NSW promises more nurses to field growing number of sexual assault cases

The state government will pledge almost $53m over four years to fund dozens of new positions

Dozens of sexual assault nurse examiners will be hired in New South Wales in a bid to deal with the increasing number of sexual assault presentations, amid a statewide shortage of trained medical professionals.

The state government will pledge almost $53m over four years to fund the positions when it hands down its first budget on Tuesday, having already scrapped the public sector wage cap in a bid to bolster health services.

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Sydney marathon runners hospitalised after event hit by spring heat

Paramedics treated 40 people, of whom 26 were taken to hospital, seven in a serious condition

More than 25 people have been taken to hospital, with several in a critical condition, after running the Sydney Marathon in unusually warm weather for early spring.

More than 17,000 runners took part in the 42km race, with NSW Ambulance paramedics providing treatment to 40 people.

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Modular housing being explored under $224m NSW government package to ease crisis

Premier Chris Minns also defends ending existing electric vehicle rebates ahead of Tuesday’s state budget

The New South Wales government will explore using modular homes to boost housing supply as part of a $224m package.

Ahead of Tuesday’s state budget, the government said the new package would target housing insecurity, which could then help reduce the social housing waitlist.

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Teen in coma after allegedly being dragged 2km by a car in Sydney

A man has been charged over the Blacktown incident that has left a 15-year-old in a serious condition

A teenager has been placed in an induced coma after allegedly being dragged 2km through the streets in Sydney’s west before falling from a car.

According to New South Wales police, shortly before 7pm on Friday a 19-year-old man sitting in a car and a 15-year-old boy began arguing on a street in Blacktown.

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Chris Minns open to a NSW voice to parliament regardless of federal referendum outcome

Exclusive: The premier says state with largest First Nations population should not be the only one without a truth and treaty process

New South Wales could implement a voice to parliament similar to the South Australian model regardless of the outcome of the federal referendum in October.

The premier, Chris Minns, told Guardian Australia he was open to a state voice to parliament or one of the other models being implemented as part of truth-telling and treaty processes under way in other Australian jurisdictions.

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Woman dies in Newcastle after being shot with Taser and bean bag rounds by NSW police

Police claim the woman, 47, threatened officers with an axe in Stockton before barricading herself inside an apartment where she was shot with ‘less than lethal options’

A woman has died after New South Wales police officers allegedly shot her with a Taser and bean bag-style rounds during a standoff after the 47-year-old reportedly threatened officers with an axe.

The woman’s death in hospital on Thursday night will be examined by the force’s watchdog, authorities said on Friday.

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‘Makes your heart drop’: confronting images show dolphins and seals ensnared by NSW shark nets

Exclusive: Minns government forced to release photos as it pushes ahead with the same shark meshing program for coming season

Images of sea creatures including bleeding dolphins and drowned seals that died in shark nets along the New South Wales coastline last summer have been released by the state government as it pushes ahead with the same meshing program for the coming season.

The graphic Department of Primary Industries photos, obtained by a conservationist under information access laws, show animals that died after being caught in the nets at 10 different beaches between September 2022 and April this year.

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Sydney wakes to blanket of burn-off smoke that could linger for days

Air quality measures at Randwick were ‘very poor’ according to the official gauge, with residents advised to stay indoors

Sydney awoke to a blanket of smoke over parts of the city on Monday from hazard reduction burns at the weekend.

Air quality degraded to “very poor” conditions in Sydney’s east, with residents urged to remain indoors and keep their windows and doors closed until conditions improved.

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‘Determined not to repeat mistakes’: NSW government swears off regional school mergers

Labor has already announced the demerger of two ‘super schools’, accusing the previous Coalition government of ‘making a mess’

The New South Wales government has suggested it will not merge any further public schools in regional areas after concerns the so-called “super schools” are failing to achieve improved outcomes.

Super schools have become more common in the past decade as state governments try to improve resource efficiency and boost academic performance at underperforming public schools.

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Knock down a few, build one: in NSW that counts as a gain for councils’ housing targets

Exclusive: Metrics reflect gross addition to supply, even as unit blocks in affluent Sydney suburbs are being replaced by luxury single properties

Luxury homes built on the site of former unit blocks in Sydney are counting towards council targets for new dwellings, even where they have reduced the available housing stock by displacing multiple properties.

A swathe of interwar apartment buildings in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and inner city face the wrecking ball, to be replaced with modern residences, as Guardian Australia revealed on Wednesday.

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Child allegedly assaulted by William Tyrrell’s former foster parents heard sobbing on audio played in court

Former foster mother, 58, pleaded guilty to assaulting the child on two occasions in 2021

A child allegedly assaulted and intimidated by William Tyrrell’s former foster parents can be heard sobbing and begging with them in audio played to a court.

The 58-year-old woman pleaded guilty on Monday to assaulting the child, who is not William, on two occasions in January and October 2021.

