Australia on the verge of “biggest improvement in housing affordability in 50 years”

Detailed new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals the “immediate positive impact” this year’s property tax changes have had on those who’d previously been locked out of the housing market.

It concludes that changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing have “finally cracked the nut of the housing crisis”.

“For the first time in a quarter of a century an Australian government has introduced property tax reform that has actually worked. The data shows that prices are falling and investors are building new homes rather than buying existing homes,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.

Key points from The Success of Changes to CGT and Negative Gearing report:

• Property prices have fallen around 5% since March.
• Investor loans for new builds have increased by more than 20% year-on-year.
• Investor loans for existing homes have fallen by 14% year-on-year.

Separate analysis, also published today, reveals that Labor’s tax changes, including a shake-up of the Coalition’s stage 3 tax cuts, have helped nine out of ten Australians.

That analysis shows that the biggest beneficiaries of the stage 3 changes and most recent tax cuts are those under the age of 25, who are, on average, more than $1000 per year better off.

“The original stage 3 tax cuts would have made older, richer Australians even richer and delivered very little for struggling families. The biggest beneficiaries of the revised and subsequent changes are those under the age of 25 and those aged between 25 and 34,” said Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist at The Australia Institute.

Key points from the Who Benefits from Labor’s Tax Cuts report:

• 90% of Australians are, on average, $1340 better off under the revised stage 3 tax cuts.
• Labor’s tax changes have overwhelmingly helped younger people on lower incomes.
• The changes have saved those earning under $150,000 a year $25 billion since their introduction and will deliver $15 billion in savings next financial year.

“Inflation driven by Donald Trump’s war in Iran and huge corporate profits are making life tough, but property tax changes have at least delivered hope for younger Australians who were otherwise facing a lifetime in the rental market,” Greg Jericho said.

“You can’t undo the damage caused by 25 years of awful policy overnight, but we are on track to see the biggest improvement in housing affordability in 50 years.”

“Income tax reform and a fresh round of tax cuts are helping Australians who have been hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis: those on low and middle incomes,” Matt Grudnoff said.

“The original stage 3 tax cuts were terrible policy which would have helped the richest Australians get even richer more quickly. Labor’s changes provide something of a fair go to the vast majority of taxpayers, preventing many from sliding into poverty.”

France has long embraced subversion. Its revolutionaries, rebellious students and intellectual provocateurs occupy a cherished place in the national imagination. In May 1968, student protests and mass strikes paralysed the country and shook Charles de Gaulle’s government. Half a century later, the gilets jaunes turned anger over fuel taxes and living costs into a prolonged confrontation with the state. In 2023, raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 brought nationwide strikes, burning barricades and violent clashes with police.

Sadly, it seems that admiration for defiance made the French too accepting of destruction.

I am writing from my living room on the fourth floor of my building in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris. All I can hear are the sirens of fire engines and police cars.

The unrest began with students demanding more teachers and better school conditions. Fair enough. It widened to include unions and protesters concerned about living costs and public services, and today, peaceful demonstrations turned into arson, looting and attacks on public buildings. The French call it la casse. Cars and rubbish bins burned in Paris; shops are being looted as I write. In Marseille, a municipal police station was damaged. In Limoges, the town hall was also set alight, with local reporting describing flames reaching the roof. In Lyon, fire broke out inside a tourism office.

I was in Lyon just weeks ago. Such a magnificent city, with an extraordinary history. Watching this is heartbreaking. This is the destruction of a community’s property, paid for by the very public in whose name protesters claim to act.

My French friends tell me to stop watching television and let it pass. It always has, they say. ‘Il faut avoir une attitude pleine de nonchalance vis-à-vis de ces choses-là. C’est très français.’

Strikes and demonstrations are so familiar in France that disruption is something people organise their lives around. My friends’ response suggests that even violence can become another inconvenience to wait out. Surely a country should expect more.

France has forceful police. Although tear gas and water cannons have been deployed, the police cannot fix the acceptance of declining standards in public behaviour.

When destruction repeatedly accompanies demonstrations, we learn which streets to avoid and wait for the clean-up. Accountability gives way to managing the inconvenience.

