Flooded catchments and sewage spills have forced the closure of harvesting areas across the state
NSW oysters will be off the menu this Easter long weekend with prolonged heavy rains and flooding forcing the state’s food authority to close every harvesting area across the state.
Overflowing catchments and sewage spills, caused by extreme rainfall, have left the industry reeling during a period that is normally one of its busiest.
Continue reading...Nurses are being flown in from interstate amid staffing shortage after 30 positive cases reported, including inside the Alzheimer’s unit
Nurses are being flown in from interstate to ease staffing shortages at a far western New South Wales aged care facility where four residents have died with Covid over the past fortnight.
The fourth death at St Anne’s in Broken Hill was confirmed on Wednesday after the outbreak first hit the facility in late March, with 30 people so far testing positive.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...University of Newcastle scientists suggest frozen sperm could be used to impregnate females in breed-for-release programs
Freezing koala sperm could become a key part of a strategy to save koalas from extinction by 2050.
University of Newcastle scientists Lachlan Howell and Ryan Witt say koala “biobanking”, could be harnessed with IVF technology to help the endangered species reproduce.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Deputy PM promises $1.5bn investment for new Darwin port; Labor senator takes shot at Coalition’s ‘dodgy costings unit’; Scott Morrison promises to create 1.3m new jobs in the next five years; Anthony Albanese announces greater mental health support for regions; nation records 38 more Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news
Scott Morrison has called in to Adelaide radio station FiveAA to speak with David Penberthy.
Penberthy wanted to know whether Morrison’s standing contributed to the collapse in the Liberal party’s vote in the recent South Australian state election.
It’s a federal election.
It’s a macro number that we do right across the economy.
I think prime minister Ardern was appropriate when she said she wasn’t going to engage in a domestic election in Australia. I would say this – this is a recommendation of the royal commission. This is a recommendation that arises out of the situation that we see older Australians facing. Neglect, people are being neglected.
Now, what we are saying is let’s work to bring in more nurses to the sector ... a lot of nurses leave the sector every year, or leave their employer. We need to train more Australians to get into this workforce, and yes, as is currently the place, migration will be part of the story but not all of the story.
Continue reading...Freefall ride appears to have started while the four-year-old boy’s harness remained above his head
Organisers of Sydney’s Royal Easter Show have shut down a ride and launched an investigation after a four-year-old boy was not secured to his seat.
An image posted to social media appears to show the freefall ride had begun with a young boy on the end seat sitting with his harness still raised above his head, while other riders’ harnesses were locked down. The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...The PM campaigned in Gilmore in NSW, while Labor leader is in Bass in Tasmania; Tanya Plibersek defends Anthony Albanese after opposition leader addresses his rates stumble; phone voting available for people in isolation on election day; NSW reports three Covid deaths and Victoria one. This blog is now closed
Scott Morrison just appeared on ABC breakfast TV, where he was asked about his relationship with the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance.
Q: Andrew Constance said that you got the welcome that you deserved [in the region after the bushfires]. Emotions are still running deep in the bushfire-affected communities. Are you concerned about that being repeated today?
With Andrew Constance being part of my team and choosing to be part of that team, I think that that addresses it. Andrew and I spoke not long after the terrible experiences that particularly he and others and so many went through, and we worked the issue. We ensured that we addressed thing like small business payment and we got the money on the grouped and supported people in the areas that the federal government were responsible for. And I really thank Andrew for the way that we came together and really started to work together to address those issues. He’s a fine advocate for this part of Australia on the south coast of New South Wales.
He’s demonstrated that time again. And the fact that he wants to be part of my team and is running here as our Liberal candidate in Gilmore, I think that that addresses those issues fairly, squarely, that we’ve actually addressed the short comings that he was outlining at the time and we’ve gone forward with a strong plan to ensure that we’re providing that support. Not just in relation to the fires, but in relation to other natural disasters. And we’ve seen so many of those over the last three years.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison says federal election about choosing between ‘a government you know and a Labor opposition you don’t’; Anthony Albanese says ‘Australians deserve better’ at campaign launch; at least 13 more deaths from Covid. This blog is now closed
Very glad to report the ABC has a live feed of the PM’s plan taxiing along at Sydney airport. Thoroughly engaging stuff.
The ABC is now reporting the PM has jumped aboard the official prime ministerial jet at Sydney airport, heading to Canberra.
Continue reading...Tony Ikin, a dog breeder, had been travelling to Royal Easter Show when his car was submerged at Cobbity
A UK-born man has died after being caught in flood water on the outskirts of Sydney.
The body of the 68-year-old was found in his van on Friday morning at Cobbity about 43 miles south-west of Sydney’s central business district, New South Wales police said in a statement.
Continue reading...Qantas apologises to family who missed international trip because of domestic flight delays
Long queues at Sydney airport’s domestic terminals have continued for a third day, with some passengers missing international connections, as the airport warns delays resulting from a surge in travellers and a shortfall in security staff could continue for weeks.
Chaotic scenes were reported in the departure halls as early as 4.30am on Saturday, with some frustrated travellers, many of whom heeded the pleas of airport chiefs to arrive at least two hours before their domestic flight was due to take off, claiming only one security line was operating.
Continue reading...Judge describes Michael Rollinson’s conduct as a ‘breathtaking and flagrant disregard’ for the court’s authority
A New South Wales barrister who continued to work as a lawyer despite not having a practising certificate – including in a case before the high court – has been sentenced to a suspended jail term.
