Sydney beaches reopen after tar balls wash ashore but mystery remains over source

NSW Maritime executive director says balls appear to be made up of fatty acids, chemicals found in cleaning and cosmetic products, and fuel oil

A baffling tar ball emergency that closed major beaches in Sydney’s eastern suburbs appears to be over.

The remaining beaches closed to bathers at Coogee, Maroubra and Clovelly have been cleared to reopen on Saturday after Bondi and several others reopened on Friday.

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Australia news live: Bondi beach reopens after tar-ball pollution; tornado warning for Victoria

Waverley council says no remaining evidence of the debris could be found at Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches. Follow today’s news live

Max Chandler-Mather continued, and told ABC News Breakfast:

I would argue in this instance in the context of one of the worst housing crises we have seen in generations … now is precisely the time where we need more than tinkering around the edges and we need substantial change.

There is a building consensus we need to scrap these tax handouts. Increasingly the biggest barrier is a prime minister [who has just] gone through multiple days of scandal for buying another property and being a property investor.

So I think there’s a real moment here the government should seize to make real substantial change to the lives of hundreds of thousands of renters, and the bottom line is the Greens are ready and willing to work with Labor to do it.

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King Charles has arrived in Australia for his first visit as monarch. Here’s where to see the royals

Sydney and Canberra are on the royal couple’s itinerary, with opportunities for the public to see them between official functions

King Charles and Queen Camilla have touched down in Australia for the couple’s first visit to the country since Charles became its reigning monarch.

They were last in Australia in 2018, when then Prince Charles opened the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. This shorter, more compact tour will take in just Canberra and Sydney, with dozens of engagements packed into the pair’s four days on the ground.

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Sydney Harbour Bridge closed after multi car crash leaves one dead

One person has died and a second is in a critical condition after a bus and multiple cars collided

One person has died and another is in a critical condition after multiple cars and a bus collided on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

New South Wales police said emergency services were called to the bridge at about 1.40pm on Thursday, following reports of the multi-vehicle crash. They found three cars and a bus had collided.

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Australia news live: Queensland LNP candidate alleges he was assaulted; Sydney Harbour Bridge closed after fatal crash

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New polling from the Australia Institute shows that Australians view the supermarkets as “public enemy No 1” in the cost of living crisis.

The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work surveyed 1,014 voters, and 83% said supermarkets deserve some blame – or a great deal of blame – for the soaring cost of living.

Australians are pointing the finger squarely at supermarkets as public enemy No 1 in the cost-of-living crisis … More people blame supermarkets for the cost-of-living crunch than governments or banks.

The public’s appetite for increased supermarket competition is unmistakable. Nearly two-thirds of voters see it as crucial for alleviating cost-of-living pressures … There’s likely to be political rewards for taking actions that increase supermarket competition.

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Coffs Harbour man charged for allegedly threatening and grooming 15-year-old girl online

The 28-year-old allegedly attempted to force her to send him footage of herself performing ‘various compromising acts’, court hears

A Coffs Harbour man has been charged after allegedly grooming a 15-year-old girl and threatening her in an attempt to force her to send videos of herself performing sexual and self-harm acts.

The 28-year-old man is alleged to have met the teenage girl online, groomed and threatened her in an attempt to force her to send him footage of herself doing “various compromising acts”, according to a New South Wales police statement.

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Rio Tinto praised for ‘breaking ranks’ to back revamp of environment laws – as it happened

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Queensland leaders to lock horns again in election debate

After their deputies traded blows, the Queensland premier and opposition leader are set to face off again ahead of the state election, AAP reports.

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Sydney’s Coogee beach closed after mysterious black balls wash ashore

Beachgoers warned not to touch the material, which may be tar balls formed from oil spills or seepage at sea

Sydney’s Coogee beach has been ordered closed until further notice after “mysterious black, ball-shaped debris” washed up along its length.

Lifeguards discovered the debris on Tuesday afternoon at the popular eastern suburbs beach. Randwick city council environmental officers collected samples and have sent them for testing. In the meantime, beachgoers were advised not to touch or go near them.

