Category Archives: New South Wales

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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Mark Butler calls Australia’s private hospitals and insurers to urgent meeting amid Healthscope financial crisis

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Health minister convenes meeting after reports second-largest private hospital operator risks voluntary administration

The health minister, Mark Butler, has convened an urgent meeting with the chief executives of Australia’s private hospitals and health insurers amid warnings the second-largest private hospital operator, Healthscope, is facing a financial crisis.

The Australian Financial Review reported this week that Healthscope had retained insolvency experts KordaMentha to prepare a contingency plan in case it is placed into voluntary administration.

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Tropical Cyclone Alfred live updates: wind and rain intensify as category 2 storm nears south-east Queensland and northern NSW

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BoM path track map predicts TC Alfred will cross coast on Saturday near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today

Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as cyclone bears down

We have a news story this morning about the impact the cyclone is already having on life in Queensland.

Fallen trees and giant stands of bamboo blocked the single road to our farm until the army and council brought heavy machinery to clear a path some time after.

We were without running water or power for days, maybe weeks, the packing shed a makeshift kitchen where we ate meals cooked off a gas barbecue and drank instant coffee made with rainwater and UHT milk to the hum of a generator.

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Former NSW asbestos investigator calls for more controls on waste disposal

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As chief scientist says state should drop ‘zero tolerance’, former EPA official says many problems could be solved during demolition process

A former senior New South Wales environment watchdog officer says more needs to be done to stop asbestos from being mixed into waste materials as the state government considers overhauling the regime for dealing with the toxic contaminant.

Jason Scarborough, who led an Environment Protection Authority (EPA) investigation that found potentially contaminated soil fill could have been applied to land across the state, said many of these issues could be solved at the time of demolition.

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Cyclone Alfred live updates: BoM tracking map forecast shows category 2 storm hitting Brisbane and south-east Qld; landfall in Queensland and NSW delayed as storm slows – latest news

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BoM path track map predicts TC Alfred will cross coast on Friday near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today

Speaking of preparations, adjunct senior lecturer at the Centre for Disaster Studies at James Cook University Yetta Gurtner gives advice here:

Chalmers confident insurance companies ‘know their responsibilities’

I’m confident they know their responsibilities and obligations to people.

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Brisbane schools and public transport shut as Cyclone Alfred to hit later than expected

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Parts of Queensland and NSW prepare as BoM weather forecast shows Alfred making landfall between Maroochydore and Coolangatta

Schools, airports, public transport and most businesses are beginning to shut down in Brisbane and across south-east Queensland, as authorities advised Tropical Cyclone Alfred will likely arrive later than expected.

Advice to residents is now that Alfred’s track to the coast has slowed, and that it will likely cross the southeast Queensland coast at some point on Friday.

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Crisafulli urges residents to prepare as storm approaches – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. Read the latest Cyclone Alfred news update here

Sandbag queues ‘about an hour’ in Brisbane – Wells

The federal sports minister, Anika Wells, also spoke on the Today Show this morning from Brisbane and said it was the “calm before the storm”.

At the moment that’s the shortest it’s been in 24 hours. It’s a big couple of days ahead for south-east Queensland. We’re more than up to the task, but everybody’s doing their bit.

So everyone’s doing their bit and we thank them for it.

We know that there’s going to be damaging winds, there is going to be powerful surf, coastal erosion, and it will be followed by significant rain that can last a couple of days. So we’re really urging people to be alert, to be prepared, just like the SES is.

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WA teenager charged over alleged ‘Christchurch 2.0’ online threat to Sydney mosque

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Sixteen-year-old arrested on Tuesday in south-west Western Australia over alleged Instagram comment

A 16-year-old boy has been charged in Western Australia over an alleged online threat, which police claim alluded to a terrorist massacre, against a recently opened Sydney mosque.

The comment on the place of worship’s Instagram page allegedly threatened to “Christchurch 2.0” the mosque at Edmondson Park in the city’s west, an apparent reference to the New Zealand city where an Australian man killed 51 worshippers in 2019.

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Anthony Albanese condemns ‘abhorrent’ threat made to Sydney mosque as NSW police investigate

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President of Australian Islamic House says he is ‘profoundly concerned by this threat’

Anthony Albanese has condemned a threat made against a mosque in south-west Sydney that referenced the Christchurch terror attack as “abhorrent”, as the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, confirmed police were conducting a “major investigation”.

NSW police on Tuesday evening confirmed they were investigating after the Australian Islamic House – Masjid Al-Bayt Al-Islami in Edmondson Park reported an online threat made against it on Instagram.

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‘Be prepared’: Tropical Cyclone Alfred changes direction and heads towards Queensland coast

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Weather system bears down on south-east Queensland with BoM forecasting landfall between Brisbane and Sunshine Coast

Tropical Cyclone Alfred has made a dramatic right turn, and is now “heading towards the Queensland coast”, the state’s premier has warned.

Alfred had been gradually heading in a generally southerly direction for 12 days, but changed course on Tuesday as expected.

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Cyclone Alfred forecast: people urged to prepare for the worst as storm bears down on south-east Queensland

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Residents warned to stock up on food and water and secure properties as BoM predicts Alfred will make landfall near Brisbane

People have been warned to leave or prepare for the worst, with a tropical cyclone on track to cross a densely populated part of Australia’s coast for the first time in 50 years.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is looming off Queensland’s coast, threatening to bring heavy rainfall, damaging winds and monster waves.

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Four million Queenslanders warned they could be in ‘firing line’ when Cyclone Alfred heads towards coast

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Bureau of Meteorology says guidance ‘favours landfall on Thursday’ as premier David Crisafulli warns ‘large system presents big challenge’

Tropical Cyclone Alfred will “likely” turn towards major population centres in south-east Queensland this week, with authorities warning more than 4 million people from Bundaberg to the Gold Coast that their communities could be “in the firing line”.

The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said on Sunday the system could cause serious and potentially dangerous coastal erosion, flash flooding and strong winds.

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