Category Archives: New South Wales

NSW psychiatrist quit when workload threatened patient safety, court hears

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Dr Suzanna Goodison’s evidence before Industrial Relations Commission part of the push by doctors union to stem exodus of specialists from the public system

A New South Wales psychiatrist who was asked to take on the workload of two public hospitals quit because the amount of work was “untenable” and compromised patient safety, a court has heard.

Dr Suzanna Goodison appeared as a witness for the doctors union, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (Asmof), on day two of its arbitration with NSW Health in the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) court in Sydney. Asmof is seeking a special levy to increase its members’ pay by 25% to stem the flow of specialist doctors leaving the public system.

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Ex-boyfriend rehearsed murder of Sydney school coach Lilie James with ‘dry runs’, inquest hears

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Dutch national Paul Thijssen killed St Andrew’s Cathedral school water polo coach in October 2023 before killing himself in Sydney’s eastern suburbs

Paul Thijssen stalked his ex-girlfriend Lilie James and meticulously rehearsed how he would attack the 21-year-old water polo coach in a school bathroom before murdering her, a coronial inquest into their deaths has heard.

James’s body was found with serious head injuries in a gymnasium bathroom at St Andrew’s Cathedral school, where she worked, in October 2023.

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‘Heartbreaking’: poisoning suspected after mass deaths of more than 150 little corellas in Newcastle

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Hunter Wildlife Rescue started receiving numerous reports of sick and dead birds on Monday, centred on the suburbs Hamilton and Carrington

New South Wales authorities are investigating the possible poisoning and mass deaths of more than 150 little corellas in Newcastle.

Kate Randolph, the acting president of Hunter Wildlife Rescue, described the incident as “extremely confronting” and said volunteers and local vets were doing everything they could to rescue surviving, severely sick birds.

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Palestine Action Group launches legal challenge against controversial NSW laws restricting protests

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Group claims laws rushed through after wave of antisemitism in state are ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘undemocratic’

A legal challenge has been launched against controversial New South Wales laws aimed at curbing antisemitism and which give police broad powers to restrict protests near places of worship.

The Palestine Action Group filed the challenge in the NSW supreme court on Monday, arguing in the statement of claim that the laws were invalid because the change “impermissibly burdens the implied [commonwealth] constitutional freedom of communication on government or political matters”.

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Minns accused of ‘fuelling division’ after Lismore residents allegedly harassed on squatters’ street

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Police called after reports of abuse, thrown objects on street where NSW premier ordered homes to be demolished

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has been accused of “fuelling division” and “dog-whistling”, after residents of a Lismore street were allegedly attacked and terrorised in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The alleged incidents were labelled “vigilante attacks” by a NSW state MP, who has urged the premier to “call for calm and walk back from his threats to demolish homes”.

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NSW police say off-duty officers’ shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar boom’ after dispute with Muslim man were ‘banter between friends’

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‘The chanting you heard was not directed at you in any way,’ inspector tells Sydney man who complained about neighbour’s Christmas party in Glenmore Park

A NSW police internal investigation has found that off-duty officers who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar boom” and “Hezbollah” at a Christmas party after a verbal dispute with a Muslim man who lived next door were indulging in “banter between friends”.

The incident allegedly took place on 13 December at Glenmore Park in western Sydney, after the man complained to his neighbours about water from their swimming pool leaking into his property.

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NSW Labor divided over Chris Minns’ plan to extend controversial youth bail laws

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Exclusive: MLC Stephen Lawrence tells party room government is putting state on ‘slippery slope’ to more punitive approach

The New South Wales premier is facing growing internal dissent over his plan to extend controversial youth bail laws, with one MP telling caucus the laws had put the government on a “slippery slope”.

Sources say Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence – a former barrister and one-time mayor of Dubbo – argued during a February meeting that the government was on a path whereby it could adopt further punitive approaches because the laws introduced a year ago weren’t working.

If crime wasn’t going down there could be calls for even tougher measures, leading to a dangerous downward spiral, Lawrence suggested.

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Female prisoner allegedly sexually abused for years by prison guard settles with NSW government

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Woman alleged she was raped when the department of justice already knew Wayne Astill was ‘abusing his position towards female inmates’

A female prisoner allegedly sexually abused for years by a senior prison guard will be paid an undisclosed sum as part of a New South Wales government settlement in an ongoing class action.

Court documents filed to the NSW supreme court reveal that the woman, known as GP1, alleged she was raped when the department of justice already knew Wayne Astill, a prison guard, “was abusing his position toward female inmates”.

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NSW bans hay imports from south-east Queensland amid fear of fire ants after Cyclone Alfred

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Invasive Species Council says moratorium a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ to inadequacy of national eradication program

New South Wales has temporarily banned the import of hay from parts of south-east Queensland as a precaution against invasive fire ants, which are on the move in large numbers thanks to flooding from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

But the Invasive Species Council said the move is a Band-Aid response and accused the Queensland, NSW and federal governments of dropping the ball in suppressing fire ant numbers within infested areas.

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Former cricketer Stuart MacGill guilty over cocaine deal but acquitted of major drug supply

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Sydney court finds leg-spinner arranged meeting between dealer and brother-in-law but jury dismissed he knew quantity

Former Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill knew he was taking part in a cocaine deal but was oblivious about the large scale of the exchange that began under his restaurant, a jury has found.

