Kallista Mutten called triple zero to report daughter missing four days before nine-year-old’s body was found, NSW supreme court hears
Charlise Mutten’s crying mother said she had not seen her daughter for two days when she called police to report her missing several days before the young girl’s body was found.
Justin Laurens Stein, 33, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the schoolgirl on or around 12 January 2022, at Mount Wilson, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
Continue reading...Treasurer will be able to boast back-to-back surpluses when he speaks at 7.30pm tonight. Follow live updates today
Nick McKim said he agrees with EY chief economist, Cherelle Murphy, who says that you can look after people without impacting inflation by taking the money you are spending on people who don’t need it, and redirecting it to people who do. (Therefore it is the same pool of money, but targeted differently.)
McKim:
For example, you could end the massive tax breaks for property investors who own multiple investment properties then put in place a rent freeze and a rent cap, for example.
You could tax billionaires and CEOs on the basis of their wealth and you could use that revenue to raise income support, which would lift a large number of Australians out of the grinding poverty that they experience every day.
No, certainly not. I mean, what the surplus shows is that they’re prioritising their own political benefit over investing in the kind of programs that would provide genuine help to people who are really doing it tough at the moment.
So what you’re going to see in the budget tonight is that having talked up an absolute storm on things like climate change and on things like cost of living, Labor is simply not prepared to take the action necessary to respond to those challenges that the urgency and the scale that is required.
Continue reading...Local campaigners call for testing of nearby waterways but mine owner says potentially affected groundwater unlikely to ‘represent a risk’
A gold mining operation in the New South Wales’ central west has confirmed groundwater has been affected by potentially toxic mining waste.
The most recent Cadia Valley Operations annual review described an increase in arsenic concentrations in two decommissioned monitoring bores in the mining pit at Cadia Hill, attributed to tailings deposition, or discharge at the mine site. Indicators of seepage at the tailings storage facility were also detected.
Continue reading...Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC says judge was correct to convict Dawson who had a ‘possessive’ relationship with a teenager
Chris Dawson’s possessiveness of his teenage babysitter meant his claims of innocence after being convicted of murdering his wife should be rejected, a court has been told.
The 75-year-old is trying to overturn an August 2022 New South Wales supreme court murder verdict by Justice Ian Harrison, who found the ex-teacher killed his wife, Lynette, and disposed of her body in January 1982.
Continue reading...Schoolgirl once asked her grandfather if her alleged killer Justin Stein would make a good dad, NSW supreme court hears
Charlise Mutten was fond of her alleged killer and was excited to be spending Christmas with him and her mother before the fatal visit, a trial has been told.
Justin Laurens Stein, 33, is accused of murdering the schoolgirl on or around 12 January 2022 at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
Continue reading...Changes include reversing presumption of bail for anyone charged with the most serious domestic violence-related offences
Alleged serious domestic violence offenders will find it harder to get bail and will be fitted with ankle monitors if they are released as part of major legal reforms proposed by the New South Wales government.
The premier, Chris Minns, said the changes were “long overdue, targeted and will help keep women and children safer”.
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More details on government’s plan to cap international student numbers
The government has released a little more information on its plan to cap international students in a bid to ease housing shortages and clamp down on sub-standard education providers and agents. It will introduce legislation next week which will:
Prevent education providers from owning education agent businesses.
Pause applications for registration from new international education providers and of new courses from existing providers for periods of up to 12 months.
Require new providers seeking registration to demonstrate a track record of quality education delivery to domestic students before they are allowed to recruit international students.
Cancel dormant provider registrations to prevent them being used as a market entry tool by unscrupulous actors.
Prevent providers under serious regulatory investigation from recruiting new international students.
Improve the sharing of data relating to education agents.
[The Coalition will announce its] energy policy not at the time of the media’s choosing or at a time of the government’s choosing but a time of the Coalition’s choosing.
But it will be very clear in advance of the next election the way we want to go about opening up a new energy source for Australia. That will deliver emissions free energy and lower energy prices by increasing the mix of types of energy over the long term.
Continue reading...Alleged murderer Justin Stein claims nine-year-old schoolgirl was shot dead by her mother, Kallista Mutten, not by him, jury told
A man on trial for murdering Charlise Mutten claims it was the nine-year-old’s mother who shot the schoolgirl rather than him, a court has been told.
Justin Laurens Stein, 33, is accused of murdering Charlise on or around 12 January 2022, at Mount Wilson, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
Continue reading...Solar storm effects delight stargazers in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia but most in NSW miss out
Australians should have a second chance to see the aurora australis on Sunday night, experts say, after a Saturday southern lights display so spectacular it left at least one astronomer in tears.
