Category Archives: Sydney

University of Sydney students and staff blast new ‘draconian’ protest crackdown

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Policy demands three days’ notice for demonstrations and approval for use of megaphones or putting up posters

Academics and students at the University of Sydney have blasted the vice-chancellor for a “draconian” protest crackdown that requires explicit permission for megaphones to be used or posters to be put up on campus.

The policy, quietly introduced last week, demands three days’ notice for demonstrations to be held and approval for putting up “materials, banners or structures” on campus, using megaphones or amplifiers, erecting temporary structures and using cooking equipment.

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Sydney house fire: three children dead, father in custody after alleged triple homicide

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Emergency services were called to a home in Lalor Park at 1am on Sunday

Three children are dead and their father is in custody after a house fire in Sydney’s west, in what police are treating as a domestic-related multiple homicide.

Emergency services were called to the home in Lalor Park at 1am on Sunday, which acting Supt Jason Pietruszka said was “engulfed by flames” on arrival.

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Two bodies found on beach at Little Bay in Sydney’s south

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Neither person formally identified as of Sunday afternoon, NSW police said in a statement

Two bodies have been found on a beach in Sydney’s south following a search and rescue operation.

Emergency services began searching Little Bay Beach at about 11.10am on Sunday morning after a member of the public found personal items unattended on the shore, and called police.

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University of Sydney stabbing: 14-year-old boy arrested after alleged incident at campus

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University confirms police operation under way with 22-year-old man taken to Royal Prince Alfred hospital

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested and a 22-year-old man has been taken to hospital after an alleged stabbing at the University of Sydney.

A New South Wales ambulance spokesperson said paramedics had been called to the university about 8.30am on Tuesday and had taken one patient to Royal Prince Alfred hospital.

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Are Australia’s public transport discounts for seniors too generous? Are they fair?

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School and tertiary students receive concessions, but their fares are still more than three times those offered to seniors in some states

It’s the uncomfortable question few politicians would dare to ask. Are generous travel discounts afforded to Australia’s older citizens, especially self-funded retirees who are not means tested, sustainable? Moreover, are they fair?

Seniors have long enjoyed heavily subsidised public transport fares across Australia. But as the population ages, public finance strains and a cost-of-living crisis weighs disproportionately on younger generations, some are suggesting a rethink.

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Woman allegedly murdered by housemate in inner-west Sydney home identified

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A 42-year-old man has been denied bail after being charged with the murder in Russell Lea

The woman allegedly murdered by her housemate in Sydney’s inner west has been identified as 53-year-old Annette Kiss.

Benjamin Scott Art, 42, has been charged with murder, after the body of a woman was found at a home on Clements St in Russell Lea on Thursday.

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Australia’s first high-speed rail link could ease house prices and widen the dating pool, UK expert says

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Prof Andrew McNaughton also warns plan to build Sydney-Newcastle route is ‘doomed’ to fail unless a shorter stretch to Gosford comes first

Ensuring Australia’s decades-long high-speed rail project maintains enough support to be built requires the public to be constantly reminded of its benefits, such as easing property prices, providing better job opportunities and even widening the dating pool, a British expert has urged.

Prof Andrew McNaughton, the chair of the UK’s Network Rail High Speed, also warns that the Albanese government’s push to build high-speed rail along Australia’s east coast, starting with a Sydney-Newcastle section, is “doomed” to fail unless planners split the first stage into an even smaller, achievable stretch to Gosford.

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Newington College head blasts parents for ‘behaviour inconsistent with our values’

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Michael Parker criticises ‘deliberate negativity’ of a ‘very small group’ but does not refer directly to opponents of controversial plans to admit girls

The headteacher of the top Sydney school embroiled in a row over becoming co-educational has written to parents and alumni expressing disappointment with a group of people within the school’s community “whose behaviour is inconsistent with our school culture and our values”.

The email, which the Guardian has seen, was sent by the head of Newington College, Michael Parker, on Monday.

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Play it Safe: Sydney Opera House short film wins Grand Prix award at Cannes Lions festival

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Judges say four-minute piece featuring Tim Minchin is ‘a celebration of the creative spirit, of brave ideas and taking huge risks in the face of critics’

A short film celebrating the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary has won at the Cannes Lions, considered the world’s most prestigious advertising awards.

Satirically titled Play it Safe, the 2023 campaign collected one of two Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions international festival of creativity awards last week.

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Man charged after allegedly slashing staff at western Sydney hospital

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Police attended Westmead hospital about 11.30pm on Friday after a man, 39, allegedly slashed and assaulted staff

A man has been charged after allegedly slashing two security guards and injuring a nurse as police investigate possible mental health and drug issues.