Beneath that resignation are fractures that France has allowed to deepen. The Republic promises equal citizenship, but the experience of belonging to it can differ enormously depending on where someone grows up, the school they attend and their prospects of finding work. The OECD has found immigrant students in France more isolated from non-immigrant students than the OECD average, with residential segregation and economic inequality contributing to divisions in schooling. Sharing a nationality does not necessarily mean sharing much of a life.

There is also a failure of reciprocity. A country must offer its citizens a fair chance to belong and contribute. Citizens, in return, owe something to the society that provides their rights: respect for its laws, its public assets and other people’s freedoms. When government fails to deliver, and individuals treat responsibility as optional, that relationship begins to break down.

Governments cannot repeatedly promise better services, fail to deliver them and expect public confidence to survive. Ministers should have to explain what went wrong, account for the money spent and face consequences for persistent failure.

France’s tradition of revolt did not create all these divisions, but romanticising confrontation, then accepting its destruction as inevitable, makes them harder to repair. Anger becomes an excuse for conduct that deserves condemnation. Political failure becomes so familiar that nobody expects consequences. Meanwhile, the people carrying on, paying taxes and keeping businesses open are left to absorb the damage.

That is the French lesson Australia should take seriously. We do not need to face identical circumstances to recognise the danger of allowing disappointment in government, separation between communities and declining expectations of public behaviour to reinforce one another.

Our circumstances differ, but we have housing pressures, financial hardship and distrust in political leadership. Scanlon Foundation research identifies economic pressures, discrimination and prejudice as challenges to cohesion, while finding resilience worth protecting.

As a country shaped by migration, we cannot leave integration to chance. People need opportunities to work, learn English and participate. They also need clear expectations about citizenship, common laws and respect for others.

Governments must match population growth with housing, infrastructure and services. Otherwise, people compete for necessities and blame their neighbours for failures made in political office. Young Australians need a credible prospect of independence, rather than another assurance that their difficulties are understood.

We should demand more of our politicians and ourselves. Political loyalty must not excuse incompetence, as much as sympathy for a cause must not excuse violence. Police must act lawfully, and those who destroy livelihoods must face consequences.

Respect includes the business owner, the employee, the resident and the peaceful protester whose cause is damaged by violence.

My French friends may be right that this will pass. But the victims and taxpayers will still be paying for the destruction when everyone else has moved on.

We should all learn from the French lesson: when we stop demanding accountability from those who govern and those who destroy, we give both permission to carry on.

An Australian public servant of Indian origin has been arrested and subsequently denied bail by a court in Canberra for stalking a woman and threatening to use government databases to obtain information about her and her family, according to media reports.

Suyash Sinha, 31, was arrested on Tuesday, October 13, following a police raid on his home, the state-owned ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News reported.

Sinha appeared before the Australian Capital Territory Magistrates Court on Wednesday, October 14, where Special Magistrate Lucinda Wilson refused his bail application, saying the risk to the complainant’s safety and well-being was “too great,” the report said.

Sinha, who became an Australian citizen last week, is accused of stalking the woman, whom he allegedly met through a dating app in January, the Region Canberra news portal reported.

Sinha allegedly continued messaging the woman after she rejected his advances. In August, he described what she was wearing while she was shopping at a Coles supermarket in Canberra, saying he was there too, the report said.

The woman later agreed to meet Sinha at a pub to ask him to stop contacting her. During the meeting, he said he worked in finance for the ACT government and named one of her siblings, claiming that “anyone could be looked up in government systems,” it said.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is a self-governing territory of Australia that contains Canberra, the national capital.

The woman subsequently received multiple friend requests from different social media accounts with intimidating usernames and approached police in September, according to the news portal.

Prosecutors told the court the woman was terrified and experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, ABC News reported.

The prosecution opposed bail, arguing that Sinha was fixated on the woman and could endanger her safety or interfere with evidence and witnesses, the report said.

“He’s fixated on this person, and he’s refused to accept ‘no’ as an answer to his advances,” the prosecutor was quoted as saying by ABC News.

Special Magistrate Wilson told Sinha the woman had never expressed interest in a relationship with him in the 10 months since he first contacted her.