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NSW to enter talks to extend life of Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power station

Opponents call on Minns government to use the funds it would pay Origin to instead hasten rollout of rooftop solar and batteries

The Minns government will “engage” with the owner of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station for a “temporary” extension of its operating life, prioritising short-term energy security over emissions reductions.

A final cost and length of extending operations of the 2,880-megawatt Eraring power plant near Newcastle would hinge on negotiations with owner Origin Energy, the government said on Tuesday.

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NSW premier open to ‘pattern-book’ housing across Sydney as solution for crisis

Unlikely alliance pushes for more medium-density housing of the sort typically found in inner-city suburbs

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says he is open to a proposal to pre-approve “pattern-book” housing designs that can be rolled out in Sydney suburbs – an idea being championed by an unlikely alliance of unions, big business and universities.

The Housing Now group, launched on Monday, argues that 30 suburbs need to be, in effect, transformed into inner-city Surry Hills by adding higher density houses and medium-rise apartment buildings.

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Byron’s proposed 60-day Airbnb cap unlikely to come into effect until next year despite housing crisis

If approved by NSW government, it will apply only to Byron and not other councils struggling amid the state-wide housing shortage

Byron council’s planned 60-day cap on short-term rentals like Airbnbs to ease pressure on the housing market would not come into effect until the middle of next year if the government decides to allow it, the holiday hotspot’s mayor says.

And if the tightened rules are approved by the New South Wales government, they will just apply to Byron and not other councils also struggling with housing amid a state-wide shortage.

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Littleproud says ‘there’ll be no victory lap’ if voice fails – as it happened

Nationals leader backs Peter Dutton’s call to hold a referendum on Indigenous recognition if the voice to parliament vote fails in October. This blog is now closed

Reforms ensure basic standards around pay and working conditions: Burke

Burke has also flagged reforms to ensure gig workers have some basic minimum standards around pay and conditions. Burke says the government reforms are not designed to “break the technology”.

There is no doubt that when people are ultimately receiving really low wages then making ends meet is tougher, and that puts extra pressure on you to take risks.

Riders have spoken to me about it and they say quite specifically that part of the desperation is you are just not earning enough to make ends meet.

We’re talking about the crime being for intentional wage theft, that’s where someone knows the rules. They know exactly what they’re doing. It is the cases where somebody knows that someone is meant to be paid more and they don’t care because they think they can get away with it, and they know that up until now the worse they will have to do is just pay the money back at a later point in time. So wage theft has nothing to do with complexity. It is about theft.

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‘Disastrous’: low-income tenants priced out of newly renovated boarding houses

Professionals seeking affordable housing are displacing those at risk of homelessness as rents soar

When a boarding house in Sydney’s inner-west was razed by arson last year, taking with it the lives of three residents and leaving eight without homes, the hope was that it would be replaced with a newer, safer version of the same low-cost community housing.

But 12 months is a long time in Sydney’s rampant rental market.

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Queensland man extradited to NSW for allegedly disposing of dead body in Bunnings cabinet

Police say accused was called in ‘as a cleaner’ by another man who has been charged with drug dealer’s murder

NSW police have charged a Queensland man they believe was involved in the disposal of a murdered man’s body found in a metal container floating in a rural creek.

The 33-year-old was arrested in Brisbane in May after NSW homicide detectives travelled to the city while investigating the disappearance of a 22-year-old man they believed was selling illicit drugs in Sydney.

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Hot El Niño summer brings ‘elevated’ risk of power blackouts to eastern Australia, operator warns

Australian Energy Market Operator says ‘imminent and urgent investment’ in energy is needed

Eastern Australia requires “imminent and urgent investment” in energy to bolster the reliability of the electricity grid, the Australian Energy Market Operator says, as it warns of the risk of outages in Victoria and South Australia this summer.

The challenges are detailed in an Aemo report, released on Thursday, which says the grid may come under strain even with 3.4 gigawatts of new generation and storage capacity added to the national electricity market compared with last summer.

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Foreign ownership of Australia’s water rights on the rise

Report reveals that foreign interests hold 11.3% of Australia’s water entitlements – about half of which are in the food and fibre producing Murray-Darling Basin

Foreign interests hold almost 12% of all water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin and the level of foreign ownership in water is increasing, a new report shows.

Foreigners own or have a significant share in 4,503GL of Australian water entitlements, which is 11.3% of all the entitlements across the country, the Australian Taxation Office’s report says.

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Protesters interrupt ANU event – as it happened

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Victoria bans Nazi salute, symbols and gestures in public

The Victorian government will today introduce legislation to parliament to ban the Nazi salute.

Victorians have zero tolerance for the glorification of hateful ideology. We’re making sure people who use these symbols and gestures to harass, intimidate and incite hate are held accountable for their cowardly behaviour. While we wish making these laws wasn’t necessary, we will always tackle antisemitism, hatred and racism head-on – because all Victorians deserve to feel accepted, safe and included.

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