Category Archives: New South Wales

Pacific nations ‘very positive’ on re-engagement, PM says – as it happened

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Bushmaster reportedly destroyed in fighting in Ukraine; nation records 30 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Finance minister Katy Gallagher is speaking now to ABC Insiders host David Speers. She says Labor faces “a very serious set of economic and budget challenges, and we don’t want to pretend it is anything but that”.

Q: Are you saying that the figures that were produced showing deficits totalling $224bn over the next four years – were they accurate or not?

Well, they are certainly the numbers that the finance department and the Treasury signed off on in the election campaign, but I think the point we are making is that there is a range of spending that we are having a look at in the budget and there is also clearly some huge budget pressures coming.

I guess in those areas – health, aged care, the NDIS, defence, national security – where there are all of them growing faster than GDP and going to play significant pressure on the budget going forward …

I haven’t had many moments to reflect, I’ve got to say ... it’s been a busy time. But I do understand the great responsibility that I have – I’m humbled by it. It says a lot about our great country that the son of a single mum, who was an invalid pensioner living in council housing, can rise to lead the country as prime minister and I’ll never take it for granted. I’ll honour it every day and I’ll do my best. That’s not to say I’ll be perfect, because none of us are, but I’ll try to keep it real on the way through and continue to keep my feet on the ground, because I think that is really important as well.

Australians are generous people and I think that they’ll give us a go. I get the sense out there that they want us to succeed. And I had people who didn’t vote for us as well, who said to me, we really want you to succeed for the sake of the country. So we’ll do our best.

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‘Slimy stuff everywhere’: Sydneysiders warned to tread carefully

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Scientist says explosion of mosses ‘almost like a rainforest’, as council tries to lower risk of falls

Booming growth of moss and algae, falling autumn leaves and persistent wet weather have created a slippery threat to Sydney’s safety that has sparked increased footpath cleaning and a warning for people to be careful.

The City Of Sydney said the issue of slippery paths around the CBD had become so serious that it had changed its seasonal routines.

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Australia news live update: Australian man dies in Ukraine; Coalition ‘dropped the ball’ on Pacific engagement, Albanese says as Samoa signs China agreement

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Prime minister says Labor ‘won’t drop the ball’ as Samoa signs agreement with China; the Greens’ Stephen Bates claims victory in seat of Brisbane. Follow all the day’s news

Nationals MP Darren Chester reportedly told Barnaby Joyce of his intention to challenge him for the leadership in the party’s group chat.

May we all strive to have such chaotic group chat energy.

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AMA urges federal government to fix ‘broken’ health system as NSW paramedics protest shortages

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Dr Omar Khorshid calls on commonwealth to work with states as union protests ambulance ramping and staffing shortages in NSW

The head of the Australian Medical Association says the federal government must “stop the blame game” and step in to relieve state and territory health systems buckling under high demand.

The AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, said the federal government had to “accept its responsibility for our national health system” and “sit down” with the states to resolve the issues during an appearance on Weekend Sunrise on Saturday.

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Father Bob Maguire adds to criticism of NSW government’s voluntary assisted dying laws

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Catholic Weekly called on to apologise over editorial comparing new rights to the Holocaust

The maverick Catholic figure Father Bob Maguire has criticised New South Wales’ premier and the state’s parliament for passing voluntary assisted dying laws, after a scathing editorial on the legislation was published in the Catholic Weekly.

On Friday Jewish groups put pressure on the newspaper, funded by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, to apologise and amend the piece, which compared the new laws with the Holocaust and criticised Dominic Perrottet’s leadership.

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Sydney CBD health warning issued over Legionnaires’ disease outbreak

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Visitors to the city in the past 10 days advised to look out for symptoms after five people admitted to hospital

People who have visited the Sydney CBD in the past 10 days are being warned to watch out for symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease after five people were admitted to hospital with related cases of pneumonia.

The five people – two women and three men, ranging in age from their 40s to 70s – visited locations in the CBD including Museum station, York St, Park St and Martin Place in the 10 days before their symptoms appeared.

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Lawyers call on NSW premier to urgently review thousands of Covid fines

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Law Society argues many fines issued to vulnerable residents are invalid, unfair and could trap disadvantaged people in debt

The Law Society of New South Wales has called on the premier, Dominic Perrottet, to “urgently” review thousands of Covid fines issued to the state’s most vulnerable, warning many were invalid, unfair, and have caused the disadvantaged to amass “debt they are unable to pay”.

Earlier this year, the Guardian revealed that small towns with high Indigenous populations and western Sydney suburbs home to the city’s most socioeconomically disadvantaged residents bore the brunt of Covid fines during the ramp-up in enforcement in the Delta outbreak.

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Election 2022 live: Dai Le dismisses eligibility concerns; doctors welcome Covid booster expansion as 41 deaths recorded

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Eligibility for fourth dose of Covid vaccine extended; ‘don’t think we’ve got a better choice’ for Liberal leader, Dave Sharma says of Peter Dutton; at least 41 coronavirus deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s developments

The SMH has some interesting lines from the Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who says his party were punished for being “too focused on themselves”.

While Gilmore remains on a knife-edge, the former state government minister said he was not surprised by the outcome of the election, warning the Liberal party that it needed to refocus on community concerns:

The party has been too introverted and too focused on itself.

It has to recognise its broad-based appeal is not sectional interest. The party exists for the community … there’s no such thing as a “heartland” in Australian politics.

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New affirmative consent campaign tackles issue head-on, experts say

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‘Make No Doubt’ videos aim to provide young people with tools to give and ask for consent, launched one week before NSW law change

Party pashes, drunken encounters and booty-call texts – these are some of the scenarios featured in a campaign being rolled out on social media before new affirmative sexual consent laws coming into effect in New South Wales next week.

