Category Archives: Australian police and policing

‘I didn’t go looking for trouble’: Protester sues NSW after allegedly being punched by police at Herzog rally

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Exclusive: Eyad Shadid launches civil case in district court after charges against him dropped, alleging he was ‘battered’ near Sydney’s town hall in February

A Palestinian Australian man who alleges he was punched in the face when trying to stop police from harassing Muslim men praying during an anti–Isaac Herzog protest is suing New South Wales over “a series of false accusations”.

Eyad Shadid has launched a civil case in the NSW district court, alleging he was assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned by police near Sydney’s town hall.

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NSW government to resume pill testing at music festivals but rejects calls for wider community rollout

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Use of sniffer dogs and searches will continue despite health and harm reduction groups arguing they could lead to riskier drug taking

Drug testing will resume at New South Wales music festivals from October, but will not be rolled out into the wider community despite calls from peak health and harm reduction groups, while the controversial use of sniffer dogs and searches will continue.

On Wednesday the state government announced NSW Health will consult with the music festival industry and harm reduction organisations to roll out pill testing at up to 15 music festivals each year.

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Queensland concedes law imposing mandatory jail on some offenders as young as 10 breaches human rights

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State government says ‘breach bail, go to jail’ laws raise risk of overcrowding in jails, while one expert warns they may lead to ‘cruel outcomes’

The Queensland government’s latest law and order crackdown – subjecting some children as young as 10 to a mandatory sentence of a year behind bars – could lead to “cruel outcomes”, according to human rights lawyers.

In documents tabled with the legislation on Thursday, the government conceded its laws, dubbed “breach bail, go to jail”, would breach human rights and risk further straining the state’s overcrowded jails, youth detention centres and police watch houses.

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‘Staggering’: watchdog condemns police after Indigenous teenager on bus wrongfully arrested – then searched

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Ombudsman Iain Anderson says he is concerned police ‘had no clearly understood definition of racial profiling’

The commonwealth and ACT ombudsman has criticised the Australian federal police for failing to clearly define “racial profiling” after police in Canberra pulled guns on an Indigenous teenager who they mistook for a suspect in an aggravated burglary.

The scathing investigation, released on Tuesday, made eight recommendations to the Australian federal police (AFP) and ACT Policing after investigating the November 2025 incident. ACT Policing sits under the AFP as the community policing arm.

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Fears for missing Sydney teen who hasn’t been seen since leaving for hike on Wednesday

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Fresh search teams to scour Nattai national park for Lily Hooper, 18, who failed to return home from a bushwalk

The search for an 18-year-old bushwalker missing in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales since Wednesday is continuing, with fresh teams arriving at the Nattai national park on Saturday morning.

Lily Hooper left her home in Sydney’s south-west about 8am on 12 August, after telling family she was going for a hike in the national park, north-west of Mittagong.

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NSW police deputy commissioner says letting Jewish security group carry guns could be seen as ‘favouritism’

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The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion is this week examining security arrangements for the Jewish community

The deputy commissioner of New South Wales police has pushed back at calls for the private security sector to be armed at Jewish events.

The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion has been examining security arrangements for the Jewish community in this block of hearings, with some witnesses lobbying for the Community Security Group (CSG) to be armed in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

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Alleged rape victim ‘could have done a lot better’ if she had made up claims against well-connected Melbourne man, court told

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Prosecutor tells court that ‘gaps or inconsistencies’ in the woman’s account ‘enhances her credibility’, but the defence maintains she is lying

A woman who accused a well-connected Melbourne man of rape “could have done a much better job” if she was inventing the story for money, a Melbourne court has heard.

But the accused’s lawyer has described the prosecution’s case as a “horrendous mixture” of “lies, fabrications, inconsistencies, [and] evidence that has been found to be demonstrably untrue”.

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Man dies after cross-border police pursuit ends in NSW northern rivers

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Car chase began in Queensland after report of armed man on Gold Coast late on Saturday, police say

New South Wales police have declared a “critical incident” after a man died following a police pursuit in the northern rivers area, hours after the same man allegedly evaded Queensland police while armed with a gun.

The 25-year-old from Queensland was found unconscious at the wheel of a vehicle, which had driven down an embankment south of Murwillumbah, about 2am on Sunday, NSW police said.

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Peter Falconio murder: British expert says he has identified a ‘most likely’ burial location

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UK police adviser in the early 2000s and global consultant in ‘no-body’ homicide cases says he has narrowed down the outback search area

• Peter Falconio murder 25 years on: new footage shows dying Australian outback killer’s refusal to reveal body’s location

The former British government expert who consulted on the search for the remains of the murdered backpacker Peter Falconio says he has now identified a “most likely” potential burial location – an abandoned racetrack only 8km from the scene of the infamous outback attack at Barrow Creek.

In July 2001, Falconio and his partner, Joanne Lees, both from Yorkshire, were ambushed and attacked by Bradley John Murdoch as they drove along a remote stretch of road in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 300km north of Alice Springs.

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Police release images of clothes to help identify victims of alleged Sydney childcare paedophile

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AFP release images of children’s clothes found on electronic devices seized as part of investigation into Hamish Tait

A tiny dinosaur puffer jacket could lead police to more victims of a former childcare worker and alleged prolific child sex offender.

