Police say 40-year-old was an itinerant who moved to NSW last month and had a history of mental illness
Queensland man Joel Cauchi has been named as the man who killed five women and one man at the Bondi Junction shopping centre during a horrific mass stabbing on Saturday.
The 40-year-old was shot dead by a police officer, Amy Scott, who responded to the attack at the busy shopping centre while on duty for an unrelated matter.
Continue reading...Ash Good, who died in shopping centre stabbing spree after handing over infant for treatment, hailed as an ‘incredible mother’
A woman who died after attempting to save her baby during the Sydney stabbing spree has been hailed as an “incredible mother”.
She has been widely named by Australian media as Ash Good, 38, and police said the nine-month-old baby had undergone surgery following the attack at a Sydney shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.
Continue reading...The byelection in the south Sydney seat was triggered when the former prime minister announced his resignation from politics in January
Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy has been elected successor to former prime minister Scott Morrison in the seat of Cook in Sydney’s south.
Saturday’s byelection was triggered after Morrison announced his resignation from politics in January.
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Attacker had ‘big blade’, witness tells 9 News
Jason, a shopper evacuated from the centre, told 9 News he saw the alleged attacker with a “nice big blade”.
Continue reading...Six people in Australia were stabbed to death in Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre before attacker was shot dead by police officer
Six people have been killed and numerous others injured, including some in critical condition, after a man went on a stabbing spree at Westfield shopping centre in the Sydney suburb of Bondi Junction.
The attacker was shot dead after being chased by a lone police officer who was on duty on an unrelated matter.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese has praised a lone police officer who pursued a man on a stabbing spree through a shopping mall, saying ‘there is no doubt that she saved lives through her action’
A New South Wales police inspector has been hailed as a hero after she shot dead a man who stabbed six people to death in a shopping centre in Bondi Junction.
The senior officer was conducting routine duties nearby when she was directed to head to Westfield shopping centre following reports a man was using a “massive” knife to stab shoppers.
Continue reading...Man found unresponsive shortly after being arrested over a ‘simple offence’ in the Moonah area
Tasmanian authorities have launched an investigation into a man’s death in police custody in Hobart on Saturday.
Police arrested the 29-year-old man from Glenorchy at about 1:55am, after several reports he was acting “in a suspicious and erratic” manner in the Moonah area.
Continue reading...Byelection in the south Sydney seat expected to be won by Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy as AEC warns voter turnout could be low
The Liberal party will be hoping to the exorcise the ghost of Scott Morrison on Saturday as voters in Sydney’s south go to the polls to elect his replacement.
The byelection in the seat of Cook, which comes after Morrison announced his resignation from politics in January, is almost certain to be won by the Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy.
Continue reading...Alliance says there’s not enough ambition in proposed laws to prevent extinctions, as promised by the environment minister
The Albanese government is backing away from a promise to substantially transform how nature is protected in Australia and is planning some changes that would make things worse, according to eight of the country’s top environment groups.
The conservation organisations said they were concerned the government planned to break up promised legislation for new environmental laws and defer some difficult reforms until after the next election, if it wins a second term.
Include a “call-in” power that allowed the minister to take over a decision from a proposed environment protection agency (EPA) “at any time and for any reason”.
Allow developers to make payments to a new “restoration contributions” fund to compensate for damage their projects caused to the environment. This would remove a requirement that environmental offsets provide a “like-for-like” replacement for ecosystems or species affected by a development.
Fail to give the new EPA the “teeth” it needed to be an independent and effective environmental regulator.
Continue reading...ABS data shows changes in grocery consumption, prompting concerns over eating habits and the nation’s health
Australians are buying less fruit and vegetables and consuming less milk, as relentless increases in grocery prices upend eating habits, raising concerns over the nation’s health.
Overall, shoppers are buying less of just about everything, with consumption falling from 15.1m tonnes to 14.8m tonnes in 2022-23, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Friday.
Continue reading...New South Wales police say a 16-year-old has been charged over death of 18-year-old and will appear in court on Saturday
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder after two stabbings, one of which resulted in the death of another teenager, near a school in western Sydney on Friday.
Emergency services responded to reports that two teenagers had been stabbed near a school on Power Street in Doonside at about 3.40pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Move is intended to prevent workers from leaving for other sectors, including aged care, where wages were recently increased
The Albanese government is in the final stages of signing off on a boost to childcare workers wages as a centrepiece of next month’s budget.
