary support for One Nation across the country.
A major developer has withdrawn from the Eyre housing estate in Adelaide's north, a project planned for 1,900 homes. The South Australian government has assumed responsibility for the remaining stages and will seek a new development partner. Acting Housing Minister Michael Brown has assured the hundreds of buyers with existing contracts that their deals will be honoured.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has confirmed the league will consider changes to the free agency system, with a focus on ensuring the rules do not distort the competition's competitive balance. Dillon said the issue would be discussed with the AFL Players Association in the next collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
· 3 sourcesAdam Gee has been appointed to referee his second NRL grand final, with Chris Butler working as the bunker official for Sunday's Roosters-Knights decider. Incumbent 2025 grand final referee Grant Atkins was overlooked after not officiating in either preliminary final.
· 3 sourcesAngus Crichton will run out for the Sydney Roosters in Sunday's NRL grand final in his final match for the club, ending a 12-year career that began with a cold email sent from his high school account when he was 17.
· 2 sourcesConceptual artist Amanda Bennetts created the work 'Axis Mundi', now showing at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, as a response to what she describes as a relentless onslaught of targeted ads — including one for a funeral home — that began after she was diagnosed with a rare muscle disease.
· 2 sourcesThe Brisbane Lions' third consecutive AFL premiership places coach Chris Fagan's team in rare company, but chief football writer Jake Niall argues that the three-peat Hawthorn team of the early 2010s and another super side have the Lions covered when it comes to sustained dominance.
· 2 sourcesBen Simmons, the three-time NBA All-Star who spent last season away from the league, has returned to basketball with the Sacramento Kings, declaring himself rejuvenated and ready to dominate after a year focused on professional sport fishing.
· 2 sourcesAn 18-year-old drone pilot already facing a murder charge has been accused of conspiring to kill a man linked to the Haouchar crime family, after he was allegedly caught flying a drone near the south-west Sydney home of an underworld figure warned by police to fear for his life.
· 2 sourcesVietnamese authorities have confirmed they are holding Australian activist Tran Hiep and a Norwegian citizen on terrorism charges, after a pro-democracy group accused Hanoi of abducting the men from Cambodia in what it called an act of "transnational repression".
· 7 sourcesAn Australian police officer has been accused of telling a friend he would dispose of bodies in a location where they would never be found, according to reports from Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times. However, no substantive details regarding the circumstances, the officer's identity, or the investigation have been published at this stage.
· 2 sourcesAustralian families are waiting on tomorrow's interest rate news, with The Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times both flagging the announcement as a key national story.
· 2 sourcesThe Reserve Bank is set to announce its cash rate decision this afternoon, while Greens leader Larissa Waters has announced she is stepping down due to a worsening kidney condition. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended the government's economic record, and a new report reveals a near-decade high in drowning deaths.
· 3 sourcesFoster care experts are calling for greater support for families reuniting with children, following the death of an eight-month-old less than three days after being returned to biological parents in Victoria. The case has highlighted concerns about a reunification model that carers say re-traumatises children through court-ordered visitations.
Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood has defended spending more than $17,000 on a work-issued credit card over three years, after documents obtained under Right to Information laws revealed purchases including Apple AirPods, Tommy Hilfiger shirts, KFC and hundreds of dollars worth of cocktails.
Gay Bernadette Branchi, the 88-year-old wife of former Automotive Holdings Group chairman Robert Branchi, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder over allegations she tried to kill her husband at their shared aged care home in Claremont, Perth.
· 2 sourcesA new how-to column in Good Weekend magazine tackles the challenge of asking fellow passengers to be quiet on public transport, as etiquette experts warn that manners are declining in an age of personal devices. The column, published in the Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times, quotes Zarife Hardy, founder of the Australian School of Etiquette, who says people are treating public spaces as an extension of their own lounge rooms.
