Category Archives: New South Wales

Ceremony held in Menindee to release offspring of native fish rescued from 2019 Darling-Baaka mass kill

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Silver perch fingerlings released in ceremony designed to address community’s collective trauma over ecological disaster that left millions of dead fish in river

Native fish bred from those rescued from the Darling-Baaka River during the 2019 fish kills were released back into the system at Menindee on Friday in a ceremony designed to address the collective trauma of the ecological disaster.

An estimated 1 million native fish died in the 2019 fish kills, including large numbers of endangered Murray cod. The Narrandera fisheries centre, run by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, helped rescue many fish stranded in the dwindling water supply and toxic blue green algae blooms. Twenty Murray cod, 24 silver perch and 17 golden perch were relocated from Menindee to Narrandera for breeding to help restock fish in the Darling-Baaka River.

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Kathleen Folbigg pardoned and released after 20 years in jail over deaths of her four children

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Release comes after inquiry heard that Folbigg and her two daughters had rare genetic variation and her son may have died from an underlying neurogenetic disorder

Kathleen Folbigg has been pardoned and released after two decades in prison over the deaths of her four children, following a decision of the New South Wales attorney general, Michael Daley.

Folbigg, who has always maintained her innocence, had served 20 years of a 25-year sentence since being convicted in 2003 of murdering three of her children, and the manslaughter of one child.

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Can your suburb help fix Australia’s housing crisis? It all comes down to density

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Despite adding millions of people and dwellings over the past decade, our cities are well behind globally in terms of population density

Skyrocketing rents and a projected home shortage have sparked fierce debate on the most effective ways to address Australia’s housing crisis.

Experts say one of the most effective fixes is to increase the supply of housing, specifically infilling urban areas to increase the density of areas where people actually want to live.

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Mother dies as father and two children hospitalised after house fire tragedy in Orange

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Firefighters were able to rescue the two young boys but the woman was unable to be revived at the scene

The regional city of Orange will “wrap its arms” around a family after a house fire that took the life of a mother and led to the hospitalisation of a father and two young boys, the local mayor says.

Early Saturday morning, emergency services were called to the home in Orange, in the central tablelands region, and found it engulfed in flames.

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‘Partial privatisation’: Waterloo South public housing tenants say NSW Labor misled residents

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Having promised to end sell-offs before the election, Chris Minns’ government forced to defend development plans

After the Minns government won the New South Wales election, Norrie May-Welby finally invested in a mod con to her home that would seem humdrum to most: she bought new fly screens.

This, she thought, was the end of seven years spent waiting for the day she would be relocated from her home at Waterloo South public housing estate.

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Father charged with the murder of his three-year-old son in Sydney

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The boy was found dead in a unit in Riverwood with his father, Nathan Vikatos, who was arrested in hospital after life-saving surgery on injuries

A father has been charged with murder over the death of his three-year-old son in Sydney’s south-west.

The toddler was found dead alongside his father, 45-year-old Nathan Vikatos, who had serious injuries, inside their Riverwood apartment on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

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March of the fire ants could reach Sydney’s outskirts by 2035, costing economy up to $1.2bn a year

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Exclusive: Study finds pests could damage crops, and households would incur costs for pesticides, veterinary bills and electrical faults

Failure to stop the spread of an outbreak of invasive fire ants in south-east Queensland could cost the Australian economy more than $1bn a year, including damage to high-value crops, infrastructure and homes.

A previously unreleased cost-benefit analysis, commissioned by a steering committee managing the outbreak of red fire ants and obtained by Guardian Australia, says that eradication of the species provides “much higher returns” than suppression measures that simply limit its spread.

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Land for 10,000 northern rivers homes flagged in NSW plan to ease housing crisis

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Exclusive: Homes for 7,800 residents in areas worst hit by 2022 floods proposed in near term, with more development later

Land that could hold more than 10,000 homes across 22 sites in the northern rivers has been identified as part of a New South Wales government strategy to deal with the region’s housing crisis.

The draft northern rivers resilient lands strategy will be released on Friday, more than a year after floods devastated the region and saw thousands of people displaced. Many are still unable to return home.

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Marion Barter disappearance: Ric Blum rejects testimony of four other witnesses before inquest

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Key witness asserts other women’s statements are ‘all lies’ and says he believes Marion Barter is still alive

Ric Blum, the key witness at the inquest into the disappearance of Marion Barter, has denied most of the testimony of four female witnesses to a coroner in Lismore, even as more evidence was heard.

“It is all lies,” Blum said as he gave evidence during the New South Wales inquest on Thursday. “People have made up their mind after hearing the podcast.”

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Boy, 15, and man, 58, found dead with bullet wounds inside home in NSW town of Yamba

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A crime scene has been established and will be examined but police do not believe a third party was involved

The bodies of a 15-year-old boy and a 58-year-old man have been found inside a home in Yamba on the New South Wales north coast.

