Teacher who told Sydney Catholic Schools she was transitioning allegedly asked to move and not given shifts

Zoe Conolan-Glen’s discrimination case has now been referred to the federal court

A music teacher who told the management of Sydney Catholic Schools she was transitioning was allegedly asked to move to a different school before being given no shifts for a year.

Sydney woman Zoe Conolan-Glen lodged a discrimination complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission in July 2024, which was referred to the federal court on 18 December, claiming the prospective school’s management also asked intrusive questions, including which staff bathroom she would use and how she would react if a parent complained about her identity.

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Anthony Albanese convenes national cabinet on antisemitism after Sydney childcare centre set alight

Prime minister, who has previously resisted calling the meeting, says it will focus on recent wave of attacks and graffiti

National cabinet will meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss antisemitism in Australia, after Anthony Albanese pledged that the latest attack on a Sydney childcare centre “will lead to action”.

The prime minister previously resisted calls for such a meeting, saying on Monday Australians did not just want to see more meetings on antisemitism.

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NSW government in 11th-hour bid to postpone mass resignation of psychiatrists

State asks Industrial Relations Commission to urgently arbitrate on the matter before resignations take effect from Wednesday

The New South Wales government will make an 11th-hour attempt to postpone the mass resignation of the state’s psychiatrists by asking the Industrial Relations Commission to urgently intervene.

With one in three psychiatrist positions in the state already vacant, psychiatrists have been in negotiations with the government for more than 16 months on how to solve the workforce crisis, arguing higher salaries were needed to attract new doctors and retain those currently working in the public system.

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Wild NSW weather expected to ease as WA’s Pilbara region braces for cyclone

Cleanup continues in parts of NSW as tropical low threatens heavy rain between Port Hedland and Ningaloo

The skies above New South Wales are expected to clear this week, bringing relief to thousands who have been left sitting in the dark as massive storms swept the state and knocked power offline.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast for the NSW capital and parts of the state suggests calmer skies in the week ahead, with light winds and a chance of a thunderstorm over Sydney on Tuesday.

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Two injured by falling tree at Sydney’s Hyde Park as strong winds damage houses and SCG grandstand

More than 1,000 trees have fallen in Sydney as wild weather causes problems around city

At least two people have been hit after a huge fig tree fell in Sydney’s centre amid strong winds.

The large tree in Hyde Park crashed to the ground across a footpath and on to a busy street at about 3pm on Friday.

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Australia news live: relief for Sydney morning commuters as train unions ordered to halt action; man charged over death threats to Jewish group

First charge by AFP’s Special Operation Avalite established in December. Follow today’s news headlines live

Richard Marles will become the first minister to visit Kiribati in almost two years, AAP reports.

The deputy prime minister and defence minister is travelling to Kiribati for high-level talks with the nation’s re-elected government, which closed its country’s borders in 2024 while national elections were held.

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NSW government asks private sector to take public hospital patients as hundreds of psychiatrists set to resign

Exclusive: Guardian Australia has seen an email from the director of Australia’s largest private mental health provider about the contract

The NSW government is considering moving public psychiatry patients into private hospitals in preparation for the mass resignation of the state’s psychiatrists next week, but doctors warn the panicked response will not help the “droves of people with significant illness and crises”.

At least 205 psychiatrists will resign on Tuesday after 16 months of negotiations over the workforce crisis, with the government not agreeing to the psychiatrist’s proposed solution – a special levy increasing their pay by 25%, similar to that which emergency doctors received in 2015.

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New weather system to strike eastern Australia with strong winds and rain

Eastern NSW, particularly northern rivers, and Gold Coast at high risk for severe thunderstorms and winds on Thursday, BoM forecasts

Persistent rain and strong winds will sweep across New South Wales into the weekend, the Bureau of Meteorology predicts, with parts of Victoria and south-east Queensland also likely to be affected.

Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said Sydney’s weather could shift from storms to a “dreary” mix of wind, rain and cloud. It would be “persistently windy” and “quite chilly”, he said.

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Australia news live: delays up to 70 minutes on Sydney trains as industrial action begins; Hume says Coalition would cut ‘bloated bureaucracy’

‘Passengers should expect delays, service cancellations and large service gaps’ across Sydney today, NSW TrainLink warns. Follow today’s news live

Wong ‘absolutely confident’ government can work with Trump as US president

Moving to another topic, Penny Wong was asked about her invite to Donald Trump’s inauguration in the US, and responded:

Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and I’m honoured, on behalf of the country, to have been invited to his inauguration.

This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial. So that is their obligation, [and] we will look at the facts when they have been ascertained.

But I want to be clear, all options are on the table. Those options include expelling the ambassador and recalling Australia’s ambassador in Russia … I need, as the foreign minister, to identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.

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Australia news live: SpaceX debris disrupts Qantas flights from Sydney to South Africa

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Rowland reacts to number of women preselected by Liberal party to replace retiring MPs

Michelle Rowland was also asked about the fact just one woman has been preselected to replace eight Liberal MPs who are retiring at the next election. Is she disappointed by this?

