New South Wales residents wrongly penalised for Covid breaches say it is “crazy” it took a protracted and costly court case to force the state government to back down and withdraw 33,000 invalid fines. The NSW government was forced on Tuesday to cancel 33,000 fines, worth an estimated $30m, for breaches of Covid-era public health … Read more
The New South Wales government has been forced to cancel more than $30m in fines for breaches of Covid-era public health orders after conceding they were too vague. On Tuesday, Revenue NSW announced it had cancelled some 33,000 Covid-era fines, about half the total number issued by police for breaches of the public health orders … Read more
Key events Filters BETA Key events (1)Anthony Albanese (3)Australia (3)China (3)Xi Jinping (3) Simon Birmingham says he “welcomes” the meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping but says it needs to be understood in the context of decisions by previous Coalition governments. Importantly the previous governments under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott … Read more
Covid cases are continuing to surge, doubling in New South Wales and Victoria in just a fortnight. Hospitalisations and deaths have also risen sharply, prompting NSW health authorities to mandate a limited return to mask-wearing to curb the rise in cases. NSW Health updated its Covid risk rating to amber on Friday, requiring masks in … Read more
A Sydney teacher sacked for not complying with New South Wales’s vaccination rules has been awarded ongoing workers’ compensation payments of $1,378 a week after she suffered “psychological injury” in the way the mandate was enforced. Her case has been described as a precedent by her lawyer, with dozens more former teachers already lining up … Read more
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant warns a new wave of Covid infections is looming in New South Wales, with transmission of the virus predicted to increase in the coming weeks. ‘BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron continues to be the most common variants. However, we are seeing a rise in XBB, BQ.1.1 and the BA.2 sublineages,’ … Read more
A new wave of Covid-19 infections is looming in New South Wales, the state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, will warn on Thursday, with transmission of the virus predicted to increase in coming weeks. It follows Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, making a similar announcement last week, with Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and … Read more
New South Wales has joined Victoria and scrapped mandatory reporting of a positive Covid rapid antigen test (RAT) as the state continues to roll back pandemic measures. But the NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, urged people to keep reporting positive results to the government anyway. “Registering a positive RAT through Service NSW allows … Read more
Key events Filters BETA Key events (2)Marles Marles (3)New South Wales (3) ‘I regret not calling it out earlier’: Julia Gillard on sexism in parliament Former prime minister Julia Gillard has been appearing in the media this morning on the 10-year anniversary of her seminal speech on misogyny. She told the Today show she specifically … Read more
A Queensland police officer has admitted to escorting his daughter across the state’s border illegally when travel was restricted during the Covid-19 outbreak. Robert William Eickenloff, who has since left the police service, was on duty as a senior constable with the road policing command when he rode his motorcycle into New South Wales to … Read more