Category Archives: New South Wales

Multibillion-dollar Newcastle redevelopment under review after NSW minister sacked

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Cabinet office to review projects in region after premier told parliament he had concerns Tim Crakanthorp may have acted for ‘private interests’

A multibillion-dollar redevelopment of a Newcastle suburb will form part of an urgent review being undertaken by the New South Wales government after the premier raised concerns the sacked cabinet minister Tim Crakanthorp may have acted for “private interests”.

The Newcastle MP was stripped of his ministries and referred to the state’s corruption watchdog after Chris Minns was told about multiple previously undisclosed properties owned by Crakanthorp’s wife and family across the Hunter.

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NSW drivers using medicinal cannabis would be shielded from DUI charges under MP’s proposed reforms

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Legalise Cannabis party’s Jeremy Buckingham says risk of losing driver’s licence under current drug-driving laws acts as disincentive for patients

New South Wales drivers who use medicinal cannabis and return a positive result at a roadside drug test would be spared prosecution under new laws being put forward by the upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham.

It is illegal in NSW to drive with any amount of THC, a psychoactive component of cannabis, in your body even if you have a prescription. THC can show up in roadside drug tests days after the initial period of impairment has worn off.

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How a picture of bedsheets from dark web led police to Brisbane childcare centre and man’s arrest

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Tiny traces from videos and images drew detectives to a childcare worker accused of being Australia’s worst serial paedophile

In 2014, detectives from a specialist Queensland police unit came across a small number of videos and images posted online, depicting the abuse of two girls but containing few clues as to where in the world they had been made.

After the discovery by taskforce Argos, the Australia federal police (AFP) and other agencies began an international search for the victims. This included uploading the material to a database that could be searched by other law enforcement agencies.

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NSW won’t ban gas in new homes as premier declares ‘I don’t need another complication’

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Chris Minns rules out following Victoria in banning new gas connections, saying state has enough serious energy challenges

Homes in New South Wales will continue being built with gas connections after the premier, Chris Minns, ruled out a Victorian-style ban on new connections, saying the state already had enough energy supply issues.

The definitive comments came after the state’s energy minister, Penny Sharpe, on Sunday refused to rule out the possibility of the state following Victoria.

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NSW police use force against Indigenous Australians at drastically disproportionate levels, data shows

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Exclusive: Redfern Legal Centre obtained records which show First Nations people were involved in about 45% of the incidents

New South Wales police used force against Indigenous Australians at vastly disproportionate rates during the past three years, internal police data shows.

Records obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were significantly overrepresented in police use of force incidents from 2018-20 to 2021-22.

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Unseasonably warm winter weather sweeps eastern Australia as Sydney reaches 25C

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One of the main factors contributing to the unusually high temperatures is the warm ocean conditions, a BoM meteorologist says

Unseasonably warm weather swept across the eastern states this weekend, with Sydney hitting 25.2C on Sunday, with high temperatures set to continue.

Parts of the country were expected to reach temperatures about 8C above normal for July on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Properties worth more than $25bn were bought with cash in Australia’s three biggest states in early 2023

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Many cash purchases were made in regional areas of NSW, Victoria and Queensland as buyers downsized to less expensive housing

More than one in four transactions for dwellings or land is settled with cash in Australia’s three most-populous states, with buyers largely unaffected by higher interest rates, data group Pexa said.

Many of the cash purchases (those paid for in full without a loan) were made in regional parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, often by retirees or others downsizing to less expensive properties. Cash purchases for foreign students or recent migrants also make up a sizeable share of sales in inner-city areas.

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Marles says aircrew ‘yet to be found’ after military helicopter crash – as it happened

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Four feared dead after Australian army helicopter crashes into waters off Hamilton Island. This blog is now closed

Tasmania police use cadaver dog in search for missing Belgian tourist

AAP reports Tasmania police hope an interstate cadaver dog can reveal where a missing Belgian tourist ended up after weeks of fruitless searches.

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NSW police Tasered ‘extremely unwell’ Indigenous man a week before incident with Clare Nowland

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Exclusive: Man experiencing mental health issues sought help from police but was later Tasered in hospital by officers who mistakenly thought he was armed with scissors

Police Tasered a young Indigenous man hospitalised with mental health issues twice on the mistaken belief that he was armed with a pair of scissors, the Guardian can reveal.

Just one week before a Cooma police officer Tasered Clare Nowland in May, a young Indigenous man sought medical assistance from officers further north in Batemans Bay, on New South Wales’ south coast.

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Bondi could face summer without shark nets as Sydney councils push for alternatives

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State government yet to make a decision as it seeks consultation, while Waverley mayor calls for ‘better options’

The debate over shark nets at Sydney’s beaches has resurfaced as several councils, including the one responsible for Bondi beach, push for a more modern way to protect swimmers this summer.

The nets are due to be in place at 51 beaches between Newcastle and Wollongong in less than five weeks. But the state government says it will not make a decision on whether the nets will be rolled out until it hears from eight coastal councils.

