Category Archives: New South Wales

Bluebird days: bumper snow and clear skies welcome relief for Australia’s ski resorts

Posted on by

Pandemic-hit resorts in Victoria and NSW celebrate perfect conditions and more forecast snow

The bumper start to the Australian snow season has continued, with perfect conditions and “bluebird days” at resorts this weekend and more snow forecast for the alps in the coming week.

Early snowfall has already seen decades-long records broken across Victoria and New South Wales, where resorts at Mt Buller, Thredbo and Perisher were able to open well before the official start to the snow season on the June long weekend.

Continue reading...

Large fire at Illawarra substation not expected to impact energy supply

Posted on by

More than 60 NSW firefighters dispatched to the scene at Yallah, near Wollongong, to contain the fire

A large fire at an electrical substation in the Illawarra had been contained early on Saturday night, with the operator confident it would not impact on energy supply.

The fire started about 3pm at the substation on the Princes Highway at Yallah, south of Dapto, New South Wales police said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Catholic church uses paedophile priest’s death as shield against new allegations in NSW

Posted on by

Lismore diocese wins halt on civil case after arguing woman had never complained before Clarence Anderson died in 1996

The Catholic church has used the death of a known paedophile priest to shield itself from being sued over new complaints of child sexual abuse.

Earlier this month, the Lismore diocese won its argument for a permanent stay of civil proceedings brought by a woman who was 14 years old when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Father Clarence Anderson in 1968 inside her family home.

Continue reading...

Dan and Dom: the two premiers leading a vibe shift in Australian politics

Posted on by

Differences between Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet are part of their successful relationship

Victoria and New South Wales’ premiers, Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet, couldn’t be more different: one is a progressive from Labor’s socialist left faction and the other a conservative from the Liberal party’s right.

But together, they represent a political vibe shift – a sense that long-term ambitions for their states can be achieved, with cooperation paramount.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

‘Great equaliser’: fears higher parking costs may limit access to iconic Sydney beaches

Posted on by

NSW Council of Social Services says councils should not make beach visits out of reach for lower-income families

A trip to the beach is about to get more expensive as parking rates rise in some parts of Sydney, causing concerns they will put some of city’s best natural wonders out of reach for lower-income families already facing increasing cost-of-living pressures.

Mosman council said it will increase parking rates by up to 75% at popular spots, including Balmoral Beach.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia news live updates: Albanese extends Covid funding as nation records 51 deaths from virus; energy supply will meet weekend demand, Aemo says

Posted on by

NSW premier says health funding ‘a great start’ after national cabinet meeting; electricity reserves improve across National Energy Market; ASX plunges to lowest level since November 2020; nation records 51 Covid deaths. Follow live

The PM is making the rounds this morning, appearing on Sunrise and repeating his line that almost a decade of “delay and denial” under the former Coalition government led to the current energy crisis (I feel like this will be a recurring theme today.)

People want an end to the nonsense that’s gone on for the last decade.

You can’t fix 10 years of inaction in just 10 days but we are taking immediate action through Aemo to make sure that the lights stay on. At the same time, we’re making sure that we create the investment environment to make sure we get it right.

The gas is actually the property of the people of the state, whichever state that is, and there should have always been enough for the state and the country in question. It just seems to me to be very strange that there’s no gas for local people yet.

Coal-fired power generation is very old technology and very difficult for coal plants to cope with renewables coming onto the grid, basically, new renewables every minute

Continue reading...

Craig Kelly staffer Frank Zumbo told alleged victim he was ‘very affectionate’ due to Italian heritage, court hears

Posted on by

Zumbo, who has pleaded not guilty to 20 charges including sexual touching, insisted on driving woman to work so Liberal ‘spies’ wouldn’t see her catch bus

Former federal MP Craig Kelly’s office manager gave gift card vouchers to a young female employee and asked her to kiss him on the lips to repay the gesture, a Sydney court has heard.

Francesco “Frank” Zumbo, 55, is facing 20 charges, including sexual touching and indecent assault, linked to accusations by five women between 2014 and 2020. The third alleged victim gave evidence on Friday at Downing Centre local court.

Continue reading...

Shortfall warnings cancelled as units come back online – as it happened

Posted on by

Foreign minister says Australia ‘has ground to make up’ in Pacific region; jobless rate steady at 3.9%; nation records at least 73 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

So the below comes as both the NSW and Victorian government move to introduce an extra, free year of preschool in the next decade.

Both the NSW and Victorian premiers, Dominic Perrottet and Daniel Andrews, want to introduce a new year for four- and five-year-olds.

It will mean that, in the next 10 years, every child in Victoria and NSW will experience the benefits of a full year of play-based learning before their first year of school. At the same time, it will benefit hundreds of thousands of working families.

We want to expand our existing preschools. It’s a game changer and it’s exciting and there is big money behind it, because we have to do well for our kids.

They do an amazing job, our early childhood workforce, so this is our chance to invest in them and grow and set children up for that best start of life.

Continue reading...

Chris Dawson asked if teammate knew anyone who could ‘get rid of’ his wife, court hears

Posted on by

Defence raises questions about credibility of witness who claims Dawson meant getting rid of his wife Lynette Dawson ‘for good’

On a crowded flight from the Gold Coast in 1975, Christopher Michael Dawson asked one of his fellow rugby league players whether he knew someone who could get rid of his wife, a court has heard.