It is hoped the short, simple videos – depicting scenes that young people could find themselves in – will equip the target group of 16- to 24-year-olds with the tools to give and ask for consent, and respect when someone says “no”.

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‘Itchy, yucky, unpleasant’: wet weather brings leech invasion to NSW suburbs

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Residents tell of close encounters with the blood-sucking creatures which are spreading because of high rain and humidity

Relentless rainfall has sparked a leech invasion in New South Wales, with no reprieve in sight for already damp dwellings.

The blood-sucking creatures have been attracted into suburban areas, where higher than normal rainfall and humidity are providing suitable conditions to feed.

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Sydney woman found guilty of murdering her mother and staging a home invasion

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Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez strangled and stabbed her mother, but continues to deny any involvement

A woman found guilty of murder has wiped away tears as she continued to deny strangling and stabbing her mother to death two decades ago.

“I don’t understand, I didn’t do it,” Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez said to her legal counsel in the New South Wales supreme court on Wednesday.

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Delayed response to drug use report due to ‘competing views’, NSW premier says

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Dominic Perrottet insists government will respond shortly to the ‘complicated issues’ raised by 2018 inquiry into ice addiction

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has conceded there are “competing views” in his cabinet over a landmark inquiry that recommended the complete decriminalisation of drug possession.

Perrottet said his government would respond “very shortly” to the findings of the special commission into ice addiction – commissioned in 2018 – after the Guardian revealed there was still no response to the report.

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High number of invalid votes in culturally diverse seats prompts concerns after federal election

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Big disparities in the informal vote across the nation spark fresh questions about compulsory preferential voting

More than one in 10 votes were ruled invalid in the multicultural seat of Fowler, raising serious questions about whether explanations of Australia’s compulsory preferential voting system are getting through.

Fowler, in Sydney’s south-west, has one of the highest non-English-speaking populations, many of whom have come to Australia as refugees from countries with very different political systems.

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Lynette Dawson seen with bruises on throat before she disappeared, Chris Dawson murder trial hears

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A colleague at childcare centre where Lynette Dawson worked tells court she saw bruises in January 1982

Chris Dawson’s wife Lynette was seen with bruises around her throat three days before she disappeared in 1982, a Sydney court has been told.

Annette Leary gave evidence in Dawson’s murder trial on Monday saying she had seen Lynette Dawson with the bruises at the Sydney children’s centre where they both worked.

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NSW government told it cannot dock pay of MP charged with sexual abuse

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Former minister Gareth Ward, who has professed his innocence, has already been suspended from parliament

The New South Wales government has been told it cannot strip suspended MP Gareth Ward of his pay, staff or other entitlements without enacting new legislation, a step it should not take because it “may be vulnerable to legal challenge”.

Ward, the MP for Kiama, was suspended from the state’s parliament in March after he was charged over allegations of sexual abuse against a man and a 17-year-old boy. The suspension came after legal advice found the government could not expel Ward from the parliament.

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Lismore braces for more flooding amid storm warnings for south-west Western Australia

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Northern NSW continues to be hammered by rain and Queensland’s south-east back on flood watch

Lismore residents are being warned they could be hit with more floods as rain continues in northern New South Wales.

The region has already endured repeated severe flooding in recent months and the Bureau of Meteorology said more could be on the way after rain over the weekend.

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Independent who beat Kristina Keneally in western Sydney seat says Labor was ‘arrogant’

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Incoming MP for Fowler Dai Le says decision to parachute Keneally into diverse electorate was a ‘slap in the face’ to locals

The independent candidate who defied a national swing towards Labor by defeating Kristina Keneally in the formerly safe seat of Fowler in Sydney’s south-west says the party was punished for its “arrogance” in parachuting the former NSW premier into the seat.

As vote counting continued on Sunday, the party’s abject showing in Fowler marked a stunning outlier to the national result.

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NSW government underspent on PPE and mental health, audit of $7.5bn Covid spending finds

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Auditor general says state agencies forked out close to $200m on faulty imported masks and ventilators

The New South Wales government underspent on personal protective equipment and mental health services and forked out close to $200m on faulty imported masks and ventilators as part of the state’s $7.5bn pandemic expenditure, a review has found.

The auditor general released a detailed report on Friday after examining the state’s spending from the first case detected in January 2020 to the middle of 2021.

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Chris Dawson’s former student tells court she wanted his missing wife to come back

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Woman known as JC told Dawson’s murder trial she felt obliged to move in with him and had wanted to return to her life as a 17-year-old

Chris Dawson’s former student and babysitter has admitted working on a book titled The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and His Wife, but denied it was because she wanted revenge.

Questioned by defence barrister Pauline David in the NSW supreme court on Friday, the woman known only as JC rejected the suggestion her claims she had been Dawson’s sex slave were a good way to sell her book.

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Australian federal election 2022 live: Plibersek says Albanese has a ‘tough job’ as polls tighten

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AEC concedes some Covid-positive Australians ‘may not be able to vote’: prime minister responds after Labor announces policy costings; Covid and illness lead to drop in working hours; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments live

Scott and Jenny Morrison are visiting Whitemore in the Labor-held electorate of Lyons in Tasmania this morning.

Brian Mitchell holds Lyons on a margin of 5.2%, although his buffer was inflated by the disendorsement of his Liberal opponent mid-campaign in 2019 for anti-Islamic social media posts. Morrison is still on the offence, seeking gains to offset expected losses elsewhere.

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