Category Archives: New South Wales

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

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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

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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

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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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Josh Murray made donation to NSW transport minister’s campaign before she appointed him as secretary

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Emails released to parliament show former Labor staffer made $500 donation to Jo Haylen’s campaign before party won election

The New South Wales transport secretary, Josh Murray, made a donation to Jo Haylen’s campaign before she picked the former Labor staffer to lead her department.

Limited details of the $500 donation were contained in emails that were released to parliament between members of Haylen’s team discussing talking points related to the appointment of the secretary.

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Firefighters fear being ‘overwhelmed’ by rise in battery fires after fatal Sydney blaze

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A NSW fire and rescue superintendent said the death of a man in a Sydney fire on Saturday night was part of a ‘marked increase’ in such incidents

Firefighters say they fear being ‘“overwhelmed” by increasing numbers of battery fires, after the death of a Sydney man in a house fire on Saturday night was linked to toxic smoke from burning lithium batteries.

The 54-year-old man was eating downstairs in his Punchbowl unit in Sydney’s west with two women when the fire broke out. He tried to extinguish the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but when firefighters arrived he was found unconscious on his bathroom floor with soot on his mouth, having inhaled toxic smoke.

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NSW surfer bitten by great white shark faces further surgery and long rehabilitation, family says

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Father-of-two Toby Begg, 44, is in a serious but stable condition in hospital following serious injuries ‘from his hip to calf and lower legs’

A surfer bitten by a great white shark at a Port Macquarie beach on Friday faces “many surgeries and has years of rehabilitation ahead of him”, his family has said as he recovers in hospital.

Father-of-two Toby Begg, 44, was attacked by the great white, estimated at 4m long, as he surfed at Lighthouse beach on Friday morning.

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NSW shark attack: surfer in critical condition fought off great white before swimming to shore

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Police say the man reportedly tried to fight the shark for 30 seconds at Port Macquarie’s Lighthouse beach

A surfer at a New South Wales beach fought off a great white shark and swam back to shore while suffering from serious leg injuries, police say.

The 44-year-old man was in hospital in a critical condition on Friday night after he was bitten by a shark at Lighthouse beach at 10am in Port Macquarie in northern NSW.

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Death of 1,000 crayfish in Blue Mountains under investigation by EPA

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Environment Protection Authority believes a pollution incident caused the event and are working with city council to identify the toxicant

The deaths of about 1,000 giant spiny crayfish are being investigated by the Environment Protection Authority in a likely pollution incident in the Blue Mountains this week.

Hundreds of dead crayfish were found in a tributary of Hazelbrook Creek, near Horseshoe Falls, on Wednesday by a tour guide.

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New Icac powers spark concerns as NSW opposition flags move to stop ‘reckless’ change

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Complaints from Liberals and some crossbench MPs come after watchdog asked to use illegally obtained recordings in ongoing investigation

Special powers handed to the New South Wales corruption watchdog to use illegally obtained recordings have been described as “concerning”, with the opposition and members of the crossbench vowing to try to stop them from proceeding.

The government granted the powers to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday to assist it with an ongoing investigation in response to a request from its chief commissioner, John Hatzistergos.

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Icac given power to use illegally obtained recordings in NSW corruption investigations

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State government grants new power to assist watchdog after request from chief commissioner John Hatzistergos

The New South Wales corruption watchdog has been granted the power to use in its investigations recordings that have been obtained illegally by third parties.

The state government on Wednesday gave the Independent Commission Against Corruption the new power to assist it with an ongoing investigation after a request from its chief commissioner, John Hatzistergos.

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NSW government department ‘refusing’ to publish community feedback on shark nets

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Greens MP says it is ‘unacceptable’ that results not made public as Minns government faces calls to abandon nets

The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries has kept hidden the results of surveys it conducted to gauge community opinion on shark nets, as the government forges ahead with the controversial deterrence strategy.

The department has not published the surveys for the past two years and has not released the results to two upper house MPs, environmentalists and Sydney’s Randwick council despite their requests for them.

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Investment in new Australian wind and solar farms stalls amid ‘raft of barriers’, report finds

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First half of year had slowest pace of final approvals in Clean Energy Council’s six years of tracking, but backing for power storage was more promising

Investment in new wind and solar farms has all but stalled with developers facing a “raft of barriers” despite strong political support, the Clean Energy Council said in its latest quarterly report.

