Category Archives: New South Wales

Australia news live: China’s Covid wave ‘key risk’ to supply chains, Jim Chalmers says

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The treasurer says Covid testing for travellers from China ‘strikes the right balance’. Follow all the latest news

Storms to hit south-east Australia

Butler: China traveller Covid tests are ‘a modest measure’

This is a modest measure taken in line with pretty much every country to which we would usually compare ourselves. We are committed to making sure that we can continue to travel overseas, continue the personal and economic benefits that come from having open borders.

We just want to make sure we do that in a way that has the maximum information in a timely way that we need to protect Australians. The chief health officers have said across the board, a very broad consensus, we’re very well positioned here in Australia in the fight against Covid. We’ve got very high vaccination rates, particularly among the more vulnerable cohorts in the population.

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Queensland records nation’s worst road toll as NSW figure rises slightly from historic low

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Queensland’s figure of 299 lives lost was the worst in more than a decade, as lifting of Covid restrictions pushed up toll around the country

Queensland’s road toll is set to top the nation as all states that reported figures recorded a rise from the pandemic years.

There were 299 deaths in Queensland in 2022, compared with 288 in NSW, 240 in Victoria and 50 in Tasmania – the latter recorded the biggest proportional rise.

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‘This is a tragedy’: off-duty NSW police officer rescued teenage son before drowning

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Man, 45, was caught in a rip after getting his 14-year-old son to safety at a beach on the state’s south coast

An off-duty police officer who drowned at a beach on the New South Wales south coast had swum out to rescue his own son from a “substantial” rip, police say.

The man, who has not been named, had entered the water at a beach south of Narooma after his 14-year-old son was caught in a rip on Sunday.

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Investigation to begin into ‘terrifying’ New Year’s Eve crowd crush in Melbourne

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More than 100 people were reportedly caught in a pedestrian underpass just before midnight

Authorities will investigate a “terrifying” crowd crush that occurred in a pedestrian tunnel in the centre of Melbourne on New Year’s Eve, with revellers saying they felt “totally wedged” and “couldn’t move in any direction”.

A City of Melbourne spokesperson said the council was aware of the safety concerns raised about the incident at the Elizabeth Street pedestrian underpass shortly before the midnight fireworks on Saturday.

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Dob in ‘dodgy’ taxi drivers this New Year’s Eve, minister urges Sydney residents

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Passengers should use a 24-hour hotline to report cabbies who refuse to turn on meters, David Elliott says

Passengers should dob in “dodgy” cabbies who don’t use their meters for rides over the holiday period, the New South Wales transport minister says.

David Elliott sent a warning shot over the unethical practice of taxi drivers negotiating prices for passengers in a hurry without turning on their meter.

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Release of 10 quolls boosts ‘insurance’ population of endangered marsupial

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The animals were released into Aussie Ark’s 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary

In a “globally significant moment” which gives a near-extinct species a second lease at survival, 10 eastern quolls have been released into a New South Wales nature reserve.

The animals were released into Aussie Ark’s 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary in the state’s Upper Hunter region, bolstering a flourishing insurance population of quolls.

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Police say stabbing murder investigation could take weeks – as it happened

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Two teenagers are dead and a man has been hospitalised after a crash in South Australia’s mid-north.

Emergency services were called to the Augusta Highway at Lochiel at 7.30pm on Tuesday after a northbound car left the road and crashed into a tree.

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10 Australians dead in water accidents as lifesavers urge caution in ‘heightened danger’ of holidays

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Hundreds rescued in NSW over Christmas break as hot weather sends people flocking to beaches and waterways

At least 10 people have died in water accidents around Australia over the Christmas period and lifesavers have pulled hundreds more from danger.

On Tuesday two girls aged 13 and 14 died when they hit a tree stump while being towed behind a boat on an inflatable at Tamworth in north-eastern NSW.

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Southern parts of Australia swelter through summer’s first heatwave

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Adelaide stayed at 27.4C overnight while Victoria is forecast to dip no lower than 26C, the state’s hottest night in four years

Adelaide has sweated through a 38C morning as millions of people in the country’s south endure the peak of a summer heatwave.

Heatwave warnings were issued for South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and isolated parts of Western Australia with temperatures 8C to 16C above average.

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Canberra recycling centre burns down in ‘significant setback’ for waste reduction efforts

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Cause of blaze unknown, but an incorrectly recycled battery or vape has not been ruled out

A fire that destroyed a recycling centre in Canberra’s south will cause a major setback to waste reduction efforts in the ACT and New South Wales.

Firefighters battled a blaze at the Hume facility that started late on Monday night and raged through to the early hours of Tuesday morning.

