CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- Australian Federal Police issued the following media release: A Victorian man was sentenced by the Melbourne County Court on 14 May, 2026, after pleading guilty to stealing mobile phone numbers from unsuspecting victims of identity theft. The Lynbrook man, 35, was sentenced to two years and two months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 12 months. He had previously pleaded guilty to: * Nine counts of cause unauthorised access, modification or impairment of d...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- Australian Federal Police issued the following media release: Editor's note: An image from the search warrant is available on Hightail. A Far North Queensland man is expected to appear in Innisfail Magistrates Court today (18 May, 2026) charged with 34 online child abuse offences. In 2024, the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) received information relating to an Australian resident allegedly in contact with a known online child abuse fac...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- Australian Federal Police issued the following media release: AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett Seventeen tonnes of illicit drugs, mostly cocaine, has been seized by local and international law enforcement in the Pacific since January. That equates to about three tonnes of illicit drugs seized every month since the start of this year. For the entire year in 2025, the total seizure of illicit drugs in the Pacific region was about 4.6 tonnes. The increase is partly becau...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript: Note Joint press conference with The Hon Clare O'Neil MP Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities Subjects: 2026 Budget, housing, trusts, polling, Foreign Investment Review Board Jim Chalmers: It's the week after Budget and we'll be in 4 cities in 4days, talking about a budget which is all about helping people through this global oil shock, at the same time as we take some difficult decisions to refo...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release: DAN TAYLOR, HOST:Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, welcome. How are you going? ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Wonderful to be back in Hobart again. TAYLOR: Oh, it's great to be here, too. And you're talking about Tasmania's newest suburb, which is very exciting. Tell us about this - community facilities, local shops, ferry terminals. Exciting. PRIME MINISTER: It is so exciting. Down a...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release: HOST: We are joined by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, who is in studio with us. Good morning to you, PM. ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Great to be here. HOST: There is some amazing, really great news that you're about to tell us about shortly. But before we hear about that, again, another two women killed in Tasmania over the weekend. And we have just spoken to Sh...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 18 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release: Two more brand-new apartment buildings including 100 homes ready to be lived in have now been completed at Prospect Corner in Adelaide, as a result of the Albanese Government's Housing Australia Future Fund program and the Malinauskas State Government. Today Prime Minister Albanese and Premier Malinauskas marked the milestone by visiting the site and meeting with local residents. Prospect Corner is an...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 17 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release: ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER:I'm absolutely delighted to be back in Tasmania, on the banks of the beautiful Derwent. And I'm here with the Premier of Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, about a project that we've discussed on my last visit to Tasmania with the State Minister, Kerry Vincent, and with a full crew of my team; Peter Khalil, the Assistant Minister for Defence, who has had responsibility for this ...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 17 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release: KATE THWAITES, MEMBER FOR JAGAJAGA: Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Thwaites, I'm the Member for Jagajaga. It's an absolute pleasure to be welcoming the Prime Minister, the Housing Minister, and my State colleague, Anthony Carbines, here today to Rosanna, where we are going to be putting 45 new homes just here. As you can see, they're just about ready to go. So, that will be people in our community get...
CANBERRA, ACT, May 17 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release: The Albanese Federal Government and Rockliff State Government will work together to redevelop and transform Tasmania's Dowsing Point to provide more housing, open space and community infrastructure. The 31-hectare site, which currently houses the Derwent Barracks, has been identified for divestment as part of the Australian Government's response to the independent Defence Estate Audit. The Albanese an...