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Australia news live: Hanson-Young calls for investigation of live music ticketing allegations; culprit flees botched ram raid with arm on fire

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The federal government has announced targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranian individuals it says is “contributing to Iran’s missile program.”

A statement from the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Iran’s missile program “poses a material threat to regional and international security”, with the 1 October attack on Israel a “dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war.”

Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilising actions.

We’re holding ministers accountable when the premier of Tasmania refused to. This project – for people who don’t know – is $500m over budget, five years delayed.

It’s a completely debacle. Someone needed to take responsibility. The premier [was] saying he wouldn’t do that, the parliament decided it would act and, at the last moment, the deputy premier resigned.

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Potentially lifesaving Blue Mountains fire trails obstructed as bushfire season begins

Exclusive: Residents who fought the black summer bushfires are concerned access tracks are not being maintained

Residents of a Blue Mountains town who were forced to defend themselves against an out-of-control backburn during the black summer bushfires are concerned fire trails in the area are not being maintained ahead of the fire season.

Guardian Australia has seen photographs of fallen trees obstructing two fire trails in Bilpin near the Tutti Fruitti cafe and surrounding homes, which were destroyed when the Rural Fire Service lost control of the backburn it lit near Mount Wilson in December 2019.

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Dfat says it has told Israel ‘unacceptable’ targeting of UN personnel in Lebanon must cease – as it happened

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Voice referendum, one year on

The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier on the first anniversary of the Voice referendum.

We have been calling for an inquiry into statutory authorities for the last 18 months, which we believe need to be looked at closely because of their failures to ... well, not all statutory authorities, but some, in terms of their failures of how they’re supposed to serve the interests of those that they are supposed to represent.

And this has been ongoing now and something that the Albanese Government has continued to ignore. But those voices – especially of Traditional Owners – that I have been speaking to, are growing louder, with more concern. And, really, there is a need to fix the structures that currently exist, and it begins with an inquiry.

There’s no evidence at all that current laws led by the Albanese government are stifling businesses from employing people. In fact, we’ve actually created nearly 1 million jobs since coming to office a bit over two years ago … So unfortunately, for some of the leading business groups calling for this, the evidence of what’s going on in the economy just doesn’t back up their wish list.

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Minns backs LGBTQ+ reforms but students and teachers at religious schools could still face discrimination

Independent Alex Greenwich says ‘heartbreaking’ to lose his proposed laws governing treatment of gay students and teachers but ‘it’s not over’

Transgender people in New South Wales could soon be able to change their sex on their birth certificates without getting surgery, but gay teachers will still be able to be fired from some schools after a watered-down proposal received the premier’s support.

The premier, Chris Minns, will this week ask the Labor caucus to back independent MP Alex Greenwich’s equality bill after a raft of amendments were made, including dropping changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act governing schools.

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NSW man allegedly stabs victim with scissors, gets shot and then swims away from police

Police spotted alleged stabber in Murrumbidgee River but he swam to an island and climbed a tree, where he stayed for 12 hours

Being shot has not stopped an alleged stabber from trying his luck and swimming away from police in regional New South Wales.

The 33-year-old’s aquatic escape across the Murrumbidgee River followed his alleged stabbing of a man in Wagga Wagga.

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Tanya Plibersek defends Aboriginal heritage order blocking ‘irreversible damage’ of goldmine tailings dam

Financial impact on mining company does not outweigh ‘permanent loss’ to cultural sites, environment minister says

Tanya Plibersek has defended her decision to issue an Aboriginal heritage protection order for the site of a proposed goldmine near Blayney, saying the financial impact on the mining company does not outweigh “irreversible damage and permanent loss” to Aboriginal cultural heritage sites.

The environment minister made a partial declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act in August, blocking a proposal by mining company Regis Resources to build a tailings dam for its $900m McPhillamys gold project in the headwaters of the Belubula River. The declaration did not cover the rest of the proposed mining area.

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Australia news live: QLD LNP leader says end of coal before 2030s ‘fanciful’; patients at Sydney GP given less-effective vaccines

The LNP leader, David Crisafulli, appears to be walking away from a commitment to 75% emissions reduction by 2035. Follow today’s news live

Rowland questioned on gambling ad ban

Michelle Rowland was also asked why it has taken 16 months for the government – as yet – to make no decision on gambling ads. The communications minister said the government has “been working diligently in this space” but action “should have been taken on this some 10 years ago”.

