The bodies of a woman and three children have been found following a house fire in Glen Waverley, in Melbourne’s south-east. Firefighters were called to Tulloch Grove about 1:40am on Sunday after receiving multiple calls about smoke coming from a two-storey townhouse. Crews found the garage on the ground level well alight and the home filled with smoke. “Sadly, a …

The federal government will be obliged to consult the Indigenous Voice to parliament when crafting laws on race, native title and racial discrimination which impact upon Aboriginal Australians. But the body will have no power to overturn policy or prevent laws coming into force, according to interim proposals. Indigenous Minister Ken Wyatt on Saturday launched a second stage of Indigenous …

For most of us, the end of 2020 can’t come soon enough. We still want to see it out with a bang, but like everything else this year, celebrations are going to look a whole lot different. Plan a party with friends and family (but remember: check the COVID-19 number restrictions – and avoid a cheeky midnight pash with strangers!). …

Australians rescuing and caring for injured wildlife have been left to go it alone for so long the ability to continue to save what’s left of native species may end up costing their lives. If there is a call to evacuate, Bill Waterhouse is intent on staying at his house turned refuge to defend the scores of animals he and …

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it will again ask the US Supreme Court to overturn results from the November 3 election, its latest long-shot effort to subvert the electoral process. In a statement issued by the campaign on Sunday, Mr Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the campaign had filed a petition asking the court to reverse three rulings by a …

A young man who was shot dead by police on the Logan Motorway on Thursday has been “directly linked” to the double murder of an elderly couple, with officers describing the incident as a “terrorism event”, Queensland police say. The bodies of Maurice and Zoe Antill, both in their mid-80s, were found at a house in the southern Brisbane suburb of …

A controversial bid to remove police and prison officer floats from Sydney’s pride parade has fallen short at the annual general meeting of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. But in a strong anti-police statement, Saturday’s motion attracted 44 per cent of the votes, drawing 261 votes in favour. Three hundred and twenty-seven members voted against it. The motion was …

Southern rock lobsters are set to feature on Christmas tables across Australia amid plunging domestic prices fuelled by the nation’s growing trade tensions with China. Commercial fishers operating in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia are supplying record volumes to the domestic market after China’s ban on Australian live lobster imports. With the crustaceans removed from restaurants and markets in China, …

China’s deputy ambassador has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of overreacting to a social media post about alleged war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. Wang Xining criticised Mr Morrison’s angry response to the incendiary image of an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child. “I think it’s unfortunate that this issue evolved in such a …

The first lesson this week was that when offered cheap money, a significant number of Australians will rush to buy residential real estate, recession or not. The second lesson was this is pretty much what core economic policy has been reduced to in Australia – inflating asset prices in hope that the “wealth effect” will trickle down into broader consumer …