Queensland premier says ‘no update’ on anti-discrimination reforms – as it happened

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Brisbane Christian school issues apology two years after gender contracts

A Pentecostal Christian school has expressed regret for introducing a controversial student gender and sexuality contract two years ago.

We regret any distress or concern which was caused to students, parents and guardians of students or prospective students of the college.

We are working closely with all of our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers and we are providing support to the industry in responding to the Avian Flu cases in Victoria.

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‘Molly’s death was preventable’: premier says NSW must learn from mistakes after Ticehurst family speaks out

Chris Minns says review of Molly Ticehurst’s interactions with government agencies will be provided to her family and the public

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has vowed the state will learn from “anything that has gone wrong” in the lead-up to Molly Ticehurst’s “preventable” death after her parents called for changes to a government program they said gave her “false hope” of home safety in the fortnight before she died.

Molly’s parents, Kate and Tony Ticehurst, would be provided with a report detailing the interactions their daughter had with NSW government agencies and service providers, Minns pledged, after they alleged she was promised security upgrades to her home that were not delivered before she died.

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In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

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One in four cases before NSW local courts last year related to domestic violence, data reveals

Average time taken to finalise domestic family violence matters in local courts balloons to 266 days, as legal services cry out for more funding

A quarter of all matters before local courts in New South Wales last year were related to domestic violence, new data shows, as community legal services warn of a critical lack in funding to help victim-survivors seek justice.

Data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) showed 26% of matters finalised in local courts in 2023 were related to domestic violence, up from 20% in 2019.

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Labor urged to step up pressure on Israel – as it happened

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Coleman denies double standard over deportation direction

Coleman is being interrogated about his actions as immigration minister relating to direction 79, which was cited by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in “a number of cases” to justify allowing those with criminal convictions remain in Australia.

I’m not familiar with the specific examples.

I don’t agree at all. I made it stronger. That’s the decision I made. The decision that Andrew Giles made was, how do we ensure that people who would otherwise go back to New Zealand get to stay in Australia? That was a shameful decision and that’s why he sought to reverse it in direction 110. But he still kept the connection to the Australian community as a primary consideration, which is the whole problem with direction 99 in the first place. These guys have no idea how to manage the immigration system. That’s why we have seen such terrible results.

I’m very comfortable. We have to cut immigration.

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‘Be prepared for many days of isolation’: emergency services urge NSW residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate

Rain easing but SES says risk to communities remains as wet weather causes Warragamba Dam to spill for third month running

Some New South Wales residents told to flee rising flood waters have been given the all-clear to return as heavy rainfall, which caused a major dam to spill, eases and water levels recede.

Spills had slowed from Warragamba Dam late on Saturday but more than a dozen riverside communities had been warned the flooding emergency remained.

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‘We may not have snow’: Australian ski season opens with a whimper

Mt Buller had the country’s only ski-on chairlift operating on season’s opening day on Saturday – but snow is forecast for the week ahead

It was a grassy start to Australia’s ski season, with one resort trying to remain upbeat “although we may not have snow on the ground” and a few pockets of human-made alternatives to play on elsewhere.

Mt Buller, in Victoria, was blessed with the only ski-on chairlift in the entire country on the opening day of the winter season on Saturday.

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Man accused of seeking $300,000 from woman he allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted in Sydney

Man, 29, extradited from Victoria on Thursday after police alleged he threatened to release photos of assault

A man alleged to have drugged and kidnapped a woman before photographing himself sexually assaulting her and attempting to extort a $300,000 payment for the images has been extradited from Victoria to New South Wales.

Yanyu Mu, 29, was arrested at Oakleigh East in Melbourne’s south-east on Thursday, before being extradited to Sydney.

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Slushy start to ski season as NSW resort towns say booking numbers down

Resort operators remain hopeful of larger falls later in the season and have introduced other activities not dependent on snowfall

The ski season is off to a mushy start as eager skiers hoping for the first glimpse of snow this weekend are instead met with grass and slush.

