Vivid Sydney cancels all drone shows after 83 drones plunged into Darling Harbour

Fireworks displays will replace all drone shows at the iconic festival after a technical issue saw dozens fall from the sky on Monday night

Vivid Sydney has cancelled all remaining drone shows after 83 fell from the sky into Darling Harbour this week, prompting a “full assessment” of the aerial light show.

On Monday, audiences looked on as a performance called Star-Bound suddenly went awry, with “unforeseen technical difficulties” causing 83 drones to plunge into the waters of Cockle Bay and six to land on a boardwalk. No injuries were reported.

Continue reading...

Three die in ‘horrific’ south Sydney vehicle crash after police welfare check

A 42-year-old fled from police before being involved in a two-vehicle crash in Sans Souci, police say

Three people have died in a crash in Sydney after a man fled from police who had been attempting to carry out a welfare check.

Police officers had been called to a property in Gymea Bay, southern Sydney, at 12.25am on Saturday. When they arrived, a 42-year-old man drove away in a white Audi, New South Wales police said.

Continue reading...

Man charged with stealing camera equipment from Bondi shooting victim in aftermath of terror attack

Police allege man took camera equipment from 61-year-old shooting victim then pawned it

New South Wales police have charged a man for allegedly stealing camera equipment from one of the victims of the Bondi beach terror attack in the aftermath of the shooting.

In a statement, police alleged that the man, Danny James Ridley, had been at the Hanukah event before the shooting on 14 December, in which 15 people were killed.

Continue reading...

One person dead and four in hospital after alleged shooting in Sydney’s south-west

NSW police establish crime scene at Canley Heights home after two pairs of men present at different hospitals

One man has died in hospital and four others have been left in serious condition after a shooting at a home.

Police set up a crime scene at a home in Canley Heights in south-west Sydney after the men self-presented to two nearby hospitals.

Continue reading...

Man charged with three counts of DV murder after woman and children found dead inside Sydney home

NSW police called to home in Campbelltown where they arrested a man, aged 47

A man has been charged with murder after the bodies of a woman and two children were found inside a Sydney home.

Officers attended the home in Campbelltown, in the city’s south-west, on Monday night “following a call from the home to triple zero” at about 7.50pm, New South Wales police said.

Continue reading...

From drab partitions to haute couture host: how a Sydney civic masterpiece was rescued

Redevelopment of the former Department of Lands building on Sydney’s Bridge Street wins National Trust heritage award

It was once a grand old sandstone masterpiece, where returned soldiers would cram into marble corridors to anxiously await lottery draws that could change their lives.

Then the 20th century happened.

Continue reading...

Rebel Wilson is a ‘fantastical liar’ who ‘made up terrible allegations against multiple people’, court told

Barrister for actor Charlotte MacInnes, who is suing the Pitch Perfect star for defamation, also accused Wilson of ‘a complete revision of history’. Wilson has rejected defamation claims

Rebel Wilson has been accused in court of being a liar who made up terrible claims about her colleagues and completely rewrote history.

The Pitch Perfect star copped the blunt assessment in the dying hours of a fiery defamation battle where she is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actor in musical comedy The Deb which Wilson directed, co-produced and starred in.

Continue reading...

Antisemitism has become ‘almost fashionable’ among Australians, Jillian Segal tells royal commission

On its fourth day of public hearings, royal commission into antisemitism also hears Jewish Australians have been pressured to resign and verbally abused

Jewish Australians have been told to use “less obviously Jewish” names, felt pressure to resign and been verbally abused by colleagues in the wake of 7 October 2023.

On its fourth day of public hearings, the antisemitism royal commission also heard evidence from Australia’s antisemitism envoy, who said hatred towards Jews had become “almost fashionable”, while a Sydney nurse said New South Wales Health was “not safe for Jewish people”.

Continue reading...

‘Terrifying’: political candidate violently abused and schoolboy thrown into bin, antisemitism royal commission hears

The third day of hearings of the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion heard further evidence from Jewish Australians

Violent antisemitic abuse was allowed to proliferate across a Jewish political candidate’s social media as part of a broader trend designed to intimidate Jewish Australians from public life, a royal commission has heard.

Joshua Kirsh launched a campaign as an independent candidate for the New South Wales upper house in late 2025 but found his advertisements online bombarded by antisemitic tropes, abuse and threats.

Continue reading...

NSW police urged Jewish man to drop claim he was subject to antisemitic slurs and death threats, commission told

Nir Golan was told that there was not much police could do and the case would get thrown out

New South Wales police encouraged a Jewish man to abandon a case against a man who made antisemitic slurs, death threats, and performed Nazi salutes at him in public because the investigation would be “a lot of wasted effort”, the antisemitism royal commission has been told.

Jewish Australian Nir Golan gave evidence on Tuesday, telling commissioner Virginia Bell that police had encouraged him to drop any action because “there’s not much that they could do and the case would ultimately get thrown out”.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: dozens paddle out in Sydney and Newcastle in solidarity with Gaza Flotilla; PM commits another $1.8bn to urgent care clinics

Parents of Australian who was detained by IDF call for stronger government response. Follow updates live

Canavan defends Coalition decision to preference One Nation ahead of independent in Farrer: ‘Socialists and communists always go last’

Matt Canavan said he understood why voters in Farrer, set for a byelection next Saturday, were disillusioned with the federal opposition.

