Category Archives: New South Wales

Coles and Woolworths ordered to dump more than 5,200 tonnes of recycled soft plastic in landfill

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NSW environment officials alert Fire and Rescue over concerns plastic is being stored dangerously following suspension of the REDcycle scheme

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have been ordered to dump more than 5,200 tonnes of soft plastic – currently being stored at warehouses across New South Wales – into landfill.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority is concerned that huge amounts of soft plastic are being dangerously stored at 15 locations due to the suspension of botched recycling initiative REDcycle.

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John Barilaro’s assault charge dismissed by NSW magistrate on mental health grounds

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Former deputy premier had pleaded not guilty to assaulting a camera operator in Manly last July

A magistrate has dismissed an assault charge against former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro on mental health grounds.

Barilaro pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a camera operator and damaging their property outside a Manly restaurant in July 2022.

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Coles and Woolworths ordered to dump more than 5,200 tonnes of soft plastic into landfill – as it happened

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The government has been accused of deliberately withholding detail on its push to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution for political reasons.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton and shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser were briefed by the referendum working group after calling for more information on the proposed voice’s make-up and function.

Like all Australians, we want to see a better outcome for the Indigenous people of our country.

We are willing to look at any measure to do that. There are lots of questions around the voice and lots of detail that hasn’t yet been provided.

It’s not the airlines that do the turn backs that you should be worried about. It’s the airlines that keep on going to the destination and don’t make that turn back.

This is what happens with aviation across the world. And it’s an important part of the safety management system. I would rather there be not, but again I encourage our pilots to do this. I applaud them when they do it.

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NSW irrigator hit with $350,000 fine for water theft offences

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Moree Plains company found guilty of knowingly taking water with faulty metering equipment for crops such as cotton

A Moree Plains irrigator has been ordered to pay a record $350,000 in fines after pleading guilty to knowingly taking water, using an under-recording meter system and constructing an unlawful dam.

It is the first time a “tier one” offence has been successfully prosecuted by the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR).

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Australia news live: voice working group says Dutton committed to ‘further talks’; Alice Springs report may not be made public until next week

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Australian batter Usman Khawaja has been cleared to join his teammates in India after his visa issues were sorted, AAP reports.

Pakistan-born Khawaja will fly out of Melbourne today, more than a day later than planned, after an anxious wait for his visa to be approved.

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Summer pause: cold weather forecast for south-east Australia to bring snow across Alps

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Sharp temperature drops expected in SA, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania on Friday while north-east faces heatwave conditions

Break out the winter woolies. Temperatures across Australia’s south-east are set to plummet with some areas expected to experience their coldest February days in two decades on Friday.

A strong cold front is pushing up from southern Australia and is forecast to sweep across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania on Friday.

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NSW teachers should have a 25% pay bump in coming years, research suggests

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Exclusive: University of Sydney report says pay has gone ‘from bad to worse’ as cost-of-living pressures rise

Wages for New South Wales school teachers should be up to 25% higher before the end of the decade to counter long-term wage suppression and inflation, according to researchers from the University of Sydney who found educators were among the worst-paid professions.

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Czech pair defend Australian Open doubles title; millions of RATs to expire in coming months – as it happened

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There are reports of delayed and diverted flights at Sydney airport after an air control tower was evacuated.

Airservices Australia has told Nine that the incident was sparked by fumes emitting through the air conditioning system, resulting in two international flights being diverted.

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NSW Coalition pledges feasibility study for specialist domestic violence courts

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Labor opposition says move a decade overdue, with similar courts already operating in Queensland and overseas

The New South Wales Coalition will consider establishing standalone domestic violence courts, which Labor says are almost a decade overdue.

Domestic violence cases would be heard by dedicated magistrates and potentially later in specialised court buildings under the Coalition’s election pledge.

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NSW plan to offer emissions offsets with car registration sends wrong message, critics say

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Government told to focus on boosting uptake of electric vehicles, public transport, cycling and walking rather than offset ‘gimmick’

Drivers in New South Wales will be offered the chance to buy carbon offsets when they renew their car registration in a step critics have described as a “gimmick” that could undermine efforts to cut transport emissions.

The NSW treasurer and energy minister, Matt Kean, announced the scheme on Friday saying it would give people “looking for practical ways to take action on climate change” more ways to cut their emissions.

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Boy struck by lightning at beach near Wollongong

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Paramedics administered CPR to 10-year-old, as Bureau of Meteorology issues severe thunderstorm warning for eastern NSW

A 10-year-old boy was struck by lightning at a beach near Wollongong on Thursday.

New South Wales Ambulance said the accident happened at Barrack Point near Wollongong after a storm cell hit the area on Thursday evening.

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Senator may go against party room on voice – as it happened

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Should governments have acted sooner on alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs?

The Northern Territory chief minister Natasha Fyles and the minister for Indigenous affairs Linda Burney have appeared on ABC Radio after the announcements in Alice Springs yesterday.

It was the previous coalition government that walked away and left the Northern Territory with no measures.

I had expressed that there needs to be some very, very real thoughts put into our alcohol restrictions.

Do you think it took too long?

Look, I’m not going to get into whether they’ve taken too long, If you ask the people in Alice Springs, the answer might be yes.