In New South Wales, Perisher and Thredbo, the most popular ski resorts in Australia, will only have a beginner’s conveyor belt running, and Selwyn snow resorts will not have any lifts operating.

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Shannon Fentiman referred to Queensland ethics committee over ‘cross your legs’ stoush – as it happened

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Max-Chandler Mather weighs in on Bandt’s potential legal action against attorney-general

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier about the ongoing stoush between his party and Labor, with Adam Bandt threatening legal action against the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, over comments on pro-Palestine protests.

Asking me to comment on the specifics of a case like that – outrageous comments by the attorney general, completely baseless and without fact … this is an attempt to distract from the fact that the Labor government is complicit in a genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza.

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Politics live: question time claims and counter-claims over Australia’s military ties with Israel

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Going fully electric would save households more than $600 a year for next four decades, report says

Households would save an average of $608 a year for the next 40 years if new residential buildings in New South Wales were required to be fully electric, according to a report commissioned by climate organisation 350 Australia.

It cuts energy bills for local residents and small businesses during a cost of living crisis and reduces climate pollution, at almost no cost to councils. It will be low-income people and renters who will benefit most from council-led electrification.

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‘Who pulled the trigger?’: verdict looms for Charlise Mutten’s alleged murderer Justin Stein

Jury begins deliberations over whether Stein, 33, murdered his former partner’s daughter. He has pleaded not guilty

A jury has begun deliberations over the alleged murder of Charlise Mutten after being told the issue in the case is not how the schoolgirl died but who pulled the trigger.

Charlise’s body was found near the Colo River, north-west of Sydney, on 18 January 2022 with gunshot wounds to her face and lower back.

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Molly Ticehurst was promised state help to ‘intruder-proof’ her home. Two weeks later she was dead

Exclusive: Grieving parents say NSW government’s Staying Home Leaving Violence scheme ‘failed’ their daughter

Molly Ticehurst was promised help to “intruder-proof” her Forbes home as part of a state government domestic violence program two weeks before her former partner allegedly murdered her, with her grieving parents now accusing the scheme of offering her “false hope”.

Ticehurst’s parents, Tony and Kate, say their 28-year-old daughter was let down by the system and the people who promised to install lights, cameras and tough window screens at her home after she reported her ex-boyfriend Daniel Billings to police.

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Australia politics live: RBA governor still confident economy will slow without stalling; no-confidence vote for embattled Townsville mayor

Council passes unanimous motion of no-confidence in its mayor Troy Thompson. Follow the day’s news live

Australia’s existing submarines won’t get Tomohawk missile upgrades

Australia’s existing Collins-class submarines will not be fitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of work to extend their life before the Aukus submarines come into service.

For instance, we will consider whether tomahawk missiles can be fitted to the Collins-class submarines.”

The government has also received advice from Defence, in consultation with the United States, that adding Tomahawk cruise missile capability to the Collins class submarines is not viable and does not represent value for money.

The Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines Australia will receive in the early 2030s will come with the Tomahawk as standard equipment. Tomahawk cruise missiles will also be used by Navy’s Hobart class destroyers and the government has agreed in-principle to fit the Hunter class frigates with Tomahawks, subject to a feasibility study. [end quote]

NDS agrees with the government that managing the sustainability of the NDIS is critical — the community expects no less. We need fundamental and systemic reform, and that must be accompanied by proper resourcing for sector transformation.

The system is broken. Training, supervision and retaining highly skilled practitioners to provide quality care is essential, but not adequately covered in the current funding model.”

A continuation of previous workforce trends showing that workforce issues in the disability sector have become entrenched.

The disability sector continues to rely heavily on casual disability support workers, who have a very high turnover.

The biggest variation this year was a in proportion of permanent employees who work full time – with the number of full-time employees growing by 10%, the highest in close to a decade.

Conversely, part-time employment dropped to 70% this year. The increase may be related to the current cost-of-living crisis.

Turnover continued the upward trend growing to 24% this year, while permanent staff turnover jumped to 16%, the highest it has been since this survey began. These figures represent a churn of almost 16,500 individual employees leaving their jobs and over 19,000 new appointments over a one-year period.

