Category Archives: New South Wales

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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NSW environment watchdog to require big polluters to show how they will hit net zero and then nudge them to improve

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The state’s EPA is unveiling what it calls Australia’s ‘most comprehensive plan’ to cut carbon emissions

New South Wales’s environmental watchdog has released what it calls Australia’s “most comprehensive plan” to regulate carbon emissions, requiring firms to show how they will hit net zero by 2050 and nudging them to improve resilience in a warming world.

The Climate Change Policy and Action Plan 2023-26, released on Friday by the Environment Protection Authority, will identify what progress is already under way by companies now covered by pollution licences and encourage them to improve.

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‘Undermine our road safety’: promised rewards for ‘safe’ NSW drivers criticised by experts

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Labor and the Coalition promise to ease penalties for ‘low-level’ offences if they win the state election

Election promises by the New South Wales government and the Labor opposition to reward “safe” drivers have been met with scepticism by industry experts, with one accusing both sides of buying votes and failing to advance road safety.

The Coalition on Wednesday promised that drivers with a three-year clean driving record would be able to avoid fines for low-level offending, including low-range speeding, disobeying some signs and driving in a bus lane, if re-elected.

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Sydney forecast to welcome its first day over 30 degrees in almost a year

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The city is just eight days off its longest streak of days below 30, the last being in February 2022

After 330 days, months of downpours and unusually cool weather, Sydney is finally staring down the barrel of a 30C day.

Wednesday is forecast to be the first day in nearly a year where temperatures are expected to top 30C at Observatory Hill, in the heart of the city, ending Sydney’s longest cool streak in over three decades.

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Activists call for immediate halt to duck and kangaroo hunting after Murray Darling floods

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Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have increased kangaroo harvest quotas for 2023 but impact from floods yet to be assessed

Animal welfare advocates are calling for a moratorium on commercial and recreational shooting of wildlife affected by the devastating Murray-Darling floods.

Wildlife Victoria has called for the “immediate cessation” of the Victorian government’s kangaroo harvesting program and a moratorium on the annual duck hunting season, which usually begins in March.

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NSW treasurer refuses to say if $1,000 a day pokies spending cap is too high as he ridicules Labor policy

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Key independent MP calls for a $100 daily limit as Coalition comes under pressure to release details of its cashless gaming card

The New South Wales treasurer, Matt Kean, has refused to say whether he believes a $1,000 a day spending limit on poker machines is too high, as the Coalition government faces increasing pressure to release details of its highly anticipated cashless gaming card.

The powerful crossbench MP Alex Greenwich has urged the Coalition to follow its colleagues in Tasmania by setting a $100 daily limit on pokies, saying a cap was “crucial” for cashless gaming to work at reducing gambling addiction in the state.

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NSW MP to contest election despite husband’s death – as it happened

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Australian Open CEO reflects on ‘very difficult journey’

Australian Open 2023 kicks off at Melbourne Park this morning.

A Balmain pub crawl

Craft breweries around Marrickville

The Corinthian restaurant for Greek food in Marrickville

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NSW stamp duty refunds expected to attract 2,500 applications as land tax scheme launches

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Coalition’s program allowing choice of annual tax over stamp duty could exceed projection of 6,000 applicants

About 2,500 people are expected to retrospectively apply for refunds to stamp duty paid on new homes bought since the middle of November when the New South Wales government’s land tax scheme officially begins.

New estimates from Revenue NSW suggest almost half of the 6,000 new owners who were expected to apply to have their stamp duty payments waived in favour of a land tax in the scheme’s first year will come within days of its introduction on Monday.

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Body of US bushwalker, 78, found in NSW national park

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Woman went missing on Friday night and extensive ground, sea and air search located her body on Saturday near Pearl beach on Central Coast

A body found in bushland on the New South Wales Central Coast is believed to be a missing 78-year-old American tourist.

Police were initially notified on Friday night that the woman had gone missing while bushwalking. They were told she was in bushland near Middle Head between Pearl and Patonga beaches.

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