Use of sniffer dogs and searches will continue despite health and harm reduction groups arguing they could lead to riskier drug taking

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Drug testing will resume at New South Wales music festivals from October, but will not be rolled out into the wider community despite calls from peak health and harm reduction groups, while the controversial use of sniffer dogs and searches will continue.

On Wednesday the state government announced NSW Health will consult with the music festival industry and harm reduction organisations to roll out pill testing at up to 15 music festivals each year.

University’s move is part of trend that critics within academia say will lead to further staff cuts and the loss of ‘everything that makes the job worth doing’

An Australian university has swapped in-person classes with an AI chatbot, online quizzes and optional online tutorials in two subjects as institutions give the technology more teaching responsibilities.

Macquarie University’s “Virtual Peer” is part of each week’s learning in two mandatory Psychology units, programmed to ask students questions and guide them through scenario-based exercises.

Cotality data reveals property prices are now falling in more than 90% of Australian suburbs, while analysts expect market downturn to continue

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The prospect of the steepest property market downturn in history will not stop the Reserve Bank from delivering a fourth interest rate hike as it battles to bring inflation back under control, economists say.

New data from Cotality revealed house prices are now falling in more than 90% of Australian suburbs, amid a perfect storm of higher borrowing costs, a weak economy, and a once-in-a-generation change in the tax treatment of property investors.

Brother of former treasurer and premier faces questions about texts that appear to indicate he was aware of fast-tracking policy before it was announced

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Did the former premier’s brother, Charles Perrottet, have prior knowledge of a Covid-era New South Wales government policy to introduce a fast track to approve major developments?

Did he take steps to ensure that developments owned by the fugitive developer, Jean Nassif, were successful through the fast track?

Male police officer caught on camera during 9 February protest against visit of Israeli president Isaac Herzog

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Video footage has emerged capturing a New South Wales police officer boasting about “punching” a protester in the head “when he was down”, before the protester was charged with assaulting police.

Police body-worn camera footage, which was leaked to a social media account and widely shared over the weekend, reveals a male police officer telling his colleagues during the 9 February protest at Sydney town hall against a visit by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog: “I fucking pumped that cunt.”

New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania just experienced their warmest-ever winters – and BoM says above-average temperatures expected to continue

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Australia’s two biggest cities had their hottest and equal hottest winters on record, with three eastern states also breaking temperature records.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) spring outlook shows above average daytime and night-time temperatures are expected to continue for much of the country, with an increased chance of unusually high maximums.

The PM wants to combat One Nation through core Labor values such as education and health, even as his popularity takes a beating

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At the height of her 1998 re-election fight, Pauline Hanson was challenged to give her honest assessment of John Howard.

Two years on from her firebrand maiden speech, the One Nation leader was contesting the Queensland seat of Blair when she was bailed up by a group of punters at a country race meeting. The men had been drinking and one demanded to know if Howard was “a prick”.

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Liberal party figure tells inquiry he never asked Jean Nassif ‘for payments for political outcomes’ as lawyer tells him she is ‘gobsmacked’ by his ‘obfuscation’

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The younger brother of Dominic Perrottet has insisted he never asked a fugitive property developer for money for political outcomes – including at a meeting at fine-dining restaurant Nobu in Crown Casino, an inquiry has heard.

On Tuesday, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) heard that developer Jean Nassif had withdrawn from a scheduled videolink appearance from Lebanon later this week, after Charles Perrottet faced questions about the dinner meeting between the two men in Melbourne in May 2021.

Police say the drugs were uncovered as part of ongoing investigations into illicit drugs in Broome

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A Western Australian man has been charged after police said they found approximately 3.5 grams of methylamphetamine in a ziplock bag wedged between the bacon and egg of a McMuffin meal during a car search.

The arrest on 20 August was part of ongoing investigations into illicit drugs in Broome, in WA’s Kimberley region.

One of 43 missing Australians has been located in Tibet, foreign affairs department says

• Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so far

An Australian believed to be missing after floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week has been found alive.

The person made contact with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) on Tuesday from Tibet.