I went to Stuart Park last night and met with local people living in town camps ... many of who had obviously experienced violence. And one of the things that really shocked me is, I was talking to the local member Marion Scrymgour who had visited the hospital and there are 16 beds in ICU, 14 of those were taken by Aboriginal women who had been beaten ... I think alcohol is one of the major contributors to some of the problems.

It’s about balance – but being able to drink is not more important than being safe, in my view.

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NSW Greens to push for dedicated First Nations seats in parliament, truth-telling and treaty processes

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Lidia Thorpe and upper house candidate Lynda-June Coe to announce party’s treaty policy in Redfern on Tuesday

Dedicated seats for First Nations people in the New South Wales parliament and truth-telling and treaty processes will be called for as part of the state Greens’ pitch to voters ahead of the March election.

The federal senator Lidia Thorpe – who has described the proposed voice to parliament as a “waste” – will stand alongside NSW upper house candidate Lynda-June Coe as they announce the party’s treaty policy in Redfern on Tuesday.

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NSW hotline for women to ask about partners’ past convictions could give false sense of security, critics warn

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No new evidence scheme enhances victim-survivor safety and that resources wouldn’t be better spent elsewhere, experts say

Women at risk of domestic violence could be lulled into a false sense of security by a reheated New South Wales government scheme that would allow people to look up their partner’s offending history, a leading expert has said.

The premier, Dominic Perrottet, said on Monday the Right to Ask scheme would keep women safer by allowing police to release information to them about their partner’s domestic violence convictions, over the phone or through an online portal.

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Women in NSW could check partners’ past domestic violence convictions under Coalition plan

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Premier says proposed Right to Ask scheme ‘all about ensuring that women across NSW are safe’

Residents of NSW would be able to find out if their partner has a history of domestic violence by checking with police, under a scheme proposed by the Coalition.

The NSW government revealed on Monday it would allow people in a relationship to access the domestic violence offending history of their partner if it wins the March state election.

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MP calls for action on crime in ‘under siege’ town – as it happened

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Pearson urges voice dissenters to ‘be smart’

Karvelas also asks Pearson about the concerns that are coming from the left, including Indigenous affairs spokesperson for the Greens, Lidia Thorpe, who will be calling for treaty before voice at the Invasion Day rally.

And when you have a breakthrough response, a breakthrough response like constitutional recognition, you’ve got to grab it. You’ve got to switch from protest to grabbing the opportunity.

… And I believe that a full response to the Uluru statement will achieve actual real reconciliation. We’re at a point in our history where the protest has achieved the result we desire. And, and so we’ve got to be smart about it.

This this year is the most important here in the past 235. That’s my assertion. This is the most important year and and this referendum is the most important question concerning Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians since the first fleet.

We’ve got to understand what is at stake, and that is the chance for reconciliation and if the referendum is kiboshed through game play and spoiling game by the opposition, we will lose the opportunity forever.

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Queensland public schools to join NSW in banning students from ChatGPT

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Exclusive: Artificial intelligence expert questions firewall strategy, as Victoria opts to wait and see

Queensland will join New South Wales in banning access to ChatGPT in state schools, though artificial intelligence experts have questioned how effective such a strategy is.

Nine newspapers revealed on Sunday morning the NSW Department of Education would ban the technology using a firewall, as concern mounts over the use of bots to cheat in assessments.

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Two NDIS providers banned after fraud claims – as it happened

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New Australian factory to make construction material from recycled goods

A company making construction products entirely from used drink cartons, soft plastics, disposable coffee cops and similar products will launch its first Australian manufacturing plant at Warragamba next month.

It’s basically like making a big cheese toasty. You heat it up and cool it down a couple of times and the plastic melts between the gaps in the fibre.

It’s a straightforward process, but it’s focused on reducing problematic waste ... materials which, until we came along, had been completely un-recyclable and collected by container deposit schemes.

In Australia alone, we could unlock a massive $2tn worth of potential savings across two decades.

Those potential savings could come, for example, through reusing valuable resources currently going to waste in landfill, such as plastics, glass, masonry and metals.

For far too long healthcare in western Sydney has been an afterthought.

The thousands of people moving into the area every year deserve world class healthcare.

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NSW Coalition split on cashless gaming as independent warns against regional exemptions

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Premier Dominic Perrottet rules out different rules for clubs and pubs in the bush, in contrast to deputy premier Paul Toole

The New South Wales Coalition appears split on the future of cashless gaming in the state once again after the Liberal premier, Dominic Perrottet, denied the government was considering a carve-out for regional pubs and clubs as part of the scheme.

The denial was made less than 24 hours after the leader of the Nationals and deputy premier, Paul Toole, said the option was part of “ongoing conversations”.

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Australian researchers identify genes that cause sarcomas – as it happened

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First genetic map to identify important genes that cause one of most common cancers in children. This blog is now closed

Five-year $41m maintenance contract extension for army’s fleet of Chinook helicopters

The government has announced a $41m extension to an army helicopter maintenance contract.

The CH-47F Chinook fleet is an important capability for Defence, providing critical lift capability on several domestic and regional operations, including Bushfire Assist in 2020, and Tonga and Flood Assist in 2022. This contract extension will expand the maintenance and training support for our Chinook fleet, while boosting opportunities for defence industry in Queensland.

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