Category Archives: New South Wales

NSW government under pressure to scrap further 29,000 Covid fines after court ruling

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State forced to cancel 33,000 fines so far but Revenue NSW argues ‘technical’ supreme court decision ‘does not mean offences were not committed’

New South Wales residents wrongly penalised for Covid breaches say it is “crazy” it took a protracted and costly court case to force the state government to back down and withdraw 33,000 invalid fines.

The NSW government was forced on Tuesday to cancel 33,000 fines, worth an estimated $30m, for breaches of Covid-era public health orders after conceding they were too vague.

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Covid-19 Australia data tracker: coronavirus cases, deaths, hospitalisations and vaccination

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Guardian Australia brings together all the figures on Covid-19 cases, as well as stats, charts and state-by-state data from NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA, WA, Tasmania, the ACT and NT. Here you can also find the numbers on the vaccine rollout and fourth dose booster vaccination rates.

In September 2022, federal and state governments began releasing data once a week, on Fridays, rather than daily. As a result, Guardian Australia has aggregated the data released before that date to weekly values, to make the new figures comparable with the old.

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The Australian suburbs where more than half of properties will be uninsurable by 2030

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‘We’re now seeing that the system is not able to cope with climate change,’ insurance analyst says

When Kim Sly moved to a lower-lying area of Forbes four years ago, she was asked to pay $12,000 a year for flood insurance.

The bill was a shock. Her new home was built 1.2 metres above the ground to protect it from floods, a factor that did not seem to influence the insurance company’s assessment.

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NSW government announces deal with rail union in bid to end industrial dispute

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Dominic Perrottet says the two sides agreed to a Fair Work Commission process to resolve long-running fight

The New South Wales government says it has carved out a deal with the state’s rail union to modify a fleet of trains and halt industrial action, after months of bitter negotiation.

The parties had been at odds over whether or not to make safety modifications to a multibillion-dollar Korean-built fleet of intercity trains, which have been in storage since 2019.

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Lesbians historically seen as ‘fair game’ in Sydney, advocate tells gay hate inquiry

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Carole Ruthchild said gay women ‘couldn’t be out and open and not get a bad response’ in the past

Lesbians were seen as “fair game” if they weren’t in the company of a man and faced violence when they turned down sexual advances, an inquiry into unsolved LGBTQ+ deaths has been told.

In the years after New South Wales decriminalised homosexuality in 1984, Carole Ruthchild said lesbians still faced severe backlash simply for being themselves.

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Dutton given official warning by Speaker – as it happened

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How can strengthening federal laws stop the destruction of sacred heritage sites?

Tanya Plibersek:

I think I think it’s really worth having a look at the two inquiries that the the parliament undertook into the Juukan Gorge destruction because it describes not just the failure of laws, but the failure of process and the failure of people to listen and that happened at the commonwealth level and it also happened at the West Australian state government level.

The other thing that it describes is a company that paid lip service to consultation and really, you know, really didn’t do what it should have done when Aboriginal people said you can’t blow up caves that are 46,000 years old, that have examples of continuous use and habitation that you know, the site of finds like a 4,000-year-old hair belt, and tools that are tens of thousands of years old.

There’s absolutely a sense of urgency to ensure that this sort of cultural heritage destruction doesn’t happen again.

I completely agree with that, but a very strong message from the the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance is also that they genuinely want to sit at the table to work through these issues in partnership and cooperation.

Yeah, I’m not going to put I’m not going to put a timeline on it yet. I think that’s something that we determined as we work through the complexity of these issues, and there are a lot of complexities involved.

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Six men charged over international drug ring after Sydney dawn raids seize cash, cocaine and crypto

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NSW police say several transnational organised criminal networks were collaborating on drug imports

Six Sydney men have been charged and millions of dollars in cash and drugs seized after a multi-agency police investigation into an international drug ring.

Another man was arrested in Los Angeles as part of a joint operation with US homeland security.

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Flood could cut off NSW town of Moulamein ‘through December’, authorities say

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About 85% of the town’s 484 residents chose to stay despite being told to evacuate, with roads out expected to be closed for several weeks

Hundreds of residents of the small Riverina town of Moulamein have elected to stay and defend their properties against the rising flood waters even though authorities have warned they may be isolated into December.

