Tag Archives: Australia

Australia’s ABC News outlet reports: Labor is calling on the Government to deny a visa to Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, who is coming to Australia in November. McInnes is known for his extreme views and support of violence, saying when he founded the “gang” in 2016: “We will kill you, that is the Proud boys in …

The BBC reports: Scott Morrison has become Australia’s new prime minister after Malcolm Turnbull was forced out by party rivals in a bruising leadership contest. Mr Turnbull had been under pressure from poor polling and what he described as an “insurgency” by conservative MPs. Mr Morrison, the treasurer, won an internal ballot 45-40 over former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton …

The Hill reports: Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday disputed a report that the U.S. is preparing a strike against Iran, calling it “fiction.” ABC News had previously reported, citing Australian officials, that the U.S. could launch missile strikes against Iran as soon as next month. “I have no idea where the Australian news people got that information,” Mattis told …

The BBC reports: A Catholic archbishop in Australia has been given a maximum sentence of 12 months in detention for concealing child sexual abuse in the 1970s. Philip Wilson, now archbishop of Adelaide, is the most senior Catholic globally to be convicted of the crime. He was found guilty by a court last month of covering up abuse by a …

As longtime readers know, over the last decade I’ve posted many of Australian musician Nick Bertke’s truly amazing videos and even blogged about his ten-year banning from the US in 2011 for not having a valid work permit. Berkte’s clips typically get many millions of views. Bertke originally posted his innovative compositions on a YouTube channel titled “Fagottron” – leading …

The Associated Press reports: An Australian archbishop on Tuesday became the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the world convicted of covering up child sex abuse in a test case that holds to account church hierarchy that kept silent in the face of an international pedophile crisis. Magistrate Robert Stone handed down the verdict against Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson …

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: George Pell will be the most senior Catholic leader to face a jury after being committed to stand trial on multiple historic sexual assault charges. In a decision that will ring loud through the Vatican and around the religious world, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the man who a year ago oversaw management of the …

The Guardian reports: The first non-stop scheduled flight from Australia to the UK has landed in London – early – after a 17 hour, six minute journey across 9,240 miles (14,875km) from Perth. Qantas flight QF9, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with more than 230 passengers and crew on board, touched down at 5.03am at Heathrow on a chilly Sunday morning …

Australia’s News Corp affiliate reports: If only Cher could turn back time. The international pop star has issued a stunning online apology for appearing in a controversial photo with the Prime Minister at Mardi Gras on Saturday. Malcolm Turnbull can be seen widely grinning in a picture with the American singer, who dazzled thousands of spectators by walking out into …

CNET reports: Australia made same-sex marriage legal in December, after more than 61 percent of the country declared in a survey that they were for it. Apple was on the side of the majority, making its feelings clear well before the survey. So its latest iPhone X ad — specifically for the Australian market — celebrates some of the first …

The West Australian reports: He’s the man who strongly opposed gay marriage, arguing it was against traditional family values. Now it’s been revealed Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is expecting a baby with his former staff member, after leaving his wife of 24 years. Mr Joyce’s former wife, Natalie, said she was “deeply saddened” by the affair given her husband’s …

Q News Magazine reports: Australian tennis champion Margaret Court has remained defiant in her opposition to marriage equality. The 24-time Grand Slam winner, who is now a pastor in Perth, told the Herald Sun that same-sex marriage was a “trend” and Australia “will pay” for its decision to legalise it in December. “I think there will be a price to …

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: You better Believe it – it’s looking like superstar singer and actress Cher will headline Sydney’s 40th gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in March. While it is understood a contract is yet to be signed, sources close to the event have told Fairfax Media the 71-year-old gay icon is almost locked in to perform at …

The Guardian reports: The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said people of faith might describe 2017 as “annus horribilis” because of euthanasia laws in Victoria, the exposure of child sexual abuse in the Catholic church, and the legalisation of same-sex marriage were failures that challenged “our Christian conceptions of life”. “Like any year, this one has had its challenges …

The Telegraph reports: Australia’s first gay weddings took place on Saturday, ushering in a new era after the country’s marriage equality law came into effect this month. The historic reforms were given royal assent on December 8, the final step in a process that began with a national postal vote in September. There was supposed to be a 30-day waiting …

The Associated Press reports: Australia’s prime minister rushed gay marriage into law on Friday by gaining a final signature on a bill hours after it was overwhelming endorsed by Parliament and as the nation started planning weddings that can take place in a month. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull traveled to Government House where Governor-General Peter Cosgrove signed the bill into …

The Daily Mail reports: A married Christian couple who pledged to divorce if same sex marriage was legalised will not go ahead with it because it would require them to separate from one another. Nick and Sarah Jensen, from Canberra, sparked controversy in 2015 when Mr Jensen announced they would end their decades-long legal union if same sex marriage was …

The Guardian reports: Australia’s parliament has legislated for marriage equality, passing a bill almost unanimously to allow two people, regardless of sex, to marry. On Thursday the House of Representatives passed a cross-party bill after an unprecedented national postal survey gave unstoppable momentum to legislate the historic social reform. Australia, which changed the law in 2004 to say that marriage …

The Daily Telegraph reports: Same-sex marriage faces its final test in Parliament this morning when politicians vote on final changes to the historic bill proposed by Tony Abbott. Labor predicts the bill can pass parliament as early as 2pm today — the final scheduled sitting day of the year — if no last-minute changes to the bill are made. But …

The Associated Press reports: Tim Wilson, a 37-year-old lawmaker in the conservative coalition government, was among the first lawmakers to join the House of Representatives debate and toward the end of his speech popped the question to his partner of seven years Ryan Bolger, who was watching from the public gallery. “In my first speech I defined our bond by …