AFP unable to rule out whether users are visiting modern opium dens to buy and consume the drug
One of Australia’s emerging niche drugs in 2023 happens to be one of the country’s oldest.
About 180 years after opium was first imported into the country, the Australian federal police seized more than double the amount of the drug this year than in 2022. It is also almost six times the amount seized in 2021.
Continue reading...Royal Life Saving Society chief says Australians may not be ‘as strong swimmers as we believe’ as December toll hits 22
Another person has drowned in New South Wales, adding to the rising drowning death toll that has prompted a warning from lifesavers at what is considered the deadliest time of year.
Four people were pulled from the water at Port Stephens on Wednesday afternoon, including a 33-year-old man who could not be revived and died at the scene.
Continue reading...The Australian cook and writer, who taught himself to cook, died peacefully at hospital in London on Christmas Day
Chefs and writers have taken to social media to remember Bill Granger as a “culinary legend” and “brilliant” person who exported Australian food culture to the world.
The Australian cook and restaurateur died at a hospital in London on Christmas Day, the family of the food writer confirmed on Instagram. He was 54.
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Cricket begins
Day two of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan has just started in Melbourne. You can follow the latest on our separate live blog here:
Continue reading...Two campers in Victoria and three friends on a fishing trip in Queensland among 10 lives lost as storms ravaged eastern Australia
The body of a man has been discovered in flood-affected regional Victoria, taking the death toll from storms that wreaked havoc on eastern Australia over the Christmas period to 10.
Victoria police received information on Wednesday that it was believed a man was camping with a woman who was located deceased following flash flooding in Buchan in East Gippsland on 26 December.
Continue reading...About 39kg of the drug was found by a fisherman on Tuesday, before a similar amount was discovered in Newcastle
A fisherman on Sydney’s northern beaches is one of several members of the public to discover packages containing 124kg of cocaine that have washed up on the New South Wales coast, sparking a police investigation.
NSW police on Wednesday confirmed its state crime command were investigating after the packages were discovered on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle from Friday. The initial barnacle-encrusted discoveries sparked a warning against removing or opening any more that were discovered.
Continue reading...Globally successful restaurateur and food writer known as the ‘godfather of avocado toast’ dies peacefully in London
The Australian cook and restaurateur Bill Granger has died in London aged 54.
Fellow cooks, celebrities and lovers of his restaurants paid tribute after the family of the food writer confirmed on Instagram he had died peacefully in hospital on Christmas Day.
Continue reading...Nine-year-old girl and three men confirmed dead after boat capsized in south-east Queensland among death toll
The death toll from Australia’s Christmas storms has risen to nine, as the Gold Coast mayor warns his city is “not out of the woods”.
The people confirmed dead include a nine-year-old girl whose body was found after she was feared lost in stormwater drains in Brisbane.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia suggest job provider APM referred woman for role she had already won; APM deny wrongdoing
One of the country’s biggest job providers has been accused of claiming it referred a jobseeker into work she got herself, which could trigger publicly funded incentive payments.
In July, a New South Wales woman, who asked for her name not to be used, found herself a job as a youth worker just as she was accessing jobseeker and matched with employment service provider, APM.
Continue reading...Emergency services called to Penrith Beach on Boxing Day after a man was seen going underwater and not resurfacing
A man’s body has been found after a search at a newly opened beach in Sydney’s west.
Emergency services were called to Penrith Beach just after 2.30pm on Boxing Day after a man was seen going underwater and not resurfacing.
Continue reading...Two women reported missing in flood waters in Gympie as Bureau of Meteorology warns of further thunderstorms on Boxing Day night
Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to continue to batter the east coast until at least Wednesday evening, as thousands of households remained without power on Boxing Day.
Severe weather warnings have been issued for large parts of the New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland coasts, covering metropolitan areas as well as some regional areas.
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What’s causing the storms?
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines from the Bureau of Meteorology just spoke to ABC News about the severe thunderstorms hitting the east coast.
[It is] primarily driven by some warm humid air in the low levels of the atmosphere, which is partly contributed to by a ton of warm ocean temperatures off the east coast of Australia providing a lot of that warmth and humidity into the atmosphere.
We also have a big low pressure system higher up which just provides that extra energy and support which allows these thunderstorms do develop and grow, and as you say, they have been causing extensive disruptive weather over the last few days.
Continue reading...The 78th edition of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race has begun under dark skies that threatened to be much worse as the scheduled start time approached.
Thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds blanketed Sydney Harbour an hour before the 1pm AEDT start but cleared as the 103-vessel fleet jostled for position.
Continue reading...Australian Retail Association predicts $23.9bn in spending for sales period ending on 15 January
Retailers are expecting Boxing Day shoppers to spend $1.25bn on Tuesday as the sector hopes for relief from a drop in discretionary spending.
Retail sales have been sluggish throughout 2023 as cost-of-living pressures bite.
Continue reading...Boxing Day weather also predicted to be volatile across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with more thunderstorms and rain forecast
A woman has died and more than 100,000 homes been left without power as a result of severe thunderstorms in south-east Queensland on Christmas night, with warnings of more bad weather to come on Boxing Day across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
Intense storms affected all three eastern states on Monday, with more than 1,200 calls for help to state emergency services and Sydney airport recording its wettest Christmas Day on record.
Continue reading...Workers claim they have been forced to clean up human faeces, had payments cut off after a death in the family and have had to cancel work to attend provider appointments
Jobseekers say their employment providers have put them in positions where they have been given just one shift a fortnight, had to clean up large amounts of human faeces, and have been cut off payments after a close family member died.
In one case, Rebecca, who did not want her last name used, said her disability provider, Multiple Solutions, had registered her as a sole contractor and placed her into a role cleaning an aged care home in Gawler, South Australia, without telling her she was technically self-employed.
Continue reading...Canberra Raiders recruit dies aged 26 while holidaying with his family at Christmas
The NRL player Troy Dargan has died in a motorcycle accident while holidaying in the Cook Islands.
Dargan played two NRL games, both for South Sydney in 2020, and had joined Canberra on a two-year contract for the upcoming season.
Continue reading...The Bureau of Meteorology warns of more thunderstorms and heavy rain for large parts of Australia’s east coast
Queenslanders and parts of New South Wales have been told to hunker down amid Christmas Day warnings for large hailstones, heavy rain and possible flash flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued thunderstorm warnings on Monday afternoon for parts of Queensland’s southern interior and the north of the state,
Continue reading...Two other protesters were denied entry at the gates to the concert at Sidney Myer Musical Bowl
Thousands of people joined in to sing along at Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne on Sunday, with the festivities momentarily interrupted by two Pro-Palestine protesters who stormed the stage as children were performing.
The protesters were tackled and quickly removed, with host David Campbell appealing for calm and assuring people the children were safe.
Continue reading...The 14-year-old was being towed behind a boat on a tube when he fell off and disappeared from view on Sunday
A search and rescue effort has ended in tragedy after the body of a 14-year-old boy was pulled from a river on Queensland’s Fraser Coast.
The boy was being towed behind a boat on a tube when he fell off and disappeared from view just after 10am on Sunday.
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