PM Scott Morrison has suggested a Liberal staffer sacked for verbally abusing a female political opponent used vile language on other occasions. Federal government adviser Andrew Hudgson lost his job after being accused of yelling a horrendous slur at Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor in 2019, while he was working for the premier. The Department of Premier and Cabinet investigated the incident …

Scott Morrison has defended his handling of rape allegations against Attorney-General Christian Porter, who is now suing the ABC for defamation. The Prime Minister is seeking legal advice on what duties Mr Porter may need to relinquish while he pursues the legal action. But Mr Morrison has refused to seek independent advice on whether the Attorney-General is a fit and …

What can we do with Australia’s property market, with soaring prices and rental shortages in many regional areas of Australia, from WA’s Pilbara to Hobart in Tasmania? While more than 60 per cent of Australians own their own home, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows home-ownership rates for people aged under 40 are declining, part of a trend of intergenerational inequality and a growing gap between …

A woman who blackmailed a grieving couple over a lost phone containing photos of their dying daughter will stay behind bars, after Victoria’s highest court knocked back her appeal. Siti Kamal, a 26-year-old Malaysian national, was jailed last year for blackmailing Jay and Deanne Windross while their 11-month-old daughter, Amiyah, was dying in the Monash Children’s Hospital. Days earlier, Ms …

A criminal gang spent months terrorising the Sydney family of a senior Iraqi politician in an attempt to extort up to $10 million from him, police say. Authorities in NSW and Canada have arrested four people over a series of attacks on the Chester Hill home of Ahmed Al-Asadi’s wife and five children. Mr Al-Asadi is a dual Iraqi/Australia citizen …

Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial could conclude on Saturday, leaving a divided U.S. Senate to decide whether the former president incited his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a last-ditch effort to stay in power after his November election defeat. Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached twice and the first to face trial …

A woman is recovering from surgery after she was seen desperately waving her hand through a broken taillight at the back of her own car as two other women allegedly drove along a NSW highway. A kidnapping investigation was launched after a truck driver saw a hand protruding out the boot of a white Holden Commodore travelling along the Hume …

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 …

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 Greek Orthodox priest has been shot and badly wounded at a church in the French city of Lyon by an assailant who then fled, police and witnesses say. The priest was fired on twice at about 4:00pm (local time) as he was closing the church, and was being treated for life-threatening injuries, the police source said. Witnesses said the …