WA activist charged over Woodside protest says police pointed gun at him day before

Emil Davey says officer pulled over his car, pointed a gun and shouted at him but after his vehicle was searched he was released without charge

A Western Australian police officer drew his firearm while pulling over the vehicle of an environmental activist in Perth last month.

Emil Davey, 19, was driving in the suburb of City Beach on 31 July when he says an unmarked van overtook his car and then stopped suddenly in front of him.

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Mushroom mystery: family lunch leaves Australian town reeling after three deaths in suspected poisoning

As police investigate what looks like a fatal case of food poisoning in Leongatha in rural Victoria, locals recall the victims as kind and community-spirited

In the quiet town of Leongatha in eastern Victoria, a group of family and friends sat down to a Saturday lunch at one of their homes.

Within hours of the meal four of the guests began feeling very unwell and eventually sought treatment at local hospitals.

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Lehrmann case shouldn’t shake faith in justice system, police union says

Association chief urges community to come forward with complaints as fallout from Sofronoff inquiry into prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann continues

The police union says the Bruce Lehrmann case was “like no other” and shouldn’t deter complainants from coming forward or having faith in the justice system.

The fallout from the Sofronoff inquiry report continued on Tuesday, following the ACT government’s extraordinary criticisms of inquiry head Walter Sofronoff KC over the premature leaking of the report to journalists.

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Australia news live: pre-emptive release of Sofronoff report ‘denied me procedural fairness’, Shane Drumgold says

ACT director of public prosecutions steps down after agreeing with ACT attorney-general Shane Rattenbury his position was ‘no longer tenable’. Follow live news updates today

PM urges people to look at the yes and no pamphlets

Albanese is asked about the word “Makarrata”, which has been subject to attack by the no campaign.

Why would someone disagree with the idea of Makarrata, with which is a Yolngu word for coming together after conflict - what that is about is just advancing reconciliation.

What the no campaign insists on doing is talking about anything but what is in the question before the Australian people. I would say to your listeners, have a look at what the question is, have a look at the yesand the no pamphlets. The yes pamphlet with its optimistic appeal for hope and a vision for the future, and the no campaign quoting people, misquoting people who are not actually supporting it.

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Head of inquiry into Lehrmann prosecution gave report to selected journalists before ACT chief minister

ACT says it remains ‘extremely disappointed’ Walter Sofronoff released report to media outlets

The final Sofronoff inquiry report was handed to journalists prior to the ACT’s chief minister, the government has said.

The fallout from the explosive findings and premature publication of Walter Sofronoff KC’s report continued on Friday, following revelations that the inquiry head had provided embargoed copies of the final report to selected media outlets before police, the director of public prosecutions and other key players.

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Victoria’s first dedicated sobering up centre to open in inner-Melbourne suburb

Andrews government unveils plan for 20-bed Collingwood facility as public drunkenness is decriminalised

Victoria’s first permanent sobering up centre will be set up in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Collingwood ahead of the decriminalisation of public drunkenness in the state.

The 20-bed facility has been announced as the Andrews government shifts away from treating public drunkenness as a crime and towards making it a health issue.

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Head of inquiry into Lehrmann prosecution released report to media without authorisation

Walter Sofronoff KC provided copies under embargo to ABC and the Australian, but ACT spokesperson said release ‘affected the inquiry process’

The head of an independent inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann provided embargoed copies of his final report to the media without the knowledge of the ACT government.


In an explosive statement on Thursday afternoon, an ACT government spokesperson said the government was “disappointed that the Sofronoff Board of Inquiry Report has been released to select media outlets”.

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How a picture of bedsheets from dark web led police to Brisbane childcare centre and man’s arrest

Tiny traces from videos and images drew detectives to a childcare worker accused of being Australia’s worst serial paedophile

In 2014, detectives from a specialist Queensland police unit came across a small number of videos and images posted online, depicting the abuse of two girls but containing few clues as to where in the world they had been made.

After the discovery by taskforce Argos, the Australia federal police (AFP) and other agencies began an international search for the victims. This included uploading the material to a database that could be searched by other law enforcement agencies.

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NSW police use force against Indigenous Australians at drastically disproportionate levels, data shows

Exclusive: Redfern Legal Centre obtained records which show First Nations people were involved in about 45% of the incidents

New South Wales police used force against Indigenous Australians at vastly disproportionate rates during the past three years, internal police data shows.

Records obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were significantly overrepresented in police use of force incidents from 2018-20 to 2021-22.

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NSW police Tasered ‘extremely unwell’ Indigenous man a week before incident with Clare Nowland

Exclusive: Man experiencing mental health issues sought help from police but was later Tasered in hospital by officers who mistakenly thought he was armed with scissors

Police Tasered a young Indigenous man hospitalised with mental health issues twice on the mistaken belief that he was armed with a pair of scissors, the Guardian can reveal.

