Category Archives: New South Wales

Sydneysiders avoiding CBD after Covid ‘reset’ on working habits

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Average weekday trips into city on public transport still down 55% compared with pre-pandemic levels

Public transport use continues to lag across Sydney and trips to city offices and entertainment venues remain low, with average daily weekday trips still down 55% on pre-pandemic levels.

Trips rose just 1% between February and March, despite the indoor mask mandate – which had been attributed as a leading cause of the sluggish return to offices – dropping more than a month ago.

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Australia live news update: man drowns at Sydney beach; Labor’s Katy Gallagher says ‘mean girls’ label ‘diminishes women’; 11 Covid deaths

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Man drowns on Sydney’s northern beaches; Labor senator Katy Gallagher says she had no ‘difficult arguments’ with Kimberley Kitching beyond what was normal in politics; Victoria records five Covid deaths and 7,466 new cases; NSW records one death and 17,450 new cases; Queensland records 7,738 new cases and one death; Western Australia records 7,197 new cases, four deaths. Follow developments live

The NSW Labor opposition has outlined a plan for the state to rebuild and recover from the devastating floods that have left about 1,500 people in emergency accommodation and damaged or destroyed about 95,000 homes, AAP reports.

The federal and New South Wales governments were too slow to act in the immediate response and have been too slow in their support, NSW Labor has said in a statement today.

The difference is, David, we’re looking for maximum community benefit and economic benefit while the government’s looking for maximum political benefit.

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Sydney commuters to get free public transport for 12 days in April

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Scheme is an attempt by NSW government to revitalise city centre and compensate for February train shutdown

Sydney commuters will get free public transport for 12 days in April, including over the Easter holidays, as the state government attempts to revitalise the CBD and make amends for last month’s 24-hour train shutdown.

The fare-free period will run from 14-26 April, which includes the Anzac Day public holiday. The announcement is part of an agreement to end a long-running dispute between the New South Wales government and the state’s rail union over pay and workplace conditions.

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Concetta Fierravanti-Wells dumped from Coalition’s NSW Senate ticket

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Liberals Marise Payne and Jim Molan take first and third spots with the Nationals’ Ross Cadell second

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and Jim Molan have been chosen to fill the first and third spots on the Coalition’s New South Wales Senate ticket for the coming election.

The decision by the Liberals on Saturday means the veteran Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who also contested the preselection, will not get a winnable spot on the ticket.

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Newcastle stabbing: woman killed and child found covered in blood after alleged domestic violence incident

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Woman, 21, dies after police called to a home unit in Crebert Street, Mayfield

A woman is dead and a man that police say was her former partner is in custody, following an alleged domestic violence-related stabbing in Newcastle.

Local commander Superintendent Wayne Humphrey said a three-year-old child also found at the scene was covered in blood but physically unharmed.

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Rising Covid cases force some schools in NSW and Victoria to return to remote learning

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State governments leave schools to decide on response as Covid outbreaks lead to widespread teacher shortages

Major staffing shortages have forced schools in New South Wales and Victoria back into remote learning as the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2 sees Covid cases rise.

NSW recorded 23,702 new Covid cases on Friday and seven deaths, with rates of infections in the state highest among those aged 10-19 years old. Victoria recorded 9,244 new cases and nine deaths.

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Future of popular NSW walking track through sacred site in doubt after floods

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Wollumbin track reopening delayed after floods, while hikers asked to reconsider climb out of respect for Indigenous sacred place

The fate of one of northern New South Wales’s most popular walking tracks remains uncertain after authorities chose to delay a controversial decision regarding its future for the fourth time.

Situated near the flood-hit town of Murwillumbah, Wollumbin national park previously attracted more than 100,000 visitors a year, and its summit is renowned as the first place in Australia to catch the sunrise.

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With numbers falling, the NSW government needs all the support it can get

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Analysis: Dominic Perrottet looks to the crossbench to help his minority government

It was purely coincidence that on Friday morning two ministers in the New South Wales government appeared at the opening of a new $341m hospital in Concord alongside the Drummoyne MP John Sidoti.

But the timing was fascinating.

