Australian News

In short:

Sydney will be missing from the national ice hockey league due to renovations at the rink shared by its two teams.

The 2025 AIHL season will be consolidated and players are expected to chase deals with other teams.

What's next?

The Sydney Ice Dogs and Sydney Bears are expected to be back in the league in 2026.

NSW’s public hospital bosses have been flooded with 150 resignation letters after half the staff specialists workforce followed through with their desperate attempt to save the state’s failing mental health system.

The move is an astonishing escalation in an industrial dispute between public psychiatrists and the Minns government after negotiations collapsed this week.

A total of 150 of the state’s 295 staff specialist psychiatrists had formally resigned by Thursday night.

archive.org.

Wot? Why?

In short:

• Federal government funding for the ABC will lift by more than $40 million a year from 2026-27.

• Funding for the ABC and SBS will be decided for five years at a time, rather than three, to help prevent 'political interference' within the broadcasters.

What's next?

• Laws to cement the new five-year funding deal still need to be drafted and consulted on, making it unlikely they could be acted on before the next federal election.

In short:

ASIC has lodged a claim against HSBC's Australian arm in the federal court.

The action relates to 950 reports alleging scammers netted $23 million over nearly five years.

What's next?

HSBC says it will "continue to make significant investments in our fraud and scam prevention, detection, and response, with specific efforts on preventing impersonation scams and 'spoofing' of phone numbers".

KEY POINTS

• Australia backs UN motion calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
• Israel, the US, and seven other countries voted against the resolution.
• Australia also backed a resolution defending the work of the UN relief agency UNRWA.

In short:

The death of 32-year-old Kate Sylvia after she was diagnosed with a migraine is being investigated at a coronial inquest.

Ms Sylvia sought treatment for slurred speech and head pain before a "hospital avoidance clinic" in Adelaide advised she should be sent home to sleep.

What's next?

The inquest is continuing.

What else will Dutton not stand in front of if he's elected? Can you beat the satirists to a great headline?

A senior Labor minister has taken issue with the Israeli prime minister linking a suspected arson attack on a synagogue to Australia's support of a UN resolution demanding Israel end its "unlawful presence" in the occupied Palestinian territories.

archive.org (de-paywalled).

In short:

Political and community leaders have condemned an early-morning arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, which forced worshippers to flee.

Police are searching for three people believed to be behind the attack.

What's next?

Arson chemists are investigating the cause of the blaze, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned as an anti-Semitic "act of hate".