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Sydney flats evacuated after shopping strip fire and gas leak; sunfish knocks yacht out of Sydney to Hobart – as it happened

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Firefighters forced to flee scene of Newport fire after part of the roof collapsed revealing a ruptured gas line; Louis Ryckmans of the crew of Yeah Baby says he initially thought collision with ‘leviathan’ sunfish was boat hitting a reef. This blog is now closed

Heavy rainfall expected across northern Australia: BoM

Howe says the tropical monsoon period is “very active” at the moment across northern Australia.

That’s associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie which is continuing to deliver heavy rainfall across the NT.

There is a warning for intense rainfall and damaging winds. We’ve already seen rainfall totals of more than 200mm over the last few days, causing roads to be washed out. Reminding travellers to take care and check conditions before heading out.

We will see a cool change move through Adelaide late tonight and towards midnight, moving through western Victoria in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

We will see the cool change move through around lunchtime today for Melbourne and also tomorrow afternoon for Hobart.

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Investigation into Sydney light plane crash which killed two people and sparked grassfire

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Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigating after two bodies found in aircraft wreckage at Appin

A light plane crash which killed two people and sparked a grassfire in south-west Sydney will be examined by the national transport safety agency.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Boxing Day crash.

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Surf lifesavers warn of another deadly summer after two drown on Christmas Day

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With reports of surf lifesaving rescues up in some states, there are fears of a repeat of last summer, when 145 people drowned

Australians are being urged to be safe in the water this week, as the country enters the most dangerous time of the year for fatal drownings.

Two swimmers drowned on Christmas Day – a 36-year-old man in Sydney and a 19-year-old in Lorne in Victoria – and police divers in Western Australia are searching Black Diamond Lake near Collie in the state’s south-west after a 30-year-old man did not return from a swim.

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Toddler dies after being hit by 4WD at Sydney property on Christmas Eve

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Paramedics treated the two-year-old boy but he died at the scene. A man was taken for mandatory testing and is assisting with the police investigation

A child has died after being hit by a 4WD at a Sydney property on Christmas Eve.

Emergency services were called to Dural in Sydney’s north-west about 6pm on Saturday where they found a two-year-old boy who was critically injured.

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Secret report urges high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle but NSW government refuses to release it

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Report, which also recommends linking Sydney to Wollongong and ranks Canberra route as a lower priority, cost taxpayers $390,000

A secret review of high-speed rail options for New South Wales is understood to prioritise lines to Newcastle and Wollongong at speeds of up to 250km/h, but ranks the much-vaunted Sydney to Canberra route as a lower priority.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on the findings today but said it had not seen the report.

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Call for dating apps to require criminal checks as Australian government plans summit on safety

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Governments, peak bodies and advocates set to discuss security and verification polices next month

A criminologist has called for dating apps to introduce criminal history checks on users as the federal government is set to hold a summit into the security measures used by the platforms.

Dr Rachael Burgin, lecturer of criminology at Swinburne law school, said there was a clear need for dating apps to implement robust verification systems and criminal checks.

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Wong says ‘the ice thaws, but slowly’ ahead of talks – as it happened

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Long delays on M7 at Prestons in Sydney

Traffic is banked up on the M7 in Sydney. Chanel 7 is reporting that a truck crash has caused the long delays.

They’re sharing their emotions and their grief because they believe this should never have happened.

It’s really important for us to have that public support. It inspires us to continue to do our job.

They’ve also lost two colleagues … so they are hurting incredibly.

A lot of work to be done to assist them as we move into the future because the pain will never go away.

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Labor candidate calls for minister’s sacking during NSW inquiry into council’s actions

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Canterbury Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour tells committee he’s had a ‘target on my back’ since the pandemic

A New South Wales Labor candidate has accused a parliamentary committee of wasting taxpayers’ money by investigating him for impropriety and called for a government minister to be sacked.

The Canterbury Bankstown mayor, Khal Asfour, has been called as a witness by the upper house committee, which is looking into allegations of impropriety at Canterbury Bankstown council.

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Brian Houston believes he did the ‘right thing’ not going to police after father admitted molesting boy

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Hillsong founder maintains it was victim’s explicit wish for incident not to be made public or for there to be an investigation, court hears

The Hillsong founder, Brian Houston, believes he did the “right thing” not going to police after his father told him he had molested an underage boy three decades earlier.

Houston maintains it was the victim’s explicit wish not for the incident to be made public or for there to be an investigation by authorities.

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Greens push for federal ‘right to protest’ law after NSW jailing of Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco

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Senator David Shoebridge hopes to ‘rebalance the scales of justice’ after states crack down on activists

A series of harsh state-based laws cracking down on climate activists could be overridden by a federal “right to protest” bill being pushed by the Greens.

After the jailing of climate activist Deanna “Violet” Coco in New South Wales this month, the party says the commonwealth has the power to overturn the series of state laws passed in recent years that experts say curtailed the right to protest in Australia.

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