By: Stuart Layt Virgin Australia’s chief executive has called for the country’s borders to be reopened before the stated goal of mid-2022, saying it made long-term sense, even if “some people may die”. Speaking at a business lunch in Brisbane on Monday, Jayne Hrdlicka said she did not agree with the current stated reopening date of “mid-2022” put forward by ...

By: Evin Priest      NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has threatened to sue a popular YouTube comedian over alleged defamatory comments.   YouTube comedian Friendlyjordies – whose real name is Jordan Shanks – posted videos last year that appeared to mock Mr Barilaro’s accent.   Shanks imitated Mr Barilaro in an exaggerated Italian accent, repeatedly using the word “bruz” ...

The death of an Indigenous woman in a crash involving a car being chased by Darwin police is being treated as a death in custody. Officers say the woman was a passenger in a Hyundai Hatchback which crashed into another car after allegedly running a red light at a northern Darwin intersection about 2.30am on Sunday. Emergency services tried to ...

By: Mark Reddie The NSW Premier says no student should be allowed to take a weapon to school, despite a law that allows them to do so, following a school stabbing in Sydney’s north west. A 14-year-old boy is facing serious charges after allegedly stabbing a 16-year-old boy with a “religious knife'” at Glenwood High School on May 6. Mobile phone ...

By: Steven Schubert Health Minister Greg Hunt has rejected concerns about the COVID-19 tests being used by Qantas in India to screen passengers trying to return to Australia. The ABC revealed a lab that tested passengers before the weekend’s flight had its accreditation suspended in April, sparking other Australians trying to get home from India to call on the company to reconsider ...

By: Jessica Yun Australia Post has appointed Woolworths’ chief supply chain officer Paul Graham as its next CEO, the postal service revealed today. Graham will replace Christine Holgate, who was controversially ousted from her position after it was revealed that the business spent thousands on Cartier watches for executive staff members. Holgate, who publicly said she had been “unlawfully” stood down, ...

By: Rachel Clun Australia will not buy the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to boost the nation’s immunisation arsenal because it is too similar to the AstraZeneca drug, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he hopes the majority of the population will be immunised by the end of the year. Health Minister Greg Hunt’s office confirmed on Monday the federal ...

By: Elizabeth Daoud NSW Police detectives investigating the alleged rape of a South Australian woman by former attorney-general Christian Porter in Sydney were blocked from travelling to Adelaide to interview her. Sex crimes investigators had requested approval for travel to Adelaide during COVID border closures in March 2020 so the woman could make a statement, a 69-page dossier released by ...

By: Summer Wooley New Zealand has recorded another case of COVID-19 linked to an outbreak at an Auckland hotel quarantine facility. The Ministry of Health confirmed the case is a worker at the Grand Millennium and had previously been identified as a close contact of the case reported on Thursday. The new case has been in self-isolation at home since being identified as ...

By: Richard Wood Brittany Higgins has spoken out following the sacking of an Adelaide radio broadcaster who labelled her a “silly little girl” and questioned her sexual assault allegations. FiveAA breakfast host David Penberthy today announced that 75-year-old Jeremy Cordeaux’s employment had been “terminated”. Ms Higgins alleges she was raped by a fellow staffer inside the office of Defence Minister ...