Category Archives: Sydney

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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Man jailed after mimicking Bondi beach terror attack on footbridge and making slurs against Jewish people

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Zayne Jason William McMillan’s lawyer says client’s tirade was antisemitic but claims he ‘does not consider himself racist against Jewish community’

A man seen mimicking the Bondi beach terror attack before making slurs against Jewish people has been jailed.

Zayne Jason William McMillan, 23, was heavily intoxicated when he and a friend went to Bondi beach, six weeks after the shooting, in which 15 people were killed.

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NSW should think twice before banning ‘globalise the intifada’ after court struck down anti-protest law, legal expert says

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Another lawyer says ruling ‘puts brakes on the Minns government’s ability to use executive power to minimise people’s rights to protest’

The Minns government should think twice before imposing an outright ban on the phrase “globalise the intifada” in the wake of a landmark finding that could limit attempts to control speech and protests, a leading constitutional expert has said.

New South Wales’ highest court ruled in favour of the Palestine Action Group and Blak Caucus on Thursday, striking down an anti-protest law introduced after the Bondi beach terror attack that gave police the power to restrict marches, including the anti-Herzog rally in February.

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Traffic falls on major Sydney and Melbourne roads as fuel crisis sees Australians cut back on driving

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Exclusive: Trips on Sydney’s key thoroughfares have fallen by thousands per day, according to government data

Road traffic is falling on Australia’s east coast as fuel prices bite, with most key Sydney highways recording 20% fewer weekend trips.

The number of trips recorded on Sydney’s key thoroughfares has fallen by thousands of trips a day, according to New South Wales government data shared exclusively with Guardian Australia.

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Woman who allegedly attacked Sydney hospital patient with hammer claims he stole her brother’s ashes, court hears

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Woman, 46, charged with grievous bodily harm after she allegedly struck 63-year-old RPA patient in head, NSW police say

A man is fighting for his life after being allegedly attacked with a hammer at a Sydney hospital by a woman he knew who claimed he had stolen her brother’s ashes, a court has heard.

Viki Graham, 46, was refused bail and will spend at least two months in jail after she was charged with wounding the 63-year-old man while he lay in a bed at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred hospital.

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Sydney councils fear new datacentres could cause blackouts, block housing and affect locals’ health

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Datacentres ‘directly competing’ with possible residential builds near public transport, one council tells NSW inquiry, amid growing concerns

Datacentre developments are crowding out opportunities for housing and job-rich industries across Sydney, a New South Wales inquiry has heard, with one local council reporting a rise in blackouts linked to the industry’s expansion.

Several Sydney councils, all facing an influx of datacentre developments, have raised concerns about the health, environmental and amenity impacts on their local communities in submissions to the state’s datacentre inquiry.

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Alleged Bondi terrorist Naveed Akram denied suppression order over identities of family members

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Lawyers for accused had argued names of family members should be suppressed due to fears for their mental and physical safety

The alleged Bondi attacker has been denied a suppression order over his family member’s names and home and work addresses after a collective of media organisations won a challenge against the bid.

In the Downing Centre local court on Thursday, judge Hugh Donnelly decided to deny the request for a 40-year suppression order, ending an interim suppression order that was granted for Naveed Akram’s mother, brother and sister in early March which banned the publication of their names and addresses.

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Sydney high school teacher accused of grooming 14-year-old girl and offering money for sexually explicit material

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Man was teaching at a secondary school for boys when he allegedly targeted the girl – who police say he did not know

A high school teacher has been accused of grooming a teenage girl and offering money for her to produce sexually explicit material.

Police allege the 29-year-old man targeted a 14-year-old girl not known to him, before she told her parents who alerted authorities.

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From car parks to piers: the 2026 Australian Urban Design awards recognise a gentler approach to pragmatic projects

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The Australian Institute of Architects’ judges sought to highlight a gentler approach to urban transformation,’ chair of the awards steering committee says

Sydney’s Campbelltown has paved paradise and put up a parking lot. And the brave jury at the Australian Urban Design awards has declared it heavenly.

The winners of the 2026 awards, announced on Tuesday at Parliament House in Canberra, suggest the era of the star architect’s singular, sculptural spectacle is being traded, at least this year, for something more pragmatic: an unassuming revolution where the most significant breakthroughs are found in natural, open-mesh ventilation, a splash of colour and a heart of soothing greenery.

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