Hundreds of sites including schools are being investigated amid the growing asbestos mulch crisis across NSW. This map shows contaminated parks and other locations
Asbestos-contaminated landscaping materials have potentially been used at hundreds of locations across Sydney and at least one in regional New South Wales.
The premier, Chris Minns, has said the Environment Protection Authority is examining the sites as it undertakes its largest investigation ever.
Continue reading...More than 130 people working on criminal investigation into mulch supplied by Greenlife Resource Recovery. The company denies any wrongdoing
An investigation into the growing New South Wales asbestos scandal has become the state environmental watchdog’s biggest-ever probe with hundreds of sites potentially contaminated including parks, schools, train stations and suburban back yards.
A surge workforce of public servants and firefighters will assist the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as it expands its criminal investigation into mulch found to contain asbestos across Sydney and regional NSW.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall is expected to hit the Gulf of Carpentaria coast with a risk of a possible tropical cyclone from Thursday. This blog is now closed
Not everyone voted to bring Julian Assange back to Australia
Looking at the Hansard, it seems there were 11 MPs who abstained from voting on the Assange motion:
Continue reading...Housing review finds 33,000 homes, including Stayz and Airbnb listings, are registered as non-hosted short-term rentals
Almost 100,000 apartments and houses across New South Wales are not being used for long-term housing, according to state government modelling.
The state government estimates 15,000 homes are vacant year-round, 45,000 are used as holiday homes and more than 33,000 are registered as non-hosted short-term properties, according to the data released as part of the Minns government’s review of short-term rentals including Stayz and Airbnb.
Continue reading...Environment spokesperson Kellie Sloane says park users should not hear about potential contamination through the media
The New South Wales opposition has called for a central register of all sites being investigated for possible asbestos contamination by the state’s environmental watchdog, including parks and schools.
Councils across Sydney have been assessing their parks and landscaping providers after the City of Sydney announced 32 sites were under investigation for possible contamination in addition to three where asbestos was found in mulch earlier in the week.
Continue reading...Plan includes consultation with community-controlled organisations to reduce number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care
The New South Wales government has announced a new “restoration taskforce” to oversee efforts to return as many Aboriginal children to their families from the child protection system as is safe.
In a significant policy shift from previous governments, the minister for families and communities, Kate Washington, said the “shocking proportion” of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care can be reduced by working in partnership with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.
Continue reading...Cryptosporidium parasite causes 498 diarrhoea cases in NSW this year and 736 in Queensland in January alone
Health authorities are urging people with diarrhoea to avoid swimming pools as cryptosporidiosis infections surge across New South Wales and Queensland.
The cryptosporidium parasite, which causes acute diarrhoea and can survive in chlorinated water for many days, has been responsible for 498 cases of diarrhoea in NSW this year – a five-fold increase on the five-year average of 95 for the same period.
Continue reading...Police charge 28-year-old over alleged criminal cell plan to murder members of Sydney rap group
A third member of an alleged criminal cell allegedly hired to kill gang rivals is being held by police.
Police believe the group is behind multiple contract kidnappings and a plan to target Sydney-based drill rap group OneFour.
Continue reading...Man succumbs to serious injury suffered during fall while skiing, with paramedics declaring him dead at the scene
Police say the death of a man while waterskiing at an annual event on the Victoria-NSW border is a tragedy that will affect the community for months to come.
It was the sixth fatal accident at the Southern 80 waterski race since 2006.
Continue reading...The species can climb waterfalls and reaches back to Gondwanaland – but there are fears polluted runoff has proven fatal
A “miracle fish” may have been snuffed out in its Sydney habitat by bungled construction work at a nearby government high school, local environmentalists fear.
The climbing galaxias (Galaxias brevipinnis) belongs to a species line reaching back to Gondwanaland. It was only identified in the Manly Dam region in Sydney’s north – the fish’s most northerly known location in Australia – in 1998.
Continue reading...Two of the biggest Aboriginal groups in NSW claim racism is ‘rife’ in the child protection system, which needs an overhaul
Pressure is growing for the New South Wales government to review its out-of-home care providers after it was revealed in court that a faith-based service refused to assess an Aboriginal kinship carer because of her sexual orientation.
The call comes as two of the biggest Aboriginal organisations in NSW claim racism in the child protection system is “rife” and closing the gap measures to reduce the number of Aboriginal children taken into care will fail unless the Minns government overhauls the sector.
