Archbishops split over 'confessional' abuse reporting
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Sydney's Catholic Archbishop says reporting abuse to authorities that he heard about during a confession would be like "bugging the confessional".
Topics: royal-commissions, sexual-offences, catholic, child-abuse, sydney-2000, adelaide-5000, melbourne-3000, brisbane-4000, perth-6000
Doctors slam 'woeful' public hospital report card
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Patients are getting stuck in emergency rooms and elective surgery wait times are the longest they have been in 15 years, an Australian Medical Association report shows, labelling the system virtually stagnant and "woeful".
Topics: healthcare-facilities, health, doctors-and-medical-professionals, health-policy, health-administration, australia
Xie gets life for 'blood-soaked' murder of family members
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Lin family killer Robert Xie, who murdered five members of his family, is given five life sentences without the possibility of parole, while his wife says he is innocent and a "scapegoat" for the crimes.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, murder-and-manslaughter, family-and-children, courts-and-trials, epping-2121, sydney-2000, nsw
NSW faces fire rating worse than Black Saturday
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"You will not outrun these fires", says the NSW fire chief, warning people to avoid or leave the bush before Sunday as the state gears up for catastrophic fire ratings worse than the Black Saturday conditions in 2009.
'Disgraceful' party brawl closes Pacific Highway
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A "perfect storm" party of teenagers, heat, drugs and alcohol forces the closure of the Pacific Highway at Lake Macquarie in NSW overnight, police say, after hundreds of drunken partygoers spill onto the streets fighting, throwing bottles and cans.
Topics: assault, crime, charlestown-2290, newcastle-2300
Worst Catholic groups for child sex abuse claims in Australia revealed
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The Australian Catholic Church releases "grim" data revealing 7 per cent of priests, working between 1950 and 2009, have been accused of child sex crimes. Here's what you need to know.
Topics: royal-commissions, sexual-offences, religion-and-beliefs, catholic, australia
Telstra mobile outage reported across Australia
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Telstra says all voice services have been restored as repair work continues on its mobile network after customers reported outages across the country.
Topics: telecommunications, australia
New NSW police chief to be appointed in just two months
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NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione will be retiring a couple of months earlier than expected, with no replacement in sight and only two months to go, leaving many scratching their heads about the timing of the announcement.
Topics: police, state-parliament, nsw
Monis's girlfriend sentenced to 44 years for 'brutal' murder
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A judge says Sydney siege gunman's girlfriend, Amirah Droudis, adopted "evil" Man Haron Monis's "foul beliefs" when handing down a 44-year murder sentence for the stabbing death of his ex-wife.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, crime, sydney-2000, nsw
Surfer found 6km off beach 'wanted to watch the Moon, didn't need rescue'
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A Japanese surfer who was found 6 kilometres off the coast of Australia a fortnight ago after floating on a surfboard overnight for 16 hours says he was trying to commune with nature.
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, bulli-2516
Gladys Berejiklian 'ready for anything' as NSW Premier
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Gladys Berejiklian outlines her priorities and praises her Armenian migrant parents, saying she "will be governing for everyone", as she gives her first speech after being voted as the new leader in NSW.
Topics: state-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, liberals, nsw
The moments that will define Mike Baird's time as NSW Premier
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From tweeting reality TV, the greyhound racing ban, lockout laws and everything in between, these are some of the things departing NSW Premier will be remembered for.
Topics: government-and-politics, state-parliament, parliament, nsw
Taking the Granville train 40 years after fatal crash
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Retrace the journey from the Blue Mountains, underneath the Granville Bridge, and all the way to Central Station with ABC reporter Clare Blumer, who this morning travelled the line 40 years after the Granville train disaster.
Topics: community-and-society, emergency-incidents, disasters-and-accidents, granville-2142, nsw, sydney-2000
Sydney sweats through hottest January night ever
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No, you did not imagine it — Friday night was ridiculously hot — because it was the hottest Sydney night in January since city weather records began.
Topics: weather, sydney-2000, penrith-2750
Tourist found on drifting surfboard 6km off Aussie coast
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A tourist catches a lucky break when he is spotted drifting on a surfboard off the Australian coast nearly 6 kilometres offshore, after spending 16 hours in the water.
Topics: accidents, accidents---other, sea-transport, surf-life-saving, surfing, bulli-2516, wollongong-2500
Firies tackle blazes across NSW
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Fires continue to burn in New South Wales bushland, as crews strengthen containment lines at an out-of-control blaze in the state's Central West.
Topics: bushfire, fires, wellington-2820, mudgee-2850, morisset-2264
Fires continue burning in NSW overnight
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The Central Coast and Newcastle train line has reopened after fires crossed the tracks, as serious conditions continue at another fire burning out of control in hilly country near Wuuluman between Wellington and Mudgee.
Topics: bushfire, wellington-2820, morisset-2264, harden-2587, murrumburrah-2587, orange-2800
Why are so many people drowning in NSW?
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Fifteen people have lost their lives in NSW after getting into trouble in water since Christmas, leaving rescue workers to warn it is the "season of distractions" that can quickly prove fatal.
Boy dies two days after pool tragedy claimed twin sister
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A 23-month-old boy dies two days after his twin sister, and nine days after they were both found unconscious in a backyard pool in Sydney's north-west.
Topics: accidents, death, kellyville-ridge-2155
Extreme heatwave alert issued for parts of NSW
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State government agencies activate a heatwave action plan, with soaring temperatures across most of New South Wales set to cap off 2016.
Topics: weather, sydney-2000, walgett-2832, moree-2400
Sydney heads for 'hottest year on record'
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This year could be Australia's fifth warmest on record, and New South Wales will feel it with a heatwave over much of the eastern coast for the final days of 2016.
Topics: weather, sydney-2000, nsw, australia
NASA astronauts help Aussie kids with projects in space
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A Japanese rocket containing 100 experiments created by Australian high school students for astronauts from NASA to test is on its way to the International Space Station.
Topics: space-exploration, spacecraft, astronomy-space, science, mathematics, computers-and-technology, sydney-2000, australia, japan
Australian teenagers getting worse at major subjects: report
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A global report on educational performance shows Australian 15-year-olds are getting worse at maths, science and reading.
Topics: education, educational-resources, australia
Community rallies to coax glossy black-cockatoos back to Bundanoon
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The people of Bundanoon, at the edge of the Kangaroo Valley west of Kiama, are rewinding the environmental clock and marking their small town's 150th birthday by trying to save a threatened species.
Topics: birds, conservation, environmental-management, environmental-impact, community-development, national-parks, bundanoon-2578, kangaroo-valley-2577, kiama-2533, wollongong-2500
Shooters look to win Orange, Nationals ask for re-count
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With final votes counted and preferences distributed, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate looks to win the NSW seat of Orange in the NSW by-election held last weekend — but the Nationals have asked for a re-count.
Topics: elections, political-parties, orange-2800
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