Category Archives: Sydney

Children taken to hospital after science experiment causes chemical explosion at Sydney school

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Two students at Manly West public school suffer serious burns while nine others and one adult have superficial burns

Eleven students and one teacher are in a stable condition after a science experiment caused a chemical explosion at a school on Sydney’s northern beaches.

New South Wales Ambulance have confirmed two students have suffered serious burns while nine students and one adult – believed to be a teacher – suffered superficial burns as a result of the explosion at Manly West public school on Monday afternoon.

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Fears of Sydney water restrictions as only 25% of Warragamba Dam catchment deemed safe to drink

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Sydney Water says filtration systems under extreme pressure amid floods, as all Melbourne beaches declared unsuitable for swimming

Just a quarter of Sydney’s largest drinking water catchment, the Warragamba Dam, is safe for consumption, prompting fears residents will need to conserve water.

Ben Blayney, the head of water supply and production at Sydney Water, said the past year’s floods had placed extreme pressure on the city’s water filtration system.

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Scott Johnson’s brother ‘disappointed’ after man jailed for 1988 cliff murder has conviction set aside

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Scott Phillip White long denied murdering the American mathematician and said his pre-trial plea was untrue

The brother of an American mathematician found at the bottom of cliffs at Manly in 1988 says he’s disappointed with a decision quashing the conviction of the accused killer.

Scott Phillip White had long denied murdering Scott Johnson, only to say “guilty, I am guilty” during a pre-trial hearing in Sydney in January.

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News live: Penny Wong condemns Russia’s deadly missile attacks; Deliveroo to end operations in Australia

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Foreign minister says ‘Australia stands with Ukraine’ following reports a Russian missile landed in Polish territory killing two people. Follow the day’s news

ABC Radio asked Simon Birmingham about reports from this morning that a Russian missile has hit Poland near the Ukraine border: The shadow foreign affairs minister says:

This is deeply, deeply troubling news.

If an accident occurs it can result in a real escalation ... it shows just how dangerous a game Russia is playing.

We can’t expect instant miracles, but the ultimate test of dialogue will be the outcomes that are received if this dialogue is successful, to see breakthroughs in regard to those trade barriers... and also critically the just treatment of Australian’s detained in China.

And then of course challenges in terms of engagement within the region, that we must continue to argue for China to respect international law, international rules and norms

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‘I’m not getting better’: Jackie O steps away from radio show to recover from long Covid

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Kyle & Jackie O Show radio host reveals on air she is ‘struggling with this fatigue’ and has received medical advice to stop working

Radio host Jackie O is stepping away from her long-running breakfast show with co-host Kyle Sandilands in order to recover from health issues months after contracting Covid-19.

While presenting the Kyle & Jackie O Show on KIIS FM on Monday, Jackie O, real name Jackie Henderson, said she had been struggling to recover after she contracted Covid-19 earlier this year, and that she had received medical advice to stop working in order to address an enduring cough and fatigue.

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Majestic Princess: cruise ship passengers disembark in Sydney after mass Covid outbreak

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Covid-positive passengers told to stay away from public transport after biggest single outbreak since Ruby Princess

The Majestic Princess cruise ship – carrying about 800 Covid-19 positive passengers – has docked in Sydney and passengers have disembarked in the city.

The ship docked at Circular Quay early Saturday morning, having sailed from New Zealand. It will depart Sydney for Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.

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Sydney axe murderer who Googled ‘what part of body to go for’ before killing partner jailed for 27 years

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The 34-year-old woman killed the man with an axe purchased from Bunnings in a jealous quest for revenge, court hears

A Sydney axe murderer who Googled “what part of body to go for” before killing her partner has been sentenced to 27 years in jail.

The 34-year-old mother, who cannot be named be named for legal reasons, killed her partner with an axe purchased from Bunnings in a jealous quest for revenge.