Beijing-Taipei tensions a feature at meeting in Palau, with Australia and New Zealand saying the forum – not another country – will determine who attends

China ⁠said it had serious concerns ⁠about Taiwan’s presence at ​the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, warning of “consequences” after the democratically ruled island attended the group’s opening ceremony on Monday.

China views Taiwan as its own territory, and China-Taiwan tensions have ⁠featured prominently at the meeting, which is intended to demonstrate regional unity.

Police say the drugs were uncovered as part of ongoing investigations into illicit drugs in Broome

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A Western Australian man has been charged after police said they found approximately 3.5 grams of methylamphetamine in a ziplock bag wedged between the bacon and egg of a McMuffin meal during a car search.

The arrest on 20 August was part of ongoing investigations into illicit drugs in Broome, in WA’s Kimberley region.

Former 2GB and 2UE broadcaster Jones, 85, has denied 22 indecent assault and sexual touching charges involving six men

Broadcaster Ray Hadley has told a Sydney court that an alleged victim of Alan Jones confided in 2019 he’d been “sexually assaulted” by the fellow 2GB broadcaster on a number of occasions.

“He said [Jones] put his hand on my cock and kissed me,” Hadley told the Downing Centre local court on Tuesday.

One of 43 missing Australians has been located in Tibet, foreign affairs department says

• Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so far

An Australian believed to be missing after floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week has been found alive.

The person made contact with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) on Tuesday from Tibet.

Beijing-Taipei tensions a feature at meeting in Palau, with Australia and New Zealand saying the forum – not another country – will determine who attends

China ⁠said it had serious concerns ⁠about Taiwan’s presence at ​the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, warning of “consequences” after the democratically ruled island attended the group’s opening ceremony on Monday.

China views Taiwan as its own territory, and China-Taiwan tensions have ⁠featured prominently at the meeting, which is intended to demonstrate regional unity.

Who dreams of having a Euro summer now when staying in an ancient, uncooled building in the Old Town is like trying to sleep in a wood-fired pizza oven?

This week the Euro summer comes to an end – and so does a certain type of posting on Instagram.

Waiting at the bus stop in the grey winter dawn, a slanting rain soaking your trouser leg, you can warm yourself by scrolling your feed and seeing pictures of Australians enjoying a Euro summer. There it is again – azure Greek coves, plates of barbecued sardines, the yachts rented by the hour, and selfies on the balcony of some Paris Airbnb, drinking wine in the long, blue night.

Dowling tells budget estimates that Michael Daley called to tell her he was appointing a senior counsel and ‘raised quite a number of names’

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The top prosecutor in New South Wales says she discussed a list of barristers to lead an independent review into controversial findings against her office with the state’s attorney general, before he appointed someone she had known “professionally and socially” for nearly 30 years.

Last month, a state parliamentary committee voted 4-3 to find that the NSW director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling SC, had given false evidence about the pitching of a story about an Indigenous child performing an acknowledgment of country at a sentencing hearing to radio station 2GB.

Alleged offenders at large after man in his early 20s fatally shot in early hours of Tuesday

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A man in his early 20s has been fatally shot in an alleged home invasion in Sydney’s south-west that police believe was a “targeted attack”. A homicide investigation is under way, with the alleged offenders still at large.

Acting Supt Gretchin Atkins said the man, who was yet to be formally identified, was at his Glen Alpine home with his family in the early hours of Tuesday morning when multiple individuals allegedly broke in.

‘Opera House of the west’ still slated to open to the public as scheduled on 7 November, NSW arts minister says

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An investigation is under way into allegations of misconduct involving senior executives at the soon-to-be-opened Powerhouse Parramatta.

The $915m museum in western Sydney, billed as one of the world’s most significant new museum projects, is set to open in November.

Transport minister says laws target ‘young hooligans’ holding ‘communities to ransom’, but cycling advocates say changes most affect law-abiding riders

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This week, Queensland became the first Australian state – and one of the first jurisdictions on the planet – to set age limits and licensing requirements for e-vehicle riders.

Bicycle Queensland, the advocacy body for cycling in the state, says only a handful of other other jurisdictions around the world have passed similar legislation for ebike or e-scooter riders, such as New Jersey and Israel.