“But you did not give up. Ever,” Wilson was quoted as saying by the Region Canberra news portal.

Sinha’s lawyer argued against the “allegations” and said that the accused had no prior criminal history and had been financially supporting his family members in India and his brother in Canberra, the news portal said.

Sinha has been remanded in custody, with the case adjourned to November 4, it said.

A Brisbane dog owner has issued an impassioned defence of her pets after a jogger was seriously mauled in north Brisbane, just hours before she was dramatically arrested by police.

The man’s condition has been downgraded to stable since the attack on Friday evening, which wounded his face, arm and leg.

The dramatic incident began about 6pm, and involved police officers firing their guns at the dogs, and the police helicopter scouring the suburb of Chermside looking for the animals; one was found soon after, and the second was found the following morning.

The dogs’ owner agreed to speak to 9News, but police swooped while the camera crew was still at her house, and she was taken away in handcuffs.

A police spokesperson on Sunday said the woman was arrested on an unrelated matter.

The police spokesperson said senior officers had already reviewed the shooting, and that the dogs ran away soon after the firearms were used on Friday evening.

“Attending officers were confronted with an immediate and serious safety risk and, after initial attempts to subdue the animals were unsuccessful, were required to discharge their service firearms in response to the risk posed to members of the community and others at the scene,” the spokesperson said.

“As with all police use of force incidents, the matter has been recorded and reviewed by senior officers in accordance with Queensland Police Service policy and procedures.”

The Brisbane City Council is expected to file an order which will see the dogs put down – owners have the ability to challenge such orders.

The dogs’ owner, Layla Evans, told 9News the dogs were protective of her and her partner, but other than that “they’re really good dogs”.

She said the police suspected the dogs escaped from the tent she lives in.

“My mother rung me to say she was with the police … and I had to come down, had to come down and try to find my dog,” Ms Evans said.

“I walked all over town, I walked over the park, couldn’t find them anywhere.

“Shattered, I’m shattered to bits.”

The 37-year-old man was attacked by the two dogs at Seventh Brigade Park in Chermside about 6.15pm on Friday.

He suffered significant lacerations to his face and arms, before being taken to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition.

It is understood he was running when the dogs attacked.

The police helicopter was called in to help locate the dogs on Friday night, with one captured soon after.

The second dog was found at a property on Newman Rd, Wavell Heights, on Saturday morning.

Wavell Heights resident Monique Moore told the Courier Mail she had seen the first dog at a veterinary clinic, where she had taken her elderly dog to be put down.

“We were getting our elderly dog put to sleep and the authorities brought the dog there in the car park,” Ms Moore said.

Witnesses reported hearing a woman yelling a dog’s name in a nearby street, about the time of the attack, the Courier Mail reported.

Chermside’s weekly 5km park run still went ahead on Saturday morning, with runners asked not to bring dogs and to keep small children close.

Newlywed cafe owners Manali Purohit and Ashish Sharma recall well the day a new neighbour moved in with ambitions to open a grocery store.

“We thought, ‘Oh, that’s fantastic, that would synergise very well with our business’,” Sharma told AAP.

Purohit, a Mumbai-raised pastry chef, and her husband had only recently acted on their dream to open their vegan eatery, And Bodega, on St Georges Road in Melbourne’s Fitzroy North.

But it wasn’t long before the presence of their next-door tenants began to stir unease among tight-knit locals.

“We knew pretty early on it may not be a grocery store, it may be like something like a tobacco store,” Sharma said.

“My wife was already a little anxious ... there was a little bit of inevitability.”

Customers also expressed concern to them about the possibility arsonists could target the neighbourhood as they had in relation to over 150 other tobacconist stores across Victoria since March 2023.

Then in late-September, as she arrived for an early morning baking shift, the glint of exposed glass jutting from the shop’s front window caught Purohit’s eye.

Plastered to the wall was a handwritten note, according to another witness spoken to by AAP.

They attributed it to a group now synonymous with the city’s tobacco wars: The Commission.

The glass was again smashed last Thursday, with CCTV allegedly capturing a car driving past the tobacconist, before bricks were hurtled into the shopfront.

By Monday, early morning Triple Zero calls from terrified locals reported hearing explosions about 3.45am.

