Latest Australia News
RSS-
Aussie garden wins Best in Show at Chelsea
Australia's gardeners have created history at the Chelsea Flower Show by claiming the prestigious event's top prize for the first time.In his ninth and final year entering the competition, Wes Fleming, head of Fleming's Nurseries, bowed out a winner on Tuesday after he and his crew were awarded the Best in Show for their landscape-style design encompassing desert, wildflower and ...
-
Chinas growth upsets Australian treasury forecasts
China's surprising growth in recent years has contributed to throwing Australian treasury economic and revenue forecasts out of whack, Secretary to the Treasury Martin Parkinson told economists at a budget briefing in Sydney Tuesday.The briefing was called to explain the context of errors in recent economic and revenue forecasts, which are currently undergoing extensive review.Parkinson ...
-
No plans by Cricket Australia to curb player social media use after David Warner Twitter rant
Australia Cricket Australia said on Tuesday it had no immediate plan to curb the use of social media by players after a Twitter rant by David Warner, but suggested it could happen in the future.Opening batsman Warner is due to face a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday night into an alleged code of conduct breach after a heated tirade at two top cricket writers.He faces sanctions ranging from a ...
More Australia News
RSS-
No more CSG Greens
THE Australian Greens have announced policy to empower landholders to say no to coal seam gas (CSG) on their land. "The Greens are the only party standing up to the big CSG mining companies who are threatening our precious water, valuable farmland and global climate," Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said yesterday. "CSG is methane which is a potent greenhouse gas and is ...
-
Abbott gives irrigators hope
TONY Abbott's budget reply speech has given irrigation farmers hope of some future respite from escalating energy costs, which they say are hurting and threatening their business futures. "All the Coalition's main policies are designed to make it easier for you to get ahead and for businesses to be more productive," Mr Abbott's said in last week's speech. "We ...
-
Calls for more protection for Broncos half
Up-and-coming young forward Dave Hala has urged referees to give battered Brisbane halfback Peter Wallace the same protection given to the NRL's big names after he was again targeted heavily by Gold Coast. Wallace was hit late and high several times last weekend as an ill-disciplined Titans racked up an incredulous 10 successive penalties in a wild opening 30 minutes of Brisbane's ...
-
Roosters laying platform of success SBW
Sonny Bill Williams has paid tribute to coach Trent Robinson for transforming the Sydney Roosters into the most miserly defensive unit in the NRL and helping him to fine-tune his own game. Last year under former coach Brian Smith, only wooden spooners Parramatta conceded more points than the Roosters. But after 10 rounds this year under NRL rookie Robinson, the tricolours boast the best defence ...
-
Storm get new owners as News Ltd sells out
Melbourne Storm's stunning transition from the basket case of Australian sport to rugby league powerhouse has reached another milestone with their sale to a private consortium. Less than three years after the Storm were stripped of two NRL titles for rorting the salary cap, chief executive Ron Gauci officially handed over the reigning premiers on Tuesday to their new owners. New Zealand ...
-
NSW vaccine laws to allow for exemptions
Parents who object to vaccinations on religious or medical grounds will be exempt from laws giving NSW preschools the power to refuse children who haven't had their shots. NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner flagged the new legislation in parliament on Tuesday. "We expect to introduce our amending legislation, probably next week," she told the lower house. "Any changes ...
-
Inus NRL good guy reputation being ruined
Canterbury's smiling assassin Krisnan Inu is in danger of having his good guy reputation ruined following a second unsavoury NRL suspension on Tuesday. Rather than try to clear his name at the judiciary on Wednesday, Inu accepted a two-week ban for his ugly leg twist on Newcastle winger James McManus which resulted in a grade-two dangerous contact charge. The tackle, which Newcastle ...
-
Betting ban doesnt need federal approval
A ban on live odds betting during sports broadcasts does not require commonwealth legislation, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says. Mr Weatherill on Monday said he wanted to ban such advertisements before the end of the AFL season, but federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said on Tuesday he preferred the matter be dealt with by the commonwealth, because of the involvement of ...
-
Gillard sends condolences over US tornado
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says authorities are not aware of any Australian victims of the United States tornado. The tornado in the US state of Oklahoma killed at least 91 people, with at least 145 people injured including 70 children. "I express my condolences and sympathy to the families of those killed and injured in the Oklahoma tornado," Ms Gillard said in a statement. ...
