Category Archives: New South Wales

Cauchi at ‘significant’ risk of relapsing into psychosis when discharged into doctor’s care, Bondi Junction inquest hears

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Joel Cauchi suffered deterioration in ‘performance IQ’ and some cognitive functions leading up to attack, expert tells Sydney coroner’s court

Joel Cauchi’s psychiatrist of eight years discharged him into the care of his doctor at a time when he was at “significant risk” of relapsing into psychosis, an expert has said amid a probe into the mental health and care of Cauchi.

On Thursday, the coronial inquest examining the fatal stabbing of six people by Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction in April 2024 heard from a panel of psychiatrists who provided expert opinions on Cauchi’s treatment.

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Australia news live: Nationals’ decision to break up Coalition not unanimous; ‘treacherous’ weather hampering chopper NSW flood rescues

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Nationals leader hints there might still be a possibility of joint tickets in 2028 if state officials from the two parties can come to agreement. Follow today’s news live

People trapped by flooding as river rise breaks record

Intense falls and major flooding have hit Australia’s most populous state as a slow-moving system dumps rain, causing a major river to rise to the highest level in almost 100 years.

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NSW floods: BoM warns of ‘lots of flooding to come’ amid wet weather on mid-north coast

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Two days of heavy rainfall still on way as SES carries out 130 rescues amid floods in Taree and nearby areas

Residents of the mid-north coast of New South Wales have described anxious waits for rescue in the dark as unprecedented flooding inundates homes and businesses across the region.

The State Emergency Service has performed 130 rescues in the past 24 hours, the bulk of those occurring in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne.

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NSW flash flooding and weather warnings: intense rain leads to evacuation orders, school closures and rescues

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Mid-north coast and Hunter region cops barrage of extreme weather, with more than 30 schools closed and people in Taree advised to take shelter

Persistent and heavy rain that has brought significant flash flooding to New South Wales is showing no signs of stopping, after forcing a stack of emergency calls and evacuations.

Much of NSW’s mid-north coast and Hunter region has copped the barrage, with 22 flood rescues performed overnight in those areas.

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Australia news live: Bradfield goes to automatic recount after independent defeats Liberal candidate by 40 votes

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Nicolette Boele declared provisional winner over Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian. Follow today’s news live

Flood watches in place for rivers in Hunter and mid-north coast

Due to the prolonged period of wet weather for New South Wales – with rain expected to fall across the same regions for several days in a row – flood watches are in place for many rivers through the Hunter and the mid-north coast districts, where minor to moderate flooding is anticipated throughout the week, Hines says.

… and we can’t rule out the chance that one or two of them could see major flooding in the coming days.

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Independent Nicolette Boele declared provisional winner in Bradfield by 40 votes

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AEC vote recount expected in Sydney north shore seat after Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian overtaken in final surge

Nicolette Boele has been declared the provisional winner of Bradfield in Sydney’s north shore after a nail-biting count which saw her take a last-minute 40-vote lead over the Liberal candidate, Gisele Kapterian.

Counting continued on Monday as the final postal votes were processed in the former blue ribbon seat.

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Security guard’s Bondi Junction triple-zero call could have confused police, inquest hears

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Counter-terrorism expert tells inquest into 2024 stabbing attack by Joel Cauchi guard ‘talks about shots being fired with an armed offender’ in triple-zero call

A triple-zero call made by a security control room operator on duty at Westfield Bondi Junction was made too late and was so unclear it risked confusing police into thinking there was another attacker armed with a gun still at large inside the shopping centre, a counter-terrorism expert has said.

The security officer, who cannot be named, had left the control room for a toilet break when Joel Cauchi, 40, launched his stabbing attack that killed six people and injured 10 others at the Sydney shopping centre in April 2024.

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Man charged over stabbing two workers transporting him from detention centre to Sydney airport

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The 28-year-old Tongan national was being moved from Villawood immigration detention centre before alleged attack and escape

New South Wales police have charged a 28-year-old man for allegedly stabbing one man and assaulting another while he was being transported from the Villawood immigration detention centre.

Tongan national Paea Teu was being taken from the detention centre to Sydney airport on Thursday when police allege he attacked two men who were transporting him. He then went on the run for two days.

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From ‘architecturally tricky’ to ‘awe-inspiring’: winners of NSW’s 2025 National Trust heritage awards revealed

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Country hospital brought back from the ashes wins top heritage prize

A colonial country hospital almost totally destroyed by fire more than two decades ago has won the top prize in the National Trust of Australia (NSW) heritage awards.

The recognition of heritage architecture and conservation projects in the built and natural environment takes place across each state annually. New South Wales staged its awards on Friday, announcing 20 winners across 10 categories.