Just one week before a Cooma police officer Tasered Clare Nowland in May, a young Indigenous man sought medical assistance from officers further north in Batemans Bay, on New South Wales’ south coast.

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NSW police reject suggestion ‘racism is rife’ in force and say ‘lessons learned’ after Bowraville murders

Police act ‘with respect’ to victims and people in custody, federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children hears

A senior NSW police officer has rejected suggestions “racism is rife” within its ranks and has told a federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children that lessons have been learned after the Bowraville murders.

The parliamentary inquiry has held hearings around the country, hearing from experts, government and police agencies, and families of those murdered and disappeared.

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‘Out of control’: Sydney police battle escalating gang war with five people shot in five days

Commissioner Karen Webb says targeted hits are ‘sad indictment’ on city as investigators work to bring situation under control

Sydney detectives are struggling to contain the city’s escalating gang war and are facing a “wall of silence” despite two people dying in separate shootings over the past five days.

The recent spate of shootings started a month ago when the prominent underworld figure Alen Moradian was shot dead in broad daylight at Bondi Junction.

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Man charged after allegedly riding lawn mower through Queensland town while drunk

Police allege the man was driving through Ingham with almost four times the legal blood-alcohol limit

A Queensland man has been charged with high-range drink-driving after he was caught allegedly riding a lawn mower through the town of Ingham while drunk.

The man, 51, was stopped by police who had seen him driving the ride-on mower in the wrong direction down Herbert Street last Sunday.

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Sydney deputy school principal jailed for sexual chats with ‘teenage girl’

Damian Wanstell was arrested after sending explicit texts to undercover police posing as 14-year-old

A former deputy principal has been jailed after sending protracted sexually explicit chats to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

In sentencing Damian Scott Wanstall on Wednesday, judge Andrew Colefax asked how, as a father, he could discuss sexual acts and arrange to meet up with someone so young for that purpose.

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Three killed in Bruce Highway crash in Queensland involving vehicle stolen at knife-point from family

Isuzu MU-X had been taken from a mother and her three children in carjacking in Gympie on Thursday, police say

Three people have died in a horror road crash in Queensland, which police say occurred after a man allegedly attempted to ram another vehicle while driving a stolen car, causing both to cross on to the wrong side of the highway.

Both vehicles then collided with a third car on the Bruce Highway at Federal, south of Gympie, at about 4am on Friday.

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Dramatic police chase through Sydney suburbs ends in crash

A 39-year-old male driver and 37-year-old female passenger were arrested after the lengthy chase ended near Parramatta

A US-style police pursuit of a car allegedly speeding through the suburbs of Sydney has ended with the arrests of a man and a woman after they crashed in the city’s south-west.

The chase was sparked on Thursday when New South Wales police officers detected a suspected stolen vehicle travelling on the Hume Highway in Prestons, south-west of Liverpool, about 9.30am.

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NSW police lose court bid to exclude Scott Johnson killing from gay hate inquiry

Force had argued Johnson’s death was outside terms of reference because case was solved with man sentenced for manslaughter earlier this year

A bid by New South Wales police to exclude a high-profile killing from a gay hate inquiry has been rejected.

The death of US mathematician Scott Johnson is one of dozens of cases under the spotlight at a special commission of inquiry into suspected gay hate crimes in Sydney between 1970 and 2010.

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Clare Nowland: family sues NSW government after 95-year-old allegedly Tasered in nursing home

Exclusive: civil proceedings against the state were initially filed while aged care resident was still fighting for her life in hospital

The family of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, who died in May after being allegedly Tasered by police in an aged care home, is suing the New South Wales government.

The civil case against the state was listed to appear for the first time before a court in Bega in south-east NSW on Tuesday morning.

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Publisher withdraws former police officer’s memoir after force questions Port Arthur massacre claim

Victoria Police says Christophe Glasl was not in Tasmania at the time of Port Arthur massacre, despite his claim to have been involved in its resolution

A publisher has pulled a former police officer’s memoir after the force questioned his claim he attended the Port Arthur massacre.

Hachette confirmed parts of the book Special Operations Group by former Victorian police officer Christophe Glasl were inaccurate, and that it had been removed from shelves.

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Magistrate berates prosecutors as police officer charged with Tasering Clare Nowland appears in court via video

Kristian White was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to 95-year-old grandmother

A magistrate has berated prosecutors for allowing the police officer accused of Tasering a 95-year-old grandmother not to appear in person before court.

Snr Constable Kristian White appeared before the Cooma local court via video link on Wednesday over the Tasering of Clare Nowland, who later died from injuries sustained in the incident.

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