Pop duo The Veronicas say they will pursue legal action against airline Qantas after they were ordered off an Australian domestic flight. The airline said it had removed the pair before take-off on Sunday after they did not follow crew instructions. The Australian singers – sisters Lisa and Jessica Origliasso – have denied doing anything […]

Taylor Swift has cancelled her performance at the Melbourne Cup horse racing event in Australia. The Cup announced Swift as its headline act earlier this month, but cancelled on Saturday, citing scheduling issues. The singer had been criticised by animal rights groups, who accused her of “endorsing animal abuse”. Six horses have died at the […]

Tens of thousands of protesters have joined rallies across Australia on a day of worldwide demonstrations calling for action to tackle climate change. Some of the first rallies in what is being billed as a “global climate strike” began in Sydney and Canberra, with demonstrators calling on leaders in Australia, the world’s largest exporter of […]

Two men linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been convicted in Australia of plotting to blow up a flight using a concealed bomb. Mahmoud Khayat, 34, aimed to bring down the Sydney to Abu Dhabi flight in July 2017, a jury found on Thursday. His brother, Khaled Khayat, 51, was found guilty of […]

An Australian hiker has said he had to crawl for two days through scrubland before he was rescued after falling six metres (20 feet) down a waterfall, breaking his leg and wrist. Neil Parker, 54, said he was walking alone on Mount Nebo, 32 km west of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, when he […]

Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been formally arrested on espionage charges in China after months of detention, Australia has confirmed. The Australian citizen has been held in Beijing since January under “harsh conditions”, said the foreign ministry. Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia was “very concerned and disappointed” to learn of the arrest. “We have […]

Cardinal George Pell has launched a final bid to overturn his convictions in Australia for child sexual abuse. Pell was jailed for six years in March after being convicted of abusing two boys in Melbourne in the 1990s. The former Vatican treasurer is the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of such crimes, but […]

They were sex abuse allegations that rocked the Catholic Church and generated enormous interest – only for the case to vanish suddenly from public view for nine months. The trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell can now be reported after an Australian judge lifted a legal order that had prohibited coverage. The sweeping ban, […]

Reporting on a secret trial can be confronting and confusing. For several months, journalists like me have been going back and forth to Melbourne’s County Court, unable to broadcast what we’d learnt about George Pell’s crimes. Now the suppression order on the case has been lifted, those details can finally be made public. Outside court, […]

As Australia increasingly debates China’s influence on its society, a new MP is facing damaging questions over her past links to Beijing-associated groups. Others, however, dismiss the controversy as “xenophobic paranoia”. The BBC’s Phil Mercer reports from Sydney. Gladys Liu would have known her new job in Canberra would at times be brutal and expose […]