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Sydney news: ‘Religious knives’ banned from NSW schools after student stabbing

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Religious knives banned from schools

The NSW Education Minister has said carrying a knife for religious reasons into schools will be banned from tomorrow.

The move comes after an incident at Glenwood High School in Sydney’s north-west where a 14-year-old boy is facing serious charges for allegedly stabbing a 16-year-old boy with a “religious knife”.

Sarah Mitchell said while legislative change will be needed to fix a legal loophole that allows knives in school for religious reasons, the Education Department will update its policy immediately with new rules in place from tomorrow.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday said she was quite “taken back” to learn students were able to carry knives into schools on religious grounds.

Few waiting for Pfizer vaccine

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has backed the NSW Premier in urging people aged over 50 who are hesitant about getting the AstraZeneca jab not to wait in the hope they can get the Pfizer vaccine instead.

Gladys Berejiklian said she’d experienced no issues after getting the AstraZeneca jab, and stressed it was better to act now as it was unclear what supplies of the Pfizer vaccine would be available down the track.

The AMA’s state president Danielle McMullen said GPs were fielding many questions from people concerned about potential complications from the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Dr McMullen said while a small proportion of people were still holding out for the Pfizer jab, the majority had been persuaded to get the AstraZeneca vaccine after they learned the potential risk of any clotting problems was “tiny”.

“For most people, once they’ve had that discussion, they’re quite happy to go ahead with their AstraZeneca vaccine, recognising that the risk of severe illness or death from COVID is far greater than four in a million, when we eventually have COVID back in town,” she said.

Rural health under spotlight

The plight of rural healthcare is back in the spotlight today, with a parliamentary inquiry set to hear more about the challenges facing those in western NSW.

One of the witnesses due at today’s hearing in Wellington is a woman who used her submission to highlight the lack of maternity services in the Warren district.

She told the inquiry it was such a concern she decided it wasn’t worth the risk to have another child.

Others from Gilgandra, Coolah and Dunedoo are set to tell similar stories of limited medical services and their fears for what may happen.

Illegal timeshare practices investigated

Consumer group Choice has made a formal complaint to the corporate watchdog about alleged breaches by operators in the timeshare industry.

Timeshare schemes involve people buying access to holiday accommodation for a set period of time.

But Choice’s banking policy spokesman Patrick Veyret said the schemes are riddled with examples of people being trapped into paying exorbitant fees for decades, with some fees even passed onto their children to pay after they die.

He said ASIC needed to take stronger action against unethical operators and illegal practices in the timeshare industry.

Former police officer charged with sexual assault

A former police officer is due to face Waverley Local Court today after being charged with historical sexual assault offences.

Police allege the 69-year-old man abused two girls unknown to each other in separate incidents between 1975 and 1978.

The man was charged in December with carnal knowledge of a girl aged between 10 and 16, and three counts of sexual assault and commit an act of indecency.

He was formerly a senior constable in Sydney and left the police force in 1983.

Man charged after siege

A man has been charged after a nine hour stand-off with police in Sydney’s south-west over the weekend.

The siege at Canley Heights began on Sunday night after reports of a domestic-related incident.

Police alleged the 36-year-old man fired a shot at officers.

The man gave himself up yesterday morning and has been charged with five offences, including shoot with intent to murder and possessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm and ammunition.

 

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