538 diphtheria cases in Australia's largest outbreak
Australia has recorded 538 diphtheria cases in 2026, the most since national reporting began in 1991. About one in five people diagnosed has been hospitalised.
84 articles by Claire Ashford
Henderson defence precinct site locked in for WA
The Commonwealth and WA governments have selected the site for the Henderson Defence Precinct. The $12 billion committed is a down payment on a build the government's own advice puts near $25 billion.
Bird flu reaches sea lion breeding islands off SA
About 1,000 crested terns have died on three remote South Australian islands, two of them at the largest Australian sea lion breeding colony.
ACT joins gun buyback, six jurisdictions still out
Canberra is the second jurisdiction to sign the national firearms buyback. The Commonwealth pays 75 per cent, and six others have not joined.
Addiction services funded to 2027, then a tender
Canberra put $727 million over three years into drug and alcohol treatment, then extended existing grants by a year. Providers cannot see past June 2027.
Platforms must do news deals or pay 2.5pc levy
Parliament has passed the News Bargaining Incentive: the biggest platforms sign at least eight news deals, or pay 2.5 per cent of Australian ad revenue.
Pension up $36.80 a fortnight, JobSeeker up $16.20
Payments are indexed from 20 September. The single age pension rises $36.80 a fortnight and JobSeeker $16.20, and deeming rates go up half a point.
NDIS overhaul clears parliament on widow tax deal
The bill finally passed both houses on Wednesday. The Coalition's price was an accelerated fix to the negative gearing widow tax.
Backpacker visas slow under new processing direction
Tony Burke has confirmed working holiday visas are processed more slowly, after a July direction putting onshore applicants first. The Nationals object.
Gun buyback pays $1,000 for a revolver from November
Phase one opens on 2 November with rates fixed by category. New South Wales is the only state taking part and the Commonwealth is splitting the bill.
Pat Turner named NAIDOC Person of the Year
Ten National NAIDOC Awards were presented in Mparntwe on Saturday night. Pat Turner took the top honour five months after retiring from NACCHO.
Senate committee backs NDIS bill for passage
The Community Affairs committee tabled one recommendation: pass the bill. The Greens and David Pocock dissented. The Senate sits from Monday.
AI scribes spread in GP rooms ahead of the rules
Reported use in general practice nearly doubled in 15 months. The health department's own briefing says the tools have little oversight.
Coalition ties migration cap to homes completed
Andrew Bragg put the Coalition's migration number at about 180,000. Angus Taylor called it a personal view. ABS has completions near 175,000 a year.
H5 bird flu reaches Tasmania, the sixth state
A brown skua found near Rocky Cape has tested positive, leaving no Australian state without H5. The national count changed method and fell from 236 to 186.
Battery rebate passes 500,000 installations
The Cheaper Home Batteries program has reached 507,000 homes since July 2025. Its budget has gone from $2.3 billion to $7.2 billion in that time.
Minimum pay for gig delivery riders starts Monday
From 17 August, food and grocery delivery workers on apps get an enforceable floor of $31.30 to $32 an hour and platform-paid accident insurance.
David McBride released on parole after 27 months
The former army lawyer whose leaked documents became the ABC's Afghan Files left Canberra's jail on Thursday, the first day he was eligible for release.
Five million Census forms in by Census night
The ABS counted 5,002,195 household forms by late morning on Census day. Late responses still count, and the first results do not land until June 2027.
Two subsea cables off Perth faulted within hours
Both of SUBCO's Indigo cables faulted inside the Perth protection zone within hours of each other. The AFP is assessing a report of crime.
South Australia calls a royal commission into AI
Peter Malinauskas will appoint three commissioners to examine artificial intelligence, reporting by 1 July 2027. The terms of reference do not exist yet.
Labor seeks a gambling deal as inducements bite
The government wants a Senate deal on its gambling advertising bill this fortnight. Betting inducements, not ad caps, are now the item on the table.
Staff shortage delays 150 flights out of Sydney
More than 150 flights were delayed out of Sydney on Saturday after Airservices Australia spaced out departures to match the controllers it could roster.
ABS to hold Census names until February 2028
Tuesday's Census is compulsory. The ABS will keep the names attached to it for 18 months, the addresses for three years, and link the answers to health, tax and education records.
