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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 9 of 43
The Bledisloe Cup rematch between the Wallabies and All Blacks at Accor Stadium has been delayed by train disruptions, while the New Zealand side paid tribute to former Wallabies player Nathan Charles, who recently revealed a motor neurone disease diagnosis.
Concern is growing for 13-year-old Dramien, who has been missing in Canberra since Thursday, according to a report from The Canberra Times. No further details about his disappearance or the ongoing search have been released.
Melbourne secured an AFLW finals berth with a dominant 94-32 win over Richmond in Pride Round on Friday night, while West Coast announced they have re-signed coach Daisy Pearce for a further two seasons, keeping her at the club until at least the end of 2028.
· 3 sourcesJockey Mark Zahra was released from hospital on Saturday night and Jye McNeil will be discharged on Sunday after both escaped serious injury in the devastating two-horse fall that overshadowed the 150th Caulfield Cup. The horse Ohope Wins was euthanased after suffering fatal injuries, while Racing Victoria stewards will hold an inquiry into the incident.
· 9 sourcesA new documentary, ‘Kumarangk: Sacred Women’s Business’, will have its global premiere this weekend at the Adelaide film festival, revisiting the Hindmarsh Island bridge affair and the Ngarrindjeri women who fought to keep their sacred knowledge secret while opposing a development they said would destroy their cultural site.
Mathias Cormann, the former Australian finance minister and now secretary general of the OECD, will deliver a sharp warning to Australia's mainstream political parties on Saturday night: do not mimic populist policies such as arbitrary migration caps to address cost-of-living grievances. In an address to the Centre for Independent Studies, he will argue that the only reliable long-term solution is boosting productivity to deliver housing, real wage growth and lower energy costs.
· 3 sourcesGreens senator Jordon Steele-John has accused an internal faction of playing 'nasty political games' and disputed reports that he is on leave, pushing back against leader David Shoebridge as four West Australian Greens MPs called on the party to publish key findings from the investigation into allegations about his conduct.
· 7 sourcesHigh rents and falling property prices have opened a rare window for Australian tenants to become homeowners, with mortgage repayments now cheaper than rent in dozens of suburbs, according to an analysis by Guardian Australia of Cotality data.
· 3 sourcesThousands packed into Wentworth Park in inner-west Sydney on Friday night for the final greyhound race meeting at the historic track, which will now be demolished and returned to parkland. The end of an era for an Australian sporting landmark saw the Million Dollar Chase, the world's richest greyhound race, won by Magical Ang.
· 2 sourcesDays after the All Blacks completed a 43-21 Bledisloe Cup sweep in Sydney, a new analysis argues the Wallabies have a better chance of winning next year's home World Cup than reclaiming the trans-Tasman trophy, with Saturday's defeat potentially a blessing in disguise for the tournament draw. Player ratings have delivered a withering verdict on the performance, and former Wallabies greats are split on whether the 24-year drought can be broken.
· 15 sourcesPunters have begun arriving at Caulfield Racecourse and Randwick for a massive day of racing, with the Caulfield Cup and The Everest both scheduled this afternoon. Gates opened at Caulfield at 10.30am for the first race of the day, while the first race at Randwick gets underway half an hour later.
· 8 sourcesThe Australian men's Test cricket team is the oldest since the 1920s, but its senior players keep delivering performances that belie their ages, according to a new opinion column by Malcolm Knox published across Nine newspapers.
· 3 sourcesA Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond jukebox musical starring Broadway veteran Will Swenson, has become a box office hit in Melbourne, with the Princess Theatre regularly posting 'House Full' signs and welcoming over 100,000 patrons since its Australian premiere in August. The production will finish its Melbourne run on November 7 before opening in Sydney on November 14, with a Brisbane season scheduled for next year.
· 3 sourcesFisheries Queensland has confirmed it investigated an overharvesting of coral on the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef but has declined to share the outcome of its inquiry, prompting calls from scientists and conservation groups to rethink how the commercial coral harvest is managed.