I‘ve been down there for 20 days, 15 nights – and 10 of those I’ve been in a swag – over the past month.

I’m doing everything I can to fight for them. I’d love to fight for that great part of our country again, it’s a wonderful part of our nation where we pioneered the use of irrigation and dams. It still produces 40% of our food, 60% of our fruit.

Under my leadership, [in] my view, socialists and communists always go last.

I think we need to really see how the overseas conflict evolves, how prices evolve for oil. But I think, you know, it is doing what it was intended to do. It’s not a silver bullet, but it is providing material support for people. And as I said, it’s providing support for people who are really doing it tough when they can’t shift away from using petrol.

Continue reading...

The Bondi terror report raises more questions than answers about the massacre – and illuminated its horror

The 155-page interim report released on Thursday shows how little is known – and can be shared – about the 14 December shooting

If there’s one thing that’s clear from the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion’s 155-page interim report, it’s how much about the Bondi massacre remains unknown – and how little of what is known can be shared with the public.

More than a third of the recommendations from the report – which was released on Thursday – were confidential, although the Albanese government plans to implement all of them.

Continue reading...

Rebel Wilson rejects ‘absolutely outrageous’ phone-dumping accusation as defamation trial continues

The Pitch Perfect actor is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actor of Wilson’s directorial debut, The Deb

Hollywood star Rebel Wilson has rejected an “absolutely outrageous” accusation that she dumped her phone to avoid handing over key communications in a defamation case.

The Pitch Perfect star is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the 27-year-old lead actor of the musical comedy The Deb.

Continue reading...

Beau Lamarre-Condon’s mother charged after allegedly attempting to influence key witness in double murder trial

Coleen Lamarre, 63, charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to trial over alleged murders of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird

The mother of a former police officer who allegedly murdered Luke Davies and Jesse Baird two years ago has been charged after allegedly attempting to influence a key witness to change their evidence in her son’s trial.

New South Wales police said Coleen Lamarre, 63, was arrested in Balmain and charged with perverting the course of justice, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

Continue reading...

Gina Rinehart calls for immigrants’ social media to be screened in Anzac memorial speech

Mining magnate also claims children are being taught to be ashamed of the Australian flag in a speech to 4,000 people on the Sydney Opera House steps

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, called for immigrants’ social media to be screened and said children are being taught to be ashamed of the Australian flag in untelevised remarks before an Anzac memorial service on the steps of Sydney Opera House on Friday.

Rinehart’s public appearance was attended by about 4,000 people and sponsored by her company, Hancock Prospecting, and RSL New South Wales.

Continue reading...

‘This has to be a wake-up call’: NSW attorney general urged to order inquest into death of Sydney’s ‘birdman’

Alex Greenwich says inquest crucial to understand what failures led to Bikram Lama’s death and avoid similar deaths

The New South Wales attorney-general, Michael Daley, has been urged to order an inquest into the death of Nepali rough sleeper Bikram Lama in Hyde Park.

The death of Lama – who was also known as “the birdman” for his love of the area’s pigeons – has prompted widespread calls for change, after Guardian Australia revealed last week that the young migrant’s body lay unnoticed for up to a week in bushes near a busy thoroughfare into St James station.

Continue reading...

Patient allegedly attacks several nurses, police and member of the public at Sydney hospital

Calls for more security measures after man, 51, arrested over alleged assaults at Prince of Wales hospital

A hospital attack that left a nurse seriously injured has fuelled calls for improved safety and security after several violent incidents in emergency departments.

Police restrained a 51-year-old patient after he allegedly assaulted several nurses, police and a member of the public in a Saturday night melee at Sydney’s Prince of Wales hospital.

Continue reading...

‘Racism is a cancer’: Indigenous leaders condemn orchestrated booing at Anzac Day ceremonies

Uncle Jack Pearson, an army captain, says heckling ‘not in the Anzac spirit’ after welcome to country booed in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth

Indigenous leaders have condemned people who booed welcome to country speeches at Anzac Day dawn services across the country, with an army captain stating “racism is a cancer”.

Elders who spoke at services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Saturday morning were booed following a campaign by Fight for Australia, the group formerly known as March for Australia, which has previously staged major anti-immigration rallies.

Continue reading...

Indigenous speakers booed at Anzac Day services while Ben Roberts-Smith attends separate Gold Coast event

Roberts-Smith, who has denied five charges of war crime murder, says he was always going to attend: ‘I never thought about not coming’

Booing has marred Anzac Day commemorations in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, while on the Gold Coast, the Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith attended the dawn service at Currumbin beach.

One man was arrested at the Sydney dawn service at Martin Place, where there was a small but noisy interjection of booing during the Indigenous acknowledgment of country.

Continue reading...

Fourth man charged over alleged kidnapping murder of Sydney man Chris Baghsarian

Three other men already charged over February abduction and death remain before the courts

A fourth man has been charged over the kidnapping and murder of an elderly Sydney man, who was allegedly abducted in a case of mistaken identity.

More than two months after 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian was abducted from his home in Sydney’s north in the early hours of 13 February, police arrested a 19-year-old on Tuesday over two offences, including murder.

Continue reading...