The damage destroyed the tobacconist, devastated And Bodega and another cafe, and left Mr Sharma and Purohit with “what looked like a bomb site” where their plant-based cafe once thrived.

“There were these little canisters strewn all across our premise ... the severity and the ferociousness of these things ... it’s terrorism,” Sharma said.

Investigators believe at least one offender forced entry to the tobacconist and set it alight but no arrests have been made.

There’s nothing to suggest the targeted business was selling illicit tobacco, police say.

The attack is one in a spate that has gripped Melbourne in the past two weeks, as authorities struggle to curb a years-long scourge of tobacco store fires.

Facing a damage bill of well over $100,000, Sharma has joined a growing chorus of industry experts and economists calling for Australia’s tobacco excise to be cut in a bid to reduce demand for cheap illegal cigarettes.

“Why let a black market, why let these types of actors form any sort of foothold in our society?” he said.

“It’s real stubbornness from politicians ... somebody needs to just make the easy call and be like we’re just abolishing this tax and we’re not letting any new tobacco stores open.”

Around 80 per cent of all tobacco consumed in 2025 was illegal, up from 12 per cent in 2017, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates.

At the same time, the tobacco excise has more than tripled.

The federal government continues to prioritise a law enforcement approach to choking the illicit trade.

Yet it has stubbornly resisted demands to slash the excise, which generated $7.4 billion in 2024-25.

“We cannot overstate the emphasis on shutting down retail premises that are blatantly selling illegal products in high streets,” Assistant Customs Minister Julian Hill recently told AAP.

Contrastingly, the coalition has vowed to slash the tobacco excise by 80 per cent if elected, dropping the average price of cigarettes from $40-$50 to roughly $16-$26.

One Nation wants to slash the tax by 75 per cent and freeze indexation for five years.

Reducing the excise is the only credible way for to smoke out Australia’s $8.5 billion nicotine black market, says Deakin University criminologist James Martin.

“By relying on these reactive solutions, none of this is addressing the fundamental problem and that is strong persistent demand for affordable and appealing types of nicotine,” Dr Martin says.

“As long as that demand (for affordable nicotine) is there, there will be criminal suppliers who will be prepared to capitalise and take the risks to supply that demand.

However, University of Sydney public health professor Becky Freeman says shrinking the excise risks creating a “race to the bottom with criminals”, while also risking a spike in smoking rates.

“I don’t think people understand just how cheap illicit tobacco can go,” she said.

The cost of manufacturing packs of cigarettes in parts of Southeast Asia to be imported into Australia can be as low as one Australian dollar, Prof Beckman estimates.

Earlier this month, Victorian police announced the closure of 61 stores with alleged links to organised crime caught selling illicit tobacco, alongside major cigarette, vape tobacco and cash seizures.

However, Prof Freeman argues the state government has taken too long to act.

“If this was really a priority, it’s something that should have been done ages ago,” she said..

Queensland launched initial tobacco and vape shutdown orders in September 2024 and was followed quickly by South Australia.

Retailers raised concerns that illicit tobacco-linked arson attacks could spread to legitimate businesses during a Victorian inquiry into tobacco and vaping controls more than two years ago.

The probe also found state and local governments were not taking enforcement action against illicit sales due to a lack of resources, safety concerns and legislative deficiencies.

Small and medium businesses were at increased risk of violence due to the illicit tobacco trade, the inquiry’s final report found in August 2024.

“It’s sadly not surprising Victoria is having all these problems because they’ve been so slow to enact enforcement,” Prof Freeman said.

The Victorian government has not responded to AAP’s request for comment.

An elderly man has been arrested after allegedly stabbing a woman in a Blacktown shopping centre.

The police operation unfolded after emergency services were called to the centre on Patrick St in Blacktown, following reports of an armed offender.

Police were told a woman, 79, had been stabbed multiple times.

She was treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital in a serious condition.

A 93-year-old man, believed to be known to the woman, was arrested nearby and taken to Blacktown Police Station.

A crime scene has been established by specialist police and inquiries are ongoing.

No charges have been laid.