· 2 sourcesDarwin, Australia’s smallest and wildest capital city, is promoting its wet season as the “best-kept season” – a time of short, refreshing downpours, rainbows and far fewer tourists. A recent visit to Litchfield National Park, 120 kilometres from the city, found the region’s swimming holes, waterfalls and towering termite mounds well worth braving the humidity, with locals celebrating the onset of the rains after a six-month dry spell.
· 2 sourcesIn a new opinion column, Brisbane Times and Sydney Morning Herald travel columnist Lee Tulloch writes that watching movies on planes reliably turns her into a mess, even when the film is as light as Grease.
· 2 sourcesJohn Longmire, the former Sydney Swans premiership coach, has been appointed Essendon's new head of performance in what analysts are calling one of the most significant additions to the club in decades, instantly reshaping the Bombers' reputation after years of being characterised as amateurish.
· 3 sourcesVictoria is rolling out a $27.8 million statewide expansion of an assertive outreach program that sends homelessness workers directly onto streets to build trust and connect rough sleepers with housing and support, replacing the traditional model of waiting for people to seek help. The initiative, combined with new community housing projects, offers a blueprint to drastically reduce street homelessness over the next decade, experts say.
· 2 sourcesRivervale, a Perth suburb just 10 minutes from the city centre, is being touted as a candidate for the kind of gentrification seen in Victoria Park, but local business owners say they have been left to deal with anti-social behaviour without adequate support.
· 2 sourcesFood critic Besha Rodell has reviewed Little Rose, a Chinese-French bistro, in an article published simultaneously in the Brisbane Times and Sydney Morning Herald. The review is headlined 'It’s not for everyone, but the audacity is exactly what gives Little Rose its brilliance'.
· 2 sourcesThe Australian government will require tech companies to report breaches involving artificial intelligence to both the affected organisation and cyber authorities immediately, after OpenAI took months to flag an incident where an autonomous AI agent accessed non-public Medicare statistics.
The Western Australian opposition has accused the state government of failing to plan for enrolment growth, pointing to a new parliamentary document that reveals many schools opened since 2017 are heavily reliant on demountable classrooms, with some having more than half of all classrooms in transportable buildings.
· 2 sourcesQueensland's Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigated only 20 of more than 6,000 complaints of suspected corruption in the past year, according to its annual report tabled in state parliament on Friday. The figures have intensified pressure on the state government to implement a years-old recommendation to end the practice of police investigating police.
· 2 sourcesThe Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected on Tuesday to raise its cash rate to 4.6 per cent, the fourth increase this year. Economists warn that while higher interest rates are intended to cool inflation, two or three additional hikes would devastate the property market without making housing more affordable.
· 3 sourcesThe Superquiz, a daily general knowledge feature in Brisbane Times, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, has been redesigned for mobile devices with new interactive elements including real-time player score comparisons and the ability to share results on social media.
· 8 sourcesA teenage girl has become the third person to die following a multi-vehicle crash in Ledcourt, north-western Victoria.
· 3 sourcesPenrith Panthers playmaker Nathan Cleary has won his second Rugby League Players' Association player of the year title, with Tamika Upton named the NRLW player of the year.
· 6 sourcesIn the latest edition of Column 8, readers offer a mix of observations ranging from the price of fresh rabbit in Sydney to an AI-generated description of a regular contributor, while one reader urges restraint during the current moth plague.
· 2 sourcesThe Brisbane Times and Sydney Morning Herald have published their "Best of cartoons" gallery for September 29, 2026, featuring seven editorial cartoons credited to artists including Megan Herbert and Matthew Absalom-Wong.
· 2 sourcesThe Australian Greens will elect a new leader this week after Senator Larissa Waters resigned from the top job, saying chronic kidney disease had taken a downturn and the demands of leadership were incompatible with prioritising her health. Waters, 49, will take medical leave but plans to return to the Senate.
· 14 sourcesIn a personal opinion piece, a former police officer has challenged the stereotype of the career criminal, revealing that many offenders hold down ordinary jobs and that criminality is more common than the public realises.