Census returns to Norfolk Island on Tuesday
About 2,100 residents must complete the Census on 11 August, a decade after the Commonwealth wound back the island's self-government.
$274m in Medicare benefits sits unclaimed
Services Australia is holding $274.5 million owed to 974,000 people because it has no bank account on file for them. The average amount is about $280.
Draper to lead industry department from October
Simon Draper leaves the NSW Premier's Department for a five year term at Industry, Science and Resources, vacant since May and run by an acting secretary.
NAPLAN reading slips while numeracy lifts
More than 1.2 million students sat NAPLAN. Numeracy in Years 5, 7 and 9 is the strongest since the 2023 reset, Year 3 the weakest, and reading fell.
High Court upholds secret recording as evidence
The High Court found a woman's secret recording of her husband admitting to rape was lawful, because protecting her own body is a lawful interest.
Big tech news levy set at 2.5pc of ad revenue
The government has finalised the News Bargaining Incentive. Platforms without publisher deals pay up to 2.5 per cent of their Australian ad revenue.
Bird flu kills 49 terns in Australian first
H5N1 has caused its first confirmed mass mortality event in Australian wildlife, at Baudin Rocks off Robe. Ministers say wider losses should be expected.
ABS warns on Census scams a week out
Census night is Tuesday 11 August. Scamwatch has taken reports of parties impersonating the ABS, which never asks for bank details or passwords.
SA commits $8.5m to truth-telling commission
Kyam Maher says South Australia will set up a truth-telling commission within months, backed by $8.5 million. He announced it at Garma.
Indigenous child removals rise against 2031 target
The national children's commissioner told Garma the system risks another Stolen Generation. Care rates have gone from 47.3 to 52.2 per 1,000 since 2019.
eSafety sues Telegram over terrorist content
The regulator alleges Telegram left Christchurch and Buffalo attack footage online after Australians reported it. The maximum penalty is $54.6 million.
Garma opens at Gulkula on the theme of Bukmak
Australia's largest Indigenous gathering opened in northeast Arnhem Land on Friday and runs to 3 August, with Pacific guests and a Key Forum program.
Fuel excise returns to 52.6c a litre on Monday
The 16 cent discount expires on 2 August and indexation adds about one cent more. Drivers face roughly 17 cents a litre from Monday, with no vote required.
Marriages fall, divorces climb 4.1 per cent in 2025
Australians registered 118,804 marriages and 49,158 divorces in 2025, new ABS figures show. Marriages fell 1.7 per cent, divorces rose 4.1 per cent.
Carroll sworn in as premier, orders royal commission
Ben Carroll was sworn in as Victoria's premier on Tuesday and called a royal commission into construction, four months out from the state election.
Allan refuses to quit as Carroll launches challenge
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to resign and will contest a ballot after Deputy Premier Ben Carroll confirmed he will stand against her.
AusAlert test reaches 94 per cent of mobile towers
Australia's new cell broadcast emergency warning system was tested nationwide on Monday. NEMA says 94 per cent of targeted mobile towers carried the alert.
Labor conference stops short of gambling regulator
Labor delegates voted in Adelaide to strengthen the party's gambling platform, but did not adopt the national regulator the Murphy review urged.
Queensland records first suspected H5 bird flu case
A dead petrel on Moreton Island has returned a suspect positive for H5 bird flu, the first detection in Queensland and the fourth state hit.
Albanese unveils a federal Fair Work Court
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a new federal Fair Work Court to resolve underpayment and workplace disputes faster and at lower cost, unveiling it in his opening speech to Labor's national conference in Adelaide on Thursday.
Canberra puts $10m into Royal Darwin maternity care
The federal government will spend $10 million upgrading maternity and neonatal services at Royal Darwin Hospital, a year after a private operator closed the city's private maternity service.
Bird flu detections in seabirds climb to 17
Confirmed H5 bird flu detections in Australian wild seabirds rose to 17 by Tuesday, spread across WA, SA and NSW, with the national animal-disease committee extending heightened poultry biosecurity.
Bird flu holds at 17 cases as poultry stays on alert
Australia's H5 bird flu outbreak has held at 17 wild-bird cases across three states, with no poultry infected, as authorities keep the industry on heightened biosecurity.
