Category Archives: New South Wales politics

NSW to review child protection screening algorithm over concerns about racial bias

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Families minister says system is ‘not delivering the outcomes we want to see’ as almost 50% of children in care in NSW are Aboriginal

The New South Wales government will review a child protection tool that disproportionately affects Aboriginal children – and that has not been updated in the state for more than a decade.

The controversial system known as “structured decision making” (SDM) has been in use since 2010 to screen for at-risk children.

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

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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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NSW outlaws gay conversion practices and makes it harder for young people to get bail

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LGBTQ groups welcome legislation passed after marathon overnight sitting, but critics line up to warn bail laws will put more children in jail

Gay conversion practices have been outlawed in New South Wales and it will be harder for teenage offenders to get bail after two laws passed the state’s parliament overnight.

The laws will, separately, ban conversion practices such as religious “straight camps” that attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation and introduce an extra test for some young people seeking bail.

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NSW could be forced to pay up to $4.3bn compensation if Newcastle becomes container port, modelling shows

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Modelling conducted for Treasury finds state’s liability to competing terminals could be $600m in 2024 and $4.3bn by 2063

The New South Wales government could be forced to pay up to $4.3bn in compensation if Newcastle becomes a container port, after it was privatised a decade ago along with two other major ports.

The government will on Thursday reveal the contracts used in the sales of Port Botany and Port Kembla in 2013 and the sale of the Port of Newcastle the following year, as well as modelling commissioned on the northern port’s plan to develop container abilities.

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Data missing on clearing of endangered ecosystems for western Sydney housing scheme

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NSW environment department spokesperson says offset program for the area has continued despite failure to file reports for three years

The New South Wales environment department stopped monitoring and reporting on a $530m conservation program meant to compensate for swathes of land-clearing at the same time as its management of biodiversity offset schemes was under investigation, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Conservationists and the NSW Greens say the government must investigate the “startling failure” by the department to report on progress towards meeting the conservation offset requirements for new suburb developments in western Sydney.

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Influential NSW independent speaks out against laws that make it harder for young people to get bail

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Exclusive: Barwon MP and former police staffer Roy Butler says it’s wrong to assume offenders view longer sentences as a deterrent

An influential independent New South Wales MP has spoken out against new laws from the Minns government that would make it harder for young people to get bail.

The Barwon MP, Roy Butler, a former police administrator, said it was wrong to assume that young offenders would always view extended sentences as a punishment and a deterrent to antisocial behaviour.

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Wolli Creek national park gains additional 4.7 hectares of land to complete ‘green ribbon’

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Minns government fulfils $13m election commitment following long-running community campaign to protect the area

Almost five hectares of parklands has been added to the Wolli Creek regional national park – “a patch of green ribbon” which runs through dense suburbs in Sydney’s south – in the past year.

The Minns government added the additional 4.7 hectares after a $13m election commitment to complete the park, which borders Wolli Creek and was first promised by the Carr government in 1998.

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NSW premier backs top prosecutor who says criticism of sexual assault cases is ‘preposterous’

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Sally Dowling announced audit of all sexual assault cases after judicial concern over ‘secret policies’

The New South Wales premier has backed the state’s top prosecutor after she said it was “preposterous” to suggest sexual assault cases were being run that were doomed to fail.

The director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling SC, on Wednesday revealed all sexual assault matters currently committed for trial would be audited by senior prosecutors.

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Former NSW government accused of ‘pork barrelling at public’s expense’ after scathing audit

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The $5bn post-pandemic spending program ‘not informed by robust research or analysis’ auditor general finds

Labor has accused the former New South Wales Coalition government of “pork barrelling at the public’s expense” after the auditor general found the design of a $5bn scheme to funnel money into areas worst hit by Covid lockdowns “lacked integrity”.

In a report released on Wednesday, Margaret Crawford found that more than $1bn was allocated to “low or moderate merit” infrastructure projects in western Sydney as part of the massive post-pandemic spending program WestInvest.

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Daryl Maguire had ‘emotional hold’ over Gladys Berejiklian, Icac lawyer tells court

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The disgraced MP for Wagga was a ‘special kind of serial pest’ but ex-premier’s shared vision of the future with him clouded her judgment, court hears

Gladys Berejiklian’s former boyfriend, the disgraced ex-MP Daryl Maguire, was a “special kind of serial pest” who had an “emotional hold” over the former state premier, a lawyer representing the New South Wales corruption watchdog has told a court.

Defending the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s findings of corrupt conduct on the part of Berejiklian, Stephen Free SC told the court of appeal Berejiklian’s “vision for her future” with her Liberal colleague had impacted her judgment.

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Nearly 100,000 NSW homes not being used for long-term housing, figures show

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Housing review finds 33,000 homes, including Stayz and Airbnb listings, are registered as non-hosted short-term rentals

Almost 100,000 apartments and houses across New South Wales are not being used for long-term housing, according to state government modelling.

