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Protesters clash outside One Nation fundraiser while Labor says opposition parties will ‘give us chaos’

Pauline Hanson claimed fundraiser was moved from original location due to ‘too many bookings’, not because of expected protests

Protesters have clashed with Pauline Hanson supporters, with one man given a move on notice outside a Melbourne venue hosting a One Nation fundraiser on Friday.

Michael Nelson, who was convicted of offensive behavior and fined last week for disrupting a Melbourne Anzac Day dawn service, was restrained by officers outside the South Melbourne venue.

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© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

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Woman in critical condition after shark attack at Coogee beach

A woman in her 30s has been transported to hospital with arm and leg injuries and beaches in Sydney’s east have been closed after the attack

A woman in her 30s is in a critical condition after being bitten by a large shark at Coogee beach on Saturday, with a witness describing the scene at the popular Sydney beach as “shocking”.

A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance said the woman suffered arm and leg injuries and had been taken by road to St Vincent’s hospital.

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© Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

© Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

© Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

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Australia can switch from fossil fuel exports to renewables, says next Cop president

Climate minister Chris Bowen says country must prepare for changing world and can play bigger role in reducing emissions

Australia will find exporting fossil fuels increasingly difficult but can switch to exporting clean energy products, the president of the next UN climate negotiations has declared.

Speaking at a climate conference in Bonn, Germany, Chris Bowen, Australia’s minister for climate change and energy, argued his country had led the global push to “transition away from fossil fuels” – based on the rapid growth of renewable energy and batteries in its domestic power grids – and that its economy could manage the switch.

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© Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian

© Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian

© Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian

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Liberals are scaring first home buyers with warnings of negative equity – but experts believe there’s little to worry about

Exclusive: Economists say falling house prices are largely in the more expensive parts of Sydney and Melbourne’s markets and are less likely to affect first-time property owners

Fears that first-time buyers with tiny deposits will find their mortgages are worth more than their homes may be assuaged by new data showing falling prices are concentrated in the top end of the Sydney and Melbourne property markets.

Climbing inflation, interest rates and worries about the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict have helped depress housing values in the country’s two biggest cities.

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© Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

© Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

© Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

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Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average

Exclusive A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’

Antarctica’s west coast is missing an area of winter sea ice the size of France, sparking concerns for threatened penguins other marine life and global sea levels.

One expert said the loss of ice in the Bellingshausen Sea was “depressing” and the failure of ice to form could have intensified a heatwave over the continent’s peninsula last week that saw daytime temperatures peak at 15.4C which is more than 20C above average.

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© Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

© Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

© Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

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NDIS changes ‘retrogressive’ and out of step with review, MPs say

Report by Labor-led joint human rights committee says cuts to the $50bn scheme could limit support for those in need

Sweeping changes to the NDIS appear “retrogressive” and lack alignment with a landmark independent review to improve the $50bn-a-year scheme, a Labor-led committee has found.

The 57-page scrutiny report from the joint human rights committee, released on Friday, examined the proposed changes under the Albanese government ahead of a separate report due next week by a Senate inquiry. The Labor-chaired committee questioned the human rights implications of winding back access for more than 200,000 participants in the coming years, which could leave many without sufficient disability support.

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© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

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Pokémon Go data trained AI that could assist military drones in war zones

Location scans from the globally popular augmented reality game have helped train AI to recognise and interpret physical spaces

An AI model trained on data collected from users of Pokémon Go will potentially help military drones find their location in war zones.

Pokémon Go, a 2016 augmented reality mobile game, allowed players to find and catch Pokémon in the real world using the cameras on their mobile phones, and exploded in popularity. In 2018, the company reported having more than 800m downloads worldwide.

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© Photograph: EnchantedFairy/Getty Images

© Photograph: EnchantedFairy/Getty Images

© Photograph: EnchantedFairy/Getty Images

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Jemma Stapleton, Australian sprinter and Stawell Gift finalist, dies aged 25 on family holiday

Flood of tributes for Victorian athlete, who died while overseas

Local Australian athletics organisations have paid tribute to 2025 Stawell Gift finalist Jemma Stapleton, 25, who died while on holiday overseas with her family.

The cause of death has not yet been disclosed, though an online fundraising page shared by her brother said she “tragically lost her life in an accident”.

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© Photograph: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

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Missing boy Gus Lamont’s grandmother fined for firearms offence unrelated to his disappearance

Josie Murray fined $10,500 and disqualified from gun ownership for five years after pleading guilty to possessing a gun silencer

The grandmother of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont has been fined $10,500 after admitting to a firearms offence unrelated to the boy’s disappearance eight months ago.

Josie Murray was fined $10,500 after a hearing in Adelaide magistrates court on Friday, where she pleaded guilty to one aggravated charge of possessing a sound moderator – a device better known as a gun silencer.

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© Photograph: Michael Errery/AAP

© Photograph: Michael Errery/AAP

© Photograph: Michael Errery/AAP

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One Nation fundraiser moved from Melbourne restaurant amid planned protests

Event to go ahead at an undisclosed location after Moonee Ponds restaurant cancelled at the eleventh hour

One Nation has been forced to move a planned fundraising event to an undisclosed location in Melbourne, after the venue decided not to hold it due to planned protest activity. The event was due to be attended by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce.

A spokesperson for the party told Guardian Australia on Friday that it would move the fundraiser from Giorgio Casa, a bistro in Moonee Ponds, after Victorian police “did express concern about protest activity at the event”.

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© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

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Man charged with kidnap and murder of Sydney woman whose body has not been found

Woman, 58, was last heard from Monday afternoon and her car was found the next day

A man has been charged over the alleged kidnapping and murder of a woman whose body is yet to be found.