Blood test flags dementia risk a decade before signs
A JAMA study of 2,684 healthy adults found very high blood p-tau217 carried a 78 per cent risk of cognitive impairment within a decade.
One Nation draws level with Labor in Newspoll
Newspoll has One Nation level with Labor on a 30 per cent primary vote and the Coalition on 19, after Pauline Hanson's contested CPAC London speech.
Albanese defends Garma call on first Tiwi visit
Anthony Albanese opened a $12.4 million child and family centre at Wurrumiyanga on his first Tiwi Islands visit as PM, and defended skipping Garma this year.
Albanese backs 35 of 54 Islamophobia recommendations
Canberra accepted 35 of the Islamophobia envoy's 54 recommendations on Saturday, with $41.9 million for security but no new discrimination laws.
Laos charges distillery owner over methanol deaths
A distillery owner faces up to four years' jail over the methanol deaths of Bianca Jones, Holly Bowles and four others. Canberra summoned Laos' ambassador.
Telstra ignored years of warnings before outage
Telstra was first warned in November 2020 about the fault behind the July 8 outage, a Senate inquiry heard. Triple-zero calls failed for hours.
AEC redraws Tasmania and proposes renaming Franklin
The commission moved 114,157 electors between four Tasmanian seats and proposed the state's first electorate named after an Aboriginal person.
Patient records taken in cyberattack on 21 GP clinics
Partnered Health says data was taken from 16 of 21 named clinics, including Medicare numbers and consultation notes. Patients learned by SMS 22 days on.
Police release unseen Falconio photos 25 years on
NT Police marked 25 years since Peter Falconio's murder with unseen images and a renewed $500,000 reward to locate his remains.
Albanese moves AI oversight into his own department
A new Office of AI will sit inside the PM's own department, co-ordinating a single national framework Albanese calls a world first.
SA to ban convicted sex offenders from dating apps
South Australia plans nation-first laws banning sex offenders from dating apps, with 10-year minimum bans and up to five years jail for breaches.
Digital arrival card to replace the orange form
A $56.1 million digital declaration is replacing the orange arrival card, starting at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports.
Antisemitism royal commission turns to universities
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion opens a week of hearings into Australian universities on the same day new racism rules take effect. Education Minister Jason Clare says he will legislate to let the regulator fine universities without going to court.
H5 bird flu reaches a native Australian seabird
A greater crested tern found dead at Robe in South Australia is the first native Australian seabird confirmed with H5 bird flu. Every previous case was a migratory bird from the sub-Antarctic. There are now 13 confirmed detections nationally and none in poultry.
Telstra faces ACMA probe over Triple Zero failures
Telstra ran 639 welfare checks on people who could not reach Triple Zero during this week's outage. The regulator is now investigating the company that both broke the network and operates the emergency line.
Derryn Hinch, broadcaster and senator, dies at 82
Derryn Hinch, who went to prison rather than pay a fine for naming a killer's criminal history, and who turned that record into a Senate seat, has died aged 82.
Australia signs uranium export deal with India
Australia and India signed an arrangement opening long-term uranium exports, plus a defence declaration and university campuses, at the Melbourne summit.
Dementia now Australia's biggest killer, AIHW says
Dementia has overtaken heart disease as Australia's leading cause of death, the AIHW reports, as national health spending reaches $270.5 billion.
Modi in Melbourne for leaders' summit, stadium rally
Narendra Modi meets Anthony Albanese in Melbourne for the Australia-India Annual Leaders' Summit, with uranium on the agenda and more than 20,000 registered for a Marvel Stadium reception.
Telstra outage hits triple-zero calls, halts trains
A software defect took down Telstra's mobile network for most of Wednesday, blocking 333 triple-zero calls and suspending Victoria's regional trains. The regulator is investigating.
One Nation slips back as Labor holds big poll lead
One Nation's poll surge has receded for a second week, with Roy Morgan's latest federal survey putting the party's primary vote at 22.5 per cent while Labor held a two-party lead of 55 to 45.
