Josh Burns says partner Georgie Purcell faces antisemitic abuse because he is Jewish, commission hears

The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion hears how witnesses are subjected to hate speech amplified by misogyny

Vile, threatening abuse is being levelled at witnesses to the antisemitism royal commission, the inquiry has heard, while a Labor MP has said attacks on his partner were heightened because they were stacked with misogyny.

Meanwhile, data analysis has shown how quickly factual reports are transformed into conspiracy theories online, and that while there was a spike in antisemitism after the Bondi terror attack, there was a “huge spike” in anti-Muslim hate.

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Australia news live: auction clearance rates continue to hover under 50% as Chalmers defends tax reform plan

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Big tech not cooperating ‘as much as we’d like them to’: Watt

Federal cabinet minister Murray Watt, says the government knows it’s needed to take more action to ensure social media giants are complying with a ban for under 16s that came into effect in December.

These laws were brand new, never developed anywhere in the world. And what we’ve learned is that the powers that the safety commissioner has do need to be beefed up, also to give her powers across things like age assurance tools. So things that sit outside the social media platforms themselves, but compelling them to provide information so that she can do her job even better.

The pace of change is accelerating, the global and generational pressures are intensifying, and people have got legitimate concerns about where they fit in that, and then we’ve got the anger industry, and parties of the populist right trying to make that worse rather than trying to make that better.

It is a difficult time around the world to be an incumbent government, from our point of view. We are using the power of incumbency to take real action, to deliver cost-of-living help, to deliver real change. The best antidote to anger is action … The Albanese Labour government has chosen to address those concerns rather than dismiss them.

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Hikers lost in Kosciuszko national park rescued within five hours by AI drone

Fire and Rescue NSW uses thermal imaging and a mobile phone red light to quickly locate men who veered off walking track near Jindabyne

Two hikers who veered off a walking track in Kosciuszko national park have been found within five hours using a drone powered by artificial intelligence, a first-of-its-kind mission, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) has said.

The two men, aged in their 20s, were reported missing at 7pm on Tuesday evening after they failed to return to a rendezvous point on time.

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Park to protect 12,000 koalas to go ahead via contentious carbon credit deal by Albanese government

Minns government waited on federal approval of carbon credit scheme before proceeding with long-awaited great koala national park

A long-promised New South Wales great koala national park is set to go ahead after the Albanese government greenlit the state to receive hundreds of millions of dollars for protecting native forests previously earmarked for logging.

The assistant climate change minister, Josh Wilson, said the government had approved a regulatory change that allowed state governments to earn carbon credits by storing carbon dioxide in native forests on public land.

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Cult leader William Kamm and wife groomed young girl for a decade, Sydney court told

The 76-year-old allegedly ordered he should have 12 wives to ‘repopulate’ the world. He and his wife deny the charges

The leader of a cult and his wife allegedly groomed a young girl over a decade so she could bear 45 of his children in a post-apocalyptic world.

William Kamm, also known as “Little Pebble”, was the leader of the Order of Saint Charbel, a religious cult run from a property on the New South Wales south coast.

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Almost three tonnes of cocaine found buried under Sydney property in Australia’s biggest ever seizure, police say

Australian federal police arrested and charged two men after allegedly finding $800m worth of cocaine in ‘bunkers’ under shipping containers

Police claim to have made Australia’s biggest ever cocaine bust after finding $800m worth of the drug buried under false flooring on a semi-rural property.

Two men, aged 21 and 25, allegedly tried to run from police and were arrested on Friday after an operation by Australian federal police, alongside investigators in multiple states.

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Death of Indigenous teen found on rail tracks with towel under head ‘suspicious’, NSW coroner says

Police initially ruled Mark Haines’ 1988 death a suicide but coroner says investigation hindered by racism and deeply flawed

The police investigation into the death of Indigenous teenager Mark Haines in northern New South Wales nearly four decades ago was hindered by racism and deeply flawed, a coroner has found.

The body of the Gomeroi teenager was discovered on train tracks outside Tamworth on the morning of 16 January 1988.

A stolen Holden Torana was found crashed nearby.

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Paedophile teacher William ‘Rob’ Gilfillan sentenced for sexual offences against two Victorian schoolgirls in the 1980s

Former PE teacher will serve time for crimes perpetrated at Traralgon high school in Gippsland concurrently with prior 48-year sentence

A former physical education teacher serving Australia’s longest sentence for child sexual abuse offences against his daughter has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for “brazen and forcible” sexual crimes against two schoolgirls in his care in the 1980s.

In December, William “Rob” Gilfillan was found guilty of indecent assault of a person under 16 and sexual penetration of a child under 16. The five counts against two victims took place at Traralgon high school in Gippsland, Victoria.

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‘Life-changing’ injuries: family reels from ‘tragic situation’ as Coogee shark attack victim loses arm

The family of Leah Stewart is braced for more bad news and the impact on her 18-month-old daughter

The family of the woman critically injured in Saturday’s horrific shark attack at Coogee beach is still coming to terms with the catastrophic scope of her injuries and the heartbreaking impact on her toddler.

Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old primary school teacher, mother and dedicated ocean swimmer, remained on life support in the intensive care unit at St Vincent’s hospital after being mauled by a suspected 3.5-metre great white shark.

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Father may have thrown daughter into Parramatta River in suspected murder-suicide, police say

NSW police say suicide note and ‘other evidence’ suggest six-year-old’s death was an act of domestic violence

A suicide note has been located after the bodies of a young girl and her father were pulled from the Parramatta River on Saturday.

