Category Archives: New South Wales

NSW police reveal operation targeting ‘kill cars’ used by alleged Sydney crime gangs

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Arrests have been made over alleged involvement in group of contract criminals that uses network of staged vehicles

A secret police investigation into alleged violent contract criminals and a network of “kill cars” has been revealed after an alleged murder plot at a daycare centre was disrupted.

NSW police on Tuesday pounced on a group of men driving through Revesby in Sydney’s south-west with balaclavas and pistols.

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Judges prohibit pro-Palestine march to Sydney Opera House and say protesters risk contempt of court

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In landmark ruling, NSW court of appeal says anyone attending prohibited protest could be held in contempt of court

New South Wales’ top court has made a landmark ruling that criminalises attending a “prohibited” protest, with the court of appeal banning a planned pro-Palestine march to the Sydney Opera House scheduled for this weekend.

The court of appeal on Thursday ruled that anyone marching on the Opera House on Sunday could be held in contempt of court, as it sided with police against the Palestine Action Group due to “extreme” safety concerns.

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NSW official admits hiding in cupboard during multimillion-dollar kickback investigation

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Former transport bureaucrat Ibrahim Helmy appeared at an ICAC hearing after allegedly forming corrupt relationships with contractors and colleagues

Ibrahim Helmy was hiding in a cupboard for the moment he had been warned about.

Police had arrived at the share house where the former transport bureaucrat was laying low, living discreetly with strangers after failing to appear before a major corruption probe.

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Australia news live: Moreton Island fire warning downgraded; Melbourne’s final Metro Tunnel station complete

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Crews worked through the night to contain a bushfire in the popular camping destination. Follow today’s news live

The alert for the Moreton Island fire has been downgraded to “advice” level this morning after fire crews worked over the weekend to contain the blaze.

The fire broke out on the island off Queensland’s south-east coast in dense national park near Eastern Beach at 10.30am on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of 20 campers to the western side of the island on the long weekend, AAP reports.

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Greens and Australian Christian Lobby form ‘unholy alliance’ to shut down late-night pokies in NSW

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Exclusive: The political foes have set aside decades of animosity to ‘work constructively on gambling reform’ after both describing the NSW government’s actions as insufficient

Limited action on gambling reform and record levels of harm have prompted “an unholy alliance” between the Greens and the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), which has pledged to rally support for the progressive party’s legislation.

The offer of support came shortly after NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann announced a bill to force the closure of all poker machine venues from 2am to 10am and remove exemptions for more than 650 pubs and clubs that can operate within this period.

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‘Stranded’ aged care or disability patients occupy up to one in 10 hospital beds in Australia, report finds

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State and territory treasurers who commissioned the report say it shows need for federal government to pay bigger share of public hospital funding

Up to one in 10 public hospital beds are taken by “stranded” patients awaiting alternative accommodation in aged care and supported disability accommodation, a new report shows – bolstering calls for more federal health funding.

The report on the drivers of public hospital costs was commissioned by state and territory treasurers to inform negotiations on the next national health reform agreement (NHRA) with the commonwealth government.

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Pro-Palestine protesters fight police decision to block Sydney Opera House protest on 12 October

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NSW supreme court will have final say over whether demonstrators will be given legal protections during march this month

The Palestine Action Group will fight the New South Wales police in court after their proposed plan to march on the Sydney Opera House was knocked back.

On Wednesday, the group announced its plan to diverge from the normal route of its near weekly rallies over the past two years, and march from Hyde Park to the Sydney Opera House on 12 October to mark two years since 7 October and call for “an end to genocide in Gaza”.

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NSW urged to stop strip-searches of young people after court ruling spotlights police conduct

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Supreme court rules police suspicion that a person is in possession of a prohibited drug ‘is not sufficient to conduct a strip-search’

Advocates are calling on the New South Wales government to scrap strip-searches of young people altogether, saying a landmark court ruling found “systemic” issues with the way police have been using their powers.

Justice Dina Yehia handed down her findings in the NSW supreme court on Tuesday in a class action brought by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre against the state of NSW.

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How DNA on a glass of beer at airport led to capture of Australian serial rapist, the Night Stalker

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Breakthroughs in forensic technology resulted in Glenn Gary Cameron’s arrest more than three decades after he terrorised women in Sydney

More than three decades ago, New South Wales police announced it had formed a special team to catch a man, later dubbed the “Night Stalker” or the “Moore Park rapist”, who terrorised women across Sydney in the early 1990s.

At that time, a poster with a sketched image of the man, based on one of his victim’s recollections, was released. Below the image it said: “Do you know this person? Serial rapist sought over possible seven attacks.”

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Police officer charged with assault after Hannah Thomas injured at pro-Palestine protest in Sydney

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Senior constable charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm due to appear in court in mid-November

A New South Wales police officer has been charged with assaulting Hannah Thomas, who sustained a serious eye injury after she was arrested at a protest in June.

Thomas was arrested and charged alongside four others at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney on 27 June that was attended by about 60 people at SEC Plating.

