Cuts to NDIS to be focus of Labor’s quietly launched ‘razor gang’ ahead of May budget Exclusive: Taskforce led by former Treasury official Anthea Long will advise on cost-cutting options for $52bn program * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Labor has quietly established a razor gang to drive budget savings in the national disability insurance scheme, as it works to further rein in costs ahead of next month’s federal budget. An NDIS Sustainability Taskforce was established within the health department earlier this year, with instructions from the federal government and national cabinet to advise on cost-cutting options for the $52bn program. Continue reading...

Cuts to NDIS to be focus of Labor’s quietly launched ‘razor gang’ ahead of May budget

Pauline Hanson charged taxpayers almost $9,000 for private plane to event honouring Gina Rinehart donation Details of flight come as One Nation leader faces scrutiny over her use of taxpayer-funded entitlements

Pauline Hanson charged taxpayers almost $9,000 for a chartered plane to attend an event honouring the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s donation to a private agricultural college, parliamentary expenses data shows.

w/ Sarah Martin v @australia.theguardian.com

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Andrew Hastie revealed conservative Liberals’ true immigration agenda in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack In an interview with Sky News’ Andrew Clennell, Hastie ended any pretence that his grievances might have been purely numerical * Full report: Bondi terror attack * Victims of Bondi beach shooting * What we know so far about the Bondi terror attack As details of the Bondi beach massacre started to emerge on Sunday evening, Andrew Hastie posted a video with his immediate reaction to his large social media following. Standing at a beach, the sun yet to set over his electorate south of Perth, the Liberal MP said in a 60-second video posted to Facebook and Instagram: “I am angry, and I know you are too. Continue reading...

Andrew Hastie revealed conservative Liberals’ true immigration agenda in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack

Australia deporting refugee to Nauru may cause his ‘imminent’ and ‘preventable’ death, court hears Legal team of man who was part of cohort of non-citizens freed after high court decision argues Nauru’s medical facilities are ‘insufficient’ to treat his severe asthma * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Lawyers for an Iranian refugee Australia wants to deport to Nauru say there is a “real risk he will die” there, setting the stage for a showdown against the federal government’s $2.5bn NZYQ deal. The case surrounding the Iranian refugee, known as TXCM, who was granted a 30-year visa for Nauru in February and subsequently placed back into immigration detention after being freed by the 2023 high court ruling, was heard in the high court on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Australia deporting refugee to Nauru may cause his ‘imminent’ and ‘preventable’ death, court hears

‘Day by day I lose weight’: asylum seekers on Nauru get $115 a week, but a bag of grapes costs $20 Prohibited from working, people sent to the island by Australia say they are struggling to survive because food is so expensive * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Asylum seekers sent to Nauru by Australia say they are going hungry on the island, prohibited from working to support themselves and given insufficient money to buy enough food. Others say they fear the Nauru government will deport them to their home countries, from where they say they have fled persecution and violence. Continue reading...

‘Day by day I lose weight’: asylum seekers on Nauru get $115 a week, but a bag of grapes costs $20

Reform Australia: who is behind the new rightwing group recruiting at an anti-immigration rally? Digital footprint offers clues about who may be involved in the political venture being promoted on pamphlets at the Put Australia First event in Sydney

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Nauru president accused in parliament of corruption siphoning off millions of Australian funding Senate told Albanese government knew current president David Adeang was ‘seriously corrupt’ but still signed the $2.5bn deportation deal

Senator uses parliament to accuse Albanese government of knowing current president David Adeang was ‘seriously corrupt’ but still signed the $2.5bn deportation deal, v @australia.theguardian.com w Ben Doherty.
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Nauru president floats returning NZYQ refugees to home countries, in interview Australia tried to suppress In an interview kept secret since February, David Adeang wrongly stated the people Australia has begun deporting to his country are not refugees * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Nauru may seek to return refugees from the NZYQ cohort to their home countries, the Nauruan president has said, in an interview officially translated into English for the first time, and which the Australian government sought to keep hidden. David Adeang’s interview erroneously claimed those being sent to Nauru were not refugees and said Nauru may seek to return them to their countries of origin where possible. Continue reading...

Nauru president floats returning NZYQ refugees to home countries, in interview Australia tried to suppress

Climate of fear: are CSIRO’s sweeping job cuts a sign Australia doesn’t care about the extinction crisis? Ever decreasing funding for the globally respected government agency mirrors an industry-wide trend that could hinder scientific breakthroughs * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sweeping job cuts across the nation’s science agency this week have been foreshadowed for months, but the sheer scale of them has left many researchers within laboratories and offices across the country shocked. Up to 350 research roles are on the cutting room floor across key areas – including environment, human health and minerals – as leaders of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) attempt to steer the agency from a steep funding cliff. Continue reading...

Climate of fear: are CSIRO’s sweeping job cuts a sign Australia doesn’t care about the extinction crisis?