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Australia news live update: 26 Covid deaths as Atagi recommends fourth jab; sanctions for Belarusian president; Lambie says refugee deal ‘a line in the sand’

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Jacqui Lambie says she did not regret supporting repeal of medevac laws; PM announces $58m funding for endometriosis care and treatment, and $81m for Medicare-supported genetic testing; new sanctions on Belarusian president and Russian propagandists; Peter Dutton says Australia has ‘fantastic’ relationship with Solomon Islands; nation records 26 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news live

And Victoria has reported 9,244 new cases and nine deaths overnight:

NSW has reported 23, 702 new Covid cases overnight and seven deaths:

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Star casino senior manager admits ‘knowingly misleading’ regulator on gambling junkets

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Inquiry hears building approval submission for a private gaming room failed to mention a window allowing junket operator to receive cash from players

A senior casino manager has admitted “knowingly misleading” the New South Wales gaming regulator about how gambling junkets operated inside a private high-roller wagering room at The Star Sydney.

Graeme Stevens, group compliance manager at Star Entertainment Group, resumed evidence on Friday at a royal commission-style inquiry into whether the gaming giant’s Sydney casino should keep its licence.

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Liberals select right-aligned candidate Simon Kennedy to run in Bennelong

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McKinsey partner who provided advice on jobkeeper replaces John Alexander in Sydney north shore seat

The Liberals have selected Simon Kennedy, a partner at consulting firm McKinsey, for the federal seat of Bennelong on Sydney’s north shore, in a branch plebiscite which again saw the right-aligned candidate trump the moderates’ preferred pick.

Kennedy, who is a relative newcomer to the party, won the ballot against Gisele Kapterian, a former ministerial staffer, 148 votes to 95. He replaces the former tennis star, John Alexander, who is retiring.

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Japanese encephalitis declared disease of national significance – as it happened

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Rex Patrick to reveal political intentions tomorrow after Nick Xenophon announces run for Senate; Japanese encephalitis declared disease of national significance; Liberals select candidate for Bennelong; fifth arrest this week over climate crisis protest; Morrison says having Putin at G20 ‘a step too far’; at least 35 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Here’s the latest on that rain to come, which is already hitting Sydney.

Australia is risking its economic security in a future crisis by being too dependent on foreign-flagged commercial ships, a former navy chief, Tim Barrett, has warned.

When push comes to shove, the place where the ship is registered is king. They can tell their ships where to go, what to do and what to carry. We don’t have an ability to do that except for the handful we have left.

To be entirely dependent on others is very concerning.

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Australia news live update: NSW government seeks to suspend MP facing charges; nation records 26 Covid deaths

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NSW government seeks to suspend Gareth Ward; Craig Foster lashes treatment of asylum seekers in National Press Club address; new research suggests long-lasting Covid immune response from vaccine-induced T-cells; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded; Atagi expected to green light fourth booster shots for some Australians. Follow all the day’s news live

David Koch:

Have you spoken to the “mean girls” – Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong – in the last week or so since Kimberly Kitching’s death about the allegations of bullying?

I think that term is really unfortunate.

She used it, it is not just us.

There is a lot of people speaking on other people’s behalf at the moment. I think that in politics, there are a range of people who are involved in party politics who play it pretty hard. One of those was Kimberly Kitching. She was somebody who engaged in politics and was passionate about her belief and from time to time that could produce some conflict. But it needs to be done in a way that is respectful, in a way that is understanding, and attempts to reach consensus.

It is rather bizarre ... I am always available and indeed I lobby regularly to be on the Sunrise program. I am always happy to discuss things with the media, but I won’t be taking lectures from a prime minister who visited Lismore and had strict streets shut off so victims of floods could not get near him.

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Climate change spat splits Lismore council in flood aftermath

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Motion thanking community should not be ‘political’ and reference to climate change was ‘piss poor’, councillor says

The Lismore council was gripped by in-fighting on Tuesday night over whether it should make references to “climate change” following the flood disaster and an eleventh-hour decision to pause its work on flood mitigation, despite warnings the “optics” of doing so were “not good”.

The disaster-ravaged town is still in the early stages of recovering from an unprecedented 14.37-metre flood, which wiped out thousands of homes and businesses and brought Lismore to its knees.

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Woman threatened by stranger with photos of her and Ben Roberts-Smith having sex, court told

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Woman who had affair with former SAS soldier tells defamation trial she was ‘simultaneously in love and afraid of him’

A woman who had an affair with Ben Roberts-Smith has told a court she was confronted by a stranger who showed her photos of her having sex with Roberts-Smith in a hotel room, and threatened to make them public if she didn’t confess the affair to the veteran’s wife.