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As global heating cuts Australia’s snowfall ski season may go downhill, report warns

‘The webcams do not lie,’ says Annalisa Koeman, whose family has been operating a mountain lodge for decades

Bookings have been slow ahead of the ski season at the mountain lodge in Thredbo that Annalisa Koeman’s parents built in the 1960s and have run ever since.

Last ski season started with some good snow falls “but it went downhill from there. It was a disastrous end. The ski lifts closed two weeks early,” says Koeman, managing supervisor at Kasees Apartments and Mountain Lodge.

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Australia politics live: $600,000 speechwriter not responsible for Bill Shorten’s ‘zingers’, Matt Keogh says

Workplace relations minister Tony Burke has conceded role wouldn’t ordinarily be paid that much. Follow today’s news headlines live

For a bit of a change of pace, you may enjoy this essay from Malcolm Turnbull in Foreign Affairs, where he outlines how he believes world leaders can deal with a second Trump presidency.

Turnbull bases a lot of his arguments on his own dealings with Donald Trump while prime minister. He runs through the infamous refugee deal phone call (the transcript of which was leaked) and the trade back-and-forths over tariffs.

The caricature of Trump as a one-dimensional, irrational monster is so entrenched that many forget that he can be, when it suits him, intelligently transactional. Like most bullies, he will bend others to his will when he can, and when he cannot, he will try to make a deal. But to get to the deal-making stage, Trump’s counterparts have to stand up to the bullying first.

I would certainly like to see the performance lifted. I would like to see better outcomes, particularly for the more vulnerable cohorts.

We also have work going on, in response to a parliamentary inquiry into the employment services system, going on in parallel to overseeing this new system.

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Charlise Mutten murder trial: alleged killer admits version of events changed but blames it on ‘confusion’, court hears

Justin Stein says he made ‘a number of mistakes’ when he told his mother about nine-year-old’s death, trial told

The man accused of murdering schoolgirl Charlise Mutten has blamed inconsistencies in his versions of events on his confusion over details, including when the nine-year-old was killed.

Justin Stein has pleaded not guilty to murdering Charlise in January 2022, claiming it was the girl’s mother, Kallista Mutten, who shot her.

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Man charged with stabbing murder of 21-year-old surfer in Coffs Harbour

Kye Schaefer died after being found with ‘significant’ stab wounds early on the morning of 2 May

A man has been charged with the murder of a surfer in Coffs Harbour on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.

21-year-old Kye Schaefer died after being found with “significant” stab wounds early on the morning of 2 May.

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Sydney teacher charged after allegedly filming students’ private parts on phone

Guy Meogrossi, 30, faced court on charges of producing child abuse material and filming a person’s private parts without their consent

A teacher has been charged with producing child abuse material after he allegedly used his phone to make recordings of students at a school in Sydney’s south west.

Police were called to the school on Monday afternoon after reports of an incident that involved teacher using his phone to make recordings of students.

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Charlise Mutten murder trial: alleged killer Justin Stein says he didn’t know schoolgirl’s body was on back of ute

Justin Stein, who denies murdering the nine-year-old, gave evidence in the NSW supreme court as his defence case began

The man accused of killing Charlise Mutten says he didn’t know the schoolgirl’s body was on the back of his ute when he was caught on camera towing a boat and buying bags of sand.

Justin Stein has pleaded not guilty to murdering nine-year-old Charlise in January 2022, claiming it was the girl’s mother, Kallista Mutten, who shot her.

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‘Real concern’ over state of NSW social housing as history of gas leaks at Whalan complex revealed after deadly blast

Investigation under way into cause of explosion at social housing complex in Sydney’s west that left one woman dead

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has indicated there could be more money on the way for social housing stock and repairs in this month’s budget after a woman died when a townhouse with a history of suspected gas leaks in Sydney’s west exploded.

Mhey Yumol Jasmin’s body was found in the rubble on Monday morning after two days of searching at the Whalan social housing complex, where two gas meters were found to be damaged in recent months.

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