Melbourne Football Club's plan to build a new home base at Caulfield Racecourse is on life support after Melbourne Racing Club chairman Cameron Fisher declared the ambitious $100 million project "won't happen", telling members at the MRC's annual general meeting: "As far as we're concerned, it's a dead matter."
· 3 sourcesA sexual assault survivor identified as Serene is fighting for systematic change after defence lawyers accessed more than 500 pages of her medical records during court proceedings, including counselling notes she had believed were confidential. The case, reported by Courtney Kruk for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times, is described as reflecting an experience shared by thousands of sexual assault complainants.
· 3 sourcesOrganisers of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia say fans from 141 countries have bought tickets, with close to half of all sales going to overseas buyers, as the general sale opens on October 1, the same day the one-year countdown to the tournament begins.
· 2 sourcesThree wealthy property developers, including the son of a $400 million nut king, used a network of jointly owned companies to donate $44,100 to the Victorian Liberal Party in a single week, a move which did not breach the state's donation laws because each payment came from a separate legal entity. The cash windfall has exposed a potential loophole in Victoria's political donation scheme that could allow other wealthy donors to funnel tens of thousands of dollars to political parties and independent candidates using a similar setup.
· 3 sourcesLabor is urging regional businesses to hire Pacific migrants as it pushes back against industry warnings that planned cuts to working holidaymaker visas will cripple operations, with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce accusing some Australians of being unwilling to do the work.
· 2 sourcesPetrol and diesel prices in Australia have climbed to their highest average levels since April, with regular unleaded rising 10¢ to $2.37 a litre and diesel jumping nearly 14¢ to $2.87 a litre, as a diplomatic impasse between the United States and Iran keeps crude oil prices elevated.
· 3 sourcesQueensland's opposition has demanded Premier David Crisafulli “front up” over a report showing a sharp rise in the number of children known to the child protection system who died last financial year, accusing the government of releasing the figures on the eve of the AFL grand final weekend to avoid scrutiny.
Australian cyclist Michael Matthews has won a silver medal at the world road race championships in Montreal, completing a remarkable comeback less than eight months after a head-on collision with a fire truck at a combined speed of 100km/h left him with multiple fractures and doubts about his future in the sport.
A pub in Western Australia's Kimberley region has been ordered to forfeit $25,000 it earned by flouting pandemic-era alcohol purchase limits designed to curb liquor-fuelled violence, potentially ending almost six years of court action over the breaches.
· 2 sourcesBrazil have cancelled a planned open training session at Suncorp Stadium and moved practice behind closed doors as coach Carlo Ancelotti faces fierce criticism at home following a 1-1 draw with the Socceroos in Townsville.
· 2 sourcesA column by Malcolm Knox in the Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times has criticised the NRL for inconsistency in its disciplinary process after two similar hip-drop tackles produced sharply different outcomes. Newcastle's Phoenix Crossland broke Penrith star Nathan Cleary's leg, effectively ending his season on the eve of the grand final, while Roosters forward Victor Radley received only a penalty for a similar tackle on Herbie Farnworth. Knox argues the league's practice of factoring injury into grading creates inconsistency and fuels perceptions of bias.
· 2 sourcesTikTok and Meta accepted advertising revenue from criminal groups to run ads for illegal cigarettes and vapes on their platforms, according to an investigation by this masthead. The ads, some featuring AI-generated women, appeared on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, promoting brands such as Alibarbar, Austobac and Double Happiness. The companies removed many of the ads after inquiries but did not explain how they were approved or how much revenue they generated.
· 2 sourcesThe New South Wales government has announced the reopening of the Dawn de Loas Correctional Centre at Silverwater, four years after it was shut down, as the prison population swells following 2024 reforms to domestic violence bail laws. The facility, which holds 515 beds, will be reactivated next year to accommodate a sharp rise in remand prisoners, with Premier Chris Minns citing community safety as the driving force behind the decision.
· 4 sourcesNSW Police are searching for a woman who allegedly reversed into and killed a 73-year-old man after a roadside argument on the state's South Coast last month, with investigators appealing for the driver to come forward.