The state government estimates 15,000 homes are vacant year-round, 45,000 are used as holiday homes and more than 33,000 are registered as non-hosted short-term properties, according to the data released as part of the Minns government’s review of short-term rentals including Stayz and Airbnb.

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NSW opposition calls for central register of sites under investigation amid asbestos crisis

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Environment spokesperson Kellie Sloane says park users should not hear about potential contamination through the media

The New South Wales opposition has called for a central register of all sites being investigated for possible asbestos contamination by the state’s environmental watchdog, including parks and schools.

Councils across Sydney have been assessing their parks and landscaping providers after the City of Sydney announced 32 sites were under investigation for possible contamination in addition to three where asbestos was found in mulch earlier in the week.

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NSW mega-councils to foot the bill if they want to reverse forced mergers

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Labor to create legal pathway for council demergers after forced amalgamations by former Coalition government

New South Wales mega-councils will be forced to pay for their own demergers, in a move likely to anger local governments that have long been advocating for the state government to stump up cash and allow forced amalgamations to be reversed.

The Minns government will on Tuesday introduce legislation to parliament to create a legal pathway to demergers for councils, including Sydney’s Inner West, that wish to split – but it has made it clear it won’t be footing the bill.

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Concerns a Sydney apartment complex is at risk of collapse downplayed by NSW watchdog and planning minister

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Building commissioner says he is confident defects at 900-apartment complex in Macquarie Park ‘will be rectified’, while minister says faults don’t pose a risk

The New South Wales building watchdog and the state’s planning minister have downplayed concerns over 900 apartments in Sydney’s north that were at risk of collapse after defects were discovered in the basements of the buildings.

The building commissioner, David Chandler, on Thursday said he was distressed that people who lived in the Macquarie Park building had been stressed by the news and he moved to assure the public there was “no risk to this building”.

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Explanation for asbestos in mulch at Sydney’s Rozelle parklands will ‘come out in due course’, supplier says

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Exclusive: Greenlife Resource Recovery co-director says company is cooperating with environmental watchdog’s garden mulch investigation

The construction boss who runs the company that supplied garden mulch containing asbestos to Sydney’s Rozelle parklands says an explanation for the contamination will “come out in due course” as the environmental watchdog continues its investigation.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) was on Monday analysing samples from in and around Rozelle parklands after testing found bonded asbestos in 14 locations in mulch provided by Greenlife Resource Recovery.

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NSW police fail to deliver mental health crisis review amid scrutiny over latest shooting death

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Exclusive: Review ordered by police commissioner Karen Webb after string of fatalities last year is more than two months overdue

New South Wales police have failed to hand a promised review of the way they respond to mental health crises to the government, as pressure again mounts on the force to enact reforms after the fatal shooting of a mentally unwell man.

Alexander Stuart Pinnock died on Wednesday after being shot at by multiple officers outside a medical clinic in Nowra on the south coast following an almost two-hour standoff that began when the 34-year-old pulled out a gun, police said.

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Mulch containing asbestos found at Rozelle parklands may have been used at other Sydney sites

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Testing reveals ‘low-risk’ contamination in samples taken from mulch near Rozelle playground, Transport for NSW says

An expansive park built above Rozelle’s multibillion-dollar spaghetti junction interchange has been closed after asbestos was found in garden mulch around a children’s playground – with the contractor involved confirming the mulch was also used elsewhere in Sydney.

An urgent audit was under way to determine what other sites could be affected by what the premier, Chris Minns, described as “a toxic substance”.

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NSW government fails to veto 15-minute parking scheme at exclusive beach despite pledge

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Roads minister John Graham now says the government is unable to act against the signs at Camp Cove that he previously said took 'the rest of us for mugs’

The New South Wales roads minister has failed to follow through on a pledge to veto controversial parking restrictions by a local council in Sydney, with beachgoers now limited to just 15 minutes to park, swim and return to their car.

In November, Woollahra Council – having learned the residents-only parking scheme that had been in place around Watsons Bay for 50 years was actually illegal – decided to implement 15-minute parking limits on the streets near Camp Cove beach.

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Chris Minns says police not to blame for Aboriginal imprisonment as country mayors push for crime inquiry

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Exclusive: ‘We can’t just put it all on the police’s shoulders’ says NSW premier as Aboriginal people make up 59% of juvenile detention population

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has defended the way police interact with young Aboriginal people and said the force is not to blame for disproportionate Indigenous incarceration rates.

Speaking in Bourke, in far western NSW, Minns also said he was reluctant to meet the demands of the Country Mayors Association, police union and some Nationals MPs to hold an inquiry into regional crime.

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NSW’s cashless gambling trial expands to include nearly 4,500 poker machines

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Program to start in 2024 with nine times more pokies than initially planned by Labor

Almost 4,500 poker machines across 24 local government areas will be included in the New South Wales government’s cashless gambling trial to begin early next year.

The expanded trial will take place across 28 clubs of varying sizes, with advocates hoping it leads to universal cashless gaming in NSW, after both major parties put forward gambling reform plans at the March election.

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