Recently an Australian parliamentary inquiry from the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters published its report, titled “From Classroom to Community.” The purpose of the inquiry was to determine how civics education can be improved in Australian schools to ensure that each individual is provided with the necessary skills toContinue Reading
SYDNEY: Australia voiced unease on Tuesday (Mar 18) over anonymous letters reportedly offering hefty rewards for information on a Hong Kong activist now living in Melbourne. Australian citizen Kevin Yam, a lawyer and longtime Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, was targeted in letters that carried his photo and alleged national security offences.Continue Reading
False online claims about business and the economy top the list of misinformation concerns for Australians and research indicates they are screaming out for help on how to deal with it. In some ways, it’s not surprising misinformation on the economy rates so highly during a cost-of-living crisis and withContinue Reading
MASS POWER CUTS Utility companies said more than 210,000 homes and businesses were still blacked out in Queensland, and another 10,000 in New South Wales. In New South Wales, Essential Energy said repairs were underway across the storm-hit region, with “significant vegetation work to remove trees from power lines, re-standingContinue Reading
PERILOUS WEATHER In a separate incident Saturday, police said 13 troops were injured and taken to hospital when two army trucks rolled over during a deployment to clear roads near the flood-prone New South Wales city of Lismore. Twelve soldiers were still in hospital Sunday, two of them in aContinue Reading
LABRADOR, Australia: Ex-Cyclone Alfred stalled off the rain-and wind-lashed coast of eastern Australia on Saturday (Mar 8), threatening to unleash floods after blacking out more than a quarter of a million homes and businesses. The former tropical cyclone – now downgraded to a tropical depression – has battered the coastline withContinue Reading
Australia’s alliance with the United States, as former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is now Canberra’s ambassador in Washington, once remarked, is the “bedrock” of the country’s foreign and defense policy. Since the end of World War II, Australia’s security and prosperity have been predicated not only on the primacyContinue Reading
SYDNEY: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ruled out calling a national election for April on Sunday (Mar 9) or Monday, as had been expected, so his government could focus on approaching cyclones in Queensland. A national election must be held by mid-May, which was expected for April, so the governmentContinue Reading
Online influencers might not change the way Australians vote in the looming federal election but they’ll almost certainly shape how and why political events become “news.” In a nation where up to 40 percent of users on popular platforms like YouTube and TikTok get their news from influencers, they’re likelyContinue Reading
I am a product of ancestors who thought beyond themselves. They dreamed of the places we would journey to and thrive. My family spread out from Tonga to various parts of the world, and my parents brought us here, to Australia. Here, we have had opportunities to grow, to learnContinue Reading
