Tag: Australia

Unravelling the Damage Inflicted by Past Judicial Activism

Commentary Judicial activism. The role of the democratic legislature. The separation of powers. The creative tensions between the two. They are all substantive issues vitally important to the proper functioning of our body politic. It is right and proper that those who make the laws are not the interpreters of those laws. So we have…


Bodies Found in Two Burnt-Out Cars Prompt Police Probe

Human remains found inside two burnt-out cars in Sydney’s west and south overnight are being treated as suspicious deaths. A body slumped in the driver’s seat of a partially burnt-out Ford Fiesta was discovered just after 2.15 a.m. on Tuesday. Police were called to North Parramatta and found the vehicle alight. After extinguishing the blaze, firefighters…


Reserve Bank of Australia Pauses Interest Rate Hike in July

Australians have narrowly avoided a new round of interest rate hikes after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to keep the official cash rate unchanged in July. In its latest board meeting, the RBA announced that it would maintain the current official cash rate of 4.1 percent throughout July. The central bank said the…


State’s Move to Ban Religious Vilification Doesn’t Protect Individuals: Activist

The New South Wales (NSW) government’s new commitment to prohibit religious vilification has been criticized as not providing enough protection for religious people. The NSW Labor government announced on June 28 it would amend the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 to prohibit religious vilification, which will make it illegal to by a public act (includes any…


New Guidelines Set to Boost Melbourne’s Night-Time Economy

The Andrews Labor government has lifted its freeze on late-night liquor licences in the inner-city municipalities of Melbourne, Port Phillip, Yarra and Stonnington to support Melbourne’s night-time economy. Anthony Carbines, the acting Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, made the announcement on July 4, saying that it is in line with the government’s election…


Cost Blowout, Delays Occur When Government Rushes Transport Project: Transport Expert

The cost for Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project is expected to spiral out of control, and a transport expert attributed part of the problems to the Labor government’s rushing the project. The West Gate Tunnel project is a four-kilometre toll road under construction that will upgrade the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville and link to CityLink at…


Australia, Canada, UK Call For Middle East Peace Amid Palestine-Beijing Talks

The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, and the UK have issued a joint statement calling for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Palestine and the creation of a Palestinian state. The leaders called on the Israeli government to reverse its approval of 5,700 new settlement units in the West Bank on June 26. “The…


New Zealand Beware of Complying With Dictatorship Demands

Commentary It seems that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is particularly sensitive to being described as a “dictator.” When U.S. President Joe Biden used the description, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was outraged, with its mouthpiece, the Global Times calling it a vicious attack. If Biden had said that Xi was the “leader of a dictatorship,”…


7 Injured in Turbulence on Hawaiian Airlines Flight to Australia

HONOLULU—A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney hit severe turbulence, injuring seven people on board. The plane was carrying 163 passengers and 12 crew members on Thursday when it “encountered unexpected severe turbulence approximately five hours into the flight,” said a statement from the airline. “The plane just dropped,” passenger Sultan Baskonyali told ABC…


Hong Kong Offers $120,000 Bounties for Human Rights Dissidents Living in US, Australia, UK

Hong Kong police are offering $1 million (US$127,650) bounties for information on eight human rights dissidents currently residing in the United States, UK, and Australia. On July 3, the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force issued arrest warrants for the eight individuals, alleging they had contravened the National Security Law. The law…