Secret translation of Nauruan president’s interview on NZYQ deal with Australia to stay suppressed for decade Penny Wong says translation notes were ‘taken hastily’ by official who was not accredited translator and were ‘for internal purposes only’ * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A top secret translation of the Nauruan president’s public commentary on the NZYQ deal will remain suppressed for a decade after the Albanese government considered its release “inappropriate”. Nauru declined to endorse an informal translation by Australia’s High Commission of the 10-minute public interview uploaded to Facebook in February, nor did it provide its own translation, newly released documents reveal. Continue reading...

Secret translation of Nauruan president’s interview on NZYQ deal with Australia to stay suppressed for decade

Albanese government deports two more men to Nauru in secret, infuriating human rights advocates Exclusive: Sources say a Sudanese national and another man chartered to former regional processing centre last week, joining one other person

Another two men from the NZYQ-affected cohort have been deported to Nauru in a process human rights advocates say is shrouded in secrecy, v @australia.theguardian.com
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‘Seed of hope’: Gaza grandmother is reunited with her Australian family after more than a decade A kiss to the forehead marked the culmination of years of work to get Shamikh Badra’s 79-year-old Palestinian mother, Fatma, to Australia.

Fatma, a 79yo grandmother, arrived in Sydney last weekend after a traumatic two years stuck in Gaza. She is one of 60 Palestinians who landed in Australia amid the increasingly fragile ceasefire. This is her story.
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‘Seed of hope’: Gaza grandmother is reunited with her Australian family after more than a decade A kiss to the forehead marked the culmination of years of work to get Shamikh Badra’s 79-year-old Palestinian mother, Fatma, to Australia. * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Shamikh Badra couldn’t hold the tears back when he got to hold his 79-year-old mother, Fatma, for the first time in 11 years. Standing in the bustling arrivals hall at Sydney airport last Friday evening, as passengers streamed off a flight from Amman, Jordan via Singapore and were embraced by their families, he bent down to wrap his arms around her and planted a single kiss on her forehead. Continue reading...

‘Seed of hope’: Gaza grandmother is reunited with her Australian family after more than a decade

‘Heat deaths aren’t a thing’: Coalition MPs weighing net zero given presentation casting doubt on climate science Exclusive: Briefing by conservative think-tank Centre for Independent Studies was arranged by a Coalition backbench committee * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Coalition MPs weighing up whether to abandon net zero have been briefed on research that argued “heat deaths aren’t a thing”, played down the prospect of substantial sea level rises and claimed “no one has ever made low-cost energy” from wind and solar. Guardian Australia has viewed slides from a presentation the conservative thinktank Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) gave to MPs in Canberra this week, along with the findings of private polling on net zero. Continue reading...

‘Heat deaths aren’t a thing’: Coalition MPs weighing net zero given presentation casting doubt on climate science

Adnan thought he’d served his time. But one night border force raided his home to deport him to Nauru Australian authorities have been accused of copying the ‘worst tactics of ICE’ in their treatment of the NZYQ cohort * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Adnan* says he had never heard of Nauru when Australian Border Force officers showed up at his door in the middle of the night to inform him Nauru had granted him a 30-year visa. Initially believing Nauru was part of Australia, Adnan felt a brief sense of relief before he realised he was being sent back to a place he had become uncomfortably familiar with – immigration detention. Continue reading...

Adnan thought he’d served his time. But one night border force raided his home to deport him to Nauru

Adnan thought he’d served his time. But one night border force raided his home to deport him to Nauru Australian authorities have been accused of copying the ‘worst tactics of ICE’ in their treatment of the NZYQ cohort

Adnan had never heard of Nauru when ABF officers showed up to redetain him at night. Separated from his family for 10+ yrs, he faces more isolation on Nauru after the govt's $2.5bn deal.

It's just one of many untold NZYQ stories, v @australia.theguardian.com
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The mood is ominous at CSIRO as jobs disappear ‘by stealth’ – and staff are wondering who’s next National scientific agency has been ‘reshaping its research portfolio’ since 2024, to deal with an imminent funding cliff * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The mood in parts of Australia’s national scientific agency is low after a mystery number of AI, robotics and data researchers were quietly let go within the last year. Since the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation announced it was “reshaping its research portfolio” to deal with an imminent funding cliff in 2024, speculation about whose jobs are on the line has spread like wildfire. Continue reading...

