The Australian city of Melbourne moved to ban e-scooter rentals this month over safety concerns and their chaotic impact on the city’s sidewalks, a decision that mirrors similar restrictions for the electric vehicles around the globe, even as cities try to become more ecologically-minded, the...
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Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) ordered all its public employees back to the office this week, a decision that has divided opinion in the country’s most populous state over limiting the remote work practices that became prevalent during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Associated Press reported...
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The Australian government agreed Monday to water down a bill that would make the country the first in the world to ban the sale of e-cigarettes outside of pharmacies, as authorities seek to curb the rising number of youths vaping, Reuters reported. The governing center-left Labor...
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Australian authorities on Wednesday arrested seven teenagers who are allegedly part of a terror network, a week after a 16-year-old stabbed an Assyrian Orthodox bishop during a live-streamed church sermon in Sydney, Al Jazeera reported. The arrests were part of a series of anti-terror raids involving...
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Australians were left reeling on Monday after a second mass stabbing in three days in the country saw a priest and four worshippers injured in a church in a Sydney suburb, on the heels of a rampage that left six dead at a shopping mall,...
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Australia is planning to criminalize doxxing after a recent incident where pro-Palestinian activists published the personal details of hundreds of Australian Jews, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Doxxing – also known as “dropping dox” or documents – is described as the unauthorized release of personal information,...
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Australia will pass a new bill granting employees the “right to disconnect” from work-related calls outside of working hours without facing penalties, the latest country to amend legislation in an effort to promote a better work-life balance, the Independent reported. The legislation is part of a...
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Thousands of Australians protested across the country over the weekend, advocating for Australia Day to be moved and renamed “Invasion Day” to acknowledge the impact of British colonization on the country’s Indigenous communities, the Guardian reported. Each Jan. 26, the country celebrates Australia Day, which commemorates...
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Australia’s parliament passed a law this week that would ban the display of Nazi salutes and hate symbols in public, a move aimed at addressing a spike of antisemitism in the country amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, CBS...
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The AUKUS deal signed in 2021 by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States arguably marked a nadir in relations between Australia and China. The deal gave Australia new technology for nuclear-powered submarines, weapons that were obviously meant to counter China’s military power. The deal...
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Australia’s High Court ruled Wednesday that the government’s power to hold individuals indefinitely in immigration detention centers is illegal, a landmark ruling that overturned a nearly two-decade-old precedent that has significantly influenced the country’s border policies, the BBC reported. The case involved a stateless Rohingya man...
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Australia’s top court ruled Wednesday that the government cannot strip citizenship from a man convicted of terrorism, a verdict that dealt another blow to a law allowing government ministers to revoke dual nationals of their Australian citizenship because of extremism-related crimes, the Associated Press reported. The...
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Australians over the weekend shot down a constitutional amendment to provide the country’s Indigenous peoples with a “Voice,” an advisory body to the national parliament, serving their interests in the country, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Two-thirds of Australians had supported the idea when the incumbent...
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Australia became the first country in the world to legalize the use of psychedelics to treat mental health conditions, a move that was met with praise and caution from the scientific community, the BBC reported this week. The new regulations – which became official on July...
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After a recent historic parliamentary vote, Australians will vote on a constitutional amendment to dramatically expand the protections of their Indigenous communities. As a government website showed, the question will ask voters whether to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice as a constitutional body....
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Australia’s upper house of parliament approved a bill to hold a referendum on Indigenous rights Monday, clearing the final hurdle for a vote that would enshrine the country’s Indigenous population in the constitution and better represent them in government, the Financial Times reported. The passing of...
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Australia will introduce a new bill next week that will ban the public display of Nazi symbols amid concerns that far-right and white supremacist groups are using them to raise their profile, Voice of America reported Thursday. The proposed law will prohibit flags, clothing, armbands, and...
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Australians will decide whether to give Indigenous people a voice in parliament in a landmark referendum that observers believe will face a number of hurdles before the vote later this year, the Guardian reported. The October plebiscite will see voters choose whether they support the enshrinement...
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Australia will remove depictions of British monarchs from its banknotes, a move that has sparked a fierce debate in the country where the monarch remains its head of state, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The central bank said the new Australian $5 bill will feature an...
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Almost everyone ranks the Amazon, the Sahara and Siberia as among the world’s greatest, most gigantic and most remote wildernesses. Many might forget to add one of the planet’s vastest untouched regions, though – the Australian Outback. The Outback covers nearly two million square miles of...
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