The State Emergency Service warned the whole town to evacuate by 2pm Tuesday or face weeks being cut off as the Edward River, which joins with the swollen Billabong Creek in the town, was expected to peak at 6.2 metres on Thursday.

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Danny Lim asked police to call ambulance and told them of his PTSD before arrest, witness says

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Exclusive: Passerby Mike Ashley who was at the QVB says he was threatened with charge of hindering arrest when he tried to intervene

The Sydney street personality Danny Lim repeatedly asked police officers to call an ambulance and informed them he had post-traumatic stress disorder before he was thrown to the ground and bloodied in a “discontinued” arrest, a witness says.

The allegation is consistent with the version of events Lim outlined to Guardian Australia from hospital, where on Wednesday night he remained, being treated for bleeding on the brain and neck injuries.

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Warragamba Dam: health department feared raising wall could harm Sydney’s drinking water

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NSW health department’s concerns revealed in report released by WaterNSW

The New South Wales health department raised concerns Sydney’s drinking water could be harmed if the government goes ahead with its controversial Warragamba Dam wall-raising project, saying any impacts on quality would be “critical” for the delivery of “safe” water.

The previously unreported submission raised “concerns for drinking water quality” across Sydney during the construction of the raised dam wall, saying it would “limit the ability to avoid poor quality water in the dam”.

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Children taken to hospital after science experiment causes chemical explosion at Sydney school

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Two students at Manly West public school suffer serious burns while nine others and one adult have superficial burns

Eleven students and one teacher are in a stable condition after a science experiment caused a chemical explosion at a school on Sydney’s northern beaches.

New South Wales Ambulance have confirmed two students have suffered serious burns while nine students and one adult – believed to be a teacher – suffered superficial burns as a result of the explosion at Manly West public school on Monday afternoon.

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Fears of Sydney water restrictions as only 25% of Warragamba Dam catchment deemed safe to drink

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Sydney Water says filtration systems under extreme pressure amid floods, as all Melbourne beaches declared unsuitable for swimming

Just a quarter of Sydney’s largest drinking water catchment, the Warragamba Dam, is safe for consumption, prompting fears residents will need to conserve water.

Ben Blayney, the head of water supply and production at Sydney Water, said the past year’s floods had placed extreme pressure on the city’s water filtration system.

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Authorities warn of flooding impacts for ‘months’ as second death recorded in NSW

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Body thought to be that of Les Vugec, 85, who was last seen at his Eugowra home on Monday

Major flooding is forecast to continue along several river systems in New South Wales as flood-hit communities survey the damage and authorities warn it could be months before the deluge comes to an end.

A second death was recorded in Eugowra on Saturday after a body was found on the outskirts of town.

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Flood warnings in Victoria and NSW – as it happened

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Birmingham against a windfall tax for oil and gas companies

Birmingham says he is opposed to a windfall tax for oil and gas companies to help assist with rising energy prices.

We don’t think that simply slugging a tax in relation to companies is going to do anything for the energy prices of Australians. You’ve got to fix supply in the gas market to provide for genuine outcomes there, and those types of taxes will actually only hurt you in the longer term because they will act as an investment disincentive and you have less supply for the future.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has previously said limiting global heating to 1.5C as set out in the Paris agreement meant there can be no new oil, gas or coal investment beyond 2021.

A windfall tax is not about shoring up gas supplies, but generating revenue which can re-invested in new renewable energy projects and other decarbonisation projects.

I strongly support recognition and have done for many years and, of course, the debate around the voice has come along subsequent to early efforts to try to achieve Indigenous recognition. When it comes to the model for the Voice, I do think Australians deserve to see more detail and have more answers about how it will work, how it will be constituted and how it will make a difference. I understand the very passionate views by those who argue for the voice and I don’t wish to see them disrespected in any way, but I also acknowledge that there are strong Indigenous views of doubt and question about whether the voice will be actually effective in achieving any substantial change on the ground in relation to Indigenous disadvantage.

We are going to be asked to support a constitutional change for a model that is as undefined by the government in relation to that model. It is not unreasonable to want to see the detail of the model.

