News Australia

All Queenslanders will be able to access $1300 in annual electricity bill relief, covering the vast majority of an annual household’s average power bill. Following the state government’s decision to give every Queensland household a $1000 credit on their power bills, Tuesday’s federal budget gave all Australians a further $300 rebate – bringing the total […]

A 13-year-old boy accused of threatening staff and students with a knife at his school, then stealing a cash register from a canteen at knifepoint has lost his bid to have his bail conditions relaxed. The boy’s lawyer sought an amendment to her client’s “strict” bail conditions in Perth’s Children’s Court on Wednesday, which heard […]

A religious group accused of withholding life saving medication from an eight-year-old girl who later died have told a court they have “no intention” to be involved in pre-trial hearing proceedings, despite not having any lawyer to represent them. Elizabeth Struhs, a type 1 diabetic, was found dead at the Struhs family’s Rangeville home, near […]

Another state is making moves to protect family violence, sexual assault and harassment victims, as Victoria proposes changes to defamation and evidence laws. The Attorney-General and Legal Aid Victoria say current defamation laws have a chilling effect on reporting sexual abuse or harassment, with some victim-survivors not reporting crime for fear of being subjected to […]

Australia is now on a La Nina watch, the Bureau of Meterology has declared, and there are signs the climate driver, which generally results in above-average rainfall over much of Australia, may form later this year. La Nina is the positive phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation and is associated with cooler than average […]

The trend to a cashless society continues to accelerate as one of Australia’s largest financial institutions ends cash transactions at its offices. Macquarie Bank will shift to digital-only payments from May 20, part of the group’s plan to phase out cash and cheque services for all of its products. From next week, customers will not […]

When advertising executive Dee Madigan received a private message on social media from Queensland Premier Steven Miles, she was immediately intrigued. The pair have been friends for years, so Ms Madigan knew it wasn’t the actual prominent political leader she was talking to. “I was stuck at home with Covid and bored, so I decided […]

The NSW opposition has failed in its bid to hurry a suite of major reforms that would make it more difficult for people accused of serious domestic violence offences to obtain bail. The move was criticised by the government and crossbench who accused the opposition of rushing the bill despite 12 years of inaction when […]

Disgruntled sheep farmers outraged with the Albanese government’s decision to phase out live sheep exports have staged a walkout during the Agriculture Minister’s post-budget speech. In what the National Farmers Federation described as an “unprecedented move”, a group of people walked out during Murray Watt’s speech to CropLife on Wednesday morning, as he spoke about […]

Emotional scenes have broken out in Victorian parliament as a first-term MP detailed her motor neurone disease fight. Emma Vulin, the Labor MP for Pakenham, on Melbourne’s southeast edge, revealed her MND diagnosis last month. But on Wednesday the Legislative Assembly was a sea of blue pom-pommed beanies in support of disease sufferers, their families […]