Kristo Langker was arrested at his home in June last year after an investigation into alleged stalking
Police have dropped all charges against Friendlyjordies producer Kristo Langker after accusing him of stalking former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro.
Langker, 22, was arrested at his home in June last year after an investigation into alleged stalking by NSW police’s fixated persons investigation unit.
Continue reading...A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the case of the Northern Territory constable charged with the murder of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker
The judge presiding over the murder trial of Northern Territory constable Zachary Rolfe has urged the jury to ignore emotion or sympathy that may have arisen during confronting evidence in the case when they consider their verdict.
Judge John Burns gave the jury his directions in the supreme court on Thursday. The jurors have now retired to consider their verdict after an almost five-week trial.
Continue reading...Environment groups say visiting scientists must be given true picture of the reef, ahead of world heritage committee meeting in June
A United Nations monitoring trip to the Great Barrier Reef will land in Queensland later this month just as forecasts suggest the risk of widespread coral bleaching will be at its highest.
Unesco has confirmed two scientists will carry out the mission, requested by the Morrison government, lasting for 10 days from 21 March.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison continues to defend flood response as Queensland premier says offer to declare a national emergency in the state’s south-east is ‘too late’
Scott Morrison is “looking at” extending eligibility for extra payments to more flood victims on the New South Wales north coast, in response to anger over the decision to leave some of the hardest-hit disaster areas out.
The prime minister made the comments in Brisbane where he was planning to declare an emergency two weeks after major floods that killed 13 people and damaged thousand of homes and businesses in the south-east.
Continue reading...Lismore residents protest Scott Morrison’s visit as PM says disasters mean Australia ‘getting hard to live in’; NSW flood death toll rises to nine after man’s body found in western Sydney; second Japanese encephalitis death recorded as outbreak spreads to South Australia; Indigenous teenager shot by NT police fighting for life; at least 34 Covid-related deaths nationwide. This blog is now closed
The latest figures from WaterNSW will give some comfort to those in the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain, where flood levels are approaching 1978 heights in places.
As of 5am Wednesday, the spill rate over the Warragamba Dam wall is 215 gigalitres a day, or about half the peak rate reached yesterday.
The good news is that we have seen the river is falling there. The plan today is that the team will be reviewing what’s happening.
They’re making sure it’s safe to return, and we are hoping during the day we might be able to issue that people can return, with caution … We just need to make sure – we need to check things like electricity, sewerage and the like to make sure it’s safe to return.
Continue reading...Nineteen-year-old fighting for his life in Darwin hospital after incident at Palmerston on Tuesday morning
An Indigenous teenager is fighting for his life in a Darwin hospital after allegedly being shot at by a police officer six times during an incident in the Northern Territory city of Palmerston.
Two officers attended a park in the suburb of Gray about 9am on Tuesday morning where they found the man allegedly armed with a spear, NT police said.
Continue reading...Prime minister visits Lismore as government declared national emergency to release more resources to help
Scott Morrison was met with a fiery reception in flood-devastated Lismore, as he defended the speed of his government’s response to the disaster, saying the ADF is “not available on a moment’s notice”.
Ahead of Morrison’s arrival in Lismore, the federal government declared a national emergency around the floods, giving the Commonwealth greater power to send in defence force assets and skirt around administrative “red tape” to get financial support out quicker.
Continue reading...Pandemic and other disaster recovery efforts will further power state debt, says rating agency
Australia’s states and the ACT have almost doubled their borrowings in the past three years, placing them on track to hit the half-trillion dollar debt mark by mid-year, according to rating agency S&P Global.
The borrowing binge comes as the Morrison government projects almost $1tn in net debt by the 2024-25 fiscal year, with commonwealth outlays on the economy and health during the Covid pandemic amounting to more than 14% of gross domestic product.
Continue reading...Latest proposal on process to decide candidates ahead of May federal election scuttled by four votes against
The NSW Liberal party has again failed to resolve its preselection woes, virtually guaranteeing that the federal party will need to step in to finalise candidates for the looming election in May.
A proposal to hold branch votes in the electorates of Hughes, Parramatta and Eden-Monaro, where more than one person is running, and to endorse candidates in two other seats, largely failed, after the state executive rejected rule changes to fast track the process.
Continue reading...Mark McGowan also thanked media mogul Kerry Stokes for ‘marvellous front pages’ attacking Palmer in 2020, court hears in defamation case
The Western Australia premier, Mark McGowan, privately described mining billionaire Clive Palmer as “the worst Australian who’s not in jail” in text messages revealed in court during their defamation trial.
The premier was grilled on Wednesday about his personal communications regarding Palmer while being cross-examined in the federal court in Sydney.
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Continue reading...Loss of coastal seagrass meadows due to sediment-laden flood water likely to cause mass starvation in aquatic wildlife
Hundreds of dugongs and thousands of turtles will likely starve to death in coming months after flood waters smothered Queensland’s seagrass meadows with sediment.
Col Limpus, the chief scientist for wildlife and threatened species in Queensland’s environmental department, is so familiar with the pattern of death that follows big floods he can provide a timeline of what is in store.