The leg-spinner was acquitted by a Sydney district court jury on Thursday of taking part in a large commercial drug supply in April 2021.

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Two women face court charged with manslaughter after home-birth death of NSW baby

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Police allege 41-year-old woman was practising as an unregistered midwife while another woman, 51, held no medical qualifications and was also unregistered when baby died

Two women who police allege practised as unregistered midwives have been charged with manslaughter after a baby died after a home birth on the New South Wales mid north coast.

The women, aged 41 and 51, appeared in Coffs Harbour local court on Wednesday in relation to the newborn boy’s death in 2022.

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Expert concerned as large rafts of invasive fire ants seen floating in flood waters after Cyclone Alfred

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Kirsty McKenna filmed entire colonies clinging on to debris, ready to make nests on dry ground in Queensland and beyond

Fire ants are forming rafts to survive and travel on flood waters caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in south-east Queensland as experts warn extreme weather events could sweep the highly invasive species into other parts of Australia.

Footage captured in the Scenic Rim and northern Gold Coast in recent days shows red imported fire ants (Rifas) grouping together and floating on flood waters. Clumps of the ants can then be seen forming nests on previously uninfested land after waters receded.

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Sydney writers’ festival 2025: tallying authors’ views on Israel-Gaza ‘tokenistic and unfortunate’, organisers say

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After the shock resignation of the festival’s chair, the Sydney writers’ festival unveils its starry 2025 program in ‘an incredibly polarised environment’

Over the past two years, programming a writers’ festival has become one of the most politically fraught undertakings in the Australian cultural sphere. Both Sydney and Melbourne writers’ festivals have seen board members resign over programming decisions, while Adelaide and Perth have fended off calls for the de-platforming of speakers on both sides of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Literary events are traditionally lauded for their “restraint, reason and tolerance in the face of opposing views” – but writers’ festivals are now issuing safety tips and employing security as they navigate “the frontier between social media’s echo chambers of outrage and the traditional public square’s conventions”, the University of Melbourne journalism academic Denis Muller observed in the Conversation last year, after the resignation of the Melbourne writers’ festival’s deputy chair, Leslie Reti.

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Former bikie boss Sayed Moosawi directed ‘James Bond’ arson attacks in Bondi, court hears

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NSW police allege Moosawi directed two men who have pleaded guilty to setting the Curly Lewis brewery on fire in October 2024. He has denied all charges

A former bikie boss is among 14 people charged this week over a wave of alleged antisemitic attacks in Sydney that authorities claim were designed to distract police from organised crime or influence prosecutions.

On Tuesday, 32-year-old Sayed Moosawi, a former chapter president of the Nomad bikies, pleaded not guilty to three charges related to two alleged arson attacks on businesses in Bondi Beach in October.

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Sydney caravan a ‘fake terrorism plot’ by criminals hoping to cause fear for personal benefit, police allege

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‘The caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals domestically and from offshore,’ AFP deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett says

Federal police say a caravan with explosives found in Sydney earlier this year was “never going to cause a mass casualty event” and was a “fake terrorism plot”.

The Australian federal police deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said on Monday investigators now believed the caravan incident was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit.

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Peter Dutton defends attending Hemmes fundraiser as Cyclone Alfred approached Queensland

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Opposition leader says critics seeking ‘political advantage’ after Murray Watt says Dutton ‘sold out his constituents’ by attending Sydney soiree

Peter Dutton has defended his decision to attend a lavish fundraiser in Sydney as then Tropical Cyclone Alfred approached Queensland last week, claiming those criticising his decision were seeking “political advantage”.

The opposition leader’s Monday morning interview on Sky News came after Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt claimed Dutton had “sold out his constituents” by not staying in his Dickson electorate.

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Almost 230,000 properties without power as ex-tropical cyclone brings more dangerous rain

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South-east Queensland and northern NSW face further heavy downpours

More than 230,000 households and businesses are without power and flash flooding alerts have been issued for coastal areas in the aftermath of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

The warnings follow heavy rain across southeast Queensland overnight and are clustered around the Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan and Ipswich council areas.

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Twelve soldiers remain in Lismore hospital after army trucks rolled in northern NSW

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Two personnel in serious condition after accident near city lashed by torrential rain brought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland.

Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, part of the 7th Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in northern Brisbane – just after 5pm on Tregeagle Road, 9km south-west of Lismore.

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Six seriously injured in ADF trucks that crashed near Lismore in northern NSW

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One truck rolled several times into a paddock and another tipped onto its side, attempting to avoid the first vehicle, at around 5pm on Saturday

Thirty-two people were involved in an incident in which two Australian defence force vehicles rolled off the road at Lismore on Saturday that has left 13 injured, some seriously.

Emergency services were called to the scene in northern New South Wales shortly after 5pm with initial reports that 22 people had been injured. NSW police said on Sunday that 13 personnel were injured. Six are in a serious condition.

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Gold Coast residents told to ‘take shelter now’ as NSW authorities search for man missing in Cyclone Alfred flood waters

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Almost 100,000 homes in Queensland and NSW were without power on Friday evening as cyclone crawled towards the coast

Millions of people are sheltering from Tropical Cyclone Alfred as it crashes into the coast of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales bringing destructive winds and heavy rain.

The slow-moving weather system was finally expected to make landfall after speeding up overnight on Friday and into Saturday morning as it moved towards Brisbane.

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