Canberra Raiders recruit dies aged 26 while holidaying with his family at Christmas
The NRL player Troy Dargan has died in a motorcycle accident while holidaying in the Cook Islands.
Dargan played two NRL games, both for South Sydney in 2020, and had joined Canberra on a two-year contract for the upcoming season.
Continue reading...News Corp-backed Betr attracted controversy last year when it offered 100-1 odds on the 2023 NRL and AFL grand final winners, as well as other sports
The News Corp-backed betting agency Betr is in the process of paying out $40m in bets after Penrith’s grand final win on Sunday, which the company believes is an Australian record.
Betr attracted significant controversy earlier this year over its widely advertised launch campaign offering 100-1 odds on the Melbourne Cup, something that prompted regulatory intervention and a record $210,000 fine.
In Australia, Gambling Help Online is available on 1800 858 858. The National Debt Helpline is at 1800 007 007. In the UK, support for problem gambling can be found through GamCare on 0808 8020 133. In the US, the National Council on Problem Gambling is on 800-522-4700
Continue reading...The previous hottest start to October in Sydney was 33.1C but Sunday’s mercury peaked at 35.6C
Sydney has endured its hottest ever start to October on record as fire danger warnings were issued across NSW – and as two bushfires threatened campers and towns in eastern Victoria.
According to data from the Bureau of Meteorology, two years had tied for Sydney’s hottest 1 October on record: 33.1C was recorded at Observatory Hill weather station in both 1961 and 2009.
Continue reading...The foreign minister claims public interest immunity over Dfat advice. This blog is now closed
Rishworth won’t confirm adoption of any disability royal commission recommendations, ahead of report release
Families and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has refused to confirm if the government will be adopting any of the recommendations made in the disability royal commission report ahead of its public release today.
I’m not going to comment on any specific recommendations.
Obviously, we need to also make sure people with disability have choice and control.
You never change a country for the better through fear, you change it through hope and optimism and compassion and justice.
That’s what this referendum is about.
This is a body that won’t provide funds, that won’t run programs, that will just give advice to the government, and that experience of past bodies, and issues that have arisen has been factored in by Indigenous Australians when they’ve made this request.
Continue reading...News Corp-backed firm offered inducements that attracted record fine and criticism from regulator
The finances of News Corp-backed gambling company Betr’ could take a big hit if the Penrith Panthers win the NRL grand final, due to a generous inducement that attracted a record fine and criticism from a regulator.
When the gambling company launched in late 2022, it offered 100-1 odds on the Penrith Panthers winning a third consecutive grand final with bets capped at $10. A Penrith victory is now short odds and a likely outcome according to most analysts.
Continue reading...Sporting teams, friends and family used weekend to mourn the victims as fundraising effort tops $600,000
Nine passengers remain in hospital almost a week after the horror bus crash in the Hunter Valley as the fundraising effort to support victims and their families tops $600,000.
Sporting teams, friends and family used the weekend to mourn and pay tribute to the victims up and down eastern Australia.
Continue reading...Hayne was found guilty of assaulting a woman in her suburban Newcastle home on NRL grand final night 2018
Disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for at least three years after sexually assaulting a woman in her home.
The 35-year-old was found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent on 4 April and taken into custody 10 days later when his bail was revoked.
Continue reading...Major Australian sporting organisations expected to play a significant role in the yes campaign, with AFL and Cricket Australia yet to announce a stance
The National Rugby League is the latest major sporting code to back the Indigenous voice to parliament, joining a growing list of elite athletic organisations campaigning for a yes vote in this year’s referendum.
As the major football codes hold their Indigenous rounds in coming weeks, a long-mooted campaign of support from sporting groups is expected to intensify toward a referendum likely to be held in October – shortly after the AFL and NRL grand finals.
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Continue reading...Andrew Abdo has promised the NRL will do all it can to protect its players and eradicate racist fans, after Latrell Mitchell was allegedly abused
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has vowed to eradicate racism from the sport as he promised to sanction and educate any fan found to have abused Latrell Mitchell.
Abdo on Friday stopped short of promising a life ban for the spectator who allegedly racially abused Mitchell at Penrith on Thursday night, but said the game would come down hard on any offenders. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Continue reading...The NRL’s glitzy annual season launch has been cancelled, clubs have been told, amid the ongoing dispute between the clubs and the governing body.
The NRL’s decision averted any embarrassment for the governing body if the players had decided to boycott the high-profile event following the ongoing collective bargaining agreement dispute.
Continue reading...In contrast with security deal between China and Solomon Islands, the Australia-PNG agreement will be ‘public and transparent’, prime ministers vow
Australia and Papua New Guinea have pledged to clinch a new security treaty within four months, declaring the deal will also tackle the threat of climate change.