Continue reading...Legislation banning the use of the devices, which have been linked to deaths in custody, passes in NSW with cross-party support
Advocates are calling for a nationwide ban on spit hoods – which have been linked to deaths in custody – after New South Wales became the second state to outlaw the use of the restraint devices.
The Ban Spit Hoods Coalition, which works to end the use of the fabric device which is placed over people’s heads in custodial settings, said spit hoods were an unacceptable threat to human life and dignity and that all states and territories should follow the lead of NSW and South Australia, with the latter state the first to ban its use in 2021.
Continue reading...The SES rescued three people from flood waters as the tropical low moved south over the Queensland border, with more wet weather forecast
New South Wales was lashed with torrential rain in the early hours of Tuesday, and three people were rescued from flood waters in their cars, as ex-tropical cyclone Kirrily moved across the state.
After wreaking havoc in Queensland, the ex-tropical cyclone crossed the border into western NSW on Monday afternoon, bringing heavy rainfall and flash flooding to inland communities, before reaching Sydney around 5am and bringing 21mm of rain and localised flash flooding.
Continue reading...Labor to create legal pathway for council demergers after forced amalgamations by former Coalition government
New South Wales mega-councils will be forced to pay for their own demergers, in a move likely to anger local governments that have long been advocating for the state government to stump up cash and allow forced amalgamations to be reversed.
The Minns government will on Tuesday introduce legislation to parliament to create a legal pathway to demergers for councils, including Sydney’s Inner West, that wish to split – but it has made it clear it won’t be footing the bill.
Continue reading...The 57-year-old allegedly threw a silkie bantam chook known as Betty White into alligator pen, shocking onlookers at Oakvale Farm and Fauna World
A man accused of throwing a chicken known as Betty White into an alligator pen in front of shocked families at a popular NSW wildlife park has indicated he’ll plead not guilty to animal cruelty.
The case against Peter William Smith, 57, of Singleton, was briefly mentioned in Raymond Terrace local court on Monday.
Continue reading...Former Wallaby has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting woman at Beach Road Hotel in December 2022
A woman aired allegations she was assaulted by the rugby star Kurtley Beale with her fiance’s family during a trip intended for wedding-dress shopping, a court has heard.
Beale, 35, is facing one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching in the NSW district court, following the alleged incident at Bondi’s Beach Road hotel in December 2022.
Continue reading...Heatwave warnings as ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily continues to dump heavy rain across parts of outback Queensland
Much of southern Queensland and eastern New South Wales will be gripped by heatwave conditions over the weekend as western Sydney and Melbourne brace for temperatures in the high 30s on Sunday.
Ex-tropical cyclone Kirrily has continued to dump heavy rain across parts of outback Queensland but the system was forecast to track south, taking a route across NSW, before finally leaving the continent on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Wilson’s Promontory beach is the first Victorian site to top Tourism Australia’s list, which celebrates coastal spots
It’s not the famous sands of Bondi, the surf mecca of Bells, or the pristine white stretches along the Great Barrier Reef – but Squeaky beach in Victoria has been named the best in Australia.
Named for the under-foot sound of its quartz sand, the Wilson’s Promontory beach is close to the most southerly point of mainland Australia.
Continue reading...Ecologists condemn watchdog decision, accusing it of making reckless changes to allow easier logging of state forests containing glider habitat
NSW’s environmental watchdog has put the endangered greater glider on a fast track to extinction by watering down logging protections, experts say.
Ecologists from WWF-Australia and Wilderness Australia have condemned the watchdog, accusing it of making reckless changes so Forestry Corporation can more easily log state forests.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
BoM issues wind weather warning for Tasmania
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in parts of Tasmania.
Australia has a very important role to play as a signatory to the ICJ, a signatory to the genocide convention, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and ensure that the investigations that are occurring with UNRWA … don’t inhibit funding and delivery of services that are going to basically save lives in coming days and weeks and months.
UNRWA has done the right thing in standing down the staff, sacking them. They have got an independent investigation occurring. 150 UN UNRWA staff have been killed, their families and children as well, over the past several months of this conflict. The UN is in the middle, sandwiched in the conflict, trying to do its best to save lives. Donor governments like Australia need to bear this in mind that, if funding ceases, there is nowhere else to turn to. People will simply collapse and die.
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