Prime Minister Scott Morrison – Opinion – 2021 Budget This year’s Budget is a significant time in Australia’s history as the world confronts the worst pandemic in a century. We see the terrible impacts and toll of COVID-19 almost everywhere. Yet here in Australia, we are living life differently. Our economy is stronger than virtually any advanced economy. We have …

Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka says Australia cannot keep its borders shut indefinitely despite the risk of COVID-19. Ms Hrdlicka made the comments at a business function hosted by the Queensland University of Technology on Monday. Ms Hrdlicka argued that Australia needed to discuss opening the borders as the vaccine rollout ramped up, according to the university’s media unit. “We can’t …

COVID has “supercharged” Australian anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theory communities online, digital experts warn, with fears a 300 per cent explosion in membership of such Facebook groups could derail the vaccine rollout. Even as social media giants crackdown on harmful misinformation, including deleting prominent pages and slapping on new warnings and fact-check labels, critics say dangerous conspiracy theories are still festering …

Religious knives banned from schools The NSW Education Minister has said carrying a knife for religious reasons into schools will be banned from tomorrow. The move comes after an incident at Glenwood High School in Sydney’s north-west where a 14-year-old boy is facing serious charges for allegedly stabbing a 16-year-old boy with a “religious knife”. Sarah Mitchell said while legislative …

Peter Dutton has blocked a decision by Chief of Defence Angus Campbell to strip unit citations from special forces troops who served in Afghanistan. More than 3000 soldiers will no longer have their awards taken away. Instead, only those convicted of war crimes will lose their meritorious unit citations. Mr Dutton said while it was important to ensure people who’d …

NSW has recorded no new locally acquired COVID-19 cases after three family members diagnosed with COVID-19 in hotel quarantine picked up the virus from fellow returned travellers. Authorities raised concerns over the weekend that there may be the possibility of community transmission. In good news, NSW Health has confirmed there were no new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm …

Hundreds of passengers have landed in Auckland on an international flight after the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand opened. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Australians can enjoy relatively unrestricted international travel and avoid hotel quarantine when they return home. And for New Zealanders stuck on this side of the Tasman, today marks the start …

Resetting Australia’s troubled COVID-19 vaccine rollout will be the focus of a National Cabinet meeting today, as the nation’s leaders gather to urgently get the program back on track. The federal government has blamed the sluggish rollout on vaccine supply issues overseas, with GPs complaining they have received as few as 40 doses to distribute a week. Some doctors say …

A leaked report has painted a damning picture of ongoing concerns around women and culture in the Liberal Party – indicating that some issues had been raised years earlier. Room For Movement: Women and Leadership in the Liberal Party, commissioned in 2015, was briefly covered in the media, but never released publicly. The Drum has obtained a copy of the document, which …

The federal government has asked the nation’s medical and vaccine regulators to urgently look into findings from the European Medicines Agency of a possible link between AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine and rare blood-clotting issues. Following the EMA’s findings, Britain’s vaccine advisory board has said all people under 30 will be offered alternative vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. “The government has asked [the …