Michael Rollinson pleaded guilty to three counts of contempt in the NSW supreme court last month. In orders released by the court on Friday, NSW supreme court Justice Robert Beech-Jones described his conduct as “breathtaking”.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Ukraine ambassador flags need for further support from Australia; RBA says potential rate rises to hit borrowers’ repayments; PM says election call ‘won’t be very long from now’; Russia bans 228 Australian officials; NSW records first ‘Deltacron’ cases as nation records at least 30 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
Australian Border Force officials searched 822 travellers’ mobile phones in 2021, despite admitting it has no power to force arrivals to give them the passcode to their devices.
In January, Sydney software developer James told Guardian Australia that he and his partner were stopped on their return from Fiji by border force officials who asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper before taking the codes and their phones to another room to examine for half an hour. The phones were then returned and they were allowed to leave.
It will be a big win for the Ukrainian forces in their attempts to stare down the barbaric efforts of the Russian forces.
Continue reading...Schools closed and residents ordered to leave as torrential rain falls on Sydney and already saturated catchments
Dozens of evacuation orders have been issued for parts of south-west Sydney with the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers expected to reach major flood levels on Friday.
Water levels at the Upper Nepean River at Wallacia were tipped to exceed last month’s flood peak, while the Hawkesbury at North Richmond was expected to reach 10.5 metres by 10am, and as high as 11.8 metres at noon – just below the level seen in the devastating floods in February 2020.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Seventeen asylum seekers expected to be released from detention; flood evacuation orders in NSW; Marise Payne meeting Nato members to discuss Ukraine; NSW records 16 Covid deaths and 22,255 new infections; Victoria records four deaths and 12,314 new infections; WA records 7,998 new infections and three deaths over past weeks; Queensland records seven deaths and 10,984 new cases. Follow all the day’s news live
The man seeking a high court challenge against federal intervention in NSW Liberal preselections has been expelled from the party.
In an escalation of the factional stoush, Matthew Camenzuli has asked the high court to prevent Scott Morrison’s hand-picked candidates from receiving Liberal endorsement on ballot papers pending the urgent case.
Continue reading...Residents in suburbs including Woronora, Bonnet Bay and Chipping Norton, near Liverpool, told to leave as Bureau of Meteorology forecasts more heavy rain
Residents in parts of Sydney’s south have been ordered to evacuate their homes on Thursday with severe storms across the eastern part of New South Wales prompted flood warnings.
State Emergency Services in NSW ordered residents in low-lying parts of Woronora and Bonnet Bay, in Sydney’s south, to evacuate the area by 11:30am on Thursday, in anticipation of worsening rain and flash flooding.
Continue reading...PM abused and mocked in Edgeworth pub hours after man interrupts Anthony Albanese’s Perth press conference
Scott Morrison has been berated at length by a man angry about pensions and his government’s failure to legislate a federal integrity commission, during a visit to a pub in regional New South Wales.
The prime minister on Thursday shrugged off the exchange from the night before, saying he was “keen to understand” the man’s issues and that he enjoyed hearing from people in the community.
Continue reading...Lawyer’s wife still in critical condition while second son stable after rockslide in Blue Mountains near Sydney
Tributes have been paid to a British lawyer and his nine-year-old son killed in a landslide while on holiday in Australia.
Mehraab Nazir, 49, had been hiking with his family in the Wentworth Pass area of the Blue Mountains, a national park west of Sydney, on Monday when they were caught in the rockslide. His and his son’s bodies were recovered the next morning.
Continue reading...Matthew Camenzuli expelled from Liberal party after seeking leave to appeal preselections ruling in high court; Scott Morrison says he has been ‘upfront with Australian people’ about running full term; Albanese calls Berejiklian a ‘straight talker’ after second round of leaked texts; at least 23 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
New text messages from former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian have emerged, building on former leaks and labelling Scott Morrison “obsessed with petty political pointscoring.”
News.com.au has reported it has received a second screenshot of text messages between Berejiklian and a mystery cabinet minister, in which she says she is “so, so disappointed,” in Morrison:
Thx. I’m just so so disappointed. Lives are at stake today and he is just obsessed with petty political pointscoring. So disappointed and gutted.
We’ve seen unprecedented collaboration with both the local government and state government, with support being delivered in record time … we were able to get $3bn of recovery support out, in just over the first three weeks – that’s a record number of people supported.
The PM has written to Premier Perrottet to say we’re very happy to share in costs of that program ... but the PM has made clear that it’s for the one-in-500-year flood event.
Continue reading...Education department probes complaints about Katoomba high school’s response to claims of harassment among students
The principal of a Blue Mountains high school has had a prestigious Harvard scholarship put on hold while her school is investigated by the New South Wales Department of Education.
The internal departmental investigation comes on top of two court cases involving staff or students at the school.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Foreign and defence ministers label Putin a ‘war criminal’; major Optus mobile network outage; ministers respond to criticism of Scott Morrison; NSW records 12 Covid deaths and 19,183 new infections; Victoria records eight deaths and 12,007 new infections. Follow all the latest updates live
Another senior Liberal has taken aim at Scott Morrison, accusing him of “self-serving ruthless bullying” and claiming he has “ruined” the Liberal party.
Catherine Cusack, a NSW Liberal who announced two weeks ago she would resign from the Legislative Council over her anger about flood relief, adds her voice to a growing chorus of critics of Morrison from within his own party in an opinion piece for Guardian Australia.
The concerns over the prime minister’s character are now well established, and they’re well established not by the Labor party, but the people who know him best.
I mean his own deputy prime minister called him a liar and a hypocrite*. These people know him best, they’ve served in cabinet with him, in the Liberal party with him over a period of many years ...
Continue reading...A fifth member of the family, who were holidaying in Australia from the UK, is being treated for shock
Crews have worked into the night to retrieve the bodies of a British man and his son after five members of the same family were caught in a landslip in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
The nine-year-old boy and his 49-year-old father died at the scene at Wentworth Pass, New South Wales police said.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...