Category Archives: New South Wales

Maria Kovacic: former NSW Liberal president will replace Jim Molan in Senate as Andrew Constance’s bid fails

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Kovacic ran for the lower house seat of Parramatta in the last federal election but was defeated by Labor’s Andrew Charlton

A former president of the New South Wales Liberal party will fill the Senate vacancy left by Jim Molan, who died of prostate cancer in January.

Maria Kovacic, who resigned from her official party position to run for the NSW Senate seat, defeated her closest challenger, Andrew Constance, a former NSW cabinet minister.

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‘A festering tree’: growing calls for parliamentary inquiry into NSW police use of force

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Justice experts say there needs to be a more rigorous process for when Tasers and guns can be deployed to change the way officers manage incidents

Calls are growing for a parliamentary inquiry into use of force by New South Wales police, with justice experts saying too much focus is being placed on the actions of individual police officers rather than the “festering” systemic problem.

“This isn’t a case of a few bad apples, it’s a case of a festering tree,” said Samantha Lee, a lawyer at Redfern Legal Centre.

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Nurses union fined $350,000 for West Australian strike; Rex Patrick loses FOI challenge – as it happened

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The former independent senator has lost his legal challenge against what he argued were unreasonable delays in the freedom of information (FOI) system. Follow the day’s news live

Evacuated dental hospital near site of Sydney blaze becomes emergency services hub

While the light rail that runs past the charred husk of the burnt out building on Randle Ln is running this morning, many of the roads are blocked off by police tape, including a usually very busy section of Elizabeth St, which will likely have an impact on morning traffic.

There’s else a lot of work to be done. The building opposite has been damaged by that extreme heat. Firefighters were able to cut that fire off from spreading into the building across the road. But the main priority is that wall. There are two walls that are in a precarious position.

We are talking about tonnes and tonnes of bricks that could come down and become projectiles that is why we have such a tight exclusion zone, not allowing anyone in, including firefighter[s], until we get the engineers in.

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Sydney fire: two teenagers assisting police with inquiries after Surry Hills building blaze

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Authorities ‘furiously’ searching for two people among 15 sleeping rough in heritage building the night before fire

Two teenagers were assisting police with their inquiries after a fire at a heritage-listed building in Sydney’s Surry Hills that police described as a “once in a decade” inferno. The cause of the fire remains unknown.

Police were also “furiously” searching to locate two people who were among 15 sleeping rough in the building the night before the fire. They have confirmed 13 of those people were safe and well.

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Sydney firefighters working to extinguish building fire after ‘apocalyptic’ Surry Hills blaze

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NSW Fire and Rescue say it will be a ‘substantial and very prolonged’ effort of firefighting to extinguish the blaze completely

An “apocalyptic” blaze engulfed a building near Central station in Sydney on Thursday afternoon, sending a massive plume of smoke into the air and causing parts of the building to collapse.

More than 100 firefighters worked to contain the massive fire. Fire and Rescue NSW said it would be a “substantial and very prolonged” effort to extinguish the blaze completely.

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Cold snap with damaging winds, hail and snow forecast for Australia’s south-east

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Severe weather warnings for wind gusts of up 100km/h issued for Tasmania, Victoria and NSW, BoM says

A cold front is set to sweep across Australia’s south-east in the coming days, bringing icy winds and steep drops in temperature.

The front is brushing the southern tip of Western Australia and is expected to strengthen and intensify as it approaches south-eastern Australia.

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NSW renewable energy zones up to two years behind schedule

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‘We are not going to allow the lights to go off,’ state energy minister Penny Sharpe vows

New South Wales’ two main renewable energy zones will be delayed for as long as two years and cost more to build with landholder opposition to new transmission lines partly to blame, the energy minister, Penny Sharpe, has said.

The Minns government briefed journalists about its network infrastructure strategy on Wednesday, revealing that the central-west Orana zone would not hit its “energisation date” until 2027-28, compared with an initial 2025 target. Similarly, the New England zone will now start in 2029 compared with an initial 2027 goal.

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Review needed of police deployment to aged care after 95-year-old woman Tasered, says age discrimination commissioner

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Dr Kay Patterson questions whether mental health team would be more appropriate while David Shoebridge says police tools are ‘wrong resource’

The age discrimination commissioner has said the deployment of police officers to respond to incidents in aged care homes should be reviewed after the Tasering of 95-year-old Claire Nowland.

Nowland, who weighs 43kg and lives with dementia, was Tasered by police after she was found armed with a steak knife in her home at an aged care facility in Cooma. She is in end-of-life care at Cooma district hospital after the incident caused her to fall and sustain life-threatening head injuries.

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Sydney dementia patient ‘didn’t sleep for months’ after police called to subdue her, family say

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Calls for reform grow with daughter of patient saying families should be notified when police are deployed to aged care homes

A family who say they were not told when police were deployed to help control their 79-year-old mother in a Sydney dementia unit are calling for a change to make it mandatory for family to be notified about the use of law enforcement.

On 4 June 2020, paramedics attempted to subdue an agitated Norma Robertson, who had only been in the care of the dementia unit at HammondCare in a Sydney suburb for about four weeks.

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Young humpbacks ‘full of beans’ as whale-watching season takes off in Sydney

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Up to 50,000 whales expected to pass Australia’s east coast during annual migration from Antartica to Great Barrier Reef

Carrie Davis describes seeing her first adult humpback whale of the season launching out of the water off the coast of Sydney last week as magical.

“It’s just this feeling of awe to see this fat whale of that size get all that body out of the water,” said Davis of Go Whale Watching in Sydney. “No matter how many times you see it, it always takes your breath away.”