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Australia’s richer areas more likely to have people working from home in pandemic, analysis finds

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Census data shows Sydney’s northern suburbs had highest WFH proportion, with lowest in regional areas such as Maryborough in Victoria and Taree in NSW

Areas with higher incomes in NSW and Victoria were more likely to have a higher percentage of people working from home during the pandemic, according to a Guardian Australia analysis of census data.

The data provides further evidence of how differently people in areas with different socioeconomic backgrounds experienced the pandemic.

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‘Our worst nightmare’: Sydney’s Taronga zoo locked down after five lions escape enclosure

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Father of two staying overnight on ‘roar and snore’ experience says family told to flee tents and ‘it was pretty shocking – imagine facing a lion’

Five lions broke out of their enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga zoo, forcing staff and visitors to hide in “safe zones” and triggering a review of zoo safety.

The lions – four cubs and one adult – were seen outside their enclosure about 6.30am on Wednesday. A “code one” alert soon after sent the zoo into lockdown. Police were called at 7.10am and the lions returned to their enclosure just before 9am.

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‘She was loved by all’: family pay tribute to Australian woman Grace Rached who died in South Korea crowd crush

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‘Grace always made others feel important and her kindness left an impression on everyone she ever met.’

The family of an Australian woman killed in a Halloween crowd crush in South Korea has paid tribute to the 23-year-old, describing her as the life of the party.

Sydney film production assistant Grace Rached was killed in the Itaewon district of Seoul on Saturday night when more than 150 people died.

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Sydney University sued by lecturer alleging age, sex and disability discrimination

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Marketing lecturer Geoffrey Fripp is pursuing more than $526,000 in damages

A Sydney university lecturer says he was told he was too old to be promoted, underpaid hundreds of thousands of dollars and forced to sleep in his car.

In his federal court lawsuit, Geoffrey Fripp accuses the University of Sydney of age, sex and disability discrimination as well as breaches of employment law.

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Federal budget 2022 reply speech live: opposition leader Peter Dutton to respond to Labor’s October budget – latest updates

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Leader of the opposition to give his reply to the treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first budget. Follow the day’s news live

The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi will give notice of a private senator’s bill she will introduce today aiming to halt the indexation on student loans and increase the repayment threshold to above the median wage.

Faruqi says it is one way which would help ease the cost of living burden on people with student debt:

Student debt is no small problem. About three million people in Australia have the burden of student debt.

At a time when the cost of living is biting hard, governments can no longer ignore the student debt crisis and its impacts.

What we have said all the time is that we want wages to grow, and we want them to stay growing. Not to have a short-term growth and then have at the expense of potentially higher unemployment.

So that’s the first thing. The second thing is we’ve got to get an IR system that drives productivity. That’s not about working harder for less, it’s about working smarter. It’s about creating the environment where people use new technology, where they innovate, where they share ideas, where they open new markets, where they have more skilled people.

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Treasurer says Taylor’s fingerprints ‘all over’ energy policy chaos – as it happened

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Over on Sky News, the questions were all about the next budget:

Host: Joining us live now in Canberra is the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. Prime minister, good morning to you. So, a safe budget to pay for your election commitments. Are tax increases and spending cuts next?

Hang on, Pete. We’ve just had the budget last night. You’re now talking about future budgets. Let’s talk about what we did last night. What we did last night was to fulfil our election commitments, provide cost-of-living relief with cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, more paid parental leave, more support for affordable housing. And we want to get wages moving again. We did all that without putting pressure on inflation by targeting our investments in things like infrastructure, improving the National Broadband Network, making sure that there’s that growth in the economy without putting pressure on inflation. That was our focus last night. And we managed to achieve it.

Look, we inherited a trillion dollars of debt, Peter, as you know. We inherited a trillion dollars of debt with not much to show for it. What we did last night was to make $22bn of savings. We took the revenue gains that have come through, 99% of those revenue increases from the higher costs of fuel and energy, we put them straight to the budget bottom line, 99% of them. So it was a responsible budget that saw a significant drop in the deficit to $37bn from what was anticipated. That is a responsible thing to do. Because we want to make sure that we fight inflation because that is necessary if we’re going to get real wages moving in the way that we want them to.