For years everyone has been dancing around Trump’s unpredictability, his bullying and his threats. It’s past time to reassert our values

"It's good when the dingoes eat cats, because they are killing our precious animals, like the Greater Bilby and desert mouse," Ms Hunter said.

...

A single feral cat roaming in the desert kills more than 700 small animals per year, according to WA's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested and charged over 11 separate incidents involving the sexual assault or harassment of women in the Narrabeen Lagoon area of Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The incidents occurred between September 7 and October 12, involving women and girls aged between 13 and 54.

NSW Police established specialist sexual crimes investigation unit Strike Force Mexvo following the string of sexual assault and harassment reports from women in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Strike Force Mexvo brought together specialist detectives and officers from the Sex Crimes Squad to investigate the possible link between descriptions of the perpetrator and areas involved in the recently reported offences.

The unit then released footage of the suspect on Friday, showing a male with a blurred face on an e-bike.

Police urged anyone who knew the male to provide further information of his whereabouts and identity.

On Saturday evening, the boy presented himself to police and was arrested.

“Following a public appeal, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after attending Mona Vale Police Station about 7.30pm yesterday (Saturday 17 October 2026),” a police statement announced

The teenager was then taken to Manly Police Station and charged with three counts of behaving in an offensive manner in a public place and eight counts of sexually touching another person without consent.

The first reported incident in the teen’s alleged string of sexual offences occurred at 3.55pm on October 7 when a woman was allegedly sexually touched by a man riding an e-bike while she was walking on the Narrabeen Lagoon trail.

She described the perpetrator, who sped off after committing the alleged assault, as having a slim build, wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt and dark pants.

Another incident occurred at about 3.15pm the following day of October 8 when a runner on the nearby Narrabeen Lake trail was allegedly subjected to inappropriate sexual remarks.

The victim described the perpetrator as being of Caucasian appearance, aged between 17 and 25, and having short spiky hair and sideburns.

Two hours later on the same day, an e-bike rider allegedly approached another woman exercising at Bilarong Reserve and sexually touched her before fleeing on his e-bike.

She described the offender as having blond, curly hair and estimated his age to be around 15 or 16-years-old.

On Monday October 12, two women were allegedly sexually touched in the same hour whilst walking beside Narrabeen Lagoon in the afternoon.

The offender was once again said to be riding an e-bike and described as Caucasian, aged between 16 and 18, approximately 175cm tall and wearing a bright yellow top with green on the sides, long black pants and a round black helmet.

A sixth woman then came forward to police on October 12 with information of an incident on October 1 where she was allegedly sexually touched by a man on an e-bike at Narrabeen Lagoon.

Police have also alleged the same perpetrator carried out a similar offence on September 7.

“It will also be alleged that a woman was spoken to inappropriately at the intersection of Waroon Road and Carawa Road, Cromer, about 6.45pm on Monday 7 September 2026,” the police statement said.

One of the women involved in the string of alleged assaults spoke to local publication Manly Observer about the offence in which she was allegedly touched on the behind.

“I just went on a walk, and sat for a while at a bench. There was someone on an e-bike loitering around Bilarong park area,” the young woman told Manly Observer.

“I didn’t think much of it, then stood up to walk again and [was] listening to a podcast.

“It just gave me a huge fright,” she said.

The boy has been granted conditional bail and is due to appear before a children’s court on Wednesday November 4.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has spoken with Yahoo News about why she urged parliament to no longer use the word "invasive" when referring to introduced species.

Wild horses, pigs, deer, cane toads, cats, and foxes are among the biggest threats to native species, and she agrees they need to be managed. 

But she argues this doesn't negate the need to treat them humanely.

And she worries that the language we use to describe an animal can have real-world consequences.

"Language does matter, because how you label animals is how people view them," she said.

"Labelling some animals as feral or invasive obviously creates a negative picture, and it makes it much easier to treat them inhumanely, or to kill them or to poison them.

"So if we are to label animals, then we should do it correctly, because these species labelled feral or invasive are actually introduced to Australia by people.

"These are introduced species, they are sentient beings, and that's how they should be viewed."

On Tuesday, Faruqi told the Senate, "There's no need for labelling introduced species as invasive in a way that blames animals for the man-made problems raised by this motion."