Australia adds Fiji alliance, opens Solomons talks
Australia has signed its fourth-ever defence alliance, with Fiji, and opened treaty talks with Solomon Islands, as China's missile test jolts the Pacific.
Space agency traces beach spheres to foreign rocket
The Australian Space Agency says six spheres found on a north Queensland beach appear to be pressure vessels from a foreign rocket that re-entered from orbit.
PM apologises for Kylie Minogue podcast comments
Anthony Albanese has apologised "unequivocally" for comments about Kylie Minogue made during a game of 'shag, marry, date' on a Nova comedy podcast, after a weekend of criticism from the Coalition and crossbench.
Ram raid and fire damage 10 shops in inner Melbourne
A vehicle was driven into a Victoria Street shop about 4.15am Monday before the building was set alight. Around 80 firefighters brought the blaze under control by 6am, with about 10 shops damaged and no injuries.
Suspected H5 bird flu in NSW seabird, first for the state
A sick seabird found near Hawks Nest has returned a preliminary positive for H5 avian influenza, the first suspected case in NSW. Confirmatory testing is under way and no poultry is infected.
Senate delays bill to double social media age fines
The Senate sent the government's bill to double penalties under the under-16 social media law to an eight-week inquiry, delaying it until late August after the Coalition and Greens combined to refer it.
Minimum wage tops $1,000 a week as July 1 tax cuts take effect
The national minimum wage passed $1,000 a week for the first time on July 1, one of a set of federal changes that also cut the lowest tax rate for more than 14 million people, extended paid parental leave to six months, and raised the tax on superannuation balances above $3 million.
Coles and Woolworths face new price-gouging ban from July 1
A law making it illegal for Australia's two largest supermarkets to charge significantly excessive grocery prices took effect on July 1. Only Coles and Woolworths meet the $30 billion revenue threshold, and the ACCC can pursue penalties of up to the greater of $10 million, three times the benefit gained, or 10 per cent of turnover.
Albanese to double Big Tech fines as study finds 85% of under-16s still on social media
The federal government will raise maximum penalties for non-compliant platforms from $49.5 million to $99 million and grant the eSafety Commissioner expanded enforcement powers. A British Medical Journal study found 85 per cent of Australians aged 12 to 15 were still using social media three months after the world-first ban took effect.
Australia to double fines on Big Tech after children bypass under-16 social media ban
The federal government will raise maximum penalties from $49.5 million to $99 million after the eSafety Commissioner found seven in ten under-16s with existing accounts still had some access to banned platforms, six months after the world-first ban took effect.
Australia records first H5 bird flu cases as migratory seabirds test positive across two states
A brown skua found sick near Esperance tested positive to highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza on June 20, ending Australia's status as the only continental landmass free of the strain. By June 27, confirmed cases had spread to South Australia with a fifth case suspected.
Steggall and Spender launch Community Strong Australia, formalising teal movement into registered party
The two independent MPs announced the new political party at Parliament House in Canberra on June 25, with plans to register by October and contest Senate seats, though several other teal-aligned independents declined to join.
Greens back Labor budget after winning NDIS inquiry extension, critics warn of 300,000 losing support
The Greens agreed in late June to support the 2026-27 federal budget after securing an eight-week Senate inquiry extension into NDIS cuts, clearing a path through the upper house for $63.8 billion in savings that include $37.8 billion from changes to the disability scheme.
SA late-term abortion restriction bill clears upper house by one vote, then falls 36-9 in lower house
The South Australian Legislative Council passed the Family First bill 10 votes to 9 in what was the first time such legislation had cleared the upper chamber, before the House of Assembly defeated it decisively 36 votes to 9 in the same evening, with a disputed voice vote adding to the drama.
High Court strikes down Victoria's political donations regime, putting federal laws in its shadow
A unanimous High Court ruling has invalidated Part 12 of Victoria's Electoral Act 2002, leaving the state temporarily without any valid donation disclosure framework after the court found the law unlawfully favoured major parties over independents.
Fair Work Commission raises minimum wage 4.75 per cent to $26.44 an hour from July
The Fair Work Commission handed down its 2026 Annual Wage Review on June 2, awarding a 4.75 per cent increase to the National Minimum Wage, lifting it to $1,004.90 per week. About 2.7 million workers on award rates benefit directly.