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Continue reading...Streets become rivers amid shocking deluge as Manly Dam spills and Roseville bridge flooded, with evacuation orders covering more than a dozen suburbs
Tens of thousands of Sydney residents have been forced from their homes as floods unleashed carnage across Australia’s largest city and claimed the lives of a mother and son.
Australia’s death toll from the east coast floods rose to 21 on Tuesday as a massive stretch of the New South Wales coast endured dangerous winds and heavy rains, causing landslides and wild surf conditions as the second east coast low in a week moved in.
Continue reading...Australia’s welfare system is deeply imbued with misogyny and far too often traps women in unsafe situations
International Women’s Day is upon us, and along with it the endless gabfests about women’s equality, mostly led and attended by women in suits.
Increasingly we’re seeing women’s safety feature in the discussion and cursory mentions of issues facing Blak, disabled and queer women.
Continue reading...Thousands of people in Sydney’s south and south-west have been told to leave as flood warnings are in place for vast swathes of NSW, as Dominic Perrottet admits ‘better planning’ is required for future flood mitigation. Follow all the day’s news
Federal opposition frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has jumped on the radio right after the premier to talk about Labor’s proposed $77m package to improve consent education at school. (Hopefully with something better than that bizarre milkshake video from last year.)
Well, the national curriculum has just been strengthened in this area to say that all students should learn about respectful relationships while they’re at school ... This is making sure that we change the objective in the curriculum into real change in every classroom in Australia.
... If we can change that when they are young, we can change these shocking statistics across Australia where we see one in five Australian women experiencing sexual assault in her lifetime, one in three experiencing domestic violence.
Premier, can you guarantee people who lost their homes to these floods, that they will be able to rebuild where they are, or will some be forced to move to less flood-prone areas?
Well, Patricia, I’ll work through that because I mean, obviously this was an unpredicted, freak catastrophe. I mean, there’s a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore!
But ultimately, in these times, we need to have frank assessments of the circumstances.
Again, I don’t mean to be rude, but you say “freak” – is it really a “freak” if we’re being told we’re going to have more of these events more frequently?
Should we be really describing it that way when we know that these events are going to be with us more often?
We’ve never seen a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore, I’m sure you have that. There’s no doubt that we are seeing more of these events and we need to make sure that as we rebuild, we do so in such a way that ensures that we protect people’s lives and we have communities built in a way where we mitigate flood risk or fire risk.
... So as we get to that rebuilding phase, we’ll certainly look at better planning and more flood mitigation and fire mitigation as we move through.
Continue reading...Severe weather to affect coastal areas from Coffs Harbour to Bega; Queensland estimates ‘rain bomb’ will cost state more than $4bn; two NSW residents among Japanese encephalitis patients in Victoria; ADF defends NSW flood response; PM speaks on east coast floods, Ukraine crisis; nation records at least 32 Covid deaths with 23 in South Australia. Follow all the day’s news
As expected, AGL Energy has formally rejected the takeover bid by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset manager Brookfield, posting an ASX statement this morning.
AGL, the country’s largest electricity generator, received a revised bid late on Friday, offering $8.25 a share, up from an initial unsolicited bid of $7.50 a share.
Continue reading...The floods are not unlike the incredible and unprecedented fires three years ago
A second east coast low is expected to form overnight, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds
A second east coast low off New South Wales is forecast to form overnight into Tuesday, bringing heavy rain but also stirring stronger winds than a similar system last week.
The Bureau of Meteorology has expanded its warning zone for heavy falls and damaging winds to cover an area from Coffs Harbour almost all the way south to the Victorian border.
Continue reading...Shane Warne’s last meal was a plate of Vegemite and toast shared with a friend at the Thailand resort where he died hours later. The poignant detail was revealed by The Sporting News CEO Tom Hall, who was already on the island of Koh Samui when Warne and three mates arrived.
“I have dined with Shane in many fine establishments, but rather than sample some of the local Thai fare, we tuck into a plate of Vegemite on toast,” Hall wrote in an article on the outlet’s website.
Continue reading...Cricket star’s former fiancee among many to pay tribute to bowler after suspected heart attack
Actor Elizabeth Hurley paid tribute to her former fiance and “beloved Lionheart”, Shane Warne, as fresh details of the Australian cricket star’s sudden death in Thailand emerged.
Hurley, who was engaged to Warne for more than two years until they split in December 2013, said that “the sun has gone behind a cloud forever”.
Continue reading...Severe rainfall that may lead to flash flooding ‘likely’ in Queensland, while Hawkesbury-Nepean river in NSW set to surpass last week’s flood level
South-east Queensland has again been lashed with rainfall and thunderstorms, while areas around Sydney and Newcastle faced the renewed risk of flooding as the cleanup continued.
Destructive winds and giant hail were possible as a “very dangerous storm” near Beaudesert in Queensland moved east on Sunday afternoon. Severe thunderstorms were also detected near Boonah, north-west of Noosa Heads, with severe rainfall that may lead to flash flooding “likely”.
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