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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 33 of 43
The ongoing gold boom in Kalgoorlie-Boulder is creating a growing tension between mining and tourism, with fly-in, fly-out workers occupying most available accommodation and forcing tour operators to book rooms up to a year in advance.
Victorian cancer patients are being "completely blindsided" by high out-of-pocket expenses, according to a new report that found the financial burden of the disease is "widespread" — with some patients spending up to $10,000 in about two years on specialist fees, medications, travel and accommodation.
Australia’s cherished coastal lifestyle comes with a multibillion-dollar price tag as rising sea levels threaten to inflict more than $850 billion in damage this century, according to the first nationwide economic assessment of sea level rise impacts. The research, led by the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and Global Environmental and Economic Modelling, warns that more than 267,000 coastal properties and 2 million hectares of land face flood damage by 2100 under a warming scenario of about 2.7°C.
The Victorian government sat on a report for more than a year that found the state’s koala population is in chronically poor health and roughly half the size previously estimated, according to an exclusive Guardian Australia report.
The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority is under fire after it emerged that high levels of lead were found in soil at 10 of 13 childcare centres in Broken Hill, with parents not directly informed by the agency, which says it told centre operators and left communication with families to them.
The Reserve Bank of Australia's efforts to control inflation have hit new headwinds, with the breakdown of the US-Iran ceasefire, rising oil prices, and a boom in data centre investment undermining the impact of three interest rate rises this year, according to an economics report.
High-end homes are recording the steepest price falls in Australia's housing downturn, while more affordable properties have proven resilient, leaving Australians experiencing the market correction in very different ways, new data shows.
A new Climate Council report forecasts that more than 267,000 coastal properties in Australia will be damaged by flooding by 2100, costing hundreds of billions of dollars, as sea level rise and extreme weather increasingly threaten low-lying communities from Grafton to Yamba.
A review by the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) has found that some rental technology platforms are encouraging tenants to share an 'excessive' amount of personal information, potentially circumventing new Victorian laws designed to protect renters' data.
Steel fabrication company Elsdon has admitted responsibility in Perth Magistrates Court for the 2020 roof collapse at Curtin University that killed apprentice Jonathan Hartshorn, 23, and seriously injured another worker, six years after the incident.
The NSW government has pledged to dismantle Sydney's organised crime networks after an innocent man was fatally shot in Merrylands, with a second shooting days later wounding a man in his 20s in the city's west.
A former politician has told a Sydney court that an alleged victim of Alan Jones appeared uncharacteristically "sunken and diminished" during a meeting with the broadcaster at his Circular Quay apartment, describing the man's demeanour as markedly different from his usual outgoing and engaged manner.
Firmus Technologies has signed a six-year sponsorship deal with the Tasmania Devils Football Club, placing its logo on player shorts and coach polos, but marketing experts warn the move is unlikely to single-handedly repair the company's image as it pursues three controversial AI data centre projects across the state.
The Commonwealth has told the High Court that the White Australia party, formerly the National Socialist Network, is a 'modern manifestation' of Adolf Hitler's Nazi movement and would incite hate crimes. The group was banned in May after ASIO recommended its designation as an illegal hate group, a decision the party is now challenging on the basis that the law breaches the implied freedom of political communication.
Western Australia's environmental regulator will seek to amend the operating licences of Chinese-owned Karara Mining and the Mid West Ports Authority after an investigation found magnetite dust from industrial activities contributed to black dust pollution in Geraldton.
A Victorian parliamentary inquiry has found that anti-LGBTQIA+ hate crimes are intensifying, with dating apps increasingly used to facilitate attacks. The Legislative Council committee tabled its final report, revealing 95 app-facilitated offences recorded by Victoria Police from January 2024 to October 2025, including physical and verbal assault, robbery, and extortion.
Blanche d'Alpuget, the award-winning Australian author and widow of former prime minister Bob Hawke, has died at the age of 82. Her family announced her death on Wednesday, saying she died following complications from influenza.
