NSW weather: significant flooding threat remains for parts of Sydney despite heavy rain easing

NSW premier says rising flood levels present ongoing danger for some communities, including in western Sydney

Sydney may have woken up to blue skies on Saturday, but flood levels were continuing to rise across parts of New South Wales with evacuation orders issued after an overnight deluge broke rainfall records.

Suburbs on the city fringes were facing the threat of significant flooding after copping more than a month’s worth of rain while a major landslip in the Blue Mountains left one community cut off.

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East coast weather: flood warnings for Queensland and NSW as BoM forecasts heavy rainfall

Drivers have been urged to reconsiders their travel plans ahead of a forecast deluge

Heavy rainfall will drench parts of Queensland and New South Wales this weekend, with motorists urged to stay off roads.

Laura Boekel, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said a trough is affecting both Queensland and New South Wales, producing a significant amount of rainfall across the two states.

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Australia news live: PM says it ‘isn’t good enough’ to say Gaza strike on aid workers ‘just a product of war’

Prime minister reiterates that has ‘demanded full accountability for what has occurred’ from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Follow the day’s news live

After a number of comments about the state of famine in Gaza, which Hyman appears to be disputing – it’s quite difficult to keep up with his comments, though they seem to include allegations that Hamas is stealing aid – he is asked by host Sally Sara if he’s rejecting UN concerns of hunger and starvation in Gaza. I will come back and check his comments shortly but the upshot seems to be that he is, more or less.

I’ll bring you more direct lines from this interview shortly, bear with me.

I mean, obviously, we know that this isn’t something that the IDF would do or the Israeli Air Force would do on purpose.

There’s a war going on. Wars are awful. Nobody wanted this war, we certainly didn’t want this war, but we’re forced to fight it because it’s a war for our very existence.

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Man found dead in Queensland flood water as weather systems collide over eastern Australia

Man, 71, found near vehicle in Logan as NSW and Qld residents warned to prepare for up to 200mm of rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding

A man has been found dead near his vehicle in Queensland floodwaters as storms bring heavy rain to eastern Australia.

Police found the 71-year-old man at 5.20am on Thursday, after being called to the Logan suburb of Greenbank to conduct a welfare check.

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Queensland’s first festival pill-testing service finds ‘Canberra ketamine’ sold as MDMA

Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival, near Warwick, held Australia’s first multi-day festival clinic last weekend

The organisers of Queensland’s first festival pill-testing service say many drugs sold as MDMA turned out to be other substances including one recently dubbed “Canberra ketamine”.

The Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival, near Warwick, held the first multi-day festival clinic in Australia on the weekend, after two patrons died at the same event in 2019.

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Charges laid after presumed Queensland car-crash victim found to have been shot

Police announce manslaughter charge after initially believing man, 21, had died as a result of crash at Booie, near Kingaroy

A man’s death on a Queensland property was initially treated as a car crash fatality by police – who have now charged another man with manslaughter after the discovery of a gunshot wound during the postmortem process.

Investigators initially believed a 21-year-old Nanango man died in the 21 March crash after hitting a fence pole on a private property on Kingaroy Barkers Creek Road at Booie, near Kingaroy.

But after allegedly discovering a gunshot wound on his upper body, police have charged a 38-year-old Kingaroy man with one count of manslaughter and insecure storage of weapons.

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Australia news live: heavy rain and strong winds to hit Victoria; Easter campers rescued from Queensland flood waters

Five people rescued while dozens remained stranded at campsite in northern Queensland. Follow the day’s news live

Support for Labor drops in WA as Coalition gains ground among the young

Voters in Western Australia are shifting away from Labor towards the Coalition, as the opposition gains ground among young people.

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‘Extremely emotional scene’: father and grandfather die after bid to rescue toddler in Gold Coast pool

Two men, aged 38 and 65, leapt into water after child fell into deep end on Sunday night

A father and grandfather have died trying to save a two-year-old child who fell into a Gold Coast pool on Sunday.

The toddler was reportedly playing beside the apartment block pool when they slipped and fell into the deep end about 7pm on Sunday, sparking a double Easter tragedy.

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Queensland opposition leader casts doubt over future of state’s new pill testing regime

David Crisafulli criticises pill testing trial in sign opposition may roll back harm minimisation polices if elected in October

The Queensland opposition leader, David Crisafulli, has criticised the state’s new pill testing regime, a potential sign his party would roll back Labor’s new drug policies if elected in October.

The sunshine state opened its first festival clinic on Thursday and will open the first fixed site clinic in Brisbane next month. The Labor government has committed to open a second once a site has been confirmed.

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Woman dead and two others in hospital after suspected drug overdoses on the Gold Coast

Woman, 43, died after paramedics were called to a Surfers Paradise hotel on Friday night

A woman has died and two others have been hospitalised after suspected drug overdoses on the Gold Coast.

Queensland paramedics were called to a hotel in Surfers Paradise at 10.58pm on Friday night. Emergency responders found seven patients, three of whom were in critical condition, including a 43-year-old woman who was experiencing cardiac arrest at the scene.