An economy growing as strongly as possible, keeping unemployment as low as possible – those are the things that our government managed to achieve, with strong economic growth in our last year in office, with unemployment down to 50-year lows, creating the conditions for economic growth to help to drive productive wages growth.

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Evacuation order issued for Condobolin; Albanese says renewables can fight inflation – as it happened

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Lachlan River is at major flood level and SES predicts a record peak of 7.8 metres on Monday. This blog is now closed

Poppy seed tea warning

Australians are being warned not to drink poppy seed tea, promoted on popular social media platforms, after a spate of poisoning cases across Australia linked to the home-brewed sedative.

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NSW floods: Condobolin waits behind 3km wall of sandbags as record peak flows west from Forbes

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Forbes mayor criticises decision to base recovery team in Parkes as towns and villages downstream wait days for peak

The New South Wales central-west town of Condobolin is experiencing the worst flood in its history and the expected peak is still days away.

The State Emergency Service has predicted the Lachlan River at the town 100km west of Forbes will peak at 7.8 metres on Monday – a record flood height. On Saturday afternoon an evacuation order was issued for low-lying parts of the town.

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The cost of losing the politics of pokies in the gaming machine capital of Australia

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Despite moves to reform the system by the NSW premier, two MPs doubt that much will change

During his final fortnight in New South Wales parliament, the outgoing minister Rob Stokes did his best to beat the drum for poker machine reform in his state.

In two blistering speeches, Stokes attacked the power of the clubs sector, saying it had become “distorted and disfigured” by its reliance on the $3.8bn in yearly pokies revenue and calling for the introduction of a cashless gambling card.

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News live updates: Medibank, Optus among companies shunning privacy law hearing in ‘collective failure of corporate Australia’

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Greens senator David Shoebridge has criticised notable absences at a Senate committee looking at privacy laws today. Follow the day’s news live

ADF personnel to help in NSW as government works on dedicated disaster workforce

Murray Watt is asked about a permanent disaster workforce to assist during national disasters and their clean-up, given the pressure put on the defence force.

The ADF does certainly play a role, particularly in the recovery phase. And just yesterday we activated more defence forces to go into western New South Wales to assist so over the next couple of days, we expect to see 200 defence force personnel helping there to top up these state-based services. But the reality is all of this is putting a huge amount of pressure, whether it be on those state-based services or the ADF. And that’s why in this budget, we committed over $30m to a volunteer veteran organisation called Disaster Relief Australia to sort of top up the kind of services that are available for communities, particularly in that clean-up phase.

But we’re going to be keeping on doing some work on this about what we need to put in place as a country to supplement the ADF and I’d be hopeful that we might be able to bring that to a conclusion around about the budget next year.

There’s insurance costs so let alone the huge damage bill that individuals are going to be incurring themselves.

So I think everyone is unfortunately going to be having to put their hands in their pockets for for this unfolding event that just won’t go away.

So even if we weren’t to get any more rain, we’re going to be looking at even more damage from the existing flood waters. And, as I say, I think we’re likely to see more. We’ve also got to remember that we haven’t yet seen the cyclone season start whether that be in north Queensland, Western Australia or Northern Territory. So unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of good news for people except for the fact that there is unlikely to be a lot of rain over the next couple of days. So that’s a good thing.

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Central NSW braced for more flooding as Lachlan River set to hit 70-year-high level

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Forbes braced for second inundation in a fortnight as woman’s body found in Eugowra flood waters after ‘wall of water’ decimates NSW town

Communities in New South Wales are braced for more flooding with warnings of historic river rises and prolonged peaks in the state’s central west.

Across the state, the authorities have issued 117 warnings and 23 “evacuate now” orders, including for central western Forbes and Gooloogong, Gunnedah in the north-east and the southern border town of Moama.

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NSW floods: Amber Stevens airlifted from atop a water tank with her baby, husband and two dogs

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‘We rang the SES but they couldn’t get to us, there was no boat,’ says the resident of Tichborne in the state’s central west

Amber Stevens went to bed on Sunday night expecting her paddock could get a little wet, nothing more. You didn’t get big floods in Tichborne – hadn’t for 70 years.

The next evening, she was huddled on top of a water tank, with her baby Finn, husband and two dogs, watching a sea of flood water engulf her home in the usually barren central west of New South Wales.

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