Families to launch class action after Hunter Valley bus crash driver jailed for decades

Legal case targets Transport for NSW for alleged safety failings on road where 10 passengers were killed and company that employed Brett Button

Families who lost loved ones in a deadly New South Wales bus crash say they will launch a class-action lawsuit as the driver responsible was sent to prison for decades.

Brett Button, 59, was sentenced on Wednesday to 32 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 24 years, for killing 10 passengers and injuring 25 who had been celebrating a young couple’s wedding in the Hunter Valley.

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Father of youngest Hunter Valley bus crash victim grieves loss of son who had rare second chance at life

Newcastle district court hears emotional victim impact statement during sentence hearing for bus driver Brett Button

The grieving father of the youngest victim of the Hunter Valley wedding bus crash which claimed 10 lives and injured 25 has told how his loss has caused “an irreparable void that will never be filled”.

Steven Symons, reading from his victim impact statement on Tuesday in Newcastle district court during the sentence hearing for the bus driver, Brett Button, said the impact of his son Kane’s death had been far-reaching and devastating.

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‘Like waking up in a nightmare’: Hunter Valley bus crash survivor tells court of grief over wife and daughter’s deaths

Bus driver Brett Button faces lengthy jail term as ‘accountability, deterrence and punishment’, NSW judge says

A wedding guest on a Hunter Valley bus which crashed, killing 10 people, has told how he woke in hospital five days later with a gut feeling his wife and daughter had died.

Graham McBride, who lost his wife, Nadene, and their only daughter Kyah, 22, in the crash, addressed the Newcastle district court on Monday during an expected three-day sentence hearing for bus driver Brett Button.

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Hunter Valley bus crash: parents of groom call for stronger seatbelt laws

John Gaffney, whose son Mitchell married Madeleine Edsell last Sunday, calls for mandatory rule on all buses

The parents of the groom whose Hunter Valley wedding ended in tragedy when 10 guests died in a bus crash when leaving the event have called for stronger seatbelt laws.

John Gaffney, whose son Mitchell married Madeleine Edsell in wine country on Sunday 11 June, has called for seat belts to be mandatory on all buses – something which is not currently the law in New South Wales.

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AFL and NRL teams pay tribute to Hunter Valley bus crash victims as nine people remain in hospital

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.

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Victorian Liberals to meet on senator’s future; Stoker says she’s ‘fine’ – as it happened

Urgent meeting called for this weekend after allegations raised against the senator in parliament. This blog is now closed

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says “at this stage” she will be voting no on the government’s bill for a referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament.

She’s told ABC Radio her position on the voice is:

At this stage, I’ll be voting no to the bill that is before us to change the constitution, given the government have not come forward with proof on what their interpretation of sovereignty is.

I know that for months now that they continue to say that this does not affect the sovereignty of First Nations people in this country, however, they’ve never provided any evidence.

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Australia politics live: Labor blocks Zoe Daniel’s push to ban gambling ads but promises ‘comprehensive’ response to issue

Tony Burke says Labor committed to strong consumer protections regarding online gambling and does not oppose principle behind independent’s bill

‘A sackable offence’

Here is how that “conversation” played out.

What we want understand now is whether this Labor minister was in fact complicit in politicising this event. That is unforgivable.

Not only that, misleading parliament is a serious offence, a sackable offence and standing by this minister, if she has misled parliament, has consequences.

You were in the Senate yesterday when Katy went through what happened and what I’d like to understand from you is how is it the two years after this event you are trying to make this somehow the problem of the current government when we were not even in government, not four years after this event occurred.

The real issue is the fact that a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in our workplace and I would really like to focus on that is the main issue here because that is the main issue here, because that is the subject that matters.

What we are finding out now is what the minister knew and why her testimony to the Senate as different from that. There’s a lot of considerations here, I know people are talking about how this information came into the media and certainly the media has a lot of considerations to make.

There has to be respect for the parliament and the court and the law but that information is now out there and journalists need to make decisions about whether it is in the public interest.

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Hunter Valley bus crash: driver due to face court; community mourns as it awaits official news of the dead

A 58-year-old man from Maitland is due to appear in court in Cessnock charged with 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. Follow the day’s news live

After Sunday night’s tragic wedding bus crash in the Hunter Valley, stunned locals are still anxiously waiting for details of how the accident occurred and official confirmation of who was among the victims.

The driver of the bus, a 58-year-old man from Maitland, will appear in court in Cessnock this morning charged with 10 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. The Guardian will be in court and will have the details as they emerge.

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