Category Archives: New South Wales

Matt Kean, a sometimes lone Coalition voice on climate threat, announces shock retirement

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NSW Liberal MP rules out running for federal parliament as he exits state politics after 13 years

New South Wales Liberal MP Matt Kean has announced his resignation from politics after 13 years in state parliament.

Kean made the surprise announcement in a snap press conference at NSW parliament on Tuesday, hours after the Minns Labor government handed down its second budget.

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NSW budget 2024: the biggest winners and losers

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From bulk billing GPs and frontline workers to renters and the environment, here’s who won and lost in the Minns government’s state budget

The New South Wales government has unveiled a bold plan to ease costs for GP clinics in order to nudge doctors into bulk billing more patients, as part of a suite of budget measures it hopes will deliver cost-of-living relief to citizens.

However, in announcing a $3.6bn deficit, the Minns government’s budget of “must-haves not nice-to-haves” leaves a raft of key societal issues without new funding or a clear path to improvement.

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Climate 200 names nine new Coalition seats where it hopes to replicate teal wave at next election

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Exclusive: After months of speculation the fundraising giant has identified more electorates where independent campaigns meet its criteria for support

Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.

After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.

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From social housing to $1.5m for a studio: minister hits out at ‘dud deal’ sale of Sydney’s Sirius building

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Exclusive: Rose Jackson says losing public housing in expensive central suburbs leaves society worse off, and this week’s state budget will address issue

A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment.

The last of the 76 apartments in the redeveloped complex in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge are on the market after the building was sold to a developer by the former Coalition state government for $150m in 2019.

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Australia news live: Minns ‘really sorry’ final Vivid drone show cancelled with 20 minutes notice; Malinauskas welcomes ‘exciting’ panda news

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The current pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, will return to China this year. Follow the day’s news headlines

Labor ‘continuing to consult’ on Makarrata commission, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

Treaty process is undergoing at the various states and that’s appropriate. With regard to Makarrata, we’re continuing to consult on those issues. said.

Indigenous leaders, of course, were very disappointed by the referendum result. I’ll attend Garma once again this year and sit down with people and talk about a way forward.

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Man charged over alleged murder of Sydney surfer Guy Haymes after family appeal for information

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‘Fun-loving’ former competitive surfer was well-known on NSW’s northern beaches

Police have charged a man with the murder of Sydney surfer Guy Haymes, days after his family appealed for information about the death of the “fun-loving” northern beaches identity.

Haymes, 59, a former competitive surfer affectionately known as “Creature”, was found with critical head injuries on 27 February, outside a unit complex on Pittwater Road at Manly.

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Housing to be at the centre of NSW budget, with more homes for those in need

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Treasurer Daniel Mookhey foreshadows more money for social and affordable housing while lamenting drop in state’s GST share

Housing will be the centrepiece of the New South Wales budget, with money for social and affordable homes, regional development and essential services to support growth across Sydney.

While the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, acknowledged there was no quick fix for the crisis, he said he had been listening to experts who called for more homes to help those most in need and stem the brain drain from the state.

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Offshore windfarm zone off Illawarra coast given green light in bid to ‘power Australia’s clean energy future’

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Zone will be 20km off the coast and exclude areas significant for little penguin and for southern right whale migration

The federal government has given the green light to an offshore windfarm zone south of Sydney, making it Australia’s fourth such zone to be declared.

Announcing the project in the Illawarra on Saturday, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the move would bring thousands of new jobs and help “power Australia’s clean energy future”.

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Dozens of Sydney’s asbestos-contaminated sites not cleaned up six months after first discovery

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EPA refuses to name untreated sites but says all schools and hospitals have been cleaned as it continues criminal investigation into contamination

Dozens of contaminated sites in Sydney are yet to be cleaned up six months after asbestos was first discovered in mulch at a public park, as the New South Wales treasurer urges the environment regulator to “throw the book” at polluters.

The Environment Protection Authority is refusing to name the sites that are yet to be remediated as it continues its criminal investigation into the source of asbestos contamination in recycled garden mulch that was used widely across greater Sydney.

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Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.

I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?

This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.

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Independent MP Kylea Tink’s electorate of North Sydney to be abolished under AEC proposal

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New South Wales draft boundaries would also affect the seats of Bennelong and Bradfield, held by Labor and Liberals respectively

The Australian Electoral Commission has recommended one of the country’s oldest electorates, North Sydney, be abolished in a boundary shake-up that could have far-reaching consequences for the major parties.

After reviewing population changes and submissions, the AEC has released its draft proposal for New South Wales’s new electoral boundaries, recommending the federation seat currently held by independent MP Kylea Tink be abolished.