We’re working very closely with the states and territories because the vast majority of recommendations in our late colleague Peta Murphy’s report go to issues that go across commonwealth and state jurisdictions.

We’re also working very closely to ensure that there are no unintended consequences here and it’s actually effective.

We have every anticipation that we will be able to respond comprehensively this year and that’s what we’re working towards as a government.

We will be taking advice on the appropriate form in which that can be done. Legislation is obviously an option because there is an interactive gambling act at the commonwealth level, which enables some of these approaches to be implemented.

There will be penalty for the platforms just as they are now in the Online Safety Act … These penalties will be drafted and, as I said, we’re currently reviewing the Online Safety Act because the penalties as they stand … the maximum penalties are less than $1 million for some offences.

They are being challenged but, at the same time, the industry does understand the need to comply here and, by and large, does comply with the rules under the Online Safety Act.

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Alleged domestic violence perpetrators to wear ankle bracelets under NSW bail reforms

Corrective services will electronically monitor whereabouts of people released from custody while charged with serious offences

Alleged perpetrators charged with serious domestic violence offences in New South Wales will wear ankle bracelets and have their movements tracked around the clock if they are granted bail.

The NSW government announced the changes would take effect on Friday, and would involve corrective services electronically monitoring alleged perpetrators against geographic bail conditions using GPS technology.

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NSW police union pushes back at premier’s suggestion pro-Palestine protests divert resources from crime

Police association boss says vast majority of officers at weekend rally were ‘doing user-pay or cancelled rest day’ shifts

The head of the New South Wales police union has denied any suggestion that patrolling weekly pro-Palestine protests is making it difficult to respond to or investigate crime across the state.

Kevin Morton’s comments came as the premier, Chris Minns, was forced to deny he had lost control of the Labor caucus after several of his MPs expressed alarm at his statement that police should be able to reject a protest permit based on the cost of patrolling it.

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Australia politics live: Richard Marles tells question time ‘I feel very sad that events have got to where they have’ after chief of staff’s bullying allegations

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The opposition communications spokesperson, David Coleman, is speaking to ABC radio RN, criticising the government’s legislation designed to keep the NBN in public hands.

He is having trouble saying whether the opposition will support the bill, or whether a future Coalition government would want to sell the NBN.

We’re not going to just sort of immediately jump at some silly theatrical statement from the government. The adults in the room will review this in a normal way.

We’ve got no intention of changing the ownership structure of the NBN. Nobody does. And frankly, because the NBN is going so badly, there’s not exactly a lineup of people [wanting to buy it].

Parents are crying out for a degree of certainty, they’re crying out for government guidance, a lot more rule that people can follow. That doesn’t mean there won’t be challenging but at least provides a starting point for parents. It gives them a tool about how to address this and parents who have gone through all this and all the pain that social media can place upon their children, they’re the ones I think are the most powerful advocates for this reform.

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Revealed: University of Sydney spent millions more on consultants than repaying wages of casual staff

Greens say revelations a ‘damning indictment’ that speak to a ‘broken governance culture’ at prestigious universities

The University of Sydney has spent millions of dollars more on external contractors and consultants – including PwC – for calculating and administering liability for wage underpayments and a review of its systems than it has paid out to staff, answers provided to the Greens have revealed.

In the answers to supplementary questions, provided to chair of the New South Wales education committee, Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, it was revealed the university had repaid 514 casual staff a total value of $2.8m as of last month, while across all “remediation work streams”, it had paid 10,692 professional staff a total value of $17.4m.

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Controversial Sydney airport slot system faces government crackdown

Carriers that cancel flights to block competition could face civil penalties in move against Qantas-Virgin duopoly

Airlines that strategically cancel flights to block competition at Sydney airport could face civil penalties as the Albanese government moves to crack down on the Qantas-Virgin duopoly.

A new bill, to be introduced on Wednesday, will focus on Sydney airport’s controversial slot allocation system, which restricts the airport to 80 takeoffs and landings per hour – known as slots. An overnight curfew to minimise noise further limits flight numbers.

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