Giving evidence at Dawson’s murder trial on Thursday, Robert Charles Silkman said the conversation occurred after the Newtown Jets team had been on a short holiday on the Gold Coast.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Craig Kelly’s adviser Frank Zumbo used ‘power and control’ to sexually touch staff, court told

Posted on by

Zumbo is accused by five women of 20 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault and has pleaded not guilty to all charges

Former MP Craig Kelly’s office manager promised young female staffers career development and mentoring but instead used his “power and control” to allegedly sexually touch them.

Francesco Zumbo, 55, faced Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Wednesday accused by five women of 20 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault between 2014 and 2020.

Continue reading...

National electricity market suspended as NSW residents told to conserve power to reduce blackout risk

Posted on by

Australian Energy Market Operator suspends spot market after it became ‘impossible to operate’ amid projected energy shortfalls

Australia’s main wholesale electricity market has been suspended by regulators in the latest sign that the crisis threatening the stability of energy supplies is deepening.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) took the drastic step of suspending the entire national electricity market for the first time in its history on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

‘Not a 24-hour operation’: Shane Fitzsimmons defends Resilience NSW response to floods

Posted on by

Inquiry hears of residents’ anger that disaster agencies treated flood response as a ‘nine-to-five job’

New South Wales disaster management agencies have defended their rescue and recovery response to the record-breaking floods that claimed 13 lives earlier this year.

An upper house committee inquiry also heard that fewer than 10% of flood victims across the state have received crucial disaster relief funds.

Continue reading...

NSW residents urged to conserve power – as it happened

Posted on by

Paul Erickson speaks at National Press Club; Bowen says energy system ‘under pressure’; AEC says it will not conduct a recount in federal seat of Gilmore; foreign affairs minister’s first trip to Solomon Islands since security deal with China; Victoria records 18 Covid deaths, NSW records 14. This blog is now closed

Quick note:

NSW is reporting 7,260 new Covid cases and 14 deaths this morning.

Continue reading...

Most emergency patients in NSW seen within 30 minutes during Omicron outbreak, report suggests

Posted on by

NSW Health secretary says emergency departments remain under significant pressure due to high Covid-19 and flu cases

During the peak of the Omicron outbreak the majority of emergency department patients in New South Wales were seen within 30 minutes, a new report from the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) has revealed.

The report, which covers the period of January to March 2022, looks at how the health system coped with the thousands of daily Covid cases during the Omicron wave.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Fastest-growing black hole of past 9bn years may have been found, Australian-led astronomers say

Posted on by

Scientists spot extremely luminous object powered by supermassive black hole using Coonabarabran telescope

Astronomers believe they have discovered the fastest-growing black hole of the past 9bn years.

The supermassive black hole consumes the equivalent of one Earth every second and has the mass of 3bn suns, they estimate.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

NSW education department launches legal action against teachers union over May strikes

Posted on by

State government accuses New South Wales Teachers Federation of breaching orders from Industrial Relations Commission

The New South Wales Teachers Federation is facing potential court-ordered penalties because of widespread strikes in May over pay and conditions in public schools.

In a lawsuit, the state’s Department of Education accused the union of breaching orders made by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) in November last year ordering it to refrain from further industrial action.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Court hears claims Lynette Dawson was seen alive in months after her 1982 disappearance

Posted on by

Chris Dawson’s murder trial hears audio recordings of Ross Hutcheon telling police of alleged Sydney sighting

Lynette Dawson’s brother-in-law claimed he saw her alive in Sydney after she disappeared in 1982, the New South Wales supreme court has heard.

In the murder trial of Chris Dawson on Tuesday, audio recordings were played of an interview Ross Hutcheon, Dawson’s brother-in-law, gave to police in March 2019 and evidence he gave to the local court in February 2020.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Electricity consumers in Queensland cut use to avoid blackouts as NSW and Victoria face shortages

Posted on by

Market operator in talks with large consumers as country faces energy crisis mainly due to poorly performing coal-fired generators

Some of Queensland’s biggest consumers agreed to cut their power use on Monday to help the grid avoid blackouts, and similar requests could be made in New South Wales and Victoria on Tuesday if regulators maintain forecasts for potential electricity shortfalls.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) on Monday afternoon started talks with big consumers under its Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (Rert) scheme to head off a gap projected at one stage to be 1,454 megawatts in Queensland at 5.30pm.

Continue reading...

Radio host set up meeting with Teacher’s Pet reporter and NSW police commissioner, court told

Posted on by

Police ‘stonewalled’ questions from podcast host Hedley Thomas on Lynette Dawson case until Ben Fordham intervened, judgement reveals

Talkback radio host Ben Fordham brokered a meeting between an investigative reporter and then New South Wales police commissioner, Mick Fuller, to discuss a podcast series on a missing Sydney mother, according to a 2020 court judgement which can now be reported.

Fuller then directed other officers, including the detective investigating the alleged murder of the woman, Lynette Dawson, to attend the meeting with The Australian’s Hedley Thomas, after NSW police had “stonewalled” earlier inquiries by Thomas, according to the decision.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Matt Kean accused of ‘treachery’ by NSW Liberal colleague David Elliott over messages to journalist

Posted on by

Transport minister says he is ‘disgusted’ with treasurer over messages that allegedly asked reporter to question PM about Katherine Deves

The New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, has accused his Liberal colleague Matt Kean of “treachery” during the federal election, after the treasurer was accused of telling a journalist to grill Scott Morrison over the controversial preselection of the anti-trans activist Katherine Deves.

Elliott on Monday told Sydney radio station 2GB he was “disgusted” with Kean over a report in the Australian that suggested the treasurer had asked a journalist to push both Morrison and the NSW roads minister Natalie Ward on comments made by Deves in the lead-up to the May poll.

Continue reading...