Social media users posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and around the world.
Continue reading...About 400 people gather to pay tribute to early childhood educator, wearing bright T-shirts with the slogans ‘#HernameisMolly’ and ‘#Speakup’
A small community in the New South Wales central west has marked Mother’s Day with a walk in memory of Molly Ticehurst, who was allegedly killed by a former partner last month.
Pushing prams and flanked by puppies, families followed the path around Lake Forbes on Sunday. About 400 people gathered, many wearing bright T-shirts with the slogans “#HernameisMolly” and “#Speakup”. They included close friends and family of the 28-year-old.
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Continue reading...SES issues minor flood warnings for the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond and the Colo River
Sydney’s Warragamba dam began spilling over for the second time in a month on Sunday after heavy downpours across New South Wales.
WaterNSW has confirmed the dam began spilling at 7.30am after widespread rain across the city’s catchments.
Continue reading...Towns across the country are putting on a show as the cold nights draw in. We’ve picked five spots from Queensland to Gippsland to take it in
Autumn is arguably the most beguiling time of year. It’s not too hot, not too cold, and regional towns are basked in alluring shades of auburn, burgundy and orange.
But to experience the season in all its glory, you have to know where to go.
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Continue reading...Social media users post pictures of skies lit up around the country while the Bureau of Meteorology warns of solar storm’s impacts
Aurora australis has lit up skies across southern Australia after an “extreme” geomagnetic solar storm.
Social media users in posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and across the Tasman in New Zealand.
Continue reading...Warragamba dam in NSW nearing capacity after two West Australians were hospitalised on Friday
Warragamba dam could spill over the Mother’s Day weekend amid severe weather warnings on the east coast, and after a tornado tore through the West Australian city of Bunbury, injuring two people.
WaterNSW issued a warning on Friday that the Warragamba dam was nearing capacity after several days of rainfall, and that a spill event was “likely in coming days”.
Continue reading...Chris Minns says he hopes move will bring ‘some semblance of closure’ to those convicted
The New South Wales government will formally apologise to people convicted under laws criminalising homosexuality in a move the premier hopes will bring closure to those who have been affected.
Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, NSW will become the last Australian state to issue an apology after all five others did last decade.
Continue reading...More rain is expected to lash NSW as BoM issues severe weather and flash flood warnings
Another wet and stormy weekend is ahead for New South Wales with widespread rain and thunderstorms expected to batter much of the state.
The heaviest downpours of up to 200mm are forecast to hit the South Coast and Illawarra, prompting widespread flash flood warnings.
Continue reading...Lawyer for Elon Musk’s company tells federal court notice from watchdog was ‘manifestly inadequate’
Elon Musk’s X Corp has argued notices ordering the companyto remove tweets showing video of a stabbing attack at a Sydney church were invalid, and told a court it was not reasonable for Australia’s eSafety commissioner to expect the 65 posts to be taken down globally.
Last month, X was ordered to hide the posts of the stabbing attack on bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel while he was giving a livestreamed service at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in the suburb of Wakeley.
Continue reading...NSW premier condemns western Sydney council’s ban on Holly Duhig’s children’s book as motion to rescind it lodged
The ban on same-sex parenting books at libraries in a western Sydney council area could be rescinded after widespread backlash and a warning from the premier, Chris Minns, that LGBTQ+ people were being used as a “political football”.
Four Labor councillors on Cumberland city council have lodged a rescission motion to overturn the ban, which they expect will be debated at the next council meeting on 15 May. The vote is expected to be tight.
Continue reading...Public-sector workers call for pay rise, 500 additional staff and the de-privatising of out-of-home care
New South Wales child protection workers have warned that some of the state’s most vulnerable children are being neglected or put at risk of being removed from their families because resourcing problems in the sector have reached crisis point.
More than 2,000 public-sector child protection workers across the state plan to strike for part of the day on Wednesday as they call on the government to give them a pay rise, hire 500 additional staff and de-privatise out-of-home care.
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The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says the prime minister needs to “pick the phone up” and speak directly to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, after the Australian government accused a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares close to an Australian helicopter in international waters.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, yesterday branded the incident as “unacceptable” and said the Australian pilot had to take evasive action to avoid the flares. You can read all the details below:
I think the prime minister needs to pick the phone up, frankly, and speak to the Chinese president … and express our deep concern, because at some stage, there’s going to be a miscalculation and an Australian defence force member is going to lose their life.
And that is a tragic circumstance that has to be avoided at all costs, but there will be a miscalculation by somebody who’s flying that jet or somebody who’s on the deck of a Chinese naval ship, something will happen.
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