AUSTRALIA- Page 19

Liberal senator Dean Smith has broken ranks with the federal government to call for an increase to the Newstart payment. WA Senator Dean Smith has become the first Liberal MP to publicly back an increase to the Newstart rate, joining a growing…

Some aged care homes spend as little as $7 a day on food for each resident, a royal commission has been told. Celebrity chef Maggie Beer says that sort of budget is inadequate to prepare the type of food people in aged…

The Commonwealth is being asked to stump up $300 million to help remove dangerous cladding from hundreds of buildings across Victoria. The state Labor government is establishing a $600 million fund, to be overseen by new body Cladding Safety Victoria, to fix…

Another incident of self-harm has occurred in an Australian detention centre. An asylum seeker detained in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation facility has been taken to hospital after trying to set himself on fire, according to advocates. The 23-year-old from Afghanistan allegedly…

International students are being exploited by landlords in Sydney’s tight housing market, a new report has found. International students in Sydney are falling victim to financial exploitation by dodgy landlords, who are overcharging on bonds, suddenly increasing rents and refusing to maintain…

A record number of Australians have lodged their tax returns in the hope of getting their hands on a hefty refund. About 650,000 people have already filed their tax returns, with this year’s early rush attributed to the tax cuts passed in…

Key elements of the Morrison Government’s plan to better manage Australia’s future population have come into effect today. Launched in March this year, the Population Plan has four broad components:   Easing the population pressures on our big capitals and supporting the…

Australian charities are contributing to a large chunk of landfill pollution in the country because of donations that can’t be used. Things like soiled clothing, mattresses and old electrical appliances are being donated to stores like the Salvation Army, St Vincent De…

A killer flu season has seen almost as many people diagnosed with the virus so far this year as there were in the whole of 2018. Health bosses today issued renewed calls for people to get vaccinated. A total of 63 people…

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is promising to spend $4 billion on Melbourne’s shelved East West Link road project, even though the state Labor Government has ruled out its construction. • A Coalition government would fund a road tunnel connecting the Eastern Freeway to…

A court has heard a highly volatile substance known as “Mother of Satan” was found at a home in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, where a man was arrested for allegedly manufacturing explosives. Officers made the discovery after attending the home on Heytesbury Road…

Coles has suffered a major outage of its online shopping website, prompting customers to publicly vent their frustration. The supermarket giant has named a software issue for the site being offline. It has left customers unable to place online orders for the…