Rising Australian star Kaylee McKeown is now an Olympic champion, blitzing home to win the 100m backstroke final with an Olympic record time. Fellow Aussie Emily Seebohm finished fifth, nearly a second behind 20-year-old McKeown, whose time of 57.47 seconds was only 0.02 seconds behind the world record time she set in June this year. McKeown turned in third position, …

Health authorities have identified a shopping mall in Sydney’s south-west as “a key venue of concern” amid fears customers could have been exposed to COVID-19 there for 11 days. NSW Health said anyone who attended the Campsie Centre between July 14 and 24 was deemed a close contact and must get tested, and isolate for 14 days regardless of the …

The Boomers have begun their Tokyo Olympics campaign with a gritty 84-67 victory over Nigeria at Saitama Super Arena. After a tight opening two quarters, the Boomers held a narrow three-point lead at half-time and it was not until the final quarter that they began to truly exert their dominance. Australia’s performance could not be described as polished, with 22 turnovers set to be scrutinised …

Australia’s world number one Ash Barty is out of the Olympics women’s singles after being dumped in straight sets by Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo, 6-4, 6-3. Barty looked out of sorts compared to the player who won on the grass courts of Wimbledon earlier this month. Sorribes Tormo controlled the baseline and moved the Australian around the court, winning points …

Australia has garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organisation to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change. UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem off the northeast Australian coast to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly …

If the Queensland capital gets the backing of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it’ll be the third time an Australian city has hosted an Olympic Games after Melbourne in 1956 and, of course, Sydney in 2000. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is in Tokyo for the final pitch, which will be delivered in front of the IOC later today. Here’s everything you need to …

NSW recorded 110 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday. A total of 43 people were infectious while in the community. Nearly 84,000 people were tested in the past 24 hours, which is the highest number of tests NSW has ever recorded in one day. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the high number of cases was …

Parts of NSW’s Central West are waking to a snap COVID-19 lockdown after cases leaked out of Greater Sydney’s growing Delta variant outbreak. The decision to put the regional centre of Orange and the nearby shires of Blayney and Cabonne into the seven-day lockdown has highlighted the growing concern from officials. The move followed a crisis meeting of government and health officials …

The unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9 per cent, with almost 30,000 jobs created in June according to the official Bureau of Statistics data. The unemployment rate has now declined for eight months in a row, taking it to its lowest level in a decade. However, while the unemployment rate dropped from 5.1 to 4.9 per cent in June, the underemployment rate …

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says increased Commonwealth payments to individuals and businesses from week two of a lockdown will be proposed at National Cabinet tomorrow. It would fast-track emergency COVID-19 payments of $600 and $375 made to individuals from the second week of a lockdown, rather than four weeks in. A support payment for individuals would also be made for the first …