Guardian Australia understands the budget razor gang, the expenditure review committee, has considered a number of proposals on the sector-wide wage increase, which would see the government cover a significant pay rise for early childcare educators.
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Continue reading...About 50 calls to SES for assistance as ‘very localised’ storm reportedly dumped up to 130mm of rain in less than an hour
Parts of Perth broke a six-month-long dry spell on Friday with a fierce storm and flash flooding that left people stranded in submerged cars and caused part of a shopping centre roof to collapse.
A spokesperson for WA’s emergency services said SES volunteers had been going “flat out” to help fire crews with rescues. There had been about 50 calls for assistance over the course of the afternoon.
Continue reading...Commonwealth requests Fair Work Commission phase in full 23% increase over two years to prevent workforce shortages elsewhere
Aged care workers should wait until January 2026 for the full 23% pay rise ordered by the Fair Work Commission, according to the Albanese government.
The commonwealth has requested that the commission phase in the increase over two years, from January 2025 and 2026, to prevent “large one-off wage increases” that would add to workforce shortages elsewhere in the economy.
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The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has defended his comments comparing a pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, AAP reports.
Speaking on the Today show, Dutton stood by his remark and said the comparison was a commentary on the prime minister’s leadership:
The point I was making – which is absolutely a legitimate one – is that I thought this was a time for the prime minister to show leadership and to step up. Instead, we’ve had crickets.
You’ve got a contrast, I think, with John Howard, who stood up at a point of national importance for our country, demonstrated leadership and changed the course of history for the better.
That’s the parallel that I’m making – to the absolute absence of leadership from the prime minister at the moment, which has given rise to those in the Jewish community talking about feeling unsafe in our country.
I don’t resile from that at all.
Continue reading...The Australian billionaire’s criminal case against Meta in WA was discontinued on Friday by the commonwealth prosecutor
The Australian billionaire and philanthropist Andrew Forrest has accused Facebook’s parent company of “blatantly refusing” to take action against scam ads on its platform, as a criminal case he brought against Meta in WA was discontinued.
On Friday, the commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions filed a discontinuance motion in the criminal case brought by Forrest in the Western Australia district court over scam cryptocurrency ads bearing his likeness on Facebook.
Continue reading...Expert says immunity from vaccines and Omicron infections have combined to reduce severe disease
Australia has recorded its lowest Covid death rate for more than two years, according to federal health department data that dates back to January 2022.
The latest data on the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System shows that between Thursday 29 February and Saturday 2 March, and on 5 and 6 March, the seven-day rolling average for Covid deaths was zero. One death was recorded on 3 March. The average is used to indicate short-term trends and is calculated by dividing the number of deaths in the previous seven days by seven and rounding to the nearest whole number. Up to three deaths in seven days results in a rolling average of zero.
Continue reading...Australia is the only continent free from the highly contagious H5N1 virus, after it was detected in wild bird colonies in Antarctica in February
Back yard chicken owners in Australia have been urged to implement biosecurity measures to prevent contact with wild birds in the wake of a global avian influenza outbreak.
Australia remains the only continent without HPAI H5 (high pathogenicity avian influenza of subtype H5), after scavenging skua birds on mainland Antartica tested positive for bird flu in February. Symptoms for affected birds include diarrhoea, sneezing, a reduction in egg production and sudden death.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Opposition leader travelled at own expense to lavish party, but documents reveal two staff also made the trip to Perth
Peter Dutton’s office claimed nearly $6,000 in public expenses for staff and security to travel to Perth with the opposition leader when he attended Gina Rinehart’s lavish birthday party.
Dutton’s office has said he travelled at his own expense to the party for Australia’s richest woman, which included a horseriding performance, multiple large cakes and onstage pyrotechnics. But travel information obtained under freedom of information shows members of Dutton’s team – which his office said included a staffer and a security detail – claimed travel from Melbourne to Perth and back again on 29 February, the night of the party on the banks of the Swan River.
Continue reading...Group tells attorney general’s department that not all doxing is harmful and therefore bad or undesirable
Anti-fascist research group the White Rose Society has warned the Australian government that its push for new anti-doxing laws are a “quick fix” for complex problems that could be weaponised against reporting and have negative consequences for society.
In March the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announced consultation for new laws that would include a right to sue for serious invasion of privacy and a criminal offence of doxing.
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