New projections by the Snowy Hydro company show tunnelling work is now 65% finished, but the completion date has been pushed back to 2029

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The cost of Snowy Hydro 2.0 has blown out to as much as $25bn, with a major reassessment finding the long-delayed renewable energy project will not be completed until the end of the decade.

First touted by the Turnbull government in 2017 with a price tag of $2bn, the cost of the project in the Kosciuszko national park has increased dramatically over time. In 2023 it was revised to almost $13bn, with construction due to completed by the end of 2028.

CCTV footage shows the police officer buying fast food, attending hospital, and visiting three separate Bunnings stores in the days after the alleged murder

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Beau Lamarre-Condon ordered food from a McDonald’s drive-thru in a van allegedly used to dispose of two bodies, footage released by the court has shown.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, is accused of fatally shooting Sydney couple, Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.

Swimming banned at Maroubra and Coogee while council prioritises ‘culturally respectful’ approach to remains

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A whale carcass has forced the closure of two busy swimming and surfing spots after washing up between Coogee and Maroubra beaches in Sydney – but there are no plans to remove it.

The whale’s heavily decomposed body was found on Thursday morning at Lurline Bay, a rocky cove surrounded by cliffs in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The south-west metro extension will open on Friday 30 October, more than two years after the former T3 heavy rail line closed

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A long-awaited extension to Sydney’s metro line will open next week, bringing an end to more than two years of replacement buses for residents in the city’s south-west.

In a video shared on Instagram on Thursday morning, the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, announced that the south-west metro extension would open on Friday 30 October. In a statement, the government said the first service would commence at 4.31am.

Australia-first laws provide a third legal option other than burial and cremation for the treatment of bodies

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Several New South Wales MPs say they want their own bodies turned into “human compost” after Australian-first laws were passed allowing the unusual practice.

The laws, passed on Wednesday, provide a third legal option other than burial and cremation for the treatment of bodies.

Friend of accused double murderer tells supreme court that van had lemony smell and blue tarp in back before Bunnings stop

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Beau Lamarre-Condon played Taylor Swift’s song No Body, No Crime while attempting to dispose of two corpses, a court has heard.

The NSW supreme court has been told he was driving to Bungonia with a friend when the song was played in the van.

Witness breaks down in tears, tells court ‘I was scared’ after son declined to report alleged kissing and touching by broadcaster

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The mother of the youngest alleged victim of Alan Jones has told a Sydney court she “trusted” the 2GB broadcaster and was “comfortable” her teenager was going to spend a weekend at his Fitzroy Falls property.

The young man, known as complainant A, has testified that when he was 17 he was alone at the southern highlands farm when Jones allegedly kissed him, put his tongue inside his mouth and touched him on the bottom. “I felt violated and I felt gross,” he told the court earlier.

Police officer had operation at St Vincent’s hospital two days after Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were shot dead in Paddington terrace in early 2024

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Beau Lamarre-Condon’s alleged attempt to dispose of two bodies was briefly interrupted so he could undergo surgery, a Sydney court has been told.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, has been accused of fatally shooting couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.

NSW tribunal upholds liquor authority’s decision preventing Manthos Papadopoulos from entering Sydney Elements and Showgirls

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A Sydney strip club owner has failed in a bid to overturn a ban on entering venues – including his own businesses – in the nightlife precinct of Kings Cross.

Manthos Papadopoulos, the owner of Sydney Elements and Showgirls, was banned by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority in July after a request from New South Wales police, the NSW civil and administrative tribunal said in a decision published on Monday.

Bill to authorise production expansion at Mount Pleasant coalmine, subject to a landmark high court decision, criticised as ‘legislative overreach’

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The Minns government says it will introduce special legislation to allow a mine in the New South Wales Hunter Valley that was the subject of high court proceedings to increase its coal production by 32% per year.

The premier, Chris Minns, said the bill would authorise MACH Energy to increase the annual coal output at its Mount Pleasant coalmine by 4m tonnes to 16.5MT per year until 2032. He claimed it was necessary to save 400 jobs at the site before Christmas.

Accused asked fellow police officer how law enforcement would respond to reports of gunshots days before alleged murders, court hears

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Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly told a friend “I love you’” and “not everything in the news is true” a month after he was arrested over a double murder, a court has heard.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, has been accused of fatally shooting Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.

Amid police brutality allegations, inquiry hears protesters against visit of Israeli president were ‘largely peaceful’

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An inquiry into a Sydney rally against the Israeli president’s visit has so far found protesters were “largely peaceful” and there is “limited evidence of physical violence on the part of the protesters”.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) kicked off its inquiry into the February protest at Sydney’s town hall against the visit of Isaac Herzog on Monday, outlining a number of issues it is examining, including police use of OC spray and “police boasting about gratuitous force”.

Police responding to reports of an alleged stolen car in Dulwich Hill were told a man was armed with a firearm

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An alleged gunman with “shaggy hair” has been arrested following reports of a confrontation about an allegedly stolen car which was set on fire prompting him to flee the scene.

The 32-year-old man was arrested late Sunday in Sydney’s inner west, after being on the run since Friday morning, following an appeal by the police.

Sydney teenager charged with offensive behaviour and sexual touching without consent in relation to incidents involving females aged 13 to 54

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An ebike riding 13-year-old boy has been charged with multiple sexual offences allegedly committed against women on walking trails on Sydney’s northern beaches.

New South Wales police said the boy was arrested on Saturday evening after a strike force was established to investigate inappropriate comments and alleged sexual touching incidents on walking trails in the Narrabeen area in the first weeks of October.

Exclusive: Research confirms official advice about high-risk properties and warns worsening conditions will make more homes unsafe

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Almost every home destroyed in New South Wales during the black summer bushfires of 2019-20 was inside the 100 metre buffer zone used to identify properties most at risk, new research has found.

The findings are an endorsement of the risk maps used by authorities, but the research warns that as global heating generates ever-worsening fire conditions, firefighters may have to extend the recommended distances between homes and vegetation to keep properties safe.

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