· 2 sourcesThe A-League Men season kicked off on Friday night with a Sydney derby that failed to ignite, as Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers played out a goalless draw at Allianz Stadium. The match, which pitted last year's grand finalists against the wooden spooners, was marked by cautious tactics and few clear chances, leaving both coaches acknowledging it was not a spectacle for the fans.
· 3 sourcesA suspected mass starvation event of grey-headed flying foxes along the east coast of Australia has overwhelmed wildlife carers and prompted warnings that the loss of the keystone pollinator could disrupt entire forest ecosystems. Experts say drought conditions have caused a lack of nectar on flowering trees, forcing bats to seek food closer to the ground and leading to widespread malnutrition and death.
Australia is set to record its wettest El Niño year on record, with an ongoing outbreak of showers and thunderstorms forecast to affect more than half the country during the next seven days, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The unusually wet spring comes despite a strong Pacific El Niño and a dry Indian Ocean phase that have historically produced widespread drought.
More than 100 kilometres of major roads and paths across Perth remain unlit, some for years, due to widespread copper theft, with police charging three people this week as they step up scrutiny of scrap metal recyclers.
· 2 sourcesA scientist has told the NSW Independent Planning Commission that a public school near the proposed Bowdens silver and lead mine should be relocated, warning the project poses an unacceptable lead exposure risk to children.
· 2 sourcesRed imported fire ants have re-infested organic farms in south-east Queensland that have gone untreated for 14 months, after baiting was suspended on export-certified properties because the baits contained genetically modified ingredients. The National Fire Ant Eradication Program has confirmed re-infestation across parts of a 1,110-hectare zone, and a newly approved organic-compliant treatment is only now arriving at Brisbane port.
· 2 sourcesA vivid scene in a new feature from the October 17 edition of Good Weekend shows the intense anxiety victims and witnesses can face in court, and the critical role of volunteer support officers. Set at Newcastle’s regional courthouse, the story follows Jennifer, a court support officer, as she helps a young woman who is about to give evidence in a sexual assault trial and is visibly distressed by the defendant's presence.
· 3 sourcesThousands of students miss out on a place at Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School every year, intensifying a political debate over Victoria’s four selective-entry schools that is set to become a state election issue. With only 1000 new spots available across the network each year and thousands sitting the entry exam, the Liberal opposition has promised to establish new selective schools, while critics argue the system entrenches social segregation.
· 3 sourcesA surge in electric vehicle uptake driven by cheaper new models and rising fuel costs has triggered a flood of used petrol and diesel cars onto the Australian second-hand market, pushing listings to a record high and forcing sellers to cut prices to offload their old automobiles.
· 3 sourcesA new Good Weekend feature profiles Baby Boomers who continue working well past traditional retirement age, examining the financial and personal pressures that keep them in the workforce. The story centres on Theo Newbegin, a 67-year-old who works full-time as a roofer each morning before clocking on for an eight-hour forklift shift at the SPC canning factory in Shepparton, Victoria.
· 3 sourcesOne Nation’s NSW leader Mike Newman spent more than $211,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses on flights, five-star hotels, and bar and restaurant bills during his 28-month tenure as a senior trade commissioner in Japan, according to expense reports obtained via freedom of information laws.
· 3 sourcesA spring heatwave in New South Wales triggered a dramatic spike in electricity prices on Monday afternoon, allowing households with solar panels and battery storage to earn significant returns by selling power back to the grid. Prices in the National Energy Market (NEM) briefly reached $23,107 per megawatt hour, just shy of the market cap, as a combination of coal plant outages and transmission constraints left the system struggling to meet increased demand.
· 2 sourcesThe last greyhound race has been run at Sydney's Wentworth Park, closing a chapter that began in 1932, as a sell-out crowd of 6,000 watched Friday night's Million Dollar Chase final while animal rights protesters gathered across the road to celebrate.
· 4 sourcesThe northern rivers community is coming to terms with the death of Yvonne Whear, the 73-year-old who vanished in February and whose car was found in a river near her home in September, confirming the fears her family had held for nearly eight months.
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been the focus of renewed political speculation as he promotes his new memoir, with commentators examining whether he can stage a comeback in the seat of Kooyong and revive his ambition to become prime minister.