Continuing, she added, "Animals are not villains to be shot, or obstacles to be poisoned to death, the answer to colonialism's legacy is not more violence and more death".

"For decades, successive governments have culled and killed introduced species, and yet native species are in a worse position today."

Elaborating today, she said she used her time to make "a point".

"That's how you start creating change. You put ideas into people's minds who might want to think about it," she said.

"And a few people actually did use the word introduced in their speeches."

She argues it's an "easy distraction" to focus on introduced species and their impact on biodiversity, since it's easier than tackling the extraction of coal and gas and the logging of native forests.

The most common response for reducing populations of introduced species is lethal control.

Helicopter shooting, the use of leghold traps, 1080 poisons and other baits is controversial among many animal welfare advocates. 

However, their use is generally accepted by Australians when pigs, rats, cats, or foxes are being killed, and only causes a stir when it's horses being shot.

Faruqi believes that changing our language will foster greater compassion for these species' welfare, prompting consideration of non-lethal or more humane control measures.

Faruqi's speech came before a vote on a motion introduced by Independent Senator David Pocock calling on the government to fund an updated invasive species management plan.

While her colleagues voted in favour, she abstained. Yahoo understands the decision was based on its focus on lethal control.

The peak environmental body advocating for the control of introduced plants and animals is the Invasive Species Council, and it has no plans to change its name any time soon.

Its policy director, Dr Carol Booth, told Yahoo that the term "invasive" is a technical term used in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to describe introduced species that cause harm.

It lists invasive alien species (AIS) as one of the primary drivers of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. 

In Australia, cats alone have contributed to the extinctions of at least 27 native species.

Despite the harm they cause, Booth agrees that the welfare of all species is "important", but it's just an "unfortunate circumstance" that some have been introduced to Australia.

She said it's important to take animal welfare into account when managing them, and "unfortunately, it has to be often about killing".

"There are no nice non-lethal methods available in most circumstances when we need to protect native species from the likes of cats, foxes, rats and other ungulates causing great damage," she said.

The Invasive Species Council has opposed programs like inviting recreational shooters to manage animals on public land.

Booth argues culling must be done "carefully and strategically".

"Futile killing is definitely something we are really striving to prevent," she said.

Booth said the best way to minimise killing is to fund professional programs with measurable outcomes that help nature.

"The more effective you can be, the more you limit the killing that is needed in future," she said.

She said by reducing numbers as quickly as possible, the need for ongoing culling is reduced.

"Regular killing is the worst outcome for everyone," she said.

"Because it means you constantly have to be funding these programs and doing lots more killing than you would need to otherwise."

Senior Labor and Coalition parliamentarians say the Greens have “questions” to answer as Senator Jordon Steele-John faces an internal probe into claims of inappropriate behaviour toward women.

Senator Steele-John this week took leave from the Greens party room after current and former members wrote to leader David Shoebridge asking him to investigation allegations spanning “almost a decade”.

Reporting has since revealed that the party’s Western Australia branch kept a 47-page crisis management plan detailing how to manage media coverage of any allegations against Senator Steele-John.

It also instructed staff to monitor any related chatter on social media from party members.

Senator Shoebridge – who clinched the Greens leadership late last month with Senator Steele-John’s backing – has denied any knowledge of the document or the allegations.

Cabinet minister Tim Ayres told News24 on Sunday there were “questions” for the new leader to answer.

Asked if he thought Senator Shoebridge knew of the allegations before they became public, he directed the queries to minor party’s leader.

Senator Ayres also denied ever hearing any rumours about Senator Steele-John.

“No, I had not heard rumours of these allegation,” he said.

Opposition frontbencher Sarah Henderson also said “the Greens have a lot of explaining to do”.

“It is appropriate that there should be a proper, I hope, independent inquiry into these allegations,” she said, speaking to the same broadcaster.

Senator Steele-John has rejected the claims against him, saying they try “to assert I am someone I am not”.

“I have referred this matter to the WA Greens, so that a fair, independent process can be commissioned that upholds the principles of natural justice and ensures procedural fairness for everyone involved,” he said.

“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly.

“If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”

A former digital forensic officer in Bendigo has been charged with offences including possession of child abuse material.