Clearly, Peter Dutton talks a big game when it comes to these issues, but the reality is borne out by the fact that they continue to overlook women for public office … For my mind, that says everything about Peter Dutton being stuck in the past, just as he’s stuck in the past around the national broadband network, his response to this announcement is to call it a joke, which is an insult to regional communities.

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Mystery balls close nine northern Sydney beaches months after fatbergs washed ashore

Grey ball-shaped debris found washed up along shore will be tested by Environment Protection Authority, local council says

Nine of Sydney’s northern beaches have been closed after ball-shaped debris washed ashore.

The Northern Beaches council on Tuesday advised beachgoers to avoid Manly, Dee Why, Long Reef, Queenscliff, Freshwater, North and South Curl Curl, North Steyne and North Narrabeen beaches until further notice.

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Mystery syndrome killing rainbow lorikeets and flying foxes leaves scientists baffled

‘The animals that don’t die need total nursing care,’ wildlife rescuer says, ahead of a potential spike in cases in coming weeks

Thousands of rainbow lorikeets and hundreds of flying foxes have been hospitalised in Queensland in the past year with a mysterious paralysis that can affect the animals’ ability to fly, swallow and even breathe.

Lorikeet paralysis syndrome has struck birds in Queensland and New South Wales since at least 2012, and a similar syndrome was identified in flying foxes five years ago.

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Counter-terrorism police take up investigation of swastika attack at Sydney synagogue

Vandals also started a fire in Newtown that could have had deadly consequences, commissioner says

Counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation of a swastika vandalism attack at a Sydney synagogue as the police commissioner and premier call on the public to help catch the perpetrators.

Jewish leaders condemned the latest antisemitic attack, in which red swastikas were spray-painted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.

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Logging in forest earmarked for koala national park increasing under NSW Labor, analysis finds

More than 7,000 hectares logged in planned park area since Chris Minns won 2023 election with commitment to deliver new sanctuary, conservationists say

Logging of native forest in the proposed great koala national park (GKNP) in northern New South Wales has intensified since the Minns government took office, according to new analysis by conservation advocates.

The report, which the state’s forestry corporation disputes, found 7,185 hectares (17,700 acres) were logged within the promised park in the 21 months since the March 2023 state election.

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Second Sydney synagogue vandalised with swastikas as NSW premier condemns ‘monstrous’ acts

Police investigating graffiti on Newtown synagogue a day after similar attack in Allawah

A second Sydney synagogue has been vandalised with swastikas in as many days in an attack the Jewish community said was intended to erode social cohesion.

The Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west was the latest site targeted, with red swastikas spray painted across its front wall.

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Australia weather: rainy week forecast for Sydney and Brisbane – but BoM says summer isn’t over yet

Bureau of Meteorology says showers and storms a regular feature of Australian summer but warm and dry periods still to come

Showers are expected to continue for Sydney and Brisbane throughout much of the coming week but summer isn’t over yet, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

In fact, the senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said showers and storm activity were a regular feature of the Australian summer, especially for northern Australia, as well as south-east Queensland and eastern New South Wales.

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Hiker who left muesli bars in Kosciuszko hut praises Hadi Nazari’s survival skills

Sherman left two muesli bars in national park’s most remote hut while Nazari was lost in wilderness – along with a short logbook message: ‘enjoy’

Sydney hiker Sherman left two Uncle Tobys muesli bars inside a hut in dense bush on the side of a steep range in the Kosciuszko national park just after Christmas.

He didn’t know it at the time but Victorian man Hadi Nazari had gone missing a day earlier in the remote New South Wales park. Sherman now believes the bars Nazari found and consumed during his two-week ordeal could be those he left behind on 27 December.

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Sydney teenager allegedly used AI to create deepfake pornography of students

Police are investigating after schoolboy allegedly circulated images of female students using fake social media accounts

A teenage boy at a south-western Sydney high school has been reported to police after allegedly using artificial intelligence platforms to create pornography featuring other students.

The student is alleged to have created explicit deepfake images of female students and circulated them using fake social media accounts.

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Hadi Nazari: hiker missing in Kosciuszko national park since Boxing Day found alive

Hadi Nazari, 23, found after going missing two weeks ago, discovered two muesli bars at a hut while lost, police say

A 23-year-old hiker missing since Boxing Day in the remote Kosciuszko national park has been found alive.

Hadi Nazari stumbled into the path of a group of hikers at about 3.15pm on Wednesday, on the circuit walk near Blue Lake, police said.

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Berries, creek water and two muesli bars: how missing hiker survived in Kosciuszko national park

After almost two weeks missing in the rugged Australian Alps, Hadi Nazari has been found alive

It’s some of Australia’s harshest, most unforgiving terrain.

In Kosciuszko national park, the bush can be so thick in places you can’t see far beyond what’s in front of your face. The ranges are steep and remote. Extreme UV radiation belts down throughout the day and winds whip at you in the afternoon.

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