The mood is ominous at CSIRO as jobs disappear ‘by stealth’ – and staff are wondering who’s next

Refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru going hungry despite government spending $1.5m a year for each person The Australian government is spending millions of dollars a year to house asylum seekers, yet many say they can not afford food and are forced to skip meals

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Mass slaughter in Gaza stands apart from other genocides, Chris Sidoti says: ‘People cannot escape’ Australian human rights expert who was on UN commission of inquiry labels Israel’s strategy a failure that ‘has not brought peace and has not destroyed Hamas’

Australian human rights expert who was on UN commission of inquiry labels Israel’s strategy a failure that ‘has not brought peace and has not destroyed Hamas’, by Ben Doherty v @australia.theguardian.com
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US private prisons operator to be paid $790m to hold 100 people on Nauru in quiet expansion of contract Exclusive: A sixteenfold increase in the original contract without public notification raises allegations of ‘gross mismanagement’ and a process ‘run out of control’

A US private prison company will receive $157m/year to run Australia’s offshore processing regime in Nauru – currently holding 100+ people – after the govt quietly expanded its contract by more than $350m to $787m.

w Ben Doherty v @australia.theguardian.com

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Liberal MPs speak up about ‘disturbing’ Advance campaign against ‘mass immigration’ Several MPs say the activist group’s advertising push is becoming a problem for the party because ‘you cannot win from the margins’ * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Several Liberal MPs have raised concerns an anti-immigration campaign by the activist group Advance is hurting the party’s brand and alienating migrant communities. Analysis of Advance’s Meta advertising since May’s federal election shows it has promoted 44 anti-immigration ads, with more than 1.5m impressions. Continue reading...

Liberal MPs speak up about ‘disturbing’ Advance campaign against ‘mass immigration’

Netanyahu lashes out at Albanese as ‘weak politician who betrayed Israel’ as diplomatic row escalates Israel’s prime minister accuses Australian leader of ‘abandoning’ Jews as tension escalates over visa cancellation and Palestinian recognition

Israel’s prime minister steps up his criticism of Australia, accusing Anthony Albanese of "abandoning" Jews as tension escalates over visa cancellation and Palestinian recognition via @australia.theguardian.com
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Israel’s foreign minister revokes visas of Australian representatives to Palestinian Authority The move follows Australia’s refusal of a visa for the far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman

Israel's move follows Australia’s refusal of a visa for the far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, via @australia.theguardian.com
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‘It’s a takeover’: the South Australian power player reshaping the state Liberal party Charismatic senator Alex Antic has risen to the top of factional state politics, bringing his conservative religious supporters with him. Is it a roadmap for the national Liberal party’s existential c...

ICYMI: Alex Antic has risen to the top of the SA Liberals, bringing his conservative religious supporters with him. In the third of a four-part series on the Coalition, we examine whether it's a cautionary tale for the party’s existential crisis.
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Defence failed to properly investigate bribery allegations against Australian navy contractor officials, audit finds Poor management of contracts worth more than $3.5bn has led to critical failures, including during a Vanuatu cyclone humanitarian operation, the ANAO says * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Defence officials failed to properly document and investigate bribery allegations made against navy contractor officials, a scathing audit report on the multibillion-dollar commissioning and maintenance of two military ships has found. Defence also determined a senior official involved in finding a supplier to take on a $700m maintenance and upkeep contract – who took a job offer with the winning contractor in the middle of the process – did not give rise to a conflict of interest. Continue reading...

Defence failed to properly investigate bribery allegations against Australian navy contractor officials, audit finds

Tony Abbott tells Advance supporters bequeathing money to rightwing group will ‘protect’ Australian values New offshoot named Advance Generations endorsed by former PM as group calls Welcome to Country ceremonies a ‘tool to indoctrinate’ children * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The rightwing lobby group Advance will court donations from deceased estates with the blessing of former prime minister Tony Abbott as part of its latest efforts to fundraise for its campaign war chest. Advance targeted the Greens at the latest federal election, claiming success after the minor party lost three lower house seats, including one held by former leader Adam Bandt. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Tony Abbott tells Advance supporters bequeathing money to rightwing group will ‘protect’ Australian values

The consulting firm allegedly offering private deals and collecting signatures to smooth way for Empire Energy gas sales Exclusive: Leaked documents claim Good Advice promised private deals, gathered signatures and hired land council members to smooth way for Northern Territory gas sales

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A brilliant investigation by @lisacox.bsky.social

Sydney sisters return to Iran homeland after 38 years – only for history to repeat itself Melika and Betissa visited the place they fled as children and fell ‘in love’ with its rich culture. But then bombs began to fall again * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Iran that Melika and Betissa rediscovered after 38 years was a “wondrous” land until, once more, the bombs began to fall. The Sydney sisters had fled their birthplace Iran as children in 1987, amid the violence and the tumult of the Iran-Iraq war. Continue reading...

Sydney sisters return to Iran homeland after 38 years – only for history to repeat itself

Lidia Thorpe reveals she made bullying complaint about Dorinda Cox which remains unsre Independent senator disputes Anthony Albanese’s claim allegations against Greens-turned-Labor senator have been ‘dealt with’

ICYMI independent senator Lidia Thorpe disputes Anthony Albanese’s claim allegations against Greens-turned-Labor senator have been ‘dealt with’
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Wong condemns ‘abhorrent and outrageous’ comments by Netanyahu government members as global fury grows UK suspends trade negotiations over ‘monstrous’ rhetoric as Gaza starvation worsens

Penny Wong has condemned “abhorrent and outrageous” comments made by Netanyahu government members in recent days and said the Israeli government “cannot allow the suffering” in Gaza to continue.
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