Australia news live: NSW dog owners face jail time for leaving pets in cars; flood warnings issued for Sydney
Jail time for leaving dogs in cars under new NSW animal welfare laws
New South Wales will crack down on people who leave their dogs in cars and use painful collars in proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Owners who leave dogs in hot cars or use painful prong collars on their pets could face jail time under proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Under the proposals, offenders in NSW could be fined a maximum of $44,000 and sentenced to a year in prison in line with other animal cruelty offences.
The changes would bring the state more into line with laws in Western Australia and South Australia.
The NSW changes would also remove barriers for animal welfare inspectors to offer pain relief, allow authorised personnel to euthanise animals in emergencies, and make it an offence to posses illegal glue traps – which can ensnare native animals and cause slow protracted deaths.
The proposals are expected to be introduced to state parliament in the first half of 2026 after discussions with key stakeholders.
“Leaving dogs in locked cars on hot days is not acceptable, and neither is the use of collars with prongs that spike into the necks of puppies and dogs,” the NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriartysaid.
The reforms will also crack down on animal fighting, by addressing potential loopholes and supporting police to address links to organised crime.
– AAP
Key events
‘Nothing to prove’: Venus playing free in Open return
The Australian Open starts on Sunday with two-time finalist Venus Williams breaking new ground as the tournament’s oldest female singles player when she returns after five years away.
Williams, a seven-time grand slam winner, has not played at Melbourne Park since her tearful second-round exit in 2021.
Granted a wildcard, the 45-year-old will become the oldest player ever to compete in the women’s singles draw when she faces Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in the first round at John Cain Arena on Sunday.
A possible all-American clash with third seed Coco Gauff looms in the second round.
“This is the greatest place on earth to play,” Williams said.
I have had amazing memories here. I love challenges, so I’m up for the challenge.
Williams made her first appearance at Melbourne Park as a 17-year-old in 1998, reaching the quarter-finals in her fourth major tournament following a remarkable run to the US Open final the previous year.
– AAP
Family court judge criticised over ‘brazen’ family violence comments
Legal experts have criticised the handling of abuse cases in family court, after a woman and alleged survivor of domestic abuse alleged a judge suggested she be taken to a park to “fight it out” with her former partner.
The woman, who agreed to speak to AAP anonymously as legal proceedings remain ongoing, filed a complaint against the judge after the comments were made public on social media.
Swinburne University senior law lecturer Rachael Burgin said the comments were inappropriate given the circumstances of the case.
The judge has evidence before them of family violence, which by definition is a pattern of violence, control and abuse of power, and yet has opted to collude with the alleged perpetrator, emboldening this person to continue his offences.
The fact that these attitudes permeate the justice system does not surprise me but it is shocking how brazen (these comments) are.”
Dr Burgin specialises in criminal justice and criminology as well as legal responses to rape, sexual assault and gendered violence.
A complaint has been filed over the comments and the judge is no longer overseeing hearings related to the matter.
– AAP
Jail time for leaving dogs in cars under new NSW animal welfare laws
New South Wales will crack down on people who leave their dogs in cars and use painful collars in proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Owners who leave dogs in hot cars or use painful prong collars on their pets could face jail time under proposed changes to animal welfare laws.
Under the proposals, offenders in NSW could be fined a maximum of $44,000 and sentenced to a year in prison in line with other animal cruelty offences.
The changes would bring the state more into line with laws in Western Australia and South Australia.
The NSW changes would also remove barriers for animal welfare inspectors to offer pain relief, allow authorised personnel to euthanise animals in emergencies, and make it an offence to posses illegal glue traps – which can ensnare native animals and cause slow protracted deaths.
The proposals are expected to be introduced to state parliament in the first half of 2026 after discussions with key stakeholders.
“Leaving dogs in locked cars on hot days is not acceptable, and neither is the use of collars with prongs that spike into the necks of puppies and dogs,” the NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriartysaid.
