The Reserve Bank of Australia maintained its official interest rate at 4.35% due to a slowing economy and rising unemployment. This decision offers little relief to mortgage holders facing increased costs from previous rate hikes. Higher fuel prices are contributing to inflation.
Queensland government invests $250 million to create the Queensland Protection Commission, a new agency to protect children from sexual abuse. This follows a review highlighting missed opportunities to stop notorious paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith.
Notorious paedophile and former magistrate Peter Liddy, 82, has been released from prison after serving a 25-year sentence for abusing four children. He is under strict home detention while the South Australian government seeks his indefinite detention.
Notorious paedophile and former magistrate Peter Liddy has been released after serving a 25-year prison sentence for abusing four children. He is under strict supervision, with the government seeking his indefinite detention.
Notorious paedophile Peter Liddy, jailed in 2001, is to be released on home detention in South Australia on June 4, sparking community concern and the circulation of warning flyers. Despite ongoing legal efforts to keep him incarcerated, the court ruled he should be released under strict conditions while awaiting further reports.
Bradley Pen Dragon, a 66-year-old convicted paedophile, has been released into the community in Perth under a strict supervision order after breaching conditions 11 times. The Child Protection Minister suggested further detention without new offenses could be unconstitutional.
A jury has been discharged due to legal reasons in the trial of two prisoners accused of murdering disgraced former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins. Rico Gedel and Samuel Dodsworth deny murder and possessing a makeshift knife. A retrial will be scheduled.
Notorious child abuser Peter Liddy, 83, will be released from jail on June 4 when his sentence expires, despite an ongoing application for his indefinite detention. The Supreme Court will hear further submissions later this year.
Peter Liddy, an 83-year-old convicted child abuser, will be released on strict home detention next month pending an application for his indefinite detention. The Supreme Court ruled against permanently shelving the proceedings but imposed strict conditions for his temporary release.
A lawyer for paedophile former magistrate Peter Liddy asks a court to permanently stay an application to keep his client behind bars, but a lawyer for the SA Attorney-General says Liddy continues to deny his crimes.
The paedophile singer was bullied for money shortly before his death at HMP Wakefield, court hears.
A Wollongong man drove to Lightning Ridge with his police officer friend to rob an elderly convicted paedophile of $100,000.
Three teenagers have been sentenced to a total of 19 years in custody for the manslaughter of 49-year-old electrician Alexander Cashford on a Kent beach in August 2025. The teens, who were on holiday, lured Cashford to Leysdown-on-Sea after he gave one of them his number at an arcade. They attacked him with rocks and a bottle, causing more than 30 external injuries. The 16-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy received seven years each, while the 15-year-old boy received five years.
MPs jeered as PM said it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassadorAt his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir’s attention.One senior source with knowledge of the process said: “The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away.”Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “would compromise him”.It’s impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren’t flashing.And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn’t have known.The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer told MPs he did not mislead the Commons over the Peter Mandelson vetting controversy, accepting that information should have been provided to Parliament but denying he lied. The Prime Minister survived a parliamentary session where Kemi Badenoch failed to table a no confidence motion. The controversy stems from Starmer's decision to appoint Mandelson despite concerns about his business record and friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, with claims that Olly Robbins used discretion to overrule the vetting recommendation. Critics argue the appointment was made because Mandelson was seen as a suitable interlocutor for Donald Trump.
A senior UK minister has criticised the Foreign Office for withholding information from senior ministers about a UKSV recommendation to deny Peter Mandelson development and clearance. The minister described it as beggaring belief that such information was not shared, stating it should have been available to Parliament and the British people.
PM tells MPs he was wrong to appoint Peter Mandelson ambassador to US in his update to parliament Judgment day for PM over Mandelson scandalAt his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir’s attention.One senior source with knowledge of the process said: “The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away.”Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “would compromise him”.It’s impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren’t flashing.And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn’t have known.The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be. Continue reading...
Downing Street has signalled that Keir Starmer accepts he inadvertently misled MPs by not telling them that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting interview for ambassador to the US. The PM's spokesperson said parliament should have been given the information about the security vetting that led to a recommendation that Mandelson should not be approved, but Starmer did not knowingly mislead parliament. Under the ministerial code, only knowingly misleading parliament is a resignation offence.
Downing Street has signalled that Keir Starmer accepts he inadvertently misled MPs by not telling them that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting interview for ambassador to the US. The PM's spokesperson said parliament should have been given this information, but Starmer did not knowingly mislead. Under the ministerial code, only knowingly misleading parliament is a resignation offence. Starmer will update parliament with the full facts. Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed Starmer 'lied' and said Labour MPs may oust him after May election.