Personal information of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants may have been fed into Palantir's controversial analytics platform as part of a multi-agency fraud investigation, Guardian Australia has reported. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), which has access to NDIA data, used Palantir's software in a taskforce aimed at curbing fraud, raising serious privacy concerns for some of Australia's most vulnerable citizens.
Regional Victorian residents and public transport advocates are calling for the reinstatement of passenger rail services on two key routes — Geelong-Ballarat and Mildura — as the state heads towards the November election. The Geelong-Ballarat line has not carried passengers for nearly five decades, while Mildura has been without a passenger train since 1993 when the Kennett government discontinued the service.
A Liberal operative has told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) that a pink-coloured piece of paper recording an agreement worth up to $5 million with fugitive property developer Jean Nassif was not a recent invention, despite failing to mention the document in a preliminary interview with the watchdog.
Labor party members have criticised the federal government for declining to join the UK, Canada and France in banning trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, urging Foreign Minister Penny Wong to mount a stronger response to violence against Palestinians. The criticism comes as Australia prepares another round of targeted sanctions against Israeli settlers but stops short of a blanket trade ban.
Six previously undisclosed AI data centre projects are being considered for Tasmania, according to a state government document tabled in parliament, though the companies behind them have not been named. The confidential proposals would collectively require at least 500 megawatts of power, and one project in the state's north-west could become the largest data centre in Tasmania.
Zeinab Ahmad, the Melbourne woman accused of owning a Yazidi teenager as a slave while supporting Islamic State in Syria, has had her second bail application denied by the Victorian Court of Appeal. Justice James Elliott upheld the earlier magistrate's finding that Ms Ahmad posed an 'unacceptable risk' if released, dismissing defence arguments that delays in the case warranted bail.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he was given an honorary membership to a golf club in his electorate '15 years ago', but does not have a membership card nor attend the club, as Infrastructure Minister Catherine King defended the non-competitive grants program that awarded the club millions of dollars as a normal part of the democratic process.
Police have raided the Brisbane headquarters of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) as part of a cross-border operation involving detectives from Queensland and Victoria, amid allegations that union officials were corrupted.
Following the sixth and seventh mistaken-identity gangland murders in Sydney within a year, NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced an 'interim' serious crime prevention order (SCPO) that allows police to impose restrictions on suspected gang members without prior Supreme Court approval, bypassing delays that have previously hampered the fight against organised crime.
A coordinated foreign influence network has been using AI-generated deepfakes to impersonate dozens of Australian politicians on Facebook, with researchers identifying more than 200 pages over the past eight months and linking the operation to an influencer business in Sri Lanka.
State health officials were so alarmed by a controversial federal government aged-care funding tool that they kept a log of hundreds of cases where vulnerable older Australians were severely under-assessed, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. A senior state health official wrote to the federal government warning of 'catastrophic' outcomes and said staff were fielding calls from distraught clients and assessors.
The Victorian government is facing backlash over eleventh-hour carve-outs in its anti-corruption reforms, with a senior minister suggesting public hearings by the state's corruption watchdog remain on the table to address concerns that Premier Jacinta Allan will be shielded from scrutiny.
Two hitmen have been sentenced for the contract killing of gangland enforcer Gavin Preston, but the motive for the murder remains a mystery. Jaeden Tito and Rabii Zahabe were spared life in prison, with the sentencing judge describing the crime as flouting society's most basic human values.
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser has acknowledged Australians are 'furious' about persistent inflation and signalled that interest rates could rise again this month, as headline inflation hit 3.5 per cent in the year to July and the four major banks forecast another hike by year's end.
Australian high school students have scored their lowest-ever results in maths and reading on the Programme for International Student Assessment, with the long-term learning decline continuing despite a slight improvement in science. More than half of 15-year-olds did not achieve the national proficiency standard in maths, according to the 2025 results released today.
Victorian One Nation leader Warren Pickering has admitted to using ecstasy, methamphetamines and marijuana in his 20s, losing his licence multiple times for drink driving, and says he is 'no angel' — but he has denied claims he smoked ice in front of children and is considering legal action against The Australian newspaper.