The reforms will also crack down on animal fighting, by addressing potential loopholes and supporting police to address links to organised crime.
– AAP
The road to Trish’s Queensland farm was blown up for a coalmine – now flood waters have left her ‘stuck in a hole’
Cattlewoman Trish Goodwin should be celebrating.
Last Friday, her parched property off the Capricorn Highway near the tiny town of Bluff in the central highlands of Queensland received “very good soaking rain” – nearly 200mm would fall in a few days.
It was proper wet season rain. And we needed it. We needed it badly.
Instead, Goodwin finds herself “stuck in a hole”, stranded and alone in the humble tin and timber home in which she was raised, carefully rationing her instant coffee and milk – worried her health could give out again, that she should need an ambulance.
For if the 62-year-old does require urgent medical attention, she says, paramedics would need a helicopter to pick her up.
Goodwin attributes her predicament to a coalmine mothballed for the second time in late 2023, whose current owner, Bowen Coking Coal, went into receivership in July. Because between Goodwin and the highway, where a crushed blue metal road once ran through pastured land and timber, there is now a blasted and gaping hole in the earth: an open cut mine called Bluff.
For more on this story, read the full report from Guardian Australia’s Joe Hinchliffe:
More than 1,400 calls to emergency services amid NSW storms, authorities say
The NSW State Emergency Service has received more than 1,400 calls for help and 20 requests for flood rescues after Sydney was lashed with torrential rain.
SES assistant commissioner Sonya Alstonspeaking to ABC News, says the main areas affected by flash flooding and storm-related incidents are the Illawarra, Sydney and Hunter areas.
We did have an evacuation at Narrabeen overnight due to the rapid rising waters there and the localised heavy rainfall, so that continues around that. Those particular areas with the weather also moving up north, we’ll see around north-eastern New South Wales experiencing some of that heavy winds, heavy rain and large wind gusts.
Residents of the area are advised to monitor the BoM app and the Hazards Near Me app as there are warnings in place. They are also warned not to enter flood waters.
Alston says similar conditions are expected throughout Saturday and into early next week as the storm system heads north.
We’re hoping to see a little bit of relief for the Illawarra area today. But still in that Sydney northern area. So again urging everyone to keep safe, keep inside if you can.
One dead after tree branch falls on car in Illawarra region
A woman died during the storms on Saturday afternoon when a tree branch fell on her car on Macquarie Pass, south of Wollongong.
NSW police said:
The woman was a driver in the vehicle when the incident happened.
A man in the front seat passenger suffered minor injuries, and two passengers in the rear seats were not physically harmed.
Evacuation order on Sydney’s northern beaches as Australia’s east coast smashed by stormy weather
Australia’s east coast is being smashed by summer storms as residents are told to evacuate.
An emergency warning was in place for Sydney’s northern beaches on Sunday morning, with residents at Narrabeen Lagoon and surrounds told to leave.
More than a dozen people have been rescued across Sydney, with cars submerged and homes flooded.
At Great Mackerel beach, in the northern beaches, a landslide damaged numerous homes with at least one woman injured.
The storm system also claimed the life of a woman on Saturday after a tree branch fell on her car and State Emergency Service crews received more than 800 calls for help after heavy rain lashed New South Wales.
Senior meteorologist Edward Townsend-Medlock said more heavy rainfall was expected from Sydney’s northern suburbs through to the Hunter coast on Sunday morning.
Within that concentrated area is where you could get some of those more severe thunderstorm cells that we saw, for example, on the Central Coast.
For more on this story, read our full report:
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Powerful storms have lashed Sydney, with some residents of the northern beaches told to evacuate. More than a dozen people have been rescued across the city, as a landslide injured a woman and damaged multiple homes.
A woman was killed in the storms on Saturday when a tree branch fell her car at Macquarie Pass and a man in the front passenger seat suffered minor injuries. The New South Wales SES recorded more than 800 calls for help.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