Vincent Manner, 57, was this week charged with misconduct in public office, failing to provide information under warrant, and up to six counts of accessing and possessing child abuse material.

Mr Manner was suspended without pay in August last year, but resigned amid a police investigation in November.

Police said the investigation was undertaken by the Professional Standards Unit in conjunction with the Cybercrime Squad, and worked with the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) "to understand the impact of the ongoing enquiry on any current investigations or court matters".

"Following the identification of a number of potentially affected matters, a formal review of the forensic data was conducted. This re-examination has been completed," a police statement read.

"At this stage it is believed all issues have been identified and reviewed and impacted parties have been notified."

Mr Manner will face Bendigo Magistrates Court on November 4.

More than a dozen patients have had timely surgeries delayed after more than 3000 emails were left unread in an inbox at a major hospital.

An urgent review at Canterbury Hospital, in southwest Sydney, found four patients needing urgent procedures and 12 with semi-urgent conditions had not been allocated dates for elective surgeries within clinically recommended timeframes due to the bungle.

Referrals for the 16 patients were missed while emails sat in the inbox, which was not monitored.

In cases classified as urgent or “category one”, a specialist has recommended an operation take place within 30 days, while the tier below requires procedures to be carried out within 90 days.

“Patient safety and wellbeing remain our highest priorities, and we have worked urgently to minimise any impact on those affected,” a Sydney Local Health District spokesperson said on Sunday.

“We sincerely apologise to these patients and families.”

Admission dates had been urgently allocated to the affected patients and treating surgeons contacted, the spokesperson added.

But Australian Medical Association NSW branch president Fred Betros, who works as a surgeon, said the incident was an extremely concerning situation for the patients involved.

“There is a reason we give timeframes for surgery,” he said.

“If a patient does not receive investigations or treatment in a certain timeframe, it can have devastating repercussions for them and their families.”

Category-one patients might have malignant tumours or be in need of coronary artery bypass grafts, Dr Betros said.

He chided the government for failing to provide funding to boost a health workforce that was drowning under patient need.

“We need more doctors to meet demand, but it cannot come at the cost of support staff who help keep our hospitals running,” he said.

NSW opposition health spokesperson Sarah Mitchell said patients needed immediate care and assurance that referrals were being properly managed across the hospital system.

“This is a basic failure with potentially serious consequences,” she said.

“Patients and their families need confidence that this failure is not happening elsewhere.”

The state Labor government has pledged $400 million to redevelop Canterbury Hospital.

Some 85.6 per cent of elective surgeries statewide were performed on time in the June quarter, up 8.8 percentage points on the same period in 2025.

Health Minister Ryan Park’s office referred queries to NSW Health.

I really love print periodicals, so I thought I'd make a post to share the ones that I know of and seek out recommendations for additional ones.

I'm looking for recommendations for Australian print magazines that cover some amount of news, politics, literature, arts, culture, science, sustainability, and/or ecology.

I am not interested in publications that primarily focus on music, fashion, sports/surf/skate culture, homes/architecture/design, gardening, or weddings.

I'm especially keen on indie publications!

There are so many amazing online-only publications, but I'm looking for print media specifically: I don't enjoy e-readers, or being on screens, any more than I already have to be.

***Australian print periodicals that are already on my radar:****

• with an option for ongoing subscription:
  • news and politics
    • the saturday paper (technically a newspaper, but am including since it's published once a week rather than daily)
    • the monthly
    • quarterly essay
    • arena
  • science and sustainability
    • australian geographic
    • renew
    • sanctuary
    • green
  • other/misc
    • frankie
    • vault
    • new philosopher
    • never too small
    • walkers journal
  • literature
    • overland
    • meanjin
    • voiceworks
    • griffith review
    • australian book review
    • westerly
    • HEAT
    • island
    • southerly
• with no option for ongoing subscription:
  • the story
  • archer
  • galah
  • peppermint
  • mince
  • no cure
• no longer in print (as far as I can tell) (rip <3):
  • smith journal
  • the lifted brow
  • demure
  • tart
  • dumbo feather
  • lunch lady

Are there any other homegrown periodicals with decent journalism and writing? Let's keep local print media alive together 💜