The woman, anonymised before the court as Person 17, gave evidence about the torrid end of her affair with Roberts-Smith to the federal court Wednesday morning, saying she was “scared” he would “seek payback”.

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NSW Liberal MP criticised after speaking at anti-vaccination rally

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Tanya Davies says her government needs to end vaccine mandates, sparking criticism from Labor

The New South Wales Liberal MP Tanya Davies has hit out at her government over its Covid vaccination mandates for the public sector, claiming she has been working with the premier, Dominic Perrottet, to end them and get people back into jobs.

Speaking at an anti-vaccination rally outside parliament on Tuesday, the former minister said she was “dismayed” when her government introduced the measure and called for a return to “freedom”.

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SA hospitals under ‘extraordinary strain’; Perrottet asks MP to resign after charges – as it happened

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NSW MP Gareth Ward denies historic sexual abuse allegations; South Australian hospital system ‘under extraordinary strain’ new premier says, as at least 23 Covid deaths recorded nationally; Anthony Albanese proposes award in late Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching’s honour. This blog is now closed

Peter Malinauskas has promised to keep his shirt on from now on, after a photo of his muscled torso made quite a stir in the world of Australian politics.

ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas:

During the campaign, you were photographed shirtless in swimming shorts, and it caused a bit of a stir. I have to ask you ... the Australian’s Greg Sheridan said jokingly on [ABC] Insiders that you’re “far too good looking”. Which I thought was quite a statement. What have you made of the reaction to that picture?

Do you have any idea how much grief I’ve copped around the place as a result of that?

Have they told you just to buff to be premier?

They’ve piled it on, let me tell you. I haven’t stopped copping it, and I deserve every bit of it.

We were announcing a big investment at our major aquatics centre here in South Australia and a whole bunch of us jumped in for a swim in our boardies with our kids there. And, yeah, it got a bit more attention than I anticipated, fair to say.

So you’re going to keep your shirt on from now on?

Damn straight!

I think we’re about to see a federal election where a cost of living is a front and centre issue. And I think Australians get the price of petrol, but they can’t control the price of groceries.

The way we address cost of living as a nation is to start having an incomes policy focus on how we improve working in small businesses to improve the productivity of their labour, so they can earn a higher income. And that’s why education, training and skills is so important.

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Australia news live update: mourners farewell Kimberley Kitching; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as SA premier; six Covid deaths recorded

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Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s funeral held in Melbourne; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as new SA premier; Morrison and Palaszczuk announce infrastructure funding package; Lismore flood victims to dump debris at protest; at least six Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

For almost four years Suzanna Sheed has started each parliamentary sitting week by moving the same motion.

The independent MP for Shepparton, a rural electorate of almost 50,000 people in northern Victoria, asks for a non-government business program to be reinstated in the state’s lower house.

They’re having a real impact on people right now, so we’ve been conscious of that. But what we do as a government is we don’t have knee-jerk reactions, we think through carefully how we can best provide the sort of support that we believe the federal government can deliver.

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Flood-affected Lismore residents with nowhere to go return to homes deemed uninhabitable

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Exclusive: Multiple families who evacuated during the NSW floods left with no choice but to move back home in recent days

Residents in Lismore have been left with no choice but to move back into their houses that have been deemed uninhabitable, with some sleeping on swags in mouldy rooms without electricity, as they are unable to find safe accommodation three weeks after floods devastated the town.

In South Lismore – a low-lying part of the town that bore the brunt of historic flooding this year and an area well known for attracting residents seeking affordable housing – Guardian Australia spoke with multiple residents who had evacuated town following the floods but had returned to their homes in recent days.

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Josh Frydenberg open to intervening in insurance market as climate change pushes up premiums

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Treasurer says he’s conscious premiums too high for many people in disaster-prone areas, but says more work needed on a proposal to extend reinsurance scheme

Josh Frydenberg has flagged he is “open” to further market interventions making insurance more affordable, but says more preparatory work will need to be done before the Morrison government would extend its $10bn cyclone reinsurance pool in northern Australia to cover more natural disasters.

In an interview with Guardian Australia ahead of the budget on 29 March, the treasurer said he was conscious that a changing climate rendered insurance problematic in some parts of Australia.

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