Police were called to Kookaburra Circuit on Thursday afternoon after reports two bodies had been found. A 58-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were found dead at the property, both with gunshot wounds.

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Lonely hearts ad led another woman to key witness in Marion Barter’s disappearance, inquest hears

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Coroner seeking to establish what happened to Gold Coast school teacher, subject of The Lady Vanishes podcast

Ghislaine Dubois-Danlois was 72 and at a low point in her life when she put a lonely hearts ad in a newspaper in 2006. A widow, she was “exhausted” and “wanted to think about something new”.

“I wasn’t looking into the future,” she told a Lismore court via satellite link from her home in Brussels on Wednesday.

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NSW lawyers call for reform of ‘disgraceful’ tactic churches use to block abuse claims

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Critics say the seeking of permanent stays in cases where perpetrators have died amount to ‘another layer of abuse’ for survivors and a failure of moral leadership

The Australian Lawyers Alliance is preparing to meet with the New South Wales attorney general to lobby for reform against the “disgraceful” tactics employed by churches and other institutions to prevent abuse survivors from pursuing justice.

A Guardian investigation – based on interviews with 13 lawyers, analysis of court records, and discussions with survivors and their advocates – found earlier this year that churches and other institutions are now routinely seeking permanent stays in cases where perpetrators have died, arguing they cannot possibly receive a fair trial.

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Boy, 3, found dead in Sydney unit alongside injured 45-year-old man

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NSW police are investigating after toddler found in Riverwoood on Wednesday afternoon

A toddler has been found dead in a Sydney apartment alongside an injured a man, authorities say.

The three-year-old was found inside the Riverwood home at about 4pm on Wednesday.

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Warm winter weather awaits Australians after month of record-breaking cold

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After shivering through an unexpectedly cold May, BoM forecasts higher-than-average daytime temperatures, along with colder nights and less rain

Winter is coming … even though it may not feel like it.

With Thursday marking the first day of winter, much of Australia can look forward to a warmer-than-average season, after a historically cold May for much of the east coast.

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Australia politics live: Lambie threatens to disrupt Senate over Afghanistan medals; question time under way

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Adam Bandt rails against Woodside’s exclusion from petroleum resource rent tax

Greens leader Adam Bandt is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) changes and in particular the fact that Woodside’s Western Australian North-West Shelf project isn’t included in it.

The tax is still broken, and they’re meant to be subjected to it. They should pay their fair share of tax. As I say, even after these changes, Australia only brings in a few $100 million extra from these big gas corporations that are making billions of dollars of profits. It’s about a 10th of what comparable countries bring in. If we made these guess corporations pay their fair share of tax. They’d be an extra $94 billion over the decade to go to things like delivering cost-of-living relief, funding a rent freeze, getting dental into Medicare.

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NSW politicians and public service executives hit with wage freeze to fund payrise for frontline workers

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Legislation will be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday freezing the salaries of MPs and executives from July

Promised pay rises for New South Wales frontline workers will be funded by a two-year freeze on the wages of state politicians and public service senior executives.

Legislation will be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday freezing the salaries of MPs and executives from July and redirecting the millions of dollars in savings to nurses, paramedics, teachers and other frontline workers.

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Proportion of Aboriginal inmates in NSW hit a record 29.7% in February

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Exclusive: State Aboriginal Legal Service calls for end to ‘over-policing’ of Indigenous people

The proportion of Aboriginal people in prisons across New South Wales has reached an all-time high, prompting an urgent call from key groups for governments to end the “over-policing” of Indigenous communities.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) figures revealed Aboriginal people accounted for a record 29.7% of the state’s adult prison population in February, dipping slightly to 29.5% in March.

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Woman found dead in Sydney after police failed to locate source of alleged domestic dispute

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Man charged with domestic violence offences including stalking and contravention of an AVO

A man has been charged with domestic violence offences after police found a woman’s body inside a western Sydney apartment, after earlier failing to locate the source of a domestic dispute.

Police received an anonymous phone call about an alleged domestic dispute at a Liverpool apartment block about 11.45pm on Friday.

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Two men charged after police find $60m worth of cocaine in shipping container in Sydney

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Police were called to a container logistics company in Port Botany after reports of a break and enter on Thursday night

Two Greek nationals have been charged with numerous offences after police allegedly found $60m worth of cocaine in the walls of a shipping container in Sydney.

Police were called to a Port Botany container logistics company after reports of a break and enter about 11pm on Thursday.

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More than 40,000 hectares of nationally vital koala habitat marked for potential logging in NSW

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Analysis shows area includes 9,000 hectares where there was already active logging as pressure grows on government to end practice

Conservationists say forest areas that include 41,000 hectares of nationally important koala habitat have been identified for potential logging on the north coast of New South Wales in the region’s 12-month logging plan.

The analysis, by the North East Forest Alliance, comes as pressure grows on the NSW government to cease logging of native forests after the Victorian government announced logging in its native forests would end in December, six years earlier than planned.

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