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Environmental groups apply to take Tanya Plibersek to high court over coalmine approvals

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Minister should have assessed climate damage that would be caused by two large developments, advocates say

Conservationists will ask the high court to examine whether the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, should have assessed the climate damage that would be caused by two large coalmine developments.

The Environment Council of Central Queensland has sought special leave in Australia’s highest court to appeal against the federal court’s dismissal of what is known as the Living Wonders case.

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Australia news live: person ‘likely’ with dementia made call to police before 92-year-old allegedly assaulted by police, Karen Webb says

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Chalmers asked about findings that jobseekers unable to afford ‘basics of life’

The treasurer Jim Chalmers was up on ABC News Breakfast just earlier, asked about new Anglicare data showing Australians on income support are “structurally unable to afford the basics of life”.

This is the primary motivation for the substantial cost of living relief that we’re providing in the budget. Whether it is the tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, help with student debt and cheaper medicines, plus the increases to jobseeker – which were in the budget before last – all of these are important ways that we can not just understand and acknowledge the pressures that people are under, but actually respond to them.

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Two NSW police officers charged with assaulting 92-year-old man in Sydney

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Elderly man taken to hospital with a fractured and significant bruising after alleged assault in Picton, police say

Two New South Wales police officers have been charged with assaulting a 92-year-old man who was later admitted to hospital with a fractured elbow and significant bruising to his head and arms.

The alleged assault occurred at a home in Picton, in Sydney’s south-west, in January after police were called to a domestic violence incident by the elderly man’s wife, who had made two calls to triple 0 and “likely” had dementia.

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Chris Dawson loses appeal against conviction for murdering wife more than 40 years ago

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Dawson’s lawyers had argued in the NSW court of criminal appeal that the 2022 verdict was unreasonable

Chris Dawson has lost his appeal against his 2022 conviction for murdering his wife more than 40 years ago.

A panel of judges in the New South Wales court of criminal appeal delivered their ruling on Thursday after Dawson’s lawyers earlier argued that the guilty verdict against him was unreasonable.

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NSW planning official referred to corruption watchdog Icac over house purchase allegation

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Liberal MP Alister Henskens used parliamentary privilege to accuse unnamed bureaucrat of using inside knowledge to purchase property for potential profit

The New South Wales government will refer claims of serious misconduct by a senior planning bureaucrat to the corruption watchdog Icac after concerns were raised by a former Coalition minister speaking under parliamentary privilege.

The Liberal MP for Wahroonga, Alister Henskens, on Thursday evening told parliament he had received “credible evidence” to suggest the planning department official had used insider information for personal gain through the government’s housing plan.

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Australia news live: Dutton suggests Coalition won’t provide 2030 emissions target before election5; Qld state budget announcement today

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Opposition leader says Coalition will ‘make our announcements in relation to our targets in due course’. Follow today’s news headlines live

Murray Watt says the opposition has “started the new climate wars” after Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt, two senior Nationals, called for Australia to pull out of the Paris agreement. You can read more on this from Karen Middleton below:

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt said:

We’re back to the same old climate wars in the Coalition. I saw overnight that [Joyce and Pitt] openly called for the Coalition to pull out of the Paris agreement. They’ve spent the last couple of days trying to paper over the cracks in the Coalition, saying that they can withdraw the target without withdrawing from the agreement. Now it’s out there in the open for everyone to see. And you can set your clock by Barnaby Joyce causing new climate wars within the Coalition. It’s seem like we’re back to the bad old days.

We’re on track to get to 42%, which is only 1% short of the 43% target.

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Drowned women were picknicking when freak wave swept them from rocks in Kurnell, Sydney police say

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Pair could not be revived and a third woman is recovering in hospital after tragedy in Kurnell in Sutherland shire

Two women picnicking in Sydney’s south drowned after a freak wave swept them off rocks and out to sea, authorities believe.

A third woman also swept from the rock shelf is recovering in hospital.

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Two women dead after being swept off rocks near Kurnell on Sydney coast

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Emergency services called to water after reports three women swept from rocks into ocean in the Sutherland Shire

Two women have died after being swept from the rocks on Sydney’s coast.

Emergency services were called to the scene at about 4.30pm on Monday after reports three women had been swept from the rocks into the ocean near Kurnell in the Sutherland Shire.

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Vivid needs better crowd management, says Chris Minns after bottlenecks cause ‘near-miss incident’

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Crowds attending drone show at Sydney’s winter light festival feared crowd crush and were left feeling trapped and panicked

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has conceded organisers need to “do better” after the crowd at Vivid’s drone show were left feeling trapped and panicked, with one expert describing it as a “near-miss incident”.

The first drone show as part of Sydney’s annual winter light festival drew enormous crowds to Circular Quay, where bottlenecks at the exits left thousands of people trapped and fearing a crowd crush on Saturday night.

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