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Clare Nowland: aged care resident Tasered by police remains in ‘heavy sleep’ amid end-of-life care

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Woman, 95, is surrounded by family and still in critical condition as calls grow for broader investigation of police treatment of dementia sufferers

Clare Nowland, the aged care resident who was Tasered by a police officer in Cooma last week, remains in a “heavy sleep” and is comfortable, surrounded by her family, who held a bedside mass for her on Sunday as she continues to receive end-of-life care.

Calls grew on Monday for a broader independent investigation of police treatment of dementia sufferers after revelations in the Guardian that six officers handcuffed a second nursing home resident, Rachel Grahame, in 2020 after she took a staff member’s lanyard.

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Property market revival continues; employment minister dismisses wage price spiral fears – as it happened

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Birmingham says cost of Coalition’s jobseeker plan is ‘being worked through’

Asked whether the Coalition would support a lift to the jobseeker payment, Birmingham tells David Speers that Peter Dutton has “proposed an important alternative that would help Australians who are willing to and looking to engage in the workforce”.

We’ve outlined an alternative at this stage, David. We are not at an election and not about to firm government in the next two years.

That clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing.

We should expect them to be lifted complete, as we should the tariffs on our wine industry.

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NSW police footage shows officers used two sets of handcuffs on 81-year-old woman with dementia

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Exclusive: footage from body-worn camera shows police restraining confused dementia patient Rachel Grahame in 2020

Six police officers used two sets of handcuffs on a distressed and frail 81-year-old woman with dementia after she took a lanyard from a staff member at her Sydney nursing home.

Body-worn camera footage shows Rachel Grahame, who has advanced dementia and weighs just 45kg, howling in distress as a team of police surround and handcuff her late at night at St Basil’s aged care home in Randwick on 31 October 2020.

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NSW police commissioner says she won’t watch video of Clare Nowland, 95, being Tasered

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Karen Webb says it is not ‘necessary that I actually view it’ as Nowland remains in Cooma hospital

New South Wales’ top cop says she will not watch confronting video of a 95-year-old grandmother being Tasered in a nursing home, as the elderly woman’s condition deteriorates in hospital.

Clare Nowland, 95, was using a walking frame when she was hit with a Taser at an aged care facility in Cooma in the early hours of Wednesday, after she allegedly failed to drop a steak knife.

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PM announces new sanctions – as it happened

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Biden’s cancellation not a snub, Marles insists

The media is still trying to get the Albanese government to admit it feels bruised after Joe Biden cancelled his Australian visit for the Quad leaders meeting.

You’ve got a leader of a country who is dealing with an urgent issue in terms of their domestic politics. It’s unfortunate. But it happens. It’s nothing more than that.

It says a lot about Australia’s standing in the world right now. It says a lot, I think particularly about our relationship with Japan, actually, given that they’re the hosts of this.

We wish to express our thanks to God and all who have continued to pray for us.

We express our relief that Dr Elliott is free and thank the Australian Government and all who have been involved over time to secure his release. We also continue to pray for those still held and wish them freedom and safe return to their loved ones.

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Sydney’s abandoned tram tunnels transformed into light spectacle for Vivid

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Hidden platforms and connecting tunnels are having their lights turned back on for the festival’s installation Dark Spectrum

There’s no Hogwarts Express, and instead of running towards a brick wall you slip through an unremarkable door next to a Coles supermarket, but for decades Sydney’s Wynyard station has had its own secret platforms hidden from the public – until now.

The hundreds of thousands of commuters who pass through each week may have wondered why the station boasts only platforms three through to six.

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Two-thirds of people playing NSW pokies before 8am are problem gamblers or at risk, research shows

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Exclusive: Earlier closing times could help protect gamblers, study commissioned by government says

Almost two-thirds of people playing poker machines into the morning are problem gamblers or at moderate risk of developing a problem, with research commissioned under the previous New South Wales government suggesting earlier venue closures could help protect punters.

The Roy Morgan research, prepared for Liquor and Gaming NSW, found that 22.8% of those playing poker machines between 2am and 8am were problem gamblers, while 41.8% were classified as “moderate risk problem gambling”.

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Clover Moore warns NSW government against sale of state-owned land

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Exclusive: Sydney’s lord mayor says plan to sell unused parcels in order to develop housing is ‘disappointing’

The lord mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, has called a plan to rezone and develop underused state land as “really disappointing” despite the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns’ insistence that the government housing scheme did not amount to privatisation.

Moore said the state government should instead be focused on genuine investment in social and affordable housing, while thinking carefully before making any decisions to sell off land.

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Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has had three out of four rape charges against him dropped

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The 32-year-old was facing four counts of sexual intercourse without consent, but the public prosecutor withdrew three of the charges on Thursday

Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has had three out of his four sexual assault charges dropped after he allegedly raped a Sydney woman.

The 32-year-old was facing four counts of sexual intercourse without consent while in Sydney for the T20 World Cup, but the public prosecutor withdrew three of the charges in a Sydney court on Thursday.

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MP questions referendum wording – as it happened

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Quad still a priority, White House says

Despite the postponement of Joe Biden’s visit, the White House says that partnerships like the Quad remain a priority.

Revitalizing and reinvigorating our alliances and advancing partnerships like the Quad remains a key priority for the President. This is vital to our ability to advance our foreign policy goals and better promote global stability and prosperity. We look forward to finding other ways to engage with Australia, the Quad, Papua New Guinea and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in the coming year.

I think he will obviously be working very hard for this not to happen. We’ve danced this dance before, as the phrase goes …

I think we’ll get to a good place and I think that’s why he’s wanting to stay there, to focus on just that.

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