Category Archives: New South Wales

Australia news live: Pauline Hanson opposes major gun buyback agreed in wake of Bondi terror attack

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Legislation for plan passed parliament earlier this year and is set to commence in NSW from November. Follow live updates

Pauline Hanson says she is opposed to a major gun buyback being announced by Anthony Albanese and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, in Sydney shortly.

Legislation for the plan passed parliament earlier this year, part of the response to the Bondi beach terror attack. It will be run in two phases, with the cost split 50:50 between the federal and NSW governments.

A different gun is for a different purpose, and you have to understand guns. I’ve got my own gun license, so I understand these people.

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Fears for missing Sydney teen who hasn’t been seen since leaving for hike on Wednesday

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Fresh search teams to scour Nattai national park for Lily Hooper, 18, who failed to return home from a bushwalk

The search for an 18-year-old bushwalker missing in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales since Wednesday is continuing, with fresh teams arriving at the Nattai national park on Saturday morning.

Lily Hooper left her home in Sydney’s south-west about 8am on 12 August, after telling family she was going for a hike in the national park, north-west of Mittagong.

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Alan Jones’ lawyers accused by defence of ‘intimidating’ witness in indecent assault case

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Judge rejects intimidation claim as high profile trial continues with complainant J’s ex-girlfriend cross-examined by shock jock’s defence team

The prosecutor in the Alan Jones trial has accused the defence team in court of “intimidating” an alleged victim’s former girlfriend after she asserted she wasn’t financially motivated to provide evidence supporting her ex’s allegations.

On Thursday, complainant J’s ex-girlfriend was cross-examined by Jones’s defence team, during which she maintained she had a conversation with J more than 20 years ago in which he alleged Jones touched him.

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Body of woman found in suitcase by side of road in regional NSW

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Police called to Oallen, about 40km south of Goulburn, on Sunday afternoon after suitcase discovered near Wolgon Road

The body of a woman has been found in a suitcase by the side of a road in regional New South Wales south of Goulburn.

NSW police said they were called to Wolgon Road, near Oallen Ford Road, in Oallen at about 12.50pm on Sunday “following reports a body had been located”.

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Sydney gardener fined almost $200,000 for removing 287 trees to improve harbourside mansion’s water views

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Local council described incident as ‘worst act of environmental vandalism in Lane Cove history’

It began with a gardener being hired to trim grass at a harbourside mansion in Sydney – and escalated to payments being left in a shoe for the unlawful felling of hundreds of native trees in protected bushland.

Now a court has fined Yi Wang $187,500 for his role in organising and carrying out the destruction of 287 trees from council-owned foreshore bushland at Woodford Bay in Longueville in late 2023.

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Dogs to be euthanised after man dies following suspected animal attack at rural Sydney property

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Police say body of 23-year-old found at Eschol Park property with significant injuries, indicating he may have been attacked before death

A group of dogs has been taken to a shelter to be euthanised after a young man died following a suspected dog attack at a rural Sydney property.

Authorities were alerted to the discovery of the 23-year-old’s body at a rural property in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday. Police found the body with what they described as significant injuries and established a crime scene.

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‘Did you send that report?’ The Icac bombshell that came late for Damien Tudehope

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The former Liberal finance minister was questioned by Icac counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, on Tuesday

The bombshell came in the last five minutes of former finance minister and rightwing powerbroker Damien Tudehope’s examination before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac).

At 3.30pm on Tuesday, Tudehope was shown an email which he sent in February 2023, attaching a leaked draft parliamentary report into branch stacking in the Hills area by the Reformers, the shadowy group at the centre of Icac’s Operation Rosny.

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Most Sydney road tolls to keep rising after Transurban accused of blocking reforms

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Handful of tollroads to get one-off price cuts but WestConnex toll to keep rising at least 4% a year

The cost of using Sydney’s biggest toll road will continue to rise at least 4% a year after the multinational private operator was accused of blocking the state government’s push for sweeping reforms.

Only a handful of Sydney’s motorways will receive one-off toll cuts under a deal announced by the state Labor government on Monday, as the tolling bill footed by taxpayers surpasses $1bn.

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A record number of First Nations people died in NSW prison custody last year. Advocates fear this year will be worse

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Exclusive: Karlene Whitton says her son Matthew Roberts took his own life three months into his jail term. ‘I keep picturing it every night’

First Nations advocates warn that prisons in New South Wales could exceed the record number of Indigenous deaths in custody set last year, after two men died this month.

Matthew Roberts, a 27-year-old Bundjalung, Yaegl and Gamilaroi man and father of two young boys, took his life inside Lithgow correctional centre on 7 July after he was remanded in custody in March. Another First Nations man, 21, died a week later at Clarence correctional centre.

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NSW to send paramedics not police to some mental health emergencies after multiple deaths

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Mental health experts to triage triple zero calls, but not all of the changes will be implemented 24/7 or statewide

New South Wales will send specialist nurses rather than police to some mental health emergencies after the state announced long-fought-for reform in the wake of multiple deaths at the hands of police.