Police were called to Westmead hospital in western Sydney about 11.30pm on Friday after reports a man had assaulted staff.

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‘Woke mumbo jumbo’: Sydney barrister says he will lobby King of Tonga in fight against Newington College coed shift

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Exclusive: Dallas Morgan sends impassioned email to old boys updating them on ‘embarrassing saga’ and telling them to ‘never give up’

A Sydney barrister and Newington College old boy leading the fight against the private school’s coed shift has sent an impassioned email to alumni, detailing his plans to fly to Tonga this week to lobby King Tupou VI on the issue.

In his email, Dallas Morgan also lamented that “transgender midgets” could have their fees subsidised and said he hoped the king – whose father is also a fellow former student of the school – would oppose the coed transition.

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Climate 200 names nine new Coalition seats where it hopes to replicate teal wave at next election

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Exclusive: After months of speculation the fundraising giant has identified more electorates where independent campaigns meet its criteria for support

Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.

After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.

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From social housing to $1.5m for a studio: minister hits out at ‘dud deal’ sale of Sydney’s Sirius building

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Exclusive: Rose Jackson says losing public housing in expensive central suburbs leaves society worse off, and this week’s state budget will address issue

A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment.

The last of the 76 apartments in the redeveloped complex in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge are on the market after the building was sold to a developer by the former Coalition state government for $150m in 2019.

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Man charged over alleged murder of Sydney surfer Guy Haymes after family appeal for information

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‘Fun-loving’ former competitive surfer was well-known on NSW’s northern beaches

Police have charged a man with the murder of Sydney surfer Guy Haymes, days after his family appealed for information about the death of the “fun-loving” northern beaches identity.

Haymes, 59, a former competitive surfer affectionately known as “Creature”, was found with critical head injuries on 27 February, outside a unit complex on Pittwater Road at Manly.

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Dozens of Sydney’s asbestos-contaminated sites not cleaned up six months after first discovery

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EPA refuses to name untreated sites but says all schools and hospitals have been cleaned as it continues criminal investigation into contamination

Dozens of contaminated sites in Sydney are yet to be cleaned up six months after asbestos was first discovered in mulch at a public park, as the New South Wales treasurer urges the environment regulator to “throw the book” at polluters.

The Environment Protection Authority is refusing to name the sites that are yet to be remediated as it continues its criminal investigation into the source of asbestos contamination in recycled garden mulch that was used widely across greater Sydney.

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University of Sydney orders students protesting in support of Gaza to leave after almost two months

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Spokesperson says ‘the encampment has taken over this shared space to the exclusion of others’

The University of Sydney has ordered students protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza to leave a controversial encampment that has been on the campus since April.

A university spokesperson said on Friday that it had told the encampment’s leadership “we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space”.

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Independent MP Kylea Tink’s electorate of North Sydney to be abolished under AEC proposal

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New South Wales draft boundaries would also affect the seats of Bennelong and Bradfield, held by Labor and Liberals respectively

The Australian Electoral Commission has recommended one of the country’s oldest electorates, North Sydney, be abolished in a boundary shake-up that could have far-reaching consequences for the major parties.

After reviewing population changes and submissions, the AEC has released its draft proposal for New South Wales’s new electoral boundaries, recommending the federation seat currently held by independent MP Kylea Tink be abolished.

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Two NSW police officers charged with assaulting 92-year-old man in Sydney

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Elderly man taken to hospital with a fractured and significant bruising after alleged assault in Picton, police say

Two New South Wales police officers have been charged with assaulting a 92-year-old man who was later admitted to hospital with a fractured elbow and significant bruising to his head and arms.

The alleged assault occurred at a home in Picton, in Sydney’s south-west, in January after police were called to a domestic violence incident by the elderly man’s wife, who had made two calls to triple 0 and “likely” had dementia.

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Drowned women were picknicking when freak wave swept them from rocks in Kurnell, Sydney police say

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Pair could not be revived and a third woman is recovering in hospital after tragedy in Kurnell in Sutherland shire

Two women picnicking in Sydney’s south drowned after a freak wave swept them off rocks and out to sea, authorities believe.

A third woman also swept from the rock shelf is recovering in hospital.

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Vivid needs better crowd management, says Chris Minns after bottlenecks cause ‘near-miss incident’

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Crowds attending drone show at Sydney’s winter light festival feared crowd crush and were left feeling trapped and panicked

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has conceded organisers need to “do better” after the crowd at Vivid’s drone show were left feeling trapped and panicked, with one expert describing it as a “near-miss incident”.

The first drone show as part of Sydney’s annual winter light festival drew enormous crowds to Circular Quay, where bottlenecks at the exits left thousands of people trapped and fearing a crowd crush on Saturday night.

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