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Ausgrid slashes safety inspectors after report finds cheaper to pay permanent disability injury compensation

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Secret report from CutlerMerz finds yearly cost of inspections – $520,219 – is more than cost of paying compensation – $28,375 a year

Ausgrid cut safety inspector numbers by more than half after receiving a secret report that said it was cheaper for the company to pay compensation for a permanent disability injury than to continue paying for the inspections.

The secret report, conducted by consultancy CutlerMerz and seen by Guardian Australia, recommended Ausgrid slash the inspections it was doing by as much as 55%, saying the cost – $520,219 per year – was “grossly disproportionate to the cost of the consequence being managed”.

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When Ziggy’s bond was withheld after eviction without cause from his Sydney rental, he challenged it – and won

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Advocates say it should be easier to dispute bond claims, as tenants in Australia’s toughest rental markets are increasingly losing their deposits

Ziggy Tow and his housemates thought they had had enough trouble after their property manager evicted them without grounds and listed their inner-Sydney home for an extra $300 a week.

Then the property manager claimed back all of the $3,400 they paid in bond to cover cleaning and repair fees.

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Bankstown nurse sacked over viral video has charge of threatening to kill Israeli patients dropped

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Sarah Abu Lebdeh yet to enter plea for other charges related to video in which she and a colleague allegedly said they would refuse to treat Israeli patients

A Sydney nurse sacked over her alleged inflammatory rhetoric in an online video is no longer accused of threatening to kill Israeli patients after prosecutors dropped a charge.

Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, and Ahmad Rashad Nadir, 28, sparked widespread criticism when a video was released of the pair saying they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and appearing to threaten violence towards them.

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One dead and seven in hospital after gas leak at Sydney restaurant Haveli

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Five police officers among those taken for treatment after being called to Indian eatery in Riverstone

One person has died and seven people – including five police officers – are being treated in hospital after a gas leak at a restaurant in Sydney’s north-west.

New South Wales ambulance said the people who had been taken to hospital were all in a stable condition.

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Australian PM blames ‘aggressive protesters’ for closure of local electorate office

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Anthony Albanese says site next to church ‘became untenable’ after repeated protests against Gaza war in inner Sydney suburb

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has closed his inner-Sydney electorate office after almost 30 years, saying his hand had been forced by repeated protests outside the office.

Albanese’s office in Marrickville, in his electorate of Grayndler, has long been a target of demonstrations, particularly over the war in Gaza, including a months-long sit-in outside the office in 2024.

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Secret rating system kept parents in dark about safety fears at NSW childcare centre

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Case in which parents were not told centre was in the ‘very high risk’ cohort illustrates a glaring safety gap, critics argue

A childcare centre in New South Wales was approved as “meeting” government standards in the publicly available rating system, but flagged months later as a “very high risk service” in a secret rating system maintained by the Department of Education, the Guardian can reveal.

The centre, which Guardian Australia is choosing not to name, was flagged by officers from the NSW early childhood regulator as being in the highest risk category of childcare services, after officials visited in May 2024 to investigate a complaint.

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The question for the NSW Liberals after the Kiama drubbing is: can anyone do better than Mark Speakman?

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Kellie Sloane has ruled out moving a spill and James Griffin isn’t eager. Alister Henskens is thought to lack the numbers. So, for now, the leader might be safe

Byelections are usually a referendum on the government. But Saturday’s Kiama byelection – and the poor performance of the New South Wales Liberals – has deepened angst within the opposition party regarding Mark Speakman’s leadership.

In Kiama, Labor increased its primary vote – a feat in itself in a byelection – and looks set to achieve an impressive swing on a two-party-preferred basis. Labor’s Katelin McInerney is on track for a thumping 60% to 40% 2PP victory over the Liberal candidate Serena Copley.

Anne Davies is Guardian Australia’s NSW state correspondent

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After four decades of stalled attempts, there’s a new plan to ‘transform’ Sydney’s ugliest road

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NSW government to rezone Paramatta Road corridor and make room for 8,000 new homes – but plan omits mooted light rail

Sydney’s ugliest road is again being touted as the next development hotspot, with plans by the Minns government to rezone and develop about 8,000 new homes along Parramatta Road in Leichhardt and Camperdown, in the city’s inner west.

The state government and inner west councillors have agreed to partner on rezoning along the Parramatta Road corridor to deliver a major boost to housing close to the CBD.

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Labor claims win in Kiama byelection with Katelin McInerney to replace convicted rapist Gareth Ward

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Initial count has ALP candidate securing 60.6% of the two-party-preferred vote over Liberal Serena Copley in state seat

Labor has claimed victory in the New South Wales seat vacated by disgraced MP and convicted rapist Gareth Ward.

The Kiama byelection was held on Saturday to replace Ward, who was convicted of sexual and indecent assault in July.

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Revenue from seatbelt fines spikes 1,400% in NSW as AI cameras peer into 140m cars

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Exclusive: Isabel was fined three times in one week in Sydney. ‘I was like, there’s been some kind of malfunction,’ she said

Isabel didn’t even realise she had broken the law until three fines turned up in her mailbox.

The fines – collectively worth more than $1,200 and nine demerit points – were all for seatbelt offences within the same week in Sydney while she helped a friend move house.

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