Australia set to pass contentious tax cuts bill as parliament resumes
Sydney, Australia Reuters Australia looks set to pass a reshaped tax cuts bill, that would give low-income earners more breaks and trim benefits to the wealthy, as the opposition pledged support on Tuesday after initially criticising the government’s shift in policy. The conservative opposition’s decision came as the parliament resumed after a two-month recess. Australian […]
“Judas betrayal”: Indigenous Australians denounce opposition for rejecting referendum
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Senior Indigenous leaders on Thursday criticised Australia’s main opposition party’s “Judas betrayal” for declaring it would campaign against a proposal to constitutionally recognise the country’s Aboriginal and Torres Island people. Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton announced on Wednesday the party would campaign against a national vote to enshrine an Indigenous consultative body in […]
Mourners call Australian Cardinal Pell victim of injustice
Sydney, Australia AP Mourners at the Sydney funeral for Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was once the most senior Catholic convicted of sex abuse, remembered him Thursday as a victim of campaign to punish him regardless of his guilt. Meanwhile, a few hundred protesters yelled slogans from the street denouncing Pell, a staunch conservative who […]
Australia wants calm in ties with Solomon Islands after “invasion” claim
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia will respond calmly to the Solomon Islands after it signed a security pact with China, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, dismissing a furious response by the leader of the Pacific nation to Western criticism of the deal. In a fiery speech to parliament on Tuesday, Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said “we […]
Essay: Crowdfunding disaster relief offers hope in desperate times. But who gets left behind?
As parts of the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland face devastating floods, MATTHEW WADE, a lecturer in social inquiry at La Trobe University in Victoria, looks – in an article published on The Conversation – at the rise of crowdfunding campaigns in response…
COVID cases reported on Australian aid vessel sailing to virus-free Tonga
Reuters About two dozen cases of COVID-19 have been recorded among the crew of an Australian warship expected to arrive in coronavirus-free Tonga on Wednesday to deliver humanitarian aid, Australian authorities said on Tuesday. Tonga, hit by a massive volcanic eruption and a tsunami on 15th January, has asked for aid to be delivered without human […]
Australian PM advises against big gatherings amid virus outbreak
SydneyReuters Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday urged people not to gather in groups of more than 500 from Monday, but said he would still go to a weekend rugby game, as officials warned millions of residents would contract coronavirus within months. Australia has recorded 156 infections and three deaths from the flu-like respiratory […]
ESSAY: CONSOLATIONS FROM THE LIBERAL PARTY MESS
In an article first published on Eureka Street, FRANK BRENNAN, CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia, finds consolations and abiding concerns in the Liberal Party vote that led to the ousting of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull…
Updated: Scott Morrison will be Australia’s 30th Prime Minister after Malcolm Turnbull ousted
Last updated 2.40pm Scott Morrison will be Australia’s 30th Prime Minister after Malcolm Turnbull didn’t contest a leadership spill held just after noon on Friday. The Liberal party room meeting saw three people – Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop – put their names forward for the nation’s top job. Bishop was eliminated in […]
Breaking: At least 82 killed in earthquake on Indonesian island of Lombok
At least 82 people have been killed on the Indonesia island of Lombok after a magnitude seven earthquake, a week after an earlier quake killed more than a dozen people there. The latest earthquake, which shook buildings as far away as Denpasar in Bali when it struck early on Sunday night, saw thousands of Lombok’s […]