Rose Jackson and Yasmin Catley, the mental health and police ministers, announced on Thursday a statewide change to how triple zero calls are triaged, with a new team of mental health experts assessing mental health calls 24/7 in a bid to provide better support.

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Angus Taylor has inadvertently taken centre stage in an Icac hearing – and the fallout could be profound

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If the opposition leader was funding one side of a vicious factional war, it would be hard for many in the party to stomach

Independent Commission against Corruption inquiries have an uncanny tendency to sprawl in unexpected directions.

Just ask former New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, who was caught on tape with her secret boyfriend, former NSW MP Daryl Maguire, during an investigation into his dealings with developers. Or former premier Barry O’Farrell, who was tripped up over a bottle of Penfolds Grange during an inquiry into state water contracts.

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NSW police deputy commissioner says letting Jewish security group carry guns could be seen as ‘favouritism’

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The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion is this week examining security arrangements for the Jewish community

The deputy commissioner of New South Wales police has pushed back at calls for the private security sector to be armed at Jewish events.

The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion has been examining security arrangements for the Jewish community in this block of hearings, with some witnesses lobbying for the Community Security Group (CSG) to be armed in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

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Australian ski resorts smash July climate records with temperatures 12C above average

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Resorts in New South Wales and Victoria face a warm and dry start to the season with only sporadic falls of natural snow in many alpine areas

Alpine ski resorts in New South Wales and Victoria saw climate records shattered at the weekend with maximum temperatures up to 12C above average.

Ski areas of Mount Hotham and Falls Creek set July records for their hottest daytime and night-time temperatures and Thredbo also set a new hottest July day, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Man dies after cross-border police pursuit ends in NSW northern rivers

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Car chase began in Queensland after report of armed man on Gold Coast late on Saturday, police say

New South Wales police have declared a “critical incident” after a man died following a police pursuit in the northern rivers area, hours after the same man allegedly evaded Queensland police while armed with a gun.

The 25-year-old from Queensland was found unconscious at the wheel of a vehicle, which had driven down an embankment south of Murwillumbah, about 2am on Sunday, NSW police said.

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Police release images of clothes to help identify victims of alleged Sydney childcare paedophile

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AFP release images of children’s clothes found on electronic devices seized as part of investigation into Hamish Tait

A tiny dinosaur puffer jacket could lead police to more victims of a former childcare worker and alleged prolific child sex offender.

Federal police have released pictures of clothing from children they want to identify, urging parents and carers who recognise the items to come forward.

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Telstra blames ‘software defect’ for major outage that hit mobiles, trains and triple-zero calls

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Telco said outage was not due to a cyber-attack but warned of scammers calling people claiming to be from Telstra

Telstra has blamed a “software defect” that changed the time servers for a major outage in which thousands of mobile customers were unable to make calls or access data on the country’s largest network on Wednesday morning.

The telco, which powers about 25m mobile services nationwide, confirmed the outage on Wednesday, with all services restored by 4pm AEST.

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Child protection services contacted before four-year-old’s alleged murder as police investigate cannibalism claim

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Police charge woman with murder after boy’s body was found in a Central Coast home on Saturday

The New South Wales department in charge of child protection received “a number of reports” about a four-year-old child before he was allegedly murdered by his mother, the minister revealed, as she announced a review into how the case was handled.

Kate Washington, the NSW minister for communities and family, announced the independent review into the child’s case on Monday afternoon, two days after police found the preschooler’s body at a home on the Central Coast.

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Woman charged with murder after body of four-year-old boy found in Central Coast home

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Police are investigating what happened to a boy who was found with significant arm injuries

A woman has been charged with murder after police found the body of a preschooler at a home on the New South Wales Central Coast.

Police rushed to the home at Wyong after a 32-year-old woman presented to the local police station on Saturday.

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NSW records first suspected case of deadly H5 bird flu as virus reaches Australia’s east coast

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Migratory giant petrel discovered near Hawks Nest north of Newcastle infected with H5. Testing under way to determine if it’s highly pathogenic H5N1 strain

New South Wales has its first suspected case of the deadly H5 bird flu in a giant petrel that was found near Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, on the state’s coast.

If CSIRO testing confirms it is the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, it would mark the first detection of the deadly disease on the Australian east coast.

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‘Obviously disturbing’ if Christian Brothers’ $1 property sales deprive abuse survivors of pay, government tells court

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Concerns Catholic order’s historical transfers of millions in assets were potentially inappropriate, NSW supreme court hears

Lawyers for the federal government say they are concerned at the “disturbing” potential that the Christian Brothers Catholic order may have inappropriately transferred property to another entity years before claiming it was broke and couldn’t afford to pay abuse survivors’ civil claims.

The New South Wales supreme court on Thursday ordered a moratorium on all abuse claims against the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that played a significant role in the church’s child sexual abuse scandal.

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