The first half of 2023 produced the slowest pace of final investment approvals in the council’s six years of data tracking. Just four generation projects accounting for 348 megawatts – or roughly the size of a single coal-fired power station unit – secured financial commitment in the June quarter.

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NSW police watchdog to oversee investigation into arrest of Indigenous man with disability in Taree

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Teenager remains in custody and faces seven charges, including hindering or resisting a police officer

The New South Wales police watchdog will oversee an investigation into the violent arrest in Taree last week of a handcuffed Aboriginal teenager with a disability.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), an independent watchdog that has oversight of NSW police, has confirmed it is involved in the force’s internal inquiry and that police have received a serious misconduct complaint about the incident.

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Senator responds to report – as it happened

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Conroy says comments at Labor conference about strategic balance in Pacific

Conroy is asked about comments he made at the Labor conference, saying it is against Australia’s interest to have one power dominate our region, especially one that breaches international laws.

And is it your view that China is trying to do that, dominate our region?

I’m not going to be going into what other countries are doing but it’s clear that we’re seeing great strategic competition in our region, and it’s appropriate that we respond through increased diplomatic engagement and an increasing deterrence in the Australian Defence Force.

They all play complementary roles in promoting peace and stability in our [region].

So this is about peace and stability in our region by deterring conflict and I know you will respond that saying, well, aren’t we just engaging in military buildup, but in the end, the only way we pursue peace and stability is by presenting strength. This is what this is about.

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Australian police rejected Fifa requests for Gianni Infantino to be escorted during World Cup travel

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Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria police turned down request for escort for Fifa president, which is normally reserved for foreign heads of state

Fifa asked Australian police in multiple jurisdictions to provide escorts for president Gianni Infantino during his travel for the Women’s World Cup, but was turned down.

Infantino asked Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales police to provide him with escorts, the Guardian has confirmed.

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NSW splits planning and environment mega department – as it happened

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Labor Against War convener: PM ‘running scared’ from rank and file on Aukus

The Labor Against War national convener, Marcus Strom, says the prime minister is “running scared” from the rank and file members of Labor, who he says don’t want the Aukus deal.

Many of us hoped it would be put in the pile of bad Scott Morrison ideas but it was embraced.

And it’s been doubled down on and this has been done without a proper conversation with the Australian people and today delegates won’t even get a chance to remove Aukus from the national platform.

Imagine the jobs we could be creating in housing, in health, in the transition to a green economy. It’s a lost opportunity for a Labor government and it could lead us to a war no Australian has an interest in.

We don’t need to go to war with our biggest trading partner. It would be an act of craziness. We have a motion ready to go from the floor to strike Aukus. They are running scared from the rank and file.

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Aboriginal 18-year-old with disability thrown to ground during NSW police arrest while having seizure

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Exclusive: Police launch internal investigation over arrest at Taree, as footage shows officer performing a leg sweep while man is handcuffed

New South Wales police have launched an investigation after a young Aboriginal man with disability was violently arrested while having a seizure and thrown to the ground while handcuffed in Taree.

The 18-year-old was arrested on Tuesday after police received reports a man had allegedly tried to break into two homes. Police said the man then fled. A man was arrested on Gwenneth Avenue.

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NSW court ruling will make it almost impossible to contest drug-driving charges, legal experts claim

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Judge says decision involving a Sydney man who lost his licence after testing positive for cocaine pivoted on presence of drug rather than his credibility

Legal experts have argued a New South Wales district court judgment will make it almost impossible for people facing drug-driving charges to defend themselves, no matter the circumstances.

The decision, handed down on 26 July, involved a Sydney man who lost his licence after testing positive for cocaine at a roadside drug test.

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Australia news live: Federation Square axed as Women’s World Cup live site after fan misbehaviour

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Follow today’s live news updates

Melbourne lord mayor threatens to cancel Federation Square viewing site due to rowdy behaviour of small group of ‘idiots’

And sticking with the flares, Melbourne’s lord mayor, Sally Capp, has threatened to cancel the live viewing site at Federation square due to the rowdy behaviour of a small group of supporters.

If we could find those idiots and make sure they don’t attend, then Fed Square will be going off again, but unfortunately sometimes the few ruin it for the rest of us.

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