Complaint filed to Human Rights Commission against WA child protection department

A law firm has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) against Western Australia’s Department of Communities over the allegedly discriminatory removal of First Nations children from their families.

It is the second of four complaints…[Read more]

Drizzle breaks Adelaide’s 46-day dry spell

Adelaide went 46 days without a single drop of rain until a light shower this morning broke the streak.
The city’s official weather station on West Terrace recorded 0.4mm about 8.30am, which broke the dry spell according to Weatherzone.
By midday about 1.2mm had fallen in the city and the Adelaide H…[Read more]

Australia marks national day that stokes patriotism and anger

“Australia Day is Dead!” Indigenous activist Gwenda Stanley chants into the loudspeaker, as a crowd of thousands breaks into applause.

It’s Australia’s national day, but the crowd in central Sydney seethes in anger and cheers in solidarity with Indigenous Australians, many of whom vi…[Read more]

Australia unveils plan for largest navy buildup since World War II

Australia on Tuesday announced plans to build its largest navy since World War II, allocating more than $35 billion for the defense project over the next 10 years, in a move analysts said pointed to heightened tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific.

According to a government…[Read more]

Former Australian bishop charged with historical sex offenses

A senior Australian Catholic clergyman has been charged with historical sex offenses allegedly committed while he was serving as the bishop of Broome, a remote diocese in Western Australia.

Emeritus Bishop Christopher Saunders was arrested on Wednesday at his home in Broome, where…[Read more]

Sydney asbestos scare: How a mulch discovery has sent a city scrambling

In January, an Australian child innocently brought home a couple of handfuls of garden mulch from near a playground in Sydney’s inner west.

Looking at the mulch, the child’s parent was horrified to spot what looked like chunks of bonded asbestos.

Their call to authorities…[Read more]

Police banned from Sydney Mardi Gras after gay couple murder case

A decision to uninvite police from Sydney’s iconic Mardi Gras parade this weekend has divided Australians.

Organisers said the call was made to give the LGBT community “space to grieve”, after a New South Wales Police officer was charged with murdering a gay couple last…[Read more]

Former politician became foreign agent, nation’s spy boss says

A former Australian politician “sold out” the country to a foreign spy network, the nation’s intelligence chief has alleged in a speech.

Outlining the activities of the group dubbed the “A-Team”, Mike Burgess claimed the MP had offered it access to the then-prime minister’s…[Read more]

Australia jails first student for a school shooting

A teenager has become the first student to be jailed for carrying out a school shooting in Australia.

The 15-year-old from Perth fired three shots with two rifles at the Atlantis Beach Baptist College last May.

Staff and students were left cowering in cupboards and under desks before police…[Read more]

Elite Sydney school says sexism, bullying claims ‘unfounded’ after ABC program

Parents from the prestigious Sydney boy’s school Cranbrook School have refused to speak to the media after “devastating’ allegations of sexism were revealed on ABC’s Four Corners last night.
Former teachers described the prestigious school based in Sydney’s Rose Bay a…[Read more]

What is ‘whole of nation’ foreign policy and what does it mean for Australians?

A key phrase in foreign affairs at the moment is taking a “whole of nation” approach. It has been cropping up in government documents such as the Defence Strategic Review and International Development Policy.

But what exactly does it mean?

A new report to be launche…[Read more]

2024 is a huge year for the Olympics – and it’s not just about the Paris games

2024 is a leap year, and in the world of international sport it means something very exciting: it’s an Olympic year. For Australians, there is growing excitement about the 2032 games to be held in Brisbane. And between those four-yearly stints, there is also the winte…[Read more]

Australia’s shot-hole borer beetle invasion has begun, but we don’t need to chop down every tree under attack

A new pest attacking Perth’s trees threatens to spread across Australia, damaging crops and native forests as well as our urban forest. To control its spread, the Western Australian government is chopping down hundreds of estab…[Read more]

Earth’s early evolution: fresh insights from rocks formed 3.5 billion years ago

Our Earth is around 4.5 billion years old. Way back in its earliest years, vast oceans dominated. There were frequent volcanic eruptions and, because there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere, there was no ozone layer. It was a dynamic and evolving p…[Read more]

Earth’s early evolution: fresh insights from rocks formed 3.5 billion years ago

Our Earth is around 4.5 billion years old. Way back in its earliest years, vast oceans dominated. There were frequent volcanic eruptions and, because there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere, there was no ozone layer. It was a dynamic and evolving p…[Read more]

Mascot Towers apartment owners in Sydney close to securing millions in payout from NSW government and banks

Apartment owners who bought into the uninhabitable Mascot Towers in Sydney are on the brink of securing a multi-million-dollar payout from the New South Wales government, almost five years after their ordeal began.

Residents of the…[Read more]

Outgoing ATO boss says getting rid of work-related tax deductions would be a ‘big step’

New Zealand banned work-related expense deductions while also implementing tax cuts, and if Australia did the same that could simplify the tax system, according to outgoing tax commissioner Chris Jordan.

But Mr Jordan noted that “Australians love their…[Read more]

Linda Burney attacks Closing the Gap with new $707m remote jobs program

The federal government will invest $707m in a new jobs program for remote Australia that it says will deliver 3000 jobs and better living conditions for Indigenous Australians over the next three years.

The program replaces the former government’s Community Development P…[Read more]

‘Didn’t want the public to see’: James Paterson says govt was forced to ‘cough up’ documents on freed immigration detainees

Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says the government has been forced to “cough up” documentation it “didn’t want the public to see” following controversy surrounding the release of 149 detainees into the c…[Read more]

The year the Australian Dream died

At the age of 31, Justin Dowswell never imagined he’d be living in a shared room in his childhood home.

He had a full-time, well-paying job in Sydney, and had rented for a decade before an unprecedented housing crisis forced him to upend his life and move back in with his parents, two hours away.

“It’s…[Read more]