Health care products are the brands most trusted by Australian consumers, a survey has found. The Australian Reader’s Digest released the results on Tuesday of a survey it commissioned that asked more than 2,400 Aussies which products they placed the most trust in. The top ten was dominated by health care and first aid products, […]
Posts Tagged ‘australian news’
Move to censure NSW mayor rejected
A Sydney council has unanimously rejected a recommendation to stop its mayor from speaking out against the trading hours of a fast food outlet. The Green’s Lyall Kennedy, Mayor of Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west, had been campaigning against the operations of a 24-hour MacDonald’s in the area and is now free to continue after […]
Sydney shopping centre ‘unstable’: police
A major Sydney shopping centre remains unstable and is in danger of collapsing further in a “domino effect” that could send debris flying hundreds of metres. Retailers have been kept out of the building in Sydney’s southeast, and surrounding roads remained closed on Tuesday evening after the collapse of a nine-metre steel pole that supported […]
MPs gather for fresh asylum talks
A group of MPs from across the political spectrum have convened in Canberra for fresh talks on asylum seeker policy. Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon and Steve Georganas, the coalition’s Judi Moylan, the Greens’ Adam Bandt and independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott are among those at the cross-party working group on refugees meeting. Experts from the […]
More seniors opting for reverse mortgages
The deterioration of superannuation accounts as a result of the global financial crisis has prompted a growing number of seniors to use the equity in their home to help fund their retirement. Mortgage provider Loan Market says there are now more than 40,000 senior Australians who hold a reverse mortgage, otherwise known as seniors finance […]
NDIS a shared responsibility, Gillard says
A meeting of commonwealth and state leaders will focus on getting launch sites in place for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Prime Minister Julia Gillard says. Ms Gillard will host premiers and chief ministers at The Lodge on Tuesday evening ahead of the Council of Australians Governments meeting on Wednesday. “People with disabilities have […]
High Court challenge to retrospective law
Lawyers for a Victorian woman charged with defrauding Centrelink after she allegedly failed to declare her income will ask the High Court to clarify whether the government can change the law retrospectively. Retrospective legislation passed by the federal parliament in 2011 made it illegal for a person on a pension or benefit not to tell […]
Lucky carpark collapse was early, police
Authorities say it’s lucky the partial collapse of a Sydney shopping centre did not occur during peak trading hours. Emergency services were called to Westfield Eastgardens, in Pagewood, at 7am on Tuesday after a nine-metre steel pole that supported the carpark roof collapsed. Police say it could have been disastrous if the incident had happened […]
Controversial Islamic preacher gets bail
A controversial Islamic preacher charged with child pornography offences and threatening a terrorist attack on Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade has been granted bail in a Sydney court. Ibrahim Siddiq-Conlon, 35, is accused of making a hoax terrorist threat on the Facebook page of Today FM’s Kyle and Jackie O Show. He allegedly outlined a “terrorist […]
Sex killer escapee faces court
Convicted sex killer Trent Jennings, who last year absconded from a psychiatric hospital, is facing charges of possessing child abuse material, a Sydney court has been told. Jennings, 27, spent five days on the run after failing to return from day leave in December. He was found sleeping in a stolen car in Byron Bay […]
Murdered woman’s dad sheds tears
Corryn Rayney’s father wiped away tears as he recalled how he told his daughter’s husband, prominent barrister Lloyd Rayney, he should do “whatever it takes” to keep his family together. Rayney has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Western Australia to the wilful murder of his 44-year-old wife. The former Supreme Court registrar […]
Newman fears state debt ‘like Spain’
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman insists the state has no extra money to spend on disability services, as to do so would push its debt towards that of Spain. Mr Newman is in Canberra on Tuesday ahead of the Council of Australian Governments meeting on Wednesday, which is expected to focus on the national disability insurance […]
Axed skills program has cost jobs: union
Cairns has been robbed of 30 bus drivers and diesel mechanics because of the axing of a skills program, the Transport Workers Union says. The Queensland government last week ended the Skilling Queensland for Work Program as part of its cost-cutting drive. The union says the program’s axing means Cairns will lose 10 bus drivers […]
Don’t blame massacre on pop culture: PM
Violence in pop culture won’t help explain the Colorado movie massacre, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says. Speaking at Sydney’s Fox Studios, where the next instalment of the Hollywood blockbuster The Wolverine will be filmed, Ms Gillard said it was simplistic to blame violence in films and video games for Friday’s massacre in Denver. Cinemagoers at […]
Lockyer Valley ready for the rains: mayor
People in the area worst hit by Queensland’s deadly floods are set to sleep easier on rainy nights after the introduction of a new flood warning system. Lockyer Valley Regional Council is switching on the new system on Tuesday, but Pastor Rob Farr from Murphys Creek Presbyterian Church will take a wait-and-see approach. Devastating flash […]
Tassie forest negotiators close to deal
Forest peace negotiators in Tasmania, who say they are close to a deal, have been granted an extra two weeks to have a single scenario “modelled”. Representatives of the forestry industry and environmentalists had been given until Monday to reach an agreement to end the state’s bitter 30-year “forest war” over how its forestry industry […]
Brown climbs 60m to visit tree-sitter
Retired former Greens leader Bob Brown has climbed 60 metres up a rope to visit record-breaking tree-sitting protester Miranda Gibson in southern Tasmania. The 67-year-old says he had tea and cake with Ms Gibson, who claimed an Australian record for a tree-sit when she reached 209 days on a platform atop a eucalypt in the […]
WA police fear ATM bombers will kill
A gang of “trial and terror” bank bombers have no idea what they’re doing and will kill or injure someone if not stopped soon, West Australian police fear. The gang has blown up six automated teller machines (ATMs) in suburban Perth during the past 11 days – including three explosions on Monday – leaving a […]
Voter support for Labor drops below 30pc
Last week critics of Julia Gillard said that if voter polls did not lift she should step aside as prime minister. The latest Newspoll in The Australian on Tuesday shows that things have just got worse – Labor has dropped below 30 per cent for the first time in three months. Only 28 per cent, […]
Teen stabbed at Parramatta bus interchange
A teenage boy has been stabbed during a brawl at Parramatta in Sydney’s west. The melee erupted at the Argyle Street bus interchange about 8.30pm (AEST) on Monday, the third stabbing incident involving teenagers in the past 24 hours. A 17-year-old boy suffered a stab wound to his buttock, while two other men, aged 19, […]