Australia

Australia: Victoria Government Locks Out Melbourne Bar Patrons after 2 a.m.

Date: July 2nd, 2008 |

Street violence outside Melbourne bars among drunken revelers and thugs got so bad that the Victoria state government imposed a three-month trial for 2 a.m. lockouts on June 3, “lockouts” meaning that patrons cannot enter or reenter a bar after 2 a.m. In 2003, a similar program imposed in Ballarat, about 70 miles northwest of [read more]

Australia: Sydney Train System Crime Cleanup

Date: May 21st, 2008 |

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In a campaign to clean up crime on and around Sydney’s train system, authorities launched a crackdown involving 1600 rail and police officers who over three months seized 63 weapons and arrested 566 people for assault, theft and robbery. The campaign was prompted by figures that showed crime increasing 12 percent in 2007 to an [read more]

Australia: Crocodile Awareness Needed in the Northern Territory

Date: April 17th, 2008 |

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Three near-misses with crocodiles in as many weeks in the “Top End” of the Northern Territory prompted a crocodile conservationist to call for a territory-wide public awareness campaign about the ancient beasts for locals and tourists alike. Crocodiles are a big tourist draw in Darwin and surrounding areas but they are also very dangerous. Their [read more]

Australia: Fires on Kangaroo Island; Daintree Rainforest May Be Restricted

Date: December 13th, 2007 |

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Fires on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island burned for more than a week scorching 115 square miles of scrub and wilderness, with one fire in the Flinders Chase National Park still burning out of control Dec. 12. Tourism operators urged visitors not to cancel their trips to the popular island following moves to reopen tourist areas [read more]

Australia: Alcohol Ban on Aboriginal-Owned Land Lifted for Visitors on Organized Tours

Date: September 12th, 2007 |

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Travelers on organized tours will be spared a ban on alcohol on Aboriginal-owned land. The strict ban was scheduled to go into effect Sept. 14, and after protests from the tourism industry, the government decided to soften the law so tourists visiting places like Uluru (Ayers Rock) can still sip an alcoholic beverage while enjoying [read more]

Australia: Spider Bite Could Cost Englishman a Kidney

Date: June 25th, 2008 |

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From snakes to crocodiles to sharks to jellyfish, Australia’s reputation for creatures that can sicken or kill is well known, but the effects of a recent spider bite on an Englishman emphasizes the importance of seeking immediate treatment if you do not know what bit you. Last month a Londoner on vacation in the Northern [read more]

Australia: Rocks Returned to Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Date: May 14th, 2008 |

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At least one package a day containing rocks taken from Uluru, or Ayers Rock, arrives by post at the landmark’s national park headquarters, in many cases because people feel they’d been cursed by the rocks in their possession. For years the Aboriginal people of the area have asked tourists to respect the site’s sacredness by [read more]

Australia: Engineers’ Strikes Could Shut Down Qantas

Date: January 2nd, 2008 |

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Some 1700 engineers for Qantas airlines are threatening to strike January 9 in what would be the biggest disruption to Qantas operations since a pilots’ strike in 1989. All Qantas aircraft must be cleared for flight by a licensed engineer, so any strike would cause significant service disruption and possibly could ground the entire fleet. [read more]

Australia: Fake Police Pilfer Tourists’ Bank Accounts

Date: September 26th, 2007 |

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Men posing as police in the Sydney district of The Rocks swindled tourists out of thousands of dollars by persuading them to hand over their passports and credit cards for scanning. The victims keyed in their PINs when instructed and later discovered that money had been withdrawn from their bank accounts. Police advise all visitors [read more]

Australia: Alcohol Ban to Affect Tourists at Uluru

Date: August 29th, 2007 |

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A ban on alcohol on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory will affect travelers visiting such iconic sites as Uluru (Ayers Rock) when it goes into effect Sept. 14. The ban being imposed by the federal government is an effort to reduce alcohol-related child abuse in Aboriginal communities. Thousands of visitors gather each day to [read more]