Lawyers for the outlawed neo-Nazi White Australia party have told the High Court that the anti-hate laws used to ban the group are 'authoritarian in nature' and breach the constitution, arguing the Commonwealth does not have the power to outlaw a political party — a position the High Court upheld in 1951 when it struck down an attempt to ban the Communist Party.
A friend of Alan Jones who has denied witnessing an alleged assault in a Mosman restaurant has agreed in court that he sent the broadcaster a text message offering to 'refute any lies', as the trial on 22 indecent assault and sexual touching charges continues.
Police in Victoria’s east are urgently searching for Peter O’Ryan, 48, who allegedly attacked his brother and parents with an axe at their home in Tyers on Saturday, just months after being released from prison. His father Keith is in a critical but stable condition, while brother Paul and mother Janine are in serious but stable conditions at the Alfred Hospital.
The federal government has today introduced draft digital duty of care legislation designed to protect Australians from online harms, shifting the regulatory focus from reacting to harmful content to requiring platforms to prevent harm through system design.
A 10-year-old boy with a shattered kneecap has spent almost a week in Karratha Hospital in serious pain, waiting for a Royal Flying Doctor Service flight to Perth for surgery, as the WA Country Health Service cites "unusually high" demand for patient transfers.
From October 1, 2026, the Reserve Bank of Australia will ban surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa payments, eliminating the irritating extra line on receipts for most card transactions. However, the same reforms are slashing interchange fees — the money banks earn from card payments — which could reduce the funding that supports credit card rewards, perks, and interest-free days.
Mount Isa City Council is set to auction the first of 24 homes to recover almost $1 million in unpaid rates from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services, a move that residents say could force First Nations families out of their homes with nowhere to go.
Cricket Australia has reportedly agreed to a deal that would bring private investment into the Big Bash League, according to a breaking report from the ABC, though no specifics on the structure, investors or timeline have yet emerged.
The Australian government will require social media platforms to let users over 16 opt out of algorithm-driven content feeds, under draft legislation that also enforces a digital duty of care to limit children’s exposure to harmful material including misogynistic and eating-disorder content. Platforms that fail to comply face fines exceeding A$100 million.
A B-double truck carrying compressed recycled cardboard was destroyed by fire on the Hume Highway at Manton, north of Yass, on Monday night, marking the tenth such incident along a 150-kilometre stretch of the highway in just over two months. The driver escaped without injury, but southbound lanes remain closed for clean-up and vehicle recovery.
Leaked text messages have revealed details of a proposed $1 billion treaty that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intends to strike with his Solomon Islands counterpart, according to reports published by multiple News Corp Australia outlets.
Victorian Labor’s proposed reforms to strengthen the state’s anti-corruption body, IBAC, are at risk of collapse after last-minute changes that would prevent certain allegations from being investigated, according to reports.
US-based Peabody has submitted a scoping report to the NSW government to expand its Metropolitan coalmine at Helensburgh, south of Sydney, until 2044, a project that would extract 31 million tonnes of coal over 12 years and preserve 400 jobs, but has drawn warnings over its location within Sydney's drinking water catchment.
The federal government has quietly shelved a 2023 promise to implement national packaging standards aimed at curbing plastic waste, citing concern for increasing cost of living pressures. In an email to stakeholders last week, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the mandatory standards would not go ahead in this term of government, instead focusing on working with states and territories on ‘opportunities to improve’ packaging regulations.
Animals Australia has formally called on Biosecurity Tasmania to investigate three of the state's largest Atlantic salmon farming companies — Huon Aquaculture, Tassal Group and Petuna Aquaculture — alleging serious and ongoing breaches of Tasmania's Animal Welfare Act. The complaint, seen by the ABC, argues that the companies have engaged in conduct including fin clipping without anaesthetic, withdrawing feed for up to 72 hours, and keeping fish in conditions that lead to disease and mass mortality, in contravention of multiple sections of the Act.