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Birmingham says opposition doesn’t ‘fear’ early election – as it happened

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Housing bill squabble to bring back possibility of double dissolution election

Parliament resumes next week after a five-week hiatus over winter, which means all the squabbles and fights we left in June are starting to whirl up again – chief among them housing. As Daniel Hurst reported this morning, Labor is going to bring back its housing bill to the house in October, where it will pass. Once it hits the Senate, things get a little more dicey. If it’s rejected by the Greens, who so far aren’t seeing what they want from the government, then the government has a double dissolution trigger.

The early indications are that there was a 50m exclusion zone around the deceased.

All efforts had been made to cover the body but at certain stages of the forensic examination, that body did need to be uncovered so the forensic police could do their work for the coroner and unfortunately, those children did walk past.

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NSW police reject suggestion ‘racism is rife’ in force and say ‘lessons learned’ after Bowraville murders

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Police act ‘with respect’ to victims and people in custody, federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children hears

A senior NSW police officer has rejected suggestions “racism is rife” within its ranks and has told a federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children that lessons have been learned after the Bowraville murders.

The parliamentary inquiry has held hearings around the country, hearing from experts, government and police agencies, and families of those murdered and disappeared.

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‘Out of control’: Sydney police battle escalating gang war with five people shot in five days

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Commissioner Karen Webb says targeted hits are ‘sad indictment’ on city as investigators work to bring situation under control

Sydney detectives are struggling to contain the city’s escalating gang war and are facing a “wall of silence” despite two people dying in separate shootings over the past five days.

The recent spate of shootings started a month ago when the prominent underworld figure Alen Moradian was shot dead in broad daylight at Bondi Junction.

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Body of tech entrepreneur Andrew Findlay found off Sydney coast a week after fatal boat crash

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Police confirm body found among debris off Watsons Bay a week after accident that also killed art dealer Tim Klingender

The body of missing tech entrepreneur Andrew Findlay has been recovered from water off Sydney’s east coast a week after a boating accident that also killed his friend, prominent art dealer Tim Klingender.

New South Wales police confirmed on Thursday that Findlay’s body had been retrieved not far from where that of Klingender, 59, was found floating among debris off Watsons Bay.

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NSW premier casts doubt on key Metro West line in Sydney, saying he won’t let it ‘destroy the budget’

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Chris Minns stands firm in refusing to commit to rail project as Labor claims costs will blow out by $17bn

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has continued to cast doubt over the future of a key metro line connecting Sydney’s western suburbs with the east, as he insists he won’t let the project’s ballooning bill “destroy the budget”.

On Wednesday morning, Minns stood firm in his resistance to committing to the Metro West project as he awaits the findings of a review into the line which he claims has seen costs overrun by $17bn to a total of $25bn.

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Sydney deputy school principal jailed for sexual chats with ‘teenage girl’

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Damian Wanstell was arrested after sending explicit texts to undercover police posing as 14-year-old

A former deputy principal has been jailed after sending protracted sexually explicit chats to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

In sentencing Damian Scott Wanstall on Wednesday, judge Andrew Colefax asked how, as a father, he could discuss sexual acts and arrange to meet up with someone so young for that purpose.

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High-profile lawyer Mahmoud Abbas shot outside Sydney home in ‘targeted’ attack

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Emergency services found criminal defence lawyer with gunshot wounds after a shooting in Greenacre

A high-profile Sydney lawyer has been shot outside a home in what police believe is a targeted attack.

Emergency services were called to a home on Narelle Crescent in the south-west Sydney suburb of Greenacre at about 10.25am on Wednesday after reports of shots being fired.

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‘Get it back on track’: NSW minister calls for voice yes campaign reset while praising Matt Kean’s support

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Exclusive: David Harris says ‘cheap politics’ has skewered the debate but expects support to rise before the vote

The campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament needs a reset in New South Wales, according to the state’s Aboriginal affairs minister David Harris, as polling shows support in the state is slipping.

But Harris praised the efforts of former treasurer and senior Liberal MP Matt Kean for his support for the yes campaign.

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Brittany Higgins, her fiance and dog under ‘serious threat’ from online harassment, police allege

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David Wonnocott charged with using carriage service to menace and threaten to kill

A man accused of menacing Brittany Higgins, her fiance and their dog online posed a “serious threat” to their wellbeing, court documents allege.

David William Wonnocott, 49, is charged with using a carriage service to menace and threaten to kill in separate incidents relating to Higgins and the New South Wales politician Alex Greenwich.

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Former Liberal MP denounces radio station after being named as complainant behind harassment allegations

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Lucy Wicks has asked for privacy after Sydney radio station 2GB named her as the person who made a complaint against NSW MP Taylor Martin

Former federal MP Lucy Wicks has criticised Sydney radio station 2GB for naming her as the Liberal figure behind a formal complaint against a state MP that included allegations of harassment through “demeaning, degrading, and abusive texts”.

Wicks released a statement on her social media on Monday asking for privacy, saying she had been left “distressed” after learning the host of the station’s breakfast program, Ben Fordham, had named her as the person behind the complaint against Taylor Martin made last week.

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