The security interests of both countries are “intertwined” and the agreement would help protect their “independence, sovereignty and resilience”, according to a statement issued by the two parties on Thursday.
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Continue reading...Lidia Thorpe says Labor and Coalition back hearings while ‘sports organisations need to be transparent about evidence that informs concussion policies’
A federal parliamentary committee will examine concussion and repeated head trauma in contact sports, with the Greens saying they have the support of Labor and the Coalition to establish the inquiry.
The push follows growing concern about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head trauma and concussion that has been increasingly linked to contact and collision sports.
Continue reading...On visit to Port Moresby, defence minister says ‘it would be so meaningful’ for PNG to become National Rugby League’s 18th team
Australia’s deputy prime minister has held talks with National Rugby League officials to push the case for a Papua New Guinea team, declaring “now is the time” to expand the competition.
Richard Marles, visiting PNG in his capacity as defence minister, said on Thursday that he had “personally spoken with the NRL a number of times about this”.
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Continue reading...Notice of appeal lodged in federal court says $150,000 in damages paid to Sky News broadcaster is ‘manifestly excessive’
The Daily Mail Australia is appealing a defamation win by Sky News broadcaster Erin Molan, who was awarded $150,000 over an article and two tweets that accused her of appearing to mock Polynesian names in a radio broadcast.
Molan told the federal court last year she did not think she was mocking Polynesian names when she said “hooka looka mooka hooka fooka” on Radio 2GB in 2020.
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Continue reading...The Allianz Stadium has been rebuilt at a cost of $800m but the harbour city still lacks the right grounds in the right places
Walking into Sydney’s new Allianz Stadium feels a bit like walking into an old house with new fixtures. Everything is a bit brighter and works a little better – the couch somehow feels closer to the TV and that pesky leak in the roof has stopped – but the foundations are much the same.
That isn’t all that surprising given the architectural firm that designed the old 42,500-capacity venue is the same firm that designed the new 42,500-capacity venue. But it does prompt a query: if a stadium is demolished and rebuilt to look strikingly similar, was it rebuilt at all? If the New South Wales government had not spent $828m on it, could we say it had really happened?
Continue reading...This year’s NRL grand final will be played in New South Wales after the Australian Rugby League Commission confirmed October’s showpiece event would be played at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
But the long-term location of the game remains uncertain, with ARLC chair Peter V’landys touting a “Super Bowl” style concept, where the game could be taken around the country to the highest bidder.
Continue reading...The Pharmacy Guild has pushed for the drugs to be made available without a prescription at community pharmacies due to national GP shortages. This blog is now closed
Peter Dutton pressed on voice to parliament
Opposition leader Peter Dutton appeared on ABC’s 7.30 last night and it is worth revisiting for the exchange with host Sarah Ferguson about whether he will commit his party to supporting the voice to parliament.
SARAH FERGUSON: Let me move back into the domestic realm. At the start of parliament, you participated in the smoking ceremony, you allowed your face to be painted and then in your speech you quoted Noel Pearson and seemed to endorse Pearson’s call for constitutional recognition. What would prevent you now from taking the next step and backing the referendum on the voice?
PETER DUTTON: Well, I quoted Noel Pearson for whom I have a great deal of respect, and you can go back and look at the quote and there are many elements to that because there were several paragraphs that I quoted him on.
If we could get that to 60 per cent, then already you would go a long way to addressing part of the supply shortage of teachers.
Continue reading...Star playmaker Nathan Cleary will go into Penrith’s finals campaign cold after receiving a five-game suspension for his spear tackle on Parramatta’s Dylan Brown.
Cleary was sent off for the first time in his career in Friday’s 34-10 loss to the Eels and won’t play again during the regular season. He was handed a grade-three dangerous throw charge by the NRL’s match review committee on Saturday morning.
Continue reading...Sea Eagles face the prospect of being without several players for the Roosters clash, but the strip has sold out online
The NRL has given its backing to Manly over its decision to wear a pride jersey this week as the club prepares to lose up to seven players due to a reported boycott over the inclusivity initiative.
Manly announced on Sunday they would sport a rainbow jersey in Thursday night’s clash with the Sydney Roosters but according to reports on Monday, several players opted against wearing the one-off design.
Continue reading...Coach Brad Fittler thinks Matt Burton’s sin-binning in the State of Origin decider was a “tad ridiculous” as NSW lick their wounds after the Maroons’ comeback win. Blues centre Burton and Queensland opposite Dane Gagai were both sin-binned as the Origin series decider descended into a throwback, fists flying in a second-half brawl.
The pair were given a spell by referee Ashley Klein in the 42nd minute after the Maroons made a snap break at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night. As Queensland burst upfield, Burton collided with Maroons fullback Kalyn Ponga after he had passed and was trying to catch up with the play.
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