AustralianSuper - the largest super fund in the country - recently decided to increase fees when the rest of the industry is trending the other way (HostPlus, ART and many others)

With 270 staff soaking it up in AustralianSuper offices in London and New York, it is shameful that all of its active options consistently underperform the index over all meaningful time periods

AustralianSuper also deliberately cripple their only indexed offering by forcing 30% defensive assets and no pure international indexed equity option. This is at least in part to disguise the fact that all of their active options would underperform a market cap weighted global equities index

In FY2025 AustralianSuper spent $30 million on promotion, marketing and sponsorship. They have repeatedly refused to itemise this expenditure, citing commercial interests

In FY2025 the top eighteen staff at AustralianSuper were paid a total of $20 million = averaging $1.1 million dollars per person

Choose a fund that puts your interests first

You can’t control performance but you can control asset allocation, fees and your own investment behaviour

Generally, a low-cost passive indexed diversified mix of domestic and international shares beats higher-cost actively managed options over time

SUPER FUND COMPARISON by u/SwaankyKoala

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sR0CyX8GswPiktOrfqRloNMY-fBlzFUL/htmlview

The definitive reference

A 500-year-old Buddha statue that was found buried by a roadside in Australia has been returned to China, leaving an ongoing mystery about how it arrived in the country.

The 15cm (six-inch) bronze figurine was formally handed over to Chinese consular representatives during a ceremony in the coastal town of Denham in Shark Bay on Tuesday, the public broadcaster ABC reported.

It will be taken to China for further evaluation to establish its history before being displayed at a museum in Beijing.

Discoverers Leon Deschamps and Shayne Thomson unearthed the statue in 2018 while testing metal detecting equipment in the area.

Since then, they have said it should be returned to China as a gesture of goodwill.

Simon Wu, president of the Australia China Friendship Society Western Australia, described the return as extraordinarily generous.

“Today is an example of how we can bring cultures, countries and people together through a small object. It is showing respect and goodwill,” Wu told the repatriation ceremony.

The figurine – believed to be the oldest Chinese artefact ever found in Australia – was used in ceremonies celebrating the Buddha’s birthday. During the ritual, worshippers would pour water over the statue’s shoulders while chanting sutras to encourage good deeds and compassionate thoughts.

Asian art specialist Lee Young authenticated the statue as a genuine piece from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but how it ended up in Australia remains a mystery.

Some media reports have claimed that it may have been carried on the treasure ships of the celebrated 15th century seafarer Zheng He – but there is no evidence that he ever reached Australia.

A more plausible theory is that the statue arrived with Chinese pearlers and fishermen in the 19th century.

Shark Bay became the birthplace of Western Australia’s pearling industry, which relied heavily on Malay, Chinese and Indigenous Australian labourers.

According to Western Australian Museum records, an 1886 census showed that more than 200 people were working in the local pearling industry, including 60 Europeans, 102 Chinese and 68 Malays.

That year, 68 pearling vessels were operating in the area, seven of which were Chinese-owned. However, the industry declined in subsequent years and the local authorities imposed a series of restrictions on Chinese immigration.

The ABC reported that the Buddha would be returned to China along with some of Shark Bay’s distinctive red earth and a golden pearl shell.

In 2023, Australia returned a batch of valuable cultural relics to China, including items seized by customs, as well as pieces donated by the National Gallery of Australia and a private citizen.

A shooting in Melbourne is under investigation after two young men were found seriously injured.

The 22-year-old man from from Dallas and the 19-year-old man from Craigieburn were found injured inside a home on Kaniva St in Dallas about 8.20am on Sunday.

Victoria Police said emergency services found the men “seriously injured, possibly shot.”

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson described them as having “upper body injuries”.

The two men are believed to be known to each other.

No one else is believed to have been involved in the shooting incident.

A Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance and Advanced Life Support paramedic crews were sent to the home.

Both injured men were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital under police guard, Victoria Police said.

Detectives are now probing the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

It might seem bizarre that an Australian species has become an invasive pest overseas. The flow of introduced species usually goes the other way. But these yabbies were forged in the intense crucible of the Australian climate. Unfortunately, they may be all but unstoppable in the Zambesi – and many other water bodies around the world.