One Nation’s Warren Pickering admits to illegal drug use and says he is ‘no angel’ in extraordinary press conference

Victorian One Nation leader says his actions ‘hurt people I loved, and I will live with that forever’

The Victorian One Nation leader, Warren Pickering, has admitted he “made mistakes” in his 20s, including using ecstasy, methamphetamines and marijuana, losing his licence multiple times for drink driving and hurting people he loved.

But he has denied claims by his ex-partner, published by The Australian, that he smoked ice – also known as crystal meth – in front of children and said he was considering legal action against the publication at a press conference on Tuesday. Guardian Australia and the ABC were barred from attending the press conference.

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NSW Greens MP pleads with federal colleagues not to back National party motion to block koala park deal

Federal Greens partyroom split over plan for NSW to get millions of dollars’ worth in carbon credits for creating a koala national park

A New South Wales Greens MP has pleaded with her federal colleagues not to vote with the Coalition and One Nation to block a plan for the NSW government to get millions of dollars’ worth in carbon credits for creating a koala national park.

Sue Higginson, a former lawyer and forest campaigner turned NSW upper house MP, is the first member of the minor party to speak in detail about a dispute that has split the Greens and environmentalists.

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Radiohead announce 2027 tour with shows in Australia and Japan

UK band will play 16 shows across Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as five shows in Saitama

Radiohead will return to Australia to play 16 shows across three cities next year, marking the band’s first tour of the country in 15 years.

On Monday afternoon, the British rock band unveiled the itinerary for its May 2027 tour, which also includes five shows in Japan.

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Liberal operatives discussed whether to buy Porsche or Ferrari with developer’s payments, Icac hears

Rightwing NSW powerbrokers are alleged to have received illegal political donations from fugitive developer

Two Liberal operatives traded photos and messages about whether to buy a Porsche or a Ferrari with payments they received for Toplace projects they got approved via a New South Wales government fast-track development process.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday heard more evidence from lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood, a principal of Beckington Consulting, who is alleged to have shared in $2m in payments from the fugitive developer Jean Nassif, owner of the now collapsed Toplace.

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News live: parents of Australian surfers killed in Mexico fly in for trial; Labor pressured to toughen lobbying rules

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Anniversary of death of last known Tasmanian tiger

It’s National Threatened Species Day today. Many papers have run full-page ads from a range of conservation organisations noting that it is the anniversary of the death of the last Tasmanian tiger – the last known one, that is.

We remain committed to long-term environmental recovery, in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups, wildlife experts and local communities.

We are making good progress towards our target of protecting 30% of Australia’s land, to preserve vital habitat for our precious species.

It’s not clear if there’s a human who can actually apply a common-sense overlay to these decisions. And it’s not clear how you can review these if they’re made by a computer.

So the bill that I’m introducing today would actually create a mandatory framework that applies whenever government is using an automated system to make a decision that affects people’s significant rights and would require those three things to be addressed: transparency, human oversight, and review.

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Greens criticise Labor after former IDF officer’s ‘reprehensible’ comments on Zomi Frankcom strike

Greens defence spokesman says ‘words are just distractions’ until government takes action

The Greens have criticised inflammatory statements from the former Israel Defense Forces officer who ordered the attack which killed Zomi Frankcom, accusing the Albanese government of weakness over its failure to halt military exports and impose new sanctions.

Australian aid worker Frankcom and six of her colleagues were killed in 2024 while bringing food to the people of Gaza. Former IDF reserve colonel Nochi Mendel has said he would do “exactly the same thing” again and that those killed in the World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian convoy in Gaza were “not innocent”.

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‘The engine’s on fire’: Qantas flight from Queenstown to Sydney reroutes after flames seen by passengers

Passenger recalls seeing cabin lights flicker and ‘a lot of screaming’ after suspected engine issue

Liza-Jayne Loch was returning home from a business trip to New Zealand when her Qantas flight ran into trouble.

The plane was climbing above the scenic South Island’s mountain ranges on Saturday afternoon, bound for Sydney, when a bang shook the cabin.

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Up to 6,000 tradies to get free qualifications under Labor scheme – as it happened

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Duniam targets ‘frivolous’ asylum seeker claims

The opposition is “very close” to “having a full migration package”, Duniam says. He says they’re willing to work with the government and that illegal overstayers must be deported.

We spend more per student per year than we ever have before and we’ve got declining standards across the board, and the problem with the curriculum is we have left foundations behind.

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Manhunt after alleged axe attack in Victoria leaves three people with serious injuries

Police search for alleged attacker, in his 50s, after incident in Gippsland town of Tyers

Three people have been taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after an alleged axe attack in Victoria, with police still searching for the suspect.

The alleged attacker, who is known to the victims, came to an address in the Gippsland town of Tyers at about 12.30pm on Saturday, according to a spokesperson for Victoria police.

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Sydney reaches 33C in potentially warmest start to spring since mid-1800s, while snow forecast in southern NSW

A total fire ban is in place for greater Sydney with extreme fire danger exacerbated by hot and windy conditions

Summer heat is due to arrive early across much of eastern Australia with potentially record early September temperatures predicted for Brisbane and Sydney, while snow was expected in southern New South Wales.