The six-year-old may have been deliberately thrown in the water by the man from a hired boat in what police believe was a horrific act of domestic violence.

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NSW lifts drone ban over Sydney beach after shark attack – as it happened

This blog is now closed

The Senate will deliver its report from the NDIS inquiry on Tuesday. Butler doesn’t directly answer a question about whether or not he is willing to make any significant changes to the legislation the government has put forward.

He says:

Look, the direction of travel I think is an important one for us to follow through. This largely reflects reviews and insights that we’ve gathered over the last three years since the independent review was done of the NDIS in 2023 and endorsed by all governments at national Cabinet later that year.

I’m utterly convinced this is the right plan for the NDIS… I’m not saying there won’t be any change. We heard ideas from the crossbench in the debate in the House of Representatives. I’ve very much heard that people want greater reassurance about what won’t change because of the reforms we’re putting in place.

We have to constrain that growth. Without reforms it would grow to $20 billion by the end of the decade and that’s simply not a sustainable position.

It’s also allowed us, as I said, to protect the core supports people rely upon for that safety that was part of your introduction.

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‘There was a lot of blood in the water’: paddleboarder rescues woman after ‘shocking’ Coogee shark attack

Charlie Verco managed to grab hold of the woman and bring her back to shore after the Sydney shark attack on Saturday

Elite paddleboarder Charlie Verco has only seen one shark bigger than the one he saw on Saturday at Sydney’s Coogee beach.

The North Bondi athlete was training for July’s world championships in Hawaii on Saturday morning when he heard a swimmer shouting “shark”.

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Woman in critical condition after shark attack at Coogee beach

A woman in her 30s has been transported to hospital with arm and leg injuries and beaches in Sydney’s east have been closed after the attack

A woman in her 30s is in a critical condition after being bitten by a large shark at Coogee beach on Saturday, with a witness describing the scene at the popular Sydney beach as “shocking”.

A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance said the woman suffered arm and leg injuries and had been taken by road to St Vincent’s hospital.

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Man charged with kidnap and murder of Sydney woman whose body has not been found

Woman, 58, was last heard from Monday afternoon and her car was found the next day

A man has been charged over the alleged kidnapping and murder of a woman whose body is yet to be found.

Police have been investigating the disappearance of a 58-year-old woman who failed to returned to her home in Sydney’s north-west on Tuesday.

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Twenty-five anti-Isaac Herzog protesters to face joint trial in Sydney

New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon is among witnesses expected to appear at the six-week trial in July next year

Twenty-five people who were charged after they protested against the visit of the Israeli president will face a six-week joint trial in July next year.

The protesters had their matters heard before Downing centre local court on Thursday after their lawyers made a successful application for the joint hearing, arguing there were common legal issues across the cases.

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Hannah Thomas: NSW admits to police ‘battery and false imprisonment’ of pro-Palestine protester

State admits former Greens candidate entitled to damages and agrees to pay medical costs, but denies malicious prosecution and malfeasance in public office

The state of New South Wales has admitted that a police officer punched Hannah Thomas in the eye while holding a torch at a pro-Palestine protest – and it has offered to pay her medical costs.

Court documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal the state has admitted to false imprisonment and battery in its defence to a civil action launched by the former Greens candidate in October.

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NSW prosecutors launch proceedings against Labor officials accused of disguising donations to Chris Minns

Labor MP Ernest Wong and restaurateur Jonathan Yee are facing court over allegedly circumventing election funding laws

New South Wales prosecutors have launched proceedings against two state Labor officials after they allegedly disguised donations to Chris Minns during his election campaign almost a decade ago.

On Tuesday, the NSW Electoral Commission revealed the director of public prosecution had begun proceedings against former Labor MP Ernest Wong and restaurateur Jonathan Yee. The commission commenced an investigation in 2019 into a “potential scheme to circumvent” election funding laws during the campaign to elect Minns for the seat of Kogarah.

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Australian snow season begins amid El Niño fears

Webcams showed snow blanketing the ground in some areas. In others, it was patchy or nonexistent

Australia’s snow season has officially begun, with resorts predicting a good season despite climactic threats and the cost-of-living crisis.

Between 20cm and 40cm of snow fell across the Victorian and New South Wales alps before the long weekend, with the falls bolstered by snowmakers.

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Woman illegally strip-searched by police ‘reasonably thought’ officers would call her a liar, judge says

NSW seeking leave to appeal against successful class action including aggravated damages of $20,000 awarded to woman strip-searched at music festival

The woman awarded $93,000 after an illegal strip-search by NSW police thought until “just before” the trial that she would be called a liar in the proceedings by the officers who conducted the search.

This was despite the officers submitting statements 12 months before her appearance that they had no recollection of the woman or the search, a court was told on Friday.

Lawyers acting for the woman, Raya Meredith, and 6,000 music festivalgoers appeared before the NSW court of appeal on Friday in the final day of a two-day hearing where NSW is seeking leave to appeal after losing a class action over unlawful strip-searches conducted at music festivals between 2018 and 2022.

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‘That’s a bad combination’: why Australia may be in for a slushy snow season

Snow arrives in time for the start of ski season, but climate change and El Niño mean it may not stick around for long, experts say

There was optimism across Australian alpine resorts this week as their social media channels filled with footage of snow flurries that arrived just in time for the opening of the ski season this weekend.

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said the Instagram account of Perisher, the southern hemisphere’s biggest ski resort in Kosciuszko national park in New South Wales, as hands swept the fresh snow from outdoor tables.

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