Category Archives: New South Wales

Newborn baby’s body found in Sydney rubbish bin as police hold ‘serious concerns’ for mother

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Police urge mother to attend hospital after baby’s body discovered in Harrow Road in Auburn

New South Wales police have appealed for information to find the mother of a newborn baby boy, whose body was discovered in a rubbish bin in Auburn in Sydney’s west on Monday morning.

Police said emergency services responded to reports of the body of a baby located in a rubbish bin at a unit block along Harrow Road in Auburn at 11.20am, with officers from the Auburn police area command finding the body of a newborn boy.

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Man who murdered Molly Ticehurst unlikely to face life in jail, court hears

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Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman’s police statement

Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend is unlikely to face a life sentence for her domestic violence murder, a crime which galvanised a national movement against gendered abuse.

Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in the New South Wales central-west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024.

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Charles Perrottet becomes Icac’s main character amid claims of hidden payments and political hit jobs

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The brother of former premier questioned over what, if anything, was done in return for $2m from developer turned fugitive Jean Nassif

Finally, we are hearing from one of the central characters, Charles Perrottet, in a saga that has occupied the Independent Commission against Corruption (Icac) for nearly four years.

It began with the dismissal of the Hills Shire council and a late night 2022 speech in NSW parliament alleging secret payments from a developer. It pirouetted to a pressure campaign allegedly to remove the then NSW building commissioner, and ended with real world impacts: defective high-rise buildings and thousands of unhappy homebuyers, with the developer nowhere to be seen.

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NSW ‘seeking urgent advice’ on controversial court ruling that found anti-Israel vandalism was not antisemitic

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Exclusive: Attorney general considering appeal after justice Desmond Fagan knocks back terror order request for Mohommed Farhat who wrote ‘Fuk Israel’ on cars

The New South Wales government could appeal a supreme court judge’s controversial decision to refuse its request for a terror order over a Sydney man convicted of writing “Fuk Israel” on cars and setting another vehicle alight in late 2024.

Justice Desmond Fagan this week found disparaging Israel was “political comment” not antisemitism. He rejected the state’s application that Mohommed Farhat be subjected to a one-year extended supervision order under the Terrorism Act when released from prison.

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Cults, setups and rumours: years after their downfalls, former NSW Liberal MPs are exacting revenge

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David Elliott and Eleni Petinos believe they were brought down by their own party. The Icac hearing has given them a chance to set the record straight

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold.

It’s been almost four years since the former New South Wales MP, David Elliott, announced that he would not seek preselection for a seat in the Hills in greater Sydney after his own seat was abolished. He had realised that, thanks to branch stacking in his area, he stood no chance of securing another.

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‘You have got to go’: former NSW minister tells Icac ‘something strange at play’ when she was sacked by Perrottet

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Eleni Petinos tells inquiry her sacking as a minister in Dominic Perrottet’s government was potentially motivated by her reluctance to get rid of the building commissioner

The former New South Wales fair trading minister Eleni Petinos has given evidence at a corruption inquiry that she may have been used by fellow Liberals to try to get rid of the building commissioner David Chandler, recounting numerous attempts in 2022 to persuade her he was “dodgy” and should be sacked.

She has also told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) inquiry that her subsequent sacking as a minister in the Dominic Perrottet government in July 2022 – allegedly for bullying staff – was unfair and potentially motivated by her reluctance to sack the building commissioner.

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From ‘elation’ to ‘terrible news’ in 10 minutes: how the confusion over missing bushwalker Lily Hooper unfolded

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The 18-year-old’s body was found in Nattai national park on Thursday – but initial police messages indicated she was alive

Police have blamed dense bushland and radio confusion for wrongly reporting to 18-year-old Lily Hooper’s parents, the New South Wales premier and the media that the missing bushwalker had been found alive.

Hooper had last been seen on 12 August after leaving home for a hike in the rugged bushland of Nattai national park, 90km south-west of Sydney. She was reported missing that night, triggering a multi-agency search involving nearly 1,000 people, including hundreds of volunteers.

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Three boys charged over alleged rape of teenage girl in Sydney home

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The 17-year-olds were charged over an alleged attack in Sydney’s south-west on Saturday

Three teenage boys have been charged over the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl at a home in Sydney’s south-west on Saturday.

The three 17-year-old boys were arrested on Wednesday after the girl was allegedly attacked.

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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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