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Judge suggests NSW police had ‘absolutely no evidence’ to justify main strip-search in class action

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Justice Dina Yehia says manner force conducted its defence ‘is a matter, I’ll be quite honest with you, of grave concern to me’

A Sydney judge says the way the New South Wales police force defended a claim it unlawfully strip-searched a woman at a music festival – including a last-minute admission – was “of grave concern to me”.

Justice Dina Yehia made the comment in the NSW supreme court during closing arguments in a class action against the police.

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Nurse who treated Joel Cauchi for schizophrenia threw up when told about Bondi Junction stabbings, inquest hears

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Health worker describes 40-year-old as ‘compliant’ and ‘diligent’ patient but recalls 2020 phone call and a possible ‘warning sign’ of mental health relapse

A nurse at the Queensland medical practice where Joel Cauchi was treated for schizophrenia remembers him as a “compliant” and “diligent” patient, telling an inquest she vomited when she learned he had fatally stabbed six people at a Sydney shopping centre.

Cauchi, 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April last year before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.

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Five arrests after more than a tonne of cocaine allegedly found on motorboat off NSW coast

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The 1,110 blocks of cocaine on board are worth more than half a billion dollars on the street, police said

More than a tonne of cocaine has been seized off the east coast of Australia and five men arrested after police raided a suspicious motorboat.

Detectives said they were tipped off about the purchase of a 13-metre-long boat with a large sum of cash in Sydney’s Sutherland shire on 28 April.

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NSW forestry agency should be shut down for repeatedly breaking law, critics argue

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Forestry Corporation says suggestion that it can be compared to a criminal bikie gang is ‘ridiculous’

A former magistrate and one of Australia’s most experienced scientists have launched an extraordinary attack on the New South Wales government’s logging agency, describing it as effectively a “criminal organisation” that should be shut down after a string of court convictions.

Prof David Heilpern, a NSW magistrate between 1998 and 2020 and now the dean of law at Southern Cross University, said the state’s Forestry Corporation should be “disbanded” as it was was no longer fit for purpose.

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NSW woman faces court after being charged with murder of two grandsons

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The 66-year-old appeared at Parramatta court on Saturday after being charged with murdering her grandsons aged six and seven

Two young boys might have been murdered hours before officers were called to their semi-rural home and found their bodies in separate bedrooms, police allege.

Details of the boys’ deaths, which have shocked the small community of Coonabarabran in north-west NSW, were revealed as their grandmother and accused killer appeared in court for the first time.

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Man arrested after body found in Sydney home, police say

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Investigators believe the deceased man, 65, who was found at a Homebush West property, and the arrested man, 31, were known to each other

A man has been charged with murder after the body of an older man was found in a suburban granny flat.

Investigators are still trying to work out the relationship between the pair.

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Man charged with manslaughter of four-week-old baby brought to hospital with multiple broken bones

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Man, who police say is a family member, granted bail after being charged nearly two years since boy’s death

A family member charged with manslaughter nearly two years after the “abhorrent” death of a four-week-old baby has been granted bail.

Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Friday morning over the July 2023 death of the boy in Wagga Wagga.

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Archibald prize 2025: Julie Fragar wins for portrait of artist Justene Williams

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Decision announced at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, where all finalists will be exhibited to the public from Saturday

Julie Fragar has won the 2025 Archibald prize for her portrait of her fellow artist Justene Williams.

Announced as the winner of the $100,000 prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Friday, the winning work was selected unanimously by the judges from 904 entries and 57 finalists.Fragar is just the 13th woman to win the prize in its 104-year history.

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Security guard in charge of mall’s CCTV was ‘not getting better’ at her job in lead-up to attack, Bondi stabbing inquest hears

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At the moment Joel Cauchi started his killing spree, the CCTV control room monitoring 700 cameras was unstaffed, coroner was told

Concerns had been raised about the competency of the security guard whose job it was to monitor CCTV footage the day Joel Cauchi murdered six people inside a Bondi shopping centre, an inquest has heard.

The court heard that after the woman had received additional training in the weeks leading up to the attack, there was a note about her performance stating she was “not getting better”.

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Karen Webb to resign after three years as NSW police commissioner

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State’s top cop – who was first woman to hold position in NSW history – expected to step down on 30 September

New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb will resign after three years in the role.

The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, told NSW parliament on Wednesday that Webb had recently indicated she would retire by the end of the year and will leave the job on 30 September.

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Coonabarabran grandmother in mental health facility after ‘confronting’ deaths of two young boys

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Grandsons aged six and seven found dead at NSW property in case police are treating as double murder

A woman whose two grandsons died in a regional town in New South Wales is in a mental health facility after what police are treating as a “confronting” alleged double murder.

The boys, aged six and seven, were found dead by police after officers forced entry to a property at Coonabarabran, in the state’s north-west, during a welfare check about 2pm on Monday.

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