Ben Smee

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Ben Smee

The Coalition MP Colin Boyce says he believes the way to turn voters against renewable energy is to “let Rome burn for a while” and allow power blackouts to occur in major cities. Guardian Australia reported on Wednesday that Boyce had described blackouts as a “big political opportunity” at a meeting of climate science deniers in late 2023.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Ben Smee

Coalition MP Colin Boyce told a group of climate science deniers that blackouts were “a big political opportunity” and that he had urged fellow MPs to adopt a “do nothing strategy” that would allow power outages and build opposition to net-zero policies. A video of Boyce, posted on YouTube, speaking to the Climate and Energy Realists Queensland group, includes comments by the Flynn MP that net-zero climate policies “need a rethink”.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Ben Smee

A serving Queensland police officer who engaged in “a pattern of predatory sexual conduct” against three junior female colleagues has won a permanent order protecting his identity. The officer, anonymised in court documents as PSB, remains employed by the Queensland Police Service in a supervisory role despite a 2022 tribunal appeal decision that imposed a “suspended dismissal” for sexualised conduct towards junior female colleagues.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Ben Smee

Labor and the Coalition announced major housing policies on Sunday, each pitched at first home buyers and designed to get more young people into home ownership. Home ownership rates have dropped consistently over the past three decades, particularly among young people. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says median house prices have “increased substantially” and have more than doubled in some places during the past 10 years.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Ben Smee

The future of a child whose birth mother was mistakenly given a stranger’s embryo is a legal and ethical “nightmare” without precedent in Australian law, experts say. Monash IVF, which operates across Australia, has apologised after a patient at one of its Brisbane clinics had an embryo incorrectly transferred to her, meaning she unwittingly gave birth to another woman’s child. Monash said the situation was the result of “human error” and that it was confident it was an isolated incident.