· 2 sourcesTreasurer Jim Chalmers spent a 13-hour visit in Bangkok meeting finance ministers and central bank governors just days after the International Monetary Fund warned the global economy 'could soon test the limits of resilience', a grim backdrop that underscores the pressure he faces on multiple fronts.
Mathias Cormann, Australia's longest-serving finance minister and now head of the OECD, will warn on Saturday that populist movements will tear apart the nation's mainstream parties unless both sides of politics embrace major tax, housing and migration reforms to lift living standards. He will deliver the warning in a Brisbane speech to the right-leaning Centre for Independent Studies.
· 3 sourcesSeven-year-old gelding Giga Kick, winner of The Everest in 2022 and runner-up in 2024, could spring an upset in Saturday's $20 million sprint at Randwick if rain turns the track heavy, trainer Clayton Douglas has said.
· 3 sourcesThe family of Nick Bamford, who died after suffering a heart attack, is demanding an explanation after it emerged he waited almost two hours for an ambulance to be dispatched.
· 3 sourcesDoctors in Victoria are preparing for a 12-hour strike, according to breaking reports published across Nine Entertainment's mastheads on October 15, 2026.
· 4 sourcesOne Nation leader Pauline Hanson joined Labor MPs at a TikTok-hosted event in Canberra on Wednesday evening, the night before the Albanese government was set to introduce its Digital Duty of Care bill, which would force the platform to allow users to opt out of its algorithm.
· 3 sourcesThe jury in the double-murder trial of former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has visited the Sydney home where he is accused of killing Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, as the trial continues.
· 3 sourcesDennis John McKenna, the 81-year-old once described as Western Australia's worst serial sex predator, is weeks from release from prison, with lawyers for the state urging the Supreme Court to place him under strict monitoring as a high-risk offender.
· 4 sourcesTasmania's treasurer Eric Abetz has defended the state's revised gambling reforms before a parliamentary committee, arguing they deliver 'substantial improvements' over the current system, despite critics branding the abandonment of a promised cashless card as 'cowardly'.
· 2 sourcesA 42-year-old employee of a defence contractor has been denied bail after allegedly being found with child abuse material during a border examination at Sydney airport. Nicholas Tyson Quinn appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday charged with two counts of possessing child abuse material.
· 2 sourcesNationals leader Matt Canavan has claimed both Coalition parties oppose the Australia-EU trade deal, a position immediately disputed by Liberal senators who told the ABC the agreement is better than the status quo and should be supported.
· 2 sourcesAustralian rugby's first-ever quadruple header is underway at Accor Stadium, with the Wallaroos opening proceedings against Scotland. The historic afternoon will see all four senior national teams -- men's and women's 15-a-side and sevens -- play on the same schedule, with the Wallabies set to face the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup later tonight.
· 5 sourcesTwo men have died after a light plane crashed into a paddock near Scone Aerodrome in the NSW Upper Hunter on Friday afternoon, prompting investigations by police, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the coroner.
· 4 sourcesThe federal government has introduced legislation to parliament that would impose a new minimum 30% tax rate on income from discretionary trusts, saying the change is about better aligning the tax treatment of income from assets and income from work.
With the Victorian election weeks away, the Coalition opposition has proposed winding up Innovation Victoria's investment function and selling its early-stage portfolio of about 100 investments to help finance a $1.27 billion healthcare plan, a move an industry commentator has labelled a false economy.
Carlton has suspended a defender after the player was charged with drink-driving, the club announced, without disclosing further details.
A firearms manufacturer running for One Nation in New South Wales has promised to repeal gun laws introduced after the Bondi beach massacre, arguing that every rifle his company produces is now banned in the state.
· 2 sourcesAn opinion column in The Age has criticised Australia's professional rugby players for seeking more money from the wrong sources, as the Rugby Union Players Association and Rugby Australia remain locked in a public dispute over a new pay deal that must be settled by October 31.
The Reserve Bank of Australia's 2026 annual report reveals governor Michele Bullock received $1.22 million in total remuneration last financial year, released as the bank argues with junior staff over pay and conditions.
· 2 sources