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Sydney’s property prices dropped 10% this year, with $450 a day lost from average home

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Decline comes as RBA documents indicate values may sink as much as 20% nationally from their February peak by end of 2024

Sydney’s property prices have fallen by more than 10% since their mid-February peak, shedding almost $450 a day in value on an average home, and leading other major markets lower, CoreLogic said.

The 10.1% decline for home values in the harbour city so far comes as documents from the Reserve Bank of Australia indicate average property values may sink as much as 20% nationally from their recent highs by the end of 2024. That decline would be the steepest since the 1980s if realised.

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Jury discharged in trial of Sydney swim coach Kyle Daniels after failing to reach verdicts on 11 charges

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Prosecutors to decide whether to pursue third trial after jurors acquitted Mosman swim instructor of 10 charges but could not reach decision on others

The jury in the sexual abuse retrial of Sydney swim coach Kyle James Henk Daniels has been discharged after being unable to reach verdicts on 11 charges.

Prosecutors must now decide whether to put the 24-year-old on trial for a third time.

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NSW and Queensland brace for severe storms and flooding as wild weather lashes eastern Australia

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Large parts of both states put on notice as emergency services forecast large hailstones and heavy rain

Severe thunderstorms will bring large hailstones and a flash-flood risk to large parts of New South Wales and Queensland, with coastal regions in both states to be hit by heavy rain belts.

“We’re bracing for significant rainfall right across NSW,” the NSW flood recovery minister, Steph Cooke, said.

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Labor candidate overlooked for Kristina Keneally touted for NSW state seat

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Tu Le says she supports ‘rank-and-file’ vote but doesn’t control decisions made by party bosses

The candidate controversially overlooked by Labor for Kristina Keneally in Fowler at the last federal election has denied being involved in a “stitch up” for a state seat in western Sydney, saying she “doesn’t control” what head office decides.

The Guardian understands senior Labor figures have been testing local support for Tu Le, the Vietnamese-Australian lawyer who was controversially pushed aside to allow Keneally to run in Fowler in May, to run in either Cabramatta or Fairfield at the New South Wales election in March.

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Mosman swim coach Kyle Daniels acquitted of five sexual abuse charges

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The jury could not find consensus on a further 16 charges related to inappropriately touching students, which Daniels denies

A jury has acquitted the Sydney swim coach Kyle James Henk Daniels of some sexual abuse charges but remains split on others.

Daniels, who turns 24 this month, is accused of inappropriate sexual contact with young female students while working as a part-time instructor at a Mosman swim school in 2018 and 2019.

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Unions allege safety concerns after worker on Sydney Metro tunnel died of heart attack

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Exclusive: Whistleblowers say they felt under pressure to downgrade seriousness of safety issues but Sydney Metro disputes union claims

A worker died of a heart attack during construction of the Sydney Metro tunnel near Barangaroo station amid allegations from the unions that a defibrillator was not readily available in the construction zone.

Sydney Metro strongly disputes the union claim. However, it acknowledged additional defibrillators were deployed in the tunnels after the incident, which occurred on 6 July.

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Sydney festival 2023: Town Hall to be filled with 26 tonnes of sand for program showpiece

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The heritage building’s floor will become an indoor beach for an award-winning opera – one of a few architectural landmarks that will get a new life this summer

Twenty-six tonnes of sand will be shipped into Sydney town hall as part of the 2023 Sydney festival, with the heritage-listed building transformed into a faux beach for an award-winning opera starring 79 people and a dog.

The program for the annual festival, announced today, will amplify stories from Indigenous and female-identifying creatives next year. Led by artistic director Olivia Ansell for the second time, it will champion climate action, marginalised voices and the rediscovery of underused spaces in the city – including Harry Seidler’s mushroom-shaped building in Martin Place, which will be turned into a 1970s-themed bar and live music hub, with audiences invited to stay in the retro hotel rooms above.

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