-
Ruralco blames hot weather for loss
Hot and dry conditions have burned agribusiness Ruralco's earnings, sparking a half-year loss only a year after it yielded a $10 million profit. Managing director John Maher said warmer weather had dried up the demand for agricultural chemicals and suppressed livestock prices. "Livestock gross profit and rural supplies sales had been seriously affected by unusually dry and hot ...
-
No sign of missing Vic paraglider
The 66-year-old South Australian man, named in media reports as Bruce Ottaway, and Torquay man Rob Lithgow, 53, failed to return from a tandem paragliding flight near Warrnambool on Saturday afternoon.Mr Lithgow's body and part of the paraglider were found in water on Sunday morning, but Mr Ottaway remains missing.The air, land and sea search was called off on Monday afternoon because of ...
-
Man stabbed during Sydney home invasion
The man, whose age was not immediately known, was attacked at a home in Morrisey Way in Rouse Hill about 3.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday.Police say he was stabbed multiple times during a home invasion and was rushed to hospital.His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.An investigation is underway with detectives at the ...
-
Schools get guide for indigenous languages
The draft framework released by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA) on Tuesday is the first national curriculum document outlining how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages can be taught and supported in schools.It proposes three pathways to cater for students who speak an indigenous language at home or in their community, for those learning languages which are in ...
-
No jail time for man over Qld car death
IT was a momentary, panicked, alcohol-fuelled decision that ended with one man dead, his girlfriend in jail and her teenage brother serving his sentence in the ...
-
Chinese companies treated unfairly
CHINA'S state-owned companies may be deterred from investing in Australia because they are being treated unfairly, a Chinese business leader ...
-
Environmentalists warn of Qld oil spills
MORE oil spills will occur in western Queensland if the state government dilutes Labor's environmental protection laws, the Wilderness Society ...
-
Asia Markets Hong Kong Sydney stocks fall Tokyo ends up
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks declined, and Hong Kong equities snapped a three-day winning run on Tuesday, weighed by overnight losses on Wall Street and uncertainty over U.S. monetary ...
-
Smith McCabe still a chance for Lions
George Smith's hopes of playing for the Wallabies against the British and Irish Lions for a historic second time remain alive after scans on his knee revealed he could be back on the park within a month.The news is even better for teammate and fellow Wallabies squad hopeful Pat McCabe, who could return in as little as two weeks after also hurting his knee in the Brumbies' 28-22 loss to ...
-
Gillard takes vote pitch to western Sydney
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will take her pitch for better schools funding and to tackle law and order issues to western Sydney on Wednesday.Ms Gillard will hold a community cabinet at the Regents Park Christian School in the safe Labor seat of Blaxland, with a public forum starting at 6pm (AEST).It's been two months since the prime minister conducted a week-long western Sydney blitz in a ...
-
Explainer Ocean energy in Australia
Renewable ocean energy harnesses the power of the oceans to produce electricity. This can be done in several ways, but the resources that have the most immediate potential in terms of energy production for Australia and globally are: waves: using wave energy converters (WEC) to generate electricity tides: using tidal barrages, fences and turbines to generate ...
-
Come On Give the Aussie Dollar a Break Pros
Australia's dollar has received its fair share of whacking lately and perhaps it's time to give the currency a bit of a break, currency strategists say. The Aussie dollar has shed almost 5 percent in the past two weeks against the U.S. dollar, hurt by signs of weakness in the Australian and Chinese economies, broad strength in the greenback and a continued fall in commodity prices. It ...
-
NRL issues time-wasting crackdown
The NRL has issued a crackdown on time-wasting in a bid to regain an estimated eight minutes of match time every game. Rules being introduced this week will require teams to be ready to pack for a scrum within 30 seconds of one being awarded, and the 40-second time limit for line drop-outs has also been cut to 30 seconds. Failure to do so will result in a penalty, but only from round 15 ...
Melbourne Featured
-
Melbourne will be IT capital of country
Melbourne has been selected by the federal government as the location where the NBN’s operations centre will be headquartered, setting the stage for the city to become the IT, technology and communications capital of Australia.
Melbourne has a long-running rivalry with Sydney and, to a lesser degree, Perth. The two biggest cities in Australia competed intensely to be designated the capital in the early 20th century and Canberra was built from scratch and designated the national capital in large part because of such rivalry, but now Melbourne is set to have something that Sydney will not, the city has been officially chosen as the centre of operations for the ground-breaking National Broadband Network. Analysts and city leaders see the decision as one which will in time make Melbourne the IT hub of the country. Read more
News from around our Network