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Youth justice on the line as LNP and Labor weigh up community fears about safety

Some Labor MPs are eyeing the LNP’s tough policy on detention in bid to sway anxious voters in October election


Looking down the barrel of the camera, LNP leader David Crisafulli addresses Queenslanders directly in the party’s latest TV ad.

Appearing concerned and candid in his home town of Townsville, Crisafulli delivers a simple message: Elect me, and I’ll keep you safe.

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Molly the magpie: Queensland premier backs return of Instagram-hit bird to couple after being seized

Steven Miles urges authorities to enable magpie to be reunited with ‘devastated’ Gold Coast carers and its ‘best friend’, their Staffy dog Peggy

Queensland’s premier has thrown his support for a campaign to return an Instagram-famous magpie to its former carers and its dog best friend, after it was seized by the environment department.

Gold Coast couple Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen adopted Molly the magpie in 2020 after it fell from the nest.

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Man who died saving niece in 2016 Dreamworld ride disaster among those recognised for bravery

Luke Dorsett stopped his niece from falling out of a raft but died alongside his sister Kate Goodchild and his long-term partner Roozi Araghi

A man killed in the 2016 Dreamworld rafting disaster has been posthumously given a bravery award after he used his final moments to save his niece.

Luke Dorsett – who died on 25 October 2016 when rafts on the Thunder River Rapids ride collided – was recognised with a commendation for brave conduct from the governor general.

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Queensland LNP vows to ditch ‘detention as last resort’ approach to youth crime

Opposition leader David Crisafulli says LNP would rewrite Youth Justice Act ‘to put victims first’ if it wins October election

The Queensland Liberal National party opposition has vowed to remove the principle of detention as a last resort from the Youth Justice Act before year’s end if it wins the state election.

Speaking in Townsville on Tuesday, the LNP leader, David Crisafulli, revealed more detail about the party’s “Making Queensland safer laws” and accused Labor of having a “conga line of crises”.

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Man rescued after 36 hours in stormwater drain in Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point

The man, in his 30s, said he had been trying to retrieve his phone after it fell into the underground drain

A man has been rescued after spending an estimated 36 hours in Brisbane’s underground drain network.

The man, who is in his 30s, was released from the Kangaroo Point stormwater drain by firefighters at about 11am on Monday.

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Peter Dutton in standoff with state Liberal leaders over federal Coalition’s nuclear plan

The federal opposition leader’s calls to include nuclear power in Australia’s energy mix has so far failed to win support from his state colleagues

The federal Coalition faces a battle with the states on its proposal for nuclear power stations at the sites of decommissioned coal power plants, with state premiers and opposition leaders alike largely against Peter Dutton’s proposal.

Labor governments and Coalition oppositions in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia are either outright opposed to the plan or have failed to endorse it.

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Anti-abortion campaigner wins control of Brisbane LNP division

Concerns raised after former Cherish Life vice-president Alan Baker elected chair of party’s Griffith divisional council

A prominent anti-abortion campaigner has won control of a Brisbane division of the Liberal National party, prompting alarm among moderates that “fringe infiltrators” were attempting to increase their influence as polls point to a state election win.

Alan Baker, a former vice-president of the anti-abortion lobby group Cherish Life, was elected chair of the LNP’s Griffith federal divisional council (FDC) by two votes on Thursday night.

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Israel must allow humanitarian relief to reach Gaza, Australia and UK say in new joint statement – as it happened

This blog is now closed

As part of the latest Aukus developments, Australia will send A$4.6bn to the UK to clear bottlenecks at the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor production line.

Richard Marles was asked why it costs so much, and why this component needs to be done in the UK. He told ABC News Breakfast:

We made clear a year ago that we wouldn’t be building the nuclear reactors in Australia. They will be built by Rolls Royce at its facility in Derby in the UK and once the sealed reactors are built, they will be taken here to the Osborne Naval ship yard and placed in the submarines which the rest of which will be built here at Osborne.

Building nuclear reactors is difficult to do and in order for this to play out, that facility in Derby, which is building nuclear reactors for Britain’s navy, that needs to be expanded and that is what this contribution is for.

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No new stadium to be built for 2032 Olympics as Queensland opposition leader reveals plan

David Crisafulli’s stance means the multi-billion dollar Victoria Park plan recommended by Graham Quirk on Monday is dead

Queensland’s 2032 Olympics will not be held in a brand-new stadium, with both major parties now ruling out the Victoria Park and Gabba rebuild options.

The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, broke his four-day silence on Thursday, promising there will be no new stadium. The LNP leader also ruled out cancelling the Games.

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Delay in court case for man accused of vandalising Woolworths over Australia Day stance

Six-week adjournment granted for Travis Profke, 40, who is accused of spray-painting graffiti on Queensland Woolworths store

A man accused of an Australia Day-related graffiti attack on a Queensland Woolworths faces a six-week delay to the matter due to medical records and other information not being disclosed.

Travis Profke, of Ormiston, is accused of spray painting graffiti outside Woolworths Metro in Teneriffe on 15 January. The 40-year-old has also been charged with vandalising supermarkets at Victoria Point, Cleveland and Teneriffe on 13 January.

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