Police have been investigating the disappearance of a 58-year-old woman who failed to returned to her home in Sydney’s north-west on Tuesday.

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© Photograph: Steven Saphore/AAP

© Photograph: Steven Saphore/AAP

© Photograph: Steven Saphore/AAP

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Three major banks predict interest rates to fall next year – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Teens who use social media two hours daily at higher risk of depressive symptoms, study finds

Teenagers who spend hours glued to social media are likely to experience poorer mental health and a decline in wellbeing, a decade-long study shows, with young girls most at risk.

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© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

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Labor MPs have been handed new talking points – revealing a growing concern about One Nation

Labor and its trade union allies have shifted the focus of their rhetorical attacks, targeting Pauline Hanson as if she is the real opposition leader

It was mid-January when Anthony Albanese publicly admitted his “worry” about the rise of One Nation.

The prime minister’s concern was not the political risk to himself or to Labor but rather the threat Pauline Hanson posed to the stability of Australia’s two-party system.

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© Photograph: AAP

© Photograph: AAP

© Photograph: AAP

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Twenty-five anti-Isaac Herzog protesters to face joint trial in Sydney

New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon is among witnesses expected to appear at the six-week trial in July next year

Twenty-five people who were charged after they protested against the visit of the Israeli president will face a six-week joint trial in July next year.

The protesters had their matters heard before Downing centre local court on Thursday after their lawyers made a successful application for the joint hearing, arguing there were common legal issues across the cases.

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© Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

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Escaped prisoner who fled brother’s funeral believed to be in Melbourne, police say

Orijol Rukaj was on pallbearer duties when he evaded corrections staff – and has been on the run for the six weeks since

Police say it was a busy funeral – with about 300 people gathering at a Melbourne cemetery on Anzac Day to farewell the brother of Orijol Rukaj.

Before assuming his duties as a pallbearer, Rukaj was escorted to the Keilor East service by corrections staff. But corrections staff didn’t bring him back to prison.

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© Photograph: supplied by Victoria Police

© Photograph: supplied by Victoria Police

© Photograph: supplied by Victoria Police

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Australian billionaire Brett Blundy wages high-stakes campaign to oust chair of Victoria’s Secret

Blundy’s investment firm, BBRC International, owns about 13% of the US-listed lingerie brand, giving it a potential platform to launch a hostile takeover

Australian billionaire Brett Blundy is waging a high-stakes campaign to oust the long-term chair of Victoria’s Secret & Co, setting the stage for a showdown at the company’s annual meeting in the US on Thursday.

Blundy’s investment firm, BBRC International, owns about 13% of the US-listed Victoria’s Secret lingerie brand, making it the second-biggest single shareholder and giving it a potential platform to launch a hostile takeover.

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© Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret

© Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret

© Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret

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Peter Weir receives inaugural AFTRS lifetime achievement award

Director of Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli celebrated for defining Australian culture and ‘global influence on craft, form and storytelling’

Peter Weir, the director of Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli, was presented with the inaugural lifetime achievement award from the Australian Film Television and Radio School on Wednesday night.

At an event hosted by Sydney film festival, the AFTRS council chair, Rachel Perkins, called the now-retired 81-year-old director and screenwriter “the greatest film-maker this country has produced”.

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© Photograph: Tim Levy

© Photograph: Tim Levy

© Photograph: Tim Levy

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We can’t deliver ‘like-for-like-services’ for people kicked off the NDIS, states warn Albanese government

Coalition also criticises swift timeline for proposed NDIS changes with Melissa McIntosh saying ‘we cannot forget that there are human lives at the other end’

State and territory disability ministers have rung alarm bells over the Albanese government’s proposed overhaul of the NDIS, warning they can’t deliver “like-for-like services” for more than 200,000 participants expected to be shifted off the scheme by 2031.

The opposition, which strongly supports making the scheme more financially sustainable, has also criticised the swift timeline for proposed changes, with shadow NDIS minister, Melissa McIntosh, saying “we cannot forget that there are human lives at the other end”.

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© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

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Angus Taylor rejects One Nation seat sharing deal as cracks appear in Liberal ranks over Pauline Hanson threat

South Australian Liberal Tony Pasin says parties should ‘work hand-in-glove’ to defeat Labor at the next election

Splits are appearing inside the Liberal party about how to deal with Pauline Hanson, after one opposition MP at risk of losing his seat to One Nation said the two conservative parties should cooperate and not run against each other – a plan rejected by Angus Taylor and other senior colleagues.

With One Nation leading the Coalition and Labor in published opinion polls, Hanson’s threat to target government-held seats has recharged debate about whether the surge will see rightwing politicians cooperate or cannibalise each other’s votes.

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© Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP

© Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP

© Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP

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Aukus is among Australia’s worst foreign policy decisions and requires ‘heroic’ optimism, Gareth Evans says

Former Labor foreign affairs minister says belief US would defend Australia in event of an existential attack is a ‘ludicrous delusion’

Aukus will prove to be one of the worst defence and foreign policy decisions ever made by an Australian government and is only being permitted by Donald Trump in order to destroy Chinese nuclear threats to the US mainland, former foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans has said.

In evidence to an independent public inquiry into the $368bn nuclear agreement with the US and UK on Thursday, Evans, a cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, warned the transfer and construction of submarines to Australia from the early 2030s was effectively only an extension of the American military fleet.

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© Photograph: Australian Defence Force/Getty Images

© Photograph: Australian Defence Force/Getty Images

© Photograph: Australian Defence Force/Getty Images

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