Federal police have released pictures of clothing from children they want to identify, urging parents and carers who recognise the items to come forward.

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Kash Patel gave his Australian counterpart a 3D replica gun as a gift. It was destroyed within months

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Documents show the FBI director’s gift was ‘displayed proudly’ by the AFP before new commissioner ordered it be destroyed

When the FBI director, Kash Patel, visited the Australian federal police last year, he came bearing a gift: a 3D-printed imitation pistol that then was “displayed proudly” in the commissioner’s office.

Yet within months, shortly after Krissy Barrett became the AFP’s new commissioner last October, she ordered it to be destroyed.

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Child protection services contacted before four-year-old’s alleged murder as police investigate cannibalism claim

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Police charge woman with murder after boy’s body was found in a Central Coast home on Saturday

The New South Wales department in charge of child protection received “a number of reports” about a four-year-old child before he was allegedly murdered by his mother, the minister revealed, as she announced a review into how the case was handled.

Kate Washington, the NSW minister for communities and family, announced the independent review into the child’s case on Monday afternoon, two days after police found the preschooler’s body at a home on the Central Coast.

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Death of Indigenous teen found on rail tracks with towel under head ‘suspicious’, NSW coroner says

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Police initially ruled Mark Haines’ 1988 death a suicide but coroner says investigation hindered by racism and deeply flawed

The police investigation into the death of Indigenous teenager Mark Haines in northern New South Wales nearly four decades ago was hindered by racism and deeply flawed, a coroner has found.

The body of the Gomeroi teenager was discovered on train tracks outside Tamworth on the morning of 16 January 1988.

A stolen Holden Torana was found crashed nearby.

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Twenty-five anti-Isaac Herzog protesters to face joint trial in Sydney

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New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon is among witnesses expected to appear at the six-week trial in July next year

Twenty-five people who were charged after they protested against the visit of the Israeli president will face a six-week joint trial in July next year.

The protesters had their matters heard before Downing centre local court on Thursday after their lawyers made a successful application for the joint hearing, arguing there were common legal issues across the cases.

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Escaped prisoner who fled brother’s funeral believed to be in Melbourne, police say

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Orijol Rukaj was on pallbearer duties when he evaded corrections staff – and has been on the run for the six weeks since

Police say it was a busy funeral – with about 300 people gathering at a Melbourne cemetery on Anzac Day to farewell the brother of Orijol Rukaj.

Before assuming his duties as a pallbearer, Rukaj was escorted to the Keilor East service by corrections staff. But corrections staff didn’t bring him back to prison.

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Hannah Thomas: NSW admits to police ‘battery and false imprisonment’ of pro-Palestine protester

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State admits former Greens candidate entitled to damages and agrees to pay medical costs, but denies malicious prosecution and malfeasance in public office

The state of New South Wales has admitted that a police officer punched Hannah Thomas in the eye while holding a torch at a pro-Palestine protest – and it has offered to pay her medical costs.

Court documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal the state has admitted to false imprisonment and battery in its defence to a civil action launched by the former Greens candidate in October.

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Woman illegally strip-searched by police ‘reasonably thought’ officers would call her a liar, judge says

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NSW seeking leave to appeal against successful class action including aggravated damages of $20,000 awarded to woman strip-searched at music festival

The woman awarded $93,000 after an illegal strip-search by NSW police thought until “just before” the trial that she would be called a liar in the proceedings by the officers who conducted the search.

This was despite the officers submitting statements 12 months before her appearance that they had no recollection of the woman or the search, a court was told on Friday.

Lawyers acting for the woman, Raya Meredith, and 6,000 music festivalgoers appeared before the NSW court of appeal on Friday in the final day of a two-day hearing where NSW is seeking leave to appeal after losing a class action over unlawful strip-searches conducted at music festivals between 2018 and 2022.

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Queensland police shoot pet dog after running it over as distressed residents watch on

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Graphic videos on social media appear to show upset onlookers after police accidentally ran over animal in Mount Isa street

Confronting footage has emerged of police shooting dead a pet dog as it lay prone in the middle of a street in front of screaming onlookers, after they accidentally ran over the animal in an outback mining city.

The graphic videos, posted to social media on Sunday afternoon, appear to show one resident in distress and being led away wailing and pulling at her hair in distress as a shot rings out.

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Two men arrested in connection to Dezi Freeman’s movements after Porepunkah shootings

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A 48-year-old and 35-year-old will be interviewed by police after their arrests at two separate locations in north-east Victoria

Two men have been arrested in connection to Porepunkah shooter Dezi Freeman’s months on the run after he killed two police officers.

Police on Tuesday said detectives had arrested the men – aged 48 and 35 – at two separate locations in north-east Victoria as part of Operation Summit, the investigation into Freeman’s movements after the shootings at Porepunkah.

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Three die in ‘horrific’ south Sydney vehicle crash after police welfare check

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A 42-year-old fled from police before being involved in a two-vehicle crash in Sans Souci, police say

Three people have died in a crash in Sydney after a man fled from police who had been attempting to carry out a welfare check.

Police officers had been called to a property in Gymea Bay, southern Sydney, at 12.25am on Saturday. When they arrived, a 42-year-old man drove away in a white Audi, New South Wales police said.

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