Maximum temperatures in Sydney during the first days of September were on track to match the city’s midsummer average of 26.4C, warmer than any other start to spring since the city’s Observatory Hill station opened in 1858.

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Australian ski resorts to close up to a month early due to global heating and El Niño

‘Challenging’ weather conditions and lack of snowfall are being blamed after a winter that broke multiple heat records

Major Australian alpine resorts are closing their ski operations up to a month early after a winter that broke multiple records for heat with limited snow falls being washed away by rain.

Predictions in June that a building El Niño could combine with global heating for a challenging ski season came to pass, with seven resorts either already closed or announcing ski lifts will stop operating this weekend.

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EV sales outpace petrol cars for first time as Australians dodge soaring fuel costs

New record for Australia as more than 27,000 EVs sold in August, driven by the rising cost of fuel and new government policy

Electric vehicle sales in Australia exceeded petrol cars for the first time last month as a transformation driven by high fuel prices and government policy encouraging clean car uptake accelerated.

More than 27,000 EVs were sold in August, a new record for a single month and representing 24.9% of new cars sold. The climate-friendly technology surpassed both petrol vehicles (nearly 26,000 sold) and diesel cars (23,600).

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Molly Ticehurst’s killer called woman he’d met on Tinder after stabbing and said ‘I’m sorry I murdered her’, court hears

Daniel Billings said ‘I did what I did’ in call from friend’s house after 2024 domestic violence murder

Two hours after Daniel Billings murdered his ex-girlfriend Molly Ticehurst in a frenzied stabbing, he spoke to a woman he had met on Tinder.

“I’m sorry I murdered her,” Billings told the woman during a phone call at 2.02am on 22 April 2024.

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BoM forecasts strongest El Niño on record as research points to ‘alarming’ climate change influence

Bureau of Meteorology suggests El Niño has already broken records, with Pacific ocean temperature change exceeding 2C in six months

The growing El Niño weather phenomenon to Australia’s east is already breaking heat records, with forecasts showing it will likely easily surpass previous events, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, as seperate research suggested climate change had greatly shortened the odds of the event hitting record extremes.

On Thursday the UN’s weather agency said the event in the Pacific was continuing to strengthen and would probably persist until early 2027, warning it had the “potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world”.

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Australian science prize awarded to researcher studying memory accuracy of domestic violence survivors

Helen Paterson’s work on advancing how police and courts understand memory is recognised in prestigious Eureka prizes

Memory is an imperfect thing: research shows that recollections of single events – a purse being snatched, say – differ to those about repeated or ongoing events, such as incidents of domestic and family violence.

“What our research shows is that compared to a single-event witness, a repeated-event witness tends to report more gist-like details, the overall details of what typically would happen, and the things that remain constant between the episodes,” said Helen Paterson, an associate professor in forensic psychology at the University of Sydney.

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Off-grid UK-Australian couple describe ‘anguish’ at removal of children by Italian court

After judge allows partial access rights, Catherine Birmingham and Nathan Trevallion say the enforced separation ‘broke each of our hearts’

A couple have told of their heartache, trauma and stress after fighting for two years for their right to parent their children as they choose in the glare of the world’s attention.

The three children of a Melbourne woman, Catherine Birmingham, and her British partner, Nathan Trevallion, were removed from their “dilapidated” off-grid home in Italy last year.

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Australia’s new environmental protection agency approves coal project, angering climate groups

A Queensland open-cut mine will be able to keep digging until 2055 as Anthony Albanese denies tensions with Pacific leaders over fossil fuels

Australia’s new national agency for environmental protection has approved its first coal project, allowing a Queensland open-cut mine to keep digging until 2055 while clearing threatened woodland and koala habitat.

The confirmation of the extension of the Saraji mine, which digs and exports coal for steel making, comes after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, denied this week there was tension over Australia’s fossil fuel exports during talks with Pacific leaders.

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Molly Ticehurst’s father tells DV murderer he hopes daughter’s screams will haunt him forever

Tony Ticehurst confronts Daniel Billings during sentence hearing in regional NSW, stating: ‘When she died, part of me died with her’

The family of Molly Ticehurst, who was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend Daniel Billings in her home in central western New South Wales in 2024, has come face-to-face with her killer.

Tony Ticehurst on Thursday described his 28-year-old daughter as big-hearted and deeply loved. She was his best friend and confidant, he told the supreme court in Orange.

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Boy charged after teenager’s hand nearly cut off in Sydney

NSW police called to Redfern on Wednesday night found a 17-year-old with a partially severed hand

A teenage boy will face court today after a “near-complete amputation” of a boy’s hand during an alleged assault in Sydney on Wednesday night.

New South Wales police were called to Redfern about 6pm last night and found a 17-year-old with a partially severed hand.

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‘I didn’t go looking for trouble’: Protester sues NSW after allegedly being punched by police at Herzog rally

Exclusive: Eyad Shadid launches civil case in district court after charges against him dropped, alleging he was ‘battered’ near Sydney’s town hall in February

A Palestinian Australian man who alleges he was punched in the face when trying to stop police from harassing Muslim men praying during an anti–Isaac Herzog protest is suing New South Wales over “a series of false accusations”.

Eyad Shadid has launched a civil case